第74章 MAURICE KIRKWOOD'S STORY OF HIS LIFE(10)

"Is it probable that time and circumstances will alter a habit of nervous interactions so long established?We are disposed to think that there is a chance of its being broken up.And we are not afraid to say that we suspect the old gypsy woman,whose prophecy took such hold of the patient's imagination,has hit upon the way in which the "spell,'as she called it,is to be dissolved.She must,in all probability,have had a hint of the 'antipatia'to which the youth before her was a victim,and its cause,and if so,her guess as to the probable mode in which the young man would obtain relief from his unfortunate condition was the one which would naturally suggest itself.

"If once the nervous impression which falls on the centre of inhibition can be made to change its course,so as to follow its natural channel,it will probably keep to that channel ever afterwards.And this will,it is most likely,be effected by some sudden,unexpected impression.If he were drowning,and a young woman should rescue him,it is by no means impossible that the change in the nervous current we have referred to might be brought about as rapidly,as easily,as the reversal of the poles in a magnet,which is effected in an instant.But he cannot be expected to throw himself into the water just at the right moment when the 'fair lady'of the gitana's prophecy is passing on the shore.Accident may effect the cure which art seems incompetent to perform.It would not be strange if in some future seizure he should never come back to consciousness.But it is quite conceivable,on the other hand,that a happier event may occur,that in a single moment the nervous polarity may be reversed,the whole course of his life changed,and his past terrible experiences be to him like a scarce-remembered dream.

"This is one,of those cases in which it is very hard to determine the wisest course to be pursued.The question is not unlike that which arises in certain cases of dislocation of the bones of the neck.Shall the unfortunate sufferer go all his days with his face turned far round to the right or the left,or shall an attempt be made to replace the dislocated bones?an attempt which may succeed,or may cause instant death.The patient must be consulted as to whether he will take the chance.The practitioner may be unwilling to risk it,if the patient consents.Each case must be judged on its own special grounds.We cannot think that this young man is doomed to perpetual separation from the society of womanhood during the period of its bloom and attraction.But to provoke another seizure after his past experiences would be too much like committing suicide.

We fear that we must trust to the chapter of accidents.The strange malady--for such it is--has become a second nature,and may require as energetic a shock to displace it as it did to bring it into existence.Time alone can solve this question,on which depends the well-being and,it may be,the existence of a young man every way fitted to be happy,and to give happiness,if restored to his true nature."XX.

DR.BUTTS REFLECTS.

Dr.Butts sat up late at night reading these papers and reflecting upon them.He was profoundly impressed and tenderly affected by the entire frankness,the absence of all attempt at concealment,which Maurice showed in placing these papers at his disposal.He believed that his patient would recover from this illness for which he had been taking care of him.He thought deeply and earnestly of what he could do for him after he should have regained his health and strength.

There were references,in Maurice's own account of himself,which the doctor called to mind with great interest after reading his brief autobiography.Some one person--some young woman,it must be--had produced a singular impression upon him since those earlier perilous experiences through which he had passed.The doctor could not help thinking of that meeting with Euthymia of which she had spoken to him.Maurice,as she said,turned pale,--he clapped his hand to his breast.He might have done so if be had met her chambermaid,or any straggling damsel of the village.But Euthymia was not a young woman to be looked upon with indifference.She held herself like a queen,and walked like one,not a stage queen,but one born and bred to self-reliance,and command of herself as well as others.One could not pass her without being struck with her noble bearing and spirited features.If she had known how Maurice trembled as he looked upon her,in that conflict of attraction and uncontrollable dread,--if she had known it!But what,even then,could she have done?Nothing but get away from him as fast as she could.As it was,it was a long time before his agitation subsided,and his heart beat with its common force and frequency.

Dr.Butts was not a male gossip nor a matchmaking go-between.But he could not help thinking what a pity it was that these two young persons could not come together as other young people do in the pairing season,and find out whether they cared for and were fitted for each other.He did not pretend to settle this question in his own mind,but the thought was a natural one.And here was a gulf between them as deep and wide as that between Lazarus and Dives.