XX.

JOHN DUGGAN.

REMINISCENCE OF A CI-DEVANT MEDICAL STUDENT.

ONE gloomy night in the month of November, 18(the precise year is unimportant) I was seated before a cheerful fire, enjoying the solace of my pipe, and building at intervals various and magnificent air castles, (for I was both young and inexperienced, and rather prided myself on being, as I thought, of "an imaginative turn of mind") in the little room, the right to an exclusive possession of which I rejoiced in, as resident pupil at the Coombe Hospital. I was engaged thus profitably for more than an hour, and had gradually settled down to the hope of an uninterrupted night, when the porter rudely broke in upon my dreaming, with the intelligence that a messenger had just arrived, with a request that one of the gentlemen" would at once proceed to a case of extreme urgency, to which the person in attendance would conduct him. Although I was not supposed to be responsible for extern cases as "resident," I made no delay in preparing to accompany the messenger, as our Cerberus gave me to understand that I was the only pupil, intern or otherwise, then in the house. Having

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muffled myself carefully, I descended to the hall, where I found a poorly-clad female in waiting. In answer to my inquiry, she stated that the patient in need of assistance was within a few minutes' walk of the Coombe, and that it was a sudden and unexpected case, in consequence of which there had been no previous communication with the hospital. Notwithstanding this latter fact, I directed her to lead the way as quickly as possible, determined to lose no time in rendering any service of which I might be capable. It was at this time about half-past twelve o'clock, a drizzling rain fell thickly, the streets were wet and miry, and the exterior aspect of affairs altogether most uncomfortable. I required therefore all the philosophy derivable from a consciousness of the humane mission upon which I was bent, to keep me from regretting the warm, if not luxurious quarters which I had just quitted. My companion evinced no inclination for conversation, and there was nothing either in her appearance or the circumstances which brought us together, to induce any effort on my part to "draw her out." We proceeded, silently for some minutes through the dingy streets and byways which lead from the Coombe to the neigh

me to find my way out, became momentarily intensified, when I experienced a sense of inexpressible relief on hearing a watchman call the hour, and the next instant saw the gleam of his lantern through the crevices of the doorway, as he marched lazily past the house. I became at once completely re-assured-felt convinced that the apparent mystery of the bolted door was ca

tured stone, and a flight of steps, which raised it considerably above the level of the neighbouring footpath, while the door itself (evidently co-eval with the erection of the house,) was a massive and pretentious affair also. My conductor, as I have already stated, stopped here, and gave me to understand that we had reached our destination.

Ascending the steps, the door gave way to a slight push, and we stood the next moment in the hall, and in total darkness. I say we, stood, because immediately on entering the hall the female turned, and placing her hand gently against me, as if to retard my further progress, she muttered, in a soft under tone"Doctor, you must wait here while I go up and let them know you are come." I, of course, gave her to understand that I would do as she required, and in an instant I was alone with my reflections. I will confess they were on the whole rather disagreeable. I had not been much accustomed to these nightly excursions, and I could not contemplate the possibility of being obliged to remain some hours, perhaps, in close attendance upon a patient in a squalid apartment, with anything like pleasurable sensations. The hall in which I stood seemed, from the distance between the door and the stair-case (as indicated by the reverberations of the woman's footsteps), of considerable dimensions, both in length and elevation; and I could feel that it was panelled in wood, after the fa-hion of most houses of the period to which it belonged. I have already stated that on entering from the street we had passed into complete darkness. There was nothing extraordinary in this, as the night externally was dark and cheerless as it well could be, and one does not expect to find a lamp burning in the hall of a domicile let in tenements to the poor. The sound of the woman's feet in ascending the stairs had, however, scarcely cea-ed, when a feeling came over me, the precise nature of which it would perhaps be difficult to define, but which had certainly doubt, and the anticipation of some evil, largely commingled with it. Iustinctively almost, I did that which I think wou'd have been done by any person similarly situated-I turned to the door, in advance of which I stood a pace or two only, and felt about for something by which to pull it back, and let myself again into the open air. My search was a vain

tions were the combined effects of the darkness, my loneliness, and the lateness of the hour. I thus stood quietly awaiting the return of the woman.

Five minutes I seemed to stand fruitlessly expectant, when the sound-faint at first, but soon more distinctof a descending foot caught my ear, and the moment after a sickly light gradually displayed itself, as the bearer appeared on the last flight of stairs, and gaining the hall, came towards me, with a miserable rushlight inserted in a bottle, extended before her. It was the same woman who had conducted me from the hospital, and I had now for the first time an opportunity of scrutinizing her features. It struck me that they were of the most repulsive cast I had ever seen in a woman, and as she approached I inquired in a stern tone, how it was that the door came to be fastened? She answered promptly, that there was a latch on it, which she supposed had "shot." At the same moment she raised the candle to the outer edge of the upper compartment of the door, where I perceived, truly enough, a small iron projection, to which she applied her thumb and pushed back the latch with which it communicated, whereupon the door stood at once ajar. This, coupled with a certain quiet self-confidence of manner which she displayed, satisfied me, and I inquired if the patient were ready to receive me? She replied in the affirmative, and intimated that I would have to proceed to the two-pair back room, and that she would go before in order to show me light.

She suited the action to the word, and walked slowly before me up the wide staircase, shading the weakly flame of the candle with her hollowed hand, for a chilling air stirred through the house as we went. Grim and desolate the place looked, I remember, in that uncertain and partially-diffused light. The panelling of the walls, which I could judge were once of a dark green, "picked out" with white mouldings, were now mostly of a greasy black, as though the accumulated dust of years had become stratified upon them through the action of damp, On reaching the two-pair landing, the woman turning, requested me, in the same quiet tone, and with the same confidential manner, to wait in the front room for a few minutes, until she saw that everything was ready for me inside." Opening the door of the apartment indicated, she stepped aside that I might pass in before her, which I did without hesitation. The appearance of the room contrasted strongly with what I had already seen. A cheerful fire burned in the old-fashioned grate, and although the furniture was both scanty and of the rudest kind, it was arranged in such a way as to give an air of comparative comfort to the place. A small deal table, bearing a

decanter, one or two bottles, and some glasses, stood at a short distance from the fire-place, near which were also placed at opposite sides, as though they had been recently occupied-two chairs, of the same common material and rough construction as the table. Two other chairs at a different side of the room, a cupboard in the corner immediately opposite the door, and an old-fashioned, high-backed sofa, fitting into the space between the windows (which had their shutters closed and barred), completed the fittings of the room, which, I should also mention, had a second door on a line with that opening on the lobby. I drew over one of the distant chairs, and placing it in front of this door, and considerably to the right of the table, sat down in expectation of the female's return.

Scarcely three minutes had elapsed when the lobbydoor opened, and a decently-dressed, but vulgar-looking man, rather powerfully built, and seemingly about fifty years of age, entered the apartment. He closed the door firmly behind him, and advancing towards me, said, in a quiet but decided voice-"You are the surgeon, I believe, sir?"

"Not a surgeon yet," I replied, "though I have come here for the purpose of attending on a patient who, as I learn, is in want of immediate help,"

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"But you are all the same, I suppose," said he, if you were a surgeon-you know what to do in case of accident-if a man got a bad wound, or- -?"

"My good man," I interrupted, rather sharply-for I did not perceive what right a person in his position, and under the circumstances, had to question me in such a way "I have not come here to answer an examination for my diploma, but to attend on a sick woman, and I do not wish to be delayed unnecessarily."

He seemed taken aback somewhat by this reply, for, turning from me with some muttered exclamation, the purport of which I failed to catch, he threw himself on one of the chairs beside the table, and filling a glass of whiskey, drank it off at a gulp, and with great apparent relish. This accomplished, he said with the same easy confidence as before: "A drop of this"-pointing to a decanter" will do you good before you go to your work ;-come over to the fire and make yourself com. fortable while you wait."

The unpleasant feeling which the man's appearance and manner had induced from the first, was so great, that even had I been disposed towards conviviality, I should have declined his invitation. As it was, being in an opposite mood, I refused abruptly, stating that it was not my custom to drink anything stronger than tea when abroad professionally.

"Well, every one to his taste;" said he, refilling his glass, "if you were after as long a journey, and as hard a day's work as myself, perhaps you'd prefer a drop of the native too. Here's to your good health, at all events!"

"I wish to know,” said I, “when I am to be shown to the patient? I understood from the messenger who came for me, that she was in a state requiring immediate attention."

He looked at me with a meaning expression for a few seconds without replying, when wheeling his chair round so as to bring himself perfectly opposite me, he said in a deliberate measured accent: "It's not a woman you have come to attend at all, Doctor-that I may as well tell you before we go farther."

"Not a woman!" I exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this deception? Who are you, sir, and why have I been led here on a false representation ?"

A smile of that peculiar character described by novelists as the "sardonic," overcame his features at this outburst, and after another brief pause, he replied: "You'll know everything soon enough, only just don't get into a passion-you'll not be delayed longer than is necessary for the safety of the person in whose behalf your assistance is required-that you may rely on."

"You mistake very much," said I, "if you think I can be trifled with in this way, with impunity;" and rising, I approached the door with the view of quitting the room. Imagine my dismay on finding that we were locked in.

"I suspected such a movement on your part, doctor, and provided for it," was his cool remark, as I turned towards him on making this discovery.

"Then I am your prisoner ?" I said.

"Well, it is my intention" he resumed, "that yon remain in these apartments, until the purpose for which I brought you here is accomplished. That is all. If it pleases you to consider yourself a prisoner, you are, of course, at liberty to gratify your inclinations in that respect-indeed, it is only right to tell you, that you are completely in my power, and that any attempt at escape or resistance can only prove dangerous, if not fatal, to yourself." Here he drew from his pocket a small double-barrelled pistol, which he tapped siguificantly, and then returned to its resting-place.

There was a determination in the fellow's air, and a coolness and precision in his style of expressing himself, which impressed me forcibly with the conviction, that my best course was to submit, and I accordingly resumed my seat without further remark.

The time occupied in the highly satisfactory explanation just detailed, was little more than a minute, and in less than half that time after its conclusion, a tap was given at the door communicating between the two rooms, My gaoler immediately answered it by partially opening the door, and standing midway between both apartments, his eyes directed to me, while he listened to something which was being said in a subdued voice by some one inside-(the woman who hd brought me to the house, as well as I could judge from the indistinct mutterings which reached me). The communication ended, he approached me, saying:

"Your intended patient is now ready to receive yon. I have only to request that you will do your best for his relief. We had an ugly adventure this morning, and he got a ball in his arm which causes him a great deal of suffering. You will be well paid for your trouble; but remember what I have already said,” (and

here he pointed to the pocket in which the pistol was deposited); "no attempt at escape or alarm, if you value your life."

This said, he opened the door, and we entered the back room together. It was less comfortable in aspect than the other, probably because of the absence of fire, and at the end farthest from the door by which we had entered, it assumed a semi-circular form. Here, stretched on an old partially dilapidated four-post bed, outside the coverlet, and in his clothes, was a man, seemingly many years younger than my friend of the pistol, but still bearing a marked resemblance to him otherwise. His face presented traces of great suffering, and when I proceeded to examine the injured arm (his left), which was rudely bandaged outside the coat-sleeve, it was with evident difficulty that he restrained himself from crying aloud so great was the torture which he endured. The arm, I found, was not broken; the ball had entered a short distance above the elbow-joint, and taking an oblique direction upwards, lodged in the large muscular portion of the arm, lacerating the parts severely in its progress. Its extraction I accomplished without very much trouble to myself, but the wounded man suffered acutely during the process, as was, of course, to be expected. The bullet was a small one, not very much larger than a swan-drop, and when I held it up for the inspection of the two friends, I could perceive an expression of relief and gratification strongly depicted in the countenance of the elder.

"You have done your work well and expeditiously,” he said, addressing me, "and shall be at no loss for your trouble."

I made no reply to this observation, but proceeded to bandage up the injured arm, recommending the owner to get into bed and have some sleep, of which he appeared to stand in need, for he was both nervous and febrile.

A look of "mute intelligence" between the two men was the only response to my advice. When I had completed my task, the elder motioned me to the front room, where he again invited me to have something to drink, which invitation I again declined.

"Well," said he, “you'll never have it to say that I was not a man of my word at any rate." Here he pulled from his breast pocket a dark leather purse— apparently well filled-from which he took five sovereigns, counting them out on the table near which I stood. "There's your fee, Doctor, and I hope you'll never be worse paid for as bad a job."

I took up the money complacently enough-why should I not?-and put it into my pocket, after which I ventured to inquire if I was then at liberty to take my leave.

"Not yet exactly," was the reply. "I am still under the necessity of keeping you my prisoner for some time; but

He broke off thus suddenly on hearing a short decisive tap at the door leading to the lobby; then looking straight into my face with a bold, penetrating gaze, he leaned over to me, and whispered, in a voice scarcely above

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his breath-"Not a word now, or you are ruined. If you stir an inch, I'll shoot you dead!" and he drew the pistol from his pocket as before.

The tapping was repeated, and this time with greater loudness than before.

He stepped back softly towards the inner room; and as he opened the door, shook his arm at me in a menacing way, as if to siguify, "mind what I have said, or else "

The door then closed behind him, and I never saw bim afterwards.

The police for it was the police-after tapping unsuccessfully for perhaps three or four minutes, commenced pushing at the door, with the view of driving it in. But it was of sounder material, and more strongly secured than the room doors of dwelling-houses usually are, and it resisted their efforts most obstinately. My position as the reader may imagine-was, to say the least of it, an embarrassing one. What was I to do? If I stirred a step or raised my voice, my eccentric friend might spring in upon me-I still supposed him to be in the adjoining room-and carry his threat in to execution summarily: whereas, if I remained quiescent while the officers of justice were endeavouring to effect the capture of a criminal, as I naturally assumed the fellow to be, I might not only be captured myself, but treated as an accomplice after the fact, into the bargain. I concluded, however, that, on the whole, my best policy was to remain perfectly neutral, and this policy I adhered to most conscientiously, until the officers, of whom there were three, at last succeeded in obtaining an entry. They saw at once I was not the person of whom they were in search, and by a series of mute signals-for I was still afraid to speak I gave them to understand that they should direct their attention to the next room. One of the fellows was accordingly placed in charge of me, while the others proceeded to force open the door, between the apartments, for it also was locked. The result of their investigation was to find the room unoccupied by any human being. I in-isted on being permitted to view the apartment, and great indeed was my astonishment at finding it empty. How had my gaoler and his wounded compauion-in whom he seemed to feel so great an interest-made their escape? The particulars are known only to themselves; but the only apparent means of egress, save the door leading to the lobby (and that was out of the question), and the chimney-almost equally impossible-was the window-a bay one-and the fall from this to the yard beneath, was scarcely less than thirty feet. Out of the windows, therefore, they must have gone, unless their escape was aided by supernatural agency; but of the particulars, as I have already stated, I know nothing definite.

No time was lost in searching the other rooms in the house, as well as the yard at the back. It was found, however, that no portion of the premises was occupied, save the two apartments described in the yard, which was unpaved, we found traces of recently-imprinted footsteps, extending from the space immediately underneath. the window to a door at the farther end, which opened

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