LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1028, 11 October 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

TWELVE OUNCES OF BLOOD. f 44 Dublin University Magazine.”] Concluded. Dr. Featherstone was rapidly bandaging the patient’s arm, when suddenly so suddenly that the Doctor started hack a step—Jacob opened his eyes —sat up in bed, and looked at Tim. An awful look. It seemed to strike Tim to stone, while it evoked a murmured exclamation from those surrounding him. The eyes shone with an indescribable light, as of one aroused from the dead. But with that appalling look, another expression, even more dreadful, mingled For those shining eyes wore a Liiimphant malice so horrible that it could only appear maniacal to the astonished lookers-on; and a sneering smile, ghastly indeed upon tint emaciate countenance, trembled over the thin lips. With an involuntary movement Dr, Featherst ne drew the bed curtains, and so released the others from the sptdl of horror that had fallen upon them Hastily they united their forces, and got Tim out of the r< o n.

4 And you will not let! me kill him !’ cned he, looking round upon them as he stood in the hall, his form distended, and l.is eyes gl >wing like burning coals, with the rage that he held in his breast. '1 he hall door was opened, and Tim was pushed to v; r Is it, with threats of the nolice. Me placed his hands against the lintels of the doorway and planting his feet, made a stand. ■ I’ll tear the house down stone by stone till I get at him !’ he cried, savagely. Dr Featherstone came down stairs, a bank note in his hand. 4 Tim,’ he said, making through the others and going close to him. 1 hen he forced the man to look at him, and by the superior power of his cold eyes, gained attention. 4 You know you are making a fool of yourself, Tim. Now, here is a note for twenty pounds. Will you go away and leave us in peace if I give you this !’ Tim looked into the Doctor’s face and saw no sympathy. His master stood r veiled at that moment—cold, critical heartless, the man of science and knowledge. 4 Why, Tim,’ said he, 4 this wi'l set you up in life. A man like you is king of the

world with twenty pounds in his pocnet. You need not envy that poor sick wretch up stairs, whose money is ustless to him except to pay the doctors with. Now take this and go home quietly, and let me see you looking your elf to morrow morning.’ Without a word < f answer Tim took the money, pock- ted it, and walked down the steps. The door was immediately closed behind him, fur t'nose in hie were only too glad to be rid of him at any price. And Tim, with a twenty-pound Bank of England m>te in his pocket, and rage and fury in his heart, walked through the streets aimlessly. He took the note out again and again and looked at it; that monev must somehow be the key to Jacob’s presence. It was an added power: he must considei how to use it for his own great purpose of revenge. In the meantime, parched with thirst, and having a lordly feeling that he need not grudge a few coppers out of his great wealth, he turned into the first public l ouse he came to, with the idea that a desp draught from a foaming tankard would char hislnain.

Dr Feathestone, meantime, was fully occupied at the bedside of h s patient The sick man had armi ed Ivmaelf. and flung that demoniacal glance upon Tim. but then he had sunk ex .aimed upon the pillow. Soon, however, he again rail ed ; Dr Fiatheratone saw, with eight, that a new vir- r had indeed entered his vei s. The other doctors dropped off one by on ’, congratulating each othe l- up n the remarkable success of the experiment; for the face which had worn the pallor of death was faintly colour- d now with the slowly deepening red of returning life Late in the evening, Jacob fell asleep, and Dr Feather-tone, fee ing that he might now sa ely leave him until the miming. summoned his carnage and returned home to obtain his own much m edt d rtst.

In the morning he inqnl < d before he set out, whether Tim bad icturned : but there had been no sign of him. ‘Run off,’ thought the Doctor; ‘well, perhaps I am best rid of him ; he might prove difficult to manage some day. But I shall miss him ’

The Doctor did not give him another thought (except now and then, when he felt the need of hi' useful factotum) for Tim from his point of view, was qu to big enough to take care of himself, lie went on h>s rounds wiihout any qualms as to where Tim’s un appeased passion might lead him. Jt was the middle of the morning before he arrived at the door of Jacob’s house. The man who opened it to him wore a sacred look. ‘ Sir,’ he said, in answer to the Doctor’s inquiry, ‘ I don’t know what’s come to the master. We w'ere pretty well scared la t night, and the nurse says he won’t stay if it goes on We were all frightened out of our beds with the master halloing, and then he ■at up, cursing and swearing and would hardly keep in bed.' * Humph,’ said Dr. Featherstone, and quickly went up to the sick room. ‘ 1 am perfectly well now, Doctor,’ cried J;.«ob, the minute the do r opened, * I am a new man, I never felt like this in my life before. Why, I could spin like a top, I’m so full of—l don’t know what, I’m d-d if I stop in this bed any longer. Why, I got up and danced last night, and if those men didn’t come and put me back here again I dismissed them all on the spot I wish you’d get me my chequebook, dodo-, if you won’t Jet me g> an’ get it, and I’ll pay their wages and send them packing this very day, the impudent dogs.’ ‘ Feel my pulse,’ he went on, apparently forgetting all about his request; ‘why, its beating like t> n thousand furies. I tell you, last night I could hear my pulse beating all over my body, quite loud, and I felt the blood rush through my veins like living tire —aha! it is glorious ! I say Doctor,’ more qmetly aud fixing an eye of intense cunning sidelong on the Doctor’s face, ‘I say. just te 1 me, did you take enough blood out of that hulking fellow to kill him? Tell me—tell me did you ? Dr Featherstone, who was making notes hurriedly, was aroused by the furious peremptoriness of this inquiry. ‘ t >h dear no !’ he said

* Not!’ and Jacob threw up his arms with a wil I gesture. 4 Then hiing him back and take more—l must have more more—all the blood out of his body I must have. Do, dear doctor—go, go and fetch him. I will make your fortune if you will. And then — then I shall have ray brains, and all the strength of that brute’s body as well. Make haste, Doctor Featherstone—l must have all his blood ! ’ 4 Hut I do not know where he is,’ said the Doctor, quietly. He was writing a prescription, bending over a small table near the bed. In almost the same inst nt that he uttered the words, he experienced a shock, the suddenness of which nearly knocked the breath out < f him. Jacob, in a furious paroxysm of insensate rage, had leaped fiom the bed right upon him, and with all his might endeavoured to strangle him. Luckily Jacob, though filled with a fire that seemed to himself to give the strength of a Hercules, was in reality weak enough, and Doctor Featfin rstoue when he recovered from his surprise, found it no very difficult tusk to disengage the clutching lingers that grasped him he frantic resistance to this utterly exhausted the sick man, and Dr. Featherstone had to lift him bodily into his bed, where he lay with closed ey- a like one spent. Ju*t then the attendant entered the room, tie saw the pos ti m at once. 4 Has he been at you, doctor?’ he asked. 4 Why, he flew at me several tira s last night, and he’s more like a lunatic than anything else. It this goes on—and I think it will, f r it aiu’t delirium like I m used to - you’d better get somebody as understands mid folk to nurse him ’

* Wed, well,’ said Dr Feathers b n , wh > was a little pub out at having the breath startled out of his body and the second hal of this prescription both red out of his It da, 4 wait till to-morrow my good fellow, aud see how he gets on, I hope he’d be much better ' nly do see that he is quit, while I finish th'B.’ Jacob was quiet enough, for he was exhausted. But he recovered only to repeat a similar scene; and when the Doctor had gone, the servants openly called him mad, which infuriated him to such a degree Hut they were thotoughly frightened. 4 What,’ he cried, 4 because I’m a new made man, and my blood boils in my veins so that I’m driven to dance for sheer j *y—yoll lethargic fools that don’t know the meaning of life, y<>u tnink I’m mad.’ Ho continually tried to dress anu go out, iB search of pleasure; and they had to look

him in. The Doctor, coming in the evening, found the room locked ; the patient singing and swearing inside; while the attendant sat outside, ‘ just to hear if he did any harm t > himself.’ Dr. Featherstone did not wonder that the man’s patience had given way, when he went in. It was evident that, at all events f r th- time bring, Jacob’s mind had lost its balance. t ie sent for the other doctors ; two came ; one, the young doctor of speculative mind, who had observed Tim’s sudden rage with wonder and interest. ‘Gentleman,’said the young man, when they had seen Jacob, ‘ you have just put hi# brother’s passion into him ; you have made Tim’s wish a true one, for the blood, heated with a sanguine man’s rage, has become a poison to this differently tempered body.’ But the others smiled and paid but little attention, while Dr Featherstone went on with what he had been saying, ‘ Well, gendemen,’ said the young doctor, you may laugh at the idea, but I have known the milk of a mother thr wn into violent excitement poison her babe, and I believe that this ease is analogous.’

‘But,’ sad Dr Featherstone irurradently, ‘ the man is not dying,’ which iced the y linger doctor. They decided to obta n an attendant aocust rued 1 1 the Insane, to take charge of him, which was done. Rnt Jacob’s shriek# and terri' le cursings during the niirh- : made it imposs hie to keep him in a private house. In a few weeks be was sent to a private lunatic asylum, Or 1 eather<-tone still hoping he would recover. But the physical frame was entirely unequal to support the frenz ed life that coursed through its veins, and the Doctor war not surpris. d to receive an an* nouncement of his death, ab. ut a fortnight after Ids rtm val.

The ca e was dryly marked, ‘ Successful for i-ight weeks.’ in Dr Featherstoue’a note book, and the t hing was done wi h A short time after, he noticed in the daily papers advertisements for Jacob's next of kin Jacob, it appeared, having died intestate, and possessed of considerable property

The Doctor, who had had no news of Tim, though, it his duty to put in a brief adver isoment which would he more likely to catch Tim’s e3’e But neither advertisement had any re ult, and Jacob’s ill-gotten wealth went to Tie Cr wn.

One day -perhaps about a month after his useless a ivertisement-the Doctor, in passing through the war is of a hospital at which he was a consulting physician, was struck by the back ami shoulders of a patient who lay with his face to the wall. Tlu re was something—he knew not what—familiar in the outline. He hesitated - then turned hack and linked at the face. It was im. 'him, and seemingly unconscious. But when the Doctor touched him, the man opened his eyes and recognised him. ‘ Why, Tim,’ said the I >octor, *do you know I ve been trying to find you ?’ * Where’s Jacob ?’ cried l im, feebly ‘ Oh, Doctor, why did you give me that money ? Didn’t you know I could never keep from the drink !’ ‘ Well, you must get better, Tim, for Jacob is dead, and there’s all your money for you at last.’ ‘ Dead ! ’ cried Tim, starting up in bad, and then falling suddenly back. ‘ Has he escaped me ? ’ he exclaimed, feebly. ‘ Come, Tim, forget all that now,’ said the Doctor. But he said no more, for a change in the man’s face showed that he was dying, and in a very few moments all was over. ‘We 1, he was determined to be after Jacob as soon as he could,' said the Doctor, grimly, as he turned away. The doctor of the ward stood at his elbow. ‘A pity a fine fellow like that should drink himself to death,’ he said. ‘These men of fine phisique so often lack the moral character which would make them valuable.’ * True,’ said I *r. Featherstone, and walked on in a brown a inly.