Part 39 (2/2)
”This is incredible!”
”I have now related all that the modern scientists have recorded up to the present date, and when I tell you that all of this, and very much more than is at present recognized, was known to me twenty years ago, you will see that my claim that I am twenty years in advance of my generation is well founded. I shall not enter into the many theories advanced to explain the phenomenon of acquired immunity from disease, because it would be unprofitable to take up such a discussion, while you are waiting to hear what concerns you more closely. Suffice it to say, that various scientists have learned that immunity may be produced in a previously susceptible animal by the injection of various preparations. But in each instance, the injection is expected to produce immunity from only one disease. My own studies were at first in this direction, and I have succeeded not only in learning how to prevent each malady separately, but what is far better, I have discovered a method by which I can render an individual immune to all zymotic diseases.”
”Then, indeed, are you a wizard!”
”Yes, because I do that which transcends the powers and knowledge of my fellows! But mark my prophecy! Just so surely as the scientific investigators of to-day have learned what I knew twenty years ago, so will the investigators of the future master the secrets which now are known only to myself. I am a wizard, perhaps, but I am a modern wizard. There is nothing of the supernatural about my methods. But now let me be more explicit. What Chauvau did with sheep, I have done with the human being.”
”What! You have dared to make such an experiment?”
”Dared? Emanuel Medjora dares all things, in the pursuit of knowledge!”
The man had arisen as he warmed to his subject, and now, as he drew himself up erect, he towered over the Judge as a giant might.
”Listen, and be convinced. I discovered a precious preparation, which, if injected at the proper time would, in my opinion, bring me the consummation of my dreams. A single fluid, which would produce immunity from all diseases. Just after you had procured my acquittal, and thus saved me and my learning for the benefit of the world, you were kind enough to intrust me with the care of your wife's health.”
”I had no hesitation in doing so. I had faith in you.”
”The result has shown that your faith was well founded. At the proper time, I injected the preparation which I had formulated, into the arm of your wife.”
”You did that?”
”I did. You will recall the fact that from being feeble she began to gain strength. Periodically I repeated my injections, and renewed vigor coursed through her system.”
”You certainly worked wonders. I distinctly remember that I marvelled at the improvement which followed your treatment.”
”In due season you were presented with a daughter. A beautiful, baby girl!”
”My little angel Agnes!”
The Judge spoke softly, and with tenderness. In fancy he looked back to the day when the nurse brought him the little cherub, newly arrived, and he felt again the tightening of his heart-strings which told him that he was a father.
”You held the babe in your arms,” said the Doctor, ”and you, as well as all the others, recognized that it was an exceptional infant. But none of you guessed that a child had been born, who, like Chauvau's lambs, would be immune to all disease!”
”Do you really mean that you accomplished that almost incredible miracle?” exclaimed the Judge, as at last he perceived the nature of the claim upon Agnes, which the Doctor was endeavoring to establish.
”Do you doubt it? Glance back over her career. Remember the various climates that she has visited; the many epidemics which she has pa.s.sed through in safety. Yellow fever in Memphis, small-pox in the Indies, and several seasons of diphtheria at home, here in New York. She has been near typhoid and scarlet fever; la grippe has visited us twice in epidemic form, and is carrying off hundreds at this very time. Can you recall a day in all her life, when Agnes has been ill? No! You cannot!” The Doctor's tone was triumphant. The Judge's reply was low.
”Providence has certainly blessed her with remarkable health,” he murmured.
”Providence?” exclaimed the Doctor, pa.s.sionately. ”No! Not Providence, but I! I, Emanuel Medjora, the Wizard! I have blessed her with her wonderful health! To me she owes it all! I claim her! She is as much mine as yours!”
He was grandly dramatic as he uttered these words, but, marvelling as he did at what he had heard, the Judge was not yet ready to yield.
This iteration of the fact that he claimed Agnes, aroused the father's antagonism, and, in an almost equally imperious tone, he sprang to his feet and cried:
”No! She is mine! I am her father, and she is mine! All mine! I deny your claim, and Wizard though you be, I defy you!”
The two men glared at each other for a moment, and then the Doctor spoke suddenly.
”You defy me! Ha! Ha! Ha!” His laugh rang through the chamber with a weird sound. ”Agnes is yours! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Again the laugh, prolonged and piercing. In an instant his manner changed. Grasping the Judge by the arm, he said: ”Come with me!” then half dragged him towards, and through the door that led into the laboratory.
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