Part 48 (1/2)
”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'!”