 Preface of the mystery of 31 new in this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Brandon Marafa Brandon Marafa.com the mystery of 31 new in by our Austin Freeman Preface commenting upon one of my earlier novels in respect of which I had claimed to have been careful to adhere to common probabilities and to have made use only of really practicable methods of investigation a critic remarked that this was of no consequence whatever so long as the story was amusing few people I imagine will agree with him to most readers and certainly to the kind of reader for whom an author is willing to take trouble complete realism in respective incidents and methods is an essential factor in maintaining the interest of a detective story hence it may be worthwhile to mention that Thorndike's method of producing the track chart described in chapters 2 and 3 has been actually used in practice it is a modification of one devised by me many years ago when I was crossing Ashanti to the city of Bantuku the whereabouts of which in the far interior was then only vaguely known my instructions were to fix the positions of all towns villages rivers and mountains as accurately as possible but finding ordinary methods of surveying impracticable in the dense forest which covers the whole region I adopted the simple and apparently rude method checking the distances whenever possible by astronomical observation the resulting route map was surprisingly accurate as shown by the agreement of the outward in Homer tracks it was published by the Royal Geographical Society and incorporated in the map of this region compiled by the intelligent branch of the war office and it formed the basis of the map which accompanied my volume of travels in Ashanti and Jamar so that Thorndike's plan must be taken as quite a practicable one new in the background of the story and one of the last surviving ends of the Chantry has recently passed away after upwards of four centuries of newness even now however a few of the old dismantled houses including perhaps the mysterious 31 may have been seen from the strand peeping over the iron roof of the skating rink which has displaced the picturesque hall the pension room and the garden the poster and gate to in the Haughton Street still remains though the arches bricked up inside passing it lately I have made the rough sketch which appears on the next page and which shows all that is left of this pleasant old London backwater are a F Gravesend end of preface recording by Brandon Rafa Brandon Rafa dot com chapter one the first part of the mystery of 31 new end this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox dot org read by Jeannie nineteen fourteen chapter one part one the mysterious patient as I look back through the years of my association with John Thorndike I'm able to recall a wealth of adventures and strange experiences such as falls to the lot of very few men who pass their lives within hearing of Big Ben many of these experiences I have already placed on record but it now occurs to me that I have hitherto left unrecorded one that is perhaps the most astonishing and incredible of the whole series an adventure to that has for me the added interest that inaugurated my permanent association with my learned and talented friend and marked the close of a rather unhappy and unprosperous period of my life memory retracing the journey through the passing years to the starting point of those strange events lands me in a shabby little ground floor room in a house near the wall worth end of lower Kensington Lane a couple of framed diplomas on the wall a card of Snellen test types and a stethoscope lying on the writing table proclaiming a doctor's consulting room and my own position in the round back chair at the said table proclaims me the practitioner in charge it was nearly nine o'clock the noisy little clock on the mantelpiece announced the fact and by its frantic ticking seemed as anxious as I to get the consultation hours over I glanced wistfully at my mud splashed boots and wondered if I might yet venture to assume the slippers that peeped coyly from under the shabby sofa I even allowed my thoughts to wander to the pipe that reposed in my coat pocket another minute and I could turn down the surgery gas and shut the outer door the fussy little clock gave a sort of preliminary cough or hiccup as if it should say ladies and gentlemen I am about to strike and at that moment the bottle boy opened the door and thrusting in his head under the one word gentlemen extreme economy of words is apt to result in ambiguity but I understood in Kensington Lane the race of mere men and women appeared to be extinct they were all gentlemen unless they were ladies or children even as the Liberian army was said to consist entirely of generals sweeps laborers milkman costumongers all were impartially invested by the Democratic bottle boy with the rank and title of Armand Jerry the present nobleman appeared to favor the aristocratic recreation of driving a cab or jobbesters carriage and as he entered the room he touched his hat closed the door somewhat carefully and then without remark handed me a note which bore the superscription Dr. Stilbury you understand I said as I prepared to open the envelope that I'm not Dr. Stilbury he's away at present and I'm looking after his patients it doesn't signify the man replied you'll do as well on this I opened the envelope and read the note which was quite brief and at first glance in no way remarkable dear sir Iran would you kindly come and see a friend of mine who is staying with me the bearer of this will give you for the particulars and convey you to the house yours truly H. Weiss there was no address on the paper and no date the writer was unknown to me this note I said refers to some further particulars what are they the messenger passed his hand over his hair with a gesture of embarrassment it's a ridiculous affair he said with a contemptuous laugh if I had been Mr. Weiss I wouldn't have had nothing to do with it the sick gentleman Mr. Graves is one of them people what can't bear doctors he's been ailing now for a week or two but nothing would induce him to see a doctor Mr. Weiss did everything he could to persuade him but it was no go he wouldn't however it seems Mr. Weiss threatened to send for a medical man on his own account because you see he was getting a bit nervous and Mr. Graves gave way but only on one condition he said the doctor had to come from a distance and was not to be told who he was or where he lived or anything about him and he made Mr. Weiss promised to keep to that condition before he'd let him send so Mr. Weiss promised and of course he's got to keep his word but I said with a smile you've just told me his name if his name really is Graves you can farm your own opinion on that said the coachman and I added as to not being told where he lives I can see that for myself I'm not blind you know we'll take the risk of what you see the man replied the question is will you take the job on yes that was the question and I considered it for some time before replying we medical men are pretty familiar with the kind of person who can't bear doctors and we like to have as little to do with him as possible he is a thankless and unsatisfactory patient in their course with him is unpleasant he gives a great deal of trouble and responds badly to treatment if this had been my own practice I should have declined the case off hand but it was not my practice I was only a deputy I could not lightly refuse work which would yield a profit to my principal unpleasant though it might be as I turned the matter over in my mind I have unconsciously scrutinized my visitor somewhat to his embarrassment and I liked his appearance as little as I liked his mission he kept his station near the door where the light was dim for the elimination was concentrated on the table in the patient's chair but I could see that he had a somewhat sly on prepossessing face and a greasy red mustache that seemed out of character with his rather perfunctory livery though this was mere prejudice he wore a wig too not that there was anything discreditable in that and the thumbnail of the hand that held his hat for disfiguring traces of some injury which again though unsightly in no wise reflected on his moral character lastly he watched me keenly with a mixture of anxiety and sly complacency that I found distinctly unpleasant in a general way he impressed me disagreeably I did not like the look of him at all but nevertheless I decided to undertake the case I suppose I answered it in length it is no affair mine who the patient is or where he lives but how do you propose to manage the business am I to be led to the house blindfolded like the visitor to the bandits cave the man grinned slightly and looked very decidedly relieved no sir he answered we ain't going to blindfold you I've got a carriage outside I don't think you'll see much out of that very well I rejoined opening the door to let him out I'll be with you in a minute I suppose you can't give me any idea as to what is the matter with the patient no sir I can't he replied and he went out to see to the carriage I slipped into a bag an assortment of emergency drugs and a few diagnostic instruments turned down the gas and passed out through the surgery the carriage was standing at the curb guarded by the coachman and watched with deep interest by the bottle boy I viewed it with mingled curiosity and disfavor it was a kind of large broom such as is used by some commercial travelers the usual glass windows being replaced by wooden shutters intended to conceal the piles of sample boxes and the door is capable of being locked from outside with a railway key as I emerged from the house the coachman unlocked the door and held it open how long will the journey take I ask pausing with my foot on the step the coachman considered a moment or two and replied it took me I should say nigh upon half an hour to get here this was pleasant hearing a half an hour each way and a half an hour at the patient's house at that rate it would be half past ten before I was home again and then it was quite probable that I should find some other untimely messenger waiting on the doorstep with a muttered anathema on the unknown Mr. Graves and the unrestful life of a locum tenants I stepped into the uninviting vehicle instantly the coachman slammed the door and turned the key leaving me in total darkness one comfort was left to me my pipe was in my pocket I made a shift to load it in the dark and having lit it with a wax match took the opportunity to inspect the interior of my prison it was a shabby affair the moth-eaten state of the blue cloth cushions seemed to suggest that it had been long out of regular use the oil cloth floor covering was worn into holes ordinary internal fittings there were none but the appearances suggested that the crazy vehicle had been prepared with considerable forethought for its present use the inside handles of the door had apparently been removed the wooden shutters were permanently fixed in their places and the paper label stuck on the transom below each window had a suspicious appearance of having been put there to cover the painted name and address of the job master or livery stablekeeper who had originally owned the carriage these observations gave me abundant food for reflection this Mr. Weiss must be an excessively conscientious man if he had considered that his promise to Mr. Graves committed him to such extraordinary precautions evidently no mere following of the letter of the law was enough to satisfy his sensitive conscience unless he had reasons for sharing Mr. Graves unreasonable desire for secrecy for one could not suppose that these measures of concealment had been taken by the patient himself the further suggestions that evolved themselves from this consideration were little disquieting whether I was being carried and for what purpose the idea that I was bound for some den of thieves where I might be robbed and possibly murdered I dismissed with a smile thieves do not make elaborately concealed plans to rob poor devils like me poverty has its compensations in that respect but there were other possibilities imagination backed by experience had no difficulty in conjuring up a number of situations in which a medical man might be called upon with or without coercion either to witness or actively to participate in the commission of some unlawful act reflections of this kind occupied me pretty actively if not very agreeably during this strange journey and the monotony was relieved to by other distractions I was for example greatly interested to notice how when one senses an abeyance the other senses rouse into a compensating intensity of perception I set smoking my pipe and darkness which was absolute safe for the dim glow from the smoldering tobacco in the bowl and seemed to be cut off from all knowledge of the world without but yet I was not the vibrations of the carriage with its hard springs and iron tired wheels to register accurately and plainly the character of the roadway the harsh rattle of granite sits the soft bumpiness of macadam the smooth rumble of wood pavement the jarring and swerving of crossed tram lines all were easily recognizable and together sketched the general features of the neighborhood through which I was passing and the sense of hearing filled the details now the hood of a tug's whistle told a proximity to the river a sudden and brief hollow reverberation announced the passage under a railway arch which by the way happened several times during the journey and when I heard the familiar whistle of a railway guard followed by the quick snorts of a skidding locomotive I had as clear a picture of a heavy passenger train moving out of a station as if I had seen it in broad daylight I had just finished my pipe and knocked out the ashes on the heel of my boot when the carriage slowed down and entered a covered way as I could tell by the hollow echoes then I distinguished the clang of heavy wooden gates closed behind me and a moment or two later the carriage door was unlocked and opened I stepped out blinking into a covered passage paved with cobbles and apparently leading down to a muse but it was all in darkness and I had no time to make any detailed observations as the carriage had drawn up opposite a side door which was open and in which stood a woman holding a lighted candle is that the doctor she asked speaking with a rather pronounced German accent and shading the candle with her hand as she peered at me I answered in the affirmative and she then exclaimed I am glad you have come Mr. Weiss will be so relieved come in please I followed her across a dark passage into a dark room where she set the candle down on a chest of drawers and turned to depart at the door however she paused and look back it is not a very nice room to ask you into she said we are very untidy just now but you must excuse us we have had so much anxiety about poor Mr. Graves he has been ill for some time then yes some little time at intervals you know sometimes better sometimes not so well as she spoke she gradually backed out into the passage but did not go away at once I accordingly pursued my inquiries he has not been seen by any doctor has he no she answered he has always refused to see a doctor that has been a great trouble to us Mr. Weiss has been very anxious about him he will be so glad to hear that you have come I had better go and tell him perhaps you will kindly sit down until he is able to come to you and with this she departed on her mission it struck me as a little odd that considering his anxiety and the apparent urgency of the case Mr. Weiss should not have been waiting to receive me and when several minutes elapsed without his appearing the oddness of the circumstances impressed me still more having no desire after the journey in the carriage to sit I wailed away the time by an inspection of the room and a very curious room it was bare dirty neglected and apparently unused a faded carpet had been flung untitledly on the floor a small shabby table stood in the middle of the room and beyond this three horse hair covered chairs and a chest of drawers formed the entire set of furniture no pictures hung on the moldy walls no curtains covered the shuttered windows and the dark drapery of cobwebs that hung from the ceiling to commemorate a long and illustrious dynasty of spiders hinted at months of neglect and disuse the chest of drawers and incongruous article of furniture for what seemed to be a dining room as being the nearest and best lighted object received most of my attention it was a fine old chest of nearly black mahogany very battered and in the last stage of decay but originally a piece of some pretensions regretful of its fallen estate I looked it over with some interest and had just observed on its lower corner a little label bearing the printed inscription lot two hundred one when I heard footsteps descending the stairs a moment later the door opened and a shadowy figure appeared standing close by the threshold good evening doctor said the stranger in a deep quiet voice with a distinct though not strong German accent I must apologize for keeping you waiting I acknowledge the apology somewhat stiffly and ask you are Mr. Weiss I presume yes I am Mr. Weiss it is very good of you to come so far and so late at night to make no objection to the absurd conditions that my poor friend has imposed not at all I replied it is my business to go when and where I am wanted and it is not my business to inquire into the private affairs of my patients that is very true sir he agreed cordially and I am much obliged to you for taking that very proper view of the case I pointed that out to my friend but he is not a very reasonable man he is very secretive and rather suspicious by nature so I inferred and as to his condition is he seriously ill ah said Mr. Weiss that is what I want you to tell me I am very much puzzled about him but what is the nature of his illness what does he complain of he makes very few complaints of any kind although he is obviously ill but the fact is that he is hardly ever more than half awake he lies in a kind of dreamy stupor from morning to night this struck me as excessively strange and by no means an agreement with the patient's energetic refusal to see a doctor but I ask does he never rouse completely oh yes Mr. Weiss answered quickly he rouses from time to time and is then quite rational and as you may have gathered rather obstinate that is the peculiar and puzzling feature in this case this alternation between a state of stupor and an almost normal and healthy condition but perhaps you had better see him and judge for yourself he had a rather severe attack just now follow me please the stairs are rather dark the stairs were very dark and I noticed that they were without any covering of carpet or even oil so that our footsteps resounded dismally as if we were in an empty house I stumbled up after my guide feeling my way by the handrail and on the first floor followed him into a room similar in size to the one below and very barely furnished though less squalid than the other a single candle at the father in through its feeble light on a figure in the bed leaving the rest of the room in a dim twilight as Mr. Weiss tiptoed into the chamber a woman the one who had spoken to me below rose from a chair by the bedside and quietly left the room by a second door my conductor halted and looking fixedly at the figure in the bed called out Philip Philip here is the doctor come to see you he paused for a moment or two and receiving no answer said he seems to be dozing as usual will you go and see what you can make of him I stepped forward to the bedside leaving Mr. Weiss at the end of the room near the door by which we had entered where he remained slowly and noiselessly pacing backwards and forwards in the semi obscurity by the light of the candle I saw an elderly man with good features and a refined intelligent and even attractive face but dreadfully emaciated bloodless and sallow he lay quite motionless except for the scarcely perceptible rise and fall of his chest his eyes were nearly closed his features relaxed and though he was not actually asleep he seemed to be in a dreamy somnolent lethargic state as if under the influence of some narcotic I watched him for a minute or so timing his slow breathing by my watch and then suddenly and sharply addressed him by name but the only response was a slight lifting of the eyelids which after a brief drowsy glance at me slowly subsided to their former position I now proceeded to make a physical examination first I felt his pulse grasping his wrist with intentional briskness in the hope of rousing him from his stupor the beats were slow feeble and slightly irregular giving clear evidence if any were needed of his generally lowered vitality I listened carefully to his heart the sounds of which were very distinct through the thin walls of his emaciated chest but found nothing abnormal beyond the feebleness and uncertainty of its action then I turned my attention to his eyes which I examined closely with the aid of the candle and my ophthalmic lens raising the lid somewhat roughly so as to expose the whole of the irids he submitted without resistance to my rather ungentle handling of these sensitive structures and showed no signs of discomfort even when I brought the candle flame to within a couple of inches of his eyes but this extraordinary tolerance of light was easily explained by closer examination for the pupils were contracted to such an extreme degree that only the very minutest point of black was visible at the center of his gray iris nor was this the only abnormal peculiarity of the sick man's eyes as he lay on his back the right iris sagged down slightly towards its center showing a distinctly concave surface and when I contrived to produce a slight but quick movement of the eyeball a perceptible undulatory movement could be detected the patient had in fact what is known as a tremulous iris a condition that is seen in cases where the crystalline lens has been extracted for the cure of cataract or where it has become accidentally displaced leaving the iris unsported in the present case the complete condition of the iris made it clear that the ordinary extraction operation had not been performed nor was I able on the closest inspection with the aid of my lens to find any trace of the less common needle operation the inference was that the patient had suffered from the accident known as dislocation of the lens and this led to the further inference that he was almost or completely blind in the right eye end of the first part of chapter one recording by genie wittfield chapter one the second part of the mystery of thirty one new in this is a liverbox recording all liverbox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liverbox.org recording by genie 1914 the mystery of thirty one new in by our austin freeman chapter one the mysterious patient part two this conclusion was indeed to some extent negated by a deep indentation on the bridge of the nose evidently produced by spectacles and by marks which I looked for and found behind the ears corresponding to the hooks or curl sides of the glasses for those spectacles which are fitted with curl sides to hook over the ears are usually intended to be worn habitually and disagreed with the indentation on the nose which was deeper than would have been accounted for by the mere occasional use of spectacles for reading but if only one eye was useful a single eyeglass would have answered the purpose not that there was any weight in this subjection for a single eyeglass worn constantly would be much less convenient than a pair of hook-sided spectacles as to the nature of the patient's illness only one opinion seemed possible it was a clear and typical case of opium or morphine poisoning to this conclusion all his symptoms seemed to point with absolute certainty the coated tongue which he protruded slowly and trimulously in response to a command bald in his ear his yellow skin and ghastly expression his contracted pupils and the stupor from which he could hardly be roused by the roughest handling and which yet did not amount to actual insensibility all these formed a distinct and coherent group of symptoms not only pointing plainly to the nature of the drug but also suggesting a very formidable dose but this conclusion in its turn raised a very awkward and difficult question if a large a poisonous dose of the drug had been taken how and by whom had that dose been administered the closest scrutiny of the patient's arms and legs failed to reveal a single mark such as would be made by a hypodermic needle this man was clearly no common morphinomaniac and in the absence of the usual sprinkling of needle marks there was nothing to show or suggest whether the drug had been taken voluntarily by the patient himself or administered by someone else and then there remained the possibility that I might after all be mistaken in my diagnosis I felt pretty confident but the wise man always holds a doubt in reserve and in the present case having regard to the obvious serious condition of the patient such a doubt was imminently disturbing indeed as I pocketed my stethoscope and took a last look at the motionless silent figure I realized that my position was one of extraordinary difficulty and perplexity on the one hand my suspicions aroused naturally enough by the very unusual circumstances that surrounded my visit inclined me to extreme recitence while on the other it was evidently my duty to give any information that might prove serviceable to the patient as I turned away from the bed Mr. Weiss stopped his slow pacing to and fro and faced me the feeble light of the candle now fell on him I saw him distinctly for the first time he did not impress me favorably he was a thick set round shouldered man a typical fair German with toe colored hair greased and brushed down smoothly a large ragged sandy beard and coarse sketchy features his nose was large and thick with a bulbous end and inclined to reddish purple a tint which extended to the adjacent parts of his face as if the color had run his eyebrows were large and beatling overhanging deep set eyes and he wore a pair of spectacles which gave him a somewhat owlish expression his exterior was unprepossessing and I was in a state of mind that rendered me easily receptive to an unfavorable impression well is it what do you make of him I hesitated still perplexed by the conflicting necessities of caution and frankness but at length replied I think rather badly of him Mr. Weiss he is in a very low state yes I can see that but have you come to any decision as to the nature of his illness there was a tone of anxiety and suppressed eagerness in the question while it was natural enough in the circumstances by no means elade my suspicions but rather influence me on the side of caution I cannot give a very definite opinion at present I replied guardedly the symptoms are rather obscure and might very well indicate several different conditions they might be due to congestion of the brain and if no other explanation were possible I should incline to that view the alternative is some narcotic poison such as opium or morphia but that is quite impossible there is no such drug in the house and as he never leaves his room now he could not get any from outside what about the servants I ask there are no servants accepting my housekeeper and she is absolutely trustworthy he might have some store of the drug that you are not aware of is he left alone much very seldom indeed I spend as much time with him as I can and when I am not able to be in the room Mrs. Shalabam my housekeeper sits with him is he often as drowsy as he is now or very often in fact I would say I should say that it is his usual condition he rouses up now and again and then he is quite lucid and natural for perhaps an hour so but presently he becomes drowsy again and dozes off and remains asleep or half asleep for hours on end do you know of any disease that takes people in that way no I answered the symptoms are not exactly like those of any disease that is known to me but they are very much like those of opium poisoning but my dear sir Mr. Weiss retorted impatiently since it is clearly impossible that it can be opium poisoning it must be something else now what else can it be you were speaking of congestion of the brain yes but the objection to that is the very complete recovery that seems to take place in the intervals I would not say very complete said Mr. Weiss the recovery is rather comparative he is lucid and fairly natural in his manner but he is still dull and lethargic he does not for instance show any desire to go out or even to leave his room I pondered uncomfortably on these rather contradictory statements clearly Mr. Weiss did not mean to entertain the theory of opium poisoning which was natural enough if he had no knowledge of the drug having been used but still I suppose said Mr. Weiss you have experience of sleeping sickness the suggestion startled me I had not very few people had at that time practically nothing was known about the disease it was a mere pathological curiosity almost unheard of it accepting by a few practitioners in remote parts of Africa and hardly referred to in the textbooks its connections with the trypanosome bearing insects was as yet unsuspected and to me its symptoms were absolutely unknown no I have not I replied the disease is nothing more than a name to me but why do you ask has Mr. Graves been abroad yes he has been traveling for the last three or four years and I know that he spent some time recently in West Africa where this disease occurs in fact it was from him that I first heard about it this was a new fact it shook my confidence in my diagnosis very considerably and inclined me to reconsider my suspicions if Mr. Weiss was lying to me he now had me at a decided disadvantage what do you think he asked is it possible that this can be sleeping sickness I should not like to say that it is impossible I replied the disease is practically unknown to me I have never practiced out of England and have had no occasion to study it until I have looked the subject up I should not be in a position to give an opinion of course if I could see Mr. Graves in one of what we may call his lucid intervals I should be able to form a better idea do you think that could be a managed it might I see the importance of it and we'll certainly do my best but he is a difficult man a very difficult man I sincerely hope it is not sleeping sickness why because as I understood from him that disease is invariably fatal sooner or later there seem to be no cure do you think you will be able to decide when you see him again I hope so I replied I shall look up the authorities and see exactly what the symptoms are that is so far as they are known but my impression is that there is very little information available and in the meantime we will give him some medicine and attend to his general condition and you had better let me see him again as soon as possible I was about to say that the effect of the medicine itself might throw some light on the patient's condition but as I proposed to treat him for more pain poisoning I thought it wiser to keep this item of information to myself accordingly I can find myself to a few general directions as to the case of the patient to which Mr. Weiss listened sensibly and I concluded we must not lose sight of the opium question you had better search the room carefully and keep a close watch on the patient especially during the intervals of wakefulness very well doctor Mr. Weiss replied I will do all that you tell me and I will send for you again as soon as possible if you do not object to poor Graves's ridiculous conditions and now if you will allow me to pay your fee I will go and order the carriage while you are writing the prescription there is no need for a prescription I said I will make up some medicine and give it to the coachman Mr. Weiss seemed inclined to demure to this arrangement but I had my own reasons for insisting on it modern prescriptions are not difficult to read and I did not wish Mr. Weiss to know what treatment the patient was having as soon as I was left alone I returned to the bedside and once more looked down at the impassive figure and as I looked my suspicions revived it was very like morphine poisoning and if it was morphine it was no common medicinal dose that had been given I opened my bag and took out my hypodermic case from which I extracted a little tube of atropine tabloids shaking out into my hand a couple of the tiny discs I drew down the patient's underlip and slipped the little tablets under his tongue then I quickly replaced the tube and dropped the case into my bag and I had hardly done so when the door opened softly and the housekeeper entered the room how do you find Mr. Graves she asked in what I thought a very unnecessarily low tone considering the patient's lethargic state he seems to be very ill I answered so she rejoined and added I am sorry to hear that they have been anxious about him she seated herself on the chair by the bedside and shading the candle from the patient's face and her own two produced from the bag that hung from her waist a half finished talking and began to knit silently and with a skill characteristic of the German housewife I looked at her attentively though she was so much in the shadow that I could see her but indistinctly and somehow her appearance pre-possessed me as little as did that of other members of the household yet she was not an ill-looking woman she had an excellent figure and the air of a person of good social position her features were good enough and her coloring although a little unusual was not unpleasant like Mr. White she had very fair hair greased parted in the middle and brushed down as smoothly as the painted hair of a Dutch doll she appeared to have no eyebrows at all owing no doubt to the light color of the hair and the doll like character was emphasized by her eyes which were either brown or dark gray I could not see which a further peculiarity consisted in a habit spasm such as one often sees in nervous children a periodical quick jerk of the head as if a cap string or dangling lock were being chicken off the cheek her age I judged to be about thirty five the carriage which one might have expected to be waiting seemed to take some time in getting ready I sat with growing in patience listening to the sick man's soft breathing and the click of the housekeeper's knitting needles I wanted to get home not only for my own sake the patient's condition made it highly desirable that the remedies should be given as quickly as possible but the minutes dragged on and I was on the point of expostulating when a bell rang on the landing the carriage is ready said Mrs. Shalabam let me light you down the stairs she rose and taking the candle proceeded me to the head of the stairs where she stood holding the light over the baluster rail as I descended and crossed the passage to the open side door the carriage was drawn up in the covered way as I could see by the faint glimmer of the distant candle which also enabled me dimly to discern the coachman standing by in the shadow I looked round rather expecting to see Mr. Weiss but as he made no appearance I entered the carriage the door was immediately banged to and locked and I then heard the heavy bolts of the gates withdrawn and the loud creaking of hinges the carriage moved out slowly and stopped the gate slammed too behind me I felt the lurch as the coachman climbed into his seat and we started forward my reflections during the return journey were the reverse of agreeable I could not rid myself of the conviction that I was being involved in some very suspicious proceedings it was possible of course that this feeling was due to the strange secrecy that surrounded my connection with this case that had I made my visit under ordinary circumstances I might have found the patient's symptoms nothing to excite suspicion or alarm it might be so but that consideration did not comfort me then my diagnosis might be wrong it might be that this was in reality a case of some brain affection accompanied by compression such as slow hemorrhage abscess tumor or simple congestion these cases were very difficult at times but the appearances in this one did not consistently agree with the symptoms accompanying any of these conditions as to sleeping sickness it was perhaps a more hopeful suggestion but I could not decide for or against it until I had more knowledge and against this view was the weighty fact that the symptoms did not exactly agree with the theory of morphine poisoning but even so there was no conclusive evidence of any criminal act the patient might be a confirmed opiometer and the symptoms heightened by deliberate deception the cunning of these unfortunates is proverbial and it is only equaled by their secretiveness and mendacity it would be quite possible for this man to feign profound stupor so long as he was watched and then when left alone for a few minutes to nip out of bed and help himself to some secret store of the drug this would be quite in character with his objection to seeing a doctor and his desire for secrecy but still I did not believe it to be the true explanation in spite of all the various alternative possibilities my suspicions came back to Mr. Weiss and the strange taciturn woman and refused to budge for all the circumstances of the case were suspicious the elaborate preparations implied by the state of the carriage in which I was traveling the makeshift appearance of the house the absence of ordinary domestic servants although a coachman was kept the evident desire of Mr. Weiss and the woman to avoid through inspection of their persons and above all the fact that the former had told me a deliberate lie for he has lied beyond all doubt his statement as to the almost continuous stupor was absolutely irreconcilable with his other statement as to the patient's willfulness and obstinacy and even more irreconcilable with the deep and comparative fresh marks of the spectacles on the patient's nose that man had certainly worn spectacles within 24 hours which he would hardly have done if he had been in a state bordering on coma my reflections were interrupted by the stopping of the carriage the door was unlocked and thrown open and I emerged from my dark and stuffy prison opposite my own house I will let you have the medicine in a minute or two I said to the coachman and as I let myself in with my latchkey my mind came back swiftly from the general circumstances of the case to the very critical condition of the patient already I was regretting that I had not taken more energetic measures to rouse him and restore his flagging vitality for it would be a terrible thing if he should take a turn for the worse and die before the coachman returned with the remedies spurred on by this alarming thought I made up the medicines quickly and carried the hastily wrapped bottles out to the man whom I found standing by the horse's head get back as quickly as you can I said and tell Mr. Weiss to lose no time in giving the patient the drought in the small bottle the directions are on the labels the coachman took the packages from me without reply climbed into a seat touched the horse with his whip and drove off at a rapid pace towards newington butts the little clock on the consulting room showed that it was closed on eleven time for a tired GP to be thinking of bed but I was not sleepy over my frugal supper I found myself taking up a new the threat of meditations and afterwards as I smoked my last pipe by the expiring surgery fire the strange and sinister features of the case continue to obtrude themselves on my notice I looked up stillberries little reference library for information on the subject of sleeping sickness but learned no more than it was a rare and obscure disease of which very little was known at present I read up morphine poisoning and was only further confirmed in the belief that my diagnosis was correct which would have been more satisfactory if the circumstances had been different for the interest of the case was not merely academic I was in a position of great difficulty and responsibility and had to decide on a course of action what I to do should I maintain the professional secrecy to which I was tacitly committed or all to I to convey a hint to the police suddenly and with a singular feeling of relief I thought myself of my old friend and fellow student John Thorndike now an imminent authority of medical jurisprudence I had been associated with him temporarily in one case as his assistant and had then been deeply impressed by his versatile learning his acuteness and his marvelous resourcefulness Thorndike was a barrister in extensive practice and so would be able to tell me at once what was my duty from a legal point of view and as he was also a doctor of medicine understand the exigencies of medical practice if I could find time to call at the temple and lay the case before him all my doubts and difficulties would be resolved anxiously I opened my visiting list to see what kind of days work was in store for me on the morrow it was not a heavy day even allowing for one or two extra calls in the morning but yet I was doubtful whether it would allow of my going so far from my district until my eye caught near the foot of the page the name of Burton now Mr. Burton lived in one of the old houses on the east side of Bovary Street less than five minute walk from Thorndike's chambers in King's bench walk and he was more over a chronic who could safely be left for the last when I had done with Mr. Burton I could look in on my friend with a very good chance of catching him on his return from the hospital I could allow myself time for quite a long chat with him and by taking a handsome still get back in good time for the evening's work this was a great comfort at the prospect of sharing my responsibilities with a friend on whose judgment I could so entirely rely my embarrassment seemed to drop from me in a moment having entered the engagement in my visiting list I rose in greatly improved spirits and knocked out my pipe just as the little clock banged out impatiently the hour of midnight end of section two the second part of chapter one recording by Jeannie Whitfield in Mississippi chapter two of the mystery of thirty one new in this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Stephen Seidel the mystery of thirty one new in chapter two Thorndike devises a scheme as I entered the temple by the Tudor street gate the aspect of the place smote my senses with an air of agreeable familiarity here I had spent many a delightful hour when working with Thorndike at the remarkable Hornby case which the newspapers had called the case of the red thumb mark and here I had met the romance of my life the story whereof is told elsewhere the place was thus endeared to me by pleasant recollections of a happy past and its associations suggested the hopes of happiness yet to come and in the not too far distant future my brisk tattoo on the little brass knocker brought to the door no less a person than Thorndike himself and the warmth of his greeting made me at once proud and ashamed for I had not only been an absentee I had been a very poor correspondent the prodigal has returned Poulton he exclaimed looking into the room here is dr. Jervis I followed him into the room and found Poulton his confidential servant laboratory assistant artificer and general familiar setting out the tea tray on a small table the little man shook hands cordially with me in his face crinkled up in the sort of a smile that one might expect to see on a benevolent walnut we've often talked about you sir said he the doctor was wondering only yesterday when you were coming back to us as I was not coming back to them quite in the sense intended I felt a little guilty but reserved my confidences for Thorndike's ear and replied in polite generalities then Poulton fetched the teapot from the laboratory made up the fire and departed and Thorndike and I subsided as of old into our respective armchairs and whence do you spring from in this unexpected fashion my colleague asked you look as if you had been making professional visits I have the base of operations is in lower Kennington Lane ah ha then you are back once more on the old trail yes I answered with a laugh the old trail a long trail the trail that is always new and leads nowhere Thorndike added grimly I laughed again not very heartily for there was an uncomfortable element of truth in my friend's remark to which my own experience bore only two complete testimony the medical practitioner whose lack of means forces him to subsist by taking temporary charge of other men's practices is apt to find that the passing years bring him little but gray hairs and a wealth of disagreeable experience you will have to drop it Jervis you will indeed Thorndike resumed after a pause this casual employment is preposterous for man of your class and professional attainments besides are you not engaged to be married to a most charming girl yes I know I have been a fool but I will really amend my ways if necessary I will pocket my pride and let Juliet advance the money to buy a practice that said Thorndike is a very proper resolution pride and reserve between people who are going to be husband and wife is an absurdity but why buy a practice have you forgotten my proposal I should be an ungrateful brute if I had very well I repeat it now come to me as my junior read for the bar and work with me and with your abilities you will have a chance of something like a career I want you Jervis he added earnestly I must have a junior with my increasing practice and you are the junior I want we are old and tried friends we have worked together we like and trust one another and you are the best man for the job that I know come I am not going to take a refusal this is an ultimatum and what is the alternative I ask with a smile at his eagerness there isn't any you're going to say yes I believe I am I answered not without emotion and I am more rejoiced at your offer and more grateful than I can tell you but we must leave the final arrangements for our next meeting in a week or so I hope for I have to be back in an hour and I want to consult you on a matter of some importance very well said Thordike we will leave the formal agreement for consideration at our next meeting what is it that you want my opinion on the fact is I said I am in a rather awkward dilemma and I want you to tell me what you think I ought to do Thordike paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with unmistakable anxiety nothing of an unpleasant nature I hope said he no no nothing of that kind I answered with a smile as I interpreted the euphemism for something unpleasant in the case of a young and reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of trouble with a female of his species it is nothing that concerns me personally at all I continued it is a question of professional responsibility but I had better give you an account to the affair in a complete narrative as I know that you like to have your data in a regular and consecutive order thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the mysterious Mr. Graves not omitting any single circumstance or detail that I could recollect Thordike listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest attention his face was the most impassive that I have ever seen ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask but to me who knew him intimately there was a certain something a change of color perhaps or an additional sparkle of the eye that told me when his curious passion for investigation was fully aroused and now as I told him of that weird journey and the strange secret house to which it had brought me I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart during the whole of my narration he sat as motionless as a statue evidently committing the whole story to memory detail by detail and even when I had finished he remained for an appreciable time without moving or speaking at length he looked up at me this is a very extraordinary affair Jervis said he very I agreed and the question that is agitating me is what is to be done yes he said meditatively that is the question and an uncommonly difficult question it is it really involves a settlement of the antecedent question what is it that is happening at that house what do you think is happening at that house I asked we must go slow Jervis he replied we must carefully separate the legal tissues from the medical and avoid confusing what we know with what we suspect now with reference to the medical aspects of the case the first question that confronts us is that of sleeping sickness or negro lethargy as it is sometimes called in here we are in a difficulty we have not enough knowledge neither of us I take it has ever seen a case in the extant descriptions are inadequate from what I know of the disease its symptoms agree with those in your case in respect to the alleged moroseness and in the gradually increasing periods of lethargy alternating with periods of apparent recovery on the other hand the disease is said to be confined to negroes but that probably means only that negroes alone have hitherto been exposed to the conditions that produce it a more important fact is that as far as I know extreme contraction of the pupils is not a symptom of sleeping sickness to sum up the probabilities are against sleeping sickness but with our insufficient knowledge we cannot definitely exclude it you think that it may really be sleeping sickness now personally I do not entertain that theory for a moment but I am considering the evidence apart from our opinions on the subject we have to accept it as a conceivable hypothesis that it may be sleeping sickness because we cannot positively prove that it is not that is all but when we come to the hypothesis of morphine poisoning the case is very different the symptoms agree with those of morphine poisoning in every respect there is no exception or disagreement whatever the common sense of the matter is therefore that we adopt morphine poisoning as our working diagnosis which is what you seem to have done yes for purposes of treatment exactly for medical purposes you adopted the more probable view and dismissed the less probable that was a reasonable thing to do but for legal purposes you must entertain both possibilities for the hypothesis of poisoning involves serious legal issues whereas the hypothesis of disease involves no legal issues at all that doesn't sound very helpful I remarked it indicates the necessity for caution he retorted yes I see that but what is your own opinion of the case well he said let us consider the facts in order here is a man who we assume is under the influence of a poisonous dose of morphine the question is did he take that dose himself or was it administered to him by some other person if he took it himself with what object did he take it the history that was given to you seems completely to exclude the idea of suicide but your patient's condition seems equally to exclude the idea of morphinomania your opium eater does not reduce himself to a state of coma he usually keeps well within the limits of the tolerance that has been established the conclusion that emerges is I think that the drug was administered by some other person and the most likely person seems to be Mr. Weiss isn't morphine a very unusual poison? very and most inconvenient except in a single fatal dose by reason of the rapidity with which tolerance of the drug is established but we must not forget that slow morphine poisoning might be eminently suitable in certain cases the manner in which it infebles the will confuses the judgment and debilitates the body might make it very useful to a poisoner whose aim was to get some instrument or a document executed such as a will a deed or an assignment and death could be produced afterwards by other means you see the important bearing of this you mean in respect of a death certificate yes suppose Mr. Weiss to have given a large dose of morphine he then sends for you and throws out a suggestion of sleeping sickness if you accept the suggestion he is pretty safe he can repeat the process until he kills his victim and then get a certificate from you which will cover the murder it was quite an ingenious scheme which by the way is characteristic of intricate crimes your subtle criminal often plans his crime like a genius but he generally executes it like a fool as this man seems to have done if we are not doing him an injustice how was he acted like a fool in several respects in the first place he should have chosen his doctor a good brisk confident man who knows his own mind is a sort of person who would have suited him a man who would have jumped at a diagnosis and stuck to it or else an ignorant weakling of alcoholic tendencies it was shockingly bad luck to run against a cautious scientific practitioner like my learned friend then of course all the secrecy was sheer tomfoolery exactly calculated to put a careful man on his guard as it has actually done if Mr. Weiss is really a criminal he has mismanaged his affairs badly and you apparently think that he is a criminal I suspect him deeply but I should like to ask you one or two questions about him you say he spoke with a German accent what command of English had he was his vocabulary good did he use any German idioms no I should say that his English was perfect and I noticed that his phrases were quite well chosen even for an Englishman did he seem to you made up in any way disguised I mean I couldn't say the light was so very feeble you couldn't see the color of his eyes for instance no I think they were gray but I couldn't be sure and as to the coachman he wore a wig you said could you see the color of his eyes or any peculiarity by which you could recognize him he had a malformed thumbnail on his right hand that's all I can say about him he didn't strike you as resembling Weiss in any way and voice or features not at all and he spoke as I told you with a distinct Scottish accent the reason I ask is that if Weiss is attempting to poison this man the coachman is almost certain to be a confederate and might be a relative you had better examine him closely if you get another chance I will and that brings me back to the question what am I to do ought I to report the case to the police I'm inclined to think not you have hardly enough facts of course if Mr Weiss has administered poison unlawfully and maliciously he has committed a felony and is liable under the consolidation acts of 1861 to 10 years penal servitude but I do not see how you could swear an information you don't know that he administered the poison if poison has really been administered and you cannot give any reliable name or address whatever then there is the question of sleeping sickness you reject it for medical purposes but you could not swear in a court of law that this is not a case of sleeping sickness no I admitted I could not then I think the police would decline to move in the matter and you might find that you had raised a scandal in Dr. Stillbury's practice to no purpose do you think I had better do nothing in the matter for the present it is of course a medical man's duty to assist justice in any way that is possible but a doctor is not a detective he should not go out of his way to assume police functions he should keep his eyes and ears open and though in general he should keep his own counsel it is his duty to note very carefully anything that seems to him likely to bear any important legal issues it is not his business officially to initiate criminal inquiries but it is emphatically his business to be ready if called upon to assist justice with information that his special knowledge and opportunities have rendered accessible to him you see the bearing of this you mean that I should note down what I have seen and heard and say nothing about it until I am asked yes if nothing further happens but if you should be sent for again I think it is your duty to make further observations with a view if necessary to informing the police it may be for instance of vital importance to identify the house and it is your duty to secure the means of doing so but my dear thorn dyke I expostulated I have told you how it was conveyed to the house now will you kindly explain to me how a man boxed up in a pitch dark carriage is going to identify any place to which he may be carried the problem doesn't appear to me to present any serious difficulties he replied doesn't it said I to me it looks like a pretty solid impossibility but what do you suggest should I break out of the house and run away up the street or should I bore a hole through the shutter of the carriage and peep out thorn dyke smiled indulgently the methods proposed by my learned friend display a certain crudity inappropriate to the character of a man of science to say nothing of the disadvantage of letting the enemy into our councils no ho no jervis we can do something better than that just excuse me for a minute while I run up to the laboratory he hurried away to polton's sanctum on the upper floor leaving me to speculate on the method by which he proposed that a man should be enabled as sam weller would express it to see through a flight of stairs and a deal door or what was equally opaque the wooden shutters of a closed carriage now he said when he returned a couple of minutes later with a small paper covered notebook in his hand I have set polton to work on a little appliance that will I think solve our difficulty and I will show you how I propose that you should make your observations first of all we have to rule the pages of this book into columns he sat down at the table and began methodically to rule the pages each into three columns two quite narrow and one broad the process occupied some time during which I sat and watched with impatient curiosity the unhurried precise movements of thorn dyke's pencil all a gog to hear the promised explanation he was just finishing the last page when there came a gentle tap at the door and polton entered with a satisfied smile on his dry shrewd looking face and a small board in his hand will this do sir he asked as he spoke he handed the little board to thorn dyke who looked at it and passed it to me the very thing polton my friend replied where did you find it it's no use for you to pretend that you've made it in about two minutes and a half polton smiled one of his queer crinkly smiles and remarking that it didn't take much making departed much gratified by the compliment what a wonderful old fellow that is dervus thorn dyke observed as his fact totem retired he took in the idea instantly and seems to have produced the finish article by magic as the conjurers bring forth rabbits and bowls of goldfish at a moment's notice I suppose you see what your modus operandi is to be I had gathered a clue from the little appliance a plate of white fretwood about seven inches by five to one corner of which a pocket compass had been fixed with shellac but it was not quite clear as to the details of the method you can read a compass pretty quickly I think thorn dyke said of course I can used we not to sail a yacht together when we were students to be sure we did and we will again before we die and now ask your method of locating this house here is a pocket reading lamp which you can hook on the carriage lining this notebook can be fixed to the board with an india rubber band thus you observe that the thoughtful polton has stuck a piece of thread on the glass of the compass to serve as a lubbers line this is how you will proceed as soon as you were locked in the carriage light your lamp better have a book with you in case the light is noticed take out your watch and put the board on your knee keeping its long side exactly in the line with the access of the carriage then enter in one narrow column of your notebook the time in the other the direction shown by the compass and then the broad column any particulars including the number of steps the horse makes in a minute like this he took a loose sheet of paper and made one or two sample entries on it in pencil thus 940 se start from home 941 sw granite sets 943 sw wood pavement hoofs 104 947 w by s granite crossing macadam and so on note every change of direction with the time and whenever you hear or feel anything from outside note it with the time and direction and don't forget to note any variations in the horse's pace you follow the process perfectly but do you think the method is accurate enough to fix a position of a house remember this is only a pocket compass with no dial and it will jump frightfully and the mode of estimating distance is very rough that is all perfectly true thorn by cancer but you are overlooking certain important facts the track chart that you will produce can be checked by other data the house for instance has a covered way by which you could identify it if you knew approximately where to look for it then you must remember that your carry does not traveling over a featureless plane it is passing through streets which have a determined position and direction and which are accurately represented on the ordinance map i think jervis that in spite of the apparent roughness of the method if you make your observations carefully we shall have no trouble in narrowing down the inquiry to quite a small area if we get the chance that is to say yes if we do i am doubtful whether mr weiss will require my services again but i sincerely hope he will it would be rare sport to locate a secret burl all unsuspected but now i must really be off goodbye then said thorn dyke slipping a well sharpened pencil through the rubber band that fixed the notebook to the board let me know how the adventure progresses if it progresses at all and remember i hold your promise to come see me again quite soon in any case he handed me the board in the lamp and when i had slipped them into my pocket we shook hands and i hurried away a little uneasy at having left my charge so long end of chapter two chapter three of the mystery of thirty one new in this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org recording by steven sidle the mystery of thirty one new in chapter three achilles a man yet taken notes part one the attitude of the suspicious man tends to generate in others the kind of conduct that seems to justify his suspicions in most of us there lurks a certain strain of mischief which trustfulness disarms but distrust encourages the inexperienced kitten which approaches us confidingly with arched back and upright tail soliciting caresses generally receives the gentle treatment that it expects whereas the worldly wise tomcat who in response to friendly advances scampers away and grins at us suspiciously from the fancied security of an adjacent wall impels us to accelerate his retreat with a well-directed clod now the proceedings of mr. H. Weiss resembled those of the tomcat of horsade and invited an analogous reply to a responsible professional man his extraordinary precautions were at once in a front and a challenge apart from graver considerations i found myself dwelling with unholy pleasure on the prospect of locating the secret hiding place from which he seemed to grin at me with such complacent defiance and i lost no time and spared no trouble in preparing myself for the adventure the very handsome which bore me from the temple to kennington lane was utilized for a preliminary test of thorn dyke's little apparatus during the whole of that brief journey i watched the compass closely noted the feel and sound of the road material and timed the trotting of the horse and the result was quite encouraging it is true that the compass needle oscillated wildly to the vibration of the cab but still its oscillations took place around a definite point which was the average direction and it was evident to me that the data it furnished were very fairly reliable i felt very little doubt after a preliminary trial as to my being able to produce a moderately intelligible track chart if only i should get an opportunity to exercise my skill but it looked as if i should not mr. weiss's promise to send for me again soon was not fulfilled three days passed and still he made no sign i began to fear that i had been too outspoken that the shuttered carriage had gone forth to seek some more confiding and easy going practitioner that our elaborate preparations had been made in vain when the fourth day drew toward a close and still no summons had come i was disposed reluctantly to write off the case as a lost opportunity and at that moment in the midst of my regrets the bottle boy thrust an uncomely head in at the door his voice was coarse his accent was hideous in his grammatical construction beneath contempt but i forgave him all when i gathered the import of his message mr. weiss's carriage is waiting and he says you will come as quickly as you can because he stuck very bad tonight i sprang for my chair and hastily collected the necessaries for the journey the little board in the lamp i put in my overcoat pocket i overhauled the emergency bag and added to its usual contents a bottle of permanganade of potassium which i thought i might require then i tucked the evening paper under my arm and went out the coachman who was standing at the horse's head as i emerged touched a sat and came forward to open the door i have fortified myself for the long drive you see i remarked exhibiting the newspaper as i stepped into the carriage but you can't read in the dark said he no but i have provided myself with the lamp i replied producing it and striking a match he watched me as i lit the lamp and hooked it on the back cushion and observed i suppose you found it rather dull ride last time it's a longish way they might have fitted the carriage with an inside lamp but we shall have to make it a quicker passage tonight governor says mr graves is uncommon bad with this he slammed the door and locked it i drew the board from my pocket laid it on my knee glanced at my watch and as the coachman climbed to his seat i made the first entry in the little book 858 w by s start from home horse 13 hands the first move of the carriage on starting was to turn around as if heading for newington butts and the second entry accordingly read eight fifty eight thirty e by n but this direction was not maintained long very soon we turned south and then west and then south again i sat with my eyes riveted on the compass following with some difficulty its rapid changes the needles swung to and fro incessantly but always within a definite arc the center of which was the true direction but this direction varied from minute to minute in the most astonishing manner west south east north the carriage turned boxing the compass until i lost all count of direction it was an amazing performance considering that the man was driving against time on a mission of life and death urgency his carelessness as to direction was astounding the torturousness of the route must have made a journey twice as long as it need have been with a little more careful selection at least so it appeared to me though naturally i was not in a position to offer an authoritative criticism as far as i could judge we followed the same route as before once i heard a tug swissle and knew that we were near the river and we passed the railway station apparently at the same time as on the previous occasion for i heard a passenger train start and assume that it was the same train we crossed quite a number of thoroughfares with tram lines i had no idea there were so many and it was a revelation to me to find how numerous the railway arches were in this part of london and how continually the nature of the road metal varied it was by no means a dull journey this time the incessant changes of direction and variations in the character of the road kept me almost uncommonly busy for i had hardly time to scribble down one entry before the compass needle would swing around sharply showing that we had once more turned to corner and i was quite taken by surprise when the carriage slowed down and turned into the covered way very hastily i scribbled down the final entry 924 s e in covered way and having closed the book and slipped it and the board into my pocket had just opened out the newspaper when the carriage door was unlocked and opened whereupon i unhooked and blew out the lamp and pocketed that too reflecting that it might be useful later as on the last occasion mrs. shallow bomb stood in the open doorway with a lighted candle but she was a good deal less self-possessed this time in fact she looked rather wild and terrified even by the candlelight i could see that she was very pale and she seemed unable to keep still as she gave me the few necessary words of explanation she fidgeted incessantly in her hands and feet were in constant movement you had better come up with me at once she said mr. graves is much worse tonight we will wait not for mr. weiss without waiting for a reply she quickly ascended the stairs and i followed the room was in much the same condition as before but the patient was not as soon as i entered the room a soft rhythmical gurgle from the bed gave me very clear warning of danger i stepped forward quickly and looked down at the prostrate figure and the warning gathered emphasis the sick man's ghastly face was yet more ghastly his eyes were more sunken his skin more livid his nose was as sharp as a pin and if he did not babble of green fields it was because he seemed to be beyond even that if it had been a case of disease i should have said it once that he was dying he had all the appearance of a man in articular mortis even as it was feeling convinced that the case was one of morphine poisoning i was far from confident that i should be able to drawing back from the extreme edge of vitality on which he trembled so insecurely is he very ill is he dying it was mrs. shallow bombs voice very low but eager and intense i turned with my finger on the patient's wrist and looked into the face of the most thoroughly scared woman i have ever seen she made no attempt now to avoid the light but looked me squarely in the face and i noticed half unconsciously that her eyes were brown and had a curious strained expression yes i answered he is very ill he is in great danger she stared at me fixedly for some seconds and then a very odd thing occurred suddenly she squinted squinted horribly not with a familiar convergent squint which burlesque artists imitate but with external or divergent squint of extreme near sight or unequal vision the effect was quite startling one moment both her eyes were looking straight into mind the next one of them rolled around until it looked out of the uttermost corner leaving the other gazing steadily forward she was evidently conscious of the change for she turned her head away quickly and reddened somewhat but it was no time for thoughts of personal appearance you can save him doctor you will not let him die he must not be allowed to die she spoke with as much passion as if he had been the dearest friend that she had in the world which i suspected was far from being the case but her manifest terror had its uses if anything is to be done to save him said i it must be done quickly i will give him some medicine at once in meanwhile you must make some strong coffee coffee she exclaimed but we have none in the house will not tea do if i make it very strong no it will not i must have coffee and i must have it quickly then i suppose i must go and get some but it is late the shops will be shut and i don't like leaving mr graves can't you send the coachman i asked she shook her head impatiently no that's no use i must wait until mr weiss comes that won't do i said sharply he will slip through our fingers while you are waiting you must go and get the coffee at once and bring it to me as soon as it is ready and i want a tumbler and some water she brought me a water bottle and glass from the wash stand and then with a groan of despair hurried from the room i lost no time applying the remedies that i had to hand shaking out into the tumbler a few crystals of potassium permanganate i filled it up with water and approached the patient his stupor was profound i shook him as roughly as was safe in his depressed condition but elicited no resistance or responsive movement as it seemed very doubtful whether he was capable of swallowing i dare not take the risk of pouring the liquid into his mouth for fear of suffocating him a stomach tube would have solved the difficulty but of course i had not one with me i had however a mouth speculum which also acted as a gag and having propped the patient's mouth open with this i hastily slipped off one of the rubber tubes from my stethoscope and inserted into one end of it a vulcanide ear speculum to serve as a funnel then introducing the other end of the tube into the gullet as far as its length would permit i cautiously poured a small quantity of permanganate solution into the extemporized funnel to my great relief a movement of the throat showed that the swallowing reflex still existed and thus encouraged i poured down the tube as much of the fluid as i thought it wise to administer it one time the dose of permanganate that i had given him was enough to neutralize any reasonable quantity of the poison that might yet remain in the stomach i had next to deal with that portion of the drug which had already been absorbed and was exercising its poisonous effects taking my hypodermic case from my bag i prepared in the syringe a full dose of atropine sulfate which i injected forthwith into the unconscious man's arm and that was all i could do so far as remedies were concerned until the coffee arrived i cleaned and put away the syringe washed the tube and then returning to the bedside endeavored to rouse the patient from his profound lethargy but great care was necessary a little injudicious roughness of handling in that thready flickering pulse might stop forever and yet it was almost certain that if he were not speedily aroused his stupor would gradually deepen until it shaded off imperceptibly into death i went to work very cautiously moving his limbs about flicking his face and chest with the corner of a wet towel tickling the soles of his feet and otherwise applying stimuli that were strong without being violent so occupied was i with my efforts to resuscitate the mysterious patient that i did not notice the opening of the door and it was with something of a start that happening to glance around i perceived at the farther into the room the shadowy figure of a man relieved by two spots of light reflected from his spectacles how long he had been watching me i cannot say but when he saw that i had observed him he came forward though not very far and i saw that he was mr. weiss i am afraid he said that you do not find my friend so well tonight so well i exclaimed i don't find him well at all i am exceedingly anxious about him you don't uh anticipate anything of uh or anything serious i hope there is no need to anticipate said i it is already about as serious as it can be i think he might die at any moment good god he grasped you horrify me he was not exaggerating in his agitation he stepped forward into the lighter part of the room and i could see that his face was pale to ghastliness except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks which stood out and grotesquely hideous contrast presently however he recovered a little and said i really think at least i hope that you take an unnecessarily serious view of his condition he has been like this before you know i felt pretty certain that he had not but there was no use in discussing the question i therefore replied as i continued my efforts to rouse the patient that may or may not be but in any case there comes a last time and it may have come now oh i hope not he said although i understand that these cases always in fatally sooner or later what cases i asked i was referring to sleeping sickness but perhaps you have formed some other opinion as to the nature of this dreadful complaint i hesitated for a moment and he continued as to your suggestion that the symptoms might be due to drugs i think we may consider that as disposed of he has been watched practically without cessation since you came last and moreover i have myself turned out the room and examined the bed and have not found a trace of any drug have you gone into the question of sleeping sickness i looked at the man narrowly before answering and distrusted him more than ever but this was no time for reticence my concern was with the patient and his present needs after all i was as thorn dyke had said a doctor not a detective and the circumstances called for a straightforward speech and action on my part i have considered that question i said and i have come to a perfectly definite conclusion his symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness they are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning but my dear sir he exclaimed the thing is impossible haven't i just told you that he has been watched continuously i can only judge by the appearances that i find i answered and seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections i continued don't let us waste precious time and discussion or mr graves may be dead before we have reached the conclusion if you will hurry them up about the coffee that i asked for some time ago i will take the other necessary measures and perhaps we may manage to pull him round the rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him it must have been plain to him that i was not prepared to accept any explanation of the unconscious man's condition other than that of morphine poisoning once the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives were recovery or an inquest replying stiffly that i must do as i thought best he hurried from the room leaving me to continue my efforts without further interruption for some time these efforts seem to make no impression the man lay as still and impassive as a corpse accepting for the slow shallow and rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle but presently by imperceptible degrees signs of returning life began to make their appearance a sharp slap on the cheek with a wet towel produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids a similar slap on the chest was followed by a slight gasp a pencil drawn over the sole of the foot occasioned a visible shrinking movement and on looking once more at the eyes i detected a slight change that told me that the atropine was beginning to take effect this was very encouraging and so far quite satisfactory though it would have been premature to rejoice i kept the patient carefully covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation moving his limbs and shoulders brushing his hair and generally bombarding his dead and senses with small but repeated stimuli and under this treatment the improvement continued so far that on my balling a question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant though in another moment the lids had sunk back into their former position soon after this mr. weiss re-entered the room followed by mrs. shellabomb who carried a small tray on which were a jug of coffee a jug of milk a cup and a saucer and a sugar basin how do you find him now mr. weiss asked anxiously i am glad to say that there is a distinct improvement i replied but we must persevere he is by no means out of the wood yet i examined the coffee which looked black and strong and had a very reassuring smell and pouring out half a cupful approached the bed now mr. graves i shouted we want you to drink some of this the flaccid eyelids lifted for an instant but there was no other response i gently opened the unresisting mouth and ladled in a couple of spoonfuls of coffee which were immediately swallowed whereupon i repeated the proceeding and continued at short intervals until the cup was empty the effect of the new remedy soon became apparent he began to mumble and mutter obscurely in response to the questions that i bellowed at him and once or twice he opened his eyes and looked dreamily into my face then i sat him up and made him drink some coffee from the cup and all the time kept up a running fire of questions which made up in volume of sound for what they lacked in relevancy of these proceedings mr. weiss and his housekeeper were highly interested spectators and the former contrary to his usual practice came quite close up to the bed to get a better view it really is the most remarkable thing he said but it almost looks as if you were right after all he is certainly much better but tell me would this treatment produce a similar improvement if the symptoms were due to disease no i answered it certainly would not then that seems to settle it but it is a most mysterious affair can you suggest any way in which he can have concealed a store of the drug i stood up and looked him straight in the face it was the first chance i had had of inspecting him by any but the feeblest light and i looked at him very attentively now it is a curious fact though one that most persons must have observed that there sometimes occurs a considerable interval between the reception of a visual impression and its complete transfer to the consciousness a thing may be seen as it were unconsciously and the impression consigned apparently to instant oblivion and yet the picture may be subsequently revived by memory with such completeness that its details can be studied as though the object were still actually visible end of chapter three part one chapter three part two of the mystery of thirty one new in this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Steven Seidel the mystery of thirty one new in chapter three Achilles a mangy take a notes part two something of this kind must have happened to me now preoccupied as i was by the condition of the patient the professional habit of rapid and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man before me it was only a brief glance for mr. Weiss perhaps embarrassed by my keen regard of him almost immediately withdrew into the shadow and my attention seemed to be principally occupied by the odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose and by the peculiar stiff bristly character of his eyebrows but there was another fact in a very curious one that was observed by me subconsciously and instantly forgotten to be revived later when I reflected on the events of the night it was this as mr. Weiss stood with his head slightly turned I was able to look through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond on the wall was a frame print and the edge of the frame seen through the spectacle glass appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion magnification or reduction as if seen through plain window glass and yet the reflections of the candle flame in the spectacles showed the flame upside down proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on one surface at least the strange phenomenon was visible only for a moment or two and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my mind no I said replying to the last question I can think of no way in which he could have effectually hidden the store of morphine judging by the symptoms he has taken a large dose and if he has been in the habit of consuming large quantities his stock would be pretty bulky I can offer no suggestion whatsoever I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now oh not at all I think we can pull him around if we persevere but he must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma we must keep him on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off if you will put him into his dressing gown we will walk him up and down the room for a while but is that safe Mr. Weiss asked anxiously quite safe I answered I will watch his pulse carefully the danger is in the possibility or rather the certainty of a relapse if he has not kept moving with obvious unwillingness and disapproval Mr. Weiss produced a dressing gown and together we invested the patient in it then we dragged him very limp but not entirely unresisting out of the bed and stood him on his feet he opened his eyes and blink howlishly first at one and then the other of us and mumbled a few unintelligible words of protest regardless of which we thrust his feet into slippers and endeavored to make him walk at first he seemed unable to stand and we had to support him by his arms as we urged him forward but presently his trailing legs began to make definite walking movements and after one or two turns up and down the room he was not only able partly to support his weight but showed evidence of reviving consciousness in the form of more energetic protests at this point Mr. Weiss astonished me by transferring the arm that he held to the housekeeper if you will excuse me doctor said he I will go now and attend to some rather important business that I have had to leave unfinished Mrs. Shalabam will be able to give you all the assistance that you require and will order the carriage when you think it's safe to leave the patient in case I should not see you again I will say good night I hope you won't think me very unceremonious he shook hands with me and went out of the room leaving me as I have said profoundly astonished that he should consider any business of more moment than the condition of his friend whose life even now was but hanging by a thread however it was really no concern of mine I could do without him and the resuscitation of this unfortunate half-dead man gave me occupation enough to engross my whole attention the melancholy progress up and down the room recommenced and with it the mobile protests from the patient as we walked and especially as we turned I caught frequent glimpses of the housekeeper's face but it was nearly always in profile she appeared to avoid looking at me in the face though she did so once or twice and on each of these occasions her eyes were directed at me in a normal manner without any sign of a squint nevertheless I had the impression that when her face was turned away from me she squinted the swivel eye the left was towards me as she held the patient's right arm and it was almost continuously turned in my direction whereas I felt convinced that she really was looking straight before her though of course her right eye was invisible to me it struck me even at the time as an odd affair but I was too much concerned about my charge to give it much consideration meanwhile the patient continued to revive a pace and the more he revived the more energetically did he protest against this worrisome perambulation but he was evidently a polite gentleman for muddled as his faculties were he managed to clothe his objections in courteous and even gracious forms of speech singularly out of agreement with the character that Mr. Weiss had given him. I thank you he mumbled thickly very good takes much trouble think I'll lie down now he looked wistfully at the bed but I wheeled him about and marched him once more down the room he submitted unresistingly but as we again approached the bed he re-opened the matter quite sufficient thank you get back to bed now much obliged for all your kindness here I turned him round no really I'm feeling rather tired shlanked lie down now be so good you must walk about a little longer Mr. Graves I said it would be very bad for you to go to sleep again he looked at me with a curious dull surprise and reflected a while as if in some perplexity then he looked at me again and said I think sir you are mistake mistake and me miss here miss a shallow bomb interrupted sharply the doctor thinks it's good for you to walk about you've been sleeping too much he doesn't want you to sleep anymore just now don't want or sleep water lie down said the patient but you mustn't lie down for a little while you must walk about for a few minutes more and you'd better not talk just walk up and down well there's no harm in his talking said I in fact it's good for him it will help to keep him awake I should think it would tire him said Mrs. Shalabon and it worries me to hear him asking to lie down when we can't let him she spoke sharply and in an unnecessarily high tone so that the patient could not fail to hear apparently he took in the very broad hint contained in the concluding sentence for he trudged wearily and unsteadily up and down the room for some time without speaking though he continued to look at me from time to time as if something in my appearance puzzled him exceedingly at length is intolerable longing for repose overcame his politeness and he returned to the attack surely walked enough now feeling very tired I'm really would you be kind let me lie down for a few minutes don't you think he might lie down for a little while Mrs. Shalabon asked I felt his pulse and decided that he was really becoming fatigued and that it would be wiser not to overdo the exercise while he was so weak accordingly I consented to his returning to bed and turned him round in that direction whereupon he tottered gleefully towards his resting place like a tired horse heading for its stable as soon as he was tucked in I gave him a full cup of coffee which he drank with some avidity as if thirsty then I sat down by the bedside and with a view to keeping him awake began once more to ply him with questions does your headache Mr. Graves I asked the doctor says does your headache Mrs. Shalabon squalled so loudly that the patient started perceptibly I heard him my dear girl he answered with a faint smile not deaf you know yes it aches a good deal but I think this gentleman mistakes he says you were to keep awake you mustn't go to sleep again and you are not to close your eyes all right fallen keeping them open and he proceeded forthwith to shut them with an air of infinite peacefulness I grasped his hand and shook it gently on which he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily the housekeeper stroked his head keeping her face half turned for me as she had done almost constantly to conceal the squinting I as I assumed and said need we keep you any longer doctor it is getting very late and you have a long way to go I looked doubtfully at the patient I was loath to leave him distrusting these people as I did but I had my work to do on the Marl with perhaps a night call or two in the interval and the endurance even of a general practitioner has its limits I think I heard the carriage some time ago Mrs. Shalabon added I rose hesitatingly and looked at my watch it had turned half past eleven you understand I said in a low voice that the danger is not over if he is left now he will fall asleep in an all human probability will never wake you clearly understand that yes quite clearly I promise you he shall not be allowed to fall asleep again as she spoke she looked at me full in the face for a few moments and I noticed that her eyes had a perfectly normal appearance without any trace whatever of a squint very well I said on that understanding I will go now and I shall hope to find our friend quite recovered at my next visit I turned to the patient who was already dozing and shook his hand heartily good bye Mr. Graves I said I am sorry to have to disturb your repose so much but you must keep awake you know won't do to go to sleep very well he replied drowsily sorry to give you all this trouble I'll keep awake but I think you're mistaken he says it's very important that you shouldn't go to sleep and that I am to see that you don't don't you understand yes I understand but why does it gentlemen now it's of no use for you to ask a lot of questions Mrs. Shalabon said playfully we'll talk to you tomorrow good night doctor I'll light you down the stairs but I won't come down with you or the patient will be falling asleep again taking this definite dismissal I retired followed by a dreamily surprised glance from the sick man the house keeper held the candle over the balusters until I reached the bottom of the stairs when I perceived through the open door along the passage a glimmer of light from the carriage lamps the coachman was standing just outside faintly illuminated by the very dim lamp light and as I stepped into the carriage he remarked in his scotch dialect that I seem to be making a note of it he did not wait for any reply none being in fact needed but shut the door and locked it I lit my little pocket lamp and hung it on the back cushion I even drew the board and notebook from my pocket but it seemed rather unnecessary to take a fresh set of notes and to tell the truth I rather shirk the labor tired as I was after my late exertions besides I wanted to think over the events of the evening while they were fresh in my memory accordingly I put away the notebook filled and lighted my pipe and settled myself to review the incidents attending my second visit to this rather uncanny house considered in leisurely retrospect that visit offered quite a number of problems that called for elucidation there was a patient's condition for instance any doubt as to the cause of his symptoms was set at rest by the effect of the antidotes Mr. Graves was certainly under the influence of morphine and the only doubtful question was how he had become so that he had taken the poison himself was incredible no morphine a maniac would take such a knockdown dose it was practically certain that the poison had been administered by someone else and on Mr. Weiss's own showing there was no one but himself and the housekeeper who could have administered it and to this conclusion all the other very queer circumstances pointed what were these circumstances they were as I have said numerous though many of them seem trivial to begin with Mr. Weiss's habit of appearing sometime after my arrival and disappearing sometime before my departure was decidedly odd but still more odd was a sudden departure this evening on what looked like a mere pretext that departure coincided in time with a sick man's recovery of the power of speech could it be that Mr. Weiss was afraid that the half-conscious man might say something compromising to him in my presence you look rather like it and yet he had gone away and left me with a patient and the housekeeper but when I came to think about it I remembered that Mrs. Shellabomb had shown some anxiety to prevent the patient from talking she had interrupted him more than once and had on two occasions broken in when he seemed to be about to ask me some question I was mistaken about something what was that something that he wanted to tell me it had struck me a singular that there should be no coffee in the house but a sufficiency of tea Germans are not usually tea drinkers and they do take coffee but perhaps there was nothing in this rather more remarkable was the invisibility of the coachman why could he not be sent to fetch the coffee and why did not he rather than the housekeeper come to take the place of Mr. Weiss when the latter had to go away there were other points to I recall the word that sounded like Poland which Mr. Graves had used in speaking to the housekeeper apparently it was a Christian name of some kind but why did Mr. Graves call the woman by her Christian name when Mr. Weiss addressed her formally as Mrs. Shellabomb and as to the woman herself what was the meaning of that curious disappearing squint physically it presented no mystery the woman had an ordinary divergent squint and like many people who suffer from this displacement could my strong muscular effort bring the eyes temporarily into their normal parallel position I had detected the displacement when she had tried to maintain the effort too long and the muscular control had given away but why had she done it was it only feminine vanity mere sensitiveness respecting a slight personal disfigurement might be so or there might be some further motive it was impossible to say turning the question over I suddenly remembered the peculiarity of Mr. Weiss's spectacles and here I met with a real poser I had certainly seen through those spectacles as clearly as if they had been plain window glass and they had certainly given an inverted reflection of the candle flame like that thrown from the surface of a concave lens now they obviously could not be both flat and concave but yet they had the properties peculiar to both flatness and concavity and there was a further difficulty if I could see objects unaltered through them so could Mr. Weiss but the function of spectacles is to alter the appearances of objects by magnification reduction or compensating distortion if they leave the appearances unchanged they're useless I could make nothing of it after puzzling over it for quite a long time I had to give it up which I did the less unwillingly in as much as the construction of Mr. Weiss's spectacles had no apparent bearing on the case on arriving home I looked anxiously at the message book and was relieved to find that there were no further visits to be made having made up a mixture for Mr. Graves and handed it to the coachman I raked the ashes of the surgery fire together and sat down to smoke a final pipe while I reflected once more on the singular and suspicious case in which I had become involved but fatigue soon put an end to my meditations and having come to the conclusion that the circumstances demanded a further consultation with Thorndike I turned down the gas to a microscopic blue spark and betook myself to bed. End of Chapter 3 Part 2