THE TIMES, NEW BLOOMFIELD, 1A.. , SEPTEMBER 21, 1880.
THE DOCTOR'S STORY,
on .
A Bride From the Grave.
.. t ONCLVDEl). ' j ',
BY the tnanoouvres of mamma,; who
Is a great matchmaker, In the very
year of ruy debut in London she con
trived, I scarcely know how, to have
me engaged to a mart for whom I cared
nothing then, aud O, how much less
now! A young girl of eighteen, his
presence dazzled, his attentions flattered
me, and that was the whole matter. I
tolerated him. I have done all I can to
delay the marriage for many months by
feigning illness; but papa and mamma
nay that to make a regular break ofF will
prove such an esclandre In society. ; Vet
Is my life, all my future, to be sacrificed
for the myth we call society V I foresee
too clearly what my fate will be, to pass
through existence unloving and unlov
ed ? but It is Heaven's will, or rather
mamma's pleasure." i
" O, that I were rich, Gertrude, or
that men could not stigmatize me as an
adventurer and fortune-hunter, as they
will If I I " '
"Did what?" .
"Proposed the alternative. "
" Fear nothing, Fred, but speak.' I
need advice."
The sound of my name on her lips
the In tense sweetness of her eyes and
sorrow of her air, rendered me blind to
all but her beauty, her love, and the
passion that was In my own heart, and
oblivious of those who might be passing
near--and afterwards we had soon cruel
reason to believe that we were not only
seen but watched, as it was quite un
usual for her to be out a-foot and alone"
I told her that If she would rely upon
my affection and honor, on the love
with which she had already Inspired
me, it would be the duty of my life to
render hers happy j that I would save
her from the delusive snare called "so
ciety, " and the thraldom of her proud
old father and calculating mother. Of
c ourse I didn't call them so to her. I
spoke with boldness, decision and facil
ity, for love and passion lent me power.
I looked into her eyes, and saw an
auswerlng light; but she answered, pale
and trembling : - "' ' ''' ' ,
' " You are poor, you say, Fred. Now
papa is rich, and ambitious of being
richer.' Alas,' you must be satisfied
with-" ' '. ''
"What? Your friendship? : O Ger
trude, can you speak so coldly and to
me?"
Her tears fell fast.:
"You overrate my powers of endur
ance. To be your friend, and even that
only in secret to see you, after your
avowal to me, the wife of another, per
haps, rendering all my existence here
after a blank." "
"I do not mean that, Fred. Alas, I
know not what I do mean," she added,
weeping so bitterly that my heart was
pained. ' ' ; :
" Mean say that you will be mine,
and not the wife of this mysterious
other.1'
" To-morrow I shall be here again
to-morrow shall end all !" " '
She held up her sweet face; no one
seemed near. With the speed of thought
I pressed my lips to hers for the first
and last time on this side of the grove,
as it proved and we separated in a
tumult of joy. ' , .
Next day I kept my appointment
without fall, but not without difficulty,
a.3 I had a long and troublesome opera
tion to perform in a totally different
direction, near kringdon Street. I
waited till I could linger no longer, and
quitted the ptrk slowly, filled by doubts
and dread, and by the hope that visitors
something unavoidable anything but
illness, caprice, or change of mind bad
prevented my bright Gertrude from
meeting me.
The morning of the second day brought
me a note from her, dated from St.
George's Place. ' "
A note I ' "; -; "
We had met again and again by ar
rangement, but never had I got a note
from her, and I read and kissed it a
score of times, and committed many
other absurdities while studying the bad
writing, which somehow seemed totally
' unlike that of a lady; but then poor
Gertrude had never ventured to write to
me before. " '
It contained but three lines, snyicg
that the was unable to meet me as usual,
for reasons I should learn if I would call
and see her after luncheon time, as papa
and mamma had left town, and she
s should be quite alone. ;-. . ,
- The boldness of this proceeding was so'
altogether unlike her, and so strange,
that my mind became filled with .vague
fears of some impending calamity, and I
counted every moment till with a heart,
the pulses of W'lalcii certainly beat 'fast,
I rang the sonorous bell at the door of
the lofty house in St. George's Place,
then a more fashionable locality than
now, for the houte Itself Is changed Into
a public building, I had neve before
entered it but once, though many a
promenade I had made before its stately
plate-glass windows, In hopes of obtain
lug a glimpse, however brief, of her I
loved so dearly. ,'
. " Jeanies" lie of the calves and
whiskers opened the door rather wider,
I thought, than before, and his usual
stolid and stupefied Visage wore a Btrange
expression. That might all have been
fancy, for he could hot know the secrets
of his mistress. I warily did not ask for
her; but on giving my card, Inquired
for Sir Perclval Chalcot, or either of the
ladles, certain that she I wanted alone
was "at home."
The tall loafer In livery bowed, and
ushered me up the great etuircase again ;
butlnBteadof opening the door of the
glittering drawing-room, where I ex
pected to be met by the beaming face,
the tender eyes and radiant figure of her
I loved, I was shown Into the library,
and found myself face to face ' with the
baronet himself.
He looked as high-nosed and aristo
cratic as ever, and, moreover, as grim,
and pale, aud stern as death. He barely
acknowledged my somewhat bewildered
bow 1 felt conscious that I had not
been sent for professionally and Instead
of asking me to be seated, he took a
chair himself, and left me standing
opposite. Folding one leg over the
other, and putting the tips of his fingers
together, as he lay back, and mostly
looking up to the celling .
"Sir," said he, "my son has, doubt
less, Informed you In his note of this
morning that I wished to see you i"'
; "Your son, Sir Perclval I received
no note from him I" I replied, in utter
bewilderment. "If Miss Chalcot Is
indisposed " ' , .
" Do not dare to name Miss Chalcot,
fellow I She Is by this time in France."
"In France?" I repeated, faintly,
aud with a sinking heart.
" Yes ; and beyond the reach of beg
garly adventurers and chevaliers d'in
diiBtrie." (So the letter had been a forgery by
the brother a lure for me.) I
" Listen to me, sir, and attend," said
the old man, gravely and calmly, "for
this Is the last time I shall ever degrade
myself by addressing so contemptible a
tricksterl" " ' ' '
" Trickster, Sir Perclval I" I exclaim
ed. " Your Injurious language "
' I said trickster," he continued with
a mock bow. ' "All has now been dis-
covered ; the secret meetings ' in the
park, the artful plans you have laid to
worm yourself into the ' affections of a
silly and wealthy young girl, luring her
heart from the man the gentleman, I
mean she Is to marry ; causing the
delay of the marriage ; making scandal
and gossip even among the menials of
my own household. ' Miss Chalcot, sir,
has been sent to the Continent, and I
hereby Inform you that if you venture
to follow, to trace, to speak with, or to
write to her, this is but a ' small install
ment of what Is in store for you 1" ;
And ere I could think or act, the
savagely-proud old man had snatched
up a heavy rldlng-whip that lay at
hand, and dealt me two severe cuts
fairly across the face, almost laying . it
open, as if with a sword bladeJ
" Madman 1" I exclaimed ; "dare you
strike me V" " ." ." .
" I have struck you twice, sir," said
he, with a disdainful smile, as he reseat
ed himself.
' You are old, and your white hairs
protect you ; but you have a son, and
I'll have him out at Chalk Farm," It
was really Chalk Farm . then "and
and but 0 heaven ! he Is the brother
of Gertrude 1"
" Bah I I thought so, you presumptu
ous beggar ; Go go 1 or I shall chastise
you again. Go, I say 1 and remember
well my words and my warning I",
I was trying to say something--!
know not what when the door opened,
and his son appeared, with several ger-
vants, and before I could speak, I was
thrust, dragged, beaten by many
clenched hands, and forcibly expelled
yea, literally spurned into the publio
street I, Frederick Morrison, Mj. D.
, K!ght well did they know, old Chalcot
and his son that the ; very magnitude
and depth of the insult to which they
subjected me would protect them, and
that, for her sake, tbey might have torn
me limb from limb without revenge on
my part. Yet every nerve and fibre
tingled with shame and passion as-I
crossed the street; and while endeavor
ing to conceal my discolored and lacer
ated face by my handkerchief,; Bought
the seclusion of the park opposite, going
to the very place where I was wont to
meet my lost Gertrude, and where the
charm of her presence seemed to hover
a till.
i There I remained fur some hours in a
state difficult to conceive. The insults
to which I had been subjected drove me
to the verge of insanity. My situation
was unique, and I cannot now analyze
or describe all the emotions that surged
through my brain memory furnishes
nothing that will connect, them. But
there were rage and shame, grief, hatred
and love aud sorrow. It was here but
yesterday she had said, prophetically,
'to-morrow shall end all."
And all was ended, Indeed t
France! she was In France; there
would I follow her, and yet be revenged
Upon them all. I started up to seek old
Crammer, and resign my situation as
assistant. .
The afternoon was far advanced, and
many a patient must have been sorely
neglected by that time. But what cared
I If the world had burst like a bombshell
beneath my feet ? I sought the house
In Bedford Street, with the red bottle In
the fanlight to find that its crimson
glow paled beside the hue of Crammer's
face. He was literally boiling and chok
ing with indignation at me.
He had received due information of
my "insolence aud presumption" from
Sir Perclval ; was desired to send In his
account, and appear at the house no
more. Thus his most aristocratic
patients were lost to him forever.
Ere I could speak, he took the initia
tive, and dismissed me, and that night
found me iu a humble residence, near
the temple, with a few pounds In my
purse, my worldly goods a portmanteau
and a few medical books ("Bell on the
Bones"), seeking to soothe my thoughts
by the aid of an execrable cigar and a
little weak braudy and water.
The bright bubble had burst 1 I had
lost Gertrude, and she, being facile, or
having little will of her own, on finding
that Bhe had lost me, would too' proba
bly make peace with her own family by
fulfilling the engagement that was so
odious to her.
As this conviction forced itself upon
me, I could have wept ; then I would
start up, and mutter of going to France
ere It might be too late ; but I had ' no
money, and traveling in those pre-rail-
way time was not the cheap luxury It Is
now. Moreover, I knew not how or
where to seek her and while doubts
grew thus, and time went on, I might
lose her forever.
The result of all this was that the next
day saw me In a raging fever, and
months elapsed ere I was convalescent.
For some time after ' Bonse returned I
knew not where I was, or what had
happened to me. Close by the table sat
a familiar figure in his shirt-sleeves,
smoking, and occasional taking a pull
at a pint of stout. The pleasures he
varied by reading aloud from a med
ical work, on pharmacy apparently,
and breaking into a scrap from a song
thus r '
"'Pluinbl subaceli an aqueous solu
tion of the salt thus produced with the
acetate and oxide of ' lead. A dense,
clear liquid. Colorless, odorless, ' and
slightly alkaline in taste. Produces a
white coating on glass.' Plumbi mbacet
that's the ticket! ' ' ,
" 'Sodce chloratce : a solution of car
bonate of soda, after the absorption of
chlorine gas. A clear liquid, and color
less. Odor' " : . ,
Bob Bob Asher!" said I, in a faint
voice, and he started at once to my bed-
side ; and from him I got a history - of
how ill I had been, and how he had
been ray chief attendant ; how sore
trials had come upon himself, and that,
by his father's failure, he was at. the
lowest ebb now for funds, he had be
taken himself to study, and meant to
pass now
" But who the deuce is this Gertrude
of whom you have been raving for weekB
past? Not she 'of Wyoming' eh,
Fred?"
I told him my story, and he was ex
cessively Indiguaut.
Why, death alive 1" said he, " Chal
cot is only a baronet, and in the civil
line of precedence that is pretty like a
full corporal in . the army the Becond
round of the long ladder of rank. I'd
have chucked the old beggar over his
own window!"
" Not if you loved his daughter, Bob,"
said I, mournfully.
"Well, no, perhaps."
"And you are reading up I1"
" Hard, Fred. I am doing the ' Modi
fied Examination' in pharmacy, and
thiuk I shall pass now."
I had been three months ill.' Three
months! Bob told me that the ',' Chal-
cot's town house was still shut up, and
no one knew in what part of the Conti
nent they were traveling. Our separa
tion seemed confirmed now. The dread
of never again beholding that sweet face.
with the bright eyes and . the pretty
crape bonnet, grew strong within me
and the idea that she might already
have become the wife of another added
to my torture of mind.
But lack of funds compelled me to
bestir myself anon, and through Bob's
kind offices and my own known , skill
While attending la the hospitals, I was
fortunate euough to , obtain temporary
employment with Professor Sir
then the most celebrated anatomical
lecturer in England, as an under demon
etrator, my duties, as I may Inform the
uninitiated, consisted to a great extent
in the preparation of the various sub
jects for minute dissection prior to his
lectures; and during the hot weather in
London, I know of no task more nau
seous, repulsive or typhoid in its
chances and nature. However, such
work Is m necessary for the progress of
science and the conversation of life and
health in others, as the terrible task of
procuring the necessary subjects was
then when the tables of anatomical
theatres and dlB9ectlng-rooms depended
mostly if hot solely, on the results -of
felony often murder and the abduo-
tlon of the tenants of . the tear-bedewed
grave an abduction in many Instances,
happily, never known to relatives.
The duties assigned to me at the rooms
ofBlr brought me in contact,
under cloud of night, with wretches
whose character was revolting, and
caused me to shudder. Scores of bodies
were brought me valued at from five
to twenty guineas each. ,
Use and wont Is everything, and by
me at that tlmo they were viewed as
coolly and callously as we may the lish
that He on marble slabs In the curer's
window. ...
Weary with a long day'B work at the
dissecting-room, I had retired to my
little lodgings, and thinking sadly over
the bright past that could come no more,
I felt disposed to ask heaven, upbrald
lngly, why I had ever been cast under
the spell of Gertrude, when I was
startled by the unusual sound of car
riage wheels stopping before my humble
place. There were steps on the rickety
stairs, and to my astonishment the pro
fessor entered, and shutting the door,
said he wished to speak to me alone,
as he had suddenly "an expedition" to
suggest to me one that would require
decision and care , to carry out, as so
many morbid and vulgar rumors of
violated graves were abroad, and the
Buspected, if caught, had but email
chance of mercy from the mob.
" But Sir , surely you don't
expect me to go on such an errand ?" I
asked, with an Incredulous smile.
' By Jove, but I do!'!. said he, laugh
ing. " I have frequently done so, when
a student here, in many a fetid London
burying-ground, now closed up or built
over ; but this is a most particular case
a subject we must positively have for
demonstration, aud, if possible, to skele
tonize afterwards." . .
" Is It peculiar then ?" .... j ...
"Most peculiar I" ' ' ...
My curiosity Was excited. , .
"Where Is the burying ground?" I
asked.
"At B -, eight miles from town
No 'outrage,' as they call it, has occur
red there. . The place is us watched and
open, Would go with you myself but
two, you see should be just in Hie way.
Yesterday an . old woman was burled
there. Cholera, they tay, caused her
death ; but anything is called cholera
now. She was fifty-elght years old, and
known well iu the nelghboohood for a
singular malformation of the ; spinal
column, and I must have that portion
of ber for my museum ; but as . the old
dame will not be very heavy, you may
as well bring the whole of her. .Young
PhoBfat, so long my assistant, who has
the practice there, has . w ritten me all
about it. Take a trap and Bob Asher
with you he's game for any thing-
to-morrow afternoon, and . if you can,
manage the matter without fuss. We'll
call her an old Dutch woman in the
class, Bay she came pickled in a cask
from Holland."
The whole affair was a little exciting,
bo the high spirits of , Bob Asher, who
had frequently been engaged in such
affairs in the churchyards of Edlnburg,
decided me at once. We engaged a dog
cart, took large overcoats with us, as the
nights were chilly, a- cloak, a, coll of
rope, heavy sticks, and even a brace of
pistols for an extreme emergency,
which I prayed devoutly might not
occur, and we soon left Loudon behind
us.
Tom Phosfat was duly prepared by a
letter from the professor for our arrival,
He was a bachelor, and made us thor
oughly welcome, so we had supper and
a glass of grog with him ; I should
rather say several glasses of grog too
many for the work we were on. How
ever, we set out at midnight for the
churchyard, which stood apart from the
village, on the borders of a wide waste
common, dark, secluded among trees
and lonely.,
The night was gloomy and starless,
and not a sound was heard not even
withered leaf whirled by the passing
wind as we left the horse . and trap
under a high hedge, and vaulted over
the low churchyard wall. My heart
beat quickly, all the more so that Tom'i
brandy had been pretty potent.
The mouldering tombstones,haIf sunk
In the long reedy grass, and tossing
nettles, studded all the mournful place,
God's Acre . seemed very solemn that
night. , The lonely old church, old as
the days of the third Edward, half, hid
den by ivy, and spotted . by Jiuchens
raised Us square Norman tower against
the vapor-laden sky, and quaint heads
and demon faces were peeping out of the
mouldings and gurgoyles upon us.
"You know the grave, Phosfat?'
said I.
" Yes huhthlg must be It. There
In the ground,"
hnd Imbibed too
much. ,
This seems the burial place of
wealthy people," gald Bob Asher. " The
Id dame must have had money to
spare." , . ,
" By Jove, It Is open I" said I. in a
low whisper. .' ' ' .- i ; .
"It has not been quite filled up
boards are over it ; only some branches
and soil thrown In. How la this?"
" The bricking of the vault has been
postponed till to-morrow," said Bob
Asher, shovelling out tho debris. "We
have no time to lose, Fred.; Shall we
break open the top of the coffin, aud use
the rope to pull up the subject by the
neck ? That was the way with Knox'a
fellows in Edlnburg." J. i 1
, " Nay," said I, "by such a process the
spinal column may be disturbed; and
that won't suit the , professor's pur
pose." '
Look round, find listen well; here
goes then," and half leanl ng the coffin
on its side, Bob and Tom, by inserting
their shovels under the lid, burst it with
a hideous jarring sound, and then the
ghostly tenant was seen, enveloped In a
shroud of white from head to foot ; and
even to us, prepared as we were for it,
that figure had something horrible in
its angular rigidity. Muffling it In the
dark cloak, I cast it over my shoulder,
and deposited it in a sitting position
the rigot mortis had passed away appar
entlybetween the seat and splashboard
of the trap. My companions meanwhile
rearranged the grave and coffin as we
had found them. .. Voices and lights
now scared us. ' Phosfat ' was so tipsy
that I had to leave Bob Asher to take
care of him ; and casting our shovels
and rope into a clover field, I drove at a
breaking pace towards London,' intense
ly anxious to reach the professor's
house before day should dawn, lest the
police or a passer-by might detect some
thing wierd in the person who wbb my
companion. It seemed to me that we
had not proceeded ' a ' mile lownward,
between hedgerows, when the waning
moon, hitherto invisible, began to glim
mer over Hampstead, shedding a ghost
ly farewell ray upon the silent country,
where not a dog barked. . . , -. ;; ;
A strange sound, like the murmur of
a voice, came to my ear at times. . Was
it a pursuit? Hooked anxiously back,
and even pulled, up for au Instant.
Behind all . was . silence but O, al
mighty heaven I what was this t The
old woman -was moving her feeble
hands essayed to lift the cloth that cov
ered her face! "A wild spasm of terror
contracted my heart and any one but a
meuicai man, i am assureu, wouiu nave
abandoned the trap and an adventure so
terrible', but the Idea of a recovery from
trance immediately flashed upon - my
mind, and my first thought . was; the
professor would not get the prized verte
bra; , after all. I lifted the almost inani
mate woman beside 'me, and-, felt, that
she was warm, fleshly too, and had re
turning pulse, which the motion of the
trap accelerated. '. I uncovered her face
that she might respire, and a wild cry
escaped me--a cry that rang far over the
heath. ,,- j . .i - ,, r 1
' Heavens ! Was I going mad outright?
She was Gertrude Gerture Chalcot
pale as death could make her, yet living
still, her hazel eyes lurid and sunken,
her dark hair fulling about her face.
All that followed was like ,a swift
nightmare; the drive to town, muffled
in my overcoat and cloak ; the abandon
ment of the trap in the street ; her con
veyance In secret to my lodgings, and
placing her cosily in my own bed till I
could get her other quarters and attend
ance. Luckily, Bob Asher, and the
professor too. came about midday,, or I
should soon nave been fit for Hanwell.
'-.
How all thia came to pass was very
simple, : Unwedded still, she had re
turned with her family to England in
wretched health ; her illness took a
more serious form, and would seem to
have culminated in a species of trance,
with the medical technicalities of which
it might be wearisome to trouble the
reader. Suffice It, that the alarm of
cholera was abroad, as, perhaps,, in too
many other cases, hastily and. prema
turely ; hence the vault being left . un
finished, permitted her to respire, and
our adventure a mistake, by the way
ended in her rescue, though a horror of
what her fate might have been filled my
heart, and for a long period we . were
compelled to conceal from ber the awful
place In which she was found. '
Under our united care she recovered
fast. ; But my Space ia short, i
Sweet is the union of lovers after a
separation; but with all its charm,
much that was sad, startling and even
terrible, mingled with ours.' - She was
mine now. Not even that proud and
cruel father, who had so fiercely spurned
me, could dispute the claim, I thought.
Mine O, how strangely and how terri
bly mine I
The dote of the year found us mar
ried, Bob Asher acting as groomsman-
with great eclat. Sir took me
as a purtner, and for a month I went
with my bride to Baden. There, one
day, at the table d'hote, she fouud her
self face to fuce with ber own parents.
The alarm, the consternation, tho scene
proved frightful ', but all ended in a
complete reconciliation, and Christmas
day caw ui alt happy at Chalcot Park,
and I felt, on seeing my blooming Ger
trude, in all the epleudor of her beauty,
opening the yearly ball, that I could,
with a whole heart forgive even her
father for hi pride and fury ou the day
that saw us separated.
s no other new one
tuttered Toiii, who