DR. SPENCER'S CRIME.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2884, 8 January 1891, Page 4

DR. SPENCER'S CRIME.

I was silting in my ollice, half dozing over an interminable article on nutrition in the last medical review. The fire in the grate was low, the night was stormy, and the clock was just on the stroke of eleven. I was about to turn oft' the gas and retire, for being arbachelor, I slept in the room connected with my ollkc, when there was a pull at the bell. I started up suddenly, for this was something (juite new. Middlebury was a decorous sort of placo, and the people usually managed to bo taken sick at seasonable hours. Old Mrs Jerome had lieen threatening to die for the past five years, and every time I visited her she solemnly informed :ue that when the decisive moment did come aho desired my presence. But as nothing ailed the old lady beyond now and then an indigestion, from too high living, I had never yet been called upon to bo present at her death. Now, I thought it must be that old Mrs Jerome is going. i took up my night lamp and wont to the door. A gust of strong, damp sheet wind nearly extinguished the light but shading it with my hand, I discerned the face of a woman. "Comein," I said holding open the door. She declined with a gesture of impatience. " You must come out, and be quick about it," she said, in a sharp, decisive voice. I put ou my overcoat without demur, locked the surgery door, and stepped into the storm. As I did so the woman laid a firm hand on my arm, and putting her face close to mine, said : " Doctor Lockwood can you kf.p a secret 2" " I think so, madam." " Swear it." "Is this secret of yours of a professional character ? That is, is it anything you wish to confide in me as a medical man ?' "It is." " Very well, then, I swear it." "That is right." Man respects an oath, though why he should is a mystery, since men's mouths are running over with them. " Whither are you taking me, and for what purpose?" '• To the Clifton Houso to see the mistress," was the reply. I started. Clifton House was the old mansion recently taken by Doctor Spencer, a stranger to everyone in Middlebury. Spencer was a tall, dark, rather, distinguished looking person, who had hung out his sign In tho village only a few doors above mine, but as yet he had no practice. IJo was unsociable in tho extreme, avoiding his neighbours persistently, and when lie did speak it was in so curt, half savage a way that no one was likely to prolong the convcr.sa-

The doctor had a wife, it was said, but no one had over scon her. She was an invalid, and Miss Mclrosc, a friend of the family, presided ov-;;r the house, and sat at the head of the table. Miss Melrose was wry beauriful, and won the admiration of all who visited Clifton House by h-.-r e.-iyy and fascinating manner. 1,1 As wo walk along, let mo v> - pla.ii! to you jii!.;t what is necessary for you to know. Mr mistress is vury ill, ' said my companion. "1 beg your pardon -is it Mrs ypencer or Miss Melrosu ?'' ,She. laughed bitterly. " Miss Melrose ! 1 would stab her to the heart sooner than own her for a mistress. My mistress is a lady - noble, royal, and of gentle birth. It is an honour to serve her. " And is she ill? How long since T " Ever since she married him— curse him!" she muttered in a fiercer tone. "But I must not get excited. 1 must tell my story, or rather hers. Two years ago, through the desire of her dying father, .Mice Hondou became James Silencer's wife. ]>c I'lirc l.hrit s;l*i- \v:i'< a hralihv, blooming girl ; irniiiediately after their marriage bhf! Ijegau to fail. Do you see anvlliingsttvuigo in that f " Not m cessarily." •• '.et ui(j enlighten you further. Doctor Spencer was atone time eu gaged to Miss Lucille Mel rose, but he broke the engagement, and married my mistress instead. Miss Melrose was as poor as Job's turkey. Miss Hendon was an heiress, and Doctor Spencer was deeply in debt and hard pressed by his creditors. Do you see anything strange in that'?' , "Perhaps so. Go on."' '•When my mistress married Spencer she was only seventeen, and had been taught to obey her father in everything. She was a gentle, affectionate child, and it would have been easy for .Spencer to have won her love. But he did not care for that. It paid his debts and bought him fast horses; it set his table with nice and costly dishes, and put it in his power to keep Miss Melrose robed like a queen. And all this time my mistress has been slowly but surely sinking, and look not dy ing of disease, but of"- -she lowered her voice to a whispor aw .she ynoko the words " poison !" "Impossible' This is a charge." " Ol poison given her by her hu:, band, who, at her death will have the solo control of her property and be free to marry Miss Meirose. There is no time to explain the details of the thousand anil one i.-ir-cnmstiineos which have led me Id

believe it. Ibr v.e aiv almost. :i( (lie iloor. It is novnr tin: east; that M is.-; Mclroso anil Spencer aro out of tjie house at the sumo time, or I should liave called a physician before, but to-night they are of Miss Melrosc's sister, and called away by the death will not be back until to-morrow. With the consent of my unstress 1 came for you, and oh, Doctor Lockwood, 1 pray you save her. 1 nursed hur when her mother died, and left her a helpless infant: all through hoi , iunoconi youth she wns like an

own child to me ; and now to see her fading hourly before my eves ! (ircat Heaven! If I know beyond a I doubt that he was guilty, his life would pay tin: forfeit." I was already beginning to feel a deep interest in Mrs Spencer, although 1 had never seen her, and like her own nurse I was beginning to feel a deep animosity for I )ootor Spencer. Mrs Spencer received me in her bed-chamber, It was on the second floor, and was furnished with exquisite elegance. Everything in tho room bespoke tho refined taste of tin; occupant. Tho warm air was fragrant with the odour of heliotrope, and glancing round [saw the purple blossoms and green leavps in an alabaster vase on the edge of tho south window.

She was a woman who, once seen, could never be forgotten. F have met in my life many a beautiful woman, but never one ko lovely. She was tall and straight, with a purely oval face, liquid brown eyes, and a dash of hectic in her chrek which is not seen in health. She received me gracefully, as I knew she; did everyone, and though there was a slight embarrassment in her manner when I spoke of her illness, she answered my professional inquiries without hesitation. As for myself, I laid aside all false delicacy and questioned her plainly as to her symptoms. Mrs Hurd, the nurse, remained in the room, and added many important items of information.

When she spoke of her husband it was with a sort of hopeless sadness, which distressed me greatly. Not a breath of suspicion against him was in her answers to ray questions, and I felt sure that at present she knew nothing of such serious apprehensions. I was glad it was so, for, with her finely-strung organisation it might have produced serious results. I made my examination of the patient as closely as I could, and drew my own conclusions. I could have sworn that Mrs Spencer daily swallowed arsenic in small quantities, and the deadly poison was telling on her constitution.

She said, answering my questions, that she had no physician except her husband. He thought himself better acquainted with her case, and therefore better qualified to treat her. He never left medicine for her to take ; he always brought it from his office and administered it promptly. There was little I could do in such a case. Anxious to do everything, the very circumstances of the affair left me nearly powerless. A charge of such nature, of course, I could not make against Doctor Spencer without the'proof. If I hinted a suspicion it would be put down to my professional prejudice ; and if I could not substantiate my statement the doctor could make mo pay dearly for such slander uttered against him. The only dependence seemed to be in Mrs llurd. To her I unbosomed myself freely. I told her without reserve that I thought Dr Spencer was killing his wife by slow poison, and I besought her to constantly watch to save the victim, and discover some proof by which we could fasten the guilt on her husband.

She smiled grimly aud promised obedience, aud 1. gavo her a power ful antidote for the poison 1

suspected, and went homo perturbed and anxious in mind. I did not sleep that night, and all the next clay I was in u, high fever of excitement. A ring at the bell made me tremble—a step on the gravel outside my office stopped my breath, and I hardly knew what I expected to hear. I felt sure I should hear something before I slept. And now I must tell the story as it was told to me.

Doctor Spencer returned home the morning after my visit to the Clifton House. He looked wretched, the nurse said ; appeared gloomy and depressed. Miss Melrose came with him, and looked decorously sad over the death of her sister. Women of her stamp always do mourn to perfection. They never overdo or underdo the thing, as women of feeling arc likely to do.

Doctor Spencer came at once to his wife's chamber. He thought that she looked ill, and prescribed a cordial at once, saying he would go and fetch it.

" You are always ordering cordials for her," said Mrs Hurd musingly. " Why not take something yourself 1 You look like a ghost!" Doctor Spencer eyed her keenly, but replied composedly : <; I think I will take some of the cordial myself, for I do not feel qiiito well. Alice, dear, shall I bring it here and drink your health?"

Mrs Sponcor smiled sadly in assent —she never disputed lior hus-band-—and ho wont out. Presently ho returned with two glasses. Both contained liquor colourless and odourless. Mrs Hurd was watching him with her heart in her throat, for sho told mo that slio lolt llio decbivo nioinunl had come. Tlioro •was something in tho grey palbr in tho doctor's rigid face that told her of it desporato purpose in tho nutu'a soul. Ho lifted tho glass to the right of tho tray and gave it to his wife.

" Drink it, dear,' , he said. " It's a panacea for all evils. lam also to lake a nl it." and he pniiileil to tin'' still on tho tiav.

Mrs Spi'iu.vr m.x-i.-ptoil, and was putting it to her lips when Mrs Hurd interrupted. " if you will bring her a tumbler of water, doctor. Mrs Spencer complains that the cordial leaves a bad taste in her mouth, and my old bones nre so full of rheumatism that it nearly kills me to go downstairs.' .

The doctor turned and bent on hur a look as though he meant to read her through. But she kept her fare passive. If he had any suspicion her manner quieted them,

and putting clown the glass he left the room. Then Mrs Hurd changed the position of the glasses. When he came back—and he was gone but a moment—the nurso stood exactly where he had left her, and Mrs Spencer was lying back in hor chair with her eyes closed. Again he lifted the glass—this time°it was the one intended for himself—and placed it at the lips of his wife. She swallowed tho contents, drank a little of tho water he brought her, and thanked her in her sad, sweet way. "Now for my cordial," he said with afl'ectod gaiety. " I indulge in something stronger." As> he spoke he tossed off the mixture. "It macie me stone cold to my finger's ends to see him do it," said Mrs Hurd, relating the circumstances to me, " but as Heaven is my witness I felt no conscience. I argued like this : [ If it was simply cordial it would do no harm ; if it was poison his blood would be upon his own sensual head/ "'

He vent to bed half an hour afterwards, complaining of fatigue. In the morning they found him dead. I was called to the post mortem examination, and we found in the stomach of the deceased a sufficient quantity of a deadly poison known to modern science to kill half a dozen men. My brother physicians agreed that the man was insane, and had probably taken the dose in one of his unsettled fits of mind. I did not dispute them, but, when even Mrs Hurd, told hor story, I had my own theory as to the cause of death.

Miss Melrose, in spite of my conviction that she had an activepait in the conspiracy against Mrs Spencer's life, I could not help pitying. Such a miserable, worn and haggard face as hers I have never seen, and when they buried Doctor Spencer she was confined to her bed with, brain fever.

I attended her in her illness, but, though she recovered in health, she was never herself again. She was a harmless maniac, whose delight was in gathering flowers and decorating the doctor's grave with them. She is living still, and still gathers flowers and lays them on that grave, singing to herself a low incantation which no one ever pretends to understand. Not until Mrs Spencer had many days been my wife, and the faithful Mrs Hurd slept under the violets, did Alice know the perfidy of her former husband. When I told her, after the first shock was over, she crept into ray arms and whispered: " But if it had not been for Sir James' crime, I should not have found you Herbert. So good sometimes come out of evil."