A Modern Wizard Part 48

"He is! But even strong friends.h.i.+ps have a limitation, beyond which they must not be tried. Judge Dudley would strenuously argue that I am innocent of the old charge. His friends.h.i.+p for me, and his pride at winning his first great case, would prompt him thus. But were he to hear your suspicions, like you, he would believe that both women died similarly, and he would not only be apt to accept your theory of Madame's death, but he might also come to think that I had murdered Mabel also."

"So! You admit there is some potency in my charge, after all."

"You would fail with a jury, but you would convince Judge Dudley, and that would forever prevent him from consenting to this marriage. He would move heaven and earth to stop his daughter from marrying the son of one whom he believed to be a murderer. Thus you see the disaster that threatens, if you pursue your course. You would blast the lives of two people, who love one another."

"Duty cannot consider sentiment!" said Mr. Barnes, though in his heart he was already sorry that he suspected, and that he had followed up his suspicion.

"Leon now troubles himself because he does not known who his father is," continued the Doctor, without noticing what Mr. Barnes had said.

"It would be far worse for him to know his father, and then believe him to be a murderer, and even that he had himself supplied a clue against him. It would be too horrible! Agnes too would suffer. She might abandon her love, from a sense of duty to her father, but her heart would be broken, and all the bright promises of her youth crushed. No! No! It must not, it shall not be!" The Doctor became excited towards the end, and Mr. Barnes was startled at his manner.

"What will you do?" he asked, feeling constrained to say something.

"Place myself beyond the reach of the law, as I said before. But not by suicide, as you suggested. Do you not see that my only reason for avoiding the trial which would follow your accusation is, that I do not wish the knowledge to reach those three persons, in whose welfare my whole heart is centred? Suicide would be a confession of guilt. It is the hackneyed refuge of the detected criminal who lacks brains, and of the story writer, who, having made his villain an interesting character, spares the feelings of his readers by not sending him to prison, or to the gallows. Nor do I contemplate flight, because the effect would be the same."

"Then how do you purpose evading the law?" Mr. Barnes was intensely interested, and curious to know the plans of this singularly resourceful man.

"The law cannot reach the insane, I believe," said the Doctor, calmly.

"You surely do not suppose that you can deceive the experts by shamming madness?" asked Mr. Barnes, contemptuously. "We are too advanced in science, in these days, to be baffled long by malingerers."

"Observe me, and you will learn my purpose!"

Dr. Medjora went to a closet and returned with a hammer, a large staple, and a long chain. Mr. Barnes watched him closely, with no suspicion of what was to follow. The Doctor stopped at a point immediately opposite to the door, and stooping, firmly fastened the chain to the floor by nailing it down with the large staple, which was long enough to reach the beam under the boarding. He then stood up again. Taking a hypodermic syringe from his pocket, and also a small phial, he carefully filled the barrel, and was about to inject the fluid into his arm, when Mr. Barnes e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed:

"I thought that you said you would not commit suicide?"

"I have no such intention. In one moment I will explain my purpose to you. Meanwhile watch me!"

With dexterous skill he plunged the point into one of the larger veins, and discharged the fluid carefully, holding a finger over the wound as he withdrew the needle to prevent any escape. If Mr. Barnes was astonished by this, he was more surprised at what followed. The Doctor stooped and picked up the ends of the chain, which the detective now observed terminated in handcuffs. These the Doctor slipped over his wrists, and snapping together the spring locks, thus virtually imprisoned himself.

"What does this mean?" said Mr. Barnes. "I do not understand."

"Of course not," said the Doctor. "You are accustomed to deal with brainless criminals. Despite your boast, science is beyond you. I will explain: My object in thus chaining myself to the floor, is to insure your safety."

"My safety?"

"Yes! In less than half an hour I will be a raving maniac. If not restrained, I might do you an injury."

"Impossible!" cried the detective, incredulous.

"You will see! I ask in exchange for my thoughtfulness in preventing myself from harming you, that when I shall have become irresponsible, you will suggest the idea that I felt this attack of insanity coming on, and took these precautions for the sake of others. Will you do this?"

"Certainly! If----" Mr. Barnes stopped, confused by his thoughts.

"There is no if about this. I do not deal in chances. I have never yet made an error, and you will see that my prediction will be fulfilled.

But time, precious time, is pa.s.sing, and I have much to say before I lose my reason. You have heard of hydrophobia, have you not? And of Pasteur's experiments?"

"Yes! I have read what the newspapers have said."

"The investigators in this field have discovered that the virus of this disease is located in the brain, spinal marrow, and nerves of infected animals. They have also extracted the virus, and by inoculation produced hydrophobia in other animals. Along similar lines I have extensively experimented in connection with insanity. In the first place, I argued that insanity is due to a specific poison, a toxalb.u.men, and that this poison is a result of parasitical action. If I could isolate that poison, and the germ which causes it, I would understand the etiology of insanity. The discovery of an antidote would then be an almost a.s.sured consequence. To be able to cure insanity, would be a proud distinction for the discoverer of the method. I am convinced that I have the secret almost within my grasp.

The preparation which I have injected into my veins is a formula of my own. I have named it 'Sanatoxine'!"

"Sanatoxine?"

"Yes! The word means 'poison to sanity,' and my Sanatoxine will produce insanity, unless I have made some mistake, which is unlikely.

Hereafter, when the proper ant.i.toxine shall have been discovered, it will be a simple matter to cure insanity. The patient will be given a proper dose of Sanatoxine, to convert his malady into a curable form of the disease, and then the ant.i.toxine will counteract the poison which has deprived him of the use of his reasoning faculties."

"If you have made such a wonderful discovery," said the detective, "then you should not destroy your own reason, thereby depriving the world of the benefits of your knowledge. In this you commit a greater crime than that with which you stand charged!"

"Do I? Suicide is a crime within the definitions of the Penal Code, but there has been no enactment against self-inflicted insanity. But I must tell you how Sanatoxine is produced, and then explain how posterity may yet benefit by my discovery. One of the curable forms of insanity is delirium tremens. The worst of these cases are truly maniacal neuroses. I have seen a man die of such an attack, and a few minutes later I removed his brain and spinal marrow. These I macerated, and from them I extracted the virus which is the cause of the malady. I have inoculated the lower animals with it, and I have seen results which satisfy me that my deductions are correct. This cannot be absolutely known, however, until my Sanatoxine is tried on human beings. That important step in the advancement of science has just been made. If I become insane, my theory will have ample proof.

For the future, Leon must complete my work. Among my papers he will find my views and formulas. It is inevitable that he will solve the riddle."

"But you sacrifice yourself, merely to test an experiment? You introduce into your own system a preparation abstracted from such a horrible source! It is fearful to think about!"

"Let me see," said the Doctor, consulting his watch. "Ten minutes have pa.s.sed, and there is scarcely a rise of temperature. Singular!" He mused over the problem for a moment, and a shade of anxiety pa.s.sed across his features, as he murmured, "What if I have made a mistake?

No! No! It is impossible! Utterly impossible!" Rea.s.sured he turned again to Mr. Barnes:

"I mentioned awhile ago that I should need your a.s.sistance. You have said that I make a sacrifice. From the ordinary standpoint that is true, though not from my own. Suicide would have brought me death, an experience for which I yearn, with a longing based upon scientific curiosity, which perhaps you cannot comprehend. But I am equally desirous of knowing by personal experience what it means to be insane.

Death will come to me in time, therefore I need not interfere, but insanity might never have been my lot, had I not pursued the course which I have followed. To-morrow you will be obliged to explain what you have witnessed, and the favor I ask is this. Do not render my self-sacrifice useless, by relating to others those horrible suspicions, the consequences of which I am so desirous of escaping. Be as merciful as the law, and keep silent that the innocent may not suffer. May I count upon you to do this?"

"Dr. Medjora, I cannot yet believe that you will succeed in this horrible experiment; but if you do, of course I would not harm others by arousing useless suspicions. If you escape from the law, you need have no fear of what I should do."

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Again he consulted his watch. "Twenty minutes gone, and still no alteration. What if I should fail? No! No! Failure is impossible! Mr. Barnes, another matter. My son is my natural heir, but I do not wish him to know it. Even without your story, Judge Dudley might hesitate to let Leon marry his daughter, if he knows him to be son of mine. There may be a doubt against me lurking in some corner of his brain, which would be vivified if he learned my secret. You will not reveal it?"

"No!"

"I thank you. The boy will not suffer. I have left a will in his favor, and there is another paper making him the guardian of my estates should I lose my reason. You see I have contemplated my experiment for a long time, and all my preparations are complete. The Judge has arranged to give Leon my name legally. So all will be well!

All will be well! All my plans successful! I lose my reason without complaint! But, time is pa.s.sing, and my reason remains! A horrible thought comes over me! I have made a mistake! By all the eternal torments, I have made a mistake, and here I am chained up so that it is impossible for me to rectify the error! They say I am an egotist, yet I have so little remembered my own mental superiority, that I actually have thought that a dose of Sanatoxine which would unseat the reason of an ordinary man, would effect me. Fool! Fool! Fool! How could I forget that I, Emanuel Medjora, the Wizard, am not as other men? How can my reason be destroyed by so small a dose as that which I have taken? But stop! There may be yet one chance! There may be more in the phial! Where is it?" His excitement increased as he gave vent to his thoughts aloud, as though Mr. Barnes were not present. Now he looked eagerly about, and at last saw the bottle at some distance from him on the floor. Mr. Barnes also saw it, and stepped forward to pick it up. Instantly the Doctor sprang towards him, grasping the hammer which had lain within his reach.

"Touch that phial at your peril!" he screamed. "I will brain you as mercilessly as I would a rat! That phial is mine! Its contents are mine! Valuable only to me and to science! My experiment must succeed!

It must! It must! It shall!"

Glaring at Mr. Barnes, who stood back awed by his threatening att.i.tude, the Doctor moved towards the bottle, but, as he stooped to reach for it, the chains tightened and impeded his progress.

"The chains! I had forgotten the chains! Ha! I have never forgotten before! Perhaps my reason is yielding already! No! No! I feel that I have full sway over all my faculties! I must have that phial!"

He stooped to his knees, and stretched and writhed and twisted, in his efforts to reach the bottle. But ever it was just beyond his grasp.

"I will have it! I will! I will!" he muttered, gritting his teeth with such force that one of them was broken. But he took no heed of the accident. Down on his back he turned, and, by a wriggling motion, soon lay extended at full length, his feet reaching as far as the chains about the wrists permitted, his arms being stretched backward beyond his shoulders. He could now reach the bottle with his feet, but it was impossible for him to see it, the position of his arms rendering it very difficult for him to hold his head and shoulders high enough from the floor, so that his own body would not impede his vision. However, he did accomplish his purpose, and Mr. Barnes was amazed to see him at last clutch the phial with his two feet. Then began a series of contortions which were painful to see. With the utmost care the Doctor drew his feet slowly up, dragging the phial nearer and nearer, meanwhile crying out in a sort of hysteria:

"It is mine! I will have it! I will succeed! The Wizard never failed!

Never! Never! No! No! Never! Never!"

Once, as he moved his feet, the phial slipped from them and rolled away again.

"Come back!" he shrieked. "Come back! Stop! Stop!" he cried, as though addressing a living thing. It ceased to roll, and with a cry of joy he found that he could still reach it. Again he slowly worked it towards him. Inch by inch he managed the coveted phial, until at last he a.s.sumed another position. Springing up from the floor he reached backward with one foot and touched it.

"Now it is mine! Mine! Mine!" His voice was shrill, and there was a pa.s.sionate tone of exultation that smote Mr. Barnes to the heart. It was terrible to stand by and see the desperate effort which this man made to accomplish that from which all men shrink in horror. Slowly the Doctor proceeded with his task, until at last he was able to reach the phial with his hands. Swiftly stooping, as a hawk descends upon its prey, he grasped the little bottle.