A HEAD OF DEATH.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3055, 13 February 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

A HEAD OF DEATH.

a physician's kemarkable story. This is a story that Dr. Clarke Forster told after dinner: I had had a busy morning—some twenty patients, one on the heels of another —and now that the last had departed, and noon was long past, I began to think hungrily of my luncheon. But just as I got up to leave my consulting-room, my servant entered and handed me a visiting card, upon which was engraved the name "Mr Alexander Carathwaite." " There can be but one Alexander Carathwaite," I thought, " and he is Alexander Carathwaite, the American iron king and millionaire." " Show him in," I said to my servant.

The person who presently seated himselt opposite me struck me as a singularly healthy - looking invalid—tall, robust, with a clear ruddy skin, and a bright gray eye. However, " What is the trouble V' >1 asked.

"Well," ho answered, "it's a queer case; but, to put it briefly, I am afraid the trouble's here," and he tapped his forehead. " Let me hear your symptoms." " It's a long story," said he, " and I must begin at the beginning."

Then he plunged his hand into an interior pocket of his coat and brought forth a small tissue paper parcel. " This," he explained, as he unwound the paper, " is rather a valuable antique. It came as a present to my wife the other day from the Earl of Salchester, whom we entertained when he was in America a year or so ago. As you see, it's a mirror. The glass is believed to be a specimen of mediaeval Venetian work, and the frame is unquestionably a magnificent bit of cinquecento."

The whole affair was no bigger than a lady's hand. The glass, unusually thick and fluted round the edge, was veined and spotted and bleared over with a fine bluish mist, like the eve of an aged man. The frame was indeed magnificent. Oval in shape, and apparently of pure gold—so soft, at any rate, that you could have indented it with your finger nail—it was sculptured with no fewer than five exquisite nude female figures, disporting themselves in fantastic but graceful attitudes amid a profusion of delicately chiselled fruits and and leaves. Three of these figures reclined upon tiny gold couches, in each of which was set a lustrous ruby; the other two rode upon conventionalised lions, and each lion held a pearl between his teeth. At the base a pair of dolphins twisted their tails together, and formed the handle. Upon a scroll at the handle end were incised the date, 1561, and the initials E. D. " It is a beautiful piece of work," said I, laying it aside, " and I envy you the possession of it. But what has it got to do with your visit here?"

•'B very thing," he returned. "It's this way." He paused for a moment, and then went on .* " Last night, after dinner, I picked that little mirror up, and I said jokingly to my wife, ' This, my dear, is a magical glass. If I hold it over my waistcoat, thus, and you look in, you will see straight through into my heart, and behold the face of the woman I love.' So Mrs Carathwaite laughed and looked, and of course she saw her own face. Then, to carry on the farce, I said, ' Now let me see if it will show me the face of the man you love.' And, always laughing, I held it over her breast and looked in."

" Yes ?" I prompted, as he paused again. " "Well, doctor, instead of my own face, what I saw reflected in that glass was a grinning death's head—a skull. I saw it just as plainly as I see you now. I looked at it steadily without moving for, I should think, three minutes. It never varied. A human skull in absolute detail—eyes, nose, teeth, oven the very seams between the bones perfectly distinct. I'm not a superstitious man, laut I confess the sight gave me the gooseflesh. If I

were superstitious, I don't know what I might think. I'm not a drinking man. either, or else, I , should believe it was a touch of 1 delirium tremens. As it is, I am at an utter loss to account for it in any way except on the theory that it's the beginning of some mental disease." He spoke nervously, and looked at me axiously when ho had done. He was plainly in a "white funk." "Humph! Ysu say you saw it steadily for two or three minutes ?" I enquired. " Yes."

"It did not disappear till I moved. As soon as I moved the death's head disappeared, and I saw the reflection of my own face." " Have you ever liad any similar experience before ? Ever fancied you saw an object just before you that had in reality no existence ? " " Never in my life." " Is your digestive apparatus in good shape?" '• In such, perfect snape that I'm never conscious of possessing such a thing." " And your general health ? " " Superb."

" Let me feel your pulse." His pulse was firm, regular, and proper in time. " Show me your tongue." His tongue was pink and clean. Open your eyes wide and look towards the light." His ayes were steady in their gaze, the pupils contracted readily, and the lids dropped spontaneously upon my approaching my finger. " Did you tell your wife what you had seen 1" I asked.

" No j I didn't want to alarm her Sho noticed that I stared at tho thing in rather a startled manner, but I laughed it off." I was silent for a while, toying with the mirrer, and wondering what the case might mean.

" Well, what do you make it out to be 1" he inquired. " Oil!" I replied, " I can't say as yet. I haven't sufficient data. The trouble may be in your optic nerve, it may be in your liver, and it may be elsewhere still. I should have to put you through a lengthy examination, and just at this momeat lam too tiredj and to o hungry to begin one. If youwili give me time to eat some luncheon, I'll be in better trim."

"Oh, certainly, certainly! Only can't you tell me at once whether you think I am going to lose my reason."

" I hardly think you are going to lose your reason," I replied. " And now, if you will excuse me for a little, I'll go downstairs and take a bite. Perhaps vou would like a chop and a glass of wine yourself ?" " Oh, no, thank you !" .No, thank you ! I ahan't be able to eat with any appetite until this fear is off my mind." While I swallowed my hasty luncheon I thought the matter over. It puzzled me a good deal, but suddenly, as I was folding up my napkin, an idea struck me which, I hoped, might clear the whole matter up. Rejoining Mr Carathwaite in my office, I said to him. " I have come to the conclusion that this is a case for a specialist. If you like, I will go to a specialist with you." " I am quite at your orders," he responded. "Do you think it's the brain or the eve ?"

" I hope it's neither ; but the specialist will tell us." Wo entered my carriage,and were driven citywards to a famous curiosity shop, the proprietor of which, Mr M., is esteemed, as everybody knows, one of the most learned authorities in antique curios in the country. " Here we are," said I, getting out of the carriage. " Will you come ?" " But what are you going in here for," questioned Carathwaite. "To consult our specialist," said

My patient looked mystified, but he followed me into the shop. I presented my card, and asked to see Mr M. In another minute we were closeted with bim in his private office. " Will you hand Mr Maverick your mirror?" I demande'd of Carathwaite. Maverick took the mirror and looked it over. He studied the frame through a magnifying glass. " This is a bit of work from the hand of Etienne Delaulne," he announced presently, "oneof the most skilful goldsmiths of the sixteenth century. I don't know where you got hold of it, but I may tell you that it is infinitely valuable. I have never seen a finer specimen of Delaulne's handicraft, nor one in a better state of preservation." " And the glass 1" I queried. " We are specially interested in tbe glass." " The glass," said Maverick, " is probably Venetian. I must examine it a little." He went to the window, and began to scrutinise the glass, twisting it about, and peering at it from various angles. "Ah, yes, I thought so!" he exclaimed all at once. " Come here, gentlemen," he called to us. He held the glass off at a certain oblique angle, and inquired, " Now, when I hold it like that, what do you see 1" Carathwaite simply uttered a low " Ah-h-h-!" "Why, I see a human skull," I said. " A most perfect image of a human skull. I would swear it was the genuine reflection of a real one How it gets there I can't for my life imagine." " Ah, that was the

* art of the Venetian glass-workers," said Mr M.

He crossed the room and took down from a book-case a volume entitled "Manual Arts of Mediaeval Italy." He ran over a few pages, found his place, and read aloud :— " Venetian looking-glasses of the sixteenth century were often ornamented with grotesque designs — serpents, skeletons, skulls, sometimes crucifixes—produced in the coating of quicksilver in such a way as to be visible only at one angle of vision, and then to give the effect of a reflection of some exterior object."

" Well, doctor," said Carathwaite, smiling rather sheepishly, when we had regained the street, " you have effected a speedy cure. What's your fee?" "I can hardly ask you a fee, since your trouble was all in the mirror," I said. "I will take it out in telling the story."

The gratitude of millionaires is very like that of kings. I have never seen nor heard from Mr Alexander Carathwaite again. When he needs medical attendance or advice he calls upon that notorious humbug Blank.