Universit 
 Souths
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GI:FT OIF 
 
 Curtis H. Ve<*aaF,86
 
 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN: 
 
 5 1943 
 
 OB 
 
 THE SEEDS AND FRUITS 
 
 IN THREE PARTS. 
 
 COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 
 
 ANDKEW JACKSON DAVIS. 
 
 1 Truth is stranger than Fiction." 
 
 SECOND THOUSAND. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 WILLIAM WHITE & COMPANY, 
 
 BANNER OF LIGHT OFFICE, 
 158 WASHINGTON .STREET. 
 
 NEW YORK AGENTS AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY. 
 1869.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SG9, by 
 
 ANDKEW JACKSON DAVIS, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 District of New Jersey. 
 
 McCr.EA & MILLER, STEEEOTYPERS, 
 50 Greene Street, N. Y.
 
 y* 86 
 
 PS 
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CEIME. 
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOOM. 
 
 THF^EE. 
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 
 
 1211697
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THE following series of strange and startling and 
 tragical events, which I am now called upon to make 
 public for the first time, are, even to the minutest details, 
 founded upon facts, with only a thin veil between the 
 reader and the real characters whose temperaments, cir 
 cumstances, temptations, virtues, vices, and crimes, are 
 herein truthfully recorded. 
 
 The principal facts concerning the manifold causes 
 which developed the " Mysterious Association of Crimi 
 nals" in New York and vicinity, came to my knowledge 
 about twenty-five years ago. The investigating reader, 
 who is curious to know more on this interesting point, 
 is referred to a volume by the author, entitled " The 
 Present Age and Inner Life," pp. 259-265. The strange 
 incident therein narrated will repay perusal. 
 
 It is believed that so long as mothers and daughters 
 shall exist, such disclosures as are made in this volume 
 can not but be productive of the best results. Not less 
 are these fearful scenes important to fathers and sons. 
 Because, if to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed, these 
 horrible and truthful pictures of the causes of crime, 
 and these faithful delineations of the ways of profession 
 al criminals, will serve as beacon lights and guideboards 
 by which maidenhood and manhood can avoid the evil 
 and choose the good. 
 
 A. J. D. 
 
 NEW YORK, April 20, 1869.
 
 PAKT I. 
 
 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " The heart knoweth its own bitterness." Bible. 
 
 FOR ages the office of the regularly graduated physician 
 lias been regarded with a profound degree of respect. In 
 European countries, and in the olden time, his wisdom 
 and his public function were regarded with reverence, 
 which was freely accorded. He is furnished with a 
 diploma of " doctor of medicine," and is thus dignified 
 and empowered by a law of the land to practice his pro 
 fession. He is supposed to be deeply versed in the laws 
 of nature ; to comprehend all the secret causes of human 
 suffering ; to be a perfect master in natural philosophy ; 
 and to judge correctly of the physical condition, and even 
 of the characters, of individuals, by examination and 
 observation of their pulsations, tongues, countenances, 
 gestures, and other external peculiarities. 
 
 This unquestioning confidence, reposed in the office and 
 wisdom of the medical man of science, is manifested in 
 many ways.
 
 6 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 One hundred years ago, the diplomatized and estab 
 lished physician frequently took precedence of the vener 
 ated priest in the confidence of the family. Confessions 
 of sins and sufferings to the minister were almost uni 
 formly of a negative character. In pious moments 
 especially, when the soul is overwhelmed with a sense of 
 its total and eternal dependence upon God, not un- 
 mirigled with a deep realization of its vanities and 
 unworthiness, the female heart, less worldly-minded and 
 less vainglorious than man's, confesseth freely and fully 
 to negative sinSj such as repining thoughts, want of 
 watchfulness, proud feelings, unforgiving temper, foolish 
 imaginations, secret neglect of holy duties, hasty expres 
 sion of envious words, coldness in the affections toward 
 heavenly things, and so on through the whole catalogue 
 of spiritual infirmities and concomitants with which our 
 nature is said to abound. 
 
 But in the privacy of the sick-chamber, when the 
 stricken patient fears that the tide of life is fast ebbing 
 away, the physician often becomes the recipient of con 
 fessions of vices, crimes, and misery, which the ear of the 
 revered priest has never been permitted to hear. Freely, 
 fully, and without so much as the shadow of the fear of 
 betrayal, the prostrated sufferer takes the first convenient 
 opportunity of revealing in detail the corrupt workings 
 of that society, in which diseases more painful than any 
 bodily affliction continually assail mankind. 
 
 It is manifestly the first duty of the physician to study 
 his patient's malady, and administer such remedial agents 
 as will deaden and destroy suffering, and sustain the vital 
 principle, without diminishing the constitutional systolic 
 and diastolic movements of the heart. 
 
 The author of the famous practice called mesmerism 
 taught his proselytes to overcome disease by manipulation 
 and the exercise of will. Instead of administering the
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 7 
 
 usual remedies, the physician who saved the life of the 
 patient (whose name and condition will hereafter be 
 disclosed) employed the so-called potent influence of mag 
 netism, by which her broken heart was empowered to 
 continue its pulsations, thus gradually restoring her 
 beautiful person to perfect health and its blessings, and 
 eventually resulting in a wonderful career. 
 
 It was during the slow process of a recuperative con 
 valescence that the physician deeply investigated the 
 secret causes of certain crimes, which come forth, disap 
 pear, and again reappear in families. He was led to 
 observe how sudden mental emotions of the mother, 
 ere her child had seen the light, either increased or 
 diminished the molecular formation and development of 
 the several portions of the cerebral structures in her 
 offspring. He demonstrated, to his own satisfaction at 
 least, that the tendency of the vital forces to the brain, 
 or to other parts of the organic structure, was determined 
 by the mother during the critical period of gestation; 
 and, furthermore, that such determination was accom 
 plished far more through the potent instrumentality of her 
 thoughts and feelings than by any peculiar condition or 
 abnormal predilections of the nerve-forces in her physical 
 system. 
 
 Moreover, finally, and in short : he found that, by 
 this mysterious and immutable law of phreno-electrotyp- 
 ing, so to call it, which is outwrought on the sensitive 
 surfaces of, and by the means of the psycho-dynamical 
 forces at work within the unborn brain, the offspring 
 could, and absolutely does, mentally inherit a predisposi 
 tion to particular vices and crimes, as easily as to be born 
 with cross-eyes, red-hair, far-sightedness, stammering, 
 deafness and dumbness, cutaneous diseases, scrofula, and 
 consumption. On this principle he traced out the causes 
 why some children are born with finely molded limbs
 
 8 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN". 
 
 and attractive personal manners, while others come " into 
 this breathing world" replete with every imaginable 
 physical imperfection. 
 
 And these observations and conclusions, combined 
 with the earnest and inspiring solicitations of his es 
 teemed professional friends, have determined him to write 
 out the following tale which is far more wonderful than 
 fiction illustrating (1.) the origin of the seeds of crime, 
 (2.) the blossoming of crime's tree, and (3.) the harvest 
 of whirlwinds which come as the fruits of crime. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "All before us lies the way; give the past unto the wind." Old 
 Play. 
 
 CAPTAIN JACQUES DEL AKAGONT was of a noble family, 
 and had displayed great skill and courage in warfare. 
 
 But he experienced exquisite pleasure in pursuing 
 genealogical studies. At least this was his profession. 
 He said he delighted more particularly in tracing out the 
 parental and maternal links in the chain of his own 
 origin. 
 
 With great apparent satisfaction he found himself 
 maternally related to a distinguished, fearless Spanish 
 officer the special favorite of Fernando Cortez one 
 Bernal Castillo, who accompanied the great chieftain's 
 expedition to South America in the sixteenth century; 
 and his enthusiasm was not less when he found that his 
 blood was paternally derived from the noble families of 
 which the latest distinguished member was Baron De 
 Carondelet, who, some ten years before the transfer of 
 Louisiana to the United States, had made his mark by
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 9 
 
 multiplying improvements in the Crescent City, by which 
 commerce and general prosperity acquired a new im 
 petus. Carondelet's administration was an unfailing 
 topic of eloquent and vehement discourse with Captain 
 Ai'agoni ; and he never lost an opportunity of impressing 
 all listeners with the clear and important fact that he 
 was a near relative of that distinguished governor. 
 "Whether all this was true or not the writer does not 
 know. 
 
 Although pardonably vain of his maternally Spanish 
 and paternally French origin, on which relationship he 
 based all his claims to promotion in the army, still Cap 
 tain Aragoni was, on his own merits, a gentleman of more 
 than ordinary personal beauty, intelligence, and military 
 courage. While he was by mental inheritance jealous, 
 irritable, impulsive, and even cruelly revengeful when 
 under sufficient temptation ; yet on the other side that 
 part of his character which he scrupulously presented to 
 his associates he displayed the most agreeable gener 
 osity, and the most attractive deportment. One thing 
 must not be overlooked. He was uniformly popular with 
 citizens, with companions of equal rank, and with even 
 his most inferior subordinates in the army. 
 
 He could easily condescend to fellowship with persons 
 far below him in every walk of life. This was more 
 remarked than any other trait in his character. Indeed 
 this distinguishing peculiarity had been in former years a 
 source of deep concern to the better class of his acquaint 
 ances. 
 
 Although proud, even to vanity, of his ancestry, and 
 although reserved and dignified when commanding in 
 the field, still at other times, and under difierent circum 
 stances and inducements, he would seek the society of 
 disreputable men, gamblers, and sailors; but notwith 
 standing the multifarious temptations which surrounded 
 1*
 
 10 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 and beset him like demons whenever associated with 
 such characters, he was never known (though he was 
 often suspected) to depart into the forbidden regions 
 of profanity, intemperance, sensuality, or other vices and 
 crimes peculiar to that class of individuals. 
 
 His friends and admirers, therefore, at length some 
 what yielded their natural and justifiable solicitude for 
 his morals. But they could not resist feelings of morti 
 fication when, in violation of the laws of his professed 
 noble blood, and contrary to all the proprieties of his 
 social standing, he would spend day after day, and night 
 after night, in the company of known desperate game 
 sters and undisguised villains. 
 
 N"o one ever attempted to account for this conspicuous 
 and alarming paradox in the character of Captain Ara- 
 goni. Any educated physician, however, who compre 
 hended somewhat of the philosophy of hereditary im 
 pressment, through the ante-natal feelings and thoughts 
 of the mother, as already suggested, could have cleared 
 up the mystery. He would have detected a certain hor 
 rible and wretched event in his mother's biography, and 
 connected it with the subsequent development of this 
 alarming inconsistency in the mental organization of the 
 otherwise unexceptionable, dignified, and distinguished 
 descendant of Castillo and Carondelet. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eyes; 
 In every gesture dignity and love." Milton. 
 
 Is 1820, Captain Aragoni was married to the very 
 young and beautiful grand-daughter of the tourist and
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. H 
 
 writer, Charlevoix. The wedding-day was made mem 
 orable by extraordinary celebrations and mutual re 
 joicings. It was a brilliant affair. The French and 
 Spanish officers, di'essed in their gay uniforms, and the 
 elite of the city graced the occasion. 
 
 The youthful bride, only in her seventeenth year, was 
 a French Creole of surpassing personal attractions. Hers 
 was a round, rosy, sweet, lovable face the face of a pet 
 daughter blooming fiill of tender affections. There was, 
 however, in her large dark-brown eyes an expression of 
 thoughtful earnestness. Did it not indicate a latent 
 richness of character ? Did it not plainly assert that she 
 was capable of a life deeper and fuller than she had yet 
 lived ? Behold her about to become a bride ! an affec 
 tionate and confiding creature. She is a perfect beauty, 
 dressed tastefully, and in the fullness of the Parisian 
 styles which then prevailed among the fashionables of 
 the Crescent City. Behold her an only and over-indulged 
 child, just entering upon married life, arrayed by nature 
 in all the sweetness and purity of maidenly youth and 
 beauty ! Beautiful image of innocence, love, and grace ! 
 
 Her education embraced all the fashionable accom 
 plishments of the period. She had been reared in 
 affluence her every want and every wish had been 
 supplied to excess. Thus she had been joyfully dancing 
 round-dances all the way from the cradle up. Like a 
 happy child, she bestowed freely upon every thing the 
 freshness of her spring-time. She pictured and beauti 
 fully tinted every face with the ruddy glow of the 
 morning of her loving life. She thus far possessed a 
 heart and a brain as young and spontaneous as her years. 
 Unknown to the trials and cares which develop and 
 discipline character, she was ignorant of that sublime 
 sorrow which unfolds in the heart a deepened force of 
 intuition and affection. She knew nothing: of the won-
 
 12 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 drous import of the simple words patience, self-forget- 
 fulness, devotion, self-control, and wisdom. These high 
 moral mysteries were all unknown to her the only child 
 of wealthy and indulgent parents. 
 
 The gallant and gorgeously dressed captain was a few 
 years her senior. 
 
 Now behold him, about to become a bridegroom 
 tall, stately, dignified, and commanding. Do you not 
 admire the perfect symmetry of form and feature ? Has 
 not Dame Nature stamped him as a personage of remark 
 able talent and distinction? How perfectly agreeable in 
 his appearance and manners ! See the vivacity and 
 elegance of his expressive countenance ! Pie has a rather 
 vain, yet military walk. And it is also true that he has 
 a piquant and retreating chin. Possibly this slight defect 
 is indicative of the paradox in his apparently unblemished 
 character. 
 
 Here we ought to observe the curious fact that he was 
 never known to have any relatives in the city. His most 
 valued and chiefest acquaintances and associates were, to 
 all appearance, mainly officers and soldiers of the army. 
 He pretended to only amuse himself with the disreputable 
 habitues of the ale-houses and gambling-saloons in the 
 cellars and in the faubourgs. He professed to have im 
 mense sums of money at his command. He attributed 
 his position in the army to motives of patriotism. Thus, 
 on all occasions, he unfailingly gave every one the dis 
 tinct and unquestioning impression that he was a gentle 
 man of noble blood and large wealth. 
 
 But only the confiding, the passionate, the infatuated 
 creole beauty believed every thing he said of himself 
 He possessed, and was rapidly consuming her heart. 
 What a rich treasure for a gallant captain ! For months, 
 indeed ever since the night of his first introduction to 
 her at her father's house, he had pursued her. At first
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 13 
 
 his attentions alarmed and annoyed her ; then, suddenly, 
 the whole love of her passionate heart flowed like a river 
 toward him. They sailed thus into the marriage rela 
 tion. 
 
 The opulent and indulgent parents of the lovely bride 
 were residents of the Faubourg Lafayette, only a short 
 drive from the city. They occupied a sort of Gothic 
 castellated mansion. There was a carriage-way and gate 
 opening from the front back into a spacious court. This 
 court was nearly surrounded by the grand dwelling and 
 the lesser buildings of the estate. There were extensive 
 stables, a showy coach-house, washing cabins, a hennery, 
 a dove-cot, and a flower garden. A part of this inclosed 
 court was tastefully laid out in shaded walks. There 
 were also beds of flowers, and grove-like thickets of 
 beautiful vines and shrubbery. 
 
 Now it must be confessed just here that this Don 
 Calvo Marigny the father of the youthful bride was 
 notorious as a man of ungovernable passions. In con* 
 jugal affairs he was simply a pleasure-seeking, easy-going 
 libertine. One bright May morning a basket, seemingly 
 full of grocery packages, was left at his front door. The 
 colored servant opened it and found a fine baby, crying 
 like any other hungry infant, with a pretty note pinned 
 on its bosom, cordially presenting the little treasure to 
 Don Calvo Marigny. This was neither the first nor the 
 last event of this nature at the faubourg mansion. The 
 offended and mortified Dona only unmercifully chastised 
 the slave for what she called his stupid impertinence. 
 This baby, like the other babies, was presented to the 
 Ursuline Hospital. 
 
 The passionate Don was cruel in visiting punishment 
 upon the disobedient servants of his household. This 
 privilege was granted by the laws of slavery. But as a 
 full-blooded and discriminate libertine as an element of
 
 14: TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 contamination and destruction in society he was the 
 most dangerous, the most artful, and the most successful. 
 His reputation for unbridled profligacy, and for wanton 
 indulgence, was only eclipsed by Pierpont Edwards. 
 The latter had flourished as a despoiler not long before 
 in the city of New York. 
 
 Of all this, however, the innocent and beautiful Sophia 
 knew nothing. Like most libertines of w r ealth and social 
 standing, the aristocratic Don insisted that his daughter 
 should grow a model of propriety and virtue. He highly 
 respected virtue in his daughter, and had her educated 
 in the convent. 
 
 But Captain Aragoni had long known Don Marigny 
 as a votary of pleasure. They were, without absolutely 
 knowing the fact, fellow-sinners. 
 
 " And this adorable, only child this charming, bloom 
 ing, innocent girl," said Aragoni to himself; " she is as 
 as pure as her personal charms are irresistible." After a 
 few moments of reflection, he added " And she is sole 
 heiress to the immensely rich Marigny estates !" 
 "* Alas, this last consideration took a paramount position 
 among the motives of Aragoni. Under its powerful 
 influence, superadded to the madness of passion, he 
 sought and won the affections of the beautiful daughter. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " The fountain of my love shall feel no bars, 
 But ever flowing ever be at rest." Asphodel. 
 
 ABOUT the time appointed for the marriage there was 
 promulgated, but not unexpected by the gallant captain, 
 an army order which necessitated the presence and con-
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OP CRIME. 15 
 
 tinuance in the city of all the captains and principal 
 officers. Not procuring a furlough, as his bride had 
 fondly hoped would be granted him, Aragoni had pri 
 vately hired a fashionable city residence. He had 
 privately superintended every thing. He had the rooms 
 furnished superbly with every imaginable comfort. He 
 obtained pictures of French beauties ; pictures of nude 
 women for the chambers ; and of the athlete and acro 
 bats in their brilliant acts. He had, moreover, obtained 
 rare and costly ornaments, and bridal gifts for the lovely 
 Creole. But previous to the wedding, she had not heard 
 any thing of all this, and did not know the location of 
 the residence. 
 
 The almost oriental splendors and brilliant festivities 
 of the marriage, which occurred at an officer's residence 
 in the city, continued into the small hours of morning. 
 But the wedding ceremony transpired at an early hour in 
 the evening. 
 
 While the assembled guests were in the excitement of 
 the celebration, and when " a French leave " became a 
 graceful possibility, the bridegi-oom and bride quietly 
 withdrew. Stepping immediately into a closed carriage, 
 which had been by the captain's management procured 
 for them, they rapidly rolled away through the avenues 
 to their elegantly furnished retirement. 
 
 But now something horrible was about to happen, 
 for which the deep-headed captain had not prepared. 
 When the festivities were nearly concluded, the arrival 
 of Don Calvo's coach was announced. This was the 
 exact hour at which he had ordered the old driver to 
 appear. The bride's father and mother entered their 
 elegant carriage, and away sped the spirited and powerful 
 horses toward the Faubourg Lafayette. But a terrible 
 and fatal accident was soon to overtake them, by which 
 strange future events became possible.
 
 16 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 The horses took sudden fright at some unknown object 
 in Esplanade Street. On the instant springing into a 
 furious run, the old driver was dashed with great violence 
 to the ground. The fall fractured his skull, and rendered 
 him insensible. The affrighted and furious animals, 
 without guidance, and having nothing in their way at so 
 early an hour in the morning, now more wildly pursued 
 their flight through street after street. The carriage was 
 suddenly overturned and crushed. Then by a sudden 
 crash both occupants were instantly deprived of their 
 lives. And 'now the horses, falling into an excavation, 
 were stopped and secured by the city watchmen. 
 
 This happened in the dead hour of night. At this 
 hour the inhabitants of a city are locked in the profound 
 stillness of deep sleep. Hence the citizens knew nothing 
 of this horrible misfortune. One watchman, however, 
 thought he recognized the horses. He had seen them 
 many times, and said, " they are the property of a wealthy 
 gentleman residing in the adjacent town." But the 
 owner's name he did not know. The lacerated and bleed 
 ing and lifeless bodies their faces so torn and their 
 features so disfigured were not recognizable by any 
 one. They were richly dressed. With respectful and 
 mournful care they were conveyed to the nearest watch- 
 station. A messenger from police head-quarters was 
 forthwith dispatched to Lafayette to notify the supposed 
 owner of the splendid horses. It was expected that this 
 step would lead to correct information regarding the 
 names and circumstances of the distinguished dead. 
 
 Meanwhile, what of the young and beautiful bride ? 
 She was sleeping like a child in her bridal chamber ; in 
 the strong arms of her darling Captain Aragoni ; in the 
 bosom of a dwelling overflowing with glittering richness 
 and voluptuous beauty. Behold her loving heart. It is 
 pulsating harmoniously with tenderest affection. Behold
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. If 
 
 her thoughts. Like an innocent child, she is dreaming 
 only of to-morrow and to-morrow, and then of her hap 
 piness. How blissful in her Eden-like ignorance ! Hap 
 pily she did not know that, ere the sun of the morrow 
 had risen, an appalling accident had made her an orphan. 
 Happily she did not foresee the future ; neither its diabol 
 ical trials nor its holy triumphs. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "These thoughts may startle, but will not astound, 
 The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended 
 
 By a strong-siding champion, Conscience. " Anon. 
 
 * 
 
 THE morning sun was bathing city, river, and lake in 
 a soft and luxuriant golden light. 
 
 The gallant bridegroom and graceful bride had break 
 fasted, and were together in the parlor. They were 
 standing before a French lithograph, examining and 
 admiring its beauties, when suddenly the door-bell was 
 violently rung. The captain's confidential body-servant 
 answered it. He returned, and whispering so that the 
 lady could not hear, said : 
 
 " Joudre and three strangers request your presence at 
 the door." 
 
 Aragoni's dark eyes suddenly lighted up and flashed 
 with a troubled and hideous glare. His hand trembled 
 slightly, and his voice faltered for a moment, as though 
 he saw before him some dreadful evil. But he controlled 
 himself immediately, and gracefully begged his bride's 
 pardon; then he hastily walked from her side to the 
 street-door. 
 
 "Ah, Joudre ? Who are these strangers with you?"
 
 18 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 The three men retired a little, and a rapid conversation 
 in whisper-tones commenced between Aragoni and the 
 leading man whom he had addressed. 
 
 The captain then led the way to the parlor. He intro 
 duced Joudre and the strangers to his lovely wife. But 
 his voice and manners were cold and commanding, and his 
 face was flushed with rage. It was evident that the most 
 horrible and revengeful thoughts were rushing through 
 his mind. They all took seats near the parlor-door. 
 
 Addressing himself to Joudre, the captain angrily 
 asked 
 
 " Now, sir, why did you come here, and why did you 
 bring these unknown men? In a word what is your 
 business with me ?" 
 
 Joudre smiled sarcastically, and his eyes gleamed with 
 reproach, mixed with a look of astonishment and triumph. 
 
 The three strangers, who were sullen fellows, main 
 tained complete silence. They seemed embai'rassed in the 
 presence of the trembling young woman. Meanwhile, 
 her eyes were mutely pleading for her offended husband ; 
 but she was dreadfully agitated, and was too deeply 
 alarmed to speak. She attempted to rise from the sofa, 
 and motioned that she would retire to her room. 
 
 "Stay!" said the captain, in a tone of anger and 
 authority. But suddenly remembering himself, he at 
 tempted to smile ; and, addressing her tenderly, he said, 
 explainingly 
 
 "These men, my darling, have invaded our rights. 
 They are swindlers and assassins. They have sought to 
 intrench themselves in our residence, and thus defend 
 themselves against the officers of the law." 
 
 Then turning to Joudre, and looking at him with the 
 imperturbable calmness of a bronze statue, but with the 
 fires of vengeance blazing from his dark eyes, he said 
 
 " By what authority do you commit this outrage ?"
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 19 
 
 Joudrc, who was a short, firmly-built, springy man, 
 with a quick, shrewd eye, giving the impression that his 
 skill and vivacity were more than a match for the down 
 right strength of the strongest man, replied triumph 
 antly 
 
 " We are here by the authority of George de Freronier !" 
 
 The captain rapidly walked to the window, and looked 
 out. Then he rang for his confidential servant. 
 
 " Plu," said he, in a low, imperative voice, "guard the 
 door leading to the street. Let no one enter. Answer 
 no bells, except mine. Be quick, Plu ! quick !" 
 
 Joudre watched all these movements with apparent 
 indifference. The three men seemed immovable. 
 
 But the beautiful young bride the loving and. confid 
 ing Sophia terrified and shrieking with alarm, sprang 
 forward, and threw herself upon her husband's arm, just 
 as he was drawing his sword. 
 
 At this the three strangers simultaneously rose to their 
 feet, stepped toward Aragoni, and seemed about to arrest 
 him, when all were suddenly startled by the rapid ringing 
 of the door-bell. 
 
 But Plu stood guard in the hall. He had locked and 
 bolted the street-door. Again and again the bell was 
 
 o o 
 
 vigorously rung ; but Plu, knowing his master's temper 
 when in the least his orders were disobeyed, heard the 
 ringing, but made no movement to answer it. 
 
 Aragoni hurriedly released himself from the clinging 
 embrace of his terrified wife, and quickly making a 
 signal to her to follow him, fled up-stairs with the speed 
 of a fugitive from slavery. 
 
 She immediately followed him to their bridal chamber, 
 so beautifully furnished with every conceivable comfort 
 and luxury. Copies of the best French and German 
 lithographs, and rare pictm-es of Italian and Spanish 
 scenes, and faces of renowned military officers, and
 
 20 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 engravings of memorable battles, hung in admirable 
 clusters upon the walls. The fragrance of orange blos 
 soms loaded the balmy air, and a soft, dreamy luxuriance 
 rested upon every thing. 
 
 "When the Creole bride entered their chamber her fright 
 and agony were indescribable. Before the curtained win 
 dow, overlooking the Mississippi River, stood the tall, 
 stately, dignified captain. His face was now a perfect 
 picture of miserable disappointment and reckless despair. 
 His eyes roamed wildly about. He looked away toward 
 the distant extensive swamp, which was densely covered 
 with cypress-trees and tangled thickets of underbrush, 
 making a suitable province for alligators and other rep 
 tiles peculiar to that latitude. His hand firmly grasped 
 the handle of his pistol. It was evident that the solu 
 tion of some terrible problem was struggling in his mind. 
 He surveyed the country in every direction ; then the 
 lake on the left ; and the mighty river, on the crescent- 
 like bank of which the city was built. He gazed rapidly, 
 wildly; but with silence that was fearful. 
 
 " My husband ! my husband !" she cried, throwing her 
 white arms around him in an agony of passionate grief. 
 Breathless, panting, yet filled with the divine strength 
 of love for her suffering husband, she continued 
 
 " Who are these terrible strangers, my darling ? Why 
 do you flee from them ? Oh, where will you go ? Can 
 they harm us ? Oh, speak, my darling, speak can these 
 dreadful strangers harm us ?" 
 
 Stopping but for a moment to breathe, she pleadingly 
 and passionately continued " Pray, who is the George 
 de Freronier, by whose authority these dreadful men 
 dare enter these sacred premises ?" 
 
 Aragoni breathed deeply. Resuming as far as possible 
 his accustomed attractive manners and tender voice, he 
 replied " We are prisoners, rny adorable Sophia pris-
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 21 
 
 oners, I fear, in our own house ! These wretches are 
 vultures come to devour our treasures. They are brig 
 ands and hired assassins come to rob us, before our 
 very eyes, and covering their villainy by the audacity of 
 charging upon our works in open day." 
 
 Her large, beautiful eyes flashed with passionate indig 
 nation. She sprang forward, with a feverish convulsive 
 movement, put her head out the opened window and 
 screamed 
 
 "Murder! murder! watch! watch! rescue! rescue! 
 rescue !" in such rapid succession as to throw the captain 
 completely off his guard. But in the next moment he 
 clasped his hand firmly over her pretty mouth, and said 
 sternly 
 
 " Silence ! my God, would you betray us ? Silence ! 
 or we shall be separated forever 1" 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " The shock that hurled 
 
 To dust, in many fragments dashed and strown, 
 The throne whose roots were in another world, 
 And whose far-stretching shadow awed our own." 
 
 Bryant. 
 
 AT his last words the beautiful Creole bride sank on 
 the floor at his feet. Her eyes were closed ; a cold per 
 spiration covered her face ; and it seemed that her breath 
 ing had forever ceased. She made no sign of life. He 
 raised her tenderly, and carried her in his strong arms 
 and laid her quietly in the richly ornamental hammock, 
 which was deliciously perfumed, and suspended across 
 the opposite side of the spacious chamber.
 
 22 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Then he rang the bell; and Plu (whose name in full 
 was Plutarch) appeared. "Your mistress has fainted 
 with fright. Bid her maid come instantly and attend 
 her. At once, Plu march !" 
 
 "Now," said Captain Aragoni to himself, "I must 
 forthwith and forever dispose of that villainous crew." 
 
 He walked deliberately down-stairs and entered the 
 parlor. Joudre arose and advanced to meet him. Their 
 eyes met. The fires of destruction blazed afresh in their 
 flushed faces. 
 
 " George de Freronier," said Joudre, deliberately and 
 disdainfully, addressing Captain Jacques del Aragoni, 
 " You have led me into deep water this time ; now I swear, 
 do you hear that, sir ? I say I swear that you shall help 
 me out." 
 
 " Never fear," replied the captain in a conciliatory tone. 
 " You must, however, promptly obey my orders ; and 
 that, too, to the very letter, or all will be lost." 
 
 Joudre smiled scornfully and defiantly, and said, " Oh ! 
 is that all ? Do you take me for a damned blind idiot, 
 George de Freronier?" And the man's eyes looked 
 fiercely. " Look you here : look at me ! You see in 
 me a poor worthless devil dressed in the borrowed clothes 
 of a gentleman ! Come now, captain, no more masks 
 between us. I swear this devilish plot has gone far 
 enough far enough far enough, sir ; I swear do you 
 understand me ? I sicear ! and when I swear, I swear I 
 mean it." 
 
 The expression of the countenance of the bridegroom 
 was stern and menacing ; yet there w^as in it a shade of 
 sadness, mingled with anxiety and terror. 
 
 " Joudre," said the captain calmly, making an effort to 
 appear absolutely indifferent to any imaginable con 
 sequences that might result from opposition to the for 
 midable company before him " Joudre ! do you forget
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OP CRIME. 23 
 
 that / saved your life, at a moment when you counted it 
 as good as lost ? Do you forget that but for me and the 
 brave soldiers under my command, you would be this 
 hour in a French bastile down the back stairs of that 
 old raven-nest in Paris groping your way to death and 
 the grave through the subterranean passages of that old 
 palace ? Now, you ungrateful, swearing fellow ! mark 
 what I say, and prepare you to execute on the instant all 
 the orders I shall transmit you; or" and here the cap 
 tain drew himself up to his full height, threw back his 
 manly shoulders, and spoke like one accustomed to 
 threaten and command 
 
 " Or what ?" interrupted Joudre defiantly. 
 
 " Or," replied the captain deliberately, " there will be 
 disturbance and bloodshed in your lodgings." 
 
 The three strangers, who during all this time had stood 
 silent and inactive, now began to show that they were 
 terrified spectators. 
 
 Joudre shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly and de 
 spairingly, in the true French style of gesture, and said, 
 " I swear, captain, I have a thousand times wished my 
 self dead ; and I have a thousand times cursed the day 
 you saved my life. This devilish life you saved me 
 this cursed life is not worth the having. I swear I 
 would this minute freely give it to the alligators in yon 
 swamp, if " 
 
 "If you was not afraid of hell and its everlasting 
 torments," interrupted the captain. 
 
 Joudre was silent. A far worthier thought occupied 
 his mind. He was thinking of a beloved old mother 
 living a few hundred miles up the Mississippi, to whom 
 he had occasionally sent money and little presents. He 
 had tried to make her declining years more comfortable. 
 In her opinion, Joudre was a kind-hearted, industrious 
 laborer on the levees and fortifications of N"ew Orleans.
 
 24 . TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 These filial and worthy thoughts struggled through 
 his miserable brain. While revolving these feelings a 
 shudder ran through him from head to foot. Big tears 
 trembled on his eyelids. Those tears were brilliant and 
 beautiful with the light of a soul destined for better 
 worlds. But he returned no answer to the imperious and 
 threatening language of the captain. 
 
 " Where's the knife I handed you before you started 
 for the Faubourg Lafayette ?" angrily demanded Aragoni. 
 
 "I know not," replied Joudre in despair. "I sup 
 pose it was dropped in the inclosed court behind the 
 Marigny mansion." 
 
 "I'll wager a hundred francs that you are lying," 
 said the captain, with ill-concealed uneasiness. He 
 dreaded the possibility of detection. The discovery of 
 his plot would result in the immediate overthrow of his 
 situation and advantages. Betraying little or no anxiety, 
 however, he asked indifferently " Why did you lie con 
 cealed all night in the vine-thickets behind the mansion ? 
 A very shaky soldier, you ! Why did you not advance 
 your skirmish line, and then drive your whole force into 
 the enemy's treasures ? Your time for attack was while 
 the rich Don and his wife were feasting and celebrating 
 at their daughter's wedding ?" 
 
 " We were constantly watched," replied Joudre, sul 
 lenly. " We gained our ainbuscade in the court in good 
 order. The night was dark. But we saw something 
 which resembled a man walking to and fro, rising up, 
 and stooping down, and moving here and there; and 
 when we took a step toward the house, the man at the 
 same instant took a step the same way; when we 
 crouched, the man crouched too ; and this watch upon us 
 was kept up until almost day-break ; so we mounted the 
 ladder, threw our ropes over the wall, and made good 
 our escape, glad enough to get off!"
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 25 
 
 "You infernal traitor!" growled Aragoni fiercely 
 "You round-headed fugitive from justice! You crazy, 
 cowardly fool, fit for galley-slavery ! You scoundrel, 
 afraid of your own shadow ! Now hark ye and mark 
 me well, you cowardly sniveler." Here the captain led 
 Joudre by the collar to the farther end of the parlor, 
 and said : " At the dark hour this very night I order 
 you to enter the premises of Don Calvo Marigny in the 
 Faubourg Lafayette. Go armed, prepared ! Knock 
 down the guard, gag the servants, make silent prisoners 
 of the Don and his lady; then procure the gold and 
 silver, which he the other day received from Paris and 
 from the Cuba plantations; then convey all trophies 
 and confiscated property to my head-quarters ! Under 
 stand ?" he asked, with a threatening growl, and look 
 ing the miserable Joudre straight in the eye. 
 
 The poor fellow bowed stupidly and awkwardly. 
 Then they all almost mechanically turned into the hall, 
 and walked doggedly from the house into the street. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " "We watched her breathing through the night, 
 
 Her breathing soft and low, 
 As in her breast the wave of life 
 Kept heaving to and fro." Hood. 
 
 MEANWHILE the alarmed young wife- had partially 
 revived from her swoon. Her industrious maid had 
 soothed her and bathed her beautiful face, and had fur- 
 nished her with all necessary materials for writing, in 
 obedience to her request, and she had hurriedly written 
 a note as follows : 
 
 2
 
 26 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ARAGONI HOTEL, NEW ORLEANS, LA., October, 1820. 
 PARENTS, BEST ELOVED: 
 
 Come to me without waiting a moment to ask why. I'm dying with 
 a dreadful fright I I can not live but a few brief moments longer I I 
 know I am dying! Oh, do, do, do come at once I Bring Father 
 Malarm ; for I am exhausted and fatigued, and I must die in a very few 
 minutes. Oh, do come, and bring the holy father! 
 
 Your own dying 
 
 SOPHIA. 
 
 Unhappy girl ! A bride not yet twenty-four hours old. 
 But already the great round world was seemingly re 
 ceding from her. So delicate, so dependent, so caress 
 ingly affectionate, and so inexperienced ! These sudden 
 trials were both overwhelming and mysterious. She felt 
 that in a few hours more her eyes would, behold the 
 throne of her Heavenly Father. 
 
 Pier entire education, it will be recollected, had been 
 under the management of the Roman Catholic authorities 
 of the Crescent City. The prioress, the mothers, and the 
 sisters of the Convent of St. Mary had often knelt at the 
 same altar with our beautiful Creole bride ; she was ten 
 derly beloved by them. They had often consulted together 
 after each confession, and she had scrupulously paid all 
 the penalties they announced against her. They remem 
 bered that her sins were never serious ; they were faults, 
 rather ; such as tardiness at prayers, tearing her veil, care 
 lessly soiling her garments, breaking some little piece of 
 china or glass, or dancing a few steps when walking to 
 church. Her voice, too, was sweet and thrilling in song. 
 In the convent church her perfect soprano voice attracted 
 thronging multitudes, and every one was chai-med. She 
 was beloved by prioress, by mothers, by nuns, by novices, 
 and by all who sought to have the love of Jesus en 
 kindled in their hearts. In her suffering, therefore, she 
 yearned for the companions of her innocent girlhood, and
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 27 
 
 she called loudly in her agony upon holy Father Malarm. 
 Pictures of the Blessed Virgin and of the Infant Jesus, 
 and precious prints of saints, by the old masters, afforded 
 her indescribable relief. Over and over again she kissed 
 the holy golden cross that was suspended from her 
 beautiful neck, and over and over again she told her 
 prayers upon the rosary which the good father had 
 given her. So the moments slipped by as she, still pros 
 trated with fright and fatigue, endeavored to wait tho 
 slow coming of her parents. 
 
 'CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " In soul or face she bears no trace 
 
 Of one from Edeii driven, 
 But, like the rainbow, seems, though born 
 
 Of earth, a part of heaven." Gco. Hill. 
 
 f 
 
 ALL things, so far, had worked diametrically opposite 
 to the designs of the arch-impostor, Captain Aragoni. 
 He was, consequently, furious with anger, and discon 
 certed by unlooked-for disappointments. On all public 
 occasions he had represented himself as the descendant of 
 a noble and great family, and, perhaps, not without some 
 truth at bottom. He had heard many comrades at " head 
 quarters" predict that he would be known in a few years 
 as a great military genius; but already he was surrounded, 
 out-generaled, and in despair. His exasperation had 
 thrown him off his balance in the presence of his lovely 
 wife ; and thus it seemed that, for a time, in his affairs, 
 the "reign of terror" had absolutely begun. It was 
 never his way to utter either coarse or indecent things 
 in the presence of women. He invariably conducted
 
 28 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 himself with inexpressible coolness, and with a dignity 
 and self-regulated energy truly becoming his professed 
 noble ancestry and official importance in the army. 
 
 When Joudre and the three strangers (who were, in 
 fact, very well-known accomplices) had left the house, 
 Aragoni hurriedly paced the drawing-room to and fro in 
 furious excitement. The failure of the men in their 
 attempt to rob the Marigny mansion, while the heads of 
 the family were at the wedding, and the effrontery of 
 their unexpected appearance and conduct at his residence, 
 in broad, open day, contrary to his express orders, which 
 they had never before dared to transgress, threw him 
 into a passion of anger, mingled with conflicting thoughts 
 of either suicide or murderous revenge. 
 
 At length, however, he arrived at a satisfactory under 
 standing with himself, and so succeeded in regaining his 
 accustomed tranquillity and imperturbable coolness, 
 which was really elegant ; then he ventured to call upon 
 his distracted wife, whom he had left but an hour before 
 prostrated in a deadly "swoon, and in charge of her maid. 
 
 She was reposing on the bridal bed, trembling and 
 pale as death; her eyes were closed. He cautiously 
 approached, and leaned over to look at her beautiful 
 white face a picture of maidenly beauty her luxuriant 
 hair falling in graceful curls upon the snowy pillow. His 
 hard and sinful heart wavered a little painfully ; he felt 
 that it throbbed with suddenly awakened emotions of 
 sincere sympathy for the beautiful victim. He seemed 
 to see and to feel the vast chasm which divided them 
 she an angel, he a veritable devil. The contrast shocked 
 him. He saw himself to be a gambler, a libertine, a 
 bandit, an adventurer. He saw that she was a beautiful, 
 sweet singing-bird of heaven. He regarded himself as a 
 vulture, in the garb of an honorable gentleman, dishonor 
 ing and crushing the heart of an innocent child.
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 29 
 
 She opened her eyes upon him while these horrible 
 thoughts were rushing through his mind. 
 
 A soft, loving light gathered in her large eyes, but 
 there was a wandering look in them. She said, raising 
 her hand slowly toward his face "Oh, good Father 
 Malarm you have come ! Oh, merciful heavens ! save 
 me ! save me !" 
 
 Aragoni groaned with intense anguish. Then with 
 the utmost tenderness of expression, he said 
 
 " We are alone now, my darling wife ; the robbers are 
 gone, and we are safe. Fear nothing." 
 
 A strange, protracted silence ensued. 
 
 Suddenly she burst out laughing in hysterical raptures. 
 "Oh," she shouted, " I thought I was on the brink of the 
 Mississippi River ; and I was going to jump in, and sink 
 forever under the waters ; but good Father Malarm came 
 and put his arm around my waist, and I was saved! 
 Good Father Malarm, I thank God and you." 
 
 Again her laughter became uncontrollable. "Oh, it 
 was such amusement !" she cried " such pleasure !" 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " The wisdom that overlooketh sense, 
 The clairvoyance of innocence." Dial. 
 
 THIS tumultuous and irresistible laughter, and this 
 singular language from the lips of the prostrate, and 
 pale bride, confused and annoyed the captain beyond 
 measure. 
 
 She seemed rapidly to sink into a deep slumber. 
 
 He turned sorrowfully away. His glance rested upon 
 the open note the distracted girl had written to her
 
 30 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 parents. He was reading it when she again opened her 
 eyes upon him. She said, "Dispatch my note to the 
 convent, please ; and tell the sisters that I am wretched 
 dying ! dying !" 
 
 The straight and dignified form of Aragoni was sud 
 denly bent forward by her words, as if they had been 
 mighty tempest winds driving against the tallest tree in 
 the forest. He was thoughtful. He walked to the win 
 dow, with the slow, feeble pace of a sick man ; and he 
 looked abstractedly out upon the solitary plain, that 
 swept away into the cypress swamps and desolate 
 marshes beyond. 
 
 Suddenly he turned and went toward her. He sought 
 her hand ; she withheld it. " Lovely Sophia !" said he. 
 She looked steadily and inquiringly into his eyes. 
 
 The deathly whiteness of her face cast a blanched 
 light upon his fine features. For the moment he seemed 
 to be transformed into a superior being. She did not 
 know that the new beauty and purer light in his face 
 was a reflection from her own. And she extended to 
 him her small, trembling hand. 
 
 " Lovely angel !" he passionately exclaimed. " You can 
 save me ! You can bring me, happiness ! You can " 
 
 She smiled tenderly, compassionately upon him. A 
 divine warmth and a divine light shone upon her counte 
 nance ; and she began to sing a plaintive song, which 
 filled the room with a celestial enchantment like the 
 musical breathings of an angel's bosom. 
 
 Her words came with the flow of her breath. It was 
 a wondrous improvisation. Every word of her divine 
 song sunk deep into the heart of the proud and wicked 
 and wretched listener. The warbling of birds, the per 
 fume of flowers, the sighs of the evening zephyr, the 
 prayers of the repentant, the beams of stars, the voices of 
 angels, the loveliness of creation, the goodness of the
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 31 
 
 Heavenly Father all, by a mysterious magnetic power 
 of penetration, entered into the sonl and judgment of 
 the transfixed assassin now her legal lord and legal 
 master. But lo ! by the subtle fascination of an im 
 perishable, invisible influence which floated into his soul 
 through her plaintive song he was internally compelled 
 to become her worshiper, her follower, her subject, and 
 most willingly in all things her slave. 
 
 Immediately on the ending of her song she lapsed into 
 a deep, unconscious slumber. 
 
 CHAPTER . 
 
 " Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
 
 Uttered or unexpressed ; 
 The motion of a hidden fire 
 That trembles in the breast." Montgomery. 
 
 CAPTAIN ARAGONI, his nature an empire of good and 
 evil, dropped into a chair and wept. His were the tears 
 of agony, of grief, and of true repentance mingled with 
 despair. He prayed to merciful Heaven for light and 
 forgiveness. 
 
 He had fought many a hard-contested battle in the 
 field ; he was familiar with bloodshed and suffering in all 
 their forms; he had from time to time inflicted cruel 
 punishment upon many a poor wretch for the slightest 
 disobedience ; but this new miracle of love, this new 
 magic of spirit, this new warfare, by which he was 
 made captive, was beyond his comprehension. It de 
 scended upon and overpowered him. His very soul 
 seemed to sweat tears of an indescribable anguish. 
 
 " Heavens ! merciful heavens !" he exclaimed in a pas-
 
 32 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 sion of overwhelming grief; "let not this supreme 
 divinity, this celestial chance escape me ! Holy angels ! 
 oh, pity me in my misery. Restore to life, and to me, 
 my beautiful, dove-eyed, dying bride !" 
 
 Meanwhile the exhausted girl slumbered on in deep 
 and blessed unconsciousness. 
 
 It was now midday. Suddenly the door-bell was rung 
 with great violence, and again and again in rapid succes 
 sion. 
 
 Plu, a c[uick, springy, cat-like youth, who was proud of 
 being regarded as the captain's vigilant servant, an 
 nounced the arrival of two officers of the police. 
 
 Aragoni arose abstractedly and descended to the 
 parlor. 
 
 " We bring sad tidings, captain," said the policeman. 
 
 " State your business," replied Aragoni with his accus 
 tomed energy and abruptness. 
 
 They immediately told him the story of the frightful 
 runaway ; the breaking and complete destruction of the 
 carriage ; and the terrible death of both Don and Lady 
 Marigny. 
 
 The captain was overwhelmed. Here was a new trial. 
 Besides, the event was inconsistent with the robbery 
 " ordered " to transpire that very night in the Faubourg 
 Lafayette. And how could this terrible news be com 
 municated to the already prostrated daughter his 
 beautiful, dying wife ? 
 
 " Why did you not apprise us earlier of this terrible 
 misfortune?" asked Aragoni. Meanwhile the solution 
 of the problem of how he was to act under the new 
 circumstances, was struggling in his thoughts. 
 
 "Monsieur complains, eh?" interrogated the officer, 
 insinuatingly. 
 
 " Yes ; why this long delay ?" 
 
 " Perhaps Monsieur forgot to apprise his friends of the
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 33 
 
 exact locale of his city residence," returned the officer 
 dryly. 
 
 Aragoni thoughtfully muttered between his shut teeth, 
 and privately cursed and damned the officers ; then ill- 
 humoredly he said, ^Step out and procure a coach, if 
 you please; while I break this disastrous news to my 
 adorable wife." 
 
 The officer stepped forward and held before the cap 
 tain's eyes an order for his arrest. 
 
 Aragoni was stern, threatening, forbidding, and imper 
 turbable for a moment. Then his countenance darkened 
 with the deadly nightshades of an indescribable anguish 
 and despair. A blazing redness flashed from his eyes 
 and disfigured his countenance. His knees trembled. 
 He staggei-ed, and suddenly fell forward upon the floor. 
 His convulsive writhings were frightful. He ground his 
 teeth; the white foam gathered around his mouth; his 
 fierce eyes turned up with a fixed gaze ; a powerful 
 paroxysm doubled his strong hands and tied his muscles 
 into painful knots. He was apparently dying; his face 
 saying " the way of the transgressor is hard." 
 
 One of the officers remained with the fallen man, and 
 attempted to relieve his intense sufferings, while the 
 other hastened for a physician. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " The charities that heal, and soothe, and bless, 
 Are scattered at the feet of man, like flowers." Anon. 
 
 
 
 THERE is a divine law in the very foundations of every 
 human soul, although unintelligible to its possessor, by 
 which each wanderer from the ways of love and truth is 
 
 2*
 
 34 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 eventually arrested, tried by the court of right, and so 
 "brought under the redemptive treatment of justice. 
 
 The physician at once investigated the condition of 
 the prone and wretched assassin. His powei'ful consti 
 tution fought mightily with the demons of disease, which 
 were thumping at his heart and stabbing his brain. The 
 doctor pressed a powder of belladonna between the set 
 teeth of the insensible man, and then he administered to 
 the patient, experimentally, something of mesmerism 
 through manipulations and the exercise of will. The 
 patient's muscles slowly relaxed, his pulse became normal, 
 his breathing less paroxysmal and less laborious, the 
 florid countenance faded into paleness, the rigid fists 
 opened, and a long, hideous groan escaped his lips. 
 
 Plu, the appalled servant, who had been making him 
 self useful in many ways, n6w conducted the physician 
 to the chamber of his dying mistress. 
 
 The doctor cautiously approached the patient who 
 was still seemingly in a deep slumber raised his hand, and 
 poised it in the air over her Avhite face. Then he made a 
 few passes through the air from her head to her feet. 
 Presently she sighed, and ejaculated the word " carmo /" 
 He continued to sweep his hand through the atmosphere 
 over her prostrate form. Again the word " carmo " was 
 breathed from her sweet mouth. Then the physician 
 administered a remedy, which she immediately swal 
 lowed ; then her eyes opened wonderingly, and she gazed 
 about the apartment ; then, sorrowfully and imploringly, 
 she looked upon the strange face that was beaming so 
 tranquilly and so benevolently upon her. 
 
 The police officer had given the doctor all reliable in 
 formation of the terrible accidenJt, by which both the 
 bride's parents lost their lives ; and it was resolved that 
 the time and manner of imparting this deplorable intelli 
 gence to the sick daughter the only child of the wealthy
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME, 35 
 
 Marigny family should be left entirely to the expe 
 rienced judgment and skillful address of the distin 
 guished physician. 
 
 Upon examination of her feverish and hysterical condi 
 tion, the man of medicine decided to withhold the appalling 
 knowledge from her for the present; but he counseled 
 the officer to remove the now partially restored captain 
 to the Marine and Military Hospital, which was located 
 within the fortifications. 
 
 The doctor's advice was quickly and vigorously fol 
 lowed. The proud and majestic Aragoni the pompous 
 and magnificent Aragoni the apparently noble and good, 
 but the really corrupt, and treacherous, and murderous 
 Aragoni was now a temple trembling and tottering to its 
 downfall. It was about to fall helplessly upon the mighty 
 bosom of unchangeable divine Justice, which ever and 
 anon maketh the world to shake like an aspen leaf, and, 
 with its omnipotent hand, rolleth the heavens and the 
 kingdoms of earth together like a scroll. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Who the secret can unravel 
 
 Of the body's mystic guest, 
 "Who knows how the soul may travel 
 "Whilst unconsciously we rest?" The Token. 
 
 EXTENSIVE preparations for the funeral were proceeding 
 in the Marigny mansion. Meanwhile, the judicious and 
 trustworthy physician kept his beautiful patient ignorant 
 of every thing. 
 
 On the following morning he hastened to visit her. 
 What was his astonishment when she inet-him at the
 
 36 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 chamber door, laughingly, cheerily, but with tender and 
 troubled eyes, and most gracefully asking him to be 
 seated ! 
 
 "Ah, good doctor !" said she, archly and triumphantly ; 
 " you can't deceive me ! I know it all ! every thing, 
 doctor ; yes, eveiy thing ! and, you see that I am calm /" 
 
 His amazement and embarrassment can not be describ 
 ed. Her marvelously gleeful and laughing speech suddenly 
 saddened the expression of his benevolent countenance. 
 
 "Ah, doctor, your presence sobers me," said she, while 
 a singular spasmodic tremor began to agitate her whole 
 body ; and she added " I would laugh like happy chil 
 dren, and sing like the warblers in our garden ; but you, 
 good doctor, coming in the interval of my new-found 
 happiness, cover me with a shroud !" 
 
 She now suddenly wept bitterly. Then turning her 
 gaze upon the doctor's thoughtful face, in which the ex 
 pression of utter astonishment greatly predominated, she 
 burst into a maniacal laugh, and commenced to walk a 
 little, and then she ran rapidly here and there about the 
 room. 
 
 Gently, but with positive firmness, he persuaded her 
 to assume a reclining posture on the lounge. He took 
 her hand in his, and, while examining her pulse, she 
 dropped off into a gentle sleep. This temporary suspen 
 sion of her alarming symptoms afforded him opportunity 
 for reflection. He felt sorely tried and troubled. The 
 condition and conduct of his lovely patient seemed in 
 comprehensible. Meanwhile, he realized most thoroughly 
 that her case, under the guidance of Providence, was in 
 his hands ; and he accepted the fact that he would be, 
 by her friends, held strictly responsible for any thing that 
 might happen. 
 
 Suddenly a fear, or, perhaps, an alarming doubt, took 
 possession of his thoughts. It occurred to him that he
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 37 
 
 had, possibly, by some mal-application of the mysterious 
 mesmeric power, superinduced a state of delirium. Per 
 haps (oh, horrible !) he had induced insanity. He was, 
 therefore, for a few minutes greatly excited lest he had 
 gone too far. 
 
 Now, Dr. La Force Du Bois this was his name was 
 a very popular citizen, and also a very successful prac 
 titioner, in New (Means. He had graduated in Paris. 
 He owned a diploma, which had been richly earned by 
 hard and diligent study ; it was duly signed and sealed 
 by the professors and president of the French Academy 
 of Medicine. 
 
 Recently, however, the philosophy of disease and the 
 theory of cure promulgated by the disciples of Hahne- 
 mann had engaged his attention. He was partially a 
 convert to that more refined and scientific practice, and 
 had experimented with the infinitesimal agents to some 
 extent in the treatment of yellow and bilious fever. It 
 happened also, very recently, that he met a convert to 
 Mesmer's theory of an universal ether ; which, according 
 to the theory, can be imparted or withdrawn at the 
 pleasure of the will ; and Dr. Du Bois had ventured, in 
 some cases, under his care, to bring this assumed mag 
 netic ether into actual demonstration. It should in this 
 place be added, however, that Dr. Du Bois, although 
 a young man in years, was, nevertheless, an old and a 
 wise man in judgment, profundity, firmness, diligence, 
 and reflection. He was possessed of the highest intellect 
 ual and moral endowments ; a deep thinker, benevolent 
 to a fault, and constant in his friendships. He had, 
 besides, that unscientific capacity frequently found very 
 strong in woman the capability of loving sincerely. 
 
 The first thing the doctor resolved upon was, to 
 make a few more manipulations in the air over the 
 reclining and now sleeping patient. He calmly and
 
 38 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 firmly essayed to impart to her nerves somewhat of his 
 own superabundance of health and vital spirits. 
 
 Her exquisite personal grace and her rare facial beauty 
 attracted and distracted his attention. Yes, yes, she 
 was indeed beautiful, and its chief grace consisted in her 
 ineffable ignorance of it. Her wealthy and considerate 
 fath.er had kept her from contact with fashionable con- 
 taminators ; and her ingenuous innocence and beauty of 
 character had been shielded and strengthened by sisterly 
 vigilance in the convent. The distinguished doctor, being 
 fully impressed with her artlessness, grace, and beauty ; 
 and knowing that within two days she had become an 
 orphan; and that her husband had been assailed by as 
 sassins, stricken down with disease, and arrested on a 
 criminal charge, the nature of which 'had not yet tran 
 spired who wonders that he sincerely sympathized with 
 her? and what wonder that he inwardly prayed to 
 merciful Heaven for wisdom and strength to enable him 
 to relieve her sufferings, and to accomplish her complete 
 restoration to health, and thus to the sweet happiness 
 of true wedded life ? 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " Oh, that in unfettered union, 
 Spirit could with spirit blend." Old Hymn. 
 
 IN that resplendent bridal-chamber there was a calm 
 atmosphere an indefinable spirit that was inexpressibly 
 tranquilizing and assuring. Of this the youthful bride 
 was evidently conscious. She suddenly raised her hand 
 and touched the doctor's. "Do you know me?" she 
 inquiringly asked, in whisper tones. 
 
 " Yes, my child," tenderly replied the doctor.
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 39 
 
 " I am not your child," quickly she said. 
 
 " Why not ?" he kindly asked. 
 
 " My father and my mother," said she, " will ride to 
 the Roman Catholic Cemetery to-morrow." And then 
 she laughed convulsively. 
 
 The now undisturbed doctor willed her to be calm. 
 
 " Oh, good doctor !" she shouted, " you can't deceive 
 me I knoAV it all but," she suddenly added, "don't 
 tell her ! don't tell her! promise me that you will not." 
 
 " Who is sAe, whom I must not tell ?" 
 
 The exhausted girl made no reply, but seemed to be 
 again lost in sleep. 
 
 Presently she said, " Wake me up, good doctor, bring 
 me to myself." 
 
 He recollected the practical instructions of Mesmer. 
 He made reverse passes through the viewless air about 
 three inches above her body, and from feet to head. 
 Gradually the reviving lady assumed a natural position ; 
 the whiteness and coldness of her hands disappeared ; a 
 rosy flush burned beautifully upon her fair cheeks ; she 
 opened her tender eyes; but suddenly starting, she 
 looked wildly and apprehensively into the doctor's quiet 
 and honorable face ; and then she said with some show 
 of uncontrollable nervousness : " Sir, you are a stranger. 
 Where's my husband ? Sir, I am a bride ! Where's the 
 bridegroom, sir? Where's Captain Jacques Del 1 Ara- 
 goni ? I am his wife." 
 
 " Madam," said the doctor most tenderly, and with 
 the greatest deference and politeness, " Madam, you are 
 ill. But you will soon recover, no doubt. I am your 
 physician." 
 
 Suddenly the sick beauty became terribly resolute 
 with a burning indignation. She bounded from the 
 lounge with the swiftness of a deer. She violently rung 
 the bell for her waiting-maid. The young, bright-eyed
 
 40 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 mulatto girl entered. "Dress me instantly," said she 
 impatiently, and with great emphasis: "Put me in a 
 carriage immediately. Bid the coachman to drive with 
 all speed to father's house in the Faubourg Lafayette." 
 
 " My dear madam," interrupted the doctor, firmly, but 
 in a tone of gentle expostulation, " You are an invalid, 
 madam ! it will be impossible for you to drive so far ; 
 that short journey at this time might destroy your life." 
 
 " My life ! my life ! destroy my life !" she replied 
 abstractedly, and as if endeavoring to recall an impres 
 sion of something vague and incomprehensible. " Impos 
 sible, doctor ! it is impossible ! I can not be destroyed. 
 I am the bride of Jesus he is my everlasting lover ; and 
 I and I, doctor, and I am wholly his eternal bride." 
 
 Then she sank exhausted and fainting upon the floor, 
 and burst into a flood of tears. 
 
 Doctor Du Bois was again confounded. But he de 
 cided to send notes to four of his professional brethren 
 in the city, and request a scientific consultation upon her 
 case; for her symptoms were rapidly changing and 
 becoming unmanageable. 
 
 In the next hour the most distinguished physicians of 
 the Crescent City were deliberating together, after they 
 had completed a thorough diagnosis of the young lady's 
 condition. To their utter amazement they found her 
 at least three months away on the path to maternity ! 
 This fact explained very much. But there were abnor 
 mal symptoms in her circulation. The doctors decided 
 that she was threatened with mania, which sometimes 
 occurs in a mild form, because of sudden disappointment 
 and cerebral repression. The medical gentlemen also 
 decided that absolute quiet for a few weeks would par 
 tially restore her. Then they recommended that the 
 patient should take a prolonged voyage ; perhaps, a plea 
 sure-trip, through the most attractive countries of Europe.
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 41 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 "I thank thee, Father, that I live; 
 Though wailings fill this earth of thine ; 
 To labor for thy suffering ones 
 
 Is joy divine." Ann Preston. 
 
 DOCTOR LA FORCE Du Bois, as you may suppose, was 
 relieved of anxiety. He now had no fears for the future 
 of his interesting patient. He entertained the highest 
 respect for woman, and esteemed maternity as a sacred 
 office. But he was immeasurably shocked and outraged 
 in his best feelings by the discovery that the libertine 
 Aragoni had enchanted and seduced this innocent and 
 beautiful creature. 
 
 A whole month passed, during which the doctor went 
 every day to visit the chai'ming convalescent. 
 
 One morning he was startled with an exclamation 
 mingled with fright "Oh, doctor I'm dying I'm 
 dying ! dying !" 
 
 He walked to her, and was just in time to save her 
 from falling on the floor. He cai'ried her to the lounge, 
 made a few passes over her, and directly she swooned 
 into deep unconsciousness. 
 
 This coma, however, continued but for a fleeting 
 moment. Presently she threw up her hands, and then 
 clasped them devotionally, as if in prayer ; then she slowly, 
 mysteriously, whisperingly, prophetically said " George 
 de Freronier, alias Jacques Del Aragoni, is now in the 
 military hospital within the fortifications. Go to him, 
 good doctor ! Go to him at once ! Picture to him what 
 you behold in me ; then, doctor, before he refuses to 
 further listen, give him this message : ' Carmo, the 
 plundered and the outraged, was not murdered! JTe
 
 42 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 lives ! Yes, he lives ! and he is about to testify against 
 you?'" 
 
 On saying this she returned to her normal condition, 
 and seemed tranquil and indifferent. 
 
 Imagine the doctor's unspeakable amazement. During 
 the first honey-moon month of her marriage every day 
 of which was studiously kept quiet to promote her con 
 valescence not a word had been lisped of her husband's 
 whereabouts, or of the decease of her pai'ents. To all 
 interrogatories of this nature, those who had access to 
 her invariably said : " The captain is absent, madam, 
 detained on business ; and your father and mother have 
 gone on a journey." These indefinite answers seemed 
 invariably to satisfy her never too impatient curiosity. 
 
 Next day Doctor Du Bois proceeded to discharge his 
 duty to the captain, who had sufficiently recovered to be 
 preparing for his fast approaching trial. He was en 
 gaged in conversation with his lawyer in the prison 
 apartment of the fort when the doctor entered. Was it 
 strange that the captain's sorrow-stricken face should 
 have turned deathly white when the doctor requested an 
 interview ? Could he have suspected any thing ? 
 
 An armed guard paced to and fro, to and fro, to and 
 fro, before the open door ; and an escort, also well-armed, 
 stood within the door, and next to the lawyer's chair on 
 the left, very near the heavily barred window. A mys 
 terious impression of impending disaster had suddenly 
 deprived the captain's mind of its constitutional cool 
 ness and inborn dignity. But the honest and conscien 
 tious doctor, although deeply imbued with the strange 
 ness and singular solemnity of his message, did not com 
 prehend that it could materially injure the prisoner. Pie 
 regarded the communication as coming from a sick and 
 partially insane young bride to her incarcerated husband. 
 The doctor, however, in his mind privately believed that
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 4.3 
 
 Captain Aragoni was a villain of the darkest and most 
 dangerous type. 
 
 Circumstantially and deliberately, nevertheless, the 
 benevolent physician described what had happened. Of 
 the remarkable faintings and swoonings; of the threat 
 ened delirium or mania ; of the unexpected discovery by 
 the four consulting physicians ; of the recent convales 
 cence ; of the sudden convulsions and temporary loss 
 of physical power ; of the beautiful girl's devotional 
 attitudes and silent prayers ; and lastly, the doctor 
 delivered word by word the entire communication that 
 was given by the entranced patient for he absent and 
 imprisoned husband. 
 
 Aragoni heard every word. He stood like one trans 
 fixed. His downcast eyes, hopeless and desperate, and 
 trembling limbs, spoke plainly that his wretched fate 
 was sealed. He raised his two hands slowly and clasped 
 them in agony upon his head. Without looking up he 
 groaned repeatedly ; then wonderingly and despairingly 
 he said "Carmo not murdered!" He paused. "Carmo 
 lives /" A long, thoughtful pause ensued. Then he added 
 " Carmo not murdered ! Oh, impossible! impossible]" 
 
 Moved with pity, the benevolent doctor addressed him 
 kindly. The wretched prisoner heeded nothing. 
 
 " Eternal heavens !" suddenly cried the desperate man, 
 " What means all this ? What is this hellish news you 
 bring ? Carmo not murdered !" 
 
 His moaning and wailing betrayed the increasing 
 desperation of his fallen soul. It was evident that no 
 man could deliver him from the penalties and sufferings 
 of life-long transgressions. 
 
 A brisk, cheering wind was blowing through the iron 
 bars of his raised window. It instantly revived the 
 elegant prisoner. He raised his fine head, and with 
 much calmness said :
 
 44: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Gentlemen, pardon my confusion and nervousness. 
 To-morrow, gentlemen, to-morrow, doubtless, I shall 
 better comprehend the situation." Then, turning to the 
 doctor, he said: "Sir, you are a stranger to me. You 
 are, you say, my wife's physician. Be it so. Look well 
 to her. She will need you." Pausing for a moment, he 
 added : " I would be alone, gentlemen ; but first I beg that 
 I may be furnished with materials for writing." 
 
 He stopped, overwhelmed with his terrible agony. 
 He was evidently reviewing memories of frightful and 
 diabolical deeds. He shuddered, and he muttered curses 
 between his shut teeth. He seemed to see before him 
 a vision of the scaffold and the executioner ! He ap 
 peared for a moment on the point of fainting. But 
 immediately recovering himself, he bowed gracefully and 
 humbly thanked the kind-hearted janitor, who had that 
 moment supplied his table with writing material. 
 
 It should here be understood that he was not closely 
 watched and guarded, like a condemned man destined 
 for the gallows. He was only under arrest, and had not 
 yet been put on his trial. His noble and commanding 
 personal appearance had a hundred times secured him 
 fi-om assault in the field, and had shielded him from the 
 suspicion, sometimes hinted at by his enemies, that he was 
 a masked chieftain among desperate brigands and accom 
 plished counterfeiters. He was, therefore, treated at the 
 fort by the officers in command with conspicuous consider 
 ation. Indeed, being a universal favorite in the army, his 
 incarceration was rendered as little humiliating and as 
 agreeable as possible. Besides, he was rightfully treated 
 with the respect due to every human being not yet con 
 victed, but who is only suspected of participation in crime. 
 Therefore his prison room was not void of comforts. But 
 the painful interview was now ended. The doctor, 
 the lawyer, and the guard withdrew. Then tho heavy
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OP CRIME. 4.5 
 
 prison door was shut, and locked, and bolted. And the 
 man of misery, the man of desolation, and the man of 
 unutterable despair, was closed in upon himself. He 
 was left alone ! in the dreary solitudes of sin left, to 
 work out the problem of life. He was enveloped and 
 overpowered by the divine mysteries of that light, on 
 the crystal billows of which the song of his dying bride 
 had penetrated the dark and evil recesses of his heart. 
 
 Early on the following morning a soldier from the fort 
 appeared at the doctor's office. " I have come," said he, 
 " to announce the suicide of the prisoner, Captain Ara- 
 goni." 
 
 The physician ordered his horse and rode immediately 
 to the fort. Horrible spectacle ! He found the tall, 
 majestic form of the unhappy man stretched, white and 
 cold, upon the prison bed. The pillow was saturated 
 with blood; and the overflow, from a ghastly wound 
 just made, was slowly dropping, sadly dropping on the 
 stone floor. To the doctor it seemed to emit a sound, 
 in the breathless stillness of the prison, like the beating of 
 a distant muffled drum. With his powerful hand the cap 
 tain had forced the blade of a small dirk-knife straight 
 into the opening between the right auricle and the right 
 ventricle. The work of destruction was complete. Upon 
 the heavy plank table were discovered two letters. They 
 were most carefully sealed. The names and instructions 
 were firmly and artistically superscribed. The larger of 
 the two was addressed :
 
 46 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Upon the other letter, also very neatly folded and 
 sealed, was 
 
 (^r cu$ / / G?/ // 
 
 &c out, G&et&vea' mUd : 
 
 amet, 4 ^eaacu : to ve o/ienea 
 
 / / ' / 
 
 om Wu6> aau. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 "Death is another life. 
 
 "We bow our heads 
 
 At going out, we think, and enter straight 
 Another golden chamber of the King's, 
 Larger than this wo leave, and lovelier." 
 
 Good Templar. 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the damaged social and military 
 reputation of the deceased, his colonel and all the cap 
 tains of his regiment resolved to take a testimonial part 
 in the last sad offices for the dead. They appeared in 
 full-dress uniforms, the regimental band furnished appro 
 priate music, and the display was unusually brilliant. 
 
 Of all this, the convalescing wife knew absolutely 
 nothing. The doctor had possessed himself of the letters 
 written by her husband. Not deeming her mind suffi 
 ciently restored to receive them, he cautiously locked 
 them up in his own house with other papers of value. 
 
 When the funeral cortege marched out of the fort, 
 Doctor Du Bois was purposely engaged in .earnest con 
 versation with the charming invalid. : The sound of
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 4.7 
 
 beating drums reached her ear. A passionate and mys 
 terious force gained possession of her. She rushed to 
 the window and looked out upon the city. She stood 
 still, almost breathless, listening. She seemed natural 
 and quiet as a child. The grand and brilliant procession, 
 the beautiful gay uniforms of her husband's regiment 
 which she had so often watched with a romantic maid 
 enly pride and passionate eye the enchanting music, 
 low and solemn the beautiful gallantry exhibited in the 
 military bearing of the captains in silence she saw it all, 
 inhaled the meaning of it, and looked for the moment as 
 if her whole soul was in it. 
 
 The doctor with anxiety was preparing his mind to 
 witness another crisis in the condition of his patient. 
 He, however, appeared indiffei-ent, and deliberately ap 
 proached the window as if to view the scene. She 
 instantly said, with a startled and offended look 
 
 " Doctor, oblige me by retiring at once to the parlor." 
 
 He withdrew deferentially, meanwhile speculating in his 
 thoughts what was likely next to happen. He breath 
 lessly listened at the foot of the stairs in the hall below. 
 It relieved him, however, when the bright-eyed mulatto 
 maid answered the summoning bell. He immediately 
 heard busy feet overhead, and laughter, and snatches of 
 song, and the chattering of merry voices. So he con 
 cluded that mistress and maid were playing together like 
 innocent and happy children. He thanked God. 
 
 Presently he was called to her chamber ; then the serv 
 ant-maid withdrew. Imagine his astonishment when, 
 on entering the apartment, he was met by the beautiful 
 Creole arrayed in all the glory and grandeur of a bloom 
 ing bride ! The drapery of her bridal dress, and all the 
 wedding ornaments were upon her, in splendid profusion. 
 
 "Ah, good doctor," said she, with a shade of dis 
 appointment, " you are offended."
 
 48 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 He smiled benevolently, and said, " Oh, HO, no my 
 child !" 
 
 Attempting and affecting to look with admiration 
 upon the really beautiful object a pale, graceful young 
 creature, dressed for the nuptial altar in exquisite style 
 and in the richest fabrics he added, ," You charm me, 
 dear but," his hesitation and perplexity getting the 
 better of him, and so becoming apparent, "but, my 
 dear, are you not too thinly clad for this chilly season ?" 
 
 "With the dignified grace of a lady of education, 
 united with the irresistible archness and simplicity of an 
 innocent child, she instantly took his hand and led him 
 to a seat. Then she gracefully seated herself by his 
 side. A convulsive tremor shook her whole body for a 
 moment. Then she bent forward and knelt upon the 
 floor. Her white hands were clasped upon her bosom. 
 Her upturned eyes were filled with devotion, and shin 
 ing with the heavenly feelings of true aspiration. She 
 seemed to be rapt in silent prayer. 
 
 A long pause. Then slowly and sorrowfully she arose 
 to her feet. She stretched forth her right hand and laid 
 it upon the doctor's noble head. With her left she car 
 ried his right hand, and pressed the palm passionately, 
 upon her rapidly throbbing heart. 
 
 " O merciful God " said she, in a voice trembling with 
 profound emotion, " pardon all pride and vanity in thy 
 child ! Pardon all sinful thoughts, all angry and rash 
 words, all fretfulness, impatience, and discontent ! pardon 
 all other sins, which, from time to time, she may have 
 committed in thy sight ! Hear me, O holy Shepherd of 
 Israel ! hear me, O holy Mother of Jesus ! hear me, 
 O Father of the Eternal Kingdom ! forgive him, my hus 
 band, who has gone from the lusts of the flesh, and from 
 the vanities and temptations of a wicked world! oh, 
 forgive him ! forgive him ! "
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 49 
 
 Suddenly she sank upon the floor ; but she looked up, 
 and a smile of happiness illumined her sweet face. Then 
 she hummed plaintive refrains and parts of a song. 
 Gathering strength, and with the doctor's assistance, 
 she arose and resumed the position of standing by his 
 side. 
 
 " Ah, good doctor," she began with wonderful pathos : 
 " you do not understand me. I am a bride the bride 
 of Jesus therefore, sir, I am appropriately arrayed." 
 
 " What is this mysterious marriage, my child ? Can 
 you describe it ?" he asked, with profound tenderness. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes," she replied, " I can tell you, and I 
 will." Her countenance shone with a supernatural 
 radiance. 
 
 " The mysteries of marriage," she solemnly continued, 
 " vanish before the eyes of wisdom. There are mar 
 riages of the flesh, and there are marriages of the spirit. 
 Mates know each other when they meet ; when mis-mates 
 meet, they hate each other. Thus, you see, good doctor, 
 that there is such a thing as love at first sight, and there 
 is such a thing as hate at first sight. This bleak Novem 
 ber is hateful to rosy-footed May, with her lovely flowers 
 and glittering fields. In the sacred silence of the heart 
 the love of Jesus is conceived. This is pure spirit-love 
 the love of purity for purity. When kindred hearts 
 meet and marry, they pass life and eternity together in 
 perfect unison ; both know intuitively what is essential 
 to their happiness. They are obedient, and eternal joy 
 is their reward." 
 
 "Tour discourse, my child, is profound beyond your 
 years," remarked the doctor. 
 
 She smiled incredulously. "Spirit," said she, "is 
 neither old nor young ; because God is neither old nor 
 young. Neither is truth, or love, or life ; for the circle 
 of eternity has neither beginning nor ending." 
 3
 
 50 TALE OP. A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Doctor Du Bois almost reproached himself with the fact 
 that he had permitted her marvelous discourse to absorb 
 his whole attention. He had forgotten, he feared, to 
 discharge his duties as her protector physician. She 
 had opened up a new subject to his mind, and he had 
 eagerly received her inspired words, like one hungering 
 and thirsting for the bread and waters of life. Recol 
 lecting himself, however, he led her to the lounge, and 
 commenced manipulating her throbbing head. After a 
 brief r silence, she joyfully shouted 
 
 " Oh, thanks ! thanks ! The terrible monsters are gone ! 
 I have been appalled ! I have been riding in the whirl 
 wind clouds of love's madness ! But now ! now the 
 night is passed ! now, blessed be God and his angels ! 
 I am free ! free ! free !" 
 
 "What monsters, my child? What clouds of mad 
 ness ?" 
 
 " Why, good doctor, don't you know ?" 
 
 "Know what, dear?" 
 
 " That the raven's wing is broken ! that black, hot 
 wing under which I have been so long sheltered, and 
 warmed, and imprisoned, and almost destroyed !" 
 
 The physician very kindly remarked " I do not com 
 prehend." 
 
 "For months," she replied, "my very heart has been 
 mad with love ; because he, so powerful and so beautiful, 
 had thrown his passionate will upon me. He infatuated 
 me with his delicious enchantments ; he held me close to 
 his heart, as a ferocious beast hugs its prey; he drank 
 my very breath ; he fed his passions with my blinded 
 affections ; he sheltered me and absorbed me ; his mag 
 netism filled my nerves ; my very heart was on fire for 
 him ; but, oh, thanks ! thanks ! I am .now free ! free ! 
 free !" 
 
 The prostrate girl clasped her hands together in a
 
 PLANTING- THE SEEDS OP CRIME. 51 
 
 paroxysm of inexpressible joy. The doctor "began quietly 
 to make reverse passes in the air over her, and very soon 
 she sank into a natural and tranquilizing slumber. 
 Seeing that all was now right with her, he called the 
 
 O O ' 
 
 maid, left full and explicit directions for the administra 
 tion of remedies, and then thoughtfully returned to his 
 office. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Bright "was her soul as Dian's crest 
 Showering on Vesta's fane its sheen." Landor. 
 
 WEEKS and months slipped by, bringing important 
 changes and transformations, in accordance with the 
 unceasing workings of the progressive law, which, if we 
 believe the teachings of modern philosophers, is but 
 another name for the unchangeable ways of an un 
 changeable God. 
 
 Time's merciless fingers, however, had been busy pull 
 ing down and scattering into the air the estates of Don 
 Marigny in the Faubourg Lafayette. What was supposed 
 by Aragoni and his friends, and by the intelligent inhab 
 itants of New Orleans generally, to be an immense and 
 unencumbered property, to which the beautiful daughter 
 would be sole heiress, turned out a complete and wretched 
 failure after paying creditors, not leaving more than a 
 few thousand dollars to the dependent and youthful 
 widow. 
 
 The richly furnished and princely residence, into which 
 the magnificent impostor, Aragoni, conveyed his bloom 
 ing bride immediately after the nuptial services were 
 concluded, was quickly transferred under the auctioneer's 
 hammer.
 
 52 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Young Madame Aragoni, in whose spiritual and tem 
 poral situation the Jesuit Fathers and Ursuline nuns 
 never failed to take the liveliest interest, was invited to 
 occupy rooms in an edifice connected with their convent. 
 She accepted, and removed to a sacred retreat in the 
 spacious and handsome institution. 
 
 After this she received no more visits from the benev 
 olent and deeply interested Doctor Du Bois. Day by 
 day he looked at every lady he passed in his walks and 
 drives through the city and suburbs. He was certain 
 that he would instantly know her; by her very Avalk 
 and deportment, as far as eye could see, he knew he could 
 recognize her; but she never came to delight his vigilant 
 heart. Oh, such painful waiting ! 
 
 One day, however, he thought he had surely found the 
 beautiful patient. He was leisurely strolling in the 
 Roman Catholic cemeteries, just a little way out of the 
 city, when suddenly a closely-veiled lady passed out 
 from one of the tombs, and seemed to disappear in a 
 large group of negroes, mulattoes, and quadroons, who 
 were servants of ladies and gentlemen then promenading 
 in the park. He searched for her, but was not successful. 
 Then he returned and examined the finely constructed 
 tomb, which was built with thick walls above ground. 
 On the door he read the name of ''Don Calvo Marigny." 
 This decided him that he had not been mistaken. Ah, 
 he knew he could not be ! Again and again, with the 
 lamp of hope newly trimmed, he visited the vicinity of 
 the tomb ; but to him another such vision, so attractive 
 and so heavenly, was never again vouchsafed. Changes 
 occurred meanwhile, of which the benevolent physician 
 knew nothing. 
 
 The homeless Sophia had an uncle residing in a grove 
 of palm, lime, and orange trees on the isle of Cuba. He 
 was an opulent Creole planter, with a justly earned repu-
 
 PLANTING TUB SEEDS OF CRIME. 53 
 
 tation for intelligence, enterprise, and courtly hospitality. 
 The story of the discovery of America by Columbus 
 possessed peculiar charms for her when a mere child. 
 She was exceedingly delighted and proud of Spanish 
 history, more especially that part of it which connected 
 Ferdinand and Isabella with the West India Islands, and 
 with the discovery by Columbus of beautiful and opulent 
 Cuba. Much of delight she felt when thinking of Cuba 
 was the creation of her fertile imagination. But the con 
 vent physician encouraged her departure to a more 
 tropical climate than that of Louisiana. She made 
 preparations accordingly, and sailed for Havana in 
 January, 1821, about two months before she became the 
 mother of a well-formed and beautiful child. 
 
 One day the New Orleans post-office delivered a letter, 
 evidently addressed by a lady's hand, to "Doctor La 
 Force Du Bois, No. Esplanade Street." It was post 
 marked Havana, Cuba. The physician's warm heart 
 swelled with a secret happiness. He hastened to his 
 office, locked the door against all comers, opened the 
 the precious treasure, and read : 
 
 "Mr DEAR DOCTOR: I have been trying to write you for a long 
 time, but this b'usy, this vexatious, this delightful world has run away 
 with every spare moment, till now. Don't you long to know all about 
 me ? I love Cuba a thousand times better than hateful New Orleans, 
 with its levees and swamps and yellow fevers. I wouldn't go back 
 for worlds. The past is hateful to think of ; I am trying to forget the 
 whole of it. Here I can confess my sins, and unburden my troubled 
 soul, and feel happier and comforted. But I never could be happy nor 
 comfortable in hateful New Orleans. I don't see how you can live 
 there, doctor dear. Here everybody is delightful; and, oh, what a 
 charming, sequestered spot this is, where my amiable uncle resides, 
 only a short drive from the city with its beautiful stores, and the 
 beautiful Spanish ships of war, and winged vessels of commerce from 
 all parts of the world. 
 
 " Ah, another thing I must tell you, doctor dear my poor fatherless
 
 54: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 baby was born two months ago. I suffered dreadfully. But everybody 
 here is so kind, and the Spanish ladies and gentlemen send me so 
 many lovely presents; and a thousand passing vanities, one after 
 another, so gratify mo and consume my time, that I am cheated out of 
 all suffering ; and the days come and go so fast I sometimes fear that I 
 shall not remember in the eternal world a millionth part of what hap 
 pens to me in this life. And I mean to forget the past as fast as I go 
 into the future, wouldn't you, doctor dear ? Oh, the horrible, hideous, 
 wicked past I 
 
 " The dinner-bell rings ! "Well, I don't care if it does. This letter 
 must be written while I'm at it, or it will never be finished, for tho 
 house is being prepared for a great party this evening, and you know, 
 doctor dear, that my presence is particularly wanted at such times. 
 My kind, noble Spanish aunt, says : ' Sophia is the very life and soul 
 of the assembly!' It's very kind in her I am sure to say so, but of 
 course I don't accept it all as truth, although I confess it gives mo 
 pleasure to be courted and admired by those I love. And I fancy 
 sometimes, doctor dear, my love is warm toward everybody in Cuba. 
 But I hate every thing and everybody in New Orleans, except you and 
 the good fathers and holy nuns at the Ursuline Convent. For you 
 know that I can never be ungrateful. 
 
 " Oh, I almost forgot to give you tho name of my handsome little 
 boy Carmo Del Arugoni. Beautiful, isn't it ? 
 
 "Now I'll tell you how it came about. 
 
 " During my confinement to the house, after the birth of my baby, 
 the family physician said I was afflicted with ' somnambulism' (what 
 ever that may be) ; and he said that I talked and did pany wonderful 
 things. He pronounced it a nervous affection, and gave me remedies. 
 They all said that I was like one dying. My unconscious profession 
 was that I could and did perceive things spiritual. I recall nothing of 
 the past, remember ; and I don't want to, and I won't I So of course 
 I know really nothing of what I am now relating. 
 
 " "Well, the family say that one night I seemed to behold a spirit, or 
 something of that kind, and the apparition appeared to speak through 
 my lips, and said, referring to the baby 
 
 " Let his name be Carmo Del AragonV 
 
 " Now I like that name, don't you, doctor dear? It sounds romantic 
 and Spanish-like, and I love every thing and everybody Spanish, except 
 Borne hateful people who live in hateful New Orleans. I don't think 
 they have in their veins a drop of true Spanish blood, do you ? If they 
 fall sick, doctor, won't you Need them within an inch of their lives, and
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 55 
 
 let me pay you for the trouble ? My lavish uncle supplies my purse 
 with gold and silver every day. I have so much I can't count it. 
 
 " There's my maid, come to arrange my hair and drape me for the 
 evening's entertainment I So good-bye, doctor dear ; now don't forget 
 your affectionate 
 
 " SOPHIA. 
 
 " P. S. Did you ever attend a Spanish fandango ? Oh, such funny, 
 lively times ! I'm invited to dance at one to-morrow evening ; and I 
 shall attend it, you may be sure. 
 
 " P. S. A splendid young Spanish gentleman has just called. He's 
 the son of the Spanish admiral, and grandson of the Captain-General 
 of Cuba." 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "Dreaming sweet dreams, till earth-born turbulence 
 Was all forgot; and thinking that in thee, 
 Far from the rudeness of this jarring world, 
 There might be realms of quiet happiness 1" Sard. 
 
 DOCTOR Dti Bois was thunderstruck. He tossed the 
 letter energetically and impatiently from him, and paced 
 the floor in profound distress. He was annoyed, grieved, 
 confounded. What a transformation ! What a fall 
 from the estate of an angel, pleading for truth and 
 humanity, to that of a fickle, fluttering butterfly of the 
 fashionable world ! He seemed to see her standing upon 
 the verge of an abyss. He threw up both his hands to 
 catch her and to save her from the terrible descent. She 
 saw him not. " O God of heaven !" he exclaimed, " is 
 there no arm to shield her from this fate ?" Then again 
 he walked the floor to and fro, to and fro in perfect 
 wretchedness and gloom. 
 
 Perhaps it should here be told that the doctor was yet 
 under thirty, and unmarried ; although from the natu 
 rally thoughtful cast of his honest face, and the round
 
 56 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 plump build of his body, he appeared to be a much older 
 man. And it is barely possible that interested motives 
 mixed somewhat with his unspeakable solicitude for the 
 charming young widow in Cuba. Every heart holds its 
 own secrets. It seems to be wisely ordained that neither 
 the faults nor the virtues of the soul shall be exposed to 
 the gaze of others. There is ofttimes as much protec 
 tion in wise secrecy as there is strength in integral unity. 
 We do not, therefore, presume to intrude upon the secret 
 treasures which may lie in the chambers of the bleeding 
 heart of Doctor Du Bois. 
 
 Study and research had thoroughly developed the 
 doctor's thinking principle in many directions. Mean 
 while his affections the tender and loving heart of the 
 man had been left comparatively uncultivated. The 
 sentiment of love, if that which is an eternal principle 
 can be so called, had scarcely germinated in his manly 
 consciousness. Woman was, therefore, a mystery. The 
 incomprehensibilities and the recurring inconsistencies 
 of the female heart confounded him. To his orderly 
 and methodical and logical mind woman was a creature 
 of disorder, inconsistency, and inconstancy. He feared 
 her ; yet no man more venerated woman, or had higher 
 regard for her maternal office in the sublime order of 
 nature. He resolved, however, to answer the blooming 
 widow's letter, and here it is : 
 
 "NEW ORLEANS, LA., May, 1821. 
 
 "Mr DEAR MADAM: I have the exquisite honor the exceeding joy 
 and supreme happiness, I may say of acknowledging your most agree 
 able letter." 
 
 Here the doctor paused. He laid down his pen and 
 walked the floor thoughtfully. Then he returned to his 
 task.
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF GRIME. 57 
 
 " One portion of your adorable letter, I must confess, filled me with 
 misery. You seem to cultivate feelings akin to retaliation toward 
 persons and scenes in your native city." 
 
 The doctor read and re-read this sentence ; he did not 
 like it exactly; it did not exactly say what he meant .to 
 express ; but he concluded to let it go, and so resumed : 
 
 " Months ago I obtained from your entranced lips, in this very city, 
 most astounding revelations. Your celestial language was fragrant 
 with the imperishability of ideas. Your collective utterances I have, 
 with most valuable letters, which in some future day you may read, 
 locked up in my private iron trunk. You seemed, in your moments 
 of highest ecstasy, to assume all aptitudes and to comprehend all 
 laboratories tor the expression of all most delicate and mysterious 
 sentiments." 
 
 Suddenly the doctor recollected that he was writing to 
 a young lady ! " That will never do," he said to himself; 
 "a lovely lady should receive a lovely letter." Then, 
 after a little hesitation and reflection, he wrote on : 
 
 " Permit me, dear madam, to congratulate you on the successful 
 deliverance of your baby. What could be more appropriate than the 
 divine name 'CarmoS I have ere this heard of the singular name; 
 but only when pronounced, in marvelous ecstasy, by your beautiful 
 lips. You did well, dear madam, to accept the name divinely given." 
 
 A thousand strange thoughts seemed to rush through 
 his brain. He connected the child's name with all the 
 horrible occurrences of the past few months. But he 
 resolved to refrain from every word which might bring 
 the past too distinctly back to the beloved Sophia : 
 
 "Listen attentively, dear madam, to my few remaining words. 
 Fate, or otherwise some heavenly power, has inspired me with a 
 powerful attraction toward you. Your image is present in all my 
 thoughts. And when I dream, which happens rarely when the city is 
 healthy and I am not overtaxed with professional duties yes, when I 
 dream, your image, as enchanting and as lovely as an angel's, wanders 
 with me whither I roam." 
 3*
 
 58 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 This bold declaratory sentence seemed to render the 
 doctor intense gratification. It was the first line of 
 undisguised love that ever dropped from his pen. His 
 heart throbbed, and he began to hope. Then he wrote 
 his final word : 
 
 "Doubtless, most lovely madam, you are now happy. If, however, 
 at any time in the future, you should need a friend or a physician, do 
 me the unspeakable honor of calling upon 
 
 "LA FORCE Du Bois, M. D." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " The world is too much with us ; in our hours 
 Of loneliness come thoughts of other days 
 Remembrances of summer's withered flowers, 
 Of woodland walks, and pleasant hillside ways." 
 
 Woodfern. 
 
 THE studious and skillful doctor, who was a full- 
 blooded Frenchman, had attained an enviable position 
 in his profession. No other physician had ever been so 
 successful with patients stricken with yellow fever. His 
 name and fame were in eveiy one's 'mouth. He was, 
 however, an investigator and a progressive man, and was 
 willing to acquire additional knowledge on every sub 
 ject ; hence, as the reader is now aware, impelled by his 
 constitutional inquisitiveness in truth's realms, he was 
 reading and experimenting in the mysteries of magnet 
 ism. He had read extensively in science, philosophy, 
 literature, art, history, and was never happier than when 
 he found a companion, either lady or gentleman, with 
 whom he could talk an hour on any of these studies. In 
 point of fact, he was the most intelligent and the most 
 successful medical man in the Crescent City.
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OP CRIME. 59 
 
 Yet, of the phenomena of ecstatic clairvoyance, as 
 exhibited in the case of young Madame Aragoni, he 
 realized an uncommon degree of ignorance. He, how 
 ever, disagreed with the Cuban physician, who had 
 diagnosticated the manifestation as " an affection of the 
 nervous system ;" and he was profoundly shocked, not to 
 say inexpressibly grieved and horrified, at the flippancy 
 with which she, the adorable Creole beauty, treated these 
 sacred things. 
 
 Standing at this angle, and not feeling at all certain 
 that he comprehended woman's sensitive and impulsive 
 nature, all things began to look revolutionary. He had 
 mailed his letter, which contained his first hint of love, 
 but now he would recall it. He could write something 
 infinitely more perfect. It was too late ; the vessel had 
 sailed ; his letter was already in her hand. 
 
 Her ringing laughter was heard by guests then prom 
 enading in palm and orange groves near her uncle's 
 residence.' 
 
 " Oh, do come !" she hilariously shouted. " Come, 
 somebody everybody ! I'm in raptures !" 
 
 Her cheerful and magnetic voice, combined with her 
 many personal attractions, invariably acted magically. 
 The young folks flocked about her in high glee. " Oh, 
 it's too funny for any thing !" Her beautiful face was 
 beaming with exuberant merriment. 
 
 " Pray tell us this instant !" chimed in many voices ; 
 "we're waiting for something to laugh at." But they 
 all laughed immoderately without waiting, and danced a 
 waltzing fandango about the beautiful girl. 
 
 " Now all stop !" said she, " and I'll tell every one. 
 Here's a letter from an old, good-natured, New Orleans 
 doctor; and what do you think?" 
 
 Then she laughed, and turned round and round on her 
 heel, like a child not yet five years old ; but suddenly
 
 60 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ceasing, and forcing her countenance to assume a mock- 
 solemn expression, she said : 
 
 " Why, the old doctor is making love to me ! But he's 
 so dreadfully awkward ! His letter reads for all the 
 world just like a sermon and an expostulation by holy 
 Father Malarm. Oh, it's too funny for any thing !" 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " Ah, no, fair boy, it can not be ! 
 For thine is human destiny." Green. 
 
 IT must now begin to be evident to my reader that 
 this young orphan this young, beautiful widow this 
 young, inexperienced mother all three in one beautiful 
 and impulsive person is the legitimate offspring of the 
 blood, and temperament, and constitution of Don Calvo 
 Marigny. She is unfolding with indiscriminate love 
 burning in her innocent heart. 
 
 Now, who shall say aught to chill and circumscribe 
 the universality of her affection? Behold her, singing, 
 running, dancing, and laughing in the sunshine, like a 
 pleasure-loving fairy stealing kisses from every pair of 
 beautiful lips fit companion alike for the artist and the 
 prodigal millionaire calling forth endearments and 
 evoking joyful emotions from everybody graceful and 
 free as a bird finding romantic openings in the groves 
 for lovers lavishing her unconsciously voluptuous smiles 
 upon guests of either sex loading her tables and every 
 body's tables with mountains of bouquets; and, withal, 
 religious a good Catholic sings praises divinely on 
 holidays in Cuba prays to Jesus Christ and to the Holy 
 Virgin and not neglecting to play like a child with her
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CHIME. Q 
 
 little, beautiful baby boy. "Who, then, that loves spon 
 taneous life who that loves nature as much in butterflies 
 as in trees and angels who that believes in cause and 
 effect, in a God and a well-ordered universe who, in a 
 word, is sufficiently sinless to condemn this dangerous 
 creature to be stoned to death ? 
 
 Her baby was truly a beautiful and wonderful baby. 
 He was born with a profusion of black, curly hair, which 
 hung in luxuriant ringlets about his finely-formed head. 
 His little hands and little feet were very great beauties. 
 There was a proud stateliness in the build and bearing of 
 this little boy ; his round, straight neck, half concealed 
 with curls, harmonized beautifully with his head and 
 shoulders. 
 
 The magnificent old admiral persisted in calling the 
 boy " Spanish Prince." 
 
 But who shall describe the expression of that little, 
 princely face ? The full-orbed black eyes seemed to be 
 swimming in an ocean of tears ; there was an inde 
 scribable look of terror in them. He seemed on the 
 point of weeping bitterly ; yet he never did. He seldom 
 smiled. "When he did, sometimes, apparently overcome 
 by his mother's bewitching playfulness, a satanic shadow 
 and a fearful solemnity suddenly ensued. The corners 
 of his little mouth were curled with a disdainful, sarcastic 
 expression. His eyes haunted the beautiful mother ; 
 whithersoever she went, they followed her, looking re 
 proachfully or, suddenly transported with some mys 
 terious emotion, bleeding with tenderness and despair. 
 
 In all other respects the little boy was perfect. 
 
 Now, who would ever imagine that thoughtless Sophia 
 the affectionate, the spontaneous, the ever-dancing and 
 the apparently ever-happy girl, so very young, only just 
 entered upon her eighteenth year had wept hot, bitter 
 tears, a whole hour at a time, by the little bed of her
 
 62 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 sleeping infant? Hour after hour the mysteriously 
 wretched girl bent over his little, sad face, and prayed 
 and prayed, and wept with all the flooding agony of an 
 overcharged heart. What a pity that honest, intelligent, 
 perplexed Dr. Du Bois could not have looked through 
 the distance, and beheld this Madonna weeping and 
 agonizing over her child ! 
 
 " Oh, the hateful, hateful past !" and she wept. "What 
 a wretch I am !" Her sobbing might have been heard 
 in the adjoining chambers ; but it was not, for she took 
 great care to conceal her sorrow from every one. 
 
 In the excess of misfortune she heard the voice of a 
 deliverer. Her uncle's family were about to sail for 
 England; they invited her to accompany them. The 
 Cuban physician approved. A handsome, healthy, 
 motherly nurse was obtained for the darling little Prince 
 "Carmo." The fair young mother pressed her mys 
 terious child convulsively to her bosom ; she held him 
 passionately in her round arms, and smothered him with 
 her kisses. He was blinded by the flood of her hot tears. 
 Then she knelt down and prayed over him, committing 
 him to the watchful love of God's holy ministering 
 angels. Again and again she most passionately clasped" 
 him, notwithstanding his sad face, and reproachful eyes, 
 and strange indifference. Caressingly she pressed him 
 against her bursting heart ; then she kissed his sweet, 
 pretty hands, and showered tears and kisses upon his 
 beautiful feet, and upon his handsome neck, and upon his 
 princely shoulders, and bedewed his snow-white bosom 
 with the gushing tears and love of her pure heart ; and 
 then 
 
 She was gone !
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. (J3 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 "As the twig is bent the tree's inclined." Pope. 
 
 GRACIATST was the eldest and richest brother of 
 Sophia's mother a fine old Spanish gentleman "all of 
 the olden time." He was remarkable for his genuine 
 hospitality and princely style of living. His residence 
 was about one mile from Havana, in the bosom of a 
 luxuriant grove, and connected with extensive planta 
 tions. Beneath the house were numerous and well-filled 
 cellars. There were rich specimens of carving and gild 
 ing on the cornices, ceilings, and panels ; and the em 
 blazonment of heraldry, here and there, especially in the 
 banqueting hall, furnished conclusive proof that this 
 establishment was a patrimonial estate. Some of the 
 pictures in the chambers represented bull-fights, feasting, 
 and other sports peculiar to Spanish countries. Beauti 
 ful hangings, stamped with gold, decorated the walls; 
 and superb musical instruments, bearing marks of fre 
 quent use, were found in nearly every room. 
 
 The Dona Gracian was a lady of magnificent assump 
 tions. She had the warmest fondness for the richest 
 jewels, the costliest diamonds, and the most elegant 
 styles of dress. Her extravagance was extended to her 
 daughter, a plain-looking girl about seventeen years of 
 age, and who was particularly delighted with Sophia's 
 society. It was but natural that the, ambitious Dona 
 should be ambitious for her daughter. Don Gracian, as 
 was his wont, generously extended his best wishes over 
 his lovely niece, and plainly told his magnificent lady, 
 just as they sailed out of the harbor for England, that
 
 64 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 he meant for both young ladies to provide equal oppor 
 tunities. 
 
 Little Aragoiii was just entering upon his second year 
 when his beautiful mother sailed away. He had passed 
 unharmed the critical stages of lactation and dentition, 
 and seemed impenetrable to the assaults of every infantile 
 affection. 
 
 The motherly nurse, in whose care he was left, soon 
 regretted that she had taken the charge. " She under 
 stood children," she said, " and knew what was required 
 of her in the discharge of her duties to this boy. But 
 such a child as this she never once dreamed of." 
 
 Once, confiding her perplexities to an aged female negro 
 servant in the kitchen, she declared her intention "to 
 leave the island of Cuba as soon as her salary was paid 
 up." 
 
 Time slipped by and her intention was fulfilled. 
 
 Then an intelligent governess was procured for the 
 little boy, and after that things went better with him. 
 He seldom cried, and seldom laughed ; he never fretted ; 
 and gave no one any trouble. And yet the old nurse 
 declared that "she couldn't sleep in the room with the 
 little child." Often in her inexpressible solicitude for his 
 welfare, she would, in the middle of the night, not daring 
 to sleep, get out of her bed and see if he was not dead. 
 " My stars !" she used to say, " if the child would only 
 cry once, and stop looking so everlastingly hideous and 
 hateful, I might bear the task a while longer." 
 
 In fact the nurse conceived an incurable repugnance, 
 and insisted that " a spell had been put upon the child by 
 some Indian witch." One evidence she adduced was, 
 that once when the nurse chanced to cut her finger, 
 causing the blood to flow very fast for a few moments, 
 the little boy, seeing the brilliant crimson current on her 
 apron, suddenly began to clap his little hands joyfully
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 65 
 
 and to crow with the greatest delight. And yet he had 
 not for weeks expressed any interest in the thousand and 
 one little devices for his especial amusement. 
 
 The new governess, however, felt differently. She 
 studied his temperament, and instinctively seemed to 
 understand his interior disposition. Meanwhile his light- 
 hearted, pleasure-seeking mother was traveling with the 
 Gracian family in Europe. 
 
 Who understands a child ? Is it not to most parents a 
 sealed book ? Spirit comes from spirit, and body comes 
 from body. But does not the invisible life within the 
 blood float into each the mysteries of both ? Schoolmen 
 speculate on races of men, and they profoundly develop 
 what they call the philosophy of history which may be 
 called the workings of Providence in the growth and 
 march of mankind. Now why will they not look into 
 the biological origin of childhood? In the germ the 
 whole future history is enfolded. Who sees it? Who 
 sees that honesty is a part of one's constitution, as much 
 as the color of the eyes, the hair, and the complexion ? 
 Who can trace the manifold causes which push them 
 selves out in these visible effects ? Whence the origin of 
 evil in the blood ? or of disease in bone ? Children's 
 teeth are set on edge, because in the olden time their 
 progenitors have eaten sour grapes ! Why did not their 
 fathers or their mothers reject the evil ? Who and what 
 gave them the wish to go astray? Ah, gentle reader, 
 the chain can not be broken. Each link is perfect in its 
 place. And the circle of human existence is united and 
 complete. And in it all and through it all streams the 
 saving law of PKOGEESS ; and thus 
 
 Time rolls all things onward !
 
 66 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " Our lives to lust and vanity are given ; 
 And when at last He summons us above, 
 We stand as strangers at the gate of Heaven !" 
 
 The Play. 
 
 AT the Gracian mansion there never had been any 
 thing like real, loving, sacred home life. Don Gracian 
 was descended from the Old Spaniards. His benevolent 
 temperament, nevertheless, influenced him to admit to his 
 good will the poor Castilians, the industrious Catalans or 
 Catalonians, the indigent classes of Creoles, the native 
 Indians, and the imported Africans. His superb gener 
 osity, and his princely style of rewarding those who 
 voluntarily bestowed kindly offices upon him or his 
 family, made his name dear to hundreds of hard-working 
 Cubans. 
 
 Twenty years before Don Gracian had chief super 
 vision of the vast ship-building establishments be 
 longing to the Spanish Government. The larger and 
 best of the royal war-ships belonging to the Spanish 
 armada were built from the grand, old forest-trees that 
 had made the Gracian estates so supremely beautiful and 
 picturesque. Every rare tree indigenous to the island 
 was to be found upon his extensive plantations. The 
 unsurpassed mahogany, the durable and beautiful lance- 
 wood, several species of the magnificent palm, the fra 
 grant wild lime, the fruitful cocus-tree, and the graceful 
 Iignum-vita3, numerous orange groves, all combined to 
 render immensely valuable and celebrated the patrimo 
 nial possession of the hospitable Don Gracian. 
 
 But, alas! that greatest of all sanctuaries for the
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 67 
 
 human heart, that surest stronghold of all true growth in 
 moral power and in greatness a HOME, in the true sense 
 of the good old English word Don Gracian had not, 
 neither could he purchase it, nor provide its divine 
 "blessings at any rate in exchange for his real estate. 
 
 Therefore he traveled with the three ladies; on the 
 plea that they required the benefits of change. There 
 fore poor little baby Carmo was homeless, as well as 
 motherless, in that magnificent Spanish establishment. 
 The glitter of jasper and fine gold could not substitute 
 for that hope of man, that holiest spot on earth to 
 woman, that mysteriously sweet sanctuary for children 
 a HOME ! 
 
 In planting of the seeds of crime, begin by destroying 
 home, and you will sow to the winds all that is sweet, 
 holy, and conservative in the human heart. Break the 
 charmed circle of home, turn the bark of human nature 
 loose upon the tempestuous social sea, without the sweet 
 influences of fostering love, without the golden bondage 
 of sacred ties, and the work of evil and misery has 
 begun. The bloody phantasmagoria of society begin 
 when the divine influence of home ends. Had the genial 
 Don Gracian had a true home a place more attractive 
 to his ambitious and pompous wife than the company of 
 of great lords and the pampered debauchees, a place too 
 sacred for the perpetual fandangos, too fine and tender 
 to be insulted by the gorgeous pleasures of those who 
 indulge in bacchanalian feasts mingled with hideous 
 shouts of wineful song he would have stifled the seeds 
 of crime, of nameless horrors, in the blood of little 
 Carmo and in the heart of his passionate and beautiful 
 mother. 
 
 A country of true homes is a country of true greatness. 
 A strolling gypsy life is the life of degradation and brig 
 andage. The heart needs sheltering even more than the
 
 68 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 body. So a false, heartless place in which to dress, eat, 
 sleep, work, fret, swear, fight, and debauch, is the house 
 of sin and the gate of hell. Behold little children, 
 innocent infant girls, and innocent baby boys, born and 
 reared in such hideous places ! Not one sweet memory 
 to bind the soul to the saving influences of home ! Not 
 one fond thought of a holy mother, not one recollection 
 of loving words spoken in the ti'anquil peace of a home 
 of love not one tie too deep for words ! No, wretched 
 wanderer! go out into the horrible battle of life cut 
 your own way through the savage wilderness every one 
 for himself! Alas, this is the reign of terror, the struggle 
 of tatterdemalions and social savages, the battle of 
 hungry tigers in the human forest the bloody tragedy 
 of an unprotected, homeless life between the womb and 
 the tomb. 
 
 Oh, ye who live in true loving, saving homes ! Shed 
 tears of pity, and curse not, for ye little know the temp 
 tations of those who live in huts, hovels, dens, cabins, 
 attics, and holes of crime. Ye have not the faintest 
 gleam of their hardships. They do not themselves 
 know that they are breeding and sowing broadcast the 
 seeds of nameless miseries. They never felt the fertiliz 
 ing love of fond mothers and sisters and brothers. Their 
 appetites were never fed by the delicate dainties of affec 
 tion. They never knew any thing of a holy place where 
 the thoughts and feelings of the selfish world were some 
 times not permitted to enter where, in the mysterious 
 sanctuary of home, they all shut out the tumultuous 
 world for an hour, and together inhaled the sweet 
 humanizing confidences of true hearts. 
 
 Alas, what might you have been under the perversions 
 of circumstances more powerful than your will ?
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 59 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 " Ah, who is there that ever quite forgets 
 His fairy land on love's romantic shore?" Old Song. 
 
 GRACIAN and the three ladies had been abroad 
 about three years. The free, frank, and fascinating 
 young widow Aragoni had stepped unintentionally in be 
 tween the modest and plain-looking Duena Gracian, and 
 every suitor which her ambitious and pompous mother 
 had contrived to introduce. 
 
 One day, at a dinner-party in London, Seiior Gracian 
 met an old military acquaintance, an officer of French 
 extraction, who had been connected with the building of 
 the Spanish Armada in Cuba, named Ermenonville Ma- 
 rana, to whom he forthwith introduced Madame Gracian, 
 their daughter, and, of necessity, also the blooming 
 Sophia. 
 
 Ermenonville had a countenance indicative of a ca 
 pacity for great achievements. His noble aquiline nose, 
 slightly curved at the root ; his animated eye ; his vo 
 luptuous mouth ; his features easily expressing his feel 
 ings ; his breast wide and deep ; his polite manners and 
 military bearing shall we say it ? perfectly charmed the 
 heart and the imagination of the susceptible Sophia. 
 Why did she not discern deeper? He possessed an im 
 perious and fiery temper; was often subject to fits of 
 violent passion ; self-conceited and obstinate ; entertained 
 false notions of honor, which he gratified far beyond the 
 bounds of reason., and jealous on the slightest provocation. 
 "Why did she not look beyond the fascinations of sense ? 
 Because she could not ; and so she secretly loved her
 
 70 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 uncle's old Cuban friend, Ermenonville. He was sup 
 posed to be wealthy, having amassed a fortune by trading 
 with China, and was the proprietor of a country seat 
 about two miles from the city of Mobile. 
 
 Madame Gracian's indignation was unbounded. She 
 thought, when her Don mentioned this gentleman, 
 " What a gorgeous husband for her daughter !" In 
 a moment her feelings of interest in her niece were 
 changed to vengeful hatred. 
 
 Addressing the genial Don Gracian, she said " Sophia 
 is not fit society for our daughter; she is offensive, 
 selfish, and a hypocrite." 
 
 " You forget that she is an orphan," he replied. 
 
 "An orphan !" she returned with supreme scorn ; " she 
 is more offensive to me than the slaves on our plan 
 tation." 
 
 " She inherited no fortune," continued the kind-hearted 
 uncle ; " her patrimony, of any value, was long since 
 expended." 
 
 " Is she your dependent ?" inquii'ed the pompous 
 Madame. 
 
 " No ; but she is my dead sister's only child." 
 
 " Is she, therefore, entitled to your patronage and 
 fortune ?" 
 
 " She is entitled to our bounty," he firmly replied, 
 " until she is married, when, like other females who 
 depend upon their husbands for their daily bread, she 
 will have her own tnaison perhaps a chateau with 
 plenty of servants, and a princely purse at her own 
 disposal." 
 
 "I choose to take my daughter from her society," the 
 haughty Madame replied. " She wears a hideous mask 
 of intrigue and hypocrisy. She shall go, sir ; and that, 
 too, this very day! this very hour! this moment!"
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 71 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 " The world is too much with us ; cursing still 
 
 Our slavery, with fettered souls we go, 
 Heaping life's measure to the brim with ill, ' 
 Despair and sorrow, sin and shame, and woe." 
 
 Winne. 
 
 SOPHIA, in the adjoining room, overheard every word. 
 It decided her. She rapidly penned a note to Ermenon- 
 ville Marana : " I will be your wife !" 
 
 Then on the instant she was happy. She had a thou 
 sand times silently prayed for just this kind of deliver 
 ance from the pitiless persecutions of her unreasonable, 
 jealous aunt, who, it should be recollected, was her aunt 
 only through the mere circumstance of marriage. In 
 an instant her mother's heart returned in thoughts to 
 the little mysterious, speechless boy on the blooming 
 island of Cuba. She would soon have a home for him. 
 The flowers of sunshine seemed to bloom in a moment 
 all over the dark path she had been traveling. Her 
 imagination dreamed out a future covered with pictures. 
 Then her aunt heard her electric laugh. 
 
 "Heavens !" she said ; "I hate the very sound of that 
 hypocrite's brazen-faced laugh !" 
 
 At that moment Ermenonville entered the apartment 
 of Don Gracian. He heard the bewitching, spai-kling, 
 exhilarating laugh of the adorable young widow. 
 
 "Ah," said he, " that fairy laugh has pursued me day 
 and night !" 
 
 Don Gracian freely expressed his gratification. 
 
 Madame looked daggers at her husband ; but she pre-
 
 72 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 served the grace and grandeur of fashionable Spanish 
 manners in presence of the Avealthy officer. 
 
 He continued : " How divinely your gifted niece 
 sings, Senor Gracian ! Her singing and her laughter 
 sound like the sweet music of flutes on the tranquil 
 lake !" 
 
 " Superb compliment !" smiled the genial Don. His 
 offended wife meanwhile busied her thoughts with 
 schemes against the too-much-admired girl. 
 
 Suddenly Sophia entered the room. The unexpected 
 presence of Marana confused her slightly, but instantly 
 her dark eyes were flooded with delight and affection. 
 He had come for her reply. She danced a few steps, her 
 sweet laugh ringing in the room like a silver bell ; then, 
 approaching him archly, slipped her note in his hand, 
 and gracefully retired to her room. 
 
 Ermenonville's quick and educated glance read the wel 
 come answer in Sophia's beaming, happy face. The agitat 
 ed aunt, however, had not observed the girl's sleight-of- 
 hand performance with their guest. He rose to depart, 
 bowed slightly to the gracious Madame, and motioned 
 to his old friend, Gracian, to accompany him. 
 
 The conversation between these men can be easily 
 imagined. Next day the attractive widow Aragoni 
 became the wife of the splendid-looking Frenchman. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 "Children of night! unfolding surely, slowly, 
 To the sweet breathings of the shadowy hours." 
 
 Hemans. 
 
 IN Paris, where there are no heart-and-soul homes 
 the only city in which an immense homeless population
 
 PLANTINa THE SEEDS OP CRIME. 73 
 
 reside in hotels the bridegroom and bride established 
 themselves to enjoy a whole year of honeymoons. They 
 lived in princely magnificence on the first floor of the 
 hotel. On higher floors lived individuals in every stage 
 of homelessness. Under the same roof, and up and down 
 the same common stairway, lived and traveled the duke, 
 the millionaire, the expectant prince, the artist adven 
 turer, the half-starving proletaire, the organ-grinder, and 
 the masked assassin. The delicious perfumery of the 
 rich mingling with the unclean smells of the poor, the 
 unwashed, and the silently miserable. 
 
 "Well, who cares?" Paris is thoughtless, Paris is 
 polite, Paris is sprightly, and Paris is gay ! Paris offers 
 a home to nobody. Money can not buy a home in a 
 Paris hotel. But everybody is free-footed. French feet 
 are winged, and ready for the dance of life. Everybody 
 is polite to everybody ; for they are not strangers ; they 
 are stopping but " for a day " at a glittering and com 
 fortable hotel. The men can go where they please ; so 
 can the ladies ; and it is all dramatic, it is all picturesque, 
 it is all suggestive of gushing happiness, or of sudden 
 suicide. It matters little which ! The perfumed ladies 
 read plays, novels, poems, and the innumerable feuilletons 
 of the hour ; the gentlemen visit the public parlors, where 
 they can sit for hours, read the journals, smoke, drink, 
 chat, and so forget the cares of life ; while both ladies 
 and gentlemen by day and by night go to the boule 
 vards, gardens, balls, operas, parties, and theaters 
 wealth and glitter weaving the web of a fleeting exist 
 ence with poverty and despair. Everybody on a visit ! 
 Nobody saved by a home ! A vast military parade, and 
 a royal banquet to-day in honor of the reigning prince ; 
 to-morrow a revolution, bloodshed, the scaffold, and the 
 horrid phantasmagoria of crime. Oh, charming Paris! 
 Oh, homeless, polite, proud, rich, crying, laughing Paris ! 
 4
 
 74: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 You help philosophers to comprehend the causes of 
 revolutions ; and you teach all men to approach, admire, 
 and depart. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 "But this is not the drama's closing act; 
 Its tragic curtain must uprise anew." Campbell. 
 
 A LITTLE incident, of no moment in itself, happened 
 one day in the stairway. Monsieur and Madame Mara- 
 na had just returned from the boulevard. He was pre 
 ceding her up the stairs to their door. A man muffled 
 up like an invalid, plainly attired, wearing an old military 
 cloak, brushed by them descending the stairs. 
 
 He cautiously and graciously slipped a piece of paper 
 in Sophia's hand, and immediately disappeared in the 
 thronging multitude of the street. 
 
 Her jealous husband, suddenly turning, witnessed the 
 stealthy movement, and instantly demanded an explana 
 tion. 
 
 " What is that ?" He snatched the bit of paper from 
 between her trembling fingers. 
 
 " I know not," she replied, in a tone half sorry, half 
 vexed, with a slight flush of indignation covering her 
 face and throat. 
 
 " Ah, madame !" said he, bitterly and impatiently, " do 
 not deceive me. You can not. It is impossible !" 
 
 " Monsieur !" said she, as they entered their glittering 
 apartments. " Monsieur ! I insist upon seeing that bit 
 of paper." As she spoke, a collar of large pearls, which 
 had ornamented her throat and bust, fell to the floor, 
 partially exposing her perfectly formed bosom, and 
 revealing a similar slip of paper to the eye of her jealous 
 lord.
 
 PLANTING TEE SEEDS OP CRIME. 75 
 
 " My God !" she suddenly exclaimed, astonished at the 
 discovery (for she had no knowledge of what it meant, 
 or how it was placed in her bosom). But she had spirit, 
 was consciously innocent of every thing; and so proudly 
 proceeded to remove the transparent veil that fell so 
 gracefully about her. Then she said 
 
 "Monsieur! I am sure you believe me. You are a 
 gentleman. Can you withhold from me the knowledge 
 I seek ? I ask to see the' writing upon these mysterious 
 bits of paper." 
 
 He handed them to her. She took them. On each 
 was written, in the same style, the one word "Jbudre /" 
 
 At the sight of the writing the horrible past rushed 
 like a tempest through her thoughts. She cast a horri 
 fied, pleading look into the angry eyes of Marana, ex 
 tended both hands toward him imploringly, and dropped 
 in a deep swoon at his feet. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " I bless thee, merry little boy, 
 Sweet future of thy mother's joy ! 
 And oh, may every simple note 
 I breathe along life's pathway float, 
 Gifted with music, still, to charm 
 Aside from the impending harm." Green. 
 
 MEANWHILE, what of the far-away, mysterious little 
 boy ? One day, in the early part of his fourth year, he 
 broke the dumb tongue, which, from his birth, had 
 scarcely spoken a word, and suddenly called aloud twice 
 " Mamma ! mamma !" 
 
 The astonished governess hastened to him. He looked 
 darkly upon her, however, and seemed upon the point of
 
 76 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 weeping. And yet he did not weep ; but she, the sym 
 pathetic soul, covered her eyes and cried like a child. 
 As soon as she could restrain her tears, she said : 
 
 "Mamma will soon come, darling ! mamma will soon 
 come ; and then she will stay with you, darling ! she 
 won't go away any more." Then her tears flowed 
 freely; for her woman's heart was aching with the 
 fullness of tenderness and affectionate sympathy. 
 
 The governess, now that her chai-ge had spoken, felt a 
 new interest in him. His first distinct word, however, 
 came near breaking her heart ; it sounded mournfully in 
 her ears, and pursued her night and day in her dreams 
 and waking moments " Mamma ! mamma !" 
 
 Time flew on, and this little boy, Carmo, grew rapidly. 
 He began to run away over the plantations with the 
 neighbors' children,' invariably taking the lead and 
 government of them all. He was never happy in his 
 plays, but always exceedingly active and terribly in 
 earnest. The children all loved him, and they all feared 
 him. The blacks and little Indian folk, especially, followed 
 him everywhere, and imitated all his ways his motions, 
 his voice, his whistle, his style of climbing trees, in which 
 he was fleet and fearless. 
 
 Letters arrived announcing the marriage of the widow 
 Aragoniwith Monsieur Ermenonville Marana. The gov 
 erness was grieved. She had learned to love the strange 
 little boy, and dreaded a separation. She had found 
 another fine beauty in his nature. One balmy evening 
 a female guest at the Gracian mansion seated herself by 
 the harp, and performed a plaintive piece with infinite 
 delicacy of touch and feeling. The little boy's counte 
 nance suddenly glowed with a joyful radiance ; then his 
 lips quivered with emotion ; then he fell forward, buried 
 his face in his two hands, and sobbed as if his heart 
 would break. All this, for a child, was remarkable.
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 77 
 
 The sorrowful governess, experiencing something of a 
 mother's tender love for the dependent little boy, sud 
 denly clasped him in her arms, and said : 
 
 " Why did you cry so, darling ?" 
 
 He looked at her mournfully, but made no reply. 
 
 " Can't you tell me, darling ? Oh, do, now ! that's a 
 dear, good boy ! What made you cry, dear ?" 
 
 No language can portray the indefinable bitterness, 
 mingled with a reproachful look of terror, which gathered 
 like a shroud upon his face. What mystery was that 
 which sought expression in his features ? Oh, the seeds 
 of crime ! sown by long-departed causes in that innocent 
 constitution. The crucible of life ! The elements of an 
 individualized human existence are cast in the fires of 
 passions. Circumstances afterward determine whether 
 those elements shall appear in the character of a devil or 
 an angel. 
 
 An event now happened (if any thing ever does hap 
 pen) which forced many human lives to flow into new 
 channels. 
 
 The long-continued absence of the Don and Dona 
 Gracian and their daughter (who had not yet found a 
 suitor), brought a series of disasters to their rich Cuban 
 estates. The overseers and managers had proved treach 
 erous ; many Indian and Catalonian laborers had de 
 serted ; Spanish workingmen and their families returned 
 to their native country ; and a revolution in the fortunes 
 of Gracian had commenced in earnest. 
 
 Meanwhile, nothing of these treacherous mutations 
 had reached the generous-hearted proprietor ; therefore, 
 never dreaming of harm, the family (if rich, fashionable 
 strollers, living in trunks and inns can be called a family) 
 protracted their absence. 
 
 But now comes an important event. What is an 
 event ? Something that hidden forces and circumstances
 
 78 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 have suddenly driven to the surface. The earth groans, 
 it trembles, hidden powers are awake, the mountains 
 sway to and fro, like gigantic forests in a tempest; 
 then, suddenly, the ocean pushes a mighty wave into the 
 air, and lo ! the geography of an entire continent is for 
 ever changed. Possibly the next great disturbance may 
 pass without producing any visible effect upon the surface 
 of the earth. It may shake a large area of the globe's 
 face, without breaking any mountain chains or chang 
 ing any of the great features of the planet. Now is it 
 not so exactly thus in the lives of individuals ? Some, 
 by apparently slight causes, are instantly transformed. 
 They succumb to the shock. All pre-existing accumula 
 tions, in wealth and in character, suddenly breaking 
 down and disappearing; and in their stead, whole 
 mountain ranges of vices and great tidal waves of crimes 
 suddenly appearing in their subsequent history. Others, 
 apparently subject to profounder disturbances and up 
 heavals, by which the great features of their external 
 fortunes are instantly changed, either remain the same or 
 unfold nobler and grander attributes of character. 
 
 In the event about to happen the direst changes and 
 the bloodiest crimes were made instantly possible. One 
 bright afternoon, while the governess, at the Gracian 
 mansion was engaged writing a long letter of items to 
 little Carmo's mother, she became suddenly alarmed. It 
 had just occurred to her mind that she had not seen her 
 precious charge since he had run out to play after eating 
 a late breakfast. 
 
 " Lost ! lost ! can it be possible ?" Frantic with alarm, 
 she communicated her feelings of distress to all the 
 servants. All the men and boys on the estate were 
 instantly notified. They all turned out to search for the 
 missing boy. Hour after hour, until late in the dark 
 night, they continued their search. Through all the
 
 PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CRIME. 79 
 
 groves and playgrounds ; over all the extensive planta 
 tions ; in every house in the city by the sea ; down into 
 every dark cellar ; up every high tree ; into every attic ; 
 among the shipping at the wharves in vain ! in vain ! 
 
 Next day a large reward was published. Minute 
 descriptions of the peculiar face, strange eyes, black 
 curls, and singular characteristics of the lost child were 
 everywhere circulated. 
 
 But after that memorable morning the little fellow 
 was never again seen on the island of Cuba. And the 
 governess? Distracted, appalled, grieved, broken in 
 spirit, afraid to meet the mother feverish, prostrated, 
 sleepless she soon sickened and died. Poor lone woman 
 heart ! And poor lost boy !
 
 PART II. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " On her the world hath never smiled 
 Or looked but with accusing eye." 
 
 Scenes in Bavaria. 
 
 IN the year 1831, near the close of a gorgeous October 
 day, the noble ship Champion, from New York, entered 
 and came to anchor in the broad bay of Mobile. 
 
 All the passengers had left the vessel, save one. This 
 passenger, a middle-aged man, affected illness. He, upon 
 this excuse, remained concealed in his cabin until the 
 autumnal shades of evening had settled upon town and 
 landscape. 
 
 " A lucky hour for my business," said he to himself, as 
 he proceeded to muffle his face, and to wrap a cloak 
 about him against the cold and damp of the night. He 
 was a stranger to everybody and to every thing. 
 
 "So much the better for my purpose," he thought; 
 and forward he quietly and hurriedly glided through the 
 streets toward the road leading into the country. 
 
 The moon had not yet risen ; and the night was dark. 
 4*
 
 82 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 The strange roadway was difficult. He walked eagerly 
 forward, however, in the direction which a citizen had 
 pointed out as the nearest road to the mansion of Captain 
 Ermenonville Marana. 
 
 His massive and showy residence crowned a romantic 
 eminence about three miles from the city. A rude bar 
 baric richness, and a wild profusion of costly incongruous 
 ornaments, were displayed on every hand. The waste 
 ful excess of rough-hewn elegancies said plainly that the 
 original master of this habitation had never been refined 
 by the breathings of delicate sentiments, nor chastened 
 by the gentle influences of education. "Wealth, vanity, 
 and sensuality, were stamped upon every thing within 
 and without this once grand old Spanish mansion. 
 Prodigal nature, however, had made the surroundings 
 lovely and picturesque, if not magnificent. A fine 
 growth of native forest-trees shielded the residence from 
 the cold north winds ; while the plantation on the south, 
 once so beautifully diversified with parks and lawns, was 
 now overrun with tangled and long grass, beneath once 
 fruitful trees and flowering shrubbery, still dressed in 
 the profuse gayety and variety of the colors of autumn. 
 Above the tallest trees from the cupola of the mansion 
 could be seen the spires of the town, a wide extent of 
 plantations, and beyond all the silvery expanse of the 
 broad Mobile Bay, and the glittering surfaces of rivers 
 nearer the city. 
 
 Captain Marana had been in the China trade for more 
 than thirty years. He had accumulated a princely for 
 tune. And he had resolved, long before his marriage 
 with the lovely widow Aragoni, to abandon the hazards 
 of traffic. After spending a year of honeymoons in gay 
 Paris, with his attractive Creole bride, he contemplated a 
 return to his estate in Mobile, where they could spend 
 the days and the years in idle and sumptuous retirement.
 
 TREES OP CRIME IN BLOSSOM. . g3 
 
 Destiny, however, had written out for him a different 
 horoscope. 
 
 He had loaned from time to time large sums to his 
 old Cuban acquaintance, Don Gracian, whose immense 
 estates had become overwhelmingly involved by treach 
 ery and swindling. The unfortunate Gracian, in the 
 desperate effort to rescue his large possessions from abso 
 lute annihilation, had totally ruined both himself and his 
 friend Captain Marana. The latter, however, was not 
 fully aware of this catastrophe until some three years 
 after his return with his lovely wife from Europe. 
 
 Contrary to his inclinations, therefore, the captain 
 again embarked in trade with China. lie wished to 
 repair his damaged credit, and to acquire property suffi 
 cient to maintain a life of luxury and elegant ease. He 
 had already made one extremely profitable voyage to 
 China, and was now at home preparing his ship for 
 another trading expedition. 
 
 The passenger by the ship Champion the muffled 
 and cloaked stranger, who was searching and groping 
 through the darkness for the captain's country residence 
 had stealthily approached the .object of his voyage. 
 He crouched himself in a thicket beneath the parlor 
 window. He breathlessly listened. He heard every 
 word of a savage quarrel, and ground his teeth with 
 suppressed rage. 
 
 " Oh, Ermenonville !" sobbed the well-known voice of 
 Sophia. She was evidently endeavoring to repress her 
 tears, and was making the greatest effort to speak. 
 
 "Silence, madam!" roared the tyrannical captain. 
 The listening stranger heard rapid walking to and fro on 
 the parlor floor. 
 
 " I swear," said he to himself, " and when I swear I 
 sicear." 
 
 Time elapsed. He overheard weeping, and meanings
 
 84 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 which revealed the unutterable agonies of a half-broken 
 heart. Then lie heard her voice 
 
 " I attempted no concealment," said she, sobbing, " I 
 had supposed that my uncle Gracian, who so well knew 
 my horrid past, had told you all, all !" 
 
 The crouching stranger muttered to himself, still 
 grinding his teeth madly, " I swear I'd like to feed my 
 hungry knife in the blood of that hellish rascal." 
 
 The captain, whose whole nature was now aflame with 
 the fires of jealousy, violently stamped his feet, and said : 
 " Leave my room, madam !" Then he cursed her with 
 terrible oaths. He hurriedly accused her of every un 
 worthy motive, and of every degrading passion. The 
 violence of his jealous rage, and the beastliness of his 
 manner toward the trembling lady, made him a cowardly 
 monster. 
 
 The stranger's impatience and indignation, meanwhile, 
 were increasing almost beyond his control. But he 
 wanted to hear the scene through. Again he listened. 
 He heard the voice of the terrified lady 
 
 " Oh, my husband ! my husband !" said she, pleadingly ; 
 "for the sake of my lost son, Garmo, let me tell you 
 who" 
 
 "No, madam, no !" he violently interrupted. " Not a 
 word not a damn word or I'll send you headlong to 
 hell!" Still furiously pacing the floor, he added 
 "Leave this room at once, you beautiful devil, or by 
 Gr d I'll end your treacherous life." 
 
 The tempestuous storm of passion still raged in his 
 jealous bosom. He raved like a maniac, and roai'ed at 
 his wife the most frightful epithets. The stranger (who 
 the reader must now know is Joudre) raised himself on 
 tiptoe, and looked in through the half-opened blind. 
 He saw the enraged husband draw a long knife from a 
 sheath concealed in his great waistcoat. He saw him
 
 TREES OF CRIMP] IN BLOSSOM. 5 
 
 suddenly advance, as if about to strike the weapon into 
 the already bleeding heart of his wife. He heard the 
 poor lady shriek in the agony of her terror. He heard 
 her voice 
 
 " Oh, my husband ! my child ! my lost boy !" 
 Instantly he shouted, " Joudre ! Joudre !" and then 
 violently pounded the window with his clinched fist. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "Then welcome be my death-song, and my death." Gertrude. 
 
 Two weeks slipped by. The transporting power of 
 sailing vessels had enabled Joudre to visit New Orleans 
 and return. He was accompanied by two fellows in his 
 career of crime. As Captain Marana was walking along 
 the road in the evening, returning from the city to his 
 residence, shortly after darkness had enveloped the world, 
 he was suddenly approached from behind by thi'ee men. 
 They instantly muffled -his head in a thick blanket, bound 
 his hands and feet with strong cords, and hurriedly carried 
 him far into the deep forest, about half a mile north of 
 his own mansion. He was immediately robbed of his 
 money, watch, diamond pin, and finger rings. Then the 
 fiendish assassins suffocated their helpless victim with 
 cotton, which they violently jammed and packed into 
 his distended mouth and nostrils; and then, in the 
 agonies of a wretched mind, he was left to die. In a few 
 moments his unhappy spirit, so far below the image and 
 likeness of the true and the good, took its flight from 
 the visible body. 
 
 Meanwhile the distracted Sophia, who knew nothing 
 of the tragedy that had just occurred, seemed buried in 
 the unutterable depths of grief. Each moment she
 
 86 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 expected the dreaded man would return. The memory 
 of his frightful imprecations, his fearful invectives, and 
 the expressions of his frenzied jealousies, united with a 
 constant mother's sorrow fed by the horrible suspicion 
 that her darling son had been kidnapped and lost, and 
 perhaps, murdered, overcame and crushed her heart with 
 an indescribable misery. Again and again she had con 
 demned herself for withholding from Captain Marana 
 the secrets and misfortunes of her girlhood. But, alas ! 
 her heart had never fully confided in him ; she had mar 
 ried to escape the persecutions of a jealous aunt, to be 
 free, but not for pure love. 
 
 When Joudre and his companions in crime had put 
 hundreds of watery miles between themselves and the 
 murdered captain, he said 
 
 "Boys, I swear I am happy as a born devil. My 
 tortured mind is happy as hell. "No mistake this time, 
 boys! I swear that I made an oath, years ago, that 
 I would be the death of that hell-hound, Marana." 
 
 Here Joudre doubled his large fist, and grimly, 
 savagely ground his teeth. He then continued 
 
 "Boys! you have heard more'n once of my sister, 
 hain't you ? A more beautifuller girl never trod the 
 levees of New Orleans." 
 
 A sudden suffusion of tears choked his utterance. 
 Dear reader, behold that stern, vengeful assassin as 
 sympathetic as a woman reciting his awe-compelling 
 story to his comrades in crime ! He is under the strong 
 excitement of wrongs far too well remembered. 
 
 " Well," he at length continued, " that adder of hell 
 that rattlesnake ^serpent in the mask of a kind gentle 
 man stung my beautiful sister ! Yes, I swear and I 
 swear again that he stung her the most beautifulest girl 
 on God's earth ! he stung her ! and I swore a hell of a
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN BLOSSOM. 87 
 
 swear that I would trample on that reptile's infernal 
 head." 
 
 Joudre stopped for breath, drank freely from a bottle 
 which he held in his strong hand, and then passed it 
 round to the boys. Recovering-, he said 
 
 " Yes, yes I'm devilish happy. We killed the old 
 Pitra the old Bat o' hell ! and that are sister is now her 
 own captain and all hands." After a long pause, he added 
 " Boys, I swear I hain't so damnably happy after all." 
 He reflected a little. A big tear gushed out, trembled, and 
 dropped upon his clinched fist. He resumed, thought 
 fully and mournfully 
 
 " That are sister's boy hain't dead ! I'll swear he 
 hain't ! and I swear I'll hunt him out afore I die." 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha," they all laughed. " When you die, old 
 Joudre, Uncle Sam's soldiers will have a hand in the 
 funeral. ISTow mind that, Joudre ! Ha, ha, ha." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " My daughter ! with thy birth has gushed a spring 
 I knew not of filling my heart with tears." N. P. Willis. 
 
 THE horrible murder of so distinguished a citizen as 
 Captain Marana roused the civil authorities to extraordi 
 nary exertions. Private gentlemen added large sums 
 to the municipal reward for the arrest and conviction of 
 the perpetrators. Practiced detectives were set upon 
 the track, and every possible effort made, but all in vain. 
 Day after day, week after week, till many months rolled 
 by ; no progress was made in ferreting out the authors 
 of the diabolical deed. 
 
 Meanwhile the shattered possessions of the deceased 
 captain were administered upon ; at length the fact was
 
 88 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 fully disclosed that the widow, after liquidating all debts 
 against the property, was left absolutely penniless. 
 
 Although having suffered long and deeply with the 
 unreasonable passions of an exacting, tyrannical, and 
 jealous husband, who had for years peremptorily de 
 prived her of the society of gentlemen, and although 
 constantly longing for tidings from her lost son, still the 
 Creole beauty was yet young and unshorn of her rare 
 womanly graces. Her ardent nature was somewhat 
 calmed, however, and her terrible discipline had added 
 to her beauty a certain degree of power ; so that, not 
 withstanding her natural impetuosity and affectionate- 
 ness, she extended a controlling influence upon all about 
 her. 
 
 One evening she resolved to write a letter to her long- 
 neglected friend, the philosophical New Orleans physi 
 cian, Doctor La Force Du Bois. She felt painfully 
 reproached, however, not to say guilty of some sad 
 breach of sacred friendship, when the impulse to address 
 him suddenly seized her thoughts. But she obeyed the 
 welcome impulse, and wrote 
 
 MARANA CHATEAU, MOBILE, ALA. 
 May, 1832. 
 
 MY DEAR, GOOD DOCTOR D0 BOIS : 
 
 I fear you -will deem me a cruel creature insensible to kindness. 
 No, no ! My life has been surrounded with difficulties ever since I 
 so gladly sailed across the Gulf, leaving that hateful New Orleans for 
 ever. 
 
 It is ten years since I received your letter. 
 
 My heart is hungry yearns toward all that's pure and beautiful. 
 Oh, how I long to be beloved ! Sometimes my heart is overwhelmed 
 within me. I would patiently, trustingly turn to Heaven and confess 
 my sins and pray to be forgiven, and cast my soul upon the compas 
 sionate bosom of my Eedeemer, if only my inflamed heart were per 
 mitted to consecrate its boundless love to some object worthy of the 
 bestowal
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN BLOSSOM. 89 
 
 Good, kind Doctor Du Bois I It seems as if I were beset by the 
 iniquities and transgressions of others. : Can I escape? "Where is holy 
 Father Malarm ? And the Ursuline sisters ? A heart full of spiritual 
 love I send to every one. 
 
 gracious God ! dear doctor! why am I condemned to live in 
 the midst of hate, when my passionate heart would give of its abun 
 dance, if it could but be truly loved in return. Can you, will you, dear 
 doctor, shed some light upon the dark wood in which I am wandering? 
 
 My child, dear doctor you remember that I wrote you of him do 
 you know where he is? He was lost or kidnapped on the island of 
 Cuba many years ago, while I (God forgive my folly !) was delighted 
 with adventures in Europe. Oh, I want to truly repent of the sins of 
 my past, and I will, yes, good doctor, I know I will if only I have my 
 darling restored to my bosom. Find out every thing, doctor, that's a 
 good soul, and write me ; for I am half crazy with thinking and longing 
 and yearning. 
 
 My next letter will be longer, doctor dear, if you will only deign to 
 answer this. Now do, doctor, do. Doubtless I am thoughtless, indis 
 creet, and all that, but my affectionate heart is never ungrateful. 
 
 As ever, lovingly, 
 
 SOPHIA MARANA. 
 
 Impulsive Sophia, after reading over the foregoing 
 hastily written epistle, was suddenly seized with a kind 
 of girlish delicacy. Shall we call it a freak? She de 
 clared to herself that it was too affectionate to send to a 
 comparative stranger ; she declared, moreover, that its 
 imperfect language did not express the half of what she 
 wanted to say. Provoked, and in a flash of impatience, 
 which got the better of her will, she tore the letter and 
 cast it into the fire. " What if it should have fallen under 
 the eyes of some unfeeling citizen of New Orleans." This 
 thought somewhat pacified her conscience that she did 
 right not to risk so much confidence in a letter. Still re 
 gretting her conduct, she re-seated herself and began an 
 other, more cautiously expressed which, unfortunately, 
 she never mailed to the good physician.
 
 90 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " In every heart is found a cell, where only 
 
 Sorrow repeats her litany of pain : 
 In every home a chamber veiled and lonely, 
 
 The shrine of sorrow ; there the dead have lain." 
 
 Harris. 
 
 THE radiant daughter of the opulent and sensual 
 Spaniard, Don Cairo Marigny, was now homeless and 
 penniless. She realized her situation with horror. 
 
 What resources ? None ! The accomplishments re 
 ceived from her education were fashionable and showy, 
 like the jewels and gorgeous apparel she had obtained 
 from the glittering and ephemeral styles of Paris. Once 
 she could sing and laugh, to the ineffable delight of 
 society's pandei'ers; but now, alas, only tears and sighs 
 came from the grieved angel at the bottom of her heart. 
 
 Her beautiful hair fell in rich curly masses below her 
 waist. She consulted the mirror. It told her tlfat, but 
 for the few light lines of sorrow here and there, she was 
 indeed very beautiful. She was not over thirty, and 
 young-looking for her years ; just approaching the zenith 
 of brilliant womanhood. She ran up-stairs to her im 
 mense wardrobe. There was a strange brilliancy in her 
 beautiful eyes. She took her rich dresses doAvn, piled 
 them on the bed, and then examined each one carefully. 
 Then her boxes of magnificent jewelry. Tears blinded 
 her eyes as she recalled the loving hearts which from 
 time to time, both at home and abroad, had given her 
 these imperishable tokens of their love and admiration. 
 Her imagination became excited. " Ah !" said she, " I 
 can leave this horrible place, establish myself in the
 
 TKEES OF CEIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 91 
 
 great city of New- York, and teach singing, and both the 
 harp and piano." 
 
 Gentle reader, whether mother or daughter, suppose 
 yourself under the same combination of circumstances, 
 and with the same momentum of mysterious forces, and 
 with the same hereditary bias kindling fires in every part 
 of your nature I ask, how differently from this home 
 less Sophia would you have done ? 
 
 Society has educated girls to be dependent. When 
 they become women, whether married or single, they are 
 absolutely dependent upon men. Her virtues, her graces, 
 her vices, her feebleness, her maternity, her chances in 
 life, all depend upon the man who earns the money and 
 builds the home. Is society just to woman? Was it 
 right to make slaves of a free people ? Failure in ancient 
 warfare was punished with servitude. Why has woman 
 failed ? Why is she in bondage to man ? Because she 
 has never learned the art of honorable self-support on the 
 battle-fields of life. When woman's heavenly function 
 as " wife " is valued at its immeasurable worth, and when 
 woman's divine worth as " mother " is prized at its infi 
 nite value, then indeed will society be just to its eternal 
 interests, and then will woman take her place by man's 
 side, his companion, his counterpart, his peer. 
 
 Two thoughts, or rather two impulses, were closely 
 associated in Sophia's mind ; and there, in effect, they 
 formed but one bright purpose to get a happy .living ! 
 Affectionate, beautiful, simple-hearted, truly benevolent, 
 yet she had strong determination. She immediately com 
 menced to pack for the trip to New-York. Her temper 
 ament was spontaneously warm and glorious ; it kindly 
 kept before her large eyes the bright side of life. Sud 
 denly she laughed ! The first time for weeks for whole 
 mouths. Its silver-bell music electrified the servants. 
 They rushed to inquire if she wanted them. "Ah ! no,"
 
 92 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 she affectionately said ; " you have all been dear, good 
 kind people to me. I love you, every one, and shall 
 never forget your obedience and kindness." Then she 
 gave little presents to each. The happy Ethiopians clus 
 tered around her. They hoped the good Lord would 
 bless and preserve her. Then, like mother natui'e's sim 
 ple children, they wept about the warm bosom of love. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " HER soul flowed o'er her lips in holy sweetness ; 
 Her loving thought in living music rang." 
 
 Old Song. 
 
 A VESSEL of light draught conveyed passengers and 
 their baggage from the Mobile dock to the majestic pack 
 et-ship riding at anchor a few miles down the bay. It 
 was one of autumn's sunniest and holiest days. The soft 
 haze of her golden dream vailed every thing, just enough 
 to subdue the sharp outlines, and thus convert the rough 
 and the rugged into objects at once smooth and beauti 
 ful. 
 
 They were soon wafted out into broad, open waters, 
 and bound for America's great financial and commercial 
 centre, the city of New- York. On their second day out, 
 not long after breakfast, our lone traveler, Sophia, was 
 politely accosted by a gentleman who had, from the mo 
 ment of embarkation, manifested the most respectful in 
 terest in her. He bowed frankly, like a perfect gentle 
 man ; and presented his card. She received it, and read, 
 
 PEORGE Jf. JIUGGLESTON, 
 
 Master in Chancery and Counselor-at-Law, 
 No. 27 WALL STREET, 
 
 HEW- YORK.
 
 TREES OF CHIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 93 
 
 She had seen too much of the world, and was by tem 
 perament too coi'dial and adoptive, to experience the 
 least nervousness and embarrassment. Moreover, her na 
 tive refinement and her education abundantly shielded 
 her from too much forwardness in her address. In feet, 
 she was in all the proprieties a perfect society-lady. She, 
 therefore, gently and politely returned his salutation, and 
 accepted the seat he had that moment furnished her. His 
 fine personal presence, rather tall ; his slightly florid 
 complexion, and comely features illuminated by intelli 
 gence ; his candid^ frank, honest countenance ; his large, 
 open eyes, without the slightest mark of vice, passion, 
 or intrigue, formed to her intuitive heart the fullest 
 recommendation to her respect and confidence. It was an 
 unspeakable relief to one traveling alone and bound 
 for a strange city, and especially to one in her circum 
 stances and with her purposes, and so she conversed un 
 reservedly. 
 
 " Madam," he observed, " I perceive you have no com 
 pany. If it please you, I will be your compac/non du 
 voyage." 
 
 She bowed assent, and replied : " These are supremely 
 pleasant days, are they not ?" 
 
 His honest eyes looked out over the broad, tranquil 
 expanse of ocean, and rather thoughtfully, he said : 
 "Yes, truly, it is a quiet and mellow autumn morning." 
 He seemed to be recalling something, was silent a mo 
 ment, and then added : " Yes, a gay morning, but cover 
 ing a sorrow-laden world." Then he sighed mournfully, 
 and continued : 
 
 " Pardon, madam. My grief is not yours. I regret hav 
 ing yielded to it. But," with some hesitation to explain, 
 " madam, the late pestilence in New- York the merciless 
 Asiatic cholera has this summer swept many homes 
 clean of every darling member. Over four thousand and
 
 94 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 four hundred victims have fallen under the scourge. 
 Among them, madam, was iny pretty little rosy-cheeked 
 boy the idol of our home. Do you, then, wonder that 
 this tranquil autumn morning has in it to my eyes a tinge 
 of night and gloom ?" 
 
 The affectionate lady wept with undisguised sym 
 pathy. 
 
 With sympathy for whom ? The angel at the bottom 
 of her heart whispered the name of Carmo del Aragoni. 
 There, in her soul's deepest recess, was an image of her 
 own darling boy. For several sacred moments the two 
 sad hearts sat in perfect silence. 
 
 " Mr. Ruggleston," she at length said, " you are a law 
 yer,' are you not ?" 
 
 " True, madam," he returned, evidently pleased to so 
 change the subject, "I am- a student of Francis Bacon 
 and a follower of Blackstone." 
 
 " The profession of law," said she, " has always seem 
 ed to me like a foaming torrent of angry waters. You 
 lawyers have professional quarrels, rivalries, and per 
 sonal bickerings, have you not ?" 
 
 " Not necessarily." 
 
 " No ? How can you avoid them ? ' 
 
 " Oh ! easily, madam. We lawyers by profession, having 
 opposing sides to maintain in behalf of opposing clients, 
 indulge in professional combat. That's all, madam, I 
 assure you," said he good-humoredly. " We seldom 
 practice upon ourselves the merely professional animosi 
 ties which we bring into the mucrones verborum of our 
 daily collisions with each other." 
 
 " Oh ! then," she archly replied, " you lawyers seldom 
 practice what you preach ?" 
 
 " In point of fact, madam," he answered, " there is, I 
 firmly believe, more fraternal and kindly feeling among 
 us lawyers than among members of any other profession."
 
 TEEES OF CEIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 95 
 
 (l Well, then," she rejoined, " with all my heart I say, 
 esto perpetua, and may the followers of Blackstone culti 
 vate what the French officers call esprit de corps, and 
 thus serve the wants of mankind." 
 
 The unaffected grace and spirit with which she said 
 this evidently delighted Mr. Ruggleston immensely. He 
 began to take the liveliest interest in his new lady ac 
 quaintance. 
 
 "Pardon my boldness, madam. May I ask your des 
 tination ?" 
 
 "Certainly, sir. New-York." 
 
 " Ah ! you did well to procrastinate your visit until the 
 pestilential cholera had exhausted its violence. I believe 
 it has now entirely disappeared." Then he asked, " Have 
 you relatives in the city ?" 
 
 " No, Mr. Ruggleston ; I am a total stranger." 
 
 " A total stranger !" he exclaimed. " Where, then, will 
 you direct your baggage ?" 
 
 In reply, she told him her present situation and imme 
 diate plans. He gave her his undivided attention. A 
 blaze of honest anxiety lit up his manly face. At length, 
 he said: 
 
 " Madam, it will doubtless be not difficult to obtain for 
 you a well-furnished house ; for the cholera has driven 
 numerous families from the city forever. Indeed," he 
 added, " now that I think of it, I have on my real-estate 
 catalogue a pleasant, neatly-furnished residence in Hud 
 son Street, fronting the popular St. John's Square, which 
 you can take immediate possession of, if you please." 
 
 Her warm heart swelled with joyful gratitude. "O 
 happy fate!" she said. "How thankful I am, Mr. 
 Ruggleston ! Please, at once, give me your terms." 
 
 " Seventy-five dollars per month, madam, and in ad 
 vance. These premises belong to a client of mine, and 
 his rule is monthly payments."
 
 96 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 She clapped her hands gleefully, like a pleased child, 
 and requested the lawyer to make out the lease immedi 
 ately ; also, she begged him to at once give his receipt 
 for one month's rental in advance. 
 
 They separated : he to his cabin to prepare the papers ; 
 she to her purse to find the sum required. 
 
 Presently they met in the same place ; the exchange 
 was made, and the subject of conversation was changed. 
 
 Without mishap, but with the recollection by each of 
 a pleasurable voyage, the ship arrived at her pier. 
 
 The gentlemanly lawyer conducted his esteemed lady 
 acquaintance, not forgetting her baggage, to her hired 
 residence in Hudson Street, fronting the then renowned 
 park, around which had congregated the finest dwellings 
 and the most aristocratic citizens. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " I SING because I love to sing ; 
 
 Because instinctive fancies move ; 
 Because it hurts no earthly thing ; 
 Because it pleases some I love.'-' Song. 
 
 TIME works mighty changes in a few weeks. 
 
 Soon after her arrival, and after procuring servants, 
 and supplying the house and the table with the thou 
 sand and one items and necessities, her purse was com 
 pletely exhausted. Carrying out her plan of teaching 
 music, and wishing to conceal her real name and past 
 history, she had a sign fixed to the outer wall, thus : 
 
 TEACHER OP SINGING. 
 Lessons on Piano, Guitar, and Harp. 
 
 Unaccustomed to work of any kind, she could not even 
 keep her wardrobe in good condition. A waiting and 
 serving maid did every thing. She regularly dressed 
 her lady's beautiful hair, and arranged upon her fine per-
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 97 
 
 son her apparel for the reception of visitors during the 
 afternoon and evening. In fact, the poor, homeless, 
 penniless child of fate was at once helpless, dependent, 
 attractive, and proud. 
 
 Day after clay, and no pupils ! Her only visitors, the 
 lawyer and one or two of his acquaintances. 
 
 " Great heavens !" she one day exclaimed, when the 
 butcher's and grocer's bills were presented for the third 
 time, payment being now demanded " Great heavens ! 
 What am I to do?" 
 
 Hurriedly she wrote a line to her faithful friend, Lawyer 
 Ruggleston, begging the loan of a hundred dollars 
 and a further extension of accommodation on her rent. 
 
 The. counselor was greatly disturbed. He went forth 
 with to his aristocratic client who owned the premises, 
 and stated her case in the best language at his com 
 mand. 
 
 The gentlemanly landlord, who had a flourishing dry- 
 goods establishment on Broadway, said " he would 
 think the matter over." 
 
 In less than two hours the wealthy house-owner was 
 admitted to the presence of Madam Sophia Lawson. 
 Her loveliness struck his fancy. He said, bowing : 
 
 "I come, madam, from Mr. Ruggleston, my attorney 
 for many years, to inquire into your circumstances." 
 
 "Oh! how kind, sii', how very, very kind in you, sir. 
 Please, sir, favor me with your name ?" 
 
 "Never mind that, my dear madam," he replied, 
 stepping familiarly toward and helping himself to a 
 seat. " If I can assist you, pray let me know in what 
 manner and to what extent, and it shall be done." 
 
 O the kindness of the aristocratic heart ! O the 
 magnanimity of the wealthy New- York merchant ! 
 
 She told him the exact truth ; nothing of her past ; 
 only, but exactly, of her existing embarrassments.
 
 98 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 He stepped to the table, drew a check on his banker, 
 payable to her order, for the sum she asked one hun 
 dred dollars. It was done in a business-like manner, ap 
 parently with an honest purpose. She extended her soft, 
 white hand ; he shook it warmly, and then departed. 
 
 The wondrous web of life is rapidly rolling from the 
 weaver's hand. Beautiful butterfly, a spider is spin 
 ning its magnetical gossamer threads stealthily around 
 thy wings. Oh ! beware, beware. But the fly is gayly 
 unconscious of its danger. Why do handsome evening 
 gnats fling themselves in the consuming flame ? Why do 
 innocent birds sing and chirp on their funeral flight to 
 the viper's mouth ? 
 
 A few days after she had effected the loan, the miscal 
 culating, the unbusiness-minded Sophia was as bad 
 off as before. Money all spent ! No pupils ! No pros 
 pects ! She did not hesitate long. Her maid hastened 
 with another note to the Wall Street attorney. Its con 
 tents resembled the previous missive, as one despairing 
 appeal resembles another. Again the merchant pre 
 sented himself in person. He looked in her eyes like 
 thousands of other men she had seen in London and on 
 the continent of Europe. A robust frame, of somewhat 
 burly aspect ; a vigorous growth of dark, grizzly hair ; 
 florid complexion ; a voice rather husky, and a little 
 slow of speech ; self-assured, slightly patronizing, and 
 exceedingly persevering in character. He called after 
 business hours, after dark, and without circumlocution 
 proceeded to the object of his visit. He said : 
 
 " Mrs. Lawson, I have a proposition to make. It 
 seems you are friendless and out of money. Now, I 
 will be your friend, and support you with all the money 
 you may want." 
 
 While he was speaking, she held in her hand a golden 
 crucifix, beautifully embellished with costly jewels, a
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 90 
 
 present from good Father Malarm ; but suddenly letting 
 it swing down the chain, she extended both hands to 
 the merchant, who at once grasped them with undis 
 guised expressions of immense gratification. Then she 
 said : 
 
 " O sir ! your kindness is indeed most welcome most 
 welcome, sir !" 
 
 He smiled, and his eyes blazed with the unholy pur 
 pose of his call. He bent forward to kiss her sweet 
 lips. 
 
 Alarmed for the first time, her woman's heart instant 
 ly divining his horrible motive, she drew herself back. 
 
 " Sir !" she said, turning upon him the fierce blaze of 
 her Spanish indignation " Sir, you dishonor me /" 
 Then a sense of her helplessness suddenly flashing 
 through her feelings, she burst into tears. 
 
 The persistent merchant took fresh courage. 
 
 " You wrong me, my lovely madam. Indeed you do. 
 Now, lady, it is positively cruel in you to do that sort of 
 thing, you know. I come to offer you the free use of 
 this furnished house for as long a time as you please. I 
 have gold and silver in abundance ; you shall not want 
 for any thing ; you can have your own carriage, a 
 coachman and a footman, and all the books you 
 want to read ; and you will be a very fine lady, (as you 
 are, my dear !) and all I ask in exchange is, your love 
 only that) lovely madam, and nothing more !" 
 
 Before he concluded his speech, her tears were deep 
 down in her heart. Her dried eyes flashed the vivid 
 lightnings of anger and scorn. His base insult filled 
 her whole nature with irrepressible contempt. As soon 
 as she could gather her breath to speak, she sternly and 
 majestically said : 
 
 " Sir, how dare you utter, in my presence, the holy 
 name of ' Love !' Offer me a house and your gold in ex-
 
 100 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 change for that which is my very life ! Sir, I scorn you ! 
 I hate you ! Out of my sight ! Jlegone, sir BEGONE !" 
 At that moment the door-bell rang. It seemed a 
 miraculous interruption. Without a word of reply the 
 merchant left the house. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " TRUTH triumphs there, so true, so brave, 
 
 It dares the dark volcano's wrath, 
 Nor shrinks amid the fiery rain 
 
 That strews with death its fearful path." Tribute. 
 
 THE maid announced a gentleman. He sent his card, 
 " William Morte, M.D., New- York." He entered and 
 took a seat by the windoAv. 
 
 The curtain was raised, and passers by could see every 
 one within. Many ladies, and especially many gentle 
 men, almost stopped on the sidewalk to look at the beau 
 tiful and gayly dressed Madam Lawson. This was no 
 thing to Sophia ; for she had spent much time in Paris. 
 
 " Lawyer Ruggleston," began the caller, " informs me 
 that you will probably leave this house in a few days, 
 and that then it will be for rent." 
 
 " God only knows," she mournfully replied. 
 
 " My profession, that of physician," he continued, "re 
 quires of me, a stranger in New-York, to establish myself 
 in a respectable neighborhood." 
 
 No words can tell the depth of anguish in the heart of 
 that friendless Creole beauty. Do you wonder, reader, 
 that she heard the visitor's voice, but scai-cely realized 
 the import of his language ? Do you wonder that, so 
 soon after her encounter with the tempter, she made no 
 reply ? He, therefore, continued : 
 
 " Possibly, Mrs. Lawson, you may be disposed to un-
 
 TREES OP CEIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 101 
 
 der-rent the premises for my Lying-in Hospital ? In that 
 case, you can select your own room, keep your maid, take 
 your meals at my table, and your income from the rent 
 will support you handsomely, beside satisfying your 
 exacting landlord." 
 
 " God only knows," she despondingly and abstractedly 
 replied. 
 
 " If, then, you agree to this arrangement, Mrs. Lawson, 
 I will bring my family and take possession immediately." 
 
 She reluctantly consented. Next day, Doctor Morte's 
 family arrived. A woman, with a hard-hearted face, 
 purporting to be his wife. An Irish servant with a pug- 
 nose, red face, and unmercifully cruel eyes. An assistant 
 in the hospital, professing to be a student, with a hooked 
 nose, thin lips, small gray eyes, light hair and beard, and 
 a very sinister expression of countenance. A black house 
 dog, chained and howling in the back-yard, and a parrot, 
 screeching and jabbering incessantly in its round cage at 
 the parlor window. Doctor Morte's other movable pro 
 perties consisted of trunks; a large number of cone- 
 shaped tin cans about twenty inches long; some half- 
 dozen bedsteads with sheets and quilts to match ; and 
 a large box of roots, packages of prepared medicines, and 
 about fifty vials and bottles, with pen-and-ink labels 
 fastened by tacks in the corks. 
 
 Miserable, desolate Sophia ! The new-comers in the 
 house filled her sensitive and refined nature with feelings 
 of unutterable horror. For her apartments she chose 
 the front room and the adjoining dressing-room on the 
 third floor, (her maid using the latter for her chamber ;) 
 and thither she flew, with all her rich wardrobe and glit- 
 teringjewels ; then she violently shut the door, and locked 
 it tightly, and bolted it strongly against the whole 
 wicked world, and against every hateful body in it. 
 
 But she was not to be left loner alone with herself. A
 
 102 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 pious lady caller requested a conversation with her on 
 the subject of religion. Alas ! this was the first lady who 
 had called during Sophia's long, miserable struggle in 
 New- York. And why ? Because the aristocratic neigh, 
 bors had leveled their opera-glasses at the graceful, 
 showy, dashing Creole widow. They had remarked who 
 entered the front-door. Her maid now and then, and 
 lads from Broadway stores bringing home her little pur 
 chases ; but oh ! confess it, poor sinner, yes all the 
 others were well-dressed, rather prepossessing gentlemen ! 
 Not many, it is true ; in fact, only two for certain ; but 
 now face the fact, they were gentlemen ! 
 
 And now, very respectable Christian reader, I ask, in 
 all conscience, wasn't that reason enough why respect 
 able New- York ladies should avoid the suffering stran 
 ger? "Yes, yes!" you all reply. B3F Will you make 
 that answer when you give in your account at the future 
 Day of Justice f 
 
 " I have a few tracts for you," said the timid and vir 
 tuous lady visitor. " I trust," she added, " that you take 
 interest in the cause of your salvation." 
 
 Sophia's memory floated her on swift wings to the 
 Ursuline Convent to the holy, charitable sisters to the 
 great congregation of worshipers in the vast cathedral 
 where her voice of praise had mingled with the mighty 
 peals of the great organ of her prayers to the Lord Je 
 sus, to the Holy Virgin and she replied : 
 
 " I was educated a Catholic, madam. Have you any 
 thing better for me ?" 
 
 Timidly the pious visitor handecl Sophia a tract. Then 
 wishing her good-morning, she departed. "Perhaps," 
 said suffering Sophia to herself, as she entered her own 
 quiet room, " this good lady's tract will divert my 
 thoughts." It Avas only two pages, and purported to be 
 " The Testimony of an Infidel." She called her maid,
 
 TKEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 103 
 
 Nellie MacFarland, and both taking chairs by the win 
 dow, she read as follows : 
 
 "Mr. B. lived in London ; he was a man of good abili 
 ties, successful in business, and possessed considerable 
 property ; his manners were gentlemanly, and being 
 lively and gay, as well as good-tempered, his company 
 was much sought. With these advantages, to which 
 may be added very excellent health and an agreeable 
 person, it is not surprising that he was what the world 
 usually calls a happy man ; but we must add that he was, 
 in the fullest sense of the word, an infidel and blasphemer. 
 His greatest pleasure was to laugh at religion, and to 
 burlesque the Bible. In company, he eagerly seized, 
 every opportunity of declaring his sentiments, and of 
 laughing at and deriding any person Avho professed, re 
 ligion. The blasphemies he uttered upon these occasions 
 frequently were such as to strike with horror not only 
 the persons who were the subjects of his jokes, but also 
 the rest of the company ; and to such lengths did he pro 
 ceed, that the more moderate of his friends, Avhen invit 
 ing frim to their parties, would sometimes require him to 
 promise that he' would, for the time, refrain from pro 
 fane discourse; which promise, when given, he would 
 sti'ictly observe. 
 
 "Thus he went on for several years, enjoying strong 
 health, and every circumstance which could contribute 
 to his worldly gratification. At length he was attacked 
 by a severe illness. In a few days the progress of the 
 disease was rapid; he was alarmed, and. eagerly in quired, 
 whether he was supposed to be in danger. His friends, 
 observing his alarm, and fearing a knowledge of the real 
 state of the case would hasten his end, concealed from 
 him his danger, endeavoring to assure him that his illness 
 would soon abate. Some days passed ; the disease in 
 creased, and he continued these anxious inquiries still 
 more frequently. At length he was considered as deci 
 dedly past hope of recovery, and it became necessaiy to 
 acquaint him with his danger. His friends did this in 
 the mildest manner, still endeavoring to buoy up his 
 hopes, and to prevent him from being alarmed ; but the 
 truth could be no longer concealed ; he now saw his aw 
 ful state.
 
 104 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Instantly he broke out in the most dreadful exclama 
 tions, crying out that his soul was lost, and, for some 
 hours, continued to repeat similar expressions; at the 
 same time groaning deeply. After a short interval he 
 renewed his exclamation, declaring he was now convinced 
 the Bible was true, and that there was reality in reli 
 gion, and expressed the most earnest desire that his life 
 might be spared for a year, for a month, or even for a 
 week, that he might declare he icas convinced of the false 
 hood of his former opinions. In this state he continued 
 for some time; when, feeling his end approaching, he 
 renewed his earnest wishes, that if he could not be spared 
 for a week, a day, a single day might be granted, that 
 he might warn others, as he hims'elf ' was going to hell.' 
 
 " At length he cried out, ( Iam sinking into hell ! Oh, 
 the burning the burning the torments of hell /' This, 
 and similar exclamations, he continued to utter while life 
 lasted, (for about thirty hours longer,) shrieking and 
 groaning so dreadfully that his friends all fled from his 
 bed-side, and even the nurse, accustomed as she was to 
 death-bed scenes, could scarcely be induced to continue 
 in the room. At length he expired, on the third day after 
 his danger was communicated to him ; the whole interval 
 having been a continued scene of horror and despair, 
 which the pen fails to describe, and the imagination is 
 unable fully to conceive." 
 
 " My God !" exclaimed the queenly looking Sophia 
 Lawson, after finishing the tract, " does that pious lady 
 imagine that a horrible story like this can pay my per 
 secuting landlord ? or my bills at the market and gro 
 cery? What charity! O God, Go dl" 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " A DAEK and scowling frown ; 
 But darker scowled each eye." Hoyt. 
 
 THE New-York Morning Gazette contained the fol 
 lowing :
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 105 
 
 $2.000 REWARD. MISSING I Two thousand dollars are hereby offered for 
 information that will lead to the whereabouts of Mr. William Henry Benson, 
 Dry-Goods Merchant, of No. 169 Broadway. He was last seen near St. John's 
 Park. [Here was a minute description of his appearance.] The above re 
 ward will be paid to whomsoever will produce the person of the said W. H. 
 Benson, by his attorney, GEORGE W. RUGGLESTON, 
 
 Wall St., N. Y. 
 
 Doubtless it is our province and our duty to tell the 
 reader exactly what had happened to the missing mer 
 chant. 
 
 Returning in the darkness from the conversation with 
 Madam Lawson to his place of business, he was suddenly 
 seized, smothered beyond speech, and then hurried into a 
 carriage, which was driven with great rapidity far up 
 the eastern shore of the island. Two men, one very 
 young, but tall and well formed, the other middle-aged 
 and burly-looking, entered the carriage and accompanied 
 him on the journey. 
 
 The vehicle was stopped in a thicket near the East 
 River. Here he was hurried into a small boat. The two 
 men bound his hands and feet, and covered his head with 
 a cloth, so that he could not see any thing or scarcely 
 draw his breath. They plied the oars with great vigor. 
 In less than an hour they landed with him a little north 
 of Green Point. Unbinding his feet, but otherwise 
 confining him, they forced him to walk rapidly for a con 
 siderable time. Then they halted. During all this time 
 not a word had been spoken. Presently they unbound 
 his face, leaving his hands firmly tied behind him. He 
 looked about upon the men. They wore masks. Then 
 he glanced around to discover his situation, and found 
 himself in what seemed to be a large cellar. 
 
 " Come, old man," said the younger villain, " thei'e is 
 no time to be lost. You are a business man, and you 
 understand a fair business proposition." 
 
 The merchant was alarmed beyond measure. He could 
 not speak. The young man continued : " You have in 
 your pocket the keys to the strong iron-box in your
 
 106 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Broadway store. Now, our proposition is : full directions 
 how to enter your store, tliis night; full directions 
 where to find all other treasure besides what we find in 
 the box; full directions how to avoid the watchmen 
 about your premises all this, old man, or your life !" 
 
 Horrified, and realizing the magnitude of the evil 
 hanging over him, and concluding that all resistance was 
 not only useless but dangerous, the merchant gave fullest 
 information upon all the points. Then the thieves rifled 
 his pockets of every thing ; secured the keys to different 
 parts of his store ; locked him in the great subterranean 
 apartment, and thus he was left alone in the pitch dark 
 ness. 
 
 He wandered about the immense cellar for what seemed 
 many day sail that dreadful night ; all the long, long 
 hours of the following day ; all the dark hours of the 
 succeeding night; sometimes sitting on the straw- 
 covered floor, sometimes dozing for a few moments; 
 all the time unspeakably miserable, fainting for want of 
 food, and choking for want of drink ; imagining with 
 horror that he had been both robbed and left to perish, 
 shut away from his family and from the living world ; 
 until, just as he was becoming unconscious from fright 
 and exhaustion, his captors suddenly arrived. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! old man," shouted the tall masked young 
 robber, lighting a lantern, "we had to wait. Things 
 went hard with us. Ha, ha, ha ! Here are all your 
 sacks, old man! Let's count 'em, boys. Fourteen! 
 Ha, ha, ha ! Now, let's count the gold and silver." 
 
 The two robbers were now joined by three others who 
 had just entered by another passage. 
 
 They seated themselves on the straw, opened the 
 sacks, and began to count. Meanwhile their profanity 
 and their heartless speeches terrified the merchant, who 
 all this time was compelled to witness the destruction
 
 TREES OF CRIME EST FULL BLOSSOM. 107 
 
 of his miserly accumulations. They counted eight sacks, 
 each containing one thousand dollars in gold; four 
 thousand dollars in silver in three other sacks; two 
 sacks of small, silver and copper coin amounting to sev 
 eral hundred dollars; and one sack, larger than either 
 of the others, containing gold and silver watches, a pearl 
 necklace, and many costly finger-rings, which the mer 
 chant was obliged to confess he had taken from different 
 tenants in New-York in payment for rent. He acknow 
 ledged that he had often taken trinkets from poor mecha 
 nics and unfortunate laboring-men whose families occu 
 pied his tenements. 
 
 " Old man," said the leading villain sternly, " you 
 will now be taken across the river. One mile north of 
 Canal Street you will be unbound, and left to find your 
 own way. Now, mark! We know you, you don't know 
 us. We kntnv where you live ; you don't know where 
 we live. Try to find us, and you will fail. Have a care, 
 old man, for we won't fail when we set out to find you." 
 Then the assassins all gathered together before him 
 and took an oath, loaded with the most shocking blas 
 phemies, in the name of the " Eternal Viper," which re- 
 sembted a sword held up in the air by the tall chieftain, 
 declaring that they would follow to " death's end," and 
 through "hell-gate" into the very "belly of hell" it 
 self, every New-York merchant and every aristocrat 
 who filled his coffers by cheating and by oppressing the 
 God-damned poor of the city. After swearing thus, they 
 indulged in a song of triumph. Then two of the ruifians 
 conveyed Mr. Benson, already half-dead, and set him 
 down at the place appointed. It was the darkest night 
 of the season. At day-break he began to see his way 
 into the city. His arrival, with his hair whitened with 
 terror, his features shriveled from bodily exhaustion, 
 and his brain incapable of forming the least judgment
 
 108 TALE OF- A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 of where he had been taken or by whom, the excitement 
 among his fellow-citizens became intense. The knowledge 
 of his great losses by robbery had already spread 
 throughout the community. Notwithstanding their 
 constant exertions, the law-officers discovered nothing. 
 The merchant, although he continued in business, never 
 entirely recovered from either the physical, mental, or 
 financial effects of the terrible shock. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " HERE are foes well worth the fighting, 
 Here are wrongs well worth the righting." 
 
 Earth's Battle-Field. 
 
 LET us return to the third story, front room, in Hud 
 son Street. 
 
 Madam.Sophia Lawson, by which name we now know 
 the disheartened wanderer, is looking from her window 
 upon St. John's Park. It is the stormiest, darkest, most 
 cheerless day of a very severe winter. The frost-minstrel, 
 in the exercise of his wild and eccentric arts, is construct 
 ing his leafy harps upon every pane of glass. The bare 
 and shrieking trees, lashed by the whip of an angry 
 tempest, force their fierce lamentations into the listen 
 ing ear. 
 
 " O Nellie, Nellie ! come here quick. Do look out 
 at this terrible storm." 
 
 Nellie, a pretty and sprightly maid of Erin, hastened 
 to the window. " Oh, oh, oh ! it's awful, mum." 
 
 Madam Lawson's eyes were that moment looking re 
 trospectively into the sere meadows ; into the bare rose- 
 trees and stricken woods ; into the lowering storms ; 
 into dreadful shadows ; into the eyes of fierce hawks 
 that had destroyed the sweet singing-birds in her life
 
 TREES OF CHIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 109 
 
 yes, into the strange, wild, stormy, wintry past she was 
 silently looking, and do you wonder that her aching 
 heart groaned, and that mournfully she said : 
 
 " Nellie dear, now that we are alone, I will tell you 
 that I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could die 
 this very hour." 
 
 " O mum ! don't talk so ; you frighten me dreadfully." 
 
 " I am in earnest, Nellie ; for my breaking heart is op 
 pressed with pain and weary with care ; and nobody 
 loves me, Nellie not a living soul cares whether I live 
 or starve. Yes, child, I am in earnest." 
 
 " Oh ! I love you, mum," Nellie interrupted, throwing 
 her strong, red arms about the fair neck of the lovely 
 Creole " I do love you, mum, and I will do every thing 
 for you as long as I live." Then she cried as though 
 her heart would break. 
 
 " Nellie," said her mistress in tones half-mournful 
 and half-angry, " Nellie, stand off! It curdles the very 
 blood in my heart to see any body pity ME !" 
 
 The astonished and half-frightened maid quickly 
 stepped back, and seated herself on a low bench by a 
 large open trunk. She looked offended and sullen. 
 
 " Nellie," the suffering lady continued, " you talk like 
 a sweet and amiable little fool !" 
 
 The maid's Hibernian blood was now at the boiling- 
 point. She quivered with rage. Every thing seemed to 
 quake around her. The expression of her eyes (which is 
 common with the enslaved classes of that people) was 
 timid, yet red-hot with spitefulness. Suddenly she rose 
 to her feet, and said fiercely : 
 
 " Pay me what ye owes me pay me what ye owes 
 me, mum. I won't stay with a foine, pretty, proud lady 
 who han't got no cent of money. Oh ! ye're a pretty one, 
 trying to lord it over a poor, hard-working girl the 
 likes o' me. Oh ! such a foine lady, sure. By the holy 
 Quaks, mum, I wants my money this minute now"
 
 110 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 "Don't talk like a little fool, Nellie," said Madam 
 Lawson, somewhat softened. " You know I have not a 
 dollar over my rent for any thing. But don't be afraid, 
 Nellie dear ; you shall be paid every penny." 
 
 Nellie cooled a little, and said: "I'd likes to know 
 how, mum." Then she carefully sprinkled a rose-bush 
 by the window with a little warm water, and looked 
 down upon it with " a smile on her lip and a tear in her 
 eye." Then she went back to her seat by the open 
 trunk. 
 
 " It's none of my business, mum," she said, " but 
 couldn't you get heaps of gold for your rich jewelry?" 
 And she looked down into the tray of the trunk so full 
 of boxes of costly ornaments. 
 
 "Right, right, Nellie dear! Bring them all to me. 
 Let's sort them out; then take a list of every thing; 
 and then why, Nelly, I shall get at least two thousand 
 dollars for all these exquisite beauties !" 
 
 They commenced. As one after another of the "gifts 
 of love " passed under review, tears began to blind the 
 dark, tender eyes of the unhappy Creole widow. 
 
 " Oh !" she passionately sobbed, " my heart will break. 
 It will, Nellie I know niy poor heart will break !" And 
 she hid her face in her handkerchief, and wept like a 
 child suddenly bereft of its mother's sheltering love. 
 
 But Nellie worked on, highly pleased with the glit 
 tering gems and shining gold, and soon the list was fully 
 made out. 
 
 Sophia's boxes of diamonds and whole sets of jewelry, 
 adapted to different public occasions, and to different 
 styles and colors of dress, could not have been purchas 
 ed for less than fifteen thousand dollars ! Of this she 
 had not, and never had, the least appreciative concep 
 tion. Her wealthy parents, her lavish uncle, the rare 
 bridal gifts presented by her two Imsbands in the flush
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. Ill 
 
 of their passion and admiration, and the rich tokens from 
 wealthy acquaintances in Paris and London all so sup 
 plied her with costly varieties, and that so continually, 
 that she could not value them by a money standard, but 
 only as symbols of love and passion long since dead and 
 forgotten ; not " forgotten " by her suffering heart ! She 
 did not know the real value of a dollar, much less 
 of a hundred dollars ; because she had never worked at 
 any thing, and could not understand how long and how 
 wearily a poor person must labor to earn a few dollars 
 by which to frighten " the wolf from their doors " dur 
 ing the cold and chillins: frosts of winter. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " PAUSE not, but increase your speed : 
 In this march there's constant need." 
 
 Earth's Battle. 
 
 THE valuable collection of gems and diamonds was 
 emptied and nicely assorted into one large box, which 
 was placed on the bureau in front of the oft-consulted 
 mirror. 
 
 While rummaging over the trunk, Sophia found a 
 great treasure. It was the letter of good, honest, philo 
 sophical Doctor Du Bois, whose awkward expressions of 
 love had once, in sunnier days, on the blooming island of 
 Cuba, occasioned her such jolly amusement. 
 
 Again and again she read it, and every time the full 
 power of the last line entered her heart like a dagger : 
 " If ever you should need a friend!" In her present 
 helpless circumstances, did she not " need a friend ?" Ah ! 
 she once repelled from her a " treasure" that was hon 
 estly and freely offered. Now,alas ! alas ! w7tere, oh ! where 
 under the blue heavens oh ! where over the rolling years
 
 112 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 could she find Avhat she had, in her thoughtless and 
 guilty folly, ruthlessly trampled beneath her dancing 
 feet? 
 
 The room was nearly darkened by the storm and the 
 rapid approach of night. 
 
 " Nellie," said Madam Lawson, breaking a long-con 
 tinued silence, " I wonder why that storekeeper don't 
 send home the plain dress pattern I purchased yesterday." 
 
 Strangely enough, even while she was uttering these 
 few words, the street-door bell rang, and up the two 
 flights of stairs rushed the store errand-boy with the de 
 sired package. " Wait a moment, boy," said Sophia, " till 
 I step in the adjoining room to show my choice to Nellie. 
 Perhaps I shall change my mind, and may wish you to 
 take it back." 
 
 Politely the youngster signified his willingness to ac 
 commodate. She returned with Nellie in a few moments, 
 but oh ! horrible the boy and the box of jewels and 
 diamonds were gone, GONE ! 
 
 Screaming, mistress and maid fled down-stairs, opened 
 the front-door, and looked out into the darkness and 
 storm ; but what could they see, what could they hear ? 
 Only tho bare and shrieking trees in the park. Only the 
 howling and moaning of a merciless tempest. 
 
 In Sophia's true Spanish blood there were the heroic 
 qualities adventure, daring, fortitude, courage, power, 
 pride. 
 
 " Come ! quick, Nellie keep your breath run, run !" 
 They rushed into the store.' " Where's your errand-boy 
 with my box of jewels ? Answer me, sir where is he ? 
 The young robber, the thief your porter, sir where, 
 sir, where ?" 
 
 The storekeeper, almost overcome with astonishment, 
 could scarcely reply respectfully : " Madam, I told my
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 113 
 
 errand-boy to take home your parcel, then get his supper, 
 and return in time to put up the shutters and close the 
 store." Then he managed to add, " Wait a few mo 
 ments, madam. He'll soon return. There is some mis 
 take about the affair, madam, I can assure you there is ; 
 for an honester boy and a smarter boy than Fred Wilson 
 never lived, I can assure you." 
 
 " Where does he get his supper, sir ?" she demanded. 
 " Where does he live ?" 
 
 " In the family of young Captain John Nelson, madam." 
 
 " Who is he, and what's his street and number ?" 
 
 " Captain Nelson is a member of our detective police 
 corps," replied the storekeeper. "He introduced tho 
 boy to me about six months ago. A very excellent boy, 
 madam smart, quick, always on the spring, sees every 
 thing at a glance and an honester and a better boy can 
 not be found in New-York." 
 
 " Please inform me, sir, on the instant, where lives 
 this Captain Nelson ?" 
 
 The tradesman suddenly recollected that he never had 
 exactly known the address of the familiar detective. 
 " Somewhere in Orchard Street, madam. Not far from 
 the Bowery, I think ; I don't know the exact figures on 
 his door." 
 
 Madam and maid waited and waited oh ! with how 
 much ill-concealed impatience, with how many terrible 
 thoughts and feelings until long after closing-time ; but 
 no boy returned. No restoration of thousands of dollars 
 of jewelry. Storm without and storm within ; winter 
 without and winter within. 
 
 Lost boy ! lost gems ! lost lady ! lost maid !
 
 114 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FOR the wronged ones well he fought ; 
 
 For the weary ones he sought." WatcJiman. 
 
 EAKLY on the following morning,Nellie MacFarland 
 Sophia's waiting-maid carried a note to Lawyer Rug- 
 gleston. It apprised him of the robbery, and begged his 
 immediate counsel and aid. 
 
 " Ah ! that is easy," said he. " I know the handsome 
 and skillful detective Captain Nelson. This case is just 
 the job he will delight to work up." Then, turning to 
 Nellie, he kindly and soothingly said : " Convey to your 
 mistress my compliments, and tell her to give herself no 
 uneasiness about the robbery of her jewels. They will 
 soon be found and restored to her unfortunate lady!" 
 
 Nellie passed a fine-looking gentleman as she went 
 from the office into the street. His mild, benevolent eyes 
 attracted her attention. She loved him on the instant, 
 and wanted to throw herself into his arms, and cry, 
 " My friend, my friend !" But she did no such unmaid- 
 enly thing ; on the contrary, she walked forward as un 
 concernedly as you, reader, would do under like circum 
 stances. And yet, sometimes, don't you think that one 
 human heart closely resembles every other human heart ? 
 Are not hearts brothers and sisters to each other ? 
 
 The gentleman, politely addressing Mr. Ruggleston, 
 and handing him his card, said, " When you have leisure, 
 sir, I would like to speak with you on a little matter of 
 business." 
 
 " Certainly," promptly replied the distinguished law 
 yer. Then looking down at the card, he asked : " Pray, 
 sir, are you the celebrated physician, Doctor La Force 
 Du Bois, of New-Orleans, whose success in the treat 
 ment of yellow-fever has been heralded throughout Eu 
 rope and America ?"
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 115 
 
 "The same," he replied modestly, and continued: 
 " I have retired from practice, however, and wish now 
 to give my entire time to investigations in a different 
 field." 
 
 "What investigations do you refer to, Doctor Du 
 Bois ?" 
 
 " I will answer you in a moment, Monsieur Ruggle- 
 ston, if you will first assure me that I am not trespassing 
 on time that is valuable to you. In the latter case, sir, 
 I wish to know on what terms I can procure your co 
 operation ?" 
 
 " State your business, doctor, as briefly as possible, 
 and then you shall frankly have my decision." 
 
 Doctor Du Bois was delighted with Lawyer Ruggle- 
 ston at once, and immensely. " Then, most kind mon 
 sieur," began the physician, " to be brief, my purpose is, 
 since I have amassed a fortune by my practice and can 
 afford the time and expense, to investigate the laws of 
 human generation and improvement." 
 
 " State, if you please, exactly what you mean by the 
 phraseology, ' human generation,' " interrupted Mr. 
 Ruggleston in true lawyer-like fashion. 
 
 " Most certainly, sir. It is this, and nothing else : the 
 law of the propagation of our species." 
 
 " Very well. Now, what do you mean by ' human im 
 provement ' as derived from such propagation ?" 
 
 " Presently, monsieur, presently you shall understand 
 all my meaning." The lawyer bowed a doubtful assent, 
 and the physician proceeded : 
 
 " My theory is this : the physical qualities and mental 
 endowments of individual man and woman are inherited ; 
 not created by either circumstances or education, al 
 though the latter may modify and measurably control 
 them. Now, sir, the LAW, by and through which such 
 physical and mental capabilities are transmitted from
 
 116 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 parents to children, is the object of my researches. 
 What I want, sir, are facts. From my observation thus 
 far, I am satisfied that physically healthy and virtuous 
 progeny can be obtained by the same principles which, 
 under different circumstances and in different progeni 
 tors, result in physically diseased and vicious progeny. 
 In a word, sir, that bodily 'diseases and mental vices are 
 not derived from circumstances and education in the in 
 dividual, but are inherited through the mysterious laws 
 of propagation from the immediate parents or remote 
 ancestor of the individual. I would apply to the im 
 provement of humanity the same principles of consort- 
 ment by which farmers secure the improvement of stock 
 in the fields." 
 
 " A tremendous undertaking 1" said the lawyer, smil 
 ing incredulously. 
 
 "True, sir, true. And yet, may we not obtain results 
 of equal magnitude ?" 
 
 " How under heavens can JT, a New- York City lawyer, 
 aid you in this delicate and abstruse investigation ?" 
 
 "You are just the man!" enthusiastically replied the 
 doctor " you are just the man !" 
 
 " How so, and in what manner ?" 
 
 " You can supply me with illustrations for my great 
 volume on which I am now engaged." 
 
 " Illustrations !" interrupted Mr. Ruggleston. " What 
 in heaven's name do you mean ?" 
 
 " Monsieur," said the doctor with profound gravity, 
 " you can give me hard cases to study up. Look, sir. 
 Give me a thief, a murderer, a gambler, a counterfeiter, 
 a libertine, a suicide, a courtesan, a criminal in any of 
 the phases of crime ; and then, sir, I will take that man 
 or that woman, (or child, perhaps,) and trace his or her 
 parentage back to the very causes which planted the 
 seeds of his or her crime ; which crime, when it comes
 
 TREES OF CEIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 117 
 
 to full blossom and fruition, the individual is compelled 
 to suffer and be punished for, as though he or she was 
 the voluntary originator of the vice, the fault, or the 
 sin, or by whatever other name you lawyers and judges 
 and ministers choose to call the imperfections and con 
 sequent misfortunes of mankind." 
 
 " Humph !" groaned the skeptical lawyer, " you will 
 accomplish nothing. The laws in our statute-books are 
 all predicated upon the docrine of ' free will ' in the in 
 dividual mind; hence each criminal is held personally 
 accountable, and is punished as the responsible author 
 of his or her deeds." 
 
 " True, sir, true," replied the doctor. " But did it 
 never occur to you, sir, that the theory of the statute-laws 
 may be rooted in time-honored errors, in the grossest 
 absurdities, and the most hurtful misapprehensions of 
 human nature ?" 
 
 " The subject is endless," said the lawyer wearily. 
 " However, doctor, since all you want of me are cases to 
 study up ' facts,' as you term them why, sir, I can 
 supply you with any conceivable number, and at any 
 time." 
 
 " Ah ! monsieur is most kind," returned the doctor, 
 politely bowing and smiling. " When shall I have the 
 very great pleasure of another interview ?" 
 
 " Two weeks from to-day, doctor. Until then I shall be 
 incessantly engaged with a criminal trial." 
 
 " Ah sir ! you do me very great honor." 
 
 " By the way, doctor," said the lawyer, rising and 
 handing him a long card with writing on one side, 
 " suppose, at your leisure, you read over my platform of 
 principles." 
 
 " With immense delight, monsieur." Then he took 
 the card and returned to his hotel. Arrived, the first 
 thing was to read the attorney's rules ; and they were as 
 follows :
 
 118 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " 1. I will practice law, because it offers to me oppor 
 tunities of being a more useful member of society. 
 
 " 2. I will turn a deaf ear to no man because his purse 
 is empty. 
 
 " 3. I will advise no man beyond my comprehension 
 of his case. 
 
 " 4. I will bring none into law who, my conscience 
 tells me, should be kept out of it. 
 
 " 5. I will never be unmindful of the cause of human 
 ity, and this comprehends widows, fatherless, and those 
 in bondage. 
 
 " 6. I will be faithful to my client, but never so un 
 faithful to myself as to become a party to his crime. 
 
 " 7. In criminal cases, I will never underrate my own 
 abilities ; for, if my client proves a rascal, his money is 
 better in my hands, and if not, I hold the option. 
 
 " 8. I Avill never acknowledge the omnipotence of the 
 Legislature, or consider their acts to be law beyond the 
 spirit of the Constitution. 
 
 " 9. No man's greatness shall elevate him above the 
 justice due to my client. 
 
 "10. I will never consent to a compromise when I 
 conceive a verdict essential to my client's future reputa 
 tion or protection, for of this he can not be a competent 
 judge. 
 
 " 11. I will advise the turbulent with candor, and if 
 they will go to law against my advice, they must pardon 
 me for volunteering it against them." 
 
 " O superb man !" exclaimed the enthusiastic doctor, 
 clapping his hands in a perfect jubilee of delight. "Mag 
 nificent lawyer ! Yes, I have found the right man ! 
 Thank God, I have found the RIGHT MAX!"
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 119 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " THE sigh, of sorrow to the winds hath given 
 
 Their wild lament ; a broken heart beats there. 
 She moveth with the eclipse, o'er earth and heaven : 
 In form unseen, in presence everywhere." 
 
 Poet's Song. 
 
 LAWYER RUGGLESTON instantly dispatched a messenger 
 to Captain Nelson's residence, asking his presence at his 
 office in Wall Street, on urgent police business, which 
 would require his services in his great capacity as detec 
 tive. 
 
 " Mr. Nelson is out of town on private business," said 
 the servant. " He will return some time to-morrow." 
 
 Once more the reader is transported to the subter 
 ranean abode somewhere on Long Island. It can not 
 be far from the town of Green Point. It was invariably 
 reached by the robbers from the upper part of New- 
 York; then rowing a small boat through "Hell-Gate," 
 across the river, and along the west side of the shore ; 
 then by walking through woods and tangled thickets ap 
 parently eastward for about forty minutes; and then 
 when arrived, with the coolest possible humorj and with 
 the greatest diabolical sprightliness imaginable, call 
 ing their black retreat " Hell " a suggestion, one would 
 think, sufficient in itself to work their reformation 
 through positive fear of the blacker and the hotter 
 place which is constantly pictured by preachers for the 
 sake of saving lost souls. 
 
 Five robbers are seated about, like so many Chinamen, 
 on the straw-covered ground. 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha !" they laugh in diabolical chorus, as their 
 tall, handsome chief exhibits, in the dull light of two 
 candle-lanterns, the gorgeous jewelry stolen from poor 
 Madam Sophia.
 
 120 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Fred, you smart dog !" said the chieftain, addressing 
 the missing errand-boy, " pretty rich chickens, after sit 
 ting six months on one nest of eggs, eh, boy ?" 
 
 The black-eyed and curly-haired youth made no an 
 swer. He looked solemnly and sullenly straight into 
 Captain Nelson's rather fine eyes. The latter con 
 tinued : 
 
 " Now, you cunning fox, your day in New-York has 
 sunk into NIGHT. After this, boy, all your jobs must be 
 done when honest eyes can't see two inches before them. 
 Eh, boy ?" 
 
 " Must I live in ' Hell ' all day, and every day, for years ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " Don't trouble your damn brains about years to come," 
 replied the captain. harshly. " Heed what is before you, 
 dog. Keep in ' Hell ' until I find a way for you to get out. 
 Mind, boy, eh ?" 
 
 The youth groaned with angry disappointment. 
 
 Then addressing the five men individually and seve 
 rally, the captain asked : 
 
 " How goes the passenger traffic ?" 
 
 " Dull times, boss," growled a burly fellow. " Only 
 fourteen transported since Dr. Morte moved into Hud 
 son Street." 
 
 " Well, devils," said the captain, " have a care how 
 you handle and convey your passengers. Have a care, 
 devils ; for you know to your SOITOW that passengers 
 sometimes take care of themselves." 
 
 Next morning, the distinguished detective, Captain 
 John Nelson, entered the office of Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 
 " What's in the wind now ? " asked the robber with 
 supreme indifference. 
 
 With undisguised concern the legal gentleman, full of 
 honest sympathy for the unhappy lady, imparted all he 
 knew of the robbery.
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 121 
 
 The captain pretended great astonishment that the 
 honest boy, whom he had introduced and recommended 
 to the storekeeper, should have suddenly turned " such 
 a short corner." 
 
 After hearing all remarks and receiving all surmises 
 with unsurpassed coolness, yet with a becoming degree 
 of professional interest in the case, the detective police 
 impostor set out to visit and question Madam Sophia 
 Lawson. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "Ann such is man a soil which breeds 
 Or sweetest flowers or violet weeds ; 
 Flowers lovely as the morning light, 
 Weeds deadly as an aconite." Bowring. 
 
 LET us for a moment look in upon Dr. Morte's Lying- 
 in Hospital. 
 
 Strange as it at first may seem, Dr. Mortc particularly 
 requested on the plea that his practice was of a strict 
 ly confidential nature that his name and profession 
 should not appear ; but instead, he begged that, on the 
 outside wall by the door, his landlady would allow her 
 sign as music-teacher to remain where it then was. 
 She consented. He punctually paid her ninety dollai-s a 
 month for his use of the premises and furniture. This 
 left her fifteen dollars after paying the sum agreed to, 
 seventy-five dollars each month, to Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 Doctor Morte seemed indifferent at first, and continued 
 so to express himself, about receiving any compensation 
 from Madam Lawson for herself and her maid's board 
 
 6
 
 122 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 in his family. Sophia regarded this generosity in the 
 light of sympathy for crippled circumstances. In a few 
 days, however, she found it absolutely impossible to eat 
 any thing on Doctor Morte's table. Accordingly, she 
 and Nellie kept closely in their rooms, and prepared for 
 themselves whatever they could afford to purchase with 
 the few dollars left over the rent. 
 
 Strange occurrences, which Mrs. Lawson and Nellie 
 could not avoid remarking, continually characterized the 
 management of the Lying-in Hospital. 
 
 Almost every other day a lady patient would arrive. 
 When or how they left the hospital remained a mystery. 
 
 The doctor had two very differently arranged rooms 
 for the accommodation of two very different classes of 
 patients. When a patient arrived, the doctor or his 
 " student " would ask in a whisper : 
 
 " What will you have Live and found f or still and 
 lost ?" 
 
 Upon the answer of these preliminary and mysterious 
 interrogations would depend the question as to which of 
 the two rooms the patient would be assigned. 
 
 Sometimes in broad, open day a carriage would stop at 
 the door. Two men, one always the doctor himself, 
 would carry out in their arms a lady patient closely 
 wrapped up in blankets, and a thick vail tied over her head 
 and face. One day, Mrs. Lawson was extremely horrified 
 at what she took to be the face of a dead woman which 
 she chanced to notice when going through the hall ; but 
 which woman was a few moments subsequently carried 
 out and placed in a carriage, the two men giving the ob 
 ject all proper attention, and both acting toward the 
 lifeless sitting-up corpse as if it were really a living 
 sick body being conveyed from a hospital to her more 
 comfortable home, and to the care of better friends, 
 either in the city or country. These circumstances so
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 123 
 
 frightened Madam Sophia and her superstitious maid 
 Nellie that for days and days they hardly ventured 
 down-stairs. 
 
 Another strange circumstance, of rather more frequent 
 occurrence : A burly, dissipated-looking fellow would 
 drive up in a common one-horse country- wagon, half- 
 full or more of boxes and various packages of different 
 sizes. Ringing the door-bell, he would shout : 
 " Any thing for the Long Island Express ?" 
 Presently the forbidding-looking "student," or the 
 doctor's brazen-faced " wife," would appear with little 
 bundles ; but usually, they carried out to the express 
 man one or more of the long cone-shaped tin cans, which 
 seemed to be loaded with something heavy. These he 
 would place in his wagon, throw an old piece of sail-cloth 
 over them, and then drive off like any other man engaged 
 in an honest business. 
 
 These extraordinary transactions, conducted method 
 ically in open day, and frequently right under the drowsy 
 eyes of the perambulating city police, shocked madam 
 with feelings akin to consternation. 
 
 " O merciful heavens!" she would exclaim in the agony 
 of impoverishment and terror, " how long, oh ! how long 
 am I to be subject to this life of crime and misery ?" 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " YET I'll curse him 'tis all in vain : 
 "Tis long to wait, but sure he'll come again. 
 
 Gambler's Wife. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN NELSON, with a note of introduction 
 from La wyer Ruggleston to Madam Sophia La wson, fully 
 recommending him as a skillful detective, counseling her 
 to put the case entirely in his hands, with all confidence
 
 124: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN". 
 
 that he would in a few days find the boy-thief, entered 
 the room, where he found the Creole beauty and Nellie, 
 both very glad to welcome him. 
 
 Sophia instantly started to her feet, with an exclama 
 tion " Oh !" and as suddenly dropped back in her chair, 
 as though a dagger's point had pierced to the very core 
 of her heart. 
 
 Nellie attended her mistress, fanned her face, chafed 
 her wrists, held the smelling-salts to her nostrils, put a 
 little wine between her lips, and soon had the joy of see 
 ing the beautiful lady fully recovered. 
 
 Detective Nelson modestly withdrew to the other side 
 of the room, and busied himself looking over a portfolio 
 of French prints, until the scene was quite over and he 
 was addressed. 
 
 "Pardon my sudden attack, sir. I fear my heart is 
 diseased." She then read Mr. Ruggleston's note, and 
 bowed her acknowledgment. 
 
 Meanwhile the detective (for so we must reluctantly 
 call him for a time) contemplated the beautiful woman. 
 He was evidently marking out a new course of policy. 
 Having resolved upon a programme, he blandly asked: 
 
 " What reasons, madam, have you for charging the 
 robbery upon the storekeeper's boy ?" 
 
 She promptly and explicitly and minutely described 
 every thing just as it had happened. 
 
 He listened with respectful interest and thoughtful 
 composure. 
 
 Then she added : " The disappearance of the lad from 
 his employer and from your house, his boarding-place, 
 must be conclusive evidence, is it not, sir ?" 
 
 " Let me ask," he replied, " whether you have had 
 any cause to suspect any one in this house ?" 
 
 " Of robbery, I have no reason to suspect any one in 
 this house," she replied.
 
 TJREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 125 
 
 "Your answer, madam, leaves upon my mind an im 
 pression that you do suspect the people in this house of 
 some other irregular proceedings." 
 
 Tremblingly, but in firm tone, she replied, "Yes, of 
 nameless horrors and shameful practices I do believe these 
 people guilty." 
 
 " Goths and Vandals !" said the detective to himself, 
 " this lady is becoming dangerous. She is beginning to 
 oppose our business of conveying passengers through 
 Ilell-Gate !" This and much more he privately thought 
 over ; then he spoke : 
 
 " Have you had no quarrels, no misunderstandings, no 
 bad feelings, no hard words with any person in or about 
 these premises ?" 
 
 He now bent his dark, piercing, yet rather handsome 
 eyes upon poor Nellie ; who, in a flash of excitement, 
 turned red in the face, and looked defiant and sullen. 
 
 "I must know all," he said; " otherwise my plans may 
 miscarry." 
 
 Madam Sophia then recalled a " little difficulty, one 
 day, with poor, dear Nellie," and related it circumstan 
 tially to the meditative policeman. 
 
 Unfortunately, this recital let the detective into the 
 important secret that Madam Lawson was destitute of 
 money. He had thought out a plan of action'; which, 
 however, required the implication of Nellie in the robbery, 
 and her consequent discharge from madam's service. 
 
 "We officers of the law," he began, "have many dis 
 agreeable duties to perform. Sometimes we give offense 
 where none is intended. Yet, in the prosecution of our 
 business, duty is first and foremost." 
 
 " Please be more explicit, sir. What do you propose ?" 
 asked the rather excited madam. 
 
 " I propose to search your maid's trunk and private 
 boxes." And he rose up to proceed to business.
 
 126 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ' Nellie, poor Nellie, overcome with agitation, could 
 do nothing but cry and scream, and protest her entire 
 innocence. 
 
 "Then do not fear the investigation," said the tall, 
 commanding detective. " Come, madam," he added, 
 " you shall yourself open her trunk and boxes in my 
 presence." 
 
 They went into the adjoining room, where poor Nellie 
 slept, and commenced the search. 
 
 "What is this?" exclaimed Sophia, as she drew a 
 dozen or more of her own handkerchiefs, stockings, gloves, 
 little lace collars and cuffs, to match, from the poor girl's 
 trunk. 
 
 " Certainly, madam," said the detective triumphantly, 
 " certainly, your maid is nobody's fool." 
 
 "Nellie MacFarland," said the astonished mistress, 
 " come here and explain yourself before this officer." 
 
 " O mum !" she began, and throwing herself implor 
 ingly upon her knees, " I will confess ! I will confess to 
 you and to the priest all my sins." 
 
 " Hurry, then," interrupted Captain Nelson. 
 
 " O mum ! I hope to die this minute and go to hell for 
 ever, if what I confess is not the whole truth." 
 
 " This has gone nearly far enough," said Nelson, with 
 a pretense of being authoritative and impatient. 
 
 " O mum ! do hear me," Nellie pleadingly said. " When, 
 mum, you told me you had no money to pay my wages," 
 sobbed the poor girl, " then, mum, then I thought as 
 how you had so many pretty things, mum, what you 
 didn't use, mum, and didn't want, mum why, then, 
 mum, I thought as how I might help myself to the amount 
 of my back wages, mum, and O dear mum ! that's the 
 whole truth, mum, and if it an't, mum, I hope to be struck 
 down dead this very minute, mum, and " 
 
 "There, that will do, you thief!" harshly interrupted
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 127" 
 
 the detective. Then, addressing Sophia, he said : " This 
 girl had better put on her things, pack her trunk, and go 
 with me." 
 
 " Sir !" said Nellie's affectionate mistress, " leave this 
 homeless girl with me. I don't blame the poor creature. 
 I forgive her over and over again ! Who can blame the 
 hard-working, faithful girl ? She was not receiving the 
 least compensation for her toil. Why, sir, I am not cer 
 tain but that, were I placed in her circumstances, I should 
 have done what she has done, or something infinitely 
 worse ! No, sir, leave the kind-hearted creature with ma" 
 
 Meanwhile Nellie was crying and sobbing in great 
 agony of soul. 
 
 " Madam," said the impostor, " the welfare of society 
 is the first object of law. Our duty to society compels 
 us to detect and punish criminals. Therefore, this girl, 
 being a thief, must go with me." 
 
 The scene that followed was too painful to chronicle. 
 Unbefriended Nellie accompanied Captain Nelson to a 
 house near the East River. On the way, he said, " Your 
 crime shall never be known if you will obey my orders. 
 Now go to work, and behave yourself. Your wages will be 
 paid you, and you have nothing to fear." Thus he left 
 poor Nellie in a strange kitchen, and took his departure. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " DARK is the night ! how dark ! no light no fire ! 
 Cold, on the hearth, the last faint sparks expire." 
 
 Old Ballad. 
 
 NEW- YOKE never contained a more prepossessing, in 
 tellectual, accomplished, unprincipled villain than the 
 man whom the reader now knows as Captain John Nel- 
 Bon, Detective.
 
 128 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 He called upon Lawyer Ruggleston early on the follow, 
 ing morning. Finding the legal gentleman alone, and 
 quite unoccupied, he commenced. 
 
 "My men are busy scenting and hounding up that 
 boy, Mr. Ruggleston. He made a mighty rich haul, the 
 young scamp. According to Madam Lawson's story, 
 the jewelry was worth at least ten thousand dollars." 
 " Then you have called upon Mrs. Lawson ?" 
 " Why, certainly," responded Nelson. " Can't work up 
 a case, you know, without first obtaining all the elements." 
 " Well, sir, what is your impression of the lady ?" 
 Now Nelson was slightly Frenchy in some of his ges 
 tures. In other respects, however in his general per 
 sonal appearance, complexion, color of eyes, hair, and 
 oral expressions he, by birth and blood, was unmistak 
 ably Spanish. 
 
 " The Spaniards talk in dialogues 
 Of heads and shoulders, nods and shrugs." Hudibras. 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders with perfect affectation of 
 heartless indifference, and replied, " Madam is like all 
 other women, sir ready, like the sex generally, for a good 
 bargain." 
 
 At this moment indeed, while Nelson was expressing 
 the latter sentiment Doctor Du Bois opportunely en 
 tered the lawyer's office. He at once most cordially 
 saluted Mr. Ruggleston, who now occupied an eminent 
 position in the doctor's regard; then fixing his earnest 
 gaze upon Nelson, he said : 
 
 " Gentlemen, I hope I am not intruding ?" 
 
 " Not in the least, doctor," said the lawyer politely. 
 " Pray, sir, be seated." 
 
 Captain Nelson returned the searching gaze of the 
 physician with compound interest. Few men could look 
 Nelson out of countenance. 
 
 " Monsieur Ruggleston," said the doctor, " my business
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 129 
 
 in New- York is known to you. You, therefore, appre 
 ciate ray motive for requesting this gentleman, although 
 a stranger to me, to repeat his remark about the frailty 
 of women." 
 
 Captain Nelson smiled ironically, and said : " Why, 
 certainly, sir. "Women, sir, in my opinion, are made of 
 two elements Passion and Fashion. Approach them 
 through either, and they will yield" 
 
 The gallant and honorable French blood in the physi 
 cian's heart mounted suddenly to his face. " Sire," said 
 he, with great vehemence, " sire, do you give that remark 
 as your toast, and as applicable to all women, everywhere, 
 and of all countries ?" 
 
 "Why, certainly," returned the captain with pro 
 voking, marble-like imperturbability. And he added, 
 " The best among women are little better than the 
 worst. They are all accessible to a persevering lover 
 who has plenty of money, is good-looking, and knows 
 how to play his cards." 
 
 " Sire," quickly replied the noble doctor, " sire, you 
 do women an infinite harm." 
 
 " Why certainly not," returned the captain ; " I have 
 no dealings with the sex, in no way, shape, nor manner." 
 
 " But your sentiments, sire your sentiments, are an 
 insult to the whole wide world of virtuous and beautiful 
 ladies." 
 
 " Virtuous and beautiful ladies /" echoed the captain 
 sneeringly. 
 
 " Sire," continued the physician much exasperated, 
 " your insulting remarks refer to your own mother and 
 to your own sisters, I presume, and not to the -mothers 
 and sisters of gentlemen !" 
 
 Captain Nelson understood human nature and his 
 own business too well to lose his self-possession, es 
 pecially when merely differing with others in opinion.
 
 130 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " My remarks," he said firmly, " refer to every body^s 
 mothers and sisters ! I make no exceptions." 
 
 " My God !" rejoined the physician " my God !" 
 Then, with a touch of sadness in his thoughtful tones > 
 he said, " Sire, I am by profession a physician, although 
 now withdrawn from practice ; and my opportunities 
 for observation have been many and propitious ; and of 
 women my opinion is, that as a class they are outra 
 geously oppressed, and disabled for self-support, by the 
 circumstances of society ; they are sympathetic and neg 
 ative by temperament to their surroundings; they are' 
 slightingly spoken of, and shamefully jeered at and 
 joked about, by thoughtless young men and by unprin 
 cipled scoundrels ; they are covered with confusion and 
 shame by remarks and sentiments like yours, sire ; they 
 are approached and magnetized, and then blighted and 
 then deserted, in the very streets, by such men as you, 
 sire ; then, sire, then, having lost their integrity and 
 their self-respect, they become * lewd characters ' so- 
 called ; and lastly, sire, lastly, being deeply rooted and 
 wretchedly helpless in their overpowering evils and 
 misfortunes, they appear among the developments of 
 police courts abandoned beyond hope in themselves, 
 and openly abhorred by persons whom you, sire, may 
 with great propriety, ironically term 'respectable citi 
 zens.' " 
 
 With amazing coolness Captain Nelson eyed the elo 
 quent physician. After a little he said : 
 
 " From your language, sir, I conclude you are woman's 
 champion from interested motives." 
 
 The tantalizing nature and manifest injustice of this 
 remark inflamed the doctor to a point almost beyond 
 his endurance. Still, with uncommon self-control, he 
 maintained a strict silence. Then Nelson added : 
 
 " Now, sir, you are a stranger to me, and a somewhat
 
 TREES OF CHIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 131 
 
 older man than I, and may have seen more of human 
 nature than I ; but, sir, I can introduce the testimony of 
 my own father a man of most extensive knowledge 
 among women and it was this, (which I have often 
 overheard from his own lips in billiard-rooms and else 
 where,) it was, and in my father's own words : 
 ' Women, gentlemen, are notoriously licentious. David 
 and Solomon, gentlemen, kept scores of wives and con 
 cubines. The Jewish kings, gentlemen, and indeed the 
 Jews themselves, were excessively amorous ; and, with 
 out difficulty, they found as many beautiful ladies as 
 they desired.' So, sir," continued Nelson, " I have heard 
 my father talk. And furthermore, referring to his own 
 experience, I heard him say : ' Gentlemen, I have per 
 fumed letters, brimming over with passion, from the 
 most beautiful and respectable ladies on the Continent. 
 If, gentlemen, if, by any untoward mishap, those love- 
 letters should get into print, the highest circles of 
 society Avould be blown asunder in twelve hours.' 
 Yes, sir" he added, "I heard my father boast many 
 and many a time that he could seduce any lady to 
 whom he could be properly introduced. That, sir," con 
 cluded Nelson, triumphantly, " is the testimony of my 
 father, as rich and as rascally a father as any son ever 
 had." 
 
 Doctor DuBois bowed abruptly, and immediately left 
 the office. 
 
 " Mr. Ruggleston," asked the detective, who had not 
 yet accomplished the object of his call, " Mr. Ruggles 
 ton, who, in the name of Goths and Vandals, is that 
 opinionated French champion of female virtue ?" 
 
 Unhappily, the honest lawyer imparted all he knew of 
 Dr. Du Bois. He even disclosed the hotel at which the 
 physician was boarding. 
 
 Nelson heard it all, but kept his own counsel. Having
 
 132 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 finished his business the nature of which will hereafter 
 appear-r-he hastened away. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " WILD roars the wind ; the lights burn blue ; 
 The watch-dog howls with fear." The Lament. 
 
 " NELLIE," said Nelson, whom the poor girl regarded 
 with horror as a police-officer, having her completely in 
 his power, because of his knowledge of her theft " Nellie? 
 I have a place for you." 
 
 " Oh ! where?" asked the frightened maid, thinking it 
 was in some prison. " Where, sir ?" 
 
 "At the Globe Hotel, in Duane street. I have just 
 seen the proprietor ; he wants a girl for chamber-work ; 
 I think you'll suit exactly." 
 
 Then the detective pulled her down on a chair beside 
 him, and said : 
 
 " Now, mark, girl. You are to work for me / not for 
 the proprietor ; and this is what you are to do : At the 
 head of the back staircase is the chamber of an old French 
 doctor. Now, take this Wax, press the key of his door 
 down hard in it, until you get a perfect pattern of the 
 key in the wax, then put it carefully away out of sight of 
 every one, and hand it to me to-night; expect certainly 
 that I shall call about seven o'clock and ask for you." 
 
 Captain Nelson then accompanied the unwilling daugh 
 ter of Erin to the Globe Hotel. She was received kindly 
 by Mr. Johnston, the proprietor, and at once installed in 
 her duties as chamber-maid. 
 
 In less than an hour the busy detective entered the pre 
 sence of Madam Sophia Lawson. He politely handed her
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 133 
 
 a note from Lawyer Ruggleston. Then, with consider 
 able grace and ease, he seated himself by the window, 
 and studied the fine face, the attractive eyes, the lovely 
 and haughty bearing of the lady, while to herself she 
 read the following brief letter : 
 
 NEW-YOKK, Jan. 20, 1833. 
 
 MY DEAR MADAM : Having learned with regret from Detective 
 Nelson that you are residing in the family of a physician whose 
 professional practices are not above the most shocking suspicions, 
 it becomes my duty to you to counsel an immediate change in your 
 circumstances. 
 
 Detective Nelson gives me his word of honor as a gentleman, 
 (and I have never known him to violate hie pledge in any case,) 
 that, while his men are searching for the missing boy and your 
 stolen property, you can be comfortably accommodated in the family 
 of a friend of his, residing, I am told, in a pleasant neighborhood, 
 on the east side of the city, near Catharine street, and but a few 
 steps from East Broadway. 
 
 Should you conclude favorably, and accept this advantageous 
 proposition, evidently made in good faith by the bearer, then, from 
 this day forward, I will release you from all obligations arising from 
 the original lease, and look to William Morte, M.D., for future 
 payments of rent ; and (if the above conditions be complied with) 
 this is a receipt in full of all demands against you to date. 
 
 Believe me, madam, with sincere respect, very truly yours, etc., 
 
 GEOKGE W. RUGGLESTON, 
 Atty., Wall street. 
 
 To Madam Sophia Lawson, Hudson street, New-York. 
 
 Most gladly she accepted all. It was the first ray of 
 sunshine for oh ! so many, many, weary, weary weeks 
 and months. 
 
 By six o'clock of that evening the lonely and lovely 
 Creole was arranging her wardrobe in the ample closets 
 of her new and large apartments. 
 
 "Merciful Heaven is merciful to me at last!" she joy 
 fully exclaimed in her very heart, as she flew about the 
 warm, beautifully carpeted room, so tastefully embellish 
 ed with hanging pictures, and so abundantly supplied 
 with the many little conveniences of toilet and wardrobe. 
 
 Tea-bell sounded a welcome appeal, and the half-fam-
 
 134 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ished Sophia, very gracefully attired, tripped like a girl 
 of sixteen down to the dining-room. 
 
 Here she met, for the first time since entering the 
 house, the rather flashily dressed hostess a lady of forty- 
 five, with a tired-looking face ; and then, one after anoth 
 er, she (Madam Lawson) was introduced to the half a 
 dozen or more young ladies, all gayly dressed and with 
 dissipated looks ; and then, in the most frolicksome good 
 nature in fact, in the jolliest and most rollicking mood 
 imaginable the whole party of ladies began chatting to 
 gether, meanwhile discussing the delicate viands and 
 good things with which the table was unsparingly loaded. 
 
 " There !" said Sophia to herself, after partaking freely, 
 and ending with a tiny glass of old Port " there ! that's 
 the first time for months I have had all I wanted to eat 
 and drink." 
 
 Later in the evening, when the streets were quite dark, 
 a number of gentlemen arrived. Merrily, merrily flew 
 the moments ! Sophia was introduced to and cordially 
 welcomed by every one. Although among strangers, 
 she had seen a great deal of gay Paris society, and was 
 therefore never at a loss. Her sparkling wit was purely 
 French ; her style of conversation was evidently Spanish ; 
 and her healthy, vigorous beauty was preeminently wo 
 manly, and hence attractive. 
 
 They urged her to play and sing. She modestly hesi 
 tated. How could she sing, having been" out of practice," 
 ever since the horrible murder of her last husband ! (This 
 terrible memory, happily, no one could see.) She seemed 
 happy, and so they gathered around her; just as the 
 girls and young men used to in days by-gone ; and, lis 
 tening to their passionate appeals, mingled with a very 
 little flattery, she laughingly consented. 
 
 " What shall I sing ?" she asked. They simultaneous 
 ly replied, " Sing your favorite ! Your choice must be
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. / 135 
 
 beautiful ! Oh ! do sing, dear lady !" Without further 
 urging, she began : 
 
 " Oh ! what happiness, what brightness, 
 
 In life's changing scenes appear, 
 When we meet kind words and actions. 
 
 And we feel they are sincere : 
 When smiles of friendship greet us, 
 
 And we know that they are true, 
 What charms has this fair world 
 
 To offer me and you. 
 
 " With the beaming sky above us, 
 
 And the lovely earth beneath, 
 With the music of the ocean, 
 
 And the flower-enameled heath, 
 With these beauteous scenes of nature, 
 
 What more cheering would you ask, 
 Than the glance that speaks affection 
 
 From the heart without a mask ? 
 
 " For pure truth is such a jewel ! 
 
 Oh ! BO precious and so rare, 
 That it seems a spark from heaven, 
 
 Seldom lent to mortal care. 
 When we meet it in earth's friendship, 
 
 Let us prize its holy might, 
 For it comes unto our spirits 
 
 Like an angel winged with light." 
 
 They listened in raptures. Oh ! that heavenly voice so 
 exceedingly sweet, so angel-like in its tenderness, so liv 
 ing with the electrical breathings of a loving heart 
 charmed, magnetized, subdued, silenced every guest. 
 
 But the joy and the sadness and the sweetness of her 
 tones reached beyond the brick walls. Outside, the snow- 
 covered pavement was occupied by a silent, worshiping 
 multitude. Mean-looking market men; shivering and 
 half-clad little boys ; dirty and despairing girls of the 
 Bowery ; greasy-looking women from the slums of Chat 
 ham street and Five Points ; here and there in the eager 
 crowd could be seen a well-dressed lady and gentleman,
 
 136 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 returning to their homes from the Shakespearean tragedy 
 performed that night at the Park Theatre yes, there ! 
 out in the wintry cold, stood a throng of hungering and 
 thirsting human souls, each for itself, and each in its own 
 way, drinking worshipfully from the limpid stream that 
 was fed by the divine fountain of Music ! 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " AND oil ! what changes we all know 
 
 Long years can bring in one small place, 
 In names and shapes, from face to face, 
 As souls will come and souls will go." Barnes 
 
 " BLAST that hell colt ! " said the robber chieftain, as 
 he paced up and down the cold straw-covered cellar in 
 his Long Island retreat. " It is already an hour past 
 midnight. He should have been here two hours ago." 
 
 o o 
 
 Just then the door was opened by a burly fellow, car 
 rying under his left arm a short muzzle-loading rifle of 
 large bore, capable of projecting heavy lead ; and behind 
 him, walked in the defiant and sullen yoxing thief his 
 black eyes and curly raven hair making his naturally 
 pale face appear even more white than usual. 
 
 " Well, you young devil !" said the detective. " What's 
 in the wind ?" 
 
 Sullenly the youngster stripped off his coat and vest, 
 and then removed a baggy buckskin garment, which 
 closely resembled a vest in pattern, and which, with a 
 suppressed oath, he tossed into the hand of Captain Nel 
 son. 
 
 " Was the Frenchman at home ?" he asked. 
 
 " That strong iron box was too much for me," replied 
 the boy, showing the blood and blisters on his hands. 
 
 Meanwhile the captain was turning the leathern vest
 
 TREES OF CMME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 137 
 
 inside out, and removing from its purse-like pockets all 
 the gold and silver coins the boy had obtained. The 
 sum was only a few shillings over twelve hundred dollars- 
 
 " A damn small bird for so much powder," said the 
 disappointed robber. Pie added : " Next time we'll lance 
 that damn doctor's purse with a ramrod." 
 
 " This cellar ' Hell ' is too bare and cold," muttered 
 Fred Wilson. "How much longer must I hide in this 
 black-hole of devils ? " 
 
 " Perhaps," said Nelson savagely " perhaps until the 
 sheriff turns the keys of the old dungeon on your blasted 
 hopes." 
 
 Taking up a carbine and handing it to the boy, the 
 captain said, " Let me see you work your tools." 
 
 With an expressionless face, but quick as lightning, 
 Fred charged his short gun. He accomplished this feat 
 by pouring powder into the barrel, then dropping a bul 
 let from between his teeth into the muzzle, and striking 
 the butt of the carbine suddenly and forcibly on the 
 ground, thus sending the charge home. In the next in 
 stant he was pointing the loaded rifle at the captain's 
 breast ! 
 
 " By the Goths ! " said the captain with admiration. 
 " You, boy, Avith your pale face, will make the blackest 
 devil in our 'Hell.'"' 
 
 The burly-looking assassin, who had just put on a clean 
 brown shirt, the first for three months, drew near and 
 listened. 
 
 " Joudre," said the captain, " let's take down this boy's 
 personal appearances." 
 
 Joudre took a lead pencil and wrote after the captain's 
 dictation : 
 
 " Small hands and small feet ; broad forehead and high 
 brain ; eyes black and gloomy ; curly hair, fine as a girl's 
 and black as the devil's ; clean, white teeth ; a nose too
 
 188 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 good-looking for a damn thief; a devilish fine pattern 
 for shoulders ; the forefinger of his left hand broken and 
 stiff at the first joint; a large wart or mole under the left 
 ear, where the hangman's knot is tied there ! boy, now 
 stay in ' Hell ' until some good-natured devil comes to 
 your relief." 
 
 In less than an hour the detective was across the river, 
 and at his old residence, where Lawyer Ruggleston in 
 variably sent whenever police business was urgent. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " MY own heart I want not yours ; 
 You have bound and must unbind it." Landon. 
 
 FOB many weeks after the robbery of Doctor Du Bois, 
 all plans worked smoothly with Detective Nelson. Lively 
 and always elegant, and free with his purse, he made 
 himself more and more agreeable to the confiding 
 Sophia. He was exceedingly fond of music, and her 
 sweet voice surpassed all language at his command. 
 Frequently he took her to parties ; and sometimes to the 
 Park Theatre. There were ladies and gentlemen, every 
 night, and sometimes all night, at the house. Nelson 
 gave her beautiful presents of dresses and jewelry; 
 which, to some extent, made her forget the great loss 
 she had sustained. On one occasion he gave her a 
 bright, sharp stiletto. She could but be grateful for 
 the possession of a home so pleasant and so comfortable. 
 She could not forget that she owed it all to the gener 
 ous and handsome detective. 
 
 One evening he said to her : " Man's life runs out 
 like a rapid river, don't it, Sophia ?" 
 
 Something, she knew not what, made her silent and 
 sad. It was already the beginning of another summer.
 
 TKEES OP CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM.' 189 
 
 The wind seemed to talk that night. (Alas ! the poor 
 lady did not comprehend what the winds were saying.) 
 
 " Time steals on from day to day, Sophia," the detec 
 tive continued. " Hours pass, days fly, weeks disap 
 pear, and years lie dead at our feet now, why may not 
 you and I get in and fly and die with the rest ?" 
 
 That view of things was evidently just at that time 
 rather new to Sophia. 
 
 " Life," said Nelson, after a brief silence, " is hardly 
 worth all this fuss; only now and then, do I think it 
 worth any one's while." 
 
 Hopeless words like these the detective expressed to 
 Sophia, with the secret hope that she would, without 
 the ceremony of marriage, become his wife. 
 
 "Damnation," said he one day to himself, "the 
 proud-blooded beauty costs me more money and takes 
 more of my time than any woman's fickle passion is 
 worth." 
 
 Yet she never once yielded to any propositions, not 
 withstanding he had done and was continually doing so 
 much for her personal comfort and gratification ; and 
 so, one evening, Captain John Nelson and Madam 
 Sophia Lawson were married in the parlor, before a 
 large party, by the Reverend Stephen Tyrrell, of New- 
 York. 
 
 The scene is now changed. Mrs. Sophia Nelson 
 takes the keys of the house, presides with dignity over 
 the establishment, is the centre of attraction, and an 
 object of love and unbounded admiration, and all goes 
 "merry as a marriage bell." But another event is 
 about to happen. 
 
 One evening, about a month after the parlor-wed 
 ding, Mrs. Nelson noticed a gentleman mingling freely 
 and familiarly in the company of girls; he was ex-
 
 140 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 treraely jovial, told slightly indelicate stories, indulged 
 in wine; and conducted himself, generally, after the 
 free and easy order of sensualists. 
 
 On closer inspection Mrs. Nelson discovered, with 
 what degree of indignation the reader may possibly im 
 agine, that this vulgar man was identical with the 
 "Reverend Stephen Tyrrell !" 
 
 She proceeded at once into a little reception room on 
 the opposite side of the hall. 
 
 It will be remembered that the daughter of Don 
 Calvo Marigny, now Mrs. Nelson of New- York, had the 
 blood and fire of a Spaniard running through her heart. 
 
 She instantly sent her colored porter into the parlor, 
 with a message to the hilarious gentleman, requesting 
 an immediate interview. 
 
 When he appeared before her, she said, " Sir, are you 
 a priest, or a minister, or an officer of any grade, having 
 authority to perform the rites of marriage, and to make 
 out certificates that will be recognized by law ?" 
 
 The fellow was heated and jolly with excess of wine. 
 Therefore he did not realize her anger, or dread any re 
 sults that might follow upon the heels of confession. 
 He laughed immoderately, and said, " What a devilish 
 good joke ! Oh ! what a glorious, rollicking joke !" 
 Then he laughed louder than before. 
 
 " Enough, sir !" she said, with queenly dignity ; 
 " Now rejoin the ladies and gentlemen in the pai'lor." 
 
 Then Mrs. Nelson politely excused herself to the 
 company, and immediately withdreAV and retired for the 
 night. 
 
 About an hour before daybreak, the gentlemanly de 
 tective, having finished his "business" for a few hours, 
 returned to his adorable bride. 
 
 A light was dimly burning in the room. He pro 
 ceeded to disrobe. She, in the bed, thereupon raised 
 herself to a sitting posture, and said :
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 141 
 
 "Captain Nelson!" 
 . " What now, Sophia ?" 
 
 " Do you see that ?" at the same moment holding up 
 the bright, sharp dagger he had given her. 
 
 " Why, certainly ! What of it ?" 
 
 " It aches with a mad impatience to enter your heart, 
 sir !" 
 
 He laughed disdainfully. 
 
 " This house, this bed, this body, this soul, is mine /" 
 
 " Not quite so fast, my good lady." 
 
 "To-night," she continued, "I met your hired vil 
 lain the ' minister' whom you created to perform a 
 mock marriage." 
 
 " Eternal Goths ! What of it ?" 
 
 " This, sir I am not your icife" 
 
 " No, certainly not," he replied, unconcernedly. 
 " But you are my mistress /" 
 
 " 'Tis false ! false ! sir, 'tis false ! You have gained my 
 love with a lie ! O hateful wretch ! My ' love,' did I 
 say ? No ! you never received from my heart its holy 
 LOVE !" 
 
 " Then, madam, you have treacherously deceived me !" 
 
 " I gave you my hand, sir not my heart." 
 
 " Then, as I supposed, you are a liar and a courtesan /" 
 
 " Ye_s, yes," said she with a tone of inexpressible sad 
 ness. " I have never loved you, and I never can ! Your 
 very eyes are hateful ! They bring back to my thoughts 
 the image of the first man who tore my heart out by the 
 roots !" 
 
 " Aha !" said he, " aha ! then you have been a mistress 
 to some other man !" 
 
 "O God! God!" she cried, "my poor heart will 
 break ! my poor heart will break !" 
 
 " Certainly, madam, certainly ; let it break !" 
 
 With the spring of a tigress she darted from the bed,
 
 14:2 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 and, with the quickness and strength of desperation, 
 plunged the dagger deep into his breast ! 
 
 He violently grasped her hand on the instant, but not 
 until his blood was flowing in a stream upon the floor. 
 
 Seeing what she had done, and that the wounded man 
 was fainting from loss of blood, she screamed for help, 
 and pressed her soft hand tightly upon his bleeding 
 bosom. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " AND Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, 
 
 Dewy with nature's tear-drops as they pass, 
 Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves, 
 
 Over the unreturning brave alas ! 
 Ere evening to be trodden like the grass, 
 
 Which now beneath them but above shall grow, 
 In its next verdure, when this fiery mass 
 
 Of living valor, rolling on the foe, 
 
 And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low." 
 
 Irene. 
 
 CAPTAIN NELSON revived a little. He decided immedi 
 ately that any publicity to the murderous event would 
 probably lead, in a very short time, to a full disclosure of 
 his many horrible villainies and impositions. 
 
 Therefore he whisperingly said to the deceivd and 
 wretched, yet affectionate and still forgiving, Sophia 
 "Keep still ! keep all this still ! Call a physician ! Pos 
 sibly I may recover. Have me carried carefully to the 
 rear bedroom in the third story. Say I have had an ac 
 cident. Now send for the surgeon and physician, whose 
 office is ten doors above, on this side of the street. Be 
 quick ! I am bleeding." 
 
 His wound was pronounced not fatal. Weeks, how 
 ever, perhaps months, would be consumed in the work of 
 restoration. The blade of the dagger had pierced through
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 143 
 
 the right lung ; and he was, therefore, continually in 
 danger of a fatal hemorrhage. 
 
 Leaving the charlatan detective to his thoughts and 
 Avounded body, we return to the outraged and suffering 
 Sophia. 
 
 The very next evening, and quite early, while the ladies 
 were entirely alone, Mrs. Nelson said, " "We have lived, 
 and played, and danced together for many months. I am 
 now a wretched, abandoned woman ! Hereafter, if I 
 sing, or play, or dance, it will be my way of hiding a 
 broken heart. My husband is wounded ; is out of money, 
 and he may die any day. 
 
 " ' My husband,' did I say ? O God, God, no ! He is 
 my paramour ; I am his mistress. You, girls, (he tells 
 me,) live in the same hateful relation with men who come 
 in your way ! If he misinforms me, you will now indig 
 nantly deny it." 
 
 She paused. Her fair face was changed. The dove- 
 eyed tenderness of her expression was all gone. The 
 girls made no reply, but all cried bitterly like hopeless 
 children lost in a dark woods. They all dearly, most 
 dearly, loved and worshiped the tender, loving -hearted 
 Sophia. They would die for her. They would do any 
 thing for the beautiful Mrs. Nelson. Oh ! it was a ter 
 rible scene. Ye Christians around St. John's Park, be 
 hold it. 
 
 " Yes, girls, we are all courtesans ! Let us commence 
 this shameful life in a new way. Let us lead men to their 
 destruction. They trample upon us; we will trample 
 upon them. They cheat us and steal our love ; we will 
 decoy and rob them of both money and character. 
 
 " O girls ! Bring some wine. Make haste. Let us 
 drink. 
 
 " O my beautiful dears ! I love you every one of 
 you, with my whole soul but I hate every living man !
 
 141 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 I hate the very name of marriage. I hate every sign and 
 every sigh of a man's heart. ' Heart !' O God, God 
 man has no heart. N"o, no. He has no heart. 
 . " O my beautiful dears, ye courtesans ! my own darling 
 sisters, in the bonds of hate to man ! Look at me, girls ; 
 you see I do not weep ! I have no tears ! My bosom is 
 burning hot with hate with a life-long, deadly hate ! 
 
 " Oh ! I will burn and destroy every man who falls 
 within my power. 
 
 " And, O my beautiful dears ! my own darling sisters ! 
 Hurry, quick ! Let us proselyte ! Young, handsome girls 
 will attract other men rich men ; men of families ; men 
 with wives and innocent daughters at home ! Yes, yes ! 
 We will send pimps out into the country ! Men are good 
 for nothing else ! 
 
 " Oh ! come, my beautiful darling dears ! After this 
 night I will keep you. You shall make your home with 
 me paying me, from your earnings and from your steal 
 ings, what I require to keep a stylish establishment. 
 
 " You see, girls, I do not weep ! Oh ! I hate the very 
 name of man ! Pour out wine, girls pour out plenty of 
 wine for each. 
 
 " Hark ! ah ! they come ! Yes, yes, the door-bell rings ! 
 Haste, girls, haste the wine ! The hateful savages are 
 coming the men ! the men ! Why don't you all dance ? 
 Why don't you all sing ? Why don't you all laugh ? Ha, 
 ha, ha !"
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 145 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " THOUGHTS that build up the human soul 
 Not with the mean and vulgar works of man, 
 Bat with high objects with enduring things 
 With Life and Nature !" Jasper. 
 
 FIVE years have rolled into the irrevocable past since 
 the scene described in the last chapter. 
 
 Only five years! Then, however, the thorny buds 
 upon the upas-trees of crime were beginning to swell, 
 promising blossoms and eventually fruit the fruits 
 being evil like the seeds that were sown. Meanwhile, 
 how very, very much and yet, IIOAV very, very little 
 has happened during these five years! Individuals, 
 families, societies, states, nations, all apparently just 
 what they were five years ago. And yet, now that we 
 think of them, there are thousands of babies, mothers, 
 children, and men lying in long rows, unheeded, beneath 
 the earth's cold crust, tabernacles of flesh, rather, once 
 temples of beauty and wisdom buried by their friends 
 in the low, moist cells of corruption, which, however, is 
 the beginning of chemical purification. Mothers, hus 
 bands, children, looking forward and upward. Here 
 and therein old man, beyond the reach of passion, stand 
 ing between crutches, looking musingly down into the 
 fresh memories of the past. Only five years ! Life to 
 thousands of millions ; to as many other millions, death. 
 There is no death, however, except to ignorance, error, 
 injustice, cruelty, and crime. 
 
 " I wish you a cordial good-morning, Doctor Du Bois !" 
 said Lawyer Ruggleston. " Where on earth have you 
 kept yourself during these past five years ?" 
 1
 
 146 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 The doctor's fine, honorable face lit up with a cheerful 
 smile as he answered : 
 
 " Monsieur Ruggleston, it gives me immense pleasure, 
 sir,* to return from journey ings in many parts of the 
 great wide world London, Berlin, Leipsic, Paris, Flor 
 ence, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, Cuba, New-Orleans, 
 Mobile, back again to New- York, and, sir all within 
 these five years." 
 
 "Ah, yes, doctor, a continual feast of pleasure, no 
 doubt. These intellectual bachelors, you know, have a 
 reputation for being too selfish and too sensible to marry. 
 They profess to have great disgust for the unreasonable 
 weakness of the gentler and softer sex ; so, with no 
 family on their hands, and foot-loose at any moment 
 why, of course, they can travel five years in European 
 countries, on the American principle of life, liberty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 " Quite facetious and agreeable, monsieur," said the 
 doctor, rather gravely. "No, no," he continued, "I 
 have been decidedly and entirely in pursuit of know 
 ledge." 
 
 "Ah! indeed; why, doctor, your brain-mill must 
 require extra blood-power to grind out so many grists." 
 
 " My physical habits, monsieur, are extremely simple ; 
 in accordance with the known laws of health." 
 
 " Doubtless ; your fair face is as young-looking as a 
 man at thirty, while I, probably about your own age, 
 look old enough to be your father." 
 
 "The arduous labors and solicitudes of a criminal 
 lawyer, with such an immense practice as yours must 
 be, sir, are sufficient to break down the strongest con 
 stitution." 
 
 " True, doctor, true, and yet, to be frank with you, I 
 often think that my life is a complete failure." 
 
 "Monsieur Ruggleston, you astound me, sir!"
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 147 
 
 " Why so, doctor ?" And then he continued : " Now 
 look at my case. What am I really doing to make the 
 world better ; for the most part, my clients are respect 
 able business men of New- York. I look after their 
 worldly interests ; then I charge them money for my 
 services, as we lawyers are really obliged to ; then they 
 cheerfully pay what I ask : then come the results. We 
 have no children; therefore my wife and I eat and 
 drink, attend church, enjoy a few friends, accumulate 
 money. And now, Doctor Du Bois, if that isn't a com 
 plete failure in the great purposes of human life, why, 
 then, happily, I am very much at fault in my philosophy 
 of things." 
 
 "In your criminal practice, Mr. Rugglcston," asked 
 the doctor, "do you not often labor, and with true 
 dignity and benevolence, to kindle a fire of ioving for 
 giveness on the cold hearth of some poor frozen wretch ?" 
 
 Thoughtfully and rather sadly the lawyer replied, 
 "No, doctor, I can't say that I do. It is justly and 
 universally deemed discreditable and ungcntlemanly, not 
 to say hazardous, in my profession, to take sides with 
 thieves, murderers, highway robbers, fornicators, and 
 courtesans." 
 
 "But, monsieur, are not you lawyers at liberty to 
 investigate the hereditary and circumstantial causes of 
 crime ?" 
 
 " Of course we are, doctor, when it is for the interest 
 of our clients." 
 
 The physician reflected. At length he said : " Haven't 
 you yet accumulated sufficient fortune to retire from 
 practice, or at least, to refuse all cases, except those which 
 your sense of justice and feelings of benevolence com 
 mend to your care and advocacy?" 
 
 " Well, I'll think about that, doctor." He then put 
 his hand up to his forehead, and said, "I have a bad
 
 148 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 headache this morning, doctor; but," he added, laughing, 
 "you are now 'out of practice 'I suppose, doctor; other 
 wise you might possibly, in the plenitude of benevolence, 
 take my case under your skillful hand !" 
 
 " Eh ! monsieur," said the doctor, rising from his 
 
 t ' O 
 
 chair and laying his left hand on the lawyer's forehead 
 and his right 'palm on the back of his neck; "I will, sir> 
 in five short moments, banish your headache /" 
 
 A few rapid manipulations, accompanied with forcing 
 his breath smartly against the lawyer's broad brow, and 
 lo ! the pain was gone. 
 
 "By Ca3sar!" shouted Mr. Ruggleston, "you are a 
 wizard, doctor." Next thing will be your arrest for 
 practicing the blacfc art /" They both laughed heartily. 
 
 " Come now, doctor, tell me what you call this pain- 
 annihilator. " 
 
 "Certainly, monsieur," the physician gladly responded. 
 " It is, sir, the art of Anthony Mesmer." He continued : 
 " I have, during my travels on the Continent, seen most 
 astounding facts, -sir ; I find, sir, that animal magnetism 
 is reviving, or rather steadily growing, as a recognized 
 curative and anaesthetic agent in Europe. Most of the 
 continental governments have introduced it by law or 
 decree into the hospitals. In France it is used very 
 extensively to produce insensibility under surgical opera 
 tions. Germany makes a more general use of it in the 
 cure of nervous and mental diseases, from hysteria to 
 lunacy, and Saxony recognizes it by prescribed regula 
 tions for its operations. Italian scientific societies have 
 latterly taken it up for investigation, and although in 
 conservative old England the faculty s.till holds back, 
 hisfh medical and scientific individual authorities have 
 
 O 
 
 indorsed it as at all events a valuable anaesthetic. But 
 the subject has probably received less attention in this 
 country than in any other."
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 149 
 
 "Why, really, doctor," responded Lawyer Ruggle- 
 ston, "your subject is both novel and enchanting." 
 
 Doctor Du Bois fully agreed with this remark, and 
 added, " It is, sir, the door to the hidden dynamics of 
 mind, soul, ether, spirit." 
 
 " Take care, doctor," said the sociable and facetious 
 attorney; "take care! In my profession, remember, 
 prima facie evidence is generally acceptable. We don't 
 deal much in philosophy and metaphysics." 
 
 "Certainly, sir," returned the doctor pleasantly. 
 "But we physicians and we bachelors go a little deeper 
 than the mere animal sense of the thing." 
 
 "Is that the way you cultivate brains, doctor by 
 remaining unmarried, and spending your time in study 
 ing metaphysics in your selfish isolation ?" 
 
 " Isolation !" replied the doctor^ with thoughtful and 
 modest gravity. " Isolation, sir, though painful to the 
 social faculties, is sometimes very favorable to the spirit's 
 interior expansion. Shelly's Revolt of Islam, you recol 
 lect, contains Cythna's glowing account of her exile, in 
 a desolate cave : 
 
 ' My mind became the book through which I grew 
 
 Wise in all human wisdom, and its cave, 
 Which like a mine I rifled through and through, 
 
 To me the keeping of its secrets gave 
 One mind, the type of all the moveless wave 
 
 Whose calm reflects all moving things that are, 
 Necessity, and love, and life, the grave, * 
 
 And sympathy, fountains of hope and fear, 
 Justice, and truth, and time, and the world's natural sphere.'" 
 
 Mr. Ruggleston smiled Avith unfeigned satisfaction, 
 and said: "Doctor, am I to understand that you apply 
 Cythna's language to yourself?" 
 
 " Certainly, sir; that is, I apply to myself, and to my 
 experiences, the sense of the passage."
 
 150 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 "Why, really, doctor," said the lawyer, suddenly 
 rising, " I am neglecting my clients to hear you quote 
 poetry and expound incomprehensible metaphysics." 
 
 They immediately changed the subject. " What 
 important criminal cases have you now in process ?" 
 asked the doctor. 
 
 " I have two very trying, sad cases," replied the law 
 yer. Then, after a little thought, he added : " One of 
 these cases is, without exception, the most painful, the 
 most troublesome, the most diabolically complicated case 
 that ever occurred in my twenty years' practice." 
 
 " Possibly, then, sir," said the doctor, with fresh interest 
 beaming from his fine face " possibly, sir, this particu 
 lar case will aid me in the prosecution of my investi 
 gations." Then he continued, " Speaking from a medical 
 stand-point, sir, I would remark that there are pain and 
 trouble and anxiety, and sometimes untimely death 
 itself, before there is a birth. This, sir, is, I think, a law 
 in the mental as well as the natural external world. 
 All the discoveries which have benefited the human race 
 have been originated amid doubts, distrusts, difficulties, 
 and even persecution. Scarcely a great inventor is 
 lapped in luxury, for if he were to be, he would not 
 exert his mind to produce those concealed beauties and 
 uses of the Deity which are every year revealed by 
 noble, self-sacrificing efforts for the benefit of man and 
 the glory of God. These difficulties, however, serve but 
 to perfect the out-births of the world of Principles, from, 
 which we draw every thing that is good, useful, and ben 
 eficial. Thought gestates to perfect, and if man were to 
 produce without trouble, he would lose the exercise of 
 those faculties, the development of which can alone 
 ennoble his being. Let us not mourn, therefore, over 
 our difficulties, however troublesome they may appear to 
 be, but gather strength and energy to overthrow obsta-
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 151 
 
 cles, consoled by the reflection that the dark hours are 
 requisite to produce the brightness of the coming day." 
 
 "A philosopher, truly," remarked Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 Then referring back to the physician's trip to Europe and 
 elsewhere, he asked : " By the way, doctor, may I inquire 
 the chief motive you had for your five years' pilgrimage?" 
 
 " Certainly, sir ; with very great pleasure, I tell you, 
 sir, it was this to find a lady /" 
 
 The good-natured lawyer laughed outright, and said, 
 " Aha, aha a lady ! a bachelor in pursuit of knowledge 
 and happiness in the bewitching shape of a lady, eh? 
 Well, doctor, now may I further ask, were you success 
 ful ?" 
 
 " Ah ! no, monsieur," replied the physician, with undis 
 guised emotions of sadness and gloomy disappointment. 
 
 "What's the lady's name, doctor? I hope that's no 
 secret." 
 
 "Eighteen years ago," said the doctor, "her name 
 was Madam Sophia Aragoni. I have not seen her 
 since. She was at that time a widow. In Paris, I ascer 
 tained that she had contracted a second marriage. I fol 
 lowed the track of her pleasure journeys into the differ 
 ent countries mentioned, traced her back to Spanish 
 America, thence to a suburban chateau at Mobile, in the 
 State of Alabama ; and there, by the merest chance, I 
 encountered a murderous, burly-looking fellow, who 
 apprised me that the lady lost her second husband, and 
 was now living somewhere in the city of New-York." 
 
 " A very long and difficult and expensive journey 
 merely for a lady who has been twice married," said the 
 lawyer, dryly. 
 
 " No, no, monsieur," interrupted the doctor warmly, 
 " I would positively journey three times around the great 
 round earth to find that lady, sir." 
 
 " Perhaps, doctor, you may meet her without travel.
 
 152 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ing the whole world over. Stranger things than that 
 have occurred." 
 
 " Ah ! true, sir," said the doctor, with a despairing 
 shrug. " Bub now I almost sink with the weight of my 
 disappointment." 
 
 " Now, doctor, pray tell me, do you a lone, scienti 
 fic bachelor really love that lady ?" 
 
 "Monsieur," said the doctor quickly, " I do not dare to 
 say how much I adore the memory of her most beautiful 
 image." 
 
 " Well," said the lawyer sympathizingly, " well, doc 
 tor, I am sure that I can not aid you in the furtherance 
 of that particular branch of your investigations." He 
 thought a moment, and then asked, " Have you searched 
 the City Directory ?" 
 
 " Searched !" exclaimed the doctor " searched ! 
 Why, sir, I have stealthily examined every womanly 
 face that has appeared in the streets since my arrival. 
 My longing eyes peer into every female countenance. In 
 vain, sir ; all in vain." 
 
 " Was she, the lady you speak of, a gifted woman ?" 
 inquisitively asked the lawyer. 
 
 " Gifted !" returned the warm-hearted physician "gift 
 ed ! Sir, she was positively peerless ! Under my mag 
 netic hand, sir, she became a clairvoyante. Her spirit 
 soul, mind, heart, shone like an angel's. Grand and 
 beautiful utterances ! In perfect raptures, sir over and 
 over again, sir I have read her marvelous inspiration. 
 Listen, sir !" The doctor drew a piece of paper from a 
 pocket-book he carried in his left breast of his under 
 coat. 
 
 " Now, kind monsieur, hear how this entranced lady 
 speaks of her better and her higher self." The medical 
 man's enthusiasm grew warmer and warmer. He said, 
 " Yes, my honored sir, hear, if you please hear the very 
 words which spirit speaks to spirit. She, the adorable
 
 TKEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 153 
 
 angel ! is here speaking mark you, sir is here speaking 
 of her interior self; of which, however, when not clair 
 voyant, she was unconscious. Listen ! This is it : 
 
 k. 
 
 " The insatiableness of her desires is an augury of the soul's 
 eternity. Yearning for satisfaction, yet ever balked of it from 
 temporal things, she still prosecutes her search for it, and her faith 
 remains unshaken amidst constant disappointments. She would 
 breathe life, organize light ; her hope is eternal ; a never-ending, 
 still-beginning quest of the God-head in her own bosom ; a perpe 
 tual effort to actualize her divinity in time. Intact, aspirant, she 
 feels the appulses of both spiritual and material things ; she would 
 appropriate the realm she inherits by virtue of her incarnation : 
 infinite appetencies direct all her membersxm finite things ; her 
 vague strivings and Cyclopean motions confess an aim beyond the 
 confines of transitory natures ; she is quivered with heavenly de 
 sires ; her quarry is above the stars ; her arrows are snatched from 
 the armory of heaven." 
 
 " Ah ! yes, yes very pretty, very pretty, indeed, doc 
 tor but, I must confess, that, to my mind, it isn't pri- 
 ma facie evidence of any thing." 
 
 The physician's countenance suddenly saddened. Af 
 ter a short silence, however, he politely said, "Adieu, 
 Monsieur Ruggleston I will see you again," then 
 left for his hotel. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " HATE is my element, and strife 
 The joy and glory of my life." The Maniac. 
 
 WHAT of Madam Sophia Nelson during the past five 
 years ? 
 
 But a very short walk west of Broadway, less than four 
 blocks, and just a few doors from Grand street, we find 
 what is among the knowing ones universally styled 
 " Nell Palfry's Palace of Pleasure" an establishment
 
 154 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 perfectly equipped and gaudily furnished the celebrat 
 ed brilliant rendezvous of the most prominent and 
 wealthy men, both resident and foi'eign. 
 
 It will now be necessary, however, to step back in this 
 painful history about four years. We find that the 
 wounded Captain Nelson is still confined to his room. 
 He is emaciated and pale, from long housing and the 
 inevitable exhaustion consequent upon frequent hemor 
 rhages. 
 
 The terrible wound in his breast, by which some pul 
 monary vessels were severed, obstinately refused to 
 heal. He had received a stab from an outraged, infuri 
 ated, and desperate woman. The bright, sharp-pointed 
 dagger sent with the blinding swiftness of lightning, 
 and driven to its purpose with the savage strength of 
 vengeance had entered the citadel of his corrupt life ; 
 and thus for months, indeed for almost a whole year, 
 Captain Nelson was kept trembling on the verge of the 
 grave, which to him was a narrow causeway to the dark 
 unknown. Yes, there he remained day after day, a pri 
 soner in the hands of the beautiful and graceful Madam 
 Sophia, who was now the only recognized and respected 
 proprietor and manager of the property and family. 
 
 Madam Nelson, however, never lost for a single mo 
 ment her proud, amiable self-possession ; although, many 
 times, she was wrought \ip to the highest pitch of san 
 guinary fury, by the insulting language of the wounded, 
 weak, wicked, and horribly impatient man. 
 
 We must not stop to chronicle their many and almost 
 murderous quarrels. He, the calculating villain, was 
 now mastered by circumstances and completely in her 
 power. Day by day her hatred strengthened. She re 
 garded him with maddening disgust. Although she 
 alone kindly nursed and cared for him throughout his 
 whole year of wretched confinement, yet she could
 
 TREES OF CEIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 155 
 
 not, uo, not for an hour, forget that he, under the guise 
 of pure friendship and unselfish love, was the author of 
 her social degradation and consequent disgi-ace. 
 
 But in proportion as her hatred for him, and indeed 
 for all men, increased in its fury and intensity, in that 
 same proportion did her affection for unmarried females, 
 and indeed for all women, increase in passionateness and 
 influential power. 
 
 One day, immediately after the captain and Sophia 
 had quarreled up to the pitch of furious encounter, she 
 said, " Sir, since the terrible night of the murderous 
 outbreak between us, I have found out enough evidence 
 against you to send you to the gallows." 
 
 He cursed and damned her between his shut teeth, 
 and said that he " defied her." But fear Avas unknown 
 to her Spanish blood. She brandished a knife in her hand, 
 and seemed about to pounce upon the weak and almost 
 bloodless villain. He was helpless, in her power and 
 made no effort. Then hurling the knife from her, and 
 fixing her scornful and impassioned gaze upon him, she 
 said : 
 
 " Sii*, my own grand establishment on the west side 
 of Broadway is completed. To-morrow, my large family 
 of beautiful girls will leave this horrible place. Sir ! the 
 pictures and furniture, the plate and tapestries, and all 
 the movable property in this houte, are mine. Every 
 thing will be immediately removed to my own grand hotel. 
 Sir ! your cursed body is enough restored to pass for "well." 
 Go, sir ! Dare not enter the door of my own establish 
 ment." 
 
 Then suddenly taking the cast-away knife in her white 
 hand, and rushing ferociously toward him, and brand 
 ishing the glittering blade in the air just over his head, 
 Avhile he, bewildered and despairing and shrinking, sat 
 in the chair by the window, she exclaimed, " Sir ! en-
 
 166 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ter the door of my new house let me see your hateful 
 face within my splendid establishment and this knife 
 shall enter your devilish heart !" 
 
 They separated. He to his old pursuits as detective, 
 and to plot the overthrow of poor distracted Sophia ; 
 she to her new work of playing the part of " destroy 
 ing angel," in a more fashionable ward in the fast-grow 
 ing commercial and manufacturing city of New- York. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 " NOTHING goes for sense or light, 
 That will not with old rules jump right ; 
 As if rules were not in the schools 
 Derived from truth, best truth from rules." 
 
 Hudibras. 
 
 THE great financial and mercantile metropolis of the 
 western world had now a popular and successful Aspasia. 
 Her rare brilliant personal beauty ; her exquisite ad 
 dress ; her irresistibly electrical laugh ; her ravishing 
 power of song ; her great and varied accomplishments ; 
 her popular mental culture ; her natural affectionate- 
 ness ; her frankness ; her perfectly healthy and whole 
 some physical appearance; her inexhaustible cheerful 
 ness and magnetic vivacity all concentrated, all aggre 
 gated, and displayed in one grandly ornamented and 
 magnificently furnished residence which was made 
 by uniting two adjoining large brick dwellings into 
 one immense private house and who can wonder that 
 such a place became, in a short time, the rendezvous for 
 prominent men and wealthy pleasure-seekers ? 
 
 The street door, however, was watched and efficiently 
 guarded day and night. Bowery boys and city roughs,
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 157 
 
 and the little mobs of prowling, drifting, carousing 
 creatures, who are inseparable from the debasements 
 and propagations of great cities, were never permitted 
 to enter the aristocratic establishment of Madam Nelson. 
 
 She was soon celebrated, consequently, and sometimes 
 styled the " Asphodel of courtesans." Prominent poli 
 ticians, and men of most respectable families gifted 
 and influential men could alone gain access to her re 
 nowned and gorgeous palace of pleasure. The wine 
 from her cellar was celebrated for its exquisite flavor 
 and spirit. Her supper-rooms excelled in every luxury 
 of ornament ; and the dinners which were nightly served 
 in her saloons surpassed in sumptuousness and excellence 
 every thing of the kind in the noble city of New-York. 
 So, too, of her brilliant halls, the card and dice tables, 
 and the private stalls for those who fancied more retire 
 ment in fact, nothing superior to Sophia's magnificent 
 ly appointed hotel was ever known west of the Atlantic 
 Ocean. 
 
 The resources of the toilet were tasked to their ut 
 most. And yet what shocking disenchantments ! No 
 one can tell what will happen when woman's faith in 
 man is shattered. The sacred mysteries of lovely wo 
 man the vailed beauties of personal form and life 
 may be freely and profanely revealed. When woman 
 is demoralized by man's treachery, she becomes on the 
 instant his deadliest foe. Her whole nature turns fierce 
 ly to rend her enemy. Pier native modesty, which vails 
 the holiest feelings and finest attractions of her soul and 
 body, is literally thrown upon the ground with the 
 broken idols of her love. She turns upon man to de 
 vour him. Her frailties, her weaknesses, her shortcom 
 ings, and even her great and deathless virtues, are com 
 bined with the fascinations of the aesthetic toilet to at 
 tract and consume her enemy. She smiles mockingly in
 
 158 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 her heart upon every man's profession of love. Once 
 she loved truly, but she lost what she loved ; and now 
 she is but a fading flower exhaling the aroma of bitter 
 ness, despair, and death. She meets the stranger no 
 longer with gentle grace and downcast eyes. No fear, 
 no love, no grace, no modesty. Her shattered and 
 abandoned nature is turned inside out for man's inspec 
 tion and dissection. He beholds in her condition the 
 ruin he has mercilessly accomplished. 
 
 We now return to Madam Nelson and her New-York 
 establishment. She was passionately fond of the beauty 
 and perfume of flowers. In one grand room she had a 
 large collection of the choicest plants. Their fragrance 
 floated everywhere and filled the palace through and 
 through. The private splendors of kings and queens 
 the glittering mantle by which poor Sophia shielded her 
 secret vengeful hatred for mankind rendered her place 
 attractive and possible of access only to men of fine 
 taste and abundance of money. Her beautiful family 
 of girls arranged, as they were in maidenhood, in white 
 drapery and cheering crimson raiment, and nightly 
 glowing with wine and sparkling with fascinating jests 
 and arch repartee clung like so many helpless, drown 
 ing children to the warm, companionable, sympathetic, 
 and truly motherly heart of the unhappy lady. 
 
 The New- York boys, however, who could not gain 
 admission to Madam Nelson's hotel, which had now be 
 come universally notorious but aristocratical, commenced 
 to abbreviate her name, and to shorten the style of her 
 house in their rowdy jokes and slang conversations. 
 " Sophia Nelson's Palace of Pleasure " was the original 
 name and customary designation ; and she and it were 
 so known and so named among the fashionable habitues 
 of her dazzling home of destruction. But the less 
 polite young men of the Bowery had a habit of sudden-
 
 TKEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 159 
 
 ly shortening words. Abruptly, and with every sign of 
 disrespect, they called the establishment " Nell's Pal." 
 After a while those who patronized " Nell's Pal " were, 
 by the excluded and contemptuous roughs, stigmatized 
 as " Fry " of the codfish aristocracy. Then and thus 
 came the final extinguishment of the original name. 
 Thenceforward, the woman and the place were desig 
 nated by the short phrase, " Nell Palfry's." Thousands 
 of citizens of the United States undoubtedly recall the 
 name of " Nell Palfry" the honey-tongued Asphodel of 
 pleasure the broken-hearted yet proud and brilliant 
 Aspasia of New- York. 
 
 Of this unhappy woman a few more explanatory 
 words are here necessary. She was, strange to say, a 
 model of temperance, drinking nothing stronger than 
 wine, and that very sparingly. She was personally 
 unapproachable by sensualists. She never permitted 
 any familiarity to go beyond a certain point. As a 
 rule she never used profane or vulgar expressions. No 
 gentlemen were permitted to disturb this known by-law 
 of the establishment. Moreover, she allowed no one to 
 trespass upon the financial department. Every guest, 
 therefore, was required to promptly and fully satisfy 
 every bill against him ; the penalty for failure being a 
 peremptory refusal of admission from that night hence 
 forward. She had at her command several of the most 
 trusty and capable men assistants, and faithful women- 
 servants, too, who devotedly loved their queenly mis 
 tress. Therefore, by all guests and inmates, the rules of 
 her magnificent hotel were respected and obeyed. 
 
 Another remarkable and significant fact in this por 
 tion of our sad history, is worthy of mention ; not 
 more indeed, less than one half of Nell Palfry's gen 
 tlemen visitors were practical epicures and sensualists. 
 Many men visited her attractive rendezvous simply for
 
 160 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 observation and only ordinary indulgence. They would, 
 for example, play cards, drink wine, smoke cigars, be 
 merry for a couple of hours, pay their large bills, and 
 depart all which, in shortest phrase, these visitors to 
 her hotel facetiously styled " seeing a bit of life." 
 
 It must not be supposed, therefore, that all men are 
 sensualists any more than are all women courtesans. 
 Gamblers are not always intemperate. Thieves are not 
 always dishonest among themselves. Some celebrated 
 gamesters are models of obedience to all known laws of 
 health. Many celebrated courtesans or, at least, many 
 beautiful and free-mannered women who have been uni 
 versally regarded as hopelessly " abandoned " have 
 each been devoted to one, accepted lover. With the ex 
 ception of the seal and protection of the legal marriage 
 such have been strictly chaste. When changing lovers, 
 the illegal woman is doing what, in respectable society, 
 is equivalent to marrying again ; thus one courtesan 
 may have no greater number of lovers outside of wed 
 lock than many a woman has had husbands according 
 to marital statute law. Therefore, in estimating the vir 
 tues of women and the virtues of men, we are, in strict 
 justice for the sake of humanity's credit, driven to 
 probe for truth far deeper than the meaning of mere 
 time-honored customs and legislative enactments. There 
 may possibly be such a thing as " virtue " among un 
 married lovers ; and there may possibly be such a thing 
 as " vice " among those who live sensually in the mar 
 riage relation and under the honored seal of state. All 
 questions as to what is essentially moral are not infalli 
 bly settled.
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 161 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 " Lo ! all are links in nature's endless chain ; 
 The hand that forged them never wrought in vain." Barlow 
 
 THE past five years had wrought even greater revolu- 
 . tions in the affairs of the Secret Association of robbers, 
 swindlers, and criminals, whose principal hiding-place 
 outside of New- York was the subterranean " Hell," some 
 where on Long Island. 
 
 When the quarrelsome, bestial members of that bloody 
 fraternity heard of the almost fatal " accident " which 
 had befallen their sovereign Captain Nelson, they began 
 to feel gloomy and terrible. They disputed and fought 
 like tigers among themselves. The captain had planned 
 all their business during eight years, and had personally 
 superintended its execution. They were now without 
 a leader and could not undertake the accomplishment of 
 any important work in their peculiar line. 
 
 One night, however, about six months after the con 
 finement of their captain, and when all the members of 
 the association were assembled in the " Hell, "they com 
 menced to urge the youth to take the oath and assume 
 command of the association. There was a certain ener 
 gy, a daring, and a power in the young fellow, which 
 the robbers instinctively accepted as evidences of master 
 ship. 
 
 And so young robber Wilson, who was somewhat tall, 
 and very old-looking for a youth of his few years, was 
 unanimously nominated, and voted chieftain by acclama 
 tion. He looked down-hearted, however ; heard every 
 thing, but made no answer. Then, observing his des 
 pondency, the band of villains closed in around him.
 
 162 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 They commenced to sing parts of songs ; but finally 
 they struck in and sang : 
 
 " Cheer up, cheer up, old jolly boy, 
 Why wear that solemn face ? 
 There is no good without alloy, 
 And hell's a mirthful place. 
 
 " The gambler finds his loaded dice ; 
 The king his burning throne. 
 There is on earth no quaint device 
 But in the hells is known. 
 
 " The godless priest a pulpit finds, 
 
 So merrily flies the day ; 
 And evil thoughts like stormy winds 
 Are rolling round our way." 
 
 Fred Wilson, in a tone of angry authority, exclaimed : 
 "Dragons! do you dare to picture to yourselves 
 your future ? " 
 
 They heard his question, but no tongue moved in re- 
 
 pty- 
 
 Suddenly, young "Wilson raised his hand and said, 
 " Fellows ! It is time to break up. Start ! Go each 
 his own way." Then addressing Joudre, he added, 
 " You, with a hellish red head and the claws of a bloody 
 tiger, stay ! I have a word and some work for you." 
 
 Forthwith the savage members of that criminal frater 
 nity went forth and scattered themselves throughout 
 the darkness. Each was savagely bent on his own pri 
 vate evil interest. They started for the city of New-York. 
 Only young Wilson and the grim Joudre remained in 
 the subterranean hell. Wilson said, 
 
 " Now, Joudre, you wretched monster ! Now say 
 your own say and be quick. What is that hellish secret 
 you have been wanting to tell me ? Speak now 
 speak ! "
 
 TKEES OP CKIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 163 
 
 Joudre rubbed his great rough hands together. Then 
 he jerked up the waistband of his trowsers. A few 
 grunts and a few growls, and he commenced : 
 
 " Boy ! death han't nothing to a beast like me. I 
 swear I know that well enough. But I swear and I 
 swear that I don't Avant to go to hell till I find that 'ere 
 beautifulest sister of mine." 
 
 " What beautiful sister, you black-hearted villain ? " 
 
 " Enough of that 'ere, boy," said Joudre threatening 
 ly. " She's lost ! Han't seen her for years. Don't 
 know nothing about her. Hope she's dead ! Guess she 
 an't, though. "Would be most beautifulest angel if 
 she'd only up and died." 
 
 " Well, what of it ? " asked young Wilson angrily. 
 " What can you do ? You ! a market-man for human 
 flesh ? You answer me. How many dead infants, sealed 
 up in lead-loaded tin cans, have you anchored between 
 the posts of Hell-Gate ? You ! talk about having a sis 
 ter. God ! what a damned villain." 
 
 An angry tremor shook Joudre's powerful frame. 
 " Devils of fire ! " he violently shouted, looking young 
 Wilson straight in the eyes. " Boy ! did you ever 
 smell powder ? " 
 
 " I've smelt this black, infernal hell," he good-humor- 
 edly replied, " and that's a million times more like brim 
 stone." 
 
 Joudre's excited temper cooled down immediately. 
 After a brief pause and a few more growls and hitches, 
 he began : 
 
 " Come, come, boy my rough story is devilish short, 
 Hark ! Our captain's gone dead. I can't find my beau 
 tifulest sister. Bin to the Mobile House. Went to the 
 Orleans House. Next to the Cuba House. Sailed every 
 where. They say she's in New- York. I swear to you 
 that I can't find her boy. and that's bad too ! "
 
 164: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 "Joudre," interrupted young "Wilson, " you take on 
 like a cursed damn bull-calf. What is the use of a sis 
 ter ? I never had a sister I never had a mother I 
 never had a home I never wanted any thing but money, 
 and to hear " then, after a pause, he finished with the 
 word, " music !" 
 
 A hoarse laugh, breaking suddenly from Joudre's 
 monster throat, went sounding through the dismal cave. 
 " Music ! " he shouted with jeering and coarse derision 
 " music ! Who ever heard a damned young rob 
 ber wanting to hear music ? " 
 
 The youth straightened up to his full height, and said, 
 " Joudre ! you know that I am not a weak and sick 
 ly nursing child ; but " then he paused for a moment and 
 added " but I want a mother I want a home and I 
 want to hear music ! " 
 
 " How in the name of all the devils in hell, boy, be 
 you goin' to steal and murder your way into all them 
 damn expensive comforts ? " 
 
 Young Wilson's tone suddenly changed to deep ear 
 nestness and melancholy tenderness. 
 
 " Joudre ! " began the youthful robber chieftain, with 
 ill-concealed emotion, while in his trembling voice was a 
 tone of mournful solemnity " Joudre, to-night I leave 
 behind me this dismal hell." 
 
 "Have a care, boy, have a care," interrupted Joudre, 
 with a look of solicitude for young Wilson's safety. " The 
 police have a sharp, quick eye open for such as yo\i." 
 
 " My mind is entirely made up, Joudre. Come what 
 may be it prison, dungeon, or the gallows my mind is 
 made up. I shall go ! " 
 
 Joudre's horrible countenance looked even more hor 
 rible. And yet the human monster felt only emotions of 
 anxiety and fear for the youth's personal safety. There 
 was a certain something, about the mentality of Fred
 
 TREES OF CEIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 165 
 
 Wilson which completely attracted the bestial friend 
 ship of the veteran robber and murderer. 
 
 The young chief continued : " You, Joudre, I shall not 
 forget. You have been to me the fairest and the kind 
 est devil of all the infernal devils in this stinking 
 hell." 
 
 Joudre's wild tiger eyes rolled about like those of an 
 ox, when that laboring and patient animal is drawing a 
 heavy load, with the yoke a little too small for the great 
 size of the willing neck. 
 
 " Be you goin' to New-York, boy ? " Joudre asked. 
 
 " New- York isn't big enough to hold me. I'm going 
 on another cruise. Once, Joudre, I worked in the cook's 
 cabin ; and I remember that I was kicked, and whipped, 
 and half murdered by that black devil. We sailed to 
 China. Then I ran away. Got aboard of another ves 
 sel bound for New- York. Again I worked hard for the 
 meanest, damnedest, crudest captain, who said (the hell 
 ish liar !) that he kneAV the captain that bought me 
 with trinkets and blankets from an old Indian Avoman on 
 the Island of Cuba. The damned liar ! ". 
 
 Joudre looked at the youngster in a state of mind bor 
 dering on stupefaction. 
 
 " Well, Joudre," young Wilson continued, " you see I 
 can go as seaman on a free old sail around the world." 
 
 Suddenly the boy's voice dropped tenderly, and his 
 tones were as affectionate as a gentle girl's. 
 
 " Joudre ! may be you'll never hear of me again. You 
 had better quit this hellish business, Joudre." 
 
 Tears filled his fine eyes. He paused a moment, and 
 then, " O Jondre ! " He stopped. The words would not 
 come. The old robber was silent. 
 
 Suddenly young Wilson turned toward the dark pas 
 sage leading from the cave to the great wide world. In 
 the next moment he had disappeared. He had fled from
 
 166 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 the robbers' hell forever ! He had heard a voice saying, 
 ' My son ! reject the evil and choose the good.' 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 " WHETHER on the gallows high 
 
 Or in the battle's van, 
 The noblest way for man to die 
 Is in the cause of man." Walter. 
 
 IT will be remembered that about four years ago Cap 
 tain John Nelson, after having been twelve mouths con 
 fined to the house with his terrible wound, was peremp 
 torily denied admission to Nell Palfry's magnificent es 
 tablishment. 
 
 He was, therefore, forced to engage in some enterprise 
 for an immediate support. Weak and pale, but not yet 
 cured of those hereditary blood distempers which inces 
 santly urged him to plan and to commit deeds of wick 
 edness, he set out to do some of this kind of work. 
 
 He had lost all connection with the secret association 
 of criminals. His first step therefore was to renew their 
 acquaintance, and then immediately to resume his posi 
 tion among them as their captain. He waited until it was 
 pitch-dark, and then went to the old " Hell " on Long Is 
 land. Deserted ! It was evident that no meetings of the 
 robbers had been held there for many months. There 
 was no sign in the dismal hole that even one living 
 being had been there for a long time. 
 
 Captain Nelson, dispirited, at once returned to New- 
 York. He determined to reenter the profession of detec 
 tive. He had not seen Lawyer Ruggleston for a whole 
 year.
 
 TREES OF CE1ME IN PULL BLOSSOM. 167 
 
 Mr. Ruggleston, in the mean time, had taken into his 
 business two partners. The legal firm in Wall street was 
 now " Ruggleston, Stryker & Syrdam." All real-estate 
 and official business, requiring investigation and mature 
 judgment, was assigned to the senior partner, to Mr- 
 Ruggleston himself. All important equity cases, involv 
 ing litigations, and argumentative presentations to judges 
 and juries, were accepted by Mr. Syrdam ; while all crim 
 inal cases were assigned to Mr. Stryker, who, after the 
 senior partner, was notoriously the most efficient and suc 
 cessful criminal lawyer in Kings county. 
 
 The naturally agreeable and talented captain, but just 
 now looking very pale and rather broken down, bowed 
 politely to Mr. Ruggleston, and said : 
 
 " Any business on the docket for me ? " 
 
 " Business !" exclaimed the lawyer with astonishment. 
 " Why, Nelson, you resemble a corpse more than a de- 
 tive." 
 
 "Yes, I've only just got out of bed; but I'll be all 
 right again in a few days." 
 
 " Nelson, haven't you during your sickness lost all 
 knowledge of the New- York thieves and murderers ? " 
 
 " Mr. Ruggleston, you know that I'm only out of prac 
 tice. No other man in this city knows more than I do 
 about the hells and dens of thieves, gamblers, and pro 
 fessional murderers." 
 
 " But, Nelson, you can not now know much about a 
 damnable, villainous ring of cut-throats and robbers who 
 infest the lanes and alleys, the highways and byways of 
 New- York and Brooklyn." 
 
 "Indeed?" said the captain, just a little agitated. 
 " What do you refer to ? " 
 
 " Why, Nelson, during the past year these broad acres 
 of brick and mortar have been literally overrun with lot 
 tery and policy dealers, with professional gamblers and
 
 168 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 pickpockets, with scamps, thieves, assassins, cut-throats, 
 highway robbers, and vagabonds without number, and 
 now a strong detective force is organized and at work to 
 break up these diabolical rings, and if possible to bring 
 the scoundrels to the bar of justice." 
 
 Captain Nelson was somewhat alarmed. Instantly his 
 judgment informed him that these villainous deeds were 
 committed by members of his secret fraternity ; and the 
 lawyer had now unwittingly put the whole state of things 
 before him ; therefore he paused to reflect for only a mo 
 ment, however, and then, perfectly concealing his feel 
 ings of alarm, said : 
 
 " Mr. Ruggleston, I am your man. My men will fear 
 lessly and persistently hunt down these assassins. I am 
 acquainted, sir, with some shameful facts connected with 
 the detective service. For instance, sir, I know a ring 
 of professional bail-goers. They systematically attend 
 police courts, and continually keep great scoundrels at 
 large. The smartest villains and the shrewdest high 
 waymen, with the aid of certain attic lawyers in this city, 
 can at any time buy themselves out of quod. And, sir, 
 there are lawyers and detectives in daily collusion with 
 old offenders. Now, Mr. Ruggleston, let me assure you, 
 sir, that I am the man who knows these professional 
 thieves and these professional bail-goers, and what is 
 more, sir, I am strongly of the opinion that these public 
 villainies won't be materially lessened without some of 
 my knowledge and assistance." 
 
 Captain Nelson never spoke a truer word. And it 
 seemed that the lawyer was sufficiently impressed with 
 the impostor's knowledge of great criminals to promise 
 him " work in a few days." Meantime the pale and 
 weak and wicked detective started out to raise some 
 money by the exercise of his own wondrous skill.
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 " DOWN in the deep where darkness dwells, 
 The land of horror and despair." Watts. 
 
 DURING the past five years, while the trees of crime 
 were in full blossom, Captain Nelson, together with indi 
 viduals of his character and calling, had committed many' 
 small crimes and a few of the blackest deeds of horror. 
 One of these we will chronicle, because it led to his final 
 arrest and overthrow. 
 
 He had at all times an uncontrollable insanity, a mad 
 passion for the possession of an immense property. This 
 money-madness possessed his mind at some seasons, and 
 perverted and controlled his thoughts. This insanity for 
 riches frequently was the secret spring and inspiring 
 cause of his high-handed crimes. 
 
 In the prosecution of the gratification of this impulse, 
 he planned the robbery of the money and jewelry of a 
 maiden lady named Miss Bridgston, residing in one of 
 the avenues in the upper and eastern part of the city. 
 He assigned this branch of his plan to two lads in his 
 employ. They accomplished it ; taking the booty to the 
 robbers' " Hell." The robbers entered the lady's bed 
 chamber at night ; and frightened her so that she could 
 not speak. 
 
 A few days after, the police having already confessed 
 their inability to find either the thieves or the stolen 
 property, a largo reward was offered. 
 
 This state of things gave detective Nelson an opportu 
 nity to offer his services and display his distinguished 
 skill. 
 
 In less than three days all the money and jewelry were 
 recovered. All the property was promptly restored to
 
 170 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 the delighted Miss Bridgston. The thieves, however, 
 could not be found. But Detective Nelson, professing 
 great sympathy and regret for her fright and inconveni 
 ence, refused the lai'ge reward. 
 
 This remarkable generosity on the part of so able an 
 officer, united with his frequent subsequent visits and 
 uniformly most gentlemanly bearing, gradually touched 
 the better feelings of the middle-aged single lady, and 
 she began to experience a new interest in mankind. 
 
 He at length completely won her aifections. She be 
 came wholly absorbed in him. Her few relatives, how 
 ever, consisting of an elder unmarried sister, a grand 
 mother, and an uncle living in Brooklyn, all strongly 
 objected to Miss Bridgston's infatuation. 
 
 Officer Nelson admonished her to act independently 
 of her relatives, and to do every thing on her own re 
 sponsibility. He made her believe that the objection of 
 her family was based on their selfish interest in her large 
 personal property and real estate. She believed him 
 fully. Then he influenced ne r to make a will in his fa 
 vor. She immediately followed his plausible instruc 
 tions. 
 
 Having all arranged as he w r ished, he attempted noth 
 ing further for several weeks, but never failed to visit 
 his new lady-love whenever business engagements per 
 mitted. 
 
 At his lodgings, Captain Nelson's room was on the 
 second floor. There was a window opening into a nai m - 
 row passage between that and the adjoining brick dwell 
 ing. He had a rope-ladder, and many times had left the 
 house and returned hours after through this window, 
 without disturbing the landlady or servant, and never 
 once being detected by the neighbors or the perambulat 
 ing police. 
 
 One night, he professed to be suffering exceedingly
 
 TREES OF CEIME FULL BLOSSOM. 171 
 
 from his wound. He undressed himself leaving on 
 his person his undershirt and drawers violently rung 
 the bell, and then hurriedly jumped into bed. When 
 the bell was answered he was covered up, and was groan 
 ing heavily with his assumed distress. He plaintively 
 requested some assistance hot water to soak his feet, a 
 little warming medicines, and the like. After both land 
 lady and servant had waited upon him, they withdrew 
 with a request from him to be left undisturbed in his 
 room for at least two hours, professing that he wanted 
 some sound sleep as much as any thing. As soon he 
 was left alone, he cautiously and instantly locked his 
 door, dressed himself in a peculiar suit of clothes, threw 
 his rope-ladder out the window in the darkness, and 
 away he sped on his errand of horror. 
 
 It was a cold and blustering night in March when Cap 
 tain Nelson proceeded to consummate the object of all 
 his long courtship and persistent scheming. His money- 
 madness had urged him to plan the murder of the spin 
 ster, Miss Bridgston, by which he would come legally 
 into immediate possession of her considerable property. 
 He had procured from the infatuated lady a promise to 
 meet him that night at nine o'clock, beneath a little 
 cluster of trees in Union Park ; from thence he assured 
 the credulous and unfortunate woman they would pro 
 ceed to a minister and be married. This was all arranged 
 on the plea that any more public attempt to be married 
 would be frustrated by her relatives. 
 
 Alas ! she kept her promise faithfully. She was at the 
 appointed place exactly on the nroment agreed to be 
 tween them. It was an unfrequented spot at that hour, 
 and Nelson had with his usual sagacity calculated the 
 chances of observation and detection. The darkness 
 prevented her from seeing the skulking murderous assas 
 sin, who was, when the unfortunate lady approached
 
 172 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 the spot, concealed behind some shrubbery on the op 
 posite side of a tree. A swift, cat-like spring, a quick 
 movement forward, a blow with his knife, and the de 
 ceived lady was bleeding and dying upon the ground. 
 
 In less than half an hour after this fiendish murder, 
 Nelson had returned by the rope-ladder to his bedroom. 
 Instantly packing his clothes and the ladder in a trunk, 
 which he always kept locked, he rang the bell and sprang 
 under the bed quilts. Two hours had not yet passed. 
 The landlady and servant at once entered. Nelson 
 pretended to be suffering with a fresh attack of pain. 
 
 The hostess expressed her regret that the poor man 
 had not been able to sleep the full two hours' nap. It 
 seemed to her but a " very little while " since she had 
 left him trying for some rest. 
 
 In case of an arrest and trial, the impostor and mur 
 derer could have called these witnesses, proved an alibi, 
 and probably established his innocence. But he was not 
 even suspected. 
 
 Very early on the following morning the body of 
 Miss Bridgston was found by some mechanics on their 
 way to work. They immediately notified the police. 
 An examination of the ground confirmed the suspicion 
 that the victim had died without a struggle. The grass 
 around the spot was not trampled down, and there was 
 nothing in the immediate vicinity of the murder to indicate 
 the least scuffle or encounter. Only one thing of. mo 
 ment was found a plain brass button, with a little 
 piece of cloth about two inches long clinging to it 
 found shining in the grass close by the lifeless body. Of 
 this mute little witness the law-officers took possession. 
 
 For a long time the depraved assassin professed to feel 
 the utmost sorrow. It was generally understood that 
 the rich spinster was to become his wife. The heirs con 
 tested Miss Bridgs ton's will; they were not successful;
 
 TKEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 173 
 
 but Captain Nelson's right and title were at last fully 
 confirmed. 
 
 Time passed on, and the murderous detective felt per 
 fectly safe. He heard, however, nothing about the finding 
 of " a plain brass button in the grass." Various rumors 
 were afloat concerning the murderer, but gradually all 
 speculation and excitement died away. 
 
 Meanwhile the police, aided by the vigilant activity 
 and scrutiny of the genuine detective force, were se 
 cretly at work in the city, besides scouring the country 
 for miles around. The anxiety of the public, which had 
 been at one time extreme, was now slumbering. They 
 were about becoming disheartened, when a circumstance 
 of importance occurred. 
 
 A sailor, who gave the name of "Tom McRiggy," 
 and professing to have recently arrived from boating on 
 the Mississippi, was detected, in a drinking-cellar near 
 Peck Slip Ferry, examining and amusing himself with 
 the contents of a lady's pocket-book. He was arrested 
 immediately and locked np in the old watch-house. 
 
 Next day, before the police judge, the officer who 
 arrested the sailor testified that the pocket-book, then 
 before his honor, "Avas in the hands of the sailor 
 when he was arrested." 
 
 On examination, the full name and address of Miss 
 Bridgston was found on a slip of paper in the pocket-book. 
 There was also found in one of the sailor's pockets a 
 very suspicious letter from a rough in New-Orleans. 
 
 Poor Tom McRiggy was accordingly, and in due 
 course of law and -time, put upon his trial. He was 
 ably defended by the celebrated criminal lawyer Stryker, 
 Mr. Ruggleston's partner ; but the chain of circumstan 
 tial evidence against the poor sailor seemed too strong 
 to be broken. 
 
 Lawyer Stryker with great ability explained to the
 
 174 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 jury all the suspicious circumstances which seemed to 
 connect his client with the atrocious murder of Miss 
 Bridgston. He said that the sailor had fully explained, 
 that as he was passing that night through the park/he 
 suddenly struck something with the toe of his boot. 
 The substance so struck sounded in the darkness like a 
 package of silver coin. The sailor naturally stopped 
 and searched about, when his hand touched the pocket- 
 book, which he very naturally put in his pocket, and 
 then went on his way. He had not noticed that the 
 name on the slip of paper was the same as the name of 
 the murdered lady ; and he had thoughtlessly carried 
 the pocket-book ever since that night. The suspicious 
 letter was explained as having been written by a rough 
 acquaintance of McRiggy's ; and the lawyer argued that 
 it could have had not the least connection whatever 
 with the murder. 
 
 Nothing, however, could rescue the sailor from the 
 order which was eventually put into the hands of 
 the sheriff. The poor homeless man was executed, 
 protesting most solemnly to the very last that he 
 was " innocent of the crime." Oh ! the awful injustice of 
 capital punishment. One such case as this condemns 
 the practice as unspeakably dangerous to every innocent 
 man, and as a miserable barbarity when applied to the 
 guilty man, who can not be prepared for death. 
 
 Subsequently, a small pasteboard box was found in 
 the room occupied by McRiggy at the " Sailor's Home." 
 This box contained a lock of fine gray hair, tied with a 
 silken thread, and pinned to the corner of a fine linen 
 handkerchief. Upon one corner of this fine handker 
 chief, an old woman's trembling hand had written 
 " Thomas Marigny, New-Orleans." 
 
 Other circumstances after came out which proved be 
 yond doubt that the poor sailor was an illegitimate son
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM*. 175 
 
 of the notorious sensualist, and that " McRiggy " was 
 unquestionably a corruption and an abbreviation of 
 " Marigny," which name the unhappy woman had deter 
 mined her son should retain. The fine linen handker 
 chief once belonged to Don Carlo Marigny, but had been 
 given by the mother to her son, accompanied with a 
 lock of her own hair. The yellow fever had years be 
 fore carried the poor woman into the grave. Thus she 
 was spared the horrible suffering of witnessing the exe 
 cution of her innocent son. 
 
 All these events happened during the five years when 
 the trees of crime were in full blossom. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " IN stillness deep I walk a land 
 
 Where spirit-forms my footsteps greet, 
 And beauteous thoughts an angel band 
 Chant low and sweet." Preston. 
 
 WE return now to the time indicated by the conversa 
 tion between Doctor Du Bois and Lawyer Ruggleston, 
 in the first chapter of this part of our story. 
 
 Young Fred Wilson has now been absent from the 
 robber's " hell " about four years and a half. Captain 
 Nelson, although not fully recovered from the eifects of 
 the stab, has acted four years the assumed part of the 
 detective, and the real part of robber and murderer. 
 And the brilliant and generous Nell Palfry, who is a uni 
 versal favorite in her great family of girls, and among 
 her millionaire friends, has flourished in her gorgeous 
 establishment on the west side of Broadway. The le 
 gal firm of Ruggleston, Stryker & Syrdam was doing
 
 176 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 an immense business in real estate, in equity suits, and 
 in the great criminal cases. 
 
 Every day since his return, the philanthropic Doctor 
 Du Bois had been deeply engaged in the grand object of 
 his life. One evening, to keep an appointment, he called 
 at the residence of Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 
 " Ah monsieur ! " he began with great energy, " I dash 
 in upon you here in your private home-study, because I 
 am in utter darkness." 
 
 " In utter darkness, Doctor Du Bois ? " 
 
 " Yes, quite so, monsieur. If I were in a mountain glen 
 with a mighty rock at my back, and a score of banditti 
 had corraled themselves in an ellipse about me, I would 
 not be more enormously embarrassed." 
 
 " What now, doctor ? Why so hampered in your 
 benevolent enterprises ? " 
 
 "Monsieur, my hotel must be the theatre of Bacchus. 
 Scandalous gibes, sir, and drunken grimaces ! One 
 guest with an imaginative and superior nature, but in 
 the half-way stage of drunkenness, has kept me night 
 after night from sleeping agreeably in my own room, 
 which is adjoining his." 
 
 Mr. Ruggleston was intensely amused. " Well, doc 
 tor, these sons of Bacchus will help you test the theory 
 of hereditary transmission of vices, eh ! " 
 
 Doctor Du Bois paused, and seemed thinking deeply. 
 "True, monsieur," he gently replied, "true, I am study 
 ing the characteristics of men and women, with a view 
 to the origin of their vices and crimes." Then with 
 much animation, he continued : " Sir, certain cities 
 have special features, as certain breeds of birds and 
 classes of plants are developed and confined to particu 
 lar geographical provinces. For the perfection of alms- 
 asking, for example, go to Rome ; in Paris you find the 
 perfection of art and skilled labor ; flower-girls abound
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 177" 
 
 in Florence ; in Geneva the most patient and skillful 
 watchmakers ; the largest commercial houses in London ; 
 in New-York the most enterprise and the most drunk 
 ards." 
 
 " Doctor Du Bois," said the lawyer, " last Sunday our 
 minister preached a sermon I wish you had heard." 
 
 " Ah ! with very much pleasure, sir. Do you recall any 
 part of the discourse that I should have heard ? " 
 
 " Well, no ; not exactly," said the lawyer. " The 
 fact is, doctoi-, I agree more with my minister than with 
 you about the natui'e and responsibilities of criminals." 
 
 " What particular view does the reverend gentleman 
 advocate ? " 
 
 " My minister preaches that man is a self-determining 
 and sinning conscious power. He teaches that, for all 
 sinners, 
 
 ' Justice lias built a dismal hell, 
 And laid lier stores of vengeance there.' 
 
 And that one eternal storm of angry fire will roll over 
 the naked souls of liars, thieves, murderers, fornicators, 
 and all damned sinners generally. He holds up before all 
 men the gospel, and explains its saving ordinations ; and 
 holds that there is a chance even for these cursed crimi 
 nals. He eloquently maintains that sinners who taste 
 the second death can't expire. If the old sinners begin 
 to faint in hell, God's angry breath fans the fire into 
 their nostrils, and up they jump as lively as ever, and 
 then they take another dose of 
 
 ' Eternal plagues and heavy chains, 
 Tormenting racks and fiery coals.' 
 
 On the whole, doctor, your dangerous theories and 
 naturalistic apologies for criminals received a terribly 
 scorching expose last Sunday. The minister vividly por 
 trayed the time and place
 
 
 178 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 ' Where saints and angels from their blest abode, 
 Chanting loud hallelujahs to their God, 
 Look down on sinners in the realms of woe, 
 And draw fresh pleasures from the scenes below.' " 
 
 "Science! Monsieur Ruggleston. Facts! My inves 
 tigations convey me to firm foundations. Hereditary 
 origin of appetites, vices, passions, and crimes, is de 
 monstrable, sir." 
 
 " Doctor, let me state a case. During your absence in 
 Europe a diabolical murder was committed one dark 
 night in this very neighborhood, in Union Park, by a va 
 gabond assassin-sailor named McRiggy. The victim was 
 an intelligent and highly esteemed single lady of wealth 
 in this city, a Miss Bridgston, who Avas soon to become the 
 Avife of my old friend of the detective corps, Captain 
 John Nelson. Now, sir, for the motive to get her 
 pocket-book, containing about thirty dollars ! " 
 
 " Was the sailor tried and executed ? " 
 
 "Yes, after several months of hard work by the detec 
 tives, McRiggy was finally caught and hung." 
 
 " Now, monsieur, it is impossible, since I never met 
 the sailor, to apply my facts and principles to him. But 
 have you never observed that, for example, parents en 
 tail on their offspring their own positive propensities ? " 
 
 " Well," said the lawyer thoughtfully, " possibly I may 
 have made such observations. Yet I do not comprehend 
 their bearing in this case." 
 
 " A father has a passion for alcoholic drinks," said the 
 doctor, with increased earnestness. "Result : the son is a 
 drunkard, and the daughter deficient in parts of her char 
 acter. Monsieur Fowler of your own city gives the case 
 of a Mrs. Mattock, who once lived in Milltown, near 
 West-Chester, Pa. ; was so notorious a toper that she kept 
 alcoholic drinks by her bed, and often drank a quart in 
 twenty-four hours. All but one of her eight children are
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 179 
 
 confirmed sots, and this one, a daughter, is said to love 
 the worm unduly.' Again, one of her daughters, Mrs: O., 
 wife of a former tavern-keeper in Broad street, Philadel 
 phia, is often too drunk to see company, and keeps her 
 room most of the time from this cause a beastly daugh 
 ter of a brutish mother ! " 
 
 The lawyer acknowledged that there was some force 
 in these citations. Doctor DuBois, however, did not stop 
 for remarks, but energetically continued: 
 
 " The same divine law, monsieur, which transmits a 
 strong passion, a strong propensity, or a strong tendency, 
 can as Avell bestow deficiencies and weaknesses in both 
 the physical and mental constitutions. Thus, sir, hearty 
 eaters beget excellent cooks. The opposite is likewise 
 true. Take for an example the father of your honored 
 countryman Benjamin Franklin. Of his father he thus 
 speaks: ' At his table he liked to have, as often as he 
 could, some sensible friend or neighbor to converse with, 
 and always took care to start some ingenious or useful 
 topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the 
 minds of his children. By this means he turned our at 
 tention to what was good, just, and prudent, in the con 
 duct of life ; and little or no notice was ever taken of 
 what related to the victuals on the table ; whether it was 
 well or ill dressed, in or out of season, of good or bad 
 flavor, preferable to this or that kind of thing ; so that I 
 was brought up in such a perfect inattention to those 
 matters as to be quite indifferent what kind of food 
 was set before me. Indeed, I am so unobservant of it, 
 that to this day I can scarce tell, a few hours after dinner, 
 of what dishes it consisted.' 
 
 " Now for the result : Franklin could travel, work, 
 think, and live, without ever having his attention called 
 away and distracted by the cravings of an inordinate 
 appetite. It was no hardship or trial for him to walk
 
 180 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 the streets of Philadelphia with only a loaf of baker's 
 bread to satisfy his hunger." 
 
 Lawyer Ruggleston replied : " And yet, doctor, I do 
 not perceive the application to the case of a brutal 
 murder." 
 
 " Monsieur," returned the doctor, with rapidly increas 
 ing earnestness of language, accompanied with the shrugs 
 and gestures peculiar to his French origin " monsieur, 
 allow me to further illustrate. I will refer to positive 
 facts : The mother of the poet Byron had a temper un 
 surpassed in violence, which, breaking from a certain high 
 pitch of intensity, produced in her body severe illness, 
 and in her mind extreme misanthropy. Her husband, 
 the poet's father, possessed excessive sensuality, and his 
 mental constitution abandoned to physical gratifications. 
 Now, sir, for the result, take the testimony of Macaulay : 
 ' Never had any writer so vast a command of the whole 
 eloquence of scorn, misanthropy, and despair. That Ma- 
 rah Avas never dry. No art could sweeten, no draughts 
 could exhaust its perennial waters of bitterness. Never 
 was there such a variety in monotony as that of Byron. 
 From maniac laughter to piercing lamentation, there was 
 not a single note of human anguish of which he was not 
 master. Year after year, and month after month, he con 
 tinued to repeat, that to be wretched is the destiny of 
 all; that to be eminently wretched is the destiny of the 
 eminent ; that all the desires by which we are cursed lead 
 alike to misery if they are not gratified, to the misery 
 of disappointment ; if they are gratified, to the misery of 
 satiety. His principal heroes are men who have arrived 
 by different roads to the same goal of despair, who are 
 sick of life, who are now at war with society, who are 
 supported in their anguish only by an unconquerable 
 pride, resembling that of Prometheus on the rock, or 
 Satan in the burning marl; who can master their agonies
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 181 
 
 by the force of their will, who to the last defy the whole 
 powers of earth and heaven. He always described him 
 self as a man of the same kind with his favorite creations ; 
 as a man whose heart had been withered, whose capacity 
 for happiness was gone, and could not be restored ; but 
 whose invincible spirit dared the worst that could befall 
 him here or hereafter. . . . From the poetry of Lord Byron, 
 his youthful admirers drew a system of ethics, com 
 pounded of misanthropy and voluptuousness, a system 
 in which the two great commandments were, to hate 
 your neighbor and to love your neighbor's wife.' " 
 
 " "Undoubtedly," replied Lawyer Ruggleston, " there is 
 some truth in this theory of transmission of vices as well 
 as virtues. But the application to the case I quoted 
 is still vague in my mind. Explain further, doctor." 
 
 " Apply my facts to great criminals, monsieur ; thus, 
 from Monsieur Fowler's production, Hereditary Descent, 
 take the case of Patty Cannon, her parents, and her sister 
 and brother. This notorious woman shed human blood as 
 lavishly as if it had been water. She procured and held 
 in subjection a desperate gang, whose sole business was 
 to perpetrate the robberies and murders she planned, in 
 which she generally took the lead, and frequently per 
 petrated murders single-handed in order to rob. One of 
 this gang was afterward executed, and under the gal 
 lows disclosed her atrocity. Her excessive amativeness 
 was her coy-duck with which to allure victims within her 
 reach, and retain them till she could dispatch them. She 
 fitted out a kidnapping vessel to Philadelphia, and with 
 negro stool-pigeons who mingled with the colored people 
 of the city, and under various pretenses decoyed them 
 on board. She kidnapped and transported, first, to her 
 prison-castle, and thence into slavery, hundreds of free 
 negroes. Those who were decoyed on board, but were 
 too old or infirm to bring much, were unceremoniously
 
 182 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 drowned. And infants, captured with their mothers, 
 which by their crying endangered her safety, were mer 
 cilessly knocked in the head with a loaded whip made 
 for this express purpose. Several infant skeletons were 
 disinterred in her garden after her capture. For years 
 after her crimes were publicly known, this resolute wo 
 man and her desperate gang kept the officers of the law 
 at bay, but was finally captured after a desperate resist 
 ance, and committed suicide in prison. A more atro 
 cious robber and murderess probably never existed, at 
 least in our country. Her destructiveness, and also 
 acquisitiveness, as well as amativeness, were enor 
 mous. 
 
 "Now, monsieur, look at her ancestors. One day her 
 father, becoming exasperated with a neighbor about 
 some money-matters, went into a shop where his enemy 
 worked, and picking up a suitable piece of timber, struck 
 him on the head and killed him, for which he was execu 
 ted. The mother of this depraved woman was large and 
 fleshy, and good-natured, yet accused of manifesting un 
 due amativeness. This passion she transmitted to her 
 offspring, who inherited also their destructiveness from 
 their father, and hence their wantonness, revengefulness, 
 and murderous ferocity. 
 
 " Patty's brother, impelled by the inherent force, com 
 mitted a crime which the laws then punished with death, 
 and followed his father to the scaffold, being in every re 
 spect a badly organized man. Furthermore, her sister 
 Betsy, who married Bat Twiford, was one of the most 
 violent-tempered, implacable, and revengeful of women, 
 notoriously licentious, and known to be guilty of every 
 crime but murder, of which she was suspected. Her 
 tongue was the most bitter and sarcastic imaginable, and 
 she was unparalleled, far and wide, for the most foul- 
 mouthed abuse and shocking profanity. Her amative-
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 183 
 
 ness and destructiveness, like those of her sister Patty, 
 were extraordinarily developed. 
 
 " Monsieur Fowler cites the cases of ancient sensualists 
 and tyrants. Of Nero : * What one man whose crimes his 
 tory has recorded, ever committed enormities as numerous 
 or aggravated as those perpetrated by this human fiend ? 
 What man of wealth or worth did he not doom to death, 
 and his effects to confiscation ? even his venerable tutor 
 Seneca, the erudite scholar and profound philosopher, not 
 excepted ! What good deed did he ever do ? What 
 crime, and in its greatest excess and enormity, did he not 
 perpetrate ! Even his own mother, to whom he was in 
 debted for his crown as well as life, after his repeated 
 plots for taking her life had failed, finally died by the 
 matricidal hands of her monster son ! Nor did he heed 
 her piteous supplications for life. His own wife, too, a 
 most illustrious woman, banished, and then murdered, 
 and supplanted by that notorious harlot Poppea ! All 
 Rome laid in ashes by his command ! The iron empire 
 destroyed by him ! What was, then, his parentage ? 
 
 " ' Caligula, whose atrocities knew no parallel except in 
 his brother's son, who wished his whole empire had but 
 one neck, that he might cut it off, was his uncle, and 
 Agrippina, the very worst woman on record most vio 
 lent in her hatred and revenge, and one who plotted and 
 perpetrated the death of her own children, in order to 
 place Nero on the Ca3sarian throne his mother ! His 
 father, Cneius Domitius, was one of the worst of men, 
 and his paternal grandfather, Lucius Domitius ./Enobar- 
 dus, was extravagant, impetuous, proud, revengeful, vio 
 lent, and cruel. His maternal grandmother, Agrippina, 
 was violent and implacable, and exceedingly ambitious, 
 and her mother, Julia Nero's great-grandmother on his 
 mother's side, from whom he inherited most of his vices
 
 18-i TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 was the daughter of Augustus Caosar, and a dissolute, 
 grossly sensual, and abandoned woman. 
 
 " ' Let it be borne in mind that the Caesars were ren 
 dered what they were, mainly by their excessive propen 
 sities, directed by unbridled ambition. Their passions 
 were enhanced by the largest possible indulgence, and 
 incessant civil or foreign wars ; and it would seem that 
 all the ambition, along with all the ferocity and sensu 
 ality of all the Caesars, descended to this last heir of all 
 their vices as well as their crown. The truth of the laws 
 of transmission, under discussion, admitted, what could 
 have been expected of the Caesars but the parents of 
 Nero, and what of these parents but that monster fiend 
 to whom they gave being ? 
 
 " ' The glutton Yitellius, Avho expended at the annual 
 rate of $100,000,000 on his table alone, and would soon 
 have eaten up the resources of the entire Roman empire, 
 was one of this Caesarian family. He sat down to some 
 10,000 different dishes at a single meal I ' ' 
 
 There was a prolonged silence. These cases had made 
 a deep impression on the judgment of the honest lawyer. 
 Besides, he was invariably respectful, and never hastily 
 opposed what he often deemed his positive knowledge 
 to the speculations and theoretical assumptions of pro 
 fessional gentleman. He continued silent and thoughtful. 
 But Doctor Du Bois had not accomplished the object of 
 of his interview ; so he changed the subject, and said : 
 
 " Monsieur Ruggleston ! " Then after hesitating a* 
 
 oo o 
 
 moment to think, he asked, " Can not I enter the detec 
 tive service, if I choose ? 
 
 " Why, certainly, doctor, and there is plenty of work 
 for you ; but are you now absolutely serious ? " 
 
 " Never more so in my life, monsieur. See here 1 I 
 have already prepared an advertisement for an assistant." 
 
 " For an assistant ? "
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 185 
 
 " True ; and now give me, if you please, your opinion 
 of it. Thus it reads : 
 
 WANTED.- A professiona gentleman wants a young man who has some ex 
 perience as traveling agent, assistant book-keeper, or clerk in an office. 
 Ability, sobriety, integrity, and punctuality will be generously rewarded. Best 
 city references not required ; and t he amount of compensation required no 
 object. Address, for two days, DOCTOB, Office Daily Gazette, New-York." 
 
 Lawyer Ruggleston laughed heartily, and said : 
 
 " Rather mysterious and refined, doctor ; as well as vig 
 orous and extraordinaiy. Now, what do you propose to 
 accomplish with such an uncommon specimen of mascu 
 linity ? " 
 
 " Ah sir ! you shall see ; you shall see ! " 
 
 " Well, doctor, can I aid you in this remarkable en 
 terprise ? " 
 
 " Ah ! immensely, monsieur. For a moment, pray, lis 
 ten : I have first to deal with delicate and effeminate na 
 tures. And as I am a stranger in the city, your services 
 are now necessary. The crime is abortion and infanti 
 cide. Foeticide is the principal business of one Madam 
 La Stelle. This woman is at once one of the most unrea 
 sonable and one of the most entertaining of her sex. She 
 is plain, impulsive, severe, and headstrong ; and she is 
 also one of the most sagacious, witty, and confiding." 
 
 " Granting it all, doctor, how can you reach such a 
 case with your young-man assistant ? " 
 
 " Ah sir ! I have it all planned, if only you can intro 
 duce me to some lady who has seen much of society, and 
 can go into small difficulties with her own sex undis 
 mayed." 
 
 The lawyer reflected. A considerable silence ensued. 
 At length he said : 
 
 " Doctor, I'll just call down my wife's only sister. She' 
 has seen the world, is yet young and quick in her sym 
 pathies, has at her command a fund of the soundest sense, 
 and has chosen to remain unmarried."
 
 186 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 u Magnificent ! " exclaimed the doctor, profoundly de 
 lighted. " Very grand, sir ; introduce me at once." 
 
 In a few moments the sisters entered the lawyer's 
 richly carpeted and handsomely furnished home-study. 
 Mrs. Kuggleston and Miss Phebe Milton were presented 
 to the polite and distinguished physician. The ladies 
 had frequently and favorably heard very much of Doctor 
 La Force DuBois, formerly of New-Orleans. They both 
 cordially and attentively listened to his plans to detect 
 the causes of abortion and infanticide. The doctor said : 
 
 " Unexpectedly I yesterday had a conversation with 
 a city physician, named William Morte ; who by the 
 merest accident I have since ascertained keeps a fostici- 
 dal'boarding-house, under the guise of a ' Lying-in Hospi 
 tal.' Furthermore, he has been during the past three 
 years associated in business with a certain Madam La 
 Stelle, residing in another part of the city, who gives her 
 entire attention to obstetrical cases and infanticides. 
 Now, ladies, my purpose is, if possible, to obtain from 
 this Madam La Stelle a confession of her motives for en 
 gaging in a work so unnatural, so unwomanly, and so 
 contrary to the divine laws of maternity." 
 
 Miss Phebe Milton very promptly said that the plan 
 by which so remarkable a confession could be obtained 
 did not occur to her mind. But she was certain that she 
 was ready to undertake the uncommon task for the sake 
 of society and the advancement of science. The doctor 
 immediately assured the ladies that he had a plan which 
 he would at once submit to Lawyer Ruggleston. At this 
 the sisters withdrew ; then the doctor said : 
 
 "Monsieur, I beg you to explain, fully and minutely, 
 my plan to your wife and Miss Milton." 
 
 The doctor's scheme involved some very delicate as 
 sumptions, and the most perfect self-possession on the 
 part of Miss Milton. She was to so arrange her dress
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 187 
 
 as to represent to the eye the perfect appearance of preg 
 nancy. She was to profess to have come from a distant 
 country village, and in quest of Madam La Stelle's skill 
 as a celebrated physician and accoucheur. Accepted, she 
 was to advance liberally and often on the fees demanded, 
 and make little presents, and otherwise gain upon the best 
 feelings x>f Madam, until, in some unguarded moment of 
 pleasant confidences between the soon-to-be patient and 
 the reputed abortionist, a few agreeably directed ques 
 tions would elicit the confession so earnestly sought by the 
 self-appointed New- York detective, the honest and phil 
 anthropic Doctor La Force* Da Bois. 
 
 Lawyer Ruggleston listened with the utmost attention. 
 He promised to explain to his wife and sister the entire 
 programme. "But, doctor, can you now gvve me an 
 idea of what prompts Madam La Stelle to persist in a 
 practice so diabolical and heaven-defying ? " 
 
 " Certainly, monsieur. My theoiy is, madam has 
 inherited a profound sympathy for dependent and unfor 
 tunate females, and a coi'respondingly profound antipathy, 
 possibly a murderous hatred, for infants and very little 
 children." 
 
 A provoking smile of mirthful incredulity illuminated 
 the lawyer's intelligent countenance. "Doctor, allow 
 me to ask, are you not the child of fine-natured, 
 charitable, and dreamy parents ? Come now, doctor 
 just take a little of your own medicine." 
 
 The two gentlemen then shook hands warmly, and, in 
 the best of spirits, separated.
 
 188 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 " HE will be saved, and yet the thought 
 Lights not her spirit's dark eclipse ; 
 No fluttering hopes of future j oy 
 
 Flit round those pale and parted lips." 
 
 Sybelle. 
 
 THE thirty-six hours succeeding the publication of the 
 advertisement for an " assistant " brought the doctor 
 an enormously large pile of letters from young men re 
 siding in New-York each presenting his own claims in 
 the most eloquent language at his command. Only one 
 communication, however, attracted the doctor's favor 
 able attention. It was couched in these straightforward 
 terms : 
 
 NEW-YORK, February, 1838. 
 
 SIR : I am a young man about eighteen years of age. Have 
 had a glance at the changing scenes of life in cities, on lonely 
 islands, in miserable cabins, and on ship-board. Have just re 
 turned from a whaling voyage of over four years. 
 
 Sir, a black cloud of gloom hangs threateningly between my 
 eyes and all future prospects. I am annoyed with wearisome sen 
 sations and with terrible suspicions that I was born to a useless 
 life. I have no fear in my nature, and yet I can not drive from my 
 thoughts these feelings of cheerlessness, anxiety, and apprehension. 
 
 Sir, I have read your advertisement. I think my disposition and 
 talents, under the guidance of a generous gentleman, would serve 
 you in either capacity. My address is at my boarding place, No. 17 
 Bowling Green, city. 
 
 With respect, yours, etc. 
 
 FRED. WILSON. 
 
 In less than an hour Doctor Du Bois was before 
 the young man. He was a quick, intuitive judge of
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 189 
 
 character. He therefore took with great swiftness a 
 complete inventory of every feature and lineament in 
 the strange, pale, rather handsome face of the tall, fine 
 ly-proportioned, sailor-looking correspondent. He pro 
 posed, however, by means of conversation, to draw out 
 testimony which would make him thoroughly acquaint 
 ed with the peculiarities of the assistant, in case they 
 should agree. 
 
 " Your name is Fred Wilson ? " 
 
 "That's the name I had given me by a sea-captain 
 when a child." 
 
 " What is your business ? " 
 
 " Nothing, sir ; I want business." 
 
 " Did you ever work in the United States ?" 
 
 " Not more than six months." 
 
 "Have you ever been a member of any organi 
 zation ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I once belonged to a police concern for the de 
 tection of frauds and thieves." 
 
 " What kind of an organization was that ? " 
 Wilson hesitated. Then he finally declined to an 
 swer. 
 
 The doctor noted this, but went on : 
 
 " Did you ever detect any thieves or other villains ? " 
 
 With much warmth of feeling, mingled with bitter 
 ness and indignation, Wilson replied, " Yes, sir, I 
 HAVE." 
 
 "Do you know a criminal when you meet one?" 
 
 Wilson immediately looked very pale. But with a 
 tone of determination replied: "Yes, sir; I know their 
 personal signs, and I have spotted their establish 
 ments." 
 
 "Are you known in the city?" 
 
 After hesitating and pleasantly smiling, Wilson said : 
 " When I left New- York, over four years ago, I was a 
 mere spindling lad. Since, I have grown much heavier
 
 190 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 and some taller ; and my general appearance is so much 
 changed that now I hardly know myself." 
 
 " Where are your friends ? " 
 
 Wilson suddenly looked very sad, and seemingly some 
 what surprised. " Sir," he replied, with emotions of sor 
 row trembling in his tone, " sir, I am without relatives. My 
 friends are free-hearted sailors floating on different ships 
 around the world. In this city I am without friends and 
 in need of employment; otherwise, sir, I should not have 
 answered your advertisement." 
 
 Doctor Du Bois was immensely pleased. He whis 
 pered to the young man to step a little to one side, so 
 that their conversation could not possibly be overheard 
 by men in the bar-room. Then the physician explained 
 fully why he required an assistant in the difficult work he 
 had cut out for himself in New- York. With the utmost 
 particularity he delineated the precise character of his 
 investigations into the causes of crime. He also explained 
 the benevolence of motives and kindly humane feelings 
 demanded in a person with such an object in view. 
 
 Fred Wilson's large, dark, serious eyes expanded and 
 blazed with delight as the doctor proceeded. " Sir," 
 said he warmly, " your plan fits my disposition exactly ; 
 now," added the naturally prepossessing and elegantly- 
 mannered young man, " now, if my capacity can keep 
 alongside of my disposition, and not drop astern, or 
 veer to the windward when under pressure, then, sir, 
 we shall make good heading in this business." 
 
 Doctor Du Bois suddenly grasped young Wilson's hand, 
 and like old acquaintances they greeted each other with 
 hearty shakings and expressions of friendship. French 
 man had met Frenchman. Every action was graceful, and 
 every movement elegant ; both naturally vivacious, re 
 fined in manners, and polished in conversation ; each to
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 191 
 
 the other indicating a parentage of no ordinary fami 
 lies. 
 
 That very night, young Wilson paid his bill at the 
 sailors' lodging-house, and commenced a new and difficult 
 career at the Carleton Hotel, in the employment and 
 confidence of the new detective. 
 
 Thus, by the working of providential forces through 
 the play of circumstances, the strait gate and the very 
 narrow Avay were, for the first time, presented to the 
 motherless and homeless wanderer. 
 
 Will he enter in at " the strait gate " ? And will 
 he walk day by day and year after year in " the narrow 
 path ? " 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 " SHE thinks that on her pallid cheek 
 No love-born tints shall ever rise." Nydia. 
 
 CAPTAIN NELSON is now the most dangerous man in 
 New-York. He seems like a monstrous demon of wicked 
 ness bent on the destruction of the good and the beauti 
 ful. His hatred of woman is even more diabolical and 
 fatal than his murderous contempt for man. That mer 
 ciless hate lies coiled up and always hidden like a crafty 
 snake within his agreeable deportment and bold and vi 
 gorous intellect. Since his rejection by the carefully 
 educated and beautiful Nell Palfry, who now scorns all 
 men and bitterly defies them, he is becoming more 
 desperate and reckless, and declares by his acts a total 
 indifference to life. He is becoming less and less guard 
 ed in his movements.
 
 192 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 So long as mothers and daughters shall exist in this 
 world, such disclosures as appear in these pages can not 
 be useless. Not less are these fearful scenes important 
 to fathers and sons. Because, if to be forewarned is to be 
 forearmed, these horrible and truthful pictures of the 
 causes of crime, and these delineations of the ways of 
 professional criminals, will serve as beacon-lights and 
 guide-boards by which maidenhood and manhood can 
 escape evil and choose the good. 
 
 The summery luxuriance of a day in June is beautiful 
 and golden both in city and country. Church-going cit 
 izens and sight-seeing strangers are walking in every di 
 rection. Sorrowful faces pass bright faces ; hateful eyes 
 look into loving eyes ; jealous hearts, throbbing and 
 curdling with bitterness, go by generous hearts beating 
 with love and universal good-will. Every face is unknown 
 to every other ; all, all, in a great metropolis are utter 
 strangers. And then, soon after the meeting hour on 
 a Sunday morning the streets look almost deserted. 
 
 A young lady who is a celebrated beauty, and a uni 
 versal favorite, and who is engaged every business day 
 as selling clerk in a popular down-town store, left her 
 home and her mother about the church-going hour, ex 
 pressing her intention of spending the day with an aunt 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 After leaving her mother's residence, she walked 
 rapidly for a considerable distance ; then she threw a 
 thick vail over her face, and quickly rearranged her 
 shawl, so that she could not be recognized. She further 
 shielded her beautiful face from observation by wearing 
 her parasol very close down, as if suffering from weak eyes, 
 to which the bright June sunlight was particularly pain 
 ful. 
 
 Unobserved by any one she entered the consulting
 
 TREES OP CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 193 
 
 room of Doctor Mortc in Hudstni street. The sharp, 
 heartless eye of the assistant who answered the name of 
 " student " immediately recognized the wretched girl. 
 With the nonchalance and cool impudence of one long 
 accustomed to crime, he said : 
 
 " So, so ; come again, eh ? About three years and a 
 half ago, I'm thinking, you disappeared from this hospi 
 tal with your life, and in fair health; didn't you, Miss 
 Molly Ruciel?" 
 
 The unhappy creature, being suddenly subject to this 
 familiar and contemptuous language, was too intensely 
 annoyed and too profoundly mortified to speak. 
 
 Student withdrew, however, and the doctor himself 
 appeared. "Oho !" he ejaculated, "Oho ! The pretty 
 store-girl come again, eh ? " 
 
 Her unspeakable mortification and her bitter anguish 
 stifled and benumbed her heart through and through. 
 
 " Come for treatment, I suspect ? " said the fiendish 
 doctor. 
 
 " Please, sir, let me speak with Mrs. Morte," replied 
 the terrified girl. 
 
 " Can't see her to-day," said he, in a tone of heartless 
 abruptness. Then he added with brusque impatience 
 and business-like energy, "Don't trouble yourself, Miss 
 Molly. Your wealthy lover, the gallant Jack Blake, 
 has been here. It's all fixed. The handsome villain 
 paid all fees and left full instructions. He says that 
 you're a candidate for ' still and lost ' treatment, and he 
 footed the bill accordingly." 
 
 " Still and lost treatment!" echoed she, in a tone 
 of inexpressible terror and despair. And again, very 
 slowly and very much appalled, she murmured, " Still 
 and lost treatment ! " 
 
 "By God, Miss Molly Ruciel, you mutter like a pret 
 ty she-devil, half-drunk."
 
 194: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 For a moment her face reddened and burned with the 
 womanly fire that was not yet extinguished on the altar 
 of her heart. " Perhaps I'm a senseless thing," she said, 
 with deep sadness and humiliation, " but your language 
 frightens me almost to death." 
 
 " Oho ! oho ! you're suffering death agonies, are you, 
 Miss Molly ? And all because you don't understand 
 the regulations of my poorly-furnished but heavily 
 curtained hospital, eh ? " 
 
 " I have come to you for treatment," said she, timidly 
 and modestly : " but I do not receive the meaning of your 
 mysterious language." 
 
 " Well, come now, you half-crazy and half-drunken 
 thing just you keep still and just you hark a minute. 
 I'll make it all straight and square, clear as four panes of 
 window-glass." 
 
 The miserable and frightened girl listened. He said : 
 " Thei'e is nothing unfathomable in my business. I have 
 two departments for two classes of patients, with two 
 signs and two very different prices. Before Madam La 
 Stelle went into business with me you know where her 
 flourishing hospital is, don't you ? I accepted and 
 treated both classes of patients myself; but there was 
 a devilish sight too much business for me, so I looked 
 about and found a keen, cruel, restless woman to take 
 all the 'live and found' classes; for, to tell the whole 
 truth, Molly, these cases multiplied ten to one over the 
 applicants for ' still and lost ' treatment ; and all because, 
 as I suspect, about nine out of every ten girls and youngish 
 women who get into this devilish difficulty would rather 
 have some kind of homes or live places found for their 
 kicking and crying brats. They think it's awful and 
 very dreadful, and so on, to hurry up death on their damn 
 young ones. But you, Miss Molly, you are provided for
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 195 
 
 by that jolly rich fellow, Jack Blake. He squarely 
 planked do\vn my fees, and said he : 
 
 " ' Doctor Morte, this thing is all damnably wrong. 
 But that girl isn't to be cursed with a crying baby, you 
 understand, don't you, doctor ? Still and lost is what I 
 pay foi', you understand.' Then Blake disappeared. I 
 guess he's about as far out of New-York as a ship bound 
 for Texas can carry him in ten June days." 
 
 Poor girl ! Who loves her now ? Who can rescue 
 her from the crumbling walls ? Who snatch her from 
 the devouring fire of crime ? Alas ! he who loves her, 
 and whom she loves with her deepest heart, a true and 
 honest young gentleman in the city, knows nothing of 
 her condition or situation. 
 
 Doctor Morte leads her to the unclean, wretched den 
 where his crimes are committed. It is a back room on 
 the second floor. A leprous moisture oozes from the 
 walls and ceiling. Heavy curtains, fetid with filth, and 
 covered with last year's spiders' webs, shut out the gold 
 en summer Sunday light of June. On the mantel, over 
 the fireplace, were dirty plates and besmeared cups and 
 saucers. An infectious, sickening atmosphere filled the 
 room and almost suffocated the wretched patient. 
 
 O mothers ! save your innocent daughters from a fate 
 like this ; and O daughters ! behold one of your sisters 
 treading the black path to the tomb. Pity her ! Save 
 her!
 
 196 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 " Our, out are the lights out all ! 
 
 And over her quivering form 
 The curtain, a funeral pall, 
 
 Comes down with the rush of a storm." 
 
 Foe's Legina. 
 
 Miss MAKY RUCIEL was appalled beyond expression. 
 Rather than be subjected to such horrible treatment, she 
 would depart and drown herself in the river. She burst 
 into tears. She begged to be permitted to leave the hos 
 pital immediately. 
 
 Firmly and savagely the doctor informed her that she 
 was bound to go through the operation for which Blake 
 had paid him a large fee. He was cruel and implacable 
 in his ferocious profession. Seeing that her escape from 
 his medical prison was impossible, she begged, implored 
 him to supply her with pen, ink, and paper. He brought 
 writing materials immediately, and she, with a heart 
 bowed down with sorrow and misery, and her naturally 
 sweet face haggard with horror, wrote the following 
 letter : 
 
 LYING-IN HOSPITAL, New- York, June 18, 1838. 
 MY DEAEEST MOTHER : Oh ! do not desert your poor desolate 
 daughter in her bitter affliction. ... I can not tell you in language 
 how deeply I have been wronged, and how deeply I have wronged 
 others. . . . Oh ! do not ask who has deceived me. I believed him 
 sincere in all his promises. I relied upon his word. I drank until 
 my senses were lost ; then my fears and all my resolutions left me 
 
 forever ! O dearest mother ! I need not ask you to deliver a 
 
 message, my dying farewell, to my poor dear I know you 
 
 will see him. 0, mother ! he has never deceived me. Amid grief 
 and loneliness of feeling, when I seemed the happiest, he was my 
 true lover and my ministering angel O mother, dearest,
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 197 
 
 I am glad that death is so near I may not survive this wicked 
 
 treatment ; and, if I should survive it, mother, I am not worthy of 
 
 Ms pure /and holy love and devotion My pride and my hope, 
 
 my self-respect and ambition, are all gone, dearest mother ; and I 
 do not want to outlive the fruit of my temptation and transgres 
 sion My poor desolate, darling mother! and my best friend, 
 
 my only true lover ! farewell ! forever farewell ! . . . from your 
 own MARY RUCIEL. 
 
 The wretched and despairing girl folded her letter, 
 sealed and addressed it, and left it lying in plain sight 
 upon the filthy table. Weary with suffering, and half 
 prostrated with the pestilential atmosphere of the moun 
 tebank's den, she dropped upon the unclean straw bed, 
 and bitterly wept the scalding tears of humiliation, deso 
 lation, and repentance. 
 
 " Damn bad luck, this hitch ! " growled the villainous 
 Doctor Morte, as he let the pulseless wrist of the beauti 
 ful girl drop from between his fingers. " Fact is," he 
 went on to say, " the girl was in a devilish bad temper. 
 Wasn't fit to stand an operation for ' still and lost.' " 
 
 The student looked rather agitated, and was evidently 
 alarmed. " Every body in New- York knows that girl," 
 said he. "We've got a hell of a job on hand, I'll bet." 
 
 " Hush, you cowardly rascal ! " replied the doctor 
 with angry impatience. 
 
 " Well, then -just tell what's t.o be done." 
 
 Morte went hastily to the street door and looked out. 
 It was already dusk ; a storm had set in ; and it was then 
 raining abundantly. He hurried back to his grim stu 
 dent, and said, authoritatively, " Porgy Jo ! Come, stir 
 about, get an umbrella, put on your slouch hat and my 
 military jacket. Hurry to our hack-driver. Send him 
 around immediately. Then find Sergeant Vim. Don't 
 whisper a word that any one can overhear. Bring Vim
 
 198 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 right around ; and doii't forget his blanket and a few 
 wrist-cords." 
 
 In less than an hour the hackman drove up in the 
 heavy rain, tied his horses, and hurried into the doctor's 
 consulting room. 
 
 "Another passenger?" asked the murderous-looking 
 driver. 
 
 " Lovely patient," replied the doctor, with some show 
 of regret in his voice. 
 
 Then both kept perfectly still, in the almost totally 
 dark room ; for only a dim taper was burning at the top 
 of the stairs. Presently the student, now called " Porgy 
 Jo," and Captain Nelson, now called "Sergeant Vim," 
 entered, and the four villains proceeded up stairs to look 
 after the lifeless passenger. 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Nelson, " Molly Ruciel, the love, 
 ly young girl, a storekeeper down town she ! " 
 
 Doctor Morte suddenly slapped his hand over the cap 
 tain's mouth, and, in a low tone, admonished him to 
 work fast and keep silent. 
 
 They consulted together, and soon arrived at a pro 
 gramme. " This passenger," said the captain, " must be 
 put into a carriage and driven to my sail-boat." 
 
 " Where's that ?" asked the attentive hackman. 
 
 " One mile this side the first turn in old distillery 
 road on the Hudson river. You know, don't you ? Creep 
 along down on the west from Murray Hill ; then strike 
 north, till you're opposite Hoboken ; then turn down 
 that road, and steer for the brick-yard close by the riv 
 er. Old Von Twiller drives his cows down that lane to 
 let 'em drink river-water. At the foot of that lane my 
 sail-boat is chained and locked. Now, old hawk ! don't 
 you see your road ? " 
 
 The old vulture-looking driver said, " All square, cap-
 
 TKEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 199 
 
 tain ; that's plain enough ; but it's a hell of a road this 
 stormy night." 
 
 With this understanding they set about preparing the 
 corpse for the long ride. They worked as systematically 
 and as deliberately as butchers in a barn, or as profes 
 sional surgeons in an army hospital, where blood and 
 death are familiar objects, and where scenes of horror 
 and suffering cease to excite emotions of sympathy or 
 terror. 
 
 " This passenger will put all New-York in a thunder 
 ing quiver of excitement," said Captain Nelson. "She 
 must be found floating with every imaginable evidence 
 of violence committed by several men." 
 
 They examined her body. Her back was already chafed 
 by resisting the medical operations. There were suffi 
 cient marks of cruelty on both her wrists, the effects of 
 the cords with which Doctor Morte had bound her dur 
 ing the treatment. Then the captain tore her dress and 
 frock in divers places. With a strip thus torn from her 
 clothing they tied up her under jaw, bringing the band 
 over the head, and carrying it once around her throat, 
 where they secured it. Then, to prevent the possibility of 
 her mouth or throat making any noise, by the sudden 
 escapement of confined air from the lungs or bronchial 
 tubes, which sound might endanger the undertaking, 
 they tied a strip of linen tightly around her neck. Then 
 they put her bonnet on her head, dressed her with every 
 thing she had worn into the hospital, wrapped her up, 
 like a sick lady, in a thick woolen blanket, and between 
 them carried her out through the rain, and in a sitting 
 posture placed her rigid body on the back seat of the 
 carriage. 
 
 Captain Nelson, alias Sergeant Vim, immediately has 
 tened back to the room to cover up tracks. He burnt 
 up the poor girl's letter. Gathering together the pieces
 
 200 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 of skirts, the handkerchief, the strips of muslin and lace 
 torn out of her garments, the parasol, and every little 
 fragment belonging to the patient's habiliments mean 
 time taking every thing valuable from her dress and out 
 of her pockets then the captain, addressing himself to 
 young Porgy Jo, said : 
 
 " Take thfese things with you across the Hudson in your 
 own row-boat. Anchor above Weehawken, out of sight 
 of every body. Go into some thicket, a very short dis 
 tance from the shore, and scatter these things about on 
 the stones and bushes ; and don't knock off work, Jo, 
 until you've raised a hell of a scrape by breaking down 
 twigs, trampling the grass, and fussing up the ground 
 all around there generally. Do work enough on the 
 bushes to make five men sweat like this lucky rain-storm. 
 And then, Jo," said the captain, lowering his voice to a 
 husk whisper, "just you take the bag you carried the 
 stuff in, put in half a dozen stones of some heft, and 
 drag the load from where you scattered the rags through 
 the woods to your boat. Make the ground look as 
 though some men had dragged the girl's body through 
 it. Then heave out the stones, take your bag, and pad 
 dle for the hospital. Keep your eye out, Porgy ! For 
 get nothing. I'll superintend the other branch of this 
 transaction." 
 
 Thus, without exchanging another word, but in steal 
 thy stillness, and in that storm and deep darkness which 
 evil-doers love, the assassins and transgressors separated : 
 Porgy Jo to his small row-boat which he invariably 
 kept ready for exactly such jobs, for passengers just in 
 the pier, at the foot of the street ; and Sergeant Vim, on 
 the other hand, the reckless and the fearless, to his ride 
 by the side of the sitting corpse of the lovely girl, which 
 was destined for a grave in the Hudson river.
 
 TREES OF CKIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " LOVE, strong with hopeless energy, 
 And pure from passion's earthly stain, 
 Yet human all in its sweet power, 
 O'ermasters mortal fear and pain." Ibid. 
 
 As was predicted by Captain Nelson, the finding of 
 the corpse of Mary Ruciel floating in the North River, 
 about four days after he had thrown it from his sail-boat, 
 convulsed the great city of New-York with a profound 
 and intense excitement. The momentous political ques 
 tions of the day were temporarily neglected. Numerous 
 arrests were made, and a large number of persons exam 
 ined, but no clue could be obtained to the perpetrators. 
 Tempting rewards were offered, beginning with,one thou- 
 'sand and ending with thirty thousand dollars, accompa 
 nied with official promise of pardon to any accomplice 
 who would come forward and testify ; yet no tracks of 
 the atrocious criminals could be found, and the 4 mys 
 tery of the murder, taking the sudden and unaccountable 
 disappearance of the victim from home into the account, 
 greatly increased the popular excitement. 
 
 Amid all this public anxiety and discussion, Doctor Du 
 Bois called at the office of Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 
 " Doctor, " the legal gentleman at once began, " what 
 advancement do you achieve in the detective business ? 
 Have you given any attention to this last instance of 
 diabolical murder ? " 
 
 " Monsieur Ruggleston, you will do me the honor to 
 believe that I am in search of truth instead of assassins 
 and highway murderers." 
 9*
 
 202 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Why, then, did you enter yourself as a detective, and 
 advertise for an assistant ? " 
 
 " Ah sir ! my purpose is to detect the causes of crime^ 
 with a view to a demonstration, on phrenological and 
 psychological principles, of the correct social treatment 
 and final cure, if not prevention, of the evils which afflict 
 our disordered humanity." 
 
 " Doctor," replied the lawyer, somewhat impatiently, 
 " your theory is preeminently impractical." 
 
 "Ah monsieur ! as to that, I prefer to let the future 
 developments of my present inquiries become my advo 
 cate." 
 
 "Now, doctor, about this infernal murder of an inno 
 cent girl. What have you to suggest? " 
 
 " A far-sighted judgment, not to mention faculties 
 adapted to the closest analysis, can only fathom the 
 causes of such a murder. But, Monsieur Ruggleston, 
 since you honor me with your question, I beg to suggest 
 that the murder was committed by a person, 
 
 "1. Who has inherited a hatred for both man and 
 woman ; 
 
 " 2. Who has inherited an uncontrollable passion for 
 the possession of riches ; 
 
 " 3. Who has inherited a passion for controlling the 
 feelings and governing the conduct of others j 
 
 "4. Who has inherited remarkable intellectual and 
 executive abilities ; 
 
 "5. Who has inherited a retentive memory, intense 
 bitterness of feeling toward individuals indiscriminately, 
 sarcasm, misanthropy, and a reckless disregard of his 
 own life ; 
 
 " 6. Who never experienced the benefits of an afiec- 
 tionate mother or an agreeable home ; 
 
 " 7. Who never sincerely loved any human being, and
 
 TEEES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 203 
 
 who, consequently, was never loved by any human 
 being." 
 
 Lawyer Ruggleston respectfully heard the doctor 
 through, and then asked : " State, if you please, whether 
 or not you deem the seven postulates you have just ut 
 tered a true and reliable prescription by which to detect 
 a constitutional murderer ?" 
 
 " Monsieur," replied the doctor, " to those who know 
 any thing of physiology and physiognomy, and who 
 possess even a few facts concerning the transmission of 
 states of feeling and qualities of mind from parents to 
 offspring, it is wholly unnecessary to affirm that my seven 
 propositions are scientific and reliable." 
 
 " Doctor Du Bois," resumed Mr. Ruggleston, " how in 
 heaven's name am I to make practical and legal these 
 scientific abstractions of yours ?" 
 
 " Time, monsieur, time will bring these views into 
 harmony with Bacon, Blackstone, Coke, Littleton, and 
 your other most distinguished authorities." 
 
 " Well, then," said the energetic lawyer, " Fly swifter 
 round, ye wheels of time, and bring the welcome day." 
 Then he asked, " Can a professional murderer be also 
 an agreeable, polite, influential character ?" 
 
 " Certainly, sir," quickly replied the doctor ; " for ex 
 ample, recall the names and manners of celebrated mili 
 tary generals. They, sir, WQI-Q professional destroyers of 
 human life." 
 
 " That answer is not in point, doctor." 
 
 " Pardon, monsieur, if I insist that my reply is most 
 pertinent." 
 
 "A military general is not a professional murderer." 
 
 " What, then, can we denominate his profession ? 
 And what is the profession of the executioner ? What 
 the calling of those who concoct wars and discipline 
 armies ? And what the business of those who lead their
 
 204: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 fellow-men in formidable battalions against the people of 
 another kingdom or nation ? " 
 
 " Ah doctor ! " interrupted the lawyer, " you do not 
 answer my interrogatory : Can a murderer be an incon 
 sistent character, exhibiting a mixture of good and evil 
 qualities ? " 
 
 " Most certainly, monsieur. By imparting their own 
 depraved feelings and predominating thoughts, which 
 they may never have clothed in language and exhibited 
 in character, parents can beget, in their ignorance and 
 innocence, girls and boys who possess powerfully sensual 
 and actively murderous propensities." 
 
 " Now, doctor," said the lawyer facetiously, " can you 
 of your own personal knowledge, and from your own 
 investigations into the laws and facts of parentage, affirm 
 your last statement to be the truth, the whole truth, and 
 nothing but the truth, so help you God ? " 
 
 " It is all unquestionably true," gravely replied Doctor 
 Du Bois. " And as to contradiction in inherited char 
 acter, take for an example the celebrated Russian auto 
 crat, Peter the Great, of whom the faithful historian says : 
 ' His stately form, his intellectual forehead, his piercing 
 black eyes, his Tartar nose and mouth, his gracious smile, 
 his frown, black with all the stormy rage and hate of a 
 barbarian tyrant, and, above all, a strange nervous con 
 vulsion, which sometimes transformed his countenance, 
 during a few moments, into an object on which it was 
 impossible to look without terror. The immense quanti 
 ties of meat which he devoured ; the pints of brandy 
 which he swallowed, and which, it was said, he had care 
 fully distilled with his own hand ; the fool who jabbered 
 at his feet ; the monkey which grinned at the back of his 
 chair, were, during some weeks, popular topics of con 
 versation. With all the high qualities which were pecu 
 liar to himself, he had all the filthy habits which were
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 205 
 
 then common among his countrymen. To the end of his 
 life, while disciplining armies, founding schools, framing 
 codes, organizing tribunals, building cities in deserts, 
 joining distant seas by artificial rivers, he lived in his 
 palace like a hog in a sty ; and when he was entertained 
 by other sovereigns, never failed to leave on the tapes 
 tried walls and velvet state beds unequivocal proofs that 
 a savage had been there." ' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 " WHO may understand 
 Thy many woes poor suicide unknown ? 
 He who thy being gave shall judge of thee alone." 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 
 
 A NUMBER of gentlemen at this moment entered the 
 office on legal business. The interesting conversation 
 between the physician and Mr. Ruggleston was therefore 
 for a few moments suspended. Resuming, however, the 
 doctor said : 
 
 "For many days I have been pondering the case of the 
 poor sailor McRiggy, who was tried and executed for 
 the murder of the spinster Miss Bridgston." 
 
 " Well, what of that case ? There was over it noth 
 ing like the popular excitement that now stirs this great 
 metropolis." 
 
 " Ah sir ! unhappily the people trample on justice 
 when their fears or passions are excited." 
 
 " Of McRiggy, doctor, what have you to say ? " 
 
 " I say, monsieur, that he was condemned upon in 
 sufficient evidence." 
 
 " In what part of the testimony do you regard it as 
 defective or insufficient ? "
 
 206 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " In that part where the officers failed to find any coat 
 or other garment belonging to the sailor from which the 
 button, with the strip of cloth attached, was torn by the 
 victim at the moment of the murder." 
 
 " True, doctor. But, then, you know nothing could 
 be easier than the destruction of that particular garment 
 by McRiggy." 
 
 " My mind is not satisfied, Monsieur Ruggleston." 
 
 " Can you, sir, procure for me that button and strip of 
 cloth?" 
 
 In a few days the lawyer said he would call at police 
 headquarters and obtain it for Dr. Du Bois. 
 
 " Only yesterday," continued the doctor, " I was read 
 ing English cases of circumstantial evidence, and the 
 idea struck me that the case of McRiggy might be one 
 of this nature." 
 
 Then, taking from his pocket a printed account illus 
 trative of his thought, and begging the lawyer's atten 
 tion, which that gentleman at once most cheerfully 
 accorded, he read an illustration : 
 
 " Jonathan Bradford kept an inn, in Oxfordshire, on 
 the London road to Oxford, in the year 1736. He bore 
 an unexceptionable character. Mr. Hayes, a gentleman 
 of fortune, being on his way to Oxford, on a visit to a 
 relation, put up at Bradford's ; he there joined company 
 with two gentlemen, with whom he supped, and in con 
 versation unguardedly mentioned that he had then about 
 him a large sum of money. In due time they retired to 
 their respective chambers ; the gentlemen to a two-bed 
 ded room, leaving, as is customary with many, a candle 
 burning in the chimney-corner. Some hours after they 
 were in bed, one of the gentlemen, being awake, thought 
 he heard a deep groan in the adjoining chamber, and 
 this being repeated, he softly awoke his friend. They 
 listened together, and the groans increasing as of one
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN" FULL BLOSSOM. 207 
 
 dying, they both instantly arose, and proceeded silently 
 to the door of the next chamber, from whence they 
 heard the groans ; and the door being ajar, saw a light 
 in the room ; they entered, but it is impossible to paint 
 their consternation, on perceiving a person weltering in 
 his blood in the bed, and a man standing over him, with 
 a dark lantern in one hand and a knife in the other. 
 The man seemed as petrified as themselves, but the ter 
 ror carried with it all the terror of guilt ! The gentle 
 men soon discovered the person was the stranger with 
 whom they had that night supped, and that the man who 
 was standing over him was their host. They seized Brad 
 ford directly, disarmed him of his knife, and charged 
 him with being the murderer ; he assumed by this time 
 the air of innocence, positively denied the crime, and as 
 serted that he came there with the same humane inten 
 tions as themselves ; for that, hearing a noise, which was 
 succeeded by a groaning, he got out of bed, struck a 
 light, armed himself with a knife for his defence, and 
 had but that minute entered the room before them. 
 
 " These assertions were of little avail ; he was kept in 
 close custody till the morning, and then taken before a 
 neighboring justice of the peace. Bradford still de 
 nied the murder, but nevertheless with such an apparent 
 indication of guilt, that the justice hesitated not to make 
 use of this extraordinary expression, on writing out his 
 mittimus, * Mr. Bradford, either you or myself commit, 
 ted this murder.' 
 
 " This extraordinary affair was the conversation of 
 the whole county. Bradford was tried and condemned 
 over and over again, in every company. In the midst 
 of all this predetermination came on the assizes at Ox 
 ford; Bradford was brought to trial; he pleaded not 
 guilty. Nothing could be more strong than the evi 
 dence of the two gentlemen ; they testified to the finding
 
 208 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Mr. Hayes murdered in his bed ; Bradford at the side of 
 the body with a light and a knife ; that knife and the 
 hand which held it bloody ; that on. their entering the 
 room he betrayed all the signs of a guilty man, and that 
 a few moments preceding, they heard the groans of the 
 deceased. 
 
 " Bradford's defense on his trial was the same as before 
 the gentlemen : he had heard a noise ; he suspected some 
 villainy transacting ; he struck a light ; lie snatched a 
 knife (the only weapon near him) to defend himself; and 
 the terrors he discovered were merely the terrors of hu 
 manity, the natural effects of innocence as well as guilt, 
 on beholding such a horrid scene. 
 
 " This defense, however, could be considered but as 
 weak, contrasted with several powerful circumstances 
 agains thim. Never was circumstantial evidence more 
 strong. There was little need left of comment from the 
 judge in summing up the evidence. No room appeared 
 for extenuation! And the jury brought in the prisoner 
 guilty, even without going out of the box. Bradford 
 was executed shortly after, still declaring he was not 
 the murderer, nor privy to the murder of Mr. Hayes ; 
 but died disbelieved by all. 
 
 " Yet were those assertions not untrue ! The murder 
 was actually committed by Mr. Hayes's footman ; who, 
 immediately on stabbing his master, rifled his breeches 
 of his money, gold watch, and snuff-box, and escaped 
 to his own room ; which could have been, from the 
 after circumstances, scarcely two seconds before Brad 
 ford's entering the unfortunate gentleman's chamber. 
 The world owes this knowledge to a remorse of con 
 science in the footman (eighteen months after the execu 
 tion of Bradford) on a bed of sickness ; it was a death 
 bed repentance, and by that death the law lost its 
 victim."
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 209 
 
 While the doctor was reading the last paragraph, Cap 
 tain Nelson entered the office. He helped himself to a 
 seat near the table where the tAvo gentlemen were sit 
 ting. 
 
 Doctor Du Bois instantly recognized him, although he 
 had not seen the detective since before leaving on his 
 five years' journey. 
 
 The captain's naturally agreeable face was much paler, 
 and his general appearance considerably changed, and 
 yet the doctor immediately called him by name, and 
 asked * 
 
 " Any news, monsieur ? Do you unravel the mystery 
 of the disappearance and murder of the lovely .Made 
 moiselle Ruciel ?" 
 
 Captain Nelson remained a moment in silence, look 
 ing thoughtfully with downcast eyes, as if making an 
 effort to recall something ; then, with a gloomy deep 
 ness in his dark eyes, he looked unflinchingly at the 
 calm questioner, and said 
 
 " No news of importance, sir. The unfortunate crea 
 ture was foully dealt with." 
 
 Involuntarily the kind-hearted physician shuddered, 
 for he recognized the voice which had uttered those hell 
 ish sentiments concerning the chastity of women. The 
 memory of that conversation with the captain seemed 
 for a moment to sting and stifle every generous emotion 
 in the doctor's bosom. His countenance flushed and his 
 tongue would not speak. 
 
 Captain Nelson's quick and practiced eye caught a 
 glimpse of this expression on the doctor's face. A bitter, 
 heartless, sarcastic smile curled his lips, as he said : 
 
 " You seem to 'be uncomfortably worried, Dr. Du 
 Bois. Perhaps your monotonous home in New- York 
 is becoming irksome after a protracted pleasure-trip 
 through the old countries of Europe."
 
 210 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " My home ?" replied the doctor with tremulous voice. 
 " I have no home in New- York." 
 
 " Neither have I," hurriedly the captain said ; " and, 
 sir, what's more, I contend that a home is like a hencoop, 
 fit for folks when they are small chickens. It happened 
 that I never had a home, although my father was a weal 
 thy old libertine." 
 
 Mr. Ruggleston here inquired : " Captain, you don't 
 mean to say that a home is not desirable for little chil 
 dren and established adult citizens, do you ?" 
 
 " For hungry and puling youngsters," replied Nelson^ 
 " a place to tie up, of a dark night, and to huddle 
 about during meal times, is all well enough. But, sir, 
 decidedly and entirely I oppose such an institution for 
 real live, wide-awake, go-a-head, enterprising citizens of 
 the United States." 
 
 " My experience IA full of the most delightful remin 
 iscences," said the doctor with unsuppressed enthusi 
 asm. 
 
 " And my recollection of a home in New-Orleans," 
 suddenly rejoined the captain, " is studded with the most 
 contemptible experiences." 
 
 " Ah monsieur ! " said the doctor, in a persuasive and 
 conciliatory tone, " your mother was your home, was 
 she not ?" 
 
 "A rosy savage, rather," said Nelson, with undis 
 guised hatred in his voice and flushed face. " My mother, 
 sir, was a pretty drawing-room tigress. She loved 
 jewels, fine garments, a pet monkey, and the vile ca 
 resses of that magnificent libertine." 
 
 " Monsieur Nelson is untrammeled in his speech," said 
 the doctor blandly, at the same time gestwing encour 
 agingly for further disclosures. " You describe your mo 
 ther as a perfect specimen of fashionable womanhood
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 211 
 
 a little haughty, perhaps, but undoubtedly beautiful, and 
 extremely fond of and affectionate to pets." 
 
 " A charming fool," replied the captain bitterly. " Sir," 
 he added savagely, " she used to horsewhip me while 
 hugging to her bosom that infernal monkey." 
 
 "Perhaps," suggested the doctor, mildly, "perhaps 
 the monkey was more affectionate and more obedient 
 than you." 
 
 "Doctor DuBois," said the captain, " I fancy myself 
 possessed of some penetration. I can discern the differ 
 ence between love and hate. I can tell the difference 
 between a pretty, coquettish, rosy-cheeked savage, and a 
 woman of practical common sense. Now, sir, again and 
 again I have been told by that charming lover of the 
 millionaire libertine that she hated me for nine months 
 before'I was born! Goths and Vandals!" he exclaim 
 ed with intense anger, mingled with a fierce and reck 
 less look of revenge: "I must have been overjoyed 
 when some hand helped me to escape from that maternal 
 prison." 
 
 " What, Nelson," said Mr. Ruggleston, inquiringly, 
 " ami to understand that you was an unwelcome child ?" 
 
 " Unwelcomed ! " he ejaculated savagely u unwel- 
 comed ! By the bloody Goths ! That sort of language, 
 sir, is too soft for my case. I was hated with a hundred 
 thousand horse-power of hate. Hated, sir, every day and 
 every hour from the start. Hated with more hate when, 
 six months before my birth, the old libertine jilted my 
 monkey-loving mother. So diabolically was I hated, 
 sir, in my helpless condition, that murderous instruments 
 were introduced to destroy me, and medicines were swal 
 lowed to poison my existence. Goths and Vandals ! I 
 fully believe that my infant heart was cut, and that my 
 infant brain was poisoned; for the one is continually 
 bleeding a'nd the other is continually hardening ! "
 
 212 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Lawyer Ruggleston was deeply impressed. But he 
 could not resist the temptation to say facetiously, 
 
 " Pretty smart boy, anyhow, to know so much six 
 months before he was born." 
 
 Nelson added, " At least a thousand times, I have been 
 told these things of my mother by servants and others 
 who had knowledge of everything. In fact she herself 
 never once lost an opportunity to impress her hate upon 
 me ; and the savagely more so after she was abandoned 
 by the aristocratic villain, because she said ' I resem 
 bled him: " 
 
 " Captain Nelson," said the doctor, with a voice rich 
 in tones of compassion and kindness : " Allow me to 
 inquire, further Have you ever dreamed of vengeance ?" 
 
 " Next to my ambition for great wealth, sir," Nelson 
 replied, " is the mad passion in my red blood to cut the 
 hearts and poison the brains of all those who compelled 
 me to enter this cursed world of Goths and Vandals." 
 
 His self-justified exasperation had thrown him off his 
 customary balance. 
 
 There suddenly shot out from his black eyes a flash of 
 live lightning that seemed overloaded with a terrific 
 power to strike, and blast, and kill. 
 
 " Permit me to indulge the hope," said the persuasive 
 doctor, with a volume of soothing goodness in his hon 
 est voice, " the hope that you have never yielded to your 
 revengeful feelings so far as to inflict any physical pain 
 up<5n either your father or mother." 
 
 Nelson made no verbal reply. He, however, shrugged 
 his shoulders like a Frenchman, and smiled sardonically. 
 He drew from his side-pocket an elegant gold snuff-box, 
 and politely extended it to the two gentlemen who had 
 just risen from their chairs. Then he took a very large 
 pinch for his own use. All his movements and man 
 ners excepting a slight inclination to swagger and an
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 213 
 
 indescribable expression of rakishness closely resem 
 bled the carriage of a thoroughbred and wealthy gen 
 tleman. With stern composure and deliberation, and 
 yet with a look in his eyes of melancholy presage, he 
 buttoned his half-military coat snugly up to his finely- 
 bearded chin. Being thus prepared to leave the office, 
 he walked straight to the door ; then, soldierlike, he 
 turned squarely around still smiling with an expression 
 of self-assurance and conscious triumph bowed very re 
 spectfully but stiffly to the professional gentlemen, who 
 were mutely and mutually observing him ; and then, with 
 the lofty dignity and cold splendor of a lord, he turned 
 and walked out into the renowned thoroughfare of the 
 New- York money changers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 " CHECK and cliide 
 
 The aerial angels as they float about us, 
 With rules of so-called wisdom, till they grow 
 The same tame slaves to custom and the world." 
 
 HallecJc- 
 
 " RIGHTEOUS God !" exclaimed lawyer Ruggleston, as 
 soon as the remarkable captain left their presence, "I 
 would not carry Nelson's conscience for all the riches and 
 splendors of Europe." 
 
 " Conscience !" said the doctor, with a tone of empha 
 tic remonstrance. " That man, sir, notwithstanding his 
 really high intellectual endowment, is a national, social, 
 and moral monster." 
 
 " Come this way, doctor," said the lawyer, as he led 
 the way through two rooms to a more interior office, 
 containing a large library of law-books ; "come, let's sit
 
 214 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 down by ourselves, doctor, and talk calmly over tins 
 most important matter." 
 
 The two professional gentlemen, who were now more 
 like two brothers, and bound together by the noblest 
 principles to discharge their duty against the common 
 enemy, sought this secluded room in order to enter into 
 a freer conversation. They were quite removed from 
 the incessant confusions and annoying interruptions of 
 the business departments, wherein the distinguished 
 junior partners, Messrs. Stryker and Syrdam, presided 
 daily over the immense official transactions of the popu 
 lar legal firm. 
 
 " Captain Nelson's confessions," said the lawyer, "struck 
 me like a thunderbolt. In fact, my thoughts persisted, 
 in spite of my wish or will, in analyzing and comparing 
 Nelson's remarks concerning himself with your seven 
 postulates, in which you give the formula or prescription, 
 so to speak, by which hereditary and circumstantial causes 
 might have been so centralized and organized as to have 
 made him the murderer of the young woman, Miss Mary 
 Ruciel. And yet, doctor, you use strong language about 
 that man's conscience." 
 
 Doctor Du Bois immediately raised his right hand, and 
 pointing and shaking his fore-finger with emphasis, said, 
 " Sir, as to kindness of heart and moral feelings of right 
 
 * o o 
 
 and wrong, that man is as depraved as a vampire and 
 as miserable as 'an idiot." 
 
 " Strong language, doctor, and very denunciatory too, 
 of a New-York detective, whom I have personally known 
 more or less intimately, and seen almost every 'week, for 
 these last ten years." 
 
 " Monsieur Ruggleston," said the firm and dignified 
 
 OO 7 O 
 
 doctor, with a look of remonstrance mingled with feel 
 ings closely resembling resentment " sir, that is a bad, 
 cruel, wicked, murderous man."
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 215 
 
 The two men gazed for a moment at each other, the law 
 yer's countenance indicating awakened feelings of anxiety, 
 cui-iosity, and amazement, while the generous and hand 
 some face of the physician kindled with excitement, and 
 his expressive eyes enlarged with the consciousness of a 
 great unselfish truth welling up behind them. 
 
 " In the name of sovereign science, monsieur," said the 
 doctor, " I pronounce sentence upon Captain Nelson." 
 
 " You are not his judge, doctor," said the lawyer, " and 
 besides, he has not yet been fairly tried before this secret 
 conclave of inquisition." 
 
 " Ah, you smile, monsieur ! Sir, my authority is based 
 on immutable science. By its exact principles I affirm 
 of course confidentially to you, sir that Captain Nelson 
 is a constitutional hater of his fellow-men a social out 
 law, sir a freebooter, sir, disregarding the finest feelings 
 of humanity in a word, sir, he is, by the laws of inheri 
 tance, a moral monstrosity." 
 
 "Then, where is that man's free-will and moral re 
 sponsibility ?" asked Mr. Ruggleston, earnestly. 
 
 " In the name of science, monsieur," returned the doc 
 tor, "do you not rather ask where is parental responsi 
 bility ? Look out into the street, monsieur. Child-beg 
 gars and adult vagrants outcasts, vagabonds, petty 
 thieves, and imbeciles sir, are they not the offspring of 
 demoralized and intemperate fathers and mothers ? Are 
 they not born, sir, with the vice of vagrancy circulating 
 through their very hearts ? Do they not, sir, inherit 
 physical and mental disqualifications for obtaining an 
 honest livelihood through the exalting agencies of useful 
 and profitable labor ? No, monsieur 1 The offspring of 
 such parents are naturally indolent without the check 
 ing and controlling feelings of right and wrong and 
 they are, therefore, constitutionally unfit for industri 
 al and civilizing pursuits. They are bodily lazy, and
 
 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 mentally thriftless by inheritance. Destitute of ambition 
 for enterprise and emigration, and almost always with 
 out homes, sir without the fostering and strengthening 
 soil of a true home of love, sir in which alone the roots 
 and germs of individual virtue and happiness can cling, 
 and flourish, and unfold then, sir, what are the results ? 
 A world of sufferers, and a world of criminals !" 
 
 " All quite true, quite true, doctor," said the attentive 
 lawyer ; "but, just now, I am especially curious about 
 the antecedents of this remarkable Captain Nelson of the 
 detective force." 
 
 Instantly the doctor's face was in a blaze of excitement. 
 " Oh ! monsieur, here is my theory : A physically health 
 ful young woman, but mentally stupefied, and morally 
 weak and ignorant, gestated and turned upon society a 
 savage nature, a horrid child of evil, yet externally ap 
 pearing in the lovely form of man, with a capacious in 
 tellect firmly rooted in selfish instincts, and animated 
 with vicious vital proclivities." 
 
 " State, if you please, explicitly and entirely," said the 
 lawyer, " what influences were ante-natally at work, and 
 how those influences worked post-natal! y, to produce the 
 monstrous character you describe." 
 
 " Certainly, monsieur," replied the polite physician. 
 " With your permission, sir, I will state what I know. 
 Positive feelings and governing thoughts, during the 
 most delicate and impressible period of pregnancy, 
 appear sooner or later, either in the bodily persons or 
 in the mental characteristics of children." 
 
 " Yes, doctor, that is your proposition ; now, if you 
 please, present in brief your facts and arguments." 
 
 " Maternity," said the doctor, with beautiful simplicity 
 and modesty, "is a divine wonder! Stern, rude, and 
 cruel women ai'e often, under the mysterious influence of 
 maternity, transformed into miracles of hovering tender
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 217 
 
 ness and fostering affection. On the other hand, tender 
 and artistic natures, by the fact of pregnancy may be 
 raarvelously changed for the worse in their thoughts and 
 feelings. The pregnant state is announced by the sup 
 pression of the periodical evacuation, which is generally 
 accompanied with fullness in the breasts, headache, 
 flushings in the face, and heat in the palins of the hands. 
 Consequently many women, soon after entering upon ma 
 ternity, become very much altered in their looks, and have 
 peculiar irritable feelings, inducing a disposition of mind 
 which renders their temper easily ruffled, and inciting an 
 irresistible propensity to actions of which, on other occa 
 sions, they would be ashamed. There is also morning 
 sickness, with a tendency to vomiting, and often intrac 
 table emesis. In such cases, the features acquire a pe 
 culiar sharpness, the eyes appear larger, and the mouth 
 wider than usual ; and the woman has a particular ap 
 pearance, which can not be described, but with which 
 women are well acquainted." 
 
 " At about what time," asked the inquisitive lawyer, 
 " does the greatest inter-impressibility exist, by which 
 the feelings of the woman are most disturbed, and 
 through which the fetal characteristics are by the moth 
 er imparted and determined ?" 
 
 "The period of greatest psychological impressibility 
 commences positively at the beginning of the third 
 month, and thence is continued with a progressive in 
 crease of power, until about the first of the ninth month, 
 at which time is inaugurated a happy period of passive 
 growth of the bodily parts of the child, giving the ner 
 vous systems of both mother and fetus a much needed 
 opportunity to gain some rest, and thus be the better 
 prepared for the critical and painful labors of parturition." 
 
 "Now, doctfor, taking Captain Nelson's voluntary 
 confessions of his antecedents as a basis, state, if you 
 10
 
 218 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 please, the effect of his mother's feelings and mental 
 conditions upon him prior to his birth, and the- results 
 on his subsequent life. 
 
 " Certainly, monsieur," said he. " First, she received 
 the child's germinal essences at the climax of a powerful 
 libertine's passion. Result in offspring : vigorous vitali 
 ty and quick muscular energy, a fiery temperament, 
 magnetic but short-lived amativeness, and a tendency 
 to longevity. 
 
 "Second. She was outrageously neglected and de 
 serted by the man on whom all her fondest feelings were 
 freely bestowed ; therefore intense hatred, possibly jeal 
 ous feelings, and dreams of revenge, took possession of 
 her heart and mind throughout the period of pregnancy. 
 Result in offspring : Inversion of all benevolent affec 
 tions, uncontrollable animosity, a diabolical contempt 
 for mankind, and sudden impulses toward the commis 
 sion of murder. Suicide, also, is sometimes a temp 
 tation. 
 
 " Third. She commenced to throw off every real and 
 imaginary bond that could possibly link her destiny or 
 memory with the unprincipled libertine who had merci 
 lessly deserted her, by terribly hating (sometimes feebly 
 and with fickleness, at other times with a maddening 
 passionateness of demoniac repulsion) the little soul and 
 the little body that were steadily unfolding within her 
 conscious existence ; she frequently weeping ; wishing, 
 praying for its sudden death ; and silently cursing it, 
 and by nauseating medicines and by surgical instru 
 ments attempting to murder the approaching fiercely- 
 hated little stranger. Result on offspring : A natural 
 impatience and contempt for woman, no reverence for 
 her maternal functions, no respect for her delicate im 
 pulses and feelings, and an irresistible propulsion burn 
 ing in the very life of his blood, and firing his intellect
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 219 
 
 with practical plans, to wander like a savage, diabolical 
 freebo^er, through the social system of humanity, bent 
 on empowering himself with money acquired by robbery, 
 poison, and murder." 
 
 " Beware of circumstantial evidence," said the lawyer 
 good-naturedly. "Now, really, doctor, would you 
 bring Captain Nelson to trial on your abstract theory 
 of the ante-natal causes of crime ?" 
 
 " No, no, monsieur. But, sir, I shall most certainly 
 put him in my new volume on the hereditary origin of 
 physical, mental, and moral debasement, which is the 
 fountain-head of all human vices and crimes." 
 
 Mr. Ruggleston involuntarily smiled, and said, pleas 
 antly, " Well, doctor, that will be the climax of all cru 
 elty in the art of punishment." 
 
 Then he added, "And yet, doctor, it is hardly cither 
 justice or humanity to condemn a fellow-citizen and im 
 prison him in a book on science before he is convicted of 
 any capital crime or petty misdemeanor." 
 
 " Monsieur," replied the extremely earnest physician, 
 " I shall immediately proceed to detect the whole ante 
 natal and post-natal truth in this case ; and then, sir, he 
 shall appear in my quota of criminals under the fixed 
 laws of human 'propagation." 
 
 "Quota of criminals !" echoed the lawyer. " What,- in 
 the name of righteousness, does that mean?" 
 
 " Ah, monsieur, you shall see presently." With great 
 animation the medical man Avent on: "Under the law 
 of human propagation especially during the protracted 
 reign of ignorance in that most divine function of 
 woman there is a mathematical proportion of human 
 failures. All cities, for example, will have, in propor 
 tion to their population and physical circumstances, a 
 certain fixed quota of sick, of infirm, of vagrants, of
 
 220 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 idlers, of indigents,of paupers, of drunkards, of adulterers, 
 of thieves, of swindlers, and of murderers." * 
 
 " What, doctor ! Do you really mean to say that the 
 whole and entire quota of each class come from mis 
 directed feelings and demoralized thoughts of mothers 
 during pregnancy ? " 
 
 "No, monsieur, no. This, rather, is my meaning: 
 that human failures, in the propagation of our species, 
 bear a certain mathematical proportion to the population 
 of a city or kingdom." 
 
 "Do you account for the existence of all imbecile, 
 idiotic, insane, abandoned, and vicious characters upon 
 this principle ? " 
 
 "For a certain proportion of them only, monsieur. 
 Ignorance or mis-education next, and debasing physical 
 and social circumstances subsequent to birth, account 
 for the remainder." 
 
 "Then, doctor, if I comprehend you, you imagine 
 that a wider diffusion of just knowledge among men and 
 women, both married and unmarried, concerning the 
 laws of the physical and mental inception, organization, 
 and multiplication of our species, will have a tendency 
 to lessen the sum of suffering and crime, by preventing 
 ill-assorted marriages and the propagation of defective 
 offspring? Do you mean to argue that side of the 
 question, doctor?" 
 
 " Exactly so, monsieur exactly. Ah, sir ! you charm 
 and honor me with your sympathy and appreciation." 
 
 " Not my sympathy, doctor ; for, although I agree in 
 the main with many of your sentiments, as yet I am not 
 a convert to your peculiar theory." 
 
 " Ah, true. But, sir, you shall be most positively 
 convinced. My agreeable assistant, a brilliant young 
 man, will cooperate with me as detective. We shall 
 find in this very city * confirmation strong ' thrilling
 
 TREES OF CRIME IN FULL BLOSSOM. 221 
 
 facts, sir, most startling evidences, too plain and too 
 potential to be resisted by either judge or jury." 
 
 " Criminals will not suffer in your hands, will they 
 doctor? ' 
 
 " Justice is an inherent law of the physical and men 
 tal universe, monsieur; if it develop sufferings in a 
 criminal it is both right and remedial, and sometimes I 
 let him suffer." 
 
 " True, doctor. But I take it that you have what is 
 called a heart in your bosom ?" 
 
 Tears suddenly started in the mild eyes of the doctor. 
 Emotions of benevolence and love, warm and gushing 
 from a fountain of innate affection, choked his utterance. 
 After a pause, and laying his hand upon his breast, he 
 feelingly replied 
 
 "Monsieur Ruggleston, I adore knowledge, sir, and 
 yet I would rather be robbed of my head than lose the 
 love of my heart." 
 
 The lawyer smiled pleasantly, and said, " Yes, doctor 
 the cold and lofty justice of the universe is rapidly 
 warmed and melted, and becomes very soon a healing 
 balm to poor wounded humanity, when it streams 
 through the chambers of your heart. Am I right 
 doctor?" 
 
 Not another word passed between them. They seemed 
 half inclined to embrace one another, and give way to 
 the sudden exuberance and congeniality of their sym 
 pathetic natures. But, unhappily, such manifestations 
 of affection among men ded Avith lofty contempt 
 
 by the dignified icebergs of society. Therefore with a 
 warm, fraternal hand-shaking, the gentlemen separated ; 
 but only, however, to meet again soon, under different 
 circumstances, and for the accomplishment of important 
 ends. 
 
 END OF PAET II.
 
 PART III. 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " B TJT let us now, like soldiers on the watch, 
 Put the soul's armor on, alike prepared 
 For all a soldier's warfare brings." Bailie. 
 
 EVENTS come and rush by like the flight of eagles. 
 "We seem to see them as they pass us and disappear be 
 neath the swift tide of the river of time. But so be 
 guiled and involved are we by the circumstances which 
 immediately surround us, and so entertained and con 
 sumed by our present sensations, that we do not realize 
 how inseparably related we individually are to the events 
 and consequent changes which occur in the physical, hu 
 man, and mental worlds in which we live and have our 
 being ; and thus a majority of isolated and selfish per. 
 sons acquire a belief that they are not individually con. 
 nected with or in any manner accountable for the misfor 
 tunes, faults, vices, and crimes of other and unknown 
 persons in the moving and breathing world about them. 
 Time, however, which progressively brings changes and 
 wisdom to every one sooner or later, is a powerful ele 
 ment in overcoming the selfishness, injustices, and mise 
 ries of humanity. 
 
 About an hour after night fall, two rough and ready
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 223 
 
 men, each mounted on the bareback of a stout country 
 horse, were riding along the road leading from a remote 
 fisherman's hut on the Jersey shore, near Metetecunk 
 River, and about five miles from Squan Beach, to a small 
 fishing schooner waiting for them in Shark River. A 
 cold, sleety rain-storm from the Atlantic ocean was rag 
 ing fearfully. A furious wind swept down the invisible 
 road, and into the grim faces of the travelers, with such 
 violence as to render rapid riding impossible. They bru 
 tally whipped and cursed, however, and damned and 
 kicked and pounded the poor stiff-jointed and half-starved 
 animals ; in fact, they did and they vociferated all the 
 outlandish and uncivilized and unfeeling and inhuman 
 things which are expected of men in their irrational and 
 savage treatment of horses ; and yet it continued to be 
 impossible, in that tempestuous storm and in such pitch- 
 black dai-kness, to force the weaiy animals into a canter. 
 Sometimes, after fearful goadings, the beasts would trot 
 a dozen yards or so, and then break down. Notwith 
 standing the merciless urgings and whippings and curs 
 ings, a " walking speed " was all the brutal travelers could 
 get out of the half-perished horses. 
 
 Thus after a long and exhausting journey, the two 
 savage-looking men, but with countenances expressive 
 rather of stupidity and stolid indifference, arrived wet 
 and half-frozen at the old weather-beaten fishing vessel. 
 
 The tempestuous fury of the storm began to abate ; 
 and far away over the Atlantic they noticed the first 
 signs of morning light. The men peered about cautiously 
 and listened attentively. No person or other living ob 
 ject was within sight ; and no sounds save the bellowing 
 winds and the splashing waters. 
 
 " Halloo ! " sharply shouted one of the men, " Jack 
 Flemmer ! Dick Lindsay ! Halloo, there ! " 
 
 " You damn screech-owl ! " scrawled the other. "Plug
 
 224 TALE x OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 your old windpipe. Your devilish squeaking and squall 
 ing will fetch about us more cursed Jerseymen than we 
 can find time to anchor in Shark River for a week to 
 come." 
 
 No answer was returned, however, save the whistling 
 and booming of the winds through the rigging of the 
 schooner. " Sharks all gone ?" asked one. "Well, let 
 'em go," the other gruffly replied. "The jig is all up 
 with us this time ; so let's turn in and get some sleep." 
 
 In fact the fellows were over five hours behind the 
 " time " that was fixed upon for their appearance. And 
 the consequence was that a brutal murder and a great 
 robbery, which had been long planned to come off at 
 twelve o'clock on that very night in New-Jersey, never 
 happened. 
 
 And another murder and another robbery, but con 
 ceived and arranged by other men, to occur that very 
 night in the Carlton Hotel in New -York, was also pre 
 vented, but through a very different set of circumstances. 
 
 About twenty minutes past nine o'clock in the even 
 ing, while Doctor Du Bois and his gallant young detec 
 tive, Fred Wilson, were engaged in a pleasant conver 
 sation about indifferent matters, a man suddenly knocked 
 at the door and entered without further ceremony. He 
 was dressed in the shabbily genteel style. His manners 
 were those of a real loafer but pretended gentleman ; 
 staggering slightly as though under the influence of 
 drink ; his heavy lips were swollen and his small eyes in 
 flamed ; a large forehead, a short red nose, rather large 
 ears, a thick black beard, stout arms and legs, a corpu 
 lent stomach, a coarse and strong voice. Unannounced, 
 unpermitted, the dissolute and disagreeable stranger 
 walked about the apartment, (which was the doctor's 
 private office, also used by Fred as a bed room, at the 
 head of the first broad flight of stairs,) and seemed to be
 
 EEAPING- THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 225 
 
 amusing himself, in a half maudlin manner, with the 
 doctor's large collection of valuable foreign curiosities. 
 While thus staggering and peering about, but with 
 a slightly foreign accent, he hoarsely began to sing : 
 
 " When I was a young lad, 
 
 My fortune was bad, 
 If e'er I do well 'tis a wonder. 
 
 I spent all my means 
 
 Amid sharpers and queans, 
 Then I got a commission to plunder. 
 
 I have stockings, 'tis true, 
 
 But the devil a shoe, 
 I am forced to wear boots in all weather, 
 
 Be d d the boot-sole, 
 
 Curse on the spur-roll, 
 Confounded be the upper-leather." 
 
 " What will you have, stranger ?" asked the doctor 
 kindly, rising and walking to where the intruder stood. 
 " Ha, ha ! hurrah, hurrah ! ha, he, ho, ho," laughed 
 and shouted the fellow. Then suddenly and comically 
 checking himself, he said " All I can get, mister, and as 
 much moi'e as you've a mind to give me." 
 
 " Stranger ! " demanded the doctor, with the firm 
 and quick energy of a fearless man, yet fired by the ex 
 citement of sudden apprehension " State your busi 
 ness ! " 
 
 " By thunderbolts," replied he, with another burst of 
 coarse laughter " now that's kind of you. Well, come 
 I'll tell you. Once I was a quarrelsome soldier in Un 
 cle Sam's employ. Now I cheat death, and get whisky- 
 money, by catching fish along Shark River away down 
 and over in the Jarseys." 
 
 The doctor, although considerably excited, appeared 
 perfectly cool and collected. Without betraying the 
 least sign of trepidation, he tapped the annoying visitor 
 10*
 
 226 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 on the shcmlder and ordered him peremptorily to " Leave 
 the room." 
 
 With an expression of indescribable comical stupidity 
 on his bloated but jolly face, and with a drunkard's dis 
 gusting indifference to decency and others' rights, and 
 in his maudlin manner of address, he said, " Don't be 
 alarmed. Don't give up the ship. Fisherman's luck. 
 Never say die. Live and let live. Jersey fish and Jer 
 sey whisky. Them's my sentiments. Open field and 
 fair fight. 'Sa'lt and battery every night. Them's my 
 sentiments." 
 
 While reeling off these disjointed sentences, he man 
 aged to find in one of his pockets a slip of writing-paper, 
 which, with the fumbling clumsiness of an intoxicated 
 man, he finally presented to Doctor Du Bois, accompa 
 nied with a rollicking bit of unasked advice, " Sir, jest 
 you read that President's message." 
 
 Immediately the doctor proceeded to read aloud, so 
 that his assistant detective could hear every word, as fol 
 lows : 
 
 deer doctr do boys jack flemmer \vil han yu this, i no a man in 
 room no. 23 and he is agoin to rob yur hirun box to nite, i no him 
 he alus dus wot he Ses an he is benboreding heare 2 das on a pur- 
 pis i no yu wus again Out to nite an he noed it tu an the deede ho 
 wil du if he Shedds yur blud for lie's mad at u fore sain to mistr 
 rugleston he wus no beter nor a vyllin an i no jack flemmer is rite an 
 no feers fur im i no yur fren wilsun an he nos Me an he wil sa wot 
 i sa is the trooth mi god doctr do boys i hoop yu wil bee spard 
 to du yur doty so no moar at prisint frum yur fren 
 
 nelly makfarland. 
 
 " Nellie MacFarland !" exclaimed the doctor, interro 
 gatively, as soon as he had finished reading the awfully 
 written and worse-spelled letter " Fred, have you posi 
 tive knowledge of any such person ?" 
 
 Young Wilson with the utmost difficulty concealed his
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 227 
 
 embarrassment. His thoughts fled backward some six 
 years to the Globe Hotel in Duane street. It was through 
 Nellie's instrumentality that he, (Wilson,) acting under 
 the motive of fear and the consequent coercion exercised 
 upon him by the tyrant Captain Nelson, effected an en 
 trance into the kind-hearted Doctor Du Bois's sleeping 
 room. He recalled all the circumstances of that resent 
 ful robbery. Sudden mortification and regretful misery 
 for a moment prevented utterance. Apparently taking 
 time to recollect, however, he soon replied, yet rather 
 dreamily and indefinitely, 
 
 " It seems to me that the name is that of a of a 
 kitchen girl who used to work in a in a down-town 
 hotel." 
 
 Turning to the staggering and singing stranger, the 
 doctor asked, " Where can I find the writer of this mes 
 sage ?" 
 
 " Hurrah ! ha, ha, ho, ho ! Come now, that's jolly !" 
 said the drunken and comical visitor ; then he continued, 
 " Thunderbolts ! Some streets away. Trip up the lad 
 ders to mast-head. Four stories from the ground-floor. 
 Back room. Under the sky-light. Broken out. Rain 
 washing in. Sick young woman on the straw. Nellie 
 putting cinders on the fire. Three hungry children. Tea 
 and bread know where it is, sir? know where she lives, 
 now, sir?" 
 
 " Wilson," said the doctor, " shall we call in a police 
 man to arrest this fellow for outrageous trespassing, or 
 shall we heed this warning, and reward this interloper 
 for bringing the note from Nellie's attic ?" 
 
 " One moment, sir," said Wilson promptly. " Retain 
 the fellow till I step down to the desk. The proprietor, 
 or the gentlemanly clerk, will inform me at once who oc 
 cupies room No. 23." 
 
 Noisy groups of men were clamoring in the office on
 
 228 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 political topics. But the energetic and quick walking 
 detective crowded his way up to the hotel register. He 
 rapidly examined the recorded lists of names for three 
 days back, and found that two nights before No. 23 was 
 taken by a man who had clumsily written his name, 
 "John B. Myers, Albany, N. Y." 
 
 Wilson immediately beckoned to the book-keeper, who 
 at once drew quite near, so that, in whisper tones, Fred 
 asked," Is Mr. John Myers, of No. 23, among the crowd of 
 men in this office ?" 
 
 Instantly the clerk's searching eye caught a glimpse 
 of that gentleman. He cautiously pointed him out to 
 Wilson. " Aha !" said he to himself, as his steady black 
 eyes rested on the features of an old member of the secret 
 association " Dick Lindsay, eh ?" 
 
 Next moment the young detective returned to the 
 doctor's office. " All right, sir. Reward this honest 
 intruder, but only on condition that he will let me ac 
 company him to Nell MacFarland's attic." 
 
 " Who's occupying No. 23 ?" asked the doctor. 
 "An old hotel-thief," replied Wilson. "There's no 
 blacker villain, no meaner sneak-robber, out of New- 
 Jersey, than this same Dick Lindsay." 
 
 This unexpected intelligence gave the doctor a disa 
 greeable and mysterious sensation. " Marvelous !" ex 
 claimed he. " Last night a voice came to me in a dream" 
 saying, ' Guard your property and your life.' Already' 
 eh? my midnight dream is a reality! O marvelous 
 world !" 
 
 Then turning to the New-Jersey fisherman, who was 
 beginning to behave somewhat more like the civilized 
 citizens of other states, the physician handed him a small 
 gold coin, and said, " Present my most cordial compli 
 ments to the person who wrote that warning letter. As 
 for yourself, notwithstanding the discourtesy of your
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIMP]. 229 
 
 New-Jersey style of entering other people's premises, 
 here's hoping you will catch as many fish as ever swarm 
 ed into the great net of St. Peter." 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " THE spiritual world 
 Lies all about us, and its avenues 
 Are open to tlie unseen feet of phantoms 
 That come and go, and we perceive them not, 
 Save by their influence, or when at times 
 A most mysterious Providence permits them 
 To manifest themselves to mortal eyes." 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 FEED WILSON found Nellie's dark and squalid attic. 
 He took good care, however, not to enter the apartment. 
 Nellie, now grown to vigorous womanhood, came out 
 side. They conversed in subdued tones on the landing 
 of the stairs. Her warm, impulsive Irish heart overflow 
 ed the moment she heard his voice. Suddenly drawing 
 his face to her with her strong hands, she actually kissed 
 him, first on one cheek and then on the other. Then the 
 tears of joy streamed down her ruddy face, and she sob 
 bed and cried dreadfully. 
 
 " Hush, Nellie," said Wilson, sternly. " Now about 
 to-night's adventure at the Carlton Hotel. What do you 
 know about it ?" 
 
 "Oh ! God be good to us !" she replied, half frightened 
 and still crying. " God help us !" 
 
 " Tell all every thing quick, quick ! Not a moment 
 to lose !" 
 
 And Nellie began : "The poor sick craythur's brother, 
 Jack Flemmer, sur, coom to visit her, and brought a big 
 bag full of fish ; and, sur, as he was walking the streets
 
 230 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 sur, he spied Dick Lindsay the miserable ould vaga 
 bond of a murderer, an ses he to Dick ses he, and where 
 the divil are ye sthaying? And then ses Dick ses he, ' At 
 the Carlton Hotel,' ses he ; then ses Jack ses he, an whin 
 did ye coom, an where do ye slape, an what the divil 
 are ye fishing for ?' An then Dick Lindsay went on walk 
 ing in the streets, saying nothin at all at all." 
 
 " Be quick, Nellie, quick ! How did you find out what 
 Dick was trying to do at the hotel ? " 
 
 " An shure, sur," replied she, "an' don't I do the wash 
 ing and all the mendin' for police-captain Nelson ; an 'did 
 not he say in my own very hearing, (the ould villain !) 
 that the rich ould Frinch doctor at Carlton's would 
 bleed this very night ; an' shui-e, sur, didn't I know that 
 the bloody craythur of sin allus done what he promises? " 
 
 Bidding the Irish Nellie good-night, and leaving a 
 valuable piece of silver in her hand, promising to see 
 her again, and telling her to " keep still, " young Wil 
 son made all possible haste back to the office. 
 
 " Doctor," said he, as soon as he could catch his breath } 
 " Nellie MacFarland has saved your life." 
 
 " What, sir ? " said he, " saved my life ! How ? " 
 
 " She washes and irons and mends for one Captain 
 Nelson, and he carelessly let out to her the secret plot to 
 murder and rob you !" 
 
 "Indeed! Very well. Now how shall we proceed?" 
 
 "This Dick Lindsay,* replied Wilson, " is nothing 
 but a sneak thief. Of himself, he could do no harm to 
 any body. Nelson runs him as a steam-engine turns the 
 shaft and wheels of a boat. If we let him know that he 
 is * spotted,' that '11 be the last of him. Captain Nelson 
 can be checkmated on some other plan." 
 
 " Very well," said the doctor, evidently highly charm 
 ed with the rapid and reasonable suggestions of his 
 assistant. " You will immediately * spot' him, eh ? "
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 231 
 
 Wilson bowed politely and disappeared. He pro 
 ceeded to the office, requested the obliging clerk to ap 
 proach Mr. John Myers, and ask him a moment into the 
 hall leading to the door that opened on Broadway. The 
 young detective also requested the gentlemanly clerk to 
 accompany Myers, and listen to what would pass during 
 a short conversation. Wilson waited calmly, and pres 
 ently the two individuals approached. 
 
 " Mr. John B. Myers," said Wilson sarcastically, and 
 yet authoritatively, " got a trunk in your room, in num 
 ber 23 ? " 
 
 " No, sir," he said, much agitated. 
 
 " Got a carpet-bag, or a sack of any kind ? " 
 
 " What business is that to you ? " asked Myers, sav 
 agely and brusquely. 
 
 Wilson fixed his steady, dilating black eyes upon the 
 villain, then slowly raising his fore-finger, with a signifi 
 cant motion and warning gesture, he said " Hark, sir ! 
 Captain Nelson's murderous plans can't be carried out in 
 this hotel. Now, sir, if you want to keep out of State- 
 prison a few weeks longer, follow my advice: leave 
 this city within two hours ; and mark, Dick Lindsay ! as 
 you value your life, keep away from New- York. Dragon ! 
 I know you." 
 
 At this unexpected mention of his real name the fellow 
 quailed and trembled with deadly fear. And what 
 alarmed him still more was the* secret password " drag 
 on," which for years was used among the " devils," in 
 their subterranean "hell" on Long Island. Wilson's 
 tall, commanding form overshadowed him, and so par 
 alyzed his "will that he could hardly move a muscle. 
 " March ! " said the authoritative voice of the young 
 detective; and on the instant the terrified robber fled 
 out into the fearful blackness of that stormy night. 
 
 Thus was begun the dreaded labor of reaping and de-
 
 232 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 stroying the fruits of the trees of evil. And we hnve the 
 blessed assurance that in all works of this nature the 
 angels of heaven are ever present to cheer, to counsel, 
 to strengthen, to purify, and to save. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " The waves of fiery darkness 'gainst the rocks 
 Of dark damnation broke, and music made 
 Of melancholy sort." Pollok. 
 
 DETECTIVE WILSOX and Doctor Du Bois locked and 
 bolted themselves into their comfortable office. The 
 world was now shut out, and they were safe. Immediately 
 they commenced a conference concerning the existence of 
 social destructive elements and secret criminal organiza 
 tions. The philosophical physician very naturally wished 
 to sound the young man on these topics ; and, if necessary, 
 he meant to endeavor to convert him to principles of jus 
 tice, virtue, righteousness, and loving-kindness. 
 
 " Fred," began the doctor, in a social and confidential 
 voice, " what is the cause, think you, of so many bur 
 glaries and inexplicable murders in New- York ?" 
 
 " Because," said Freelf " there are organized bands of 
 burglars and assassins in the very heart of this city." 
 
 " Why do you think so, my young man ?" 
 
 " Don't think any thing about it, sir ; I know it." 
 
 " Know it !" echoed the doctor in an undertone of sur 
 prise. " How came you to know it, Fred ?" 
 
 The question startled and uncontrollably excited Wil 
 son's nerves for a moment. But with firmness and 
 such assurance, he replied, " Robbers, counterfeiters,
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 233 
 
 and assassins, sir, can't carry their tools and concealed 
 weapons, and commit their boldest crimes upon peace 
 ful and law-abiding citizens, and then get away from 
 the police, and keep out of way of all authorities, unless 
 they train each other and associate themselves together, 
 and thus form bands for mutual aid and protection." 
 
 " Ah, very well," said the doctor. " But, Fred," he 
 continued, " what is the cause of such men forming them 
 selves into companies antagonistic to the lives and pro 
 perty of good men ? " 
 
 " Humph," grumbled Fred, " such men justify them 
 selves." 
 
 " What do I hear ?" Hurriedly asked the doctor 
 " What do you say, Fred that thieves, ruffians, rob 
 bers, murderers, and lawless characters generally, jus 
 tify themselves in the commission of their cowardly and 
 bloody deeds ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Fred firmly " they do ! And 
 this way they do it : The chieftain makes a speech be 
 fore his crew of stinking devils, and says, ' A king, when 
 he wants more kingdom, raises an army of murderers 
 and marches them into a peaceable country. He don't 
 skulk about with his men and keep shady till after mid 
 night, as we poor devils are obliged to do, and why ? 
 Because his men outmember ours at least an hundred 
 thousand to one of us. Now, devils ! we want not land 
 but money and jewelry. We Organize to do what th e 
 great kings do under a like motive. But we are weak 
 in numbers, and must do our work in the dark. We 
 kill only one or two to get property, while the powerful 
 kings kill thousand " 
 
 " Fred !" exclaimed the doctor vehemently " Fred," 
 you astound me. Great God ! Do robbers and assas 
 sins justify themselves ?" 
 
 " Certainly,, doctor," replied the detective ; " and this
 
 234 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 is how they do it. The captain makes a speech to his 
 devils, and says : ' A New- York merchant has a moun 
 tain of money. He didn't honestly make that mountain. 
 He tricked it all out of the pockets of folks who trade 
 in his store. We devils want a mountain of our own. 
 But we an't mean. So we won't trick the poor folks, as 
 the bankers and the tradesmen do, every how, but we'll 
 keep a sharp lookout and trick the old big-bellied cove 
 what owns the mountain." 
 
 Astonishment seemed to overwhelm Doctor Du 
 Bois. The young detective's revelations of a robber's 
 theory of justification surpassed any thing he had ever 
 heard. Upon those topics, however, he resolved to start 
 no new questions at present, but asked : " These cha 
 racters must be known to the police. Now, Fred, why 
 are they not caught and brought to justice ?" 
 
 " Oh ! that is easily answered, sir," said Wilson. " The 
 fact is, sir, there exists an official or a political conflict 
 between the judges and the policemen, and the organized 
 criminals know all about it." 
 
 " What conflict do you refer to ?" the doctor inquired. 
 
 " The Judges, sir, belong to one party, and the Police 
 to another; between the two, all crimes in the city are 
 committed, and the head-devils are permitted to escape 
 arrest." 
 
 " A serious charge, Fred a very serious charge in 
 deed," said the doctor. " What further can you state 
 about it ?" 
 
 Detective Wilson answered : " A policeman, sir, does 
 not want to make an enemy for his political party; 
 neither does he wish to make an enemy for himself per 
 sonally. A great city like New- York, sir, is governed 
 by men who obtain their offices by the votes of hosts of 
 ignorant citizens and criminal characters. A Judge 
 often gains political power by siding with and discharg-
 
 HEAPING THE FEUITS OF CRIME. 235 
 
 ing from custody the characters who helped to elect him 
 the ignorant citizens and the robbers and assassins ; 
 while the Police force on the other hand, by which the 
 ruffians were arrested and brought before the courts, has 
 made for itself, and also for the policemen individually, 
 as many dangerous and formidable enemies. So long, 
 sir, as there shall exist this political antagonism between 
 the Judiciary and the Police, so long will thieves and 
 assassins flourish in this great city and continue to escape 
 punishment." 
 
 A protracted pause ensued. The first to break the si 
 lence was Doctor Du Bois : " Fred, do youknow Captain 
 Nelson ?" 
 
 Wilson involuntarily trembled from head to foot. He 
 qiiickly covered his face with his hand to conceal the 
 sudden paleness of his features. Then, in a tremulous, 
 half-petulant voice, he replied " Perhaps I do, sir." 
 
 This remarkable manifestation of nervous excitement 
 in the young man did not escape the observant, practiced 
 eye of the physician. Appearing, however, not to have 
 perceived the agitation, he asked " Do you regard him 
 as an honest and efficient member of the detective ser 
 vice ?" 
 
 " Sir," hurriedly and fiercely said "Wilson, with a per 
 fect torrent of indignation " Sir, Nelson should have 
 his arms tied behind his back and be forced to walk 
 the plank. An executioner should fasten a cord of 
 strong hemp around his cursed neck. Then, sir, without 
 the prayers of a father confessor, he should be compelled 
 to weigh anchor and sail straight to hell." 
 
 " A terrible fate ! " said the doctor, with a tone of 
 
 disapprobation and commiseration. "Fred," he added, 
 
 " a bloody reign will begin when you become supreme 
 
 judge!" 
 
 Wilson mui'mured angrily between his teeth, but
 
 236 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 made no reply. He seemed lost in thought, and ab 
 stractedly drew a long-bladed knife from his pocket. 
 While so absorbed, he quietly wiped the bright steel 
 blade carefully on the corner of his red bandanna hand 
 kerchief, sharpened it a little on his boot, then sudden 
 ly but still abstractedly shut the formidable weapon, 
 and returned it to its own place. All the time, seemiugly, 
 he was lost sadly, angrily, tumultuously lost in the 
 dark recesses of painful retrospective thought. 
 
 " Fred," interrupted the doctor, taking from his pock 
 et a bright button attached to a piece of woolen cloth, 
 which had evidently been torn in haste from a coat or 
 sailor's jacket, and extending it toward the young de 
 tective "Fred, that was found near the murdered body 
 of Miss Bridgston, some three years ago. A poor sail 
 or, named McRiggy, was tried, convicted, and hung for 
 the murder. In my opinion, Fred, Captain Nelson 
 knows more about that terrible deed than any other liv 
 ing man. You may take this little piece of evidence, 
 and see if you can link it into the clothes of that remark 
 able policeman. Take your own time, and your own 
 method, Fred; and remember this: Do nothing that 
 will publicly compromise, or in any degree involve in 
 unnecessary trouble either yourself or me." 
 
 Wilson's black eyes dilated and glowed and glittered, 
 and actually seemed to dance with a Wild, savage, tri 
 umphant delight. He, however, politely took from the 
 physician's hand the button and cloth; put the little 
 "job" carefully away in the side-pocket of his vest, 
 silently bowed, and pleasantly smiled his glad accept 
 ance of the important mission.
 
 REAPING >HE FRUITS 'OF CRIME. 237 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Oh ! welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, 
 Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings, 
 And thou unblemished form of Chastity !" Champion. 
 
 Miss PHCEBE MILTON, who, as the reader remembers, is 
 Lawyer Ruggleston's wife's unmarried sister, at last 
 made up her mind to act upon the suggestion of the dis 
 tinguished French physician ; who is now vigorously 
 operating as a self-appointed and self-salaried New- York 
 detective, in the cause of justice and the science of hu 
 man impi-ovement. The reader can not but sympathize 
 with the feelings of delicacy and reluctance which for 
 weeks kept Mrs. Ruggleston's sister from the desired 
 investigation. 
 
 At length, however, a letter was carefully prepared 
 and written by Miss Milton, purporting to be an appli 
 cation for ti'eatment from a Miss Laura Brookfield, of 
 Baltimore., Md, and addressed to "Madam La Stelle, 
 
 No. , street, New- York." Although several 
 
 weeks before the time specified for confinement, yet 
 Miss Brookfield said in her letter that she wished to make 
 all suitable preparations as early and as secretly as pos 
 sible ; wanted to engage a first-class room in Madam's 
 renowned establishment, and begged the privilege of 
 having one or more female servants at her command, if 
 necessary. The amount of compensation demanded was 
 of no moment, as her means were ample. 
 
 Madam La Stelle's reply was prompt and satisfactory. 
 A room was immediately made ready for Miss Brook- 
 field, and she was informed that she might enter the es-
 
 238 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 tablishment as a boarder and prospective patient at once, 
 if she so wished. 
 
 One evening, therefore, soon after this correspondence, 
 the Baltimore patient arrived. She paid the coachman, 
 in the presence of the lady doctress, for her ride from the 
 wharf. A small black trunk was deposited in the hall, 
 as Miss Brookfield's only piece of baggage, and then 
 the coachman disappeared. 
 
 All these little devices, taken in connection with the 
 correspondence which was invariably mailed from Balti 
 more, completely covered up the fact that the patient 
 was a citizen of New- York. 
 
 "Miss Brookfield's baggage is limited," said the 
 shrewd, quick-sighted, prompt, and business-like doc- 
 tress. 
 
 The reader will recall Lawyer Ruggleston's brief de 
 scription of Miss Milton's mental characteristics and 
 large societai-y experience. She was naturally a public- 
 spirited and very capable woman. Promptly and 
 cordially, therefore, and without the least show of em 
 barrassment, she replied : 
 
 "True, madam, but as I have friends in this city, 
 with whom I shall spend most of my time during my 
 stay with you, my wardrobe can at any time be replen 
 ished sufficiently to meet all my necessities." 
 
 Miss Milton occupied herself, reading and sewing in 
 her very pleasant room, during three successive days. 
 She had her meals brought to her, was careful not to 
 attract observation ; and kept herself, as far as practi 
 cable, isolated and unknown. On the evening of the 
 third day, Madam La Stelle called for the first time 
 upon her Baltimore patient. As soon as she had seated 
 herself for a conversation, Miss Milton immediately al 
 luded to the financial question, and begged to be permit 
 ted to advance one hundred dollars on account of board
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 239 
 
 and prospective treatment. This entirely novel and 
 original proposition so astonished and overdelighted 
 the susceptible madam, that she had not a particle of 
 strength wherewith to decline the acceptance of so large 
 a sum. She became suddenly warm-hearted, and was 
 inclined to take a very deep interest in her Baltimore 
 patient. 
 
 " Many fine ladies who come to me for treatment," she 
 said, " appear feeble and anxious. But, Miss Brookfield," 
 she added, smiling admiringly, " you look young and as 
 fresh as a maiden." 
 
 Miss Phoebe Milton's intuitive knowledge of character 
 helped her to see through this flattering compliment. 
 But her purpose was to lead the celebrated abortionist 
 into pleasant confidences concerning the causes which 
 led her to adopt a profession so fearfully at variance 
 with all the sacred ties of nature. Therefore, she mod 
 estly drooped her head, and made an effort to, blush. 
 Then she sighed pathetically, and said, 
 
 " Ah, madam ! I fear that I am but a poor remnant 
 of beauty. I have seen much trouble in my time." 
 
 Madam La Stelle, not stopping to notice that there is 
 a world-wide difference between seeing trouble and ex 
 periencing trouble, said sympathizingly, but energetical 
 ly, " Been led, undoubtedly, into your trouble by some 
 heartless villain ?" 
 
 Miss Milton sighed heavily, and hid her face in her 
 handkerchief. Thus she concealed her real confusion. 
 
 Madam's heart was really touched with affectionate 
 sympathy. " Better get rid of your trouble at once," 
 said she kindly; "then, dear, you will be as free as the 
 villain who misled you." 
 
 Miss Milton inwardly thanked God that the very heart 
 of the object of her delicate mission was thus so soon 
 reached, and so agreeably unfolded by the renowned
 
 240 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 abortionist herself. Aud yet she trembled with veritable 
 anxiety, lest the thread of the discourse would be by 
 some mishap broken, or hopelessly interrupted. How 
 to feed the fire of confidental conversation without ap 
 pearing to, and how also to elicit answers to the essential 
 questions, without appearing to ask those questions, ex. 
 ceedingly puzzled even Miss Milton's cultivated and 
 quick-sighted intellect. 
 
 Again she undertook to blush. After considerable 
 hesitation, she lowered her voice almost to a whisper, 
 and asked, " Madam, pray tell me how am I to get rid 
 of my trouble ?" 
 
 " When's your time for confinement ?" she inquired. 
 
 The patient signified that perhaps four months hence. 
 " Oh ! then," said the doctress, " as your health is sound, 
 take my treatment immediately, and thus without risk 
 make yourself free." 
 
 "Oh I no, no!" exclaimed the 'patient, agonizingly. 
 " Nature must not be balked. It is dreadfully wrong, 
 madam ; it must be very, very wicked." 
 
 " Pshaw !" said she disdainfully, " what matchless sim 
 pletons we women are !" 
 
 "O dear Madam La Stelle," nervously replied Miss 
 Milton, "pray don't be angry with me. I am dread 
 fully alarmed." 
 
 " No, dear, not for the world would I be angry with 
 yon," said she. " But w r omen do so dreadfully try my 
 patience." 
 
 " In what respect, madam ?" she timidly asked. 
 
 " Because they so easily go astray, and so frequently 
 get themselves into trouble ; and then they have so 
 many dreadful qualms of conscience are so feeble 
 minded and so self-reproachful that the graceless 
 profligates make all sorts of fun of them and well they 
 may !"
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 241 
 
 "Do you give such treatment to all who come into 
 yonr establishment ?" 
 
 " Oh ! no, dear," she quickly replied. " Patients take 
 their choice. Some choose 'Still and Lost,' others 
 ' Live and Found.' And my treatment and charges cor 
 respond. But if girls and married women take my 
 advice they wouldn't have a child until they really and 
 sincerely wished for one." 
 
 " Why, madam !" exclaimed Miss Milton with a 
 genuine and moral surprise, " do you really and truly 
 justify abortion and infanticide?" 
 
 " I wouldn't be a single hour in this establishment if I 
 didn't," she rejoined with hard and bitter emphasis. 
 
 " Merciful heavens !" said the inquisitive patient. 
 " Pray, madam, tell me why are you in this disreputa 
 ble business ?" (She was about to add other words, such 
 as " atrocious," "scandalous," " criminal," and " satanic," 
 but her discretion saved her from offending the plain- 
 spoken doctress.) 
 
 " Many years ago, dear Miss Brookfield," began the 
 abortionist, " my drunken and brutal husband forced me 
 to have children. Under the rapes of that drunken villain 
 I say ' rapes,' dear, because I hold that all intercourse 
 between the sexes when not mutual, whether in or out 
 of marriage, are rapes and adulteries and nothing else. 
 Well, dear, those rapes compelled me to bring into the 
 Avorld three feeble, deformed, and half imbecile chil 
 dren." 
 
 " God gives and God takes away," suggested Miss . 
 Milton ; which, in fact, was her genuine sentiment, for 
 she was a through-going member of the Orthodox Church. 
 
 " Oh pshaw !" irreverently said madam, " what 
 egregious nonsense ! Oh, women are so dreadfully silly ! 
 As if God sent miserable children to me through the 
 11
 
 242 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 rapes of a drunken beast of a husband ! Pshaw ! what 
 lamb-like, silly nonsense !" 
 
 " O madam ! your expressions frighten me awfully," 
 said Miss Milton. 
 
 "O pshaw!" she replied impatiently, "just hear me 
 through." 
 
 The amiable patient assured her that she would listen. 
 Whereupon madam continued : 
 
 " One day my mind was made up. My position in 
 society was unexceptionable. I said, ' I don't want to 
 lose caste, or impoverish myself, by leaving my hus 
 band.' He held the abundant purse, and was in all 
 things my master. Then, as the next thing, I resolved 
 to keep my trouble to myself, appear cheerful and agree 
 able in society, but rid myself of every thing that re 
 sulted from the sensuality of my hated legal lord." 
 
 " Did you keep your resolution ?" asked the attentive 
 Miss Milton. 
 
 " Oh ! yes, indeed !" she quickly replied. " And what's 
 more, I helped other ladies of my acquaintance to free 
 themselves from like incumbrances. When my hus 
 band died, and our property was all sold to pay his 
 debts of intemperance and for years of beastly debauch 
 eries, my mind was made up again." 
 
 " What did you do ?" anxiously asked the patient. 
 
 " This grand establishment is my answer." And im 
 mediately she added, " My doctrine is that girls should 
 be as free as the villains who betray them. And what is 
 more, dear, I don't believe it is any more right for a 
 woman to have an unwelcome child than it is for a man 
 to force one upon her. And I mean to do my best, if the 
 dear unfortunates will only pay me roundly for the 
 risk I am continually taking of being convicted and sent 
 to the penitentiary for life do my best to create more 
 equality between men and women in the sexual relation."
 
 EEAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 243 
 
 "Madam LaStelle!" said Miss Milton, "your senti 
 ments positively shock me." 
 
 " O pshaw !" she murmured with a contemptuous em 
 phasis. " Women are such silly things ! Let them 
 suffer as much as I have. Suffering will open their 
 eyes, and it is to be hoped that they then will see two 
 inches beyond their silly notions." 
 
 "Don't you love children?" asked the patient. "I 
 don't understand how you can possibly find the heart to 
 prevent one from being born." 
 
 " Do I love children ! " exclaimed she. " Of course I 
 do or, rather, perhaps I should say that I used to ! 
 But since the death of those three miserable idiotic imps 
 and images of a drunken brute, I see nothing in child 
 ren to love ; that is, I mean nothing in such young ones 
 as come in opposition to all the best feelings and contra 
 ry to all the prayers of the mother." 
 
 "But, madam," asked Miss Milton, " is it not im 
 possible for a true and virtuous woman to wish to destroy 
 her unborn child ?" 
 
 "Impossible?" she retm*ned with sharp emphasis. 
 " O pshaw ! how preposterous ! What consummate 
 sentimental simpletons all inexperienced young ladies 
 are ! Why, dear Miss Brookfield, if you had ever 
 had any real trouble of this nature, you wouldn't ask me 
 a question so everlastingly foolish !" 
 
 "Perhaps not!" said Miss Milton, with a successful 
 show of being highly offended. 
 
 Suddenly a house-servant tapped at the door and 
 called for madam. She arose, with calmness and dig 
 nity, patted the pretended patient kindly on the cheek, 
 and went directly out; thus leaving the half over 
 whelmed lady-detective to her own cherished feelings 
 and reflections. 
 
 Very early next morning she hurriedly packed her
 
 244 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 trunks, ordered a carriage, and without waiting to see 
 madam, hastened like an affrighted bird to the resi 
 dence of Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "Mv will fulfilled shall be, 
 
 For, in daylight or in dark, 
 My thunderbolt has eyes to see 
 
 His way home to the mark." Emerson. 
 
 WE return to Doctor Du Bois and his agreeable detec 
 tive, Fred Wilson. 
 
 It was long past the midnight hour when they sepa 
 rated to gain some rest and sleep. Wilson's bed was 
 situated in an appropriate recess at the farther end of 
 the office. The doctor's sleeping apartment was in an 
 adjoining room connected with the office by a door ; so 
 that each had quite an easy access to the other's room 
 without first going into the outer hall, which is customary 
 in most" hotels where a large number of single bedrooms 
 are in constant demand. 
 
 The physician's mind was, however, too excited for 
 sleep. His thoughts busied themselves in reviewing the 
 unexpected occurrences of the night. He reflected and 
 speculated upon the probable prolongation of his life in 
 consequence of the notes of warning brought by that 
 drunken Jersey fisherman from Shark river. With 
 amazing rapidity his thoughts traversed the sphere of 
 departed and existing circumstances by which all the 
 curious and exciting events had been made both possible 
 and actual. By regular degrees of reflection he arrived 
 at recollections of the strange mood and surprising acts 
 of his assistant detective when the name of Captain Xel-
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 245 
 
 son was mentioned. The doctor did not altogether like 
 young Wilson's uncontrollable and dangerous symptoms 
 of murderous excitement. 
 
 " What !" said the doctor to himself, " can it be possi 
 ble that this young sailor has in his feelings some ani 
 mosity toward Captain Nelson ?" 
 
 Suddenly the sound of stealthy footfalls reached his 
 ear. They came from the office, and from feet not clad 
 with anything heavier than stockings. He listened 
 breathlessly, and waited long for a repetition of the start 
 ling sounds. All was still as a graveyard. For at that 
 early morning hour even the inmates of a New- York 
 hotel are lost in the semi-death trance of profound slum 
 ber. The shadowy suggestions of a supernatural exis 
 tence, at such an hour, frequently mingle with the 
 dreams of the peaceful sleepers. 
 
 Again the sound of rapidly moving feet in the office. 
 Instantly the doctor imagined the possibility that, not 
 withstanding their precautions of bolting and firmly 
 locking the door, the burglar and would-be-murderer 
 might be at that very moment committing his nefarious 
 depredations. But this supposition the doctor immedi 
 ately and willfully banished from his thoughts. It was 
 particularly absurd, because the ceaseless vigilance of 
 young Wilson's lightning-quick black eyes would detect 
 the presence of the robber and assassin. To the doctor 
 the eyes of his assistant never seemed to sleep. But a 
 more frightful imagination instantly succeeded and 
 eclipsed the other, and started a new train of the most 
 fearful reflections. 
 
 " Who is this strange, nervous, melancholy young 
 sailor this Fred Wilson?" the physician asked himself. 
 " Have I not relied too confidently and implicitly on my 
 own judgment of human character?" Rapidly he re 
 viewed all the peculiar circumstances and confidential
 
 216 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 conversations which had brought them so intimately to 
 gether. Then the doctor recalled, with blood-chilling 
 minuteness, the knife-sharpening process, and instantly 
 connected the act with all the other subsequent "attitudes 
 and menacing gesticulations of young Wilson ; and 
 then he thought " What if Fred, who seems to know so 
 much about the personal habits and mental justifications 
 of criminals, is himself an assassin and a robber in dis 
 guise !" 
 
 With this terrible and not wholly irrational imagina 
 tion operating as a motive for prompt action, Doctor Du 
 Bois hastily prepared himself, lit his private metallic 
 night-lamp, and cautiously opened the office-door and 
 entered. 
 
 No other light, no other person, was anywhere visi 
 ble ; and no sound, save the heavy breathing of young 
 Wilson. To his experienced medical ear, however, that 
 breathing was decidedly unnatural. 
 
 Noiselessly the physician approached the bed and 
 turned his light full upon the young man's countenance. 
 It presented a remarkably fine and yet startling appear 
 ance. His features were fixed and pale as death. His 
 black, curly, and abundant hair was accidentally dis 
 posed in beautiful and graceful clusters on the snow- 
 white pillow, and his wavy beard looked like the mane 
 of the majestic lion as it rested upon his heavily-laboring 
 bosom. 
 
 Why did the p hysician uddenly exclaim " My God " ? 
 Because the young man was apparently on the verge of 
 apoplexy ? No ! Because of the beauty and majesty of 
 the sleeping detective ? No ! Why, then, did he repeat, 
 " My God," and ask aloud, " can it be possible "? Here 
 is the answer : Because, with the swiftness of the photo 
 graphic impression, the physician's eye saw in the pros 
 trate form and lovely pale face before him a wonderful
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 247 
 
 likeness. On the wings of r the spirit-lightning * his 
 thoughts flew back to his patient of years ago the 
 image of that divinity which had so long lived in his 
 faithful heart and swayed his destiny the adorable 
 Sophia del Aragoni of New-Orleans ! 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " STRANGE World, with its pliantasmic show ; 
 
 Deceitful in its beams ; 
 A world of happiness and woe, 
 Reality and dreams." Tuttle. 
 
 THE young man's unnatural and helpless physical con 
 dition demanded immediate medical attention. Doctor 
 Du Bbis, therefore, diagnosticated the symptoms and 
 found them to be those of catalepsia ; which, according 
 to the medical authorities, consists of a total suspension 
 of sensibility and voluntary motion, and generally, also of 
 mental power ; the pulsation of the heart and the breath 
 ing continuing, the muscles remaining flexible, the body 
 yielding to and retaining any given position, in which 
 respect it differs chiefly from ecstasy. This condition 
 sometimes lasts from a few hours to several days. 
 
 But while examining the patient, and moving his hands 
 and limbs about in order to restore normal circulation, the 
 doctor observed a rapid change or rather transfer of 
 symptoms. According to the physiologists, Wilson's 
 state would now be denominated ecstasy ; which, it is 
 said, also consists of a total suspension of sensibility and 
 voluntary motion, and mostly of mental power ; while 
 the muscles are rigid, the body erect and inflexible ; the 
 pulsation of the heart is felt, and the breathing not 
 affected. The exciting cause of this disease is generally
 
 248 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 supposed to be some mental affection. It differs from 
 catalepsy and trance in the inflexible and rigid state of the 
 muscles, and the obvious continuance of the breathing 
 and the heart's action. 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding the unmistakable presence 
 of cataleptic and ecstatical symptoms, the magnetically- 
 minded physician decided that young Wilson's state of 
 unconsciousness was perfectly normal. His philosophy 
 was this : that the condition of trance is simply a natural 
 state to the soul, intellect, or spirit a waking life to the 
 mind's finer senses when the external avenues of sen 
 sation are closed, and when the spiritual feelings are 
 measurably emancipated from their customary corporeal 
 imprisonment. 
 
 The doctor instantly recalled analogous cases he had 
 met in his extensive readings. In the eighth volume of 
 
 o o 
 
 the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 
 he had read the case of Mary Lyall, who slept a contin 
 uous slumber of nearly six weeks, and yet who, on being 
 fully restored to her ordinary consciousness, believed 
 and declared that her sleep had been not longer than one 
 night in duration. 
 
 " Strange mind !" said the doctor to himself, contem 
 platively : " what priceless prescience in thy intuitions ! 
 How quickly before thee does all earth fade away, and 
 how soon it ceases to feed and inflame thy desires and 
 passions ! How the shadows of impending events flit 
 across thy sleepless vision. Immediately thou enterest 
 the penetralia of truth. Future occurrences mingle 
 freely with thy present consciousness; and these percep 
 tions excite not the least anxiety or surprise in thee ; 
 because time and space vanish like errors in th y God 
 like omnipresence. Strange sleep ! which rolls the re 
 straining earth away from spirit into space, and brings
 
 EE APING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 249 
 
 
 
 hope and happiness and thoughts teeming with wisdom 
 from realms of immortality." 
 
 These metaphysical thoughts, and fine feelings far too 
 sacred for expression, occupied the physician's mind; 
 while, with his hands, he continued to magnetically treat 
 the unconscious Fred Wilson. The rigid symptoms 
 soon yielded and gradually vanished^and a state of com 
 fortable muscular flexibility was restored. Pulsations 
 and respirations resumed natural conditions. The ex 
 pression of the countenance indicated a return of ordi 
 nary sensibility. 
 
 " My dear young man," said the doctor, with heartfelt 
 sympathy in his deep, sweet voice, " can you answer me 
 a few questions ?" 
 
 For a time the young detective gave no sign of men 
 tal consciousness. 
 
 Still, however, the magnetic hands moved with in 
 creasing power through the air over the patient, and 
 again the question, " Wilson ! can you hear my voice ?" 
 
 Only a shudder and a long-drawn sigh in response. 
 
 " Come, Fred !" said the doctor, with some sound of 
 authority in his voice " Do you realize where you are ?" 
 
 Silence for a few moments. Then groans and moans 
 escaped his parted lips, which looked pale and incapable 
 of speech. Suddenly the patient relapsed, and the symp 
 toms of catalepsia again supervened. The doctor then 
 administered a homeopathic remedy, and for a time left 
 him to his seemingly painless and tranquil condition. 
 
 Having dressed and prepared himself for breakfast 
 for the day had long since dawned Doctor Du Bois 
 went to his desk to write a note to his friend Lawyer 
 Ruggleston. Immediately he noticed a sheet of paper on 
 which some one had recently written these words 
 
 " Save my son from crime ! lie is now in your 
 power!" n*
 
 250 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Over and over again the conscientious physician read 
 this remarkable request and this incomprehensible an 
 nouncement. 
 
 "Who is the unknown father of this unknown son, 
 whom some person is implored to save ?" The intelli 
 gent medical gentleman was completely baffled. " It 
 seems like fiction," he continued. " Am I the person 
 referred to in this mysterious communication ? and if so, 
 who are they whom I am thus mysteriously called to 
 serve ?" 
 
 He hurriedly penned a line begging a call from Mr. 
 Ruggleton, and forthwith dispatched one of the hotel 
 errand boys to the lawyer's office. Then, after first 
 satisfying himself that the young man was entirely com 
 fortable, although in a complete cataleptic trance, the 
 doctor went to his breakfast. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " WHEN I was a boy, it was all my joy 
 
 To rest in scented shade, 
 When the sun was high, and the river nigh, 
 
 A musical murmur made." Cornwall. 
 
 THREE days and three nights Wilson had remained 
 mentally unconscious. Faithfully the doctor watched and 
 waited upon his patient. On the morning of the fourth 
 day, however, the symptoms rapidly disappeared, and 
 young Wilson was thus fully returned to his customary 
 state, with the exception of a weary weakness which 
 seemed to pervade his entire body. He had no memory of 
 any thing that had happened, and could form no concep 
 tion of the lapse of time. His appetite soon revived, and 
 in the course of the day he ate and drank nourishing pre-
 
 EE APING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 251 
 
 parations, and by evening was sufficiently invigorated 
 to walk about the hotel. 
 
 Next morning, soon after breakfast, a well-dressed 
 gentleman arrived. He immediately sent his card up to 
 Doctor Du Bois. On being admitted to the office, he 
 presented a note of introduction, which read thus : 
 
 LAW OFFICES OF MESSRS. RUGGLESTON, STRYKER & SYRDAH, 
 2fo. 29 Wall Street, New-York, 
 December^, 1839. 
 
 SIR : The bearer of, this, the Rev. Silas B. Richardson, D.D., 
 whom we do not personally know, but who is most favorably com 
 mended to us by one of our New-York clients, seeks an interview 
 with you relative to the peculiar nature and extent of your investi 
 gations, in which he avows himself very profoundly interested. 
 
 Hoping the acquaintance will prove mutually agreeable and 
 beneficial, we subscribe ourselves, with assurances of great esteem, 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 RUGGLESTON, STRYKER & SYRDAM. 
 To 
 
 DOCTOR LA FORCE Du Bois, 
 Carlton Hotel, N. Y. 
 
 CHAPTER Till 
 
 " THE quality of mercy is not strained ; 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath ; it is twice blessed ; 
 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 
 
 SMkespeare. 
 
 THE Reverend Dr. Silas B-. Richardson was a middle- 
 sized, well-proportioned man, apparently forty-five years 
 of age, with the bluff address of an old-fashioned rough 
 and ready country parson. His head was large and 
 fairly developed, especially large at the base, and sloped 
 rapidly toward a bony bridge at the top, which was re 
 spectably bald ; while a mass of thick, coarse, grizzly-
 
 252 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 gray hair gave his brain-piece the general character of 
 of a man of sturdy common sense, but quite deficient in 
 literary cultivation. The general expression of his 
 countenance, however, was far less promising ; there 
 was in his light watery blue eyes and about his heavy- 
 lipped mouth a look of shrewdness, hypocrisy, sensual 
 ity, and treachery. 
 
 "Monsieur," the doctor began politely, "you come to 
 speak of poor people and the criminals of New- York, 
 eh?" 
 
 " Hav-in a little tay-em to giv-e," said the drawling- 
 voiced visitor, " I beg-ged an intro-duction for this pur 
 pose. Like th' de-vine Lee-der and Mas-ter, I'm told you 
 go a-bout doo-in good." 
 
 " By way of penny charity and trifling alms-giving," 
 replied the doctor smartly, " my services to the poor of 
 New- York are of no account." 
 
 The peering and object-hunting eyes, and the uncer 
 tain expression in the features of Mr. Richardson, afflicted 
 the observing doctor with an indescribable feeling of 
 uneasiness. The feeling made him reserved and cau 
 tious. He was greatly relieved when young Wilson 
 paler than usual, trembling with weakness entered the 
 office. After the slight ceremony of introduction 
 which seemed immensely to interest the hunting eyes of 
 the clergyman the sick and sad-looking detective walk 
 ed feebly away and dropped wearily down upon his bed. 
 
 "A you-ng friend of yours ?" asked the reverend gen 
 tleman, at the same time critically eyeing and measur 
 ing "Wilson from head to foot. 
 
 A polite bow, and an affirmative gesture Avith his hand, 
 was the doctor's only reply. 
 
 " Al-mayghty Goud in hay-s many-fold marcies," said 
 the visitor, " giv-s to hay-s peeple the poo-r as a purr- 
 pete-ual leg-gay-see."
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 253 
 
 Suddenly the feeble and pale young Wilson sprang 
 from his prostrate position. A terrible destructive fire 
 blazed and flashed in his steady black eyes. He ad 
 vanced rapidly, but with a firm step, looking as invin 
 cible and determined as a powerful giant. 
 
 " Dragon of hell !" he said savagely, at the same in 
 stant grappling the reverend Silas B. Richardson by the 
 collar and throwing him headlong upon the floor. " Lie 
 there ! you hypocritical villain." 
 
 The doctor interposed immediately in behalf of the 
 groaning and pleading visitor. "Fred," said he, "your 
 mind wanders, I fear ; a delirium is still possessing your 
 brain." 
 
 " God knows !" exclaimed the young detective ; " I 
 have struck down a thief, a spy, and a forger." 
 
 Richardson stoutly and vehemently contradicted and 
 positively denied every thing; and yet he looked at 
 Wilson and begged and groaned and plead for his life. 
 
 " Doctor !" said Wilson with Commanding energy, 
 " this man must be instantly arrested. Please, sir, at 
 once call an officer." 
 
 A hotel servant was immediately called and dispatched 
 for two or more policemen. 
 
 Richardson jumped immediately upon his feet and 
 made a rushing spring for the door. His countenance 
 was wonderfully changed from a smooth-shaved and 
 grave-faced clergyman to that of a corrupt and withered 
 agent of evil. Wilson caught him by the shoulder 
 when he had reached the door and suddenly hurled him 
 with terrible violence against the floor. He seemed 
 like a mere helpless child in the giant grasp of the pale- 
 faced detective. 
 
 " A dragon's life," said Wilson to the doctor, with a 
 revengeful sternness, " is not worth all this trouble."
 
 254: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " All life is sacred," replied the doctor, in a decided 
 tone of expostulation and admonition. 
 
 A look of inexpressible contempt and abhorrence 
 shone out from every part of Wilson's face. His eyes 
 flashed angrily, and his whole body trembled and quiv 
 ered with a wild fury. But he stood still, and made no 
 answer to the physician's philanthropic remarks. 
 
 The sound of footsteps on the stairs and a smart rap at 
 the door. Three officers of the police entered. 
 
 In the meantime Richardson had arisen, and was 
 looking about for an avenue of escape. He began to 
 move toward the door of the doctor's sleeping apartment, 
 but was closely followed by the vigilant and invincible 
 young man. 
 
 At that moment Fred "Wilson presented to the be 
 holder's eye" a perfect picture of personal beauty and 
 kingly majesty ; but alas ! a picture, also, of a youth 
 whose heart and ardent nature were strangers to the 
 sunshine and tenderness of pure affection. He seemed 
 to be heartless and merciless and in reality he was 
 exactly what he seemed to be : and why ? Because, 
 from his very beginning, the poor boy had been homeless 
 and motherless. But the generative powers and enkind 
 ling essences of his ancestors and immediate progenitors 
 had attained in him both oi'ganization and expression. 
 He was free from concealment and hypocrisy, but passion 
 ate, rash, impetuous, retaliatory, cruel, and revengeful ; 
 and yet, notwithstanding the percussive violence of his in 
 herited temperament, young Wilson had honor, truthful 
 ness, industry, sentiment, enthusiasm, and an indescriba 
 ble love of sweet and tender strains of music. What a 
 picture ! Behold him standing guard over the cowed 
 and terrified Richardson close by the doctor's bedroom 
 door. You see a tall, gentlemanly, commanding figure
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 255 
 
 a profusion of black curly hair, black glossy whiskers, 
 curling long moustache, harmonious features, steady and 
 fiery black eyes, and a pale face, at once expressive of 
 energy and hopelessness, of true womanly sentiment and 
 merciless cruelty. You behold in him an embodiment and 
 illustration of parental characteristics, combined with the 
 moulding eifects of circumstances in the development of 
 individual organization and career. He is, like an ex 
 plosive chemical compound, at once safe and dangerous. 
 Every thing depends upon the skill, the patience, and the 
 judgment of those who have the management of such 
 fearful agents of either immense good or immense evil. 
 
 When the policemen entered, Doctor Du Bois politely 
 addressed them and said, pointing to Richardson, " Ai ! - 
 rest that man." 
 
 All three oflicers suddenly and simultaneously exclaim 
 ed, " At last !" They actually committed the indiscretion 
 of clapping their official hands with irresistible emotions 
 of triumphant satisfaction. 
 
 " At last !" Yes, and so it will forever be with evil 
 doers and criminals. They sow to the wind and reap the 
 whirlwind. " At last !" after more than seven years of 
 diligent looking about in the villages and cities and 
 crime-haunts of the vast republic of the Western World. 
 "At last!" after long and perilous journeys, made under 
 the stimulus of immense rewards, to Ireland and France, 
 to England and Italy, " At last !" the officers of law 
 and order and justice have the unutterable pleasure of 
 laying their legal hands upon the prince of counterfeiters 
 and the most successful of forgers, the renewed George 
 Cantrell ! He, like other criminals and doers of evil, 
 fancied himself beyond recognition and detection. He 
 had ventured, after years of absence, to return to New- 
 York. Already Captain John Nelson had enlisted him 
 in the diabolical enterprise of robbing Doctor Du Bois,
 
 256 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 and then by intrigue or stratagem stabbing to the heart 
 his formidable and most direful enemy, young and 
 honest Detective Wilson. 
 
 To this end George Cantrell employed his remarkable 
 imitative penmanship, and had forged a letter of intro- 
 troduction from the Wall street legal firm to Doctor Du 
 Bois. 
 
 " At last !" the time had come when the prepossessing 
 forger Cantrell must take in his own hand the sword of 
 truth, which is invariably two-edged and just ; and, thus 
 armed, he must go forth a miserable wanderer iu the 
 thorny fields of his own inner life, and there reap the 
 bitter fruits of the seeds of crime, which he had for 
 many years been sowing broadcast among his fellow-men. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " IF love be sweet, then bitter death must be ; 
 If love be bitter, sweet is death to me." Tennysoq, 
 
 As soon as the policemen had departed with the for 
 ger, and all the consequent excitement was over, young 
 Wilson resumed his prostration on the bed. 
 
 The reserved and thoughtful physician regarded the 
 young man with a countenance indicative of mental un 
 easiness and painful forebodings. 
 
 " My God ! " he exclaimed to himself. " Here is a ter 
 rible human instrument ; the invention of a mysterious 
 combination of ante-natal forces. His nature is at once 
 noble and malevolent. A secret destructive fire is burn 
 ing in his blood and within the very fibres of his brain. 
 He is independent as a millionaire, and proud as au 
 emperor. Elects to live apart from his fellow-men, in a
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 257 
 
 state of contemptuous isolation. And like Nemesis, he 
 seems to execute justice, to discern truth, through the 
 double darkness of his wonderfully black eyes." 
 
 Thus the doctor delineated and reflected, in silence. 
 Meanwhile, young Wilson's face grew paler, and he 
 moaned sadly, like a person in great bodily pain and 
 mental distress. 
 
 The bachelor physician, being fond of rich and beau 
 tiful objects, had handsomely furnished his office and 
 bed-chamber. Among other comforts, near his medical 
 library and cabinet of choice medicines, he kept an elegant 
 side-board always locked, all the best varieties of wines 
 and liquors, arranged in handsome flasks, and two or 
 three decanters of celebrated brandies. He mixed a 
 tumblerful of brandy and water, and proceeded to ad 
 minister the dose to young Wilson. 
 
 The young man smelt the brandy aroma, and hesitated. 
 
 "A small portion," said the doctor, "to warm your 
 stomach and quiet your nerves." 
 
 With a serene and grateful expression of countenance, 
 Wilson replied, " Pardon me, doctor. My stomach re 
 volts. Wines and liquors do not serve my nature. I 
 hate them, and I also hate tobacco in all its forms." 
 
 " Why, Fred !" said the astonished doctor. " Do you 
 really never indulge in any of these agreeable and gentle 
 manly habits ?" 
 
 " Gentlemanly !" returned Wilson, disdainfully, and 
 then ejaculated twice " Dragons ! dragons !" 
 
 Immediately the doctor seated himself by the bed-side 
 and firmly laid his right palm on the young man's cold 
 left hand. He meant to soothe the yet excited detective, 
 and also to interrogate him closely on many of his per 
 sonal dispositions and characteristics. 
 
 " You puzzle me greatly," said the doctor. " Your na 
 ture and disposition seem to conflict and war together."
 
 258 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 "I am sorry for you," said Fred, coldly and sadly, with 
 a peculiar, distrustful, and half sardonic smile. 
 
 " Criminals and other unfortunates seem to excite you 
 beyond your self-control," remarked the doctor. 
 
 "Well," said Fred, coldly, " why shouldn't the hell 
 ish dragons excite me ?" 
 
 "Young man," returned the doctor, admonishingly, 
 " you seem to be instantly possessed with an uncontrolla 
 ble passion for vengeance ; and that, too, against indi 
 viduals who are strangers to you, and who have, there 
 fore, never harmed you in any manner ?" 
 
 " Villains /" said Wilson, warmly and emphatically, 
 " the villains came from the belly of hell, and they ought 
 to be sent straight back to hell." 
 
 " Your strong expression," said the doctor, rebukingly, 
 "is heartless. The human world," continued the bene 
 volent man, " is but one family ; all the individuals in it 
 are relatives ; no one is positively independent. The 
 poor depend upon the rich, and the rich depend upon the 
 poor ; the very worst man is own brother to the very best 
 man ; one class of individuals are low and another class 
 are high, as in physical nature there are valleys and 
 streams because there are mountains and springs." 
 
 Young Wilson was evidently lost in thought. But 
 quick as thought can change, he returned to his first 
 alarming and heartless assertion, and added 
 
 "And, sir, in my opinion, the old hell-bent villains 
 shouldn't have such a blubbering and praying psalm-sing 
 ing fuss made over them, just before going to the gallows. 
 Why, sir, if all accounts and professions and confessions 
 are true, the kingdom of heaven must be populated prin 
 cipally with angels who were once the most hellish mur 
 derers. The priests convert every devil of them before 
 execution, and away the hell-born imps sail straight into 
 a damn jolly paradise ! No sir ! If I had my way,
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 259 
 
 every bloody murderer should spread his canvas, and be 
 forced to make twenty knots an hour for the hottest 
 harbor in hell !" 
 
 " Would it not be better, and infinitely more praise 
 worthy," asked the doctor, " if you should habitually 
 turn your thoughts toward God, and a possible heaven 
 of everlasting happiness ?" 
 
 " Sir, " he frankly replied, " I think I do not believe 
 any thing in that direction." 
 
 " Indeed ! Do you never attend any of the city 
 churches ? Do you never listen to discourses on relig 
 ion ?" 
 
 "Whenever on shore," replied the candid young man, 
 " I am regular at the Roman Catholic services, although 
 I never take any interest in the religious part of them." 
 
 " Why, then, do you attend ?" 
 
 " For the music, sir, and for nothing else." 
 
 " Indeed !" exclaimed the doctor, with animation. " The 
 prayers, the sermons, pointing the heavenly way, the 
 appeals in behalf of pure principles do not these things 
 interest you ?" 
 
 " If I believe any thing," said the pale young man, 
 sadly, " I believe in the almighty and awful trinity 
 Devil, Damnation, and Hell." 
 
 " Indeed, Fred ! Do you really believe in a devil ?" 
 
 " Certainly, sir ! I think he must have been my father, 
 if I ever had one." 
 
 "Ah, you jest ! young man," said the doctor, gravely. 
 
 Wilson fixed his great black eyes on the doctor, and 
 said, firmly and sadly, " Sir, why then am I overflowing 
 with destructive fire, and emitting suffocating smoke, 
 like a hell-hot volcano ?" 
 
 The doctor wished to change the subject and asked, 
 " Why do you take such delight in music ?" 
 
 " Within me," replied the frank-hearted detective, " is
 
 260 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 a restless and hungry craving for sweet, soft strains 
 that's all I know about it 
 
 " What sensations, or what memories, do you experi 
 ence when listening to most agreeable music !" 
 
 o o 
 
 " Well," said Fred, meditatively, " I don't know that I 
 ever thought much about it. It is a feeling ! I seem to 
 dream of bright days. I hear happy words. Weary 
 hours vanish. I am rested. The world's noises sound 
 like swaying woods and rolling waves. I weep like a 
 silly girl. At such times, sir, it seems as though I might 
 love another. Unless I hear such music, sir, my bosom 
 burns with hate toward every body ! Sorry to say it, sir, 
 but my feelings are bitter, and my impulses murderous 
 toward utter strangers men and women and children 
 who have never done me the least injury ; all the same 
 in my feelings as though they had been my life-long 
 enemies. I feel this way, sir, when I pass them in the 
 street. This terrible impulse is less troublesome on ship 
 board, sir; on shore, where all noises are hellish, I am 
 sometimes maddened. On land, sir, every thing looks 
 devilish disagreeable. I hate the ground for its wet and 
 mud. I hate the weather for its aii*-blasts and drizzling 
 storms. I hate the very streets of New-York for their 
 straggling crowds of human villains, and because I see 
 plodding horses dragging carts and omnibuses through 
 the damn black mud. The very houses and shops seem 
 hateful. But, sir, if I attend a concert, or the Catholic 
 church on Sunday evenings, a few strains of sweet, soft 
 music restore my reason and warm my better self, and for 
 the moment I fancy I have both the sentiment of hope 
 and the feelings of happiness." 
 
 With intense interest the doctor listened to every word 
 of this free and full confession. 
 
 " Your expressions of hatred to every thing and every 
 body," said he, "recall to my mind the contents of a
 
 KEAPING THE FKUITS OF CRIME. 261 
 
 letter I once received from a Cuban lady, who was a 
 resident of New-Orleans, and was at one time a patient 
 of mine. She expressed herself as strongly and as un 
 qualifiedly as you do ; but her hate, however, was be 
 stowed specifically and mercilessly upon New-Orleans, 
 and upon every body and every thing in that city, indis 
 criminately ; while it seems your feelings of hate are uni 
 versally diffused, and your sanguinary impulses yield to 
 nothing so quickly as to strains of music." 
 
 Suddenly the doctor started to his feet and commenced 
 to pace the floor. He was evidently under an intense 
 excitement. 
 
 " My God ! my God !" he articulated, in an under-tone 
 to himself. " Madam Sophia Del Aragoni, the adorable 
 Creole widow, was pregnant when she conceived and 
 nourished her bitter hatred for every thing and every 
 body in New-Orleans ! My God ! w T hat if this remarkable 
 Fred Wilson should prove to be the lost son of that ex 
 tremely charming woman ?" 
 
 Then he suddenly recalled the striking likeness he had 
 fancied he had for a moment discovered in the young 
 man's pale and attractive countenance, during his recent 
 cataleptic and ecstatic entrancement. 
 
 Hurriedly he walked to the bed and commenced a 
 searching analysis of young Wilson's features. In vain ! 
 He coiild trace not the least resemblance. His beaming 
 face suddenly looked heavy with a heartfelt disappoint 
 ment. 
 
 " Young man," said the doctor slowly, " you re 
 marked that, sometimes, when listening to music, you 
 felt as though it was possible for you ' to love another.' 
 Now, Fred, if you feel at liberty to answer, I will in 
 quire whether or not you ever really loved any lady ?" 
 
 " Doctor," he replied, promptly, " I never had any 
 other feeling than the bitterest contempt for females."
 
 262 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 "Indeed!" exclaimed the doctor. " Have you not, 
 during your long sailing voyages, been tempted to ac 
 company your comrades into the haunts of profligacy 
 and vice ?" 
 
 " Never !" said the young man, indignantly. " For 
 such excitements, sir, I have a terrible abhorrence." 
 
 " Remarkable !" said the physician. "And yet, your 
 experience in this regard is like my own, with the excep 
 tion that I am not conscious of any abhorrence or hatred 
 toward my fellow-men. You confess, Fred," continued 
 the doctor, " that you sometimes feel as though you 
 could love another ?" 
 
 " Ay, sir," he quickly replied ; " but then I know 
 that I should demand her entire existence. I should be 
 a jealous tyrant. My whole natxire would be exacting, 
 merciless, and all-controlling. If I should ever meet a 
 human being in whom my nature could find happiness, I 
 fear that both of us would be very soon the most hateful 
 and wretched of devils out of hell." 
 
 At that moment the office-door was unceremoniously 
 opened by a servant, who in a coarse voice announced 
 " a gentleman." The doctor promptly rebuked the im 
 polite waiter for the outrageous incivility of neglecting 
 to knock and wait until he received an answer from some 
 person within. Then he extended his hand and cor 
 dially welcomed his friend Lawyer Ruggleston. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " BRAVE thoughts are pioneers of mighty deeds ; 
 They stir the sea of souls, as winds control 
 The currents of the surge, which ever roll 
 Where'er the boundary of the ocean leads." Steicart. 
 
 THE physican's favorite guest, Lawyer Ruggleston,
 
 REAPING THE FHUITS OF CHIME. 263 
 
 gave a detailed circumstantial narration of his sister-in- 
 law's visit to the establishment of Madam La Stelle. 
 He related how, after Miss Phoebe Milton had escaped 
 from the fearful woman and had fairly intrenched her 
 self in her own room at home, and felt safe, and out of 
 excitement, a reaction suddenly came upon hei', and 
 that from that hour she had been exceedingly nervous, 
 attacked with severe headaches, and almost prostrated 
 with fever symptoms. 
 
 "Ah! monsieur," said the sympathetic physician, 
 " most deeply do I deplore these painful effects. My 
 pleasure will be immense if I am permitted to render ap 
 propriate reparation." Then he added, sadly, "But 
 Monsieur Ruggleston, is it not enormously remarkable 
 that women thus fly from each other ?" 
 
 " Under the circumstances," he replied, " I think it 
 is not remarkable. Madam La Stelle, you are aware, 
 is secretly and illegally attacking the very foundations 
 of societary morality and private virtue." 
 
 " In what manner ?" asked the doctor. 
 
 " Why, sir, under the guise of a private lying-in hos 
 pital, she is practicing infanticide, and abortion on a 
 large scale. Jsfow, doctor, I ask you : does not such a 
 practice exert an unfavorable influence upon female vir 
 tue ? Does it not directly increase the temptation to 
 licentiousness ?" 
 
 "Masculine virtue is openly assailed," politely re 
 plied the doctor, "and masculine prostitution is un 
 doubtedly increased." 
 
 " Men are all right," said the lawyer, rather facetious 
 ly. " Female virtue, however, and social morality and 
 good order, are what our marital laws and domestic in 
 stitutions were made to protect and perpetuate." 
 
 "Have you a foundling hospital in New- York?" 
 asked the Doctor.
 
 264: TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " We Americans," the lawyer replied, " agree with 
 the people of many of the German states on this question. 
 Public sentiment here is decidedly antagonistic to 
 foundling hospitals. We think they encourage prostitu 
 tion and increase the number of illegitimate children." 
 
 " An erroneous theory," remarked the physician, " is 
 the mother of evil practices. Among all nations there is a 
 certain proportion of men and women who, by force of 
 their inherited temperaments and the influence of cir 
 cumstances, conduct themselves contrary to the estab 
 lished laws of virtue and social order. These persons 
 give rise to the institutions of licentiousness, and il 
 legitimacy in progeny. Now, inasmuch as, for illustra 
 tion, sailors provide themselves against storms, and duly 
 prepare to stem adverse winds and tides in all seas, and 
 thus save their ships ; so, why should not social and na 
 tional captains, with equal foresight and discretion, pro 
 vide wholesome protective institutions, whereby the gen 
 eral good may be subserved by those who antagonize 
 with the interests of the obedient millions ?" 
 
 " Private charity can do much for foundlings," replied 
 Mr. Ruggleston. " Personally I don't approve of legal 
 izing foundling hospitals and other licentious institu 
 tions. What virtuous individual is willing to be taxed 
 enormously to support the illegitimate children of pa 
 rents who ought to bear the expenses consequent upon 
 their criminal licentiousness ?" 
 
 "There are natural and fixed laws regulating conjugal 
 infidelities and parental transgressions," said the doctor. 
 " Observation, and a just judgment derived from study 
 ing the experience of the citizens of all nations and for 
 hundreds of years, should teach us that the evils of foeti- 
 cide and infanticide are immensely increased in all coun 
 tries where no provision is made to prevent those evils 
 in the form of foundling hospitals, wherein, as in France
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 265 
 
 and Russia and Spain, the best educational advantages 
 and many refining social privileges are accorded to each 
 little stranger child of either sex." 
 
 " The virtuous instincts of humanity," replied the 
 lawyer, " naturally abhor illegitimate children. All 
 nations have enacted severe laws to punish the guilty 
 parents ; and yet it would seem the crime of infanticide, 
 or the heartless desertion of illegitimate children, has 
 not been materially checked." 
 
 " Ah ! very true, Monsieur Ruggleston," said the doc 
 tor. . " This, sir, is true, because what you call the ' vir 
 tuous instincts of humanity' are not enlightened. Oldest 
 nations are invariably the most barbarian. Egyptians, 
 Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, indicate how vicious is 
 an unenlightened virtue." 
 
 " Doctor !" interrupted the legal gentleman, " your re 
 marks are rather vague. Please, sir, have the goodness 
 to express your sentiments in plain, direct language." 
 
 " Certainly, monsieur !" he replied, cheerfully. " My 
 thought is this, sir : A public morality, a popular vir 
 tue, which consigns to perpetual disgrace a child be 
 cause of its illegitimate origin, is au immoral morality 
 and a very vicious type of virtue." 
 
 " Alarmingly strong !" said the lawyer. " But pray 
 proceed, sir ; for the subject, doubtless, is vital to a Chris 
 tian civilization." 
 
 "Maternity," contumed the extremely earnest phy 
 sician, " is a miracle of both body and soul ! No woman 
 can became a mother without struggling with imminent 
 perils and pain. Her very existence is involved. There 
 fore, sir, a child is sacred ; a divine wonder, a revela 
 tion." 
 
 " Doctor," said Mr. Ruggleston, " your high and 
 transcendental views are accepted not even by women 
 
 themselves, are they ?" 
 12
 
 266 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Individual parents," he replied, "do not often, I am 
 aware, think these holy thoughts. On the contrary, mar 
 ried men, especially if poor, often say to their wives 
 * Don't bring any more hungry mouths to feed !' Well 5 
 sir, what follows ? The hard-working wives are mor 
 tified and offended. They live tinder a legal sanction by 
 which they virtuously yield to the vicious passions of 
 their husbands ; then, sir, they swallow patent medi 
 cines and seek private abortionists in order to prevent 
 an increase of family." 
 
 " Granting all you say, for the sake of the argument," 
 said the lawyer, " the question arises, What's your re 
 medy ?" 
 
 "The spiritual exaltation and legal recognition of 
 woman's world-producing works," the doctor replied, 
 with hope and faith beaming upon his countenance. 
 
 " Confound metaphysics," said the lawyer. " Please, 
 doctor, state explicitly and plainly your best thoughts on 
 the question." 
 
 " Incomprehensible, eh ?" said the doctor, smiling 
 incredulously. " Is it metaphysical to assert a woman's 
 fundamental and absolute right to the wealth and love 
 and worship of the world, when it is known beyond dis 
 pute that the world and all it contains arrived by and 
 through her direct mediatorial instrumentality?" 
 
 " Well, Doctor Du Bois," said the lawyer, with a 
 look of skepticism in his eyes, " what have you to say 
 of abortion and infanticide and illegitimacy ?" 
 
 "Abortion, monsieur, like infanticide, is a crime 
 against nature, and for which unpardonable crime your 
 virtuous society is responsible ; because your virtuous 
 society condemns to hopeless infamy every child which 
 is introduced to the world without having upon its back 
 the seal of State. America is a new republic, monsieur. 
 Why can not woman's divine function of maternity be
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 267 
 
 exalted ? Why can not every child, born in the image 
 of the great Creator, be provided with a nurse and a 
 home ?" 
 
 " Ah, doctor !" said the lawyer, " your plan is still 
 open to this objection : It tends to immorality, to in 
 crease prostitution, and to augment the army of illegiti 
 mate children." 
 
 " My God, monsieur !" exclaimed the doctor, warmly 
 and somewhat impatiently, " do you not, sir, openly 
 avow and advocate a heartless and merciless standard of 
 virtue, which leads females directly and continually to 
 foeticide and infanticide ? Do you not see, sir, that your 
 theory, in practice, develops on one hand a mighty host of 
 libertines and courtesans, and on the other a large army 
 of celibates and self-pollutionists ? Oppose foundling 
 hospitals and you increase child-murder ?" 
 
 "We must crush out licentiousness," said the lawyer 
 firmly and thoughtfully. 
 
 " True, monsieur, very true, sir," the doctor replied. 
 " But, sir, is not crime in the social world exactly what 
 a thunderbolt is in external physical nature ? Avoid the 
 shaft of lightning and you remain unscathed ; avoid the 
 causes of crime and you promote virtue. We must 
 begin, sir, to build society upon broader and deeper prin 
 ciples of love, and truth, and justice. Conjugal infidelity 
 and illegitimacy in offspring will certainly accompany 
 and embarrass the march of humanity, on the same 
 principle that tempests and destructive earthquakes will 
 accompany the growth and revolutions of the physical 
 world. All efforts to mercilessly condemn and destroy 
 these irrepressible concomitants, will inevitably weaken 
 all just and wise efforts to rectify evil with good." 
 
 " With your theory, doctor," asked the lawyer, " what 
 would you do with such a social monster as Madame La 
 Stelle ?"
 
 268 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Ah, it is my intention to call at once upon the lady, 
 sir, and persuade her, if possible, to convert her grand 
 establishment into a benevolent lying-in hospital and a 
 children's aid association, which are now so much 
 needed in your great city." 
 
 " Too late, doctor, too late," replied the lawyer, exult- 
 ingly. " It seems you are not posted in current legal in 
 telligence. Madame La Stelle has been arrested and duly 
 committed. It was brought about by the parents of a 
 young and beautiful girl who died while the infamous 
 woman was operating upon her for abortion. And per 
 haps you have not heard that my tenant over in Hudson 
 street, Doctor William Morte, has been convicted of a 
 similar crime and sent to the state prison for life, and 
 his red-headed clerk for a snug little term of only twenty- 
 two years." 
 
 " Madame La Stelle arrested !" exclaimed the sympa 
 thizing physician. " Doctor Morte in prison for life !" 
 
 The two gentlemen remained silent and thoughtful for 
 a long time. At length the doctor said, meditatively, 
 "How true it is, sooner or later, every one is obliged to 
 reap the fruits of all the evil seeds he or she has willingly 
 or unwillingly sown !" 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " FINALLY won ! Is the wife like the maid ? 
 
 Read here the answer as plain as a book ; 
 Trusting, in thine, a soft hand is laid ; 
 
 Boldly in thine the loving eyes look. 
 Ah, it is well ! and we need not be told 
 The love of thy wife is more precious than gold !" Poet. 
 
 LAWYER Kuggleston could not tear himself away
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 269 
 
 from the attractive society of Doctor Du Bois. They sat 
 face to face and conversed like brothers concerning many 
 interesting things and events. Addressing the doctor, 
 Mr. Ruggleston said : 
 
 " You seem to be a firm believer in female chastity ?" 
 
 " Ah monsieur !" said he, " I am a devout believer in 
 the chastity of true men as well as true women." 
 
 " Indeed !" ejaculated the lawyer. " Then you really do 
 not make any distinction in this particular between good 
 and true men and good and true women ?" 
 
 " Monsieur Ruggleston, " said the physician, " is it 
 not plain that the social advantages and personal liber 
 ties of a man are immensely greater than those of a 
 woman ? And do not men frequently and treacherously 
 involve women, and then desert them in their helpless 
 ness ? And even then, with all such disadvantages and 
 after such treacherous treatment, is not woman's heart 
 faithful and her pure love unchanged ?" 
 
 " You study human nature, doctor, while I am con 
 sulting Bacon, Blackstone, and other legal authorities; 
 so you will not expect me to reply intelligently." 
 
 " Monsieur," said the physician, " among the causes 
 ceKbres I have found a case in point. It is written in 
 the quaint style of the last century. But it illustrates 
 how a young man, aided by his father, tried to forsake 
 a maid after involving her ; and how she, with faithful 
 affection and rare eloquence, saved him from the execu 
 tioner." 
 
 " Please, sir," said the lawyer, " read the case ; it may 
 instruct and amuse us." Doctor Du Bois immediately 
 opened the old book, and in deep, rich voice read as 
 follows : 
 
 "In the year 1594, a young gentleman, whose family 
 dwelt in the town of Sues, in Normandy, came to the uni 
 versity of Angiers in order to study the law. There he
 
 270 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 saw Renee Corbeau, the daughter of a citizen of that 
 place. This amiable girl was young, prudent, handsome, 
 and witty. Though her parents wore not rich, yet she 
 inspired in the heart of the young student a passion so 
 vehement, that he was unable to enjoy a moment's easi 
 ness when she was out of his sight. He found means to 
 introduce himself into her company, and love inspired 
 him with such eloquence, that, in a very short time, he 
 was no less agreeable to her than she to him; and 
 their attachment became so fervent, that in his trans 
 ports he offered to espouse her, and gave her a solemn 
 promise in writing. The young woman, urged on by 
 the violence of her passion, and agreeably deluded by his 
 putting this paper in her hands, forgot all her prudence, 
 and granted him all he desired. The consequence of this 
 fair one's tenderness was her being with a child. This 
 constrained her to acquaint her mother with what had 
 happened, who told it with all the circumstances of miti 
 gation she could devise to her husband. The young 
 woman was then sent for into their presence, and after 
 her parents had reproached her in severe terms, they 
 began to consult about the means by which her error 
 might be repaired. The result of their deliberations 
 was that he should make an appointment with her lover at 
 their country-house, and thus give her parents an oppor 
 tunity of suprising them together. 
 
 " This scheme was effectually carried into execution, 
 and while love alone possessed the heart of the young 
 inamorato, fear entered on a sudden, and became the 
 stronger passion of the two. The sight of a father and 
 mother, enraged at the injury done to their daughter, 
 banished for a time the idea of his charming mistress 
 from his heart. He thought of nothing but how to 
 pacify them ; and, in order to this, he assured them that 
 his intention was always honorable, though he might
 
 EE APING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 271 
 
 have made use of some indirect means. The father and 
 mother of his mistress then began to put on an air of satis 
 faction ; but at the same time told him, that, in order to 
 evince the truth of what he had said, it was proper that 
 he should give their daughter a contract of marriage. 
 Knowing no other way to escape, he yielded, with a 
 seeming readiness ; and a notary public being brought to 
 the house, the business was immediately dispatched, and 
 the young man bound to marry the lady, however his 
 sentiments might alter afterwards. 
 
 " The moment he had put his hand to this instrument, 
 it filled him with disgust. Those charms, which had 
 pierced his heart a few hours before, now lost their force, 
 and the fair one, from being the most lovely of her sex, 
 now appeared the least agreeable. After a few days, 
 he left her abruptly and returned home to his father, to 
 whom, without the least reserve, he related the whole 
 series of his adventures, and the unlucky event by which 
 they were closed. The father was a man in good cir 
 cumstances, who valued riches much more than the finest 
 qualities of the mind : he was, therefore, extremely 
 chagrined at this story of his son's, and absolutely disap 
 proved of the match he had made. But how to avoid it 
 was the difficulty. The old gentleman at last told his 
 son there was but one way left, and that, if he would re 
 gain his favor, he must follow it immediately. The 
 young gentleman was all obedience, and, in pursuance 
 of his father's directions, he entered into holy orders, and 
 was actually ordained a priest ; so that now it was im 
 possible for him to perform his contract. 
 
 "Renee Corbeau heard this news with the utmost grief, 
 nor was it possible for her to dissemble the anger she had 
 conceived against her lover, for committing so black an act 
 of perfidy. It is very likely, howevei', that her wrath 
 would have vented itself in complaints, and all her threat-
 
 272 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 enings evaporate in words ; but her father, being as much 
 provoked, and having less tenderness, immediately ac 
 cused the young man before the magistrate for a rape or se 
 duction, and on hearing the cause he was found guilty. 
 However, he appealed to the parliament of Paris, and 
 the cause was moved to the Tournelle, where Monsieur 
 de Villeroy at that time presided. On hearing all parties, 
 the behavior of this young gentleman appeared BO gross 
 and capable of so little alleviation, that the court decided 
 that he should either marry the woman or suffer death. 
 The first was impossible, because he had taken orders ; 
 the court, therefore, directed that he should be led to 
 execution. Accordingly, he was put into the hands of 
 the executioner, and the confessor drew near, who was 
 to assist him in his last moments. Then it was that 
 Renee Corbeau found her bosom agitated with the most 
 exquisite affliction, which was still heightened when she 
 saw the pomp of justice about to take place, and her 
 lover on the point of being led to the scaffold. 
 
 " Furious through despair, and guided only by her 
 passion, she rushed with such impetuosity through the 
 crowd, that she got into the inner chamber before the 
 judges were separated, and then, her face bathed in tears, 
 all in disorder, she addressed them in the following terms : 
 ' Behold ! my lords ! the most unfortunate lover that 
 ever appeared before the face of justice. In condemn 
 ing him I love, you seem to suppose that either I am 
 not guilty of any thing, or that, at least, my crime is 
 capable of excuse, and yet you adjudge me to death, 
 which must befall me with the same stroke that takes 
 away my lover. You subject me to the most grievous 
 destiny, for the infamy of my lover's death will fall upon 
 me, as I shall go to my grave more dishonored than him. 
 You desire to repair the injury done to my honor, and 
 the remedy you bring will load me with eternal shame,
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 273 
 
 so that at the moment you give your opinion, that I am 
 rather unhappy than criminal, you are pleased to punish 
 me with the most severe and most intolerable pains. 
 How agrees your treatment of me with your equity, and 
 with the rules of that humane justice which should 
 direct your court ? You can not be ignorant of the hard 
 ship I sustain ; for you were men before you were judges. 
 You must have been sensible of the power of love, and 
 you can not but have some idea of the torment which 
 must be felt in a breast, where the remembrance dwells 
 of having caused the death, the infamous death, of the 
 dear object of her love. Can there be a punishment 
 equal to this, or, after it, could death be considered in 
 any other light than as the highest blessing of Heaven ? 
 
 " ' Stay ! oh ! stay, my lords ! I am going to open 
 your eyes. I am going to acknoAvledge my fault, to re 
 veal my secret crime, which hitherto I have concealed, 
 that, if possible, the marriage of my lover might have re 
 stored my blasted honor. But, urged now by remorse of 
 conscience, I am constrained to confess that I seduced 
 him. Yes, my lords, I loved first ! It was I, that to 
 gratify my passion, informed him of my attachment, and 
 thus I made myself the instrument of my own dishonor. 
 Change then, my lords, the sentiments you have enter 
 tained of this afi'air. Look upon me as the seducer; 
 on my lover as the person injured ; punish me ; save him. 
 If justice is inexorable, and there is a necessity for some 
 victim, let it be me. 
 
 " ' You look upon it as a crime that he took holy or 
 ders and thereby rendered it impossible for him to com 
 ply w r ith his contract ; but this was not his own act ; it 
 was the act of a barbarous father, whose tyrannous com 
 mands he could not resist. A will in subjection, my 
 lords, is no will at all to deserve punishment. The 
 offender must be free ; his father could only be guilty ; 
 12*
 
 274 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 and were he not the father of my love, I would demand 
 justice of you on him. Is it not clear then, ray lords, 
 that your last sentence contradicts your first ? You 
 decreed that he should have his choice to marry me, or 
 to die, and yet you never put the first into his power. 
 How odious must I appear in your eyes when you choose 
 rather to put a man to death, than to allow him to marry 
 me ! He has declared that his present condition will not 
 allow him to marry, and, in consequence of this declara 
 tion, you have condemned him to death ; but what sig 
 nifies that declaration ? his meaning was, that he would 
 have married me if he could, and if so your sentence is 
 Tinjust ; for, by your former decree, he was to have his 
 option. But you will say a priest can't marry. Ah ! 
 my lords, love has taught me better. Love brings 
 things instantly to our minds that may be of service to 
 the object of our loves. The pope, my lords, can dis 
 pense with his vow : you can not be ignorant of this, and 
 therefore his choice may be yet in his power. We expect 
 every moment the legate of his holiness ; he has all the 
 plenitude of power delegated to him which is in the 
 sovereign pontifi . I will solicit him for this dispensation, 
 and my passion tells me, that I shall not plead in vain ; 
 for what obstacle will it not be able to surmount, when 
 it has overcome that of your decree ? Have pity then, 
 my lords ! Have pity on two unfortunate lovers ; mi 
 tigate your sentence, or, at least, suspend it till I have 
 time to solicit the legate for a dispensation. You look on 
 my lover, 'tis true, as a man guilty of a great crime ; but 
 what crime too great to be expiated by the horrors he 
 has already sustained ? Has he not felt a thousand 
 times the pains of death since the pronouncing his sen 
 tence ? Besides, could you enter into my breast, and con 
 ceive what torments I have endured, you would think our 
 fault, foul as it is, fully atoned. I see among your lord-
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 275 
 
 ships some who are young, and some who are advanced in 
 years ; the first can not, sure, have their breasts already 
 steeled against the emotions of a passion natural to their 
 sex ; and I may hope the latter have not forgotten the ten 
 der sentiments of their junior years. From both I have 
 a right to pity; and if the voices for me are few, let the 
 humanity of their sentiments prevail against the num 
 ber of their opponents. But if all I have said is vain, 
 at least afford me the melancholy pleasure of sharing 
 his punishment, as I shared his crime. In this, my lords, 
 be strictly just; and, as we have lived, let us die to 
 gether.' 
 
 "This amiable woman was heard with equal silence and 
 compassion ; there was not a word lost of her discourse, 
 which she pronounced with a voice so clear, and with a 
 tone so expressive of her affliction, that it struck to the 
 hearts of the judges. Her beauty, her tears, her elo 
 quence, had charms too powerful not to incline the most 
 frozen hearts to think with her. The judges receded 
 unanimously from their opinions. Monsieur de Villeroy 
 having collected their sentiments, and declared that he 
 agreed with them, proceeded to suspend the last edict, 
 and to allow the criminal six months to apply for a dis 
 pensation. 
 
 " The legate immediately after entered France. It was 
 the great Cardinal de Medieis, afterward Pope, by the 
 name of Clement the Eleventh, though he enjoyed the 
 chair not quite a month. He heard the whole of this 
 affair, and inquired narrowly into all its circumstances, 
 but finding that he took holy orders with a premeditated 
 design to avoid the performance of his contract, he de 
 clared, that he was unworthy of a dispensation, and that 
 he would not respite such a wretch from the death he 
 deserved. 
 
 " Renee Corbeau had a passion too strong to be over-
 
 276 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 come ; she threw herself at the feet of the king, Henry 
 the Fourth. He heard her with attention, answered her 
 with tenderness, and going to the legate in person, re 
 quested the dispensation in such terms, that it could not 
 be refused. Hejiad the goodness to deliver it to the lady 
 with his own hands; the criminal gladly accepted Renee 
 for his wife ; they were publicly married, and lived long 
 together in the happiest union. He always regarded his 
 wife as a kind of divinity, by whose interposition his life 
 had been saved." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " DEAD for the want of a crust ! 
 
 Dead in the cold night air ! 
 Dead and under the dust, 
 
 Without ever a word of prayer. 
 In the heart of the wealthiest city 
 
 In this most Christian land, 
 Without ever a word of pity, 
 
 Or the touch of a kindly hand ! Chambers. 
 
 THE ensuing four weeks were memorable to the doctor 
 and his assistant detective. 
 
 They adopted a programme of voluntarily visiting the 
 destitute homes and haunts of the industrious population 
 worthy mechanics and energetic women who, because 
 of the business and financial prostration of 1837, and the 
 rigor of the succeeding winter months, the severitv of 
 
 O O */ 
 
 which reached a fearful climax about the first of March, 
 were obliged to send to the pawnbrokers every saleable 
 article, in the panic-stricken struggle to stave off death ; 
 and thus desperately impoverished, and thus fearfully 
 exposed to the terrors and desolations of the season, and
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 277 
 
 in many cases utterly houseless, they were by force of 
 divest circumstances compelled to huddle and pack them 
 selves together in miserable quarters, in the dirty attics 
 and leaky rooms of cheap tenements, void of every com 
 fort , and in violation of every sensibility of delicacy and 
 refinement. The merciless pinchings of hunger, and cold, 
 and nakedness, drove numberless persons into social and 
 moral bankruptcy, men and boys into robbery and crime, 
 and women and girls into prostitution, and into wretch 
 ed and hopeless dissipation. 
 
 But yet there were among these thronging sufferers, 
 as there always are in every large company of human 
 beings, high-minded women and brave-hearted girls who 
 although unknown and unrelieved in their death-threat 
 ening necessities, remained personally pure and strong 
 in the right. And there were also strong and true men 
 and noble-souled boys, who, though unpitied and unrecog 
 nized in the midst of their almost death-pangs, remained 
 superior to pauperism and mendicity, and above every 
 temptation to rob bakers' wagons, tear down fences for 
 fuel, and to every suggestion leading to the commission of 
 crime. 
 
 In his peregrinations and observations, Doctor Du Bois 
 found that his knowledge of the laws of human magnet 
 ism was of great assistance. They unlocked to his mind 
 many of the mysteries and miseries of human nature. 
 
 He observed, for example, that where there existed from 
 the confluence of external circumstances the largest ag 
 gregations of idle persons, men and women, and boys 
 and girls, there the largest mass of moral evil was rapidly 
 developed and most strongly intrenched. He recognized 
 at once the stimulation of a compound magnetism ema 
 nating from individuals. A pernicious and vigorous 
 growth of minute vices and petty crimes commenced im 
 mediately. Individuals, before known and respected
 
 278 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 as mentally sound and morally good, became suddenly 
 involved (at first unwillingly) in the vicious manifesta 
 tions of these human circumstantial and magnetic asso 
 ciations. Thus the producing causes of many species of 
 crime appeared exceedingly and painfully distinct. 
 
 Now the benevolent doctor, it will be remembered, 
 was a firm believer in, and a devout worshipper of the 
 idea of HOME. The family system for the development 
 of both young and old he regarded as some people regard 
 the holy church and the sanctuary of religion. 
 
 On the other hand he was positively an enemy to all 
 congregated institutions, like the imposing monastic es 
 tablishments of Europe ; wherein a high type of personal 
 responsibility is impossible, because it is overwhelmed 
 by official teachers and religious dignitaries, who gov 
 ern and misdirect the individual life by the sceptre of 
 power which they exert upon the impersonal mass. 
 
 The doctor, therefore, despaired of ever seeing emanate 
 from the aggregated religious systems any thing resem 
 bling a high and self-sustaining type of manhood or wo 
 manhood. He, however, regarded the young and trium 
 phant republic of the United States with unbounded 
 hope and unrestrained enthusiasm, because he seemed 
 to see the immense opportunities and natural encourage 
 ment which America furnished for the highest develop 
 ments of individual character, through the constructive 
 instrumentality of the independent HOME. 
 
 The following language embodied the doctor's views 
 on this subject. " God ordained the family to be the fun 
 damental social institution. In it are the roots of indi 
 vidual virtue and happiness, and of national strength and 
 prosperity. All political and social organizations should 
 be shaped, so far as possible, with a view to foster and 
 strengthen this primal institution, and to preserve intact 
 its essential features; to wit, separate homesteads, in
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 279 
 
 which may be constant indulgence of parental and filial 
 affection, extending to kith and kin ; the natural rela 
 tions of sex, and the mutual influence of various ages. 
 Where these are enjoyed in homesteads, with a portion 
 of land, there is the type of the family. Where such 
 families are multiplied, and spread over even an unge- 
 nial soil, the people flourish and cling to it Math the te 
 nacity and vitality of grass ; and national life is healthy 
 
 and secure Now all institutions which ignore or 
 
 nullify any of the essential features of the family are, in 
 so far, unwise ; those which persistently nullify them are 
 wrong ; imitations of the natural family on a large scale 
 are not only by necessity imperfect, but they are always 
 difficult, and sometimes dangerous and pernicious. The 
 family is, moreover, the most powerful remedial agency 
 which exists in any community." 
 
 In a New- York journal appeared the following de 
 scription of circumstances and scenes in the great city, 
 which most faithfully and accurately pictures the discov 
 eries and observations made by Doctor Du Bois, and his 
 young assistant, Fred Wilson. 
 
 " The art of sinking from a high social position to a 
 lower one is peculiarly that which persons out of em 
 ployment learn. Commencing at a fashionable boarding- 
 house, they frequently go through all the gradations of 
 famished rooms, cheap hotels, lodging houses, and the 
 station-house, sustaining life during the process by messes 
 procured from the cheapest restaurants. 
 
 "Houses let out in apartments are plentiful in New- 
 York, and differ from each other vastly in kind and de 
 gree, ranging from the elegantly furnished room, occu 
 pied by the bachelor of leisure, to the bare attic of the 
 tenement house, let out to lessen the rent, and containing 
 as little furniture as a cell in the Penitentiary, and that 
 of an inferior quality.
 
 280 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " The prices vary, of course, according to location. The 
 east side of the city contains the most of the more infe 
 rior class, as well as the majority of cheap hotels. East 
 Broadway, Henry, and Madison streets, and, in fact, the 
 whole of the Seventh Ward, contain them in great abun 
 dance. 
 
 " It is considered more respectable to rent a room in a 
 pi'ivate house than in one of the lo wer class of hotels. The 
 latter contain from twenty to one hundred rooms, though 
 there are several that have a far gi'eater number. They 
 are said to be kept on the European plan, probably for 
 the reason that Europe possesses nothing that in the least 
 resembles them. Some have a bar and restaurant at 
 tached, though this is not usual. 
 
 " The articles found in the bedrooms are usually in a 
 very dilapidated condition. The floor is bare, or at most 
 a narrow strip of carpet beside the bed, which is some 
 times of iron. If, however, the occupant is compelled to 
 sleep in a wooden nest for vermin, his situation is pitiable. 
 The raspberry-like odor of the bug is seldom absent, and 
 while roaches abound, the little creature that sticketh 
 closer than a brother is frequently present. A three-leg 
 ged chair, rickety washstand, with Landless pitcher and 
 chip-edged basin, constitute the furniture, while a frame- 
 less looking-glass, with most of the quicksilver rubbed off 
 its back, gives a distorted reflection to a face already un 
 happy, without being compelled to view his own degra 
 dation. 
 
 " These hotels are open all night for the accommoda 
 tion of wayfarers, and this of itself, together with the air 
 of dirty dissoluteness that pervades such places, is apt to 
 have a demoralizing effect on the lodgers. The prices for 
 a night's accommodation range from thirty-five to sixty 
 cents per night. Still cheaper hotels can be found, which
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 281 
 
 supply beds for twenty-five cents, one, even, in addition, 
 giving the lodger a cup of coffee in the morning. 
 
 " In one of the busiest streets of this ciCy is such an inn. 
 In a basement, dimly lighted by a flaming oil lamp, are 
 twelve beds ranged around the wall, each with a number 
 at its foot, and the guests, like those in public institutions, 
 lose their personal identity, and become figures of arith 
 metic on entering. The walls are damp and green with 
 moisture, and the odor is almost unendurable. Parties 
 enjoying these accommodations will do well to use their 
 clothing and shoes for pillows, as without great watch 
 fulness it is almost impossible to retain any articles of 
 wearing apparel. Persons passing through Roosevelt, 
 James, Dover, or other streets of that kind, may have re 
 marked roughly-painted sign-boards over basements con 
 taining the words " Board and Lodging." Happy they 
 if their knowledge does not extend beyond this outside 
 view. The board is coarse, and is composed, in some 
 places at least, of what has been begged during the day 
 from charitable persons or restaurants, and consists of a 
 variety of articled, 01*, as also happens, it is composed of 
 what has been bought at a nominal price from such hotels 
 as sell their leavings. The lodgings can only be appre 
 ciated when seen. The room has generally two or more 
 large beds surrounded by dilapidated curtains, which ra 
 ther give it a ragged appearance, and are useful for little 
 besides. During the day these are thrown roughly over 
 the strings from which they depend, and it is only at 
 night that their use is apparent. 
 
 " At about 9 o'clock the guests begin to assemble 
 men, women, and children, all miserable-looking creatures, 
 whom poverty or vice has led into this pandemonium of 
 filth and discomfort. Pipes filled with " hard up" the 
 technical name for smoking tobacco made of cigar stumps 
 are lighted, and until ten o'clock or later, according to
 
 282 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 the customers, conversation is indulged in. The beggar 
 relates his tricks and the bummer his expedients. 
 
 " Preparations for the night are then made. The shut 
 ters are closely barred so as to let no warm air escape. 
 The curtains are let down and the large beds are given 
 to the married couples, who are expected to take with 
 them to bed one, or, if very small, two, of their children. 
 Trundle beds are drawn out from under the larger ones, 
 and mysterious bundles of clothing make their appear 
 ance from unexpected nooks and corners. Every vacant 
 spot on the floor is covered with something that must an 
 swer for a bed. The lodgers, for fear of the vermin, wear 
 as little clothing as the temperature will admit. 
 
 " Decency is unknown, and modesty undreamt of. As 
 many as twenty-three human beings, men, women and 
 children, are sometimes found thus packed away seeking 
 rest. 
 
 " The proprietor rules his guests with a rod of iron, or 
 rather a big stick. Grunting or talking meets with con 
 dign punishment, and if any, made happy or the reverse 
 by bad liquor, attempt any boisterousness, it is quickly 
 silenced by blows delivered by a master hand, while the 
 victim is asked with grim seriousness if he wishes to de 
 stroy the respectability of the house. The price for the 
 accommodation is fifteen or twenty cents per night. A 
 time sometimes comes when even this sum is beyond the 
 means of men out of employment, and then their last re 
 sort is the station-house. The lodgers in these places 
 consist of regular bummers, men driven by stress of 
 weather to seek its hated shelter, or sti*angers who have 
 been overtaken by misfortune, or have fallen among 
 thieves. 
 
 " The treatment the applicant receives depends much 
 upon the- view the officer in charge takes of his character, 
 and as policemen are not always infallible, and mistakes
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 283 
 
 are sometimes made, a man whose only crime is his pov 
 erty is received with insult. It is necessary to apply 
 early, so as to get a place before the lodgers' room is fill 
 ed, the number of applicants depending in a great mea 
 sure upon the weather. His name, age, and birth-place 
 are entered in a book, and he is then turned over to the 
 charge of the door-keeper, who leads him to the room, 
 opens the grated door, locks him in and his self-respect 
 out. 
 
 " The rooms are usually large and airy. Stone walls 
 and floor, with iron bars before the windows, make it 
 seem as a place of confinement, and add to the strange 
 feeling that the occupant for the first time possesses. A 
 stove, usually kept at a red heat, is in the centre of the 
 room, and, when the storm rages about the house, gives 
 some comfort and compensation for the situation. A wa 
 ter-closet and hydrant occupy one corner. Around the 
 walls is extended a wooden platform about one foot and 
 a half or two feet from the ground, inclined at a gentle 
 angle from the wall. This serves as a bed, and upon it 
 are stretched all manner of figures in the shape of men. 
 Sometimes, when the weather is peculiarly unpleasant, 
 not only the platform but even the floor is occupied by 
 wet, shivering wretches, who huddle and crowd together 
 for warmth and sympathy. 
 
 "Almost all the rooms are alike, though at one place 
 the floor is lined with tin and at another iron frames with 
 movable wooden slabs are used instead of the platforms. 
 This latter arrangement is for the *ake of cleanliness, 
 which is very necessary, as the entomological specimens 
 found on the bodies of unwashed and uncared-for persons 
 abound. The cries and curses heard from the drunken 
 men and women, confined in neighboring cells, murder 
 sleep, and the guest is glad when daylight arrives and 
 the door is opened, that he can slink away in the early
 
 284 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN". 
 
 dawn without being seen. Many men without work go 
 through this course every winter some deservedly, 
 others from misfortune, but in any event, if they sink to 
 the lowest depths, the foregoing are the stages through 
 which they pass." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "FKO5I the strong will and the endeavor 
 
 That forever 
 
 Wrestles with the tides of fate ; 
 From the wreck of hopes far-scattered, 
 
 Tempest-shattered, 
 Floating waste and desolate." Longfellow. 
 
 WEEKS rush by like chariots carrying enormous loads 
 of passengers and freight. 
 
 One cold, blustering night in the first month of the 
 spring of the new year, a strolling vagabond knocked 
 at Doctor Du Bois's office, and gruffly demanded admit 
 tance. 
 
 Wilson opened the door and looked out. A ragged, 
 dirty-faced fellow, half-frozen and evidently suffering 
 from hunger, handed out the following open note, 
 written awkwardly with pale ink, upon very greasy 
 paper: 
 
 der doctor : _ 
 
 i set uown to wright a f ue lynes i heerd Off yor 
 gooadness to folks whots pooare i cende me chumbe to yo fur to se 
 eff you Cooulde col ande joudge Off me meaddicole cicnis iff knoate 
 to moache truble. i Cloase buye Cenden yu me adres no 4 celur 
 2 dors abuv froam catherns moarket. 
 
 From a ole weather beaten calor. jack tarpolin. 
 
 Wilson's prompt and penetrating sense a power of div 
 ination which far exceeded the doctor's practical observa-
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 285 
 
 tion discerned in this forgery the murderous hand of 
 Captain Nelson. Concealing his discovery from the 
 disguised bearer, however, the detective pretended to be 
 pleased Avith the opportunity of accompanying the doctor 
 on such a mission of mercy. As a further mask he handed 
 the ragged fellow a piece of silver, assured him. that the 
 case of charity would receive early attention, and then 
 abruptly closed and locked the door. 
 
 When the physician returned from his walk, Wilson 
 related the details of the foregoing circumstance. 
 
 " For some unexplained reason," said Wilson, " that 
 bloody devil, Nelson, is scheming and intriguing to 
 take your life." 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed the doctor, with a shuddering 
 shrug of his shoulders, " a very disagreeable prospect !" 
 " No fear, sir," said Wilson, proudly and grandly. " I 
 have Nellie MacFarland and three sharp-eyed coves 
 drifting day and night on the track of that land-pi 
 rate." 
 
 " Now Fred," said the doctor, apprehensively, " you 
 begin to excite a thousand fears in my mind in your be 
 half." 
 
 " Sir," he replied, with the assurance of a brigadier 
 general, "Sir, there isn't a ship afloat under Nelson's 
 command that can run my craft upon the sunken ledges 
 of this city." 
 
 " Ah, Wilson ! my brave young man ! " said the doctor, 
 " you are as fiery and as confident as a Turk ; and, to 
 tell you the truth, Fred, this is the very reason why 
 you excite my apprehensions." 
 
 Wilson smiled. Referring immediately to Nelson, 
 however, he said, "It has been discovered that he 
 leaves and returns to his boarding-house by means of a 
 rope-ladder, which lie employs on dark nights when he 
 has bloody work or highway robbery on hand."
 
 286 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " How can such a discovery concern you ? " asked the 
 doctor, with much curiosity in his face and voice. 
 
 " Why, sir," quickly replied the detective, " by way 
 of that ladder our little army of three (one of them a 
 city policeman) will sail in behind the villain's breast 
 works, where he shelters himself in the confidence of 
 the landlady and her servants by making them believe 
 he is in bed and sound asleep. But, sir,'' he added 
 fiercely, " we shall wake him up suddenly the morning 
 next after we have searched that strong, black trunk he 
 keeps double-locked in his room." 
 
 " Young man," said the doctor with marked solem 
 nity, " you are too hot-headed to enter the deadly fray. 
 Let the battle end, let the jaws of danger be locked, let 
 others follow Nelson and grapple with him when the 
 moment for fighting and carnage shall arrive but you, 
 Fred," continued the physician " you should drift calm 
 ly into the enchanted shades of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, where all storms of wild emotion in your na 
 ture are mysteriously hushed by the visionary strains of 
 sweet, soft music ! " 
 
 Young Wilson's bosom heaved with the surging cur 
 rents of his fiery blood. He seemed gigantic in his ex 
 pansive energy and resistless will. He was splendid in 
 his wrath. The doctor contemplated him with positive 
 admiration. There were terrible mental qualities on ex 
 hibition. With magnetic repose of manner, however, 
 the doctor said : 
 
 "My brave boy ! let us leave New- York for a time. A 
 journey, affording new scenery and novel objects of in 
 terest, might do us both good. Come! suppose we 
 pack to-night and start to-morrow morning, bright and 
 early come ! What say you, Fred ? " 
 
 A quick, light shudder trembled through young 
 Wilson's body, and a sudden calmness and paleness
 
 HEAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 287 
 
 settled upon his countenance. He stepped back and 
 dropped into a chair. A heavy-hearted sigh escaped his 
 lips his eyes closed slowly as in death. The physi 
 cian's magnetic hands were instantly at work upon the 
 already unconscious patient. Presently young Wilson 
 spoke in an under-tone : 
 
 " Benefactor ! When his thorns are covered with 
 blossoms, they will not afflict you." 
 
 " To whom are these words addressed ?" asked the 
 doctor ; " and who is the third person alluded to ?" 
 
 "Man," said the entranced detective, "is two-fold. 
 His outer, material life is one, and his inner, spiritual life 
 is one. These two meet and struggle with each other for 
 mastery." 
 
 "Ah, doubtless ! doubtless !" replied the delighted 
 and enlightened physician. 
 
 "Fate, Destiny," continued the young man, "rules 
 the life of the body ; but Faith, Deity, rules the life of 
 the soul which is eternal." 
 
 "Supreme truth!" exclaimed the overjoyed physi 
 cian. Then he listened again, keeping his ear close to 
 the Avhispering lips of the inspired Wilson. 
 
 " He harbors and cherishes the elements of crime," 
 continued the detective, with sorrowful solemnity. "Fol 
 low him with your prayers, lest he fling his life into the 
 grave and enter the cradle of another existence too soon." 
 
 " What," exclaimed the doctor, hurriedly " what am 
 I qualified to do for him ?" 
 
 " Leave him not," the whispering lips replied. " Neither 
 go from the city. Plaintive music, the voice of an 
 affectionate woman, will calm and restore him. Regard 
 
 ' O 
 
 him as you regard all who commit crime as, by inher 
 itance, diseased. You are his physician." 
 
 An hour or more now passed away in silence. Nothing 
 further could be extracted from the whispering lips.
 
 288 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 The doctor was immeasurably gratified with the grand 
 sentiments and prophetic utterances of his now tranquil 
 assistant. Very soon he was sufficiently restored to walk 
 about the office. Then they cordially separated, and 
 each retired for the night. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " YET lament not, my mother ! our souls shall greet 
 In that land where the dead and the living meet, 
 Where the friends we have wept come around once more, 
 With the smiles which their living features wore." 
 
 Huron. 
 
 NAVIGATION on the Hudson had been open but a short 
 time. Steamers had made but few regular through trips 
 from New- York to Albany and return. Multitudes as 
 sembled on the piers to witness the grand spectacle of 
 an incoming steamboat. Among others, on this particu 
 lar evening, was Fred Wilson. He was never weary of 
 thinking of the sea. Frequently he watched the in 
 coming and outbound vessels with something akin to a 
 sailor's delight. 
 
 When this day's steamer from Albany was made 
 fast to her dock, and the passenger plank had been 
 thrown out, the young detective leisurely walked 
 aboard to look around. The passengers had nearly all 
 gone ashore. A young lady remained. Her tender, 
 agreeable eyes were looking out in expectation. There 
 was something in the expression of her prepossessing 
 countenance which instantly arrested young Wilson's 
 favorable attention. She, however, seemed painfully 
 anxious, melancholy, and frightened. He approached 
 her and politely asked : 
 
 " Do you expect somebody to call for you ?" 
 
 His question seemed to fill her mind with an inexpi-es-
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 289 
 
 sible dismay. He noticed that he had increased her 
 confusion and agitation. After a little she tremblingly 
 replied : 
 
 " Sir, I am a stranger and know not where to go." 
 
 "No friends in New- York ?" asked Wilson in a stern 
 tone of surprise and indifference. 
 
 " There is a gentleman in the city," she replied, with 
 much confusion of manner. 
 
 " Yes," said Wilson, sneeringly and contemptuously, 
 " there is more than one so-called gentleman in this city." 
 
 His abrupt and tantalizing remark terrified her be 
 yond speech. A cold sweat oozed out upon her fair 
 countenance. She was suddenly seized with a fit of weep 
 ing, which instantly filled Wilson's cynical temperament 
 with disgust and impatience. He sullenly and roughly 
 asked, 
 
 " Where does the aforesaid gentleman reside ? Didn't 
 you bring street and number ?" 
 
 " O my poor mother !" she exclaimed. " O my poor 
 father !" 
 
 " Odd street and number, that !" muttered Fred, more 
 than ever disgusted. " No objections to getting a 
 coach and seeing you safe to your lodgings," he added, 
 in a somewhat kinder tone of voice. 
 
 She cried from the very bottom of her heart. At 
 length, however, she found a letter in her bosom ad 
 dressed to her, " Miss Mary Morgan, Syracuse, N.Y." 
 
 " Dragon !" ejaculated Wilson, in a sepulchral and ter 
 rifying voice. He instantly recognized the half-dis 
 guised handwriting of Captain John Nelson ! 
 
 The timid and terrified girl gazed through her blind 
 ing tears eagerly and inquiringly at the young detect 
 ive. 
 
 " Got street and number in that letter, miss ?" he 
 asked, looking almost black with suppressed excitement. 
 13
 
 290 TALE OP A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 Her confusion and dispossession increased. She opened 
 the letter with trembling fingers, however, and found at 
 the bottom the desired direction, as follows " Martha 
 Cubal's boarding-house, No. 96 Mercer sti-eet, New- 
 York." 
 
 " Hell !" said Wilson with fierce indignation. " Young 
 woman !" he continued, " who, in the name of devils, 
 gave you that old dragon's address ?" 
 
 " Sir !" returned the girl with considerable spirit 
 "The gentleman's name is Mr. Russel Fitz James, a 
 young and wealthy retired New- York merchant, and 
 Mrs. Cubal is his own sister, from whom I have received 
 a pressing written invitation." Then she trembled with 
 fright, and wept from the depths of an overwhelmed 
 heart. 
 
 Darkness of night was rapidly gathering over the 
 city. The captain of the steamer ordered all passengers 
 ashore. "Wilson at once procured a respectable cai'- 
 riage. Miss Morgan and her traveling packages were 
 hurried in, and the detective, after giving the driver 
 directions to Nell Palfry's establishment, located in an 
 other quarter of the city, stepped in and seated himself 
 opposite the wretched girl. He fixed his steady black 
 eyes upon her, and quickly divined the whole infernal 
 trick which had been played upon her by the arch impos 
 tor. He said severely, 
 
 " You have run away from your father and mother ?" 
 
 " Oh !" she cried, " to-morrow I will take the first 
 boat back to my poor forsaken mother." 
 
 " No, you won't," said Wilson willfully. " You've got 
 your foot in it, and now you'd better just wade in over 
 your head, then stay under. It won't take you long to 
 get sick and die in New- York." 
 
 Wilson quietly and critically contemplated her pleas 
 ing features ; her innocent, large blue eyes, and handsome
 
 HEAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 291 
 
 mouth ; her trembling white hands ; the golden ringlets 
 of her beautiful hair ; and, strange to relate, he suddenly 
 realized the unspeakable anguish of her maidenly heart. 
 A rich tenderness came mysteriously into his voice, 
 when he asked, 
 
 " Have you ever seen the gentleman with whom you 
 have been so long in secret and loving correspondence ?" 
 
 " Oh ! no, no, sir !" she quickly said. " He promised to 
 call on me as soon as I arrived at his sister's residence." 
 
 " He did not know^ then, exactly when you meant to 
 run away from your home, did he ?" 
 
 " Oh ! no, no, sir ! He ceased writing to me for some 
 weeks, and I felt crazy to hear from him. Oh ! it is 
 dreadful ! I feared he was taken sick, and then, I 
 thought that I alone could nurse him and care for him, 
 and so I fled in the night from^my poor forsaken 
 mother." She sobbed aloud, and her intense anguish 
 seemed to touch a tender chord in the strange soul of 
 young Wilson. His voice rapidly became mellow and 
 wondrously soothing, yet it was firm and resolute, when 
 he said, 
 
 " We met by the merest accident, just as all the best 
 things happen. We are strangers. Perhaps you won't 
 believe me.. Any how, it is my duty to inform you that 
 your girlish imaginations have been- excited by a villain 
 who has deliberately plotted your destruction." 
 
 The affrighted girl seemed about to shriek for help. 
 She looked outrageously insulted and magnificently in 
 dignant. Wilson firmly cautioned her against alarming 
 the police, and thus involving herself in endless notoriety 
 and misfortune. He frankly complimented her on the 
 exhibition of indignation. Then he continued 
 
 " If you will, for a time, consent to follow my counsel, 
 no harm shall befall you. The truth of my words will 
 come home to you soon enough. The Mercer street
 
 292 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 boarding-house to which you were going is a low re 
 sort for abandoned women and dissolute men. We are 
 now driving to Madame Palfry's stylish boarding- 
 house, which, I am told, is conducted on princely princi 
 ples. Here you can choose your lover, or live indepen 
 dently ; the last, if your board and contingent expenses 
 are promptly paid. Now, young woman, my purse is 
 cursed short. My clerkship brings me a devilish limited 
 income. But I promise to place you by yourself in safe 
 and comfortable quarters, for which I will pay the 
 proprietor all she asks for at least two weeks. Thus, as 
 you see, you will have a full chance to understand your 
 situation, make all necessary soundings in these strange 
 waters, and then you may spread your canvas and sail 
 for home, or for hell, just as you like." 
 
 At this moment the carriage stopped at the door of 
 Nell Palfry's splendid establishment. Wilson and the 
 young lady were total strangers to every one. He 
 straightforwardly made all appropi'iate arrangements as 
 he had promised. The female book-keeper made out and 
 receipted a bill for one week's expenses which Wilson 
 promptly paid. Then he followed the porter and the 
 trembling young lady up stairs to the room which she 
 was to occupy free from all molestation. Having satis 
 fied himself that all was right, he politely bowed without 
 speaking, and immediately returned to the Carlton hotel. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " A PROVIDENCE that works by laws, 
 
 And moves in troops of circling suns, 
 Obedient to the spirit cause, 
 
 Through life harmonious runs." Harris. 
 
 WILSON confided nothing of what had happened to
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 293 
 
 Doctor Du Bois. He kept the precious secret closely 
 locked in his own bosom. The doctor, however, observed 
 a change in the countenance and deportment of his 
 moody and mysterious detective. 
 
 " Strange book of fate !" said Wilson to himself. 
 " Why can not I turn the leaves and read them Avhen I 
 will ?" 
 
 Every day for a week, just before the dinner hour, he 
 called upon the young lady. But he never entered her 
 room. He inquired respectfully at the door whether she 
 needed any thing to increase her comfort. If yes, he 
 promptly procured at once any little article for which 
 she expressed a desire ; then proudly, and even sternly, 
 he bowed, quickly closed the door after him, and re 
 turned to his hotel. 
 
 Sometimes he found her in tears, and evidently bowed 
 down by the weight of suffering, lamenting the wicked 
 ness of her conduct. But the hard-natured detective never 
 heeded any thing of it ; except, now and then, he seemed 
 to smile at her, with a look of insulting mockery and 
 bitter contempt in his eyes, as though he rather en 
 joyed the sight of her bursting tears, the sting of her 
 folly and remorse, her dread of the world, her self-re- 
 proachfulness, and her withering sense of shame and 
 mortification. 
 
 One evening, for the moment forgetting the perpetual 
 self-conscious pride of his nature, he carried her a few 
 flowers he had gathered. He tapped gently at her door. 
 She opened it. He bowed calmly and gracefully, stooped 
 and kissed her forehead, then placed in her' hand the 
 fragrant blossoms. 
 
 Her heart seemed bursting. Poor, beautiful, unhappy 
 child! Her girlish dream all vanished. She was 
 humbled and repentant. The beloved idol of her ima 
 gination had fallen. Her tears would not flow. She
 
 294 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 was cold, and sick, and horror-stricken. Her agony of 
 spirit was a thousand times worse than death, and yet 
 she took the flowers from the detective's hand, and ex 
 claimed, " Oh ! my poor forsaken mother ! my mother ! 
 my mother !" 
 
 "Heavens !" replied "Wilson, gently taking her hand: 
 " why do you weep, Miss Morgan ? I never learned 
 how. My mother, if I ever had one, left me with a 
 crazy old woman when I was too young to care much 
 about it. Possibly I was vilely, cruelly wronged ; pos 
 sibly it was just what a wicked young devil deserved ; 
 at any rate, Miss Morgan, I have never shed a tear about 
 a mother." 
 
 Her large, deep, blue eyes looked wonderingly and 
 tenderly into his large, deep, black eyes. She said, 
 mournfully and compassionately, " Ah, sir ! now I un 
 derstand why you sneer, and mutter curses, and use bit 
 ter, wicked words." 
 
 During all this time they had been standing. N"ow, 
 however, for the first time, Wilson helped her to a chair 
 and seated himself in her room, and near enough to take 
 her hand in his. She continued, inquiringly, 
 
 " Why do I fear you ?" 
 
 " Because," she quickly replied to her own question, 
 " you never gladdened the heart of a mother ! " She 
 wept. Again, thank God ! the tears would flow from 
 her sorrow-stricken and terrified heart. 
 
 " Miss Morgan !" said Wilson soothingly. " I once 
 asked that crazy old woman to tell me all she knew 
 about my mother ; but instead of answering me, she 
 looked as solemn and mysterious as a Spanish cathe 
 dral." 
 
 The young lady made no reply, but continued to 
 yield to the tears that came from her long-tortured feel " 
 ings.
 
 REAPING THE FEUITS OF CRIME. 295 
 
 " In three days," said he, with a slight tremor in his 
 voice, " you are to decide about your journey whether 
 you will return to a pleasant home, or sail on a dreary 
 voyage to " 
 
 He suddenly stopped. She trembled, and could not 
 speak. A silence ensued. Then, saying that an engage 
 ment called him, he kissed her fair forehead again, polite 
 ly bade her good-night, and hastened away. 
 
 When he had gone, the half-imprisoned girl actually 
 kissed the flowers he had given her. She wept over 
 them and pressed them passionately to her bosom. She 
 suddenly regarded with affection every thing he had 
 touched. She recalled his tones and words of tender 
 ness, and strove to forget his bitterness, and wept and 
 forgave him in remembrance of his motherless child 
 hood. 
 
 "O my mother!" she cried, "my wild, mad folly 
 has driven all happiness out of your heart.. O our 
 dear, sweet home ! I can never again return to it. The 
 world's coarse repulsion, its sneers and maddening jeers, 
 I can never, never endure. Hearts once united in sweet 
 friendship can never meet again. O sweet, dear, darling 
 mother ! How can I ever bear to see your face again ? 
 Oh ! I can not ! I can not ! The world will neither un 
 derstand nor forgive me. Oh ! what shall I do ? Where 
 can I go ?" 
 
 Doctor Du Bois was in his office when young Wilson 
 returned from the visit to Miss Morgan. Something 
 oppressed the detective. " One of his inherited fits," 
 said the physician to himself. 
 
 He asked, " What's the trouble with you, Fred ?" 
 
 Young Wilson immediately replied, while a red flush 
 suddenly mounted to his brow, " Doctor ! I can hide 
 nothing from you. You are my only wise, strong, and 
 faithful friend. Fate has so far ruled me with an iron
 
 296 TALB OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 hand. I have till now hated every thing and every body, 
 from my childhood up ; and I know that I have been, 
 and that I now am, hated as horribly by every thing and 
 every body in return." 
 
 *' Because," said the doctor, " you have been supreme 
 ly selfish. " Love," he continued, " is a wonderful thrill 
 from the spirit of God. It is the joy, the hope', the life, 
 the happiness, the prayer, the mystery, the heavenly 
 miracle of the spirit. Therefore, Fred, love is divinely 
 unselfish the infinite joy of the pure in heart. Now, 
 boy, have you found something or somebody to regard 
 more tenderly and more faithfully than you regard 
 yourself." 
 
 Wilson related every thing just as it had happened. 
 Then he said, " Doctor ! I forget myself, my own miser 
 able existence, when I look into her eyes. Her presence 
 charms me like music." He spoke in hurried words and 
 looked extremely anxious as he went on : "A pure life 
 flows in her veins. She is strong in will and beautiful in 
 person. But," he added, thoughtfully and despairingly, 
 " She may deem and denounce me as unworthy, as I am ; 
 besides, she may wish to return to her home, because I 
 have no means of support." 
 
 The doctor kindly offered to take a journey to Syra 
 cuse in their behalf. He would carry an explanatory 
 and repentant letter from the daughter to her afflicted 
 parents. He could, he thought, gradually reconcile them 
 to the marriage of their daughter with his highly- 
 esteemed detective ; at least, he would gladly render 
 any assistance in his power, and pray with his whole 
 heart for their perfect happiness. 
 
 Suddenly, the young man's face beamed with the light 
 of a new existence. A grand, a beautiful hope burned 
 and blossomed on his pale cheeks. The doctor looked 
 at him in amazement. His fine, black eyes seemed to
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 297 
 
 reflect the sunshine of another world. "Oh ! the good 
 ness and greatness of God," exclaimed the doctor in the 
 silence of his own heart. " The holy miracle of love is 
 transforming the savage nature into an angel of truth 
 
 o o o 
 
 and beauty." 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " THE heart, the mind, the soul, the sense, 
 
 The being born of love divine, 
 Alone can penetrate the dense 
 And awful night of time." Bard. 
 
 O:sr the following day, at an earlier hour than usual, 
 Wilson called upon Miss Morgan and said with a har 
 monious and tender voice : 
 
 " I come early because I am not happy away from 
 you. Never before did I love any body or any thing. I 
 love you as I love music." 
 
 " You love me ! " she exclaimed, " you love me !" 
 
 They looked at one another for a moment ; then they 
 sprang together, heart to heart, as angel meets angel on 
 the shining shore. They stood still, breathing into each 
 other's soul the breath of life. Tears streamed from the 
 eyes of young Wilson and dropped like baptismal rain 
 upon the golden hair of his darling mate. 
 
 It was a long time before either could speak. At last 
 they seated themselves and commenced to talk of exist 
 ing circumstances and future plans. She was to write 
 immediately to her parents, and thus, through the doc 
 tor's great kindness, attempt a reconciliation. They 
 would have but a brief engagement. In a week or two 
 13*
 
 298 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 they would be married ; and as one, not two lives, they 
 would then set out on life's endless journey. 
 
 The next morning's steamer for Albany carried Doc 
 tor Du Bois on his mission of good-will. 
 
 Wilson's mind was severely agitated with a new prob 
 lem. How was he to provide and suitably furnish a 
 home ? Hour after hour he paced the doctor's office, en 
 deavoring to solve this perplexing question. 
 
 " One thing is clear," he said, " the love of that heart 
 is richer than diamonds but I want money to give her 
 materially every thing beautiful." He reflected for a 
 time, and then continued, "New-York is a centre of 
 wealth. Money is unjustly piled up mountain high by 
 mean and miserly men. They make mercantile and 
 financial webs like spiders ; in which they cunningly 
 catch the flies of fashion, and then drink all they can get 
 out of their victims. Thus every body is immersed in a 
 troubled sea of customary vices. Some, the most honest, 
 go under the surges of trade ; others, more witty, ride 
 the waves like pirates and smugglers. Now, I may 
 work away with good heart till doom's day and never ac 
 cumulate enough money to build the smallest cottage on 
 the cheapest land in New-Jersey. Meanwhile what will 
 become of the darling of my whole life ? I have been a 
 homeless wanderer from childhood ; shall she join me in 
 this gypsy style of vagabondism ? Dark destinies arise 
 along our path. O God ! why am I floating out into 
 this whirling abyss ? Fragments of my hope rush over 
 board every time I ship a sea. Why am I feeble while 
 so powerful ? Dragons ! the devils and I understand 
 this business, and I understand this business of making 
 money. How like a coward I hesitate ! Hell is my 
 home, and why do I try to live and breathe out of its hot 
 atmosphere. No ! I am resolved." 
 
 All that day and all the night, succeeding the doctor's
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 299 
 
 absence, Wilson devoted himself to preparing a key that 
 would open the iron cash-box under the doctor's writing 
 table. He succeeded at last, after working and filing 
 the whole night through. Just as the breakfast-bell 
 was sounded in the hotel, young Wilson became suddenly 
 wealthy, by possessing himself of Doctor Du Bois's large 
 packages of gold and silver and bank-notes, all which 
 he transferred to his own trunk. 
 
 Immediately after breakfast he hastened to visit his 
 beloved angel. With affection and veneration he kissed 
 her, and said, excitedly, 
 
 " Let's leave New- York and sail for Madrid." 
 
 " For Madrid, my darling ?" 
 
 "Exactly! Let's go and enjoy the world. Every 
 body goes to Europe when they've made or stolen money 
 enough to pay expenses. Now suppose you and I take 
 a big mouthful of fashionable life." 
 
 " What, dearest ! leave our young, fresh America, and 
 live in some old, stale, aristocratic country among stran 
 gers ?" 
 
 " Exactly ! Let's seek happiness by going from place 
 to place sailing in deep waters, and then drift 
 ing dreamily floating for a while, and then scudding 
 like clouds before the driving wind. Come ! let' s go at 
 once." 
 
 " So soon, darling ?" said she, lingeringly, and taking in 
 her hand the still fragrant flowers he had given her." 
 
 " Yes, why not ? Come, my angel ! for my sake do 
 not refuse," he said pleadingly. 
 
 Her affectionate heart, her very existence, her hopes 
 and aims, were wholly his ; and she replied consentingly, 
 " At any time, my darling ! To-night at daybreak 
 to-morrow at any hour you may name I will be packed 
 and ready." 
 
 He clapped his hands with delight, kissed her with
 
 300 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 great tenderness, and hastened away to make prepara 
 tions ; promising, as he went out, to return that very 
 evening and fix upon the happy hour when they would 
 be married and depart on their wedding tour over the 
 perilous sea. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 HE was her own, her ocean treasure, cast 
 
 Like a rich wreck her first love, and her last." Casket. 
 
 DOCTOR Du Bois's confidence in young Wilson's 
 honesty had been unbounded. They carried duplicate 
 keys to almost every thing in and about the office. 
 
 With his constitutional promptness and dispatch, 
 Wilson made all preparations for the voyage, even to en 
 gaging a comfortable room in the cabin of the steamer, 
 which was to sail at twelve on the morrow. He seemed 
 perfectly wild with excitement. Persons in and about 
 the hotel remarked the singular conduct of the physician's 
 handsome clerk. He detected this watching, and in 
 stantly checked his leaping and impetuous actions, and 
 became apparently calm. He concluded to wait until 
 morning before removing his trunks. He was weary 
 from want of sleep, and overwhelmed with a kind of 
 paralyzing fear that his plans would miscarry. In this 
 condition he hastened to his beautiful ange-1. She was 
 just in earnest conversation with a lady visitor ; so 
 Wilson, unobserved by either, stepped into an adjoining 
 room and quietly seated himself on the lounge and heard 
 every thing that passed between them. Madam Nelson, 
 whose face Wilson had not once seen, notwithstanding his
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 301 
 
 frequent visits during the past two weeks, was speak 
 ing : 
 
 " Believe me, my dear Miss Morgan, these men are 
 never to be trusted." 
 
 "I trust one man," said the girl, tremulously but 
 firmly. 
 
 "Trust no man, my dear; for he is certain to forsake 
 you ; he will carry you into the darkness, and then slink 
 away and disappear like a shadow." 
 
 " O madam !" she sadly exclaimed, " I can not, can not 
 doubt him! He has given me his word of honor and 
 his love." 
 
 " A man's honor and a man's love, my dear," replied 
 madam, disdainfully and bitterly, " are not worth a 
 breath of wholesome morning air." 
 
 The poor girl began to weep bitterly. " It is horrible, 
 madam ! " she cried. " Your words frighten me dread 
 fully." 
 
 " Man's inhumanity to woman," said madam, " makes 
 millions of hearts bleed with unspeakable misery. But," 
 she added emphatically, " / defy and hate all men alike. 
 No man can control me, or impose upon any body in my 
 house. If you, my dear, stay with me, you shall be 
 treated and cared for like every other beautiful girl in 
 my establishment." 
 
 Fred Wilson heard this suggestion with dismay and 
 indignation. " My God !" he mentally exclaimed, " that 
 woman uses to my angel the very words I have uttered 
 a thousand times about all living women and men." He 
 shuddered and recoiled from the horrible feelings which 
 floated in the storm of his thoughts. 
 
 " I will go with him any-where ! everywhere !" said 
 the young girl, sweetly and firmly. 
 
 "Suppose he goes to hell?" asked the woman an 
 grily.
 
 302 A TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 " Then," she replied, "I, too, will go to hell ! Madam !" 
 she continued, " I will live and die with the man I love." 
 
 " Would to God," said Madam Nelson, mournfully, 
 "would to God, my dear, that there were a man on 
 earth worthy of so much pure devotion !" 
 
 " O God !" silently sighed young Wilson, despair 
 ingly, " I know that I am not worthy of that angel's 
 love." He was miserable ! Horrible memories of re 
 mote and recent robberies crowded like demons upon 
 his crazed and aching brain. Thoughts of his own 
 hateful unworthiness oppressed his spirit into deepest an 
 guish. 
 
 He heard no more conversation. But he could hear 
 the pattering feet and busy hands of his angel making 
 preparations for the sea-voyage. Going out upon the 
 stormy ocean with a man who had robbed his best friend 
 and benefactor ! This reflection overwhelmed him. 
 Presently, however, he heard the voice of a sweet singer. 
 It was in the house, and on the same floor, at the oppo 
 site end of the hall. He opened his door a little more to let 
 the sti'ains float into his room. He listened with breath 
 less Attention. "My God ! my God !" he groaned to him 
 self. " I have been all my life waiting for this very mo 
 ment." His soul experienced a sudden rectification. A 
 new spirit seemed to enter him as by magic. He wept 
 and inwardly thanked God. The thrilling vibrations of 
 the harp accompaniment filled his soul with ecstatic de 
 light. The sweet, soft angelic voice so plaintive so 
 wailing so sorrow-stricken so healing so penetrating 
 so infinitely despairing so full of angel's wings so 
 tearfully pleading so imploring so mysteriously di 
 vine ! He became a new man ! Oh ! how many, many 
 years he had been waiting for this new birth ! 
 
 Cautiously he stole on tip-toe along the richly carpet 
 ed hall to the door of the chamber whence emanated that
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 303 
 
 heavenly voice. He distinctly saw her. It was Madame 
 Nelson ! The lady from whom, when a mere boy, under 
 the guidance of Captain Nelson, he had stolen the box of 
 diamonds ! 
 
 He bowed his head and groaned with indescribable 
 anguish. He felt that his physical strength was rapidly 
 failing. Hurriedly he retraced his steps. He prostrated 
 himself on the lounge in utter helplessness. Darkness 
 quickly gathered upon every thing. All sounds of the 
 world receded. He swooned away into deep uncon 
 sciousness. 
 
 When he came to himself he was stretched upon his 
 own bed in the office of Doctor Du Bois. He had return 
 ed in his somnambulic condition. His trance had con 
 tinued many hours. He was alone ! His first thoughts 
 were concerning the packages of gold and silver and 
 bank-notes he had stolen from his benefactor. Hastily, 
 but with the utmost care, he transferred every package 
 from his trunk to its own place in the iron box, which he 
 immediately locked with the key he had worked so long 
 to make. He took a hammer and a chisel and pounded 
 the key into the smallest fragments. Then falling upon 
 his knees, he exclaimed " O my God ! O holy angels ! 
 I thank thee ! I thank thee ! I thank thee ! " 
 
 While he was thus thanking Heaven for his deliver 
 ance from evil, the noble doctor arrived. 
 
 " Ah Fred ! " said the physician cheerfully, " I expect 
 ed to find you praying for my success. Your prayer is 
 answered, my boy ! I bring with me a letter of full 
 pardon from both father and mother ! It was an appall 
 ing sorrow to the doting mother; and the father, too, 
 deemed his daughter's conduct a bitter and a monstrous 
 thing ; but, as I anticipated, they were only too glad to 
 receive intelligence that no harm had befallen the run 
 away girl. Arise, therefore, young man ! you have at
 
 304 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 last found an angel of love ! Now may you with her 
 enter in. at the strait gate of purity and happiness!" 
 
 No words can describe the feelings, many and con 
 flicting, which filled the breast of young detective Wil 
 son. .He wept like a child. He was thankful for so 
 much more than he dared confide to the now beloved 
 physician. But one thing, however, he did disclose, in 
 these words, " O doctor ! I have heard the music which 
 has been my dream, both sleeping and waking, since my 
 earliest recollection." 
 
 "A childish dream actualized, eh?" said the phy 
 sician. 
 
 " Wonderful music ! " exclaimed Fred, half suffocated 
 with indescribable emotion. " And to-morrow, doctor, 
 you shall accompany me to see the lady whom from this 
 hour, I must call my soul's redeemer." 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " TIIE tooth of Time 
 
 Has ground the marble sculptures to rude forms, 
 Such as the falling waters eat from rocks 
 In the deep gloom of caves." Percival. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after breakfast on the following morning 
 the physician and his assistant seated themselves in the 
 office to enjoy a season of most earnest conversation. 
 
 " Come," said the doctor, " describe to me, if you pos 
 sibly can, the singing of that sweet-voiced lady ; and de 
 scribe also how it affected you." 
 
 Young Wilson's eyes immediately filled with tears. 
 " With hushed breath," at last he said, " and with palpi 
 tating heart, sir, I listened to the wonderful strains. O 
 sir ! I have no words with which to tell you what it did
 
 REAPING THB FRUITS OF CRIME. 305 
 
 for me. I seemed like a wicked wanderer on some wave- 
 beaten shore, heart-sick and weary of existence, when 
 lo ! suddenly, the fearful loveliness of heaven's broad 
 beautiful field seemed to open upon my vision. A fair- 
 handed and beautiful-faced woman appeared in ttte sky, 
 dressed in purest virgin white, singing ; and there was 
 in her right hand a simple flower, which she extended 
 toward me, and at the same moment the music of her 
 song seemed to burst through my hateful bosom; it 
 touched and unfolded, with its bright magical waves, a 
 new existence in me ; and instantly, sir, I bent low my 
 proud head and worshiped her as God's messenger of 
 love and salvation to universal mankind. O sir ! " he 
 continued, wavering and trembling like a girl, with heart 
 felt emotion, " I have no words no words to tell you 
 all that happened. As soon as I devoutly worshiped, 
 sir, all nature immediately became beautiful, and unnum 
 bered strains of slow, sweet music seemed to drop like 
 gentlest spring rains upon the black wilderness of human, 
 savage sinners. Then, suddenly, sir, every body, and 
 every thing began to breathe forth infinite purities and 
 delicacies, and the whole round world seemed to bloom 
 with endless beauty; and, sir, while listening and look 
 ing thus, my hateful strength began to stream out of me 
 like poisonous vapors, and as fast as it went out I felt a 
 heavenly gentleness and a delicate tenderness pervading 
 my existence ; and then, sir, a mysterious fainting came 
 upon me, and I felt like floating up into the sky very 
 near to the beautiful woman ; and just as I felt that I 
 was going out of the body and out of my wickedness to 
 where she stood, I suddenly recognized in her my own 
 mother! She seemed to be a loving-hearted friend, a 
 comforter, a consoler, an angel of goodness ! But, sir, 
 as soon as I knew that she was my own mother, and 
 that it was she who had been singing the song I had
 
 306 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 longed to hear from my earliest childhood, my heart 
 seemed to stop beating, and I thought that I groaned 
 aloud, thanked God, and suddenly died!" 
 
 " My God ! " exclaimed the doctor in great agony, 
 " She is dead ! This revelation is like tearing the heart 
 from my bosom ! " 
 
 Naturally, Wilson was astounded at the noble man's 
 expression. He bent forward to embrace his benefac 
 tor. But the sharp rapping of the hotel-servant on the 
 door suddenly checked further conversation. 
 
 " Gone ! " said the doctor, in a voice of the deepest 
 bereavement. " Gone ! leaving me in a wild and bois 
 terous world. Gone ! the lovely lady of heavenly treas 
 ures. Gone ! leaving me a lone rock in this deep sea of 
 human sorrow." 
 
 The servant announced Lawyer Ruggleston and a 
 police-officer. 
 
 " Captain John Nelson is arrested," said the lawyer, 
 addressing Doctor DuBois. 
 
 " Ah, monsieur ! you bring startling news. How did 
 it happen ?" 
 
 "He was arrested," the lawyer replied, "yesterday 
 morning, for shooting and instantly killing the police 
 man O'Conners, one of the most faithful and efficient 
 officers on the force in this city." 
 
 " Ah ! can you relate any of the details ? " 
 
 " Several witnesses," replied the lawyer, " testified be 
 fore the coroner's inquest to seeing the prisoner in com 
 pany with a tall, slim man, with a smooth red face and 
 a sandy mustache, dressed in the United States militia 
 uniform, and lurking in the area of an uptown residence 
 very early yesterday morning. Witnesses thought the 
 men were drunk, and paid no further attention to them. 
 But suddenly hearing a pistol-shot they looked and saw 
 a respectable citizen prostrated on the sidewalk, welter-
 
 KEAPINQ THE FRUITS OF CKIME. 307 
 
 ing in his blood, and at the same moment they saw the 
 two men running east toward the Bowery, and two 
 policemen after them. The tall, slim soldier jumped 
 over a fence and suddenly disappeared. But Nelson kept 
 to the street and fled rapidly. Seeing he was about to 
 be captured, the prisoner halted, drew his pistols, and 
 kept the policemen at bay by threatening to murder 
 them instantly. They fired twice at him, but without 
 wounding him seriously. Then he ran into the Bowery 
 and jumped into a doorway which happened to be lock 
 ed. A large crowd had now collected. The prisoner 
 swore he would not surrender. It was a desperate job 
 for the officers, for they wanted to take the murderer 
 alive. An Irishman seized a sled-stake and gave him a 
 heavy blow across the legs. Still he stood up and stub 
 bornly refused to yield, and compelling the police to keep 
 their distance by threatening to shoot the first man who 
 touched him. At that fatal moment the brave O'Con- 
 ners rushed up and seized the prisoner by both arms. 
 Bu4 the officer dropped dead upon the stones the very 
 next moment, having received a ball from Nelson's pis 
 tol through his heart." 
 
 " Very well, very well," replied the doctor, calmly : 
 " can either of us assist you or the prisoner ?" 
 
 Young Wilson, strange to say, manifested not the 
 least of his former terrible fierceness whenever Nelson's 
 name was mentioned in his presence. 
 
 " The next five days," said Mr. Ruggleston, "will 
 undoubtedly be very interesting to you, who are study 
 ing into the causes of crime. Therefore I advise you 
 to attend the legal investigations in the case of this re 
 markable prisoner." 
 
 Wilson hastened to his angel at the establishment of 
 Madame Palfry. He was delighted to place in her hand 
 the letter of pardon from her parents. He explained
 
 308 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 every thing to her, engaged and paid for board for anoth 
 er week, and then hurried back to attend the trial of 
 Captain Nelson. 
 
 The prisoner sat where the doctor and his assistant 
 could plainly see his stern brow, his burning eye, his 
 quivering lips, and the fiendish expression of baffled ven 
 geance, which imparted a terrible grimace to his once 
 handsome countenance. Lawyer Stryker, whom Nelson 
 had engaged as counsel, was carefully noting evidence 
 with a view to an argument for defense. There was an 
 unnatural indifference manifested by the prisoner. But 
 every other person in that crowded assembly was affect 
 ed to the highest pitch of excitement by the cold-blood 
 ed tragedy. The evidence against Nelson was clear and 
 positive, and his able counsel himself seemed overwhelm 
 ed with the horrible developments. 
 
 Suddenly the prisoner sprang to his feet. For the in 
 stant he looked calm and grand as a great king in cap 
 tivity. " Dragons ! " he fiercely exclaimed, " would ye 
 plunge your daggers into the bosom of your ch^2f? 
 Would ye kill the master-devil in your sheltering hell ? 
 Look here ! " he cried with terrible energy, tearing apart 
 his garments and baring his bosom to the spectators, and 
 pointing his trembling finger at the bleeding wound 
 made years before by the outraged lady. " Look here ! 
 the devil is sucking my blood. Let him drink ! Ha, ha, 
 ha ! Let the thirsty devil drink ! " His frenzied and hor 
 rible eyes looked at the judges, lawyers, witnesses, and 
 then proudly, defiantly he surveyed the assembled citi 
 zens. " What ! " lie shouted, " would ye murder a chief 
 dragon ! assassinate a descendant of the invincible Span 
 ish warrior and hellish libertine, Don Huara Marigny ! 
 Would ye degrade a man who had a he-devil for a father 
 and a she-devil for a mother ! What ! kill the sole heir 
 to the rich Spanish estates of old Carmo Del Aragoni,
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 309 
 
 whose royal name I bear ! Stand back, dragons ! back, I 
 say ! " 
 
 Then on the instant, and with the spring of a panther, 
 the prisoner jumped over the railing and ran furiously 
 toward the door. But the crowd impeded his flight and 
 quickly bound him hand and foot. 
 
 " Spare him !" said Wilson, with true pity in his 
 voice. " Spare him ! O doctor ! my noble benefactor ! 
 can you not prescribe a remedy for him ?" 
 
 " My dear young man," replied the physician, with 
 deep emotion mingled with amazement at the revelation 
 the prisoner had made, " the captain is hopelessly in 
 sane ! He has been," continued the doctor, " from birth 
 affected with a filial madness and a moral perversion, 
 which were continually manifested in his extraordinary 
 criminal conduct through life ; but now the madness of 
 the affections and the perversion of the moral faculties 
 have culminated in an intellectual derangement of the 
 most violent, hopeless, and enduring type." 
 
 The doctor's diagnosis of his case was complete. And 
 so Captain Nelson, whose real name he had disclosed in 
 his raving, was conveyed to the New-York Asylum. 
 The hemorrhage in his bosom was stopped, but his hor 
 rible symptoms and paroxysms increased in violence. 
 Behold him, O reader ! Chiaruggi's description, applied 
 to the poor fellow's condition, is not overdrawn : 
 
 " We are struck by impetuous, audacious, shameless, 
 habits ; a bold, menacing aspect ; the skin presents a slaty 
 color; the forehead contracted ; the eyebrows drawn up ; 
 the hair bristled ; the breathing hurried. The counte 
 nance begins to glow ; the eyes become fiery and spark 
 ling ; the looks are wandering, and scarcely ever fixed ; 
 the eyelids are by turns drawn widely open and close, 
 ly shut ; the eyeballs are prominent, as if pushed for 
 ward out of the orbits. With this wild and menacing
 
 310 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 appearance are combined a patient endurance of hunger 
 and a remarkable insensibility of cold. If sleep visits the 
 patient at all, it is short, unquiet, and easily disturbed. 
 In the second stage, anger, violence, and the loss of 
 reason manifest themselves in their greatest intensity ; 
 shrieking, roaring, raging, abusive expressions and con 
 duct toward the dearest friends and the nearest rela 
 tions, who are now looked upon as the bitterest enemies. 
 The patient tears his clothes to tatters, destroys, breaks 
 in pieces whatever comes in his way. A striking and 
 characteristic circumstance is the propensity to go quite 
 naked. Whoever touches the patient is abused or 
 struck by him. Strange, confused ideas, absurd preju 
 dices occupy his mind. Stillness soon follows, or a mur 
 muring sound, as if the patient were alone : on the other 
 hand, when he is alone, talking and gesticulating as if 
 he were in company. 
 
 " If individuals (with this type of insanity) are con 
 fined and tied during the height of their paroxysms, for 
 their own security or that of others, nothing can bo 
 compared to the truly satanical expression which their 
 countenances display. In this state they throw hastily 
 away, with cries and shrieks, all the food presented to 
 them, except fluids, which thirst compels them to re 
 ceive. When, after some days, hunger begins to be felt, 
 they swallow every thing with brutal greediness ; they 
 . even devour, as it has often been observed, their own 
 excrements, which, black and offensive, escape from them 
 in great quantity, or smear with them clothes, beds, and 
 Avails. 
 
 " Notwithstanding his constant exertion of mind and 
 body, the muscular strength of the patient seems daily 
 to increase; he is able to break the strongest bonds, and 
 even chains ; his limbs seem to acquire a remarkable 
 nimbleness and pliability, and a singular aptitude of per-
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 311 
 
 forming movements and actions which appear almost 
 supernatural. 
 
 " It has often been observed that maniacal patients of 
 this description are never attacked by any epidemic, and 
 are seldom affected by any contagious malady. Accord 
 ing to Mead and many others, even consumptive dis 
 orders, dropsies, and other chronic maladies, have disap 
 peared on the accession of violent insanity. When 
 patients are not freed from the disease after a succession 
 of attacks, which come on like so many paroxysms of 
 fever, one or other of the following events ensues : 
 either the powers of mind are exhausted to that degree 
 that the disease subsides into a permanent fatuity ; or 
 this appearance of fatuity is only a space of calmness in 
 terposed between relapses of violent madness, which 
 now and then break out, like the eruptions of a volcano, 
 after a long period of repose ; or the patient falls into a 
 state of melancholy, or of complete mental confusion ; 
 or finally, his madness becomes chronical, and he scarce 
 ly recovers from this condition, in which sense and un 
 derstanding appear to be lost in incoherence. Chiarug- 
 gi saAV a woman who had sat during twenty-five years 
 on a stone floor, in a fearfully demented state, beating 
 the ground with her chains without ceasing by day or 
 by night." 
 
 Thus sadly rolls down the red curtain upon one of the 
 most remarkable embodiments of hereditary hate and 
 therefore inborn love of crime ; which horrible inversion 
 of naturally noble mental power, and which incurable 
 perversion of tender affections and moral feelings, might 
 have been prevented, according to the doctor's theory, 
 by his parents at the inception and during the utero- 
 development of his life ; but taking his case as it was, 
 the doctor maintained that his virulent nature could 
 have been greatly modified by the judicious kindness 1>f 
 his more fortunate fellow-men.
 
 312 TALK OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " HE who plants within our hearts 
 
 All this deep affection, 
 Giving when the form departs 
 
 Fadeless recollection, 
 Will but clasp the unbroken chain 
 Closer when we meet again." Stowe. 
 
 ALTHOUGH young Wilson had told the doctor every 
 thing concerning his first acquaintance and subsequent 
 marriage engagement with Miss Mary Morgan, yet he 
 had for some reason best known to himself concealed 
 the startling fact that she, his own darling mate, was 
 boarding at Nell Palfry's notorious establishment. Was 
 it possible ? Could any single person ever have his or 
 her true counterpai't sojourning in the very heart of 
 temptation, dissipation, and sin? 
 
 It was long after dark, however, before they set out to 
 gether to call upon Fred's beloved angel. They went 
 also to see the lady, the breath of whose song had float 
 ed so far on high, and which had so changed and satis 
 fied Wilson's strange disposition. 
 
 They were readily admitted to the brilliant saloon. 
 Its splendid allurements and free festivities were most 
 apparent. The doctor was immeasurably astonished. 
 In fact, he was on the instant half-inclined to be angry 
 with Wilson, for immediately he discovered the cour 
 tesan and libertine character of the gorgeous institution. 
 
 " And yet," said he to himself, " I should not be 
 narrow and blind. I must study and sympathize with 
 human life in all its forms and manifestations." 
 
 Thus he calmed himself. After walking leisurely
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 313 
 
 through all the apartments, so splendidly furnished with 
 every desirable luxury, and so filled and animated with 
 well-dressed gentlemen and brilliantly decorated young 
 ladies, they proceeded to Miss Morgan's private room. 
 
 While going up the broad staircase, so luxuriously 
 carpeted, they heard a sudden cry of pain. Several 
 girls rushed toward Madame Palfry's chamber. They 
 screamed with fright. One of them ran out into the hall 
 calling aloud for any body who was a physician. Doctor 
 Du Bois politely offered his medical services. Leaving 
 Wilson, he went immediately to. the patient. It was 
 Madame Palfry herself, who had suddenly fallen in a 
 swoon, and looked like one dead upon the floor. The 
 terrified girls loosened her dress, bathed her forehead 
 and temples, meanwhile crying over her, and kissing and 
 caressing her, like so many frightened children gathered 
 around their dying mother. As soon, however, as the 
 doctor could gain access to her he administered a homeo 
 pathic remedy, and immediately commenced to magnet 
 ize her in his usual graceful and tranquilizing manner. 
 He was at once impressed with her great personal beau 
 ty. There was a something in the expression of her fair 
 face which affected him almost supernaturally. Still he 
 continued his manipulations, and strove not to neglect 
 his duty as her physician. But the swoon was pro 
 tracted, and many of her symptoms seemed unfavorable. 
 Presently, however, her breathing became apparent, and 
 while the doctor was making the healing passes over 
 her head and face, she suddenly exclaimed 
 
 " O good doctor ! where were you when I suffered ? 
 Why did you not come when my heart was breaking ?" 
 
 "My God!" cried the physician: ''Sophia del Ara- 
 goni /" 
 
 He was indescribably overwhelmed, and seemed about 
 to fall like one stricken down by a thunderbolt. But 
 14
 
 314 . TALE OF A PHYSICIAN 
 
 in the presence of so many spectators he was forced in 
 to self-possession. 
 
 Again, in a voice scarcely audible, she spoke : 
 
 " Oh ! that you had come before I had crushed all good 
 ness out of my heart !" 
 
 " Sophia ! my darling !" said the extremely agitated 
 doctor, whisperingly, so that the anxious, listening girls 
 who were grouping around the lady could not hear " My 
 angel ! I am now here to save you, and to take you out of 
 all sorrow." 
 
 The pulsations of her heart became suddenly violent, 
 as though a great pain was grappling with and threat 
 ening her very life. Her breath came quick and fre 
 quent, like one running in a dream to escape the devour 
 ing jaws of some appalling monster. 
 
 After a little time she again swooned down into that 
 solemn stillness which often heralds the rapid approach 
 of death. 
 
 Her death-like entrancement and unconsciousness per 
 sistently continued. Doctor Du Bois, however, com 
 prehended her condition perfectly. He became calm 
 and happy beyond expression. He immediately quieted 
 the apprehensions of those who had gathered lovingly 
 about her. 
 
 " Young ladies," he professionally said, " as her phy 
 sician I am constrained to enforce entire stillness in this 
 chamber. Leave the patient in my charge, therefore ; 
 and should assistance be required, I will forthwith apprise 
 you by ringing the bell." They unhesitatingly obeyed. 
 He was thus left alone with the idol of his manly and 
 long-watting heart. 
 
 He heard arising from the saloons the rollicking mer 
 riment and sinful entertainments of the renowned palace 
 of pleasure. 
 
 A great and final trial of conjugal love had now come
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 315 
 
 to him. Should he recoil ffora the cherished but fallen 
 angel ? Should he turn away and abandon her forever ? 
 How had she arrived, step by step, through all inherited 
 struggles and through all the manifold temptations of a 
 changeful life, to this horrible dwelling of vice and de 
 struction ? What oppression of want, what desolation 
 of heart, what wreck of hope, what uncontrollable pas 
 sion was it that had changed the lovely Creole beauty, 
 with her grand, elevated, sublime spirit, into this bril 
 liant Aspasia of unmixed iniquity and wretchedness ? 
 His conflicting and miserable thoughts his painful and 
 searching questionings have been thus faithfully em 
 bodied v 
 
 " On her chain of life is rust, 
 On her spirit- wing is dust ; 
 She hath let the spoiler in, 
 She hath mated her with sin, . 
 She hath opened wide the door, 
 Crime has passed the threshold o'er. 
 Wherefore has she gone astray ? 
 Stood Temptation in her way, 
 With its eyes so glittering bright, 
 Clothed in angel robes of white ? 
 
 " Pause ! her story soon is told : 
 Once a lamb within the fold, 
 Stranger voices lured her thence, 
 In her spotless innocence. 
 Woe ! she had not strength to keep 
 With the Shepherd of the sheep ; 
 For the fleece, so spotless white, 
 Hence became the hue of night, 
 And she stood in her despair, 
 Bleating for the Shepherd's care. 
 
 " Woe ! that none might lead her back 
 From the bloodhounds on her track. 
 Hunger prowled about her path,
 
 316 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN-. 
 
 With a wild hyena laugh ; 
 Scorn came leaping from its lair, 
 With defiant growl and stare : 
 And she grappled, all in vain, 
 With the fangs of Want and Pain : 
 Hope and Mercy shut the gate 
 On this heart so desolate. 
 
 " So she turned again to Sin ! 
 What had she to lose or win ? 
 Resting on her life a stain 
 Deeper than the brand of Cain, 
 Heard she not a pitying tone ? 
 Weeping in her shame alone ? 
 Was there not a human heart 
 In her anguish bore a part ? 
 None to hold a beacon light 
 Up before her darkened sight ? 
 
 " No : the altar was not there, 
 For a canting priesthood's prayer ; 
 ' She hath fallen! let her die,' 
 Said the Levite passing by. 
 So she turned again to Sin 
 What had she to lose or win ?" 
 
 These terrifying questions, these half rebellious 
 thoughts and half forgiving feelings, struggled with the 
 soft yet powerful pleadings of immortal love, which glow 
 ed and bloomed in the manly bosom of good Doctor Du 
 Bois. 
 
 He arose and cautiously approached the beautiful pa 
 tient. He contemplated her with a heart-agony no words 
 can express. He saw a holy light, and through it re 
 ceived a new revelation. He saw prostrated before him 
 a noble, sensitive, intelligent spirit. It was perfectly con 
 scious of its own weaknesses and consequent misfortunes. 
 Yet aspiration and hope lingered, and beamed upon her 
 deathly-pale countenance. He saw that there was a fade-
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 317 
 
 less beauty in her nature a hidden, celestial attraction, 
 which no sin of accident or passion had touched. He 
 was inexpressibly charmed. A sublime mystery floated 
 out from her soul into his. It glimmered beautifully 
 upon the hopeless and tempest-rocked sea of sorrowing 
 and despairing affection. It shone upon his heart with 
 the holy light of anew world in the distant, starry heavens. 
 A celestial, loving light trembled upon her closed and 
 sleeping eyelids. It entered his most interior existence. 
 It illuminated the beautiful memories and lovely dreams 
 of long-vanished years. A bewildering beauty gleamed 
 from her being. And from her sweet lips a prayer float 
 ed out like heavenly music, soft and low ; it sounded in 
 the temple of his love, 
 
 " Like the rushing of waves o'er the distant sea, 
 Or the wind's hushed breath o'er the flowery lea." 
 
 What did he receive from her ? Ah ! she, whom all the 
 world had long condemned and shunned, had brought to 
 him a fulfillment of all his sacred dreams a revelation of 
 pure, infinite love, which lifts the heart, and carries its 
 imperishable treasures over and beyond all ephemeral 
 circumstances; a love which triumphs over all the crimes 
 of fleeting passions, which survives all the perversions 
 that arise from the accidents of birth, and life, and death 
 infinite love, shining from God through her white face 
 into the long-closed chambers of his faithful heart. " O 
 God ! " he silently said, " I thank thee that my bodily life 
 has been preserved so long, and that my spirit has been 
 faithful to the fixed and unalterable laws of love." 
 
 Suddenly the patient groaned. She clasped her hands 
 upon her bosom. In whisper-tones she prayed, but in the 
 lan^uao-e of her Catholic education : 
 
 O O 
 
 " O our Father who art in heaven ! O blessed Virgin 
 Mother of Jesus Christ ! O our Mediator and Advo- 
 14*
 
 318 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 cate ! O holy Angels of light ! receive the thanks of my 
 grateful heart for the bestowment of this precious trea 
 sure the love of my own darling husband. These vain 
 amusements, these sinful entertainments, these oifensive 
 diversions, thanks to thee, O our Father ! have not enter 
 ed, have not overthrown and destroyed, the sanctuary of 
 my inner and true life. I am saved ! saved ! " 
 
 Immediately her breathing became short and quick, 
 and a profound swoon instantly supervened. It contin 
 ued for more than an hour, notwithstanding the doctor's 
 persistent efforts, by means of the magnetic passes, to re 
 store her circulation and sensibility. At last, however, 
 she returned perfectly to her normal consciousness. At 
 once she raised herself to a sitting posture and commen 
 ced looking inquiringly around the room. Then she 
 gazed straight into the honest eyes of the polite and mod 
 est physician. 
 
 " Sir !" she demanded half angrily, " who are you ? " 
 
 " Sophia del Aragoui !" he said, trembling with min 
 gling joy and tenderness, " I am your own friend, Doctor 
 La Force Du Bois ! " 
 
 With a sudden cry of passionate joy, she sprang into 
 his arms. Heart to heart, soul to soul, as angels, long 
 separated, meet and embrace in the imperishable homes 
 of heaven. 
 
 " My darling ! " " My darling ! " both exclaimed at the 
 same joyful moment. Then whole hours rushed by with 
 the speed of seconds to the happy companions of an eter 
 nal life.
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 319 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " WKAPPED in the silence of the brooding night, 
 
 The mortal, on his pillow calmly sleeping, 
 Sees not the band of angels, clad in light, 
 
 Around his couch their tireless vigil keeping. 
 Perchance his thought flies wildly high and far, 
 
 A thousand shadowy forms his sense deceiving, 
 But in the woof of all his fancy there, 
 
 A golden thread that angel-band are weaving." Unknown. 
 
 WONDROUS changes wore rapidly wrought in the pal 
 ace of pleasure and in the hearts of pain. 
 
 On the following morning, the glad-hearted and beau 
 tiful woman, who was not yet beyond the prime of physi 
 cal life, called her large family of girls together and ad 
 dressed them, substantially, thus : 
 
 "A great happiness has come to me, dear girls! and 
 yet I have a great misery throbbing in my heart. My 
 own true husband, whom I love and worship as my sav 
 iour, has come ; and I am going home to live with him, 
 and to lead henceforth a life of 1 charity and good- will to 
 all under (Gi-od's heavens. 
 
 " But, my dear homeless girls ! my own stricken sis 
 ters ! what will become of you ? This thought fills my 
 heart with intense misery. 
 
 " Alas ! I see too plainly your looks of unutterable dis 
 tress the fountain of tears within your sad and anxious 
 faces, wasting so rapidly away under the consuming fires 
 of dissipation and despair. 
 
 " Girls ! with a bursting heart I confess to Heaven that 
 I have taught you yes, almost forced you to hate 
 each man, and all men, alike. I have without mercy 
 mocked at your yearnings and strivings to gain the pos-
 
 320 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 session of one faithful, manly, human heart to lean upon 
 through life. All your foolish individual jealousies, aris 
 ing, as all jealousy naturally does arise, from this exclu 
 sive, pure prompting of the lone heart to be adored and 
 loved above every other I have steadily and mercilessly 
 condemned. In the sight of our heavenly Father, and 
 before the holy angels assembled around his throne, I 
 confess my sins and humbly pray for pardon and forgive 
 ness. 
 
 " For now, O my darling sisters ! I behold and taste 
 the bitter fruits of my crime. Sorrowfully, regretfully, 
 with my bosom oppressed Avith a wordless agony, I see 
 you all lying around me like wounded and dying soldiers 
 defeated in an unequal battle of a false life with men. 
 God in heaven knows that I, too, years ago have longed 
 and prayed, both day and night, for a sheltering home 
 for my boundless and all too passionate love. I yearned, 
 as every true woman yearns, for the exclusive possession 
 of one true, noble, unchangeable, manly heart at once a 
 home, an anchor, a shelter, and a salvation. Alas ! it 
 came not then ; and then I resolved to live indepen 
 dently and defiantly all my life. 
 
 " But now my earnest prayer is answered. He has 
 come! O joy, joy is mine ! My own true deathless dar 
 ling has come ! And very soon we are to sail away to 
 gether to establish ourselves in a home of love and happi 
 ness. We leave in a few days for grand old mother 
 Spain ; the great and powerful country of my long de 
 parted ancestors. 
 
 " Now, oh ! now comes my pain, my grief the misery of 
 the fruits of my crime! Home and a true heart are mine J 
 But, O my sisters ! you can not go with us we shall not 
 meet again in this world the hour of parting has struck. 
 Now, where can you go ? Must I leave you to live a per 
 petually dying life ? Is there no hope, no heart, no home
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 321 
 
 for each of you ? Oh ! thank merciful Heaven ! You need 
 not despair ; you may turn away, and live. You have 
 bodily health, you have personal beauty, you have loving 
 hearts, (if you will but overcome the feelings of hate and 
 enmity you have cherished,) and, oh! believe me ! each of 
 you may henceforth live, and you know you ought to 
 live, a true and useful, if not contented and happy life. 
 And it is my belief, my darling sisters ! that each of you 
 should, and therefore that in the future each one will, 
 be a good and beautiful companion to a pure and noble 
 gentleman. 
 
 "But here, and now, girls, you should not, need not, 
 despair. You can each cheer the home of some faithful, 
 honest man ; and thus give your life to usefulness and 
 works of good will. Do good, without selfishness, for 
 ^ourselves, my darlings ! Walk in the right path, and 
 die in it, if need be ; then the good Father of all will 
 protect and bless you. The bitter slights and scornful 
 repulses of so-called Christians you need not notice. No, 
 no ! Immediately you can leave this corrupting city. 
 You can commence to unfold a better life among stran 
 gers. I will give you each a start. You, who have been 
 long with me, shall this day each receive one thousand 
 dollars ; and five hundred dollars, with a God-bless-you, 
 shall be placed in the hands of each of the others. 
 
 " Go, therefore, my darling sisters ! Go, far away into 
 the great West into new towns and villages, on this, 
 young republican continent ; learn useful trades ; open 
 stores in distant cities where you will not be known ; do 
 some good deed under all circumstances, and thus by the 
 help of Almighty God, and with the blessings of his holy 
 angels, you shall prosper. You shall come out of the fire 
 of this sin as bright and as pure as Divine Love itself. 
 
 " O this painful, parting hour ! And yet, oh ! the joy of 
 this, the proudest, the happiest moment of my dark,
 
 322 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 dreary life. Yes, oh ! believe me ! my heart is overflow 
 ing with tears of sympathy for you, my unhappy, home 
 less darlings ! My own miserable children ! My own 
 unfortunate, despairing sisters ! No, no, despair not ! 
 Weep not ! but turn and live. I promise you that the 
 roses on your cheeks shall not fade, if you will but go 
 forth cheerfully, and live pure and useful lives. But, O 
 my yet too hopeless sisters ! if you heed not my parting 
 counsel if you plunge forward again into the wrathful 
 streams of this consuming evil oh ! then, my darlings ! 
 you will sink yes, I know too well you will sink be 
 neath the angry waves you will go down, down, down 
 into paleness, into black despair, and into everlasting- 
 death dying miserably into death in a few short years 
 the same as ships, once proud and beautiful, go sud 
 denly down in midnight storms unknown, unpitied, am^ 
 soon remembered no more." 
 
 sic :}: % % :Jc % 
 
 On that very day the saved and happy lady gave to 
 each girl the exact sum of money which she had prom 
 ised; and immediately the gorgeous establishment of 
 Madame Nelson, so long known and celebrated by the 
 pleasure-seekers of New-York, was closed forever. A 
 lai'ge sum was realized from the auction sales of the 
 princely accumulations of the rich and lavish pro- 
 prietoress. 
 
 Then Doctor Du Bois handed to his beloved Sophia 
 Captain Aragoni's last two letters, which had been care 
 fully preserved twenty years in the physician's strong 
 iron box. She, at first, recoiled from them. At length, 
 however, she consented to read their contents, as 
 follows: 
 
 MILITARY PRISON, NEW ORLEANS, 
 
 November, 1820. 
 DEAR Miss SOPHIA MARIGNY : 
 
 I am not worthy of you, and you shall not be insulted with the
 
 HEAPING THE FEUITS OF CRIME. 323 
 
 stigma of my name. Life appals me now, since you know, by the 
 exercise of some supernatural power, that I have assassinated or 
 thought I did my own mother's son by your father's libidinous 
 brother ; and for no other motive than to procure the immense 
 estates within the walls of Madrid, which, by his father's last will, 
 belonged to him during his life-time and then came to me and my 
 heirs with absolute right and title. My unconquerable pride, my 
 ungovernable passions, and my insane thirst for position and wealth 
 have made of me a counterfeiter, a forger, a robber, and an assassin. 
 The farce of a trial I can not bear, therefore forever and forever 
 adieu, adieu. ARAGONI. 
 
 Then she opened the letter addressed by the suicide to 
 " our beloved child," which read thus : 
 
 MILITARY PBISON, NEW-ORLEANS, 
 
 November, 1820. 
 MY BELOVED CHILD : 
 
 When a man who sometimes writes his name George de Freronier 
 is dead ; when a man who sometimes writes his name Captain John 
 Nelson, is dead ; and when the man who writes this, Jacques del 
 Aragoni, is dead ; then, my child, you are sole proprietor of the 
 Spanish fortune within the walls of Madrid, which, at present, is 
 known as the Marigny estate, but now by law the property of one 
 Carmo del Aragoni ; who, owing to the multiplicity of his bloody 
 and deadly deeds in Spain and in America, is afraid to appear and 
 take legal possession of the immense inheritance. The death of 
 that villain, who poisoned his own father and stabbed his mother 
 to the heart, makes my child the wealthiest person in all Madrid. 
 
 ADIEU! ADIEU! 
 
 " Wonderful tidings !" said the doctor. " Now where 
 is your child ?" 
 
 This question opened afresh the long-sealed fountains 
 of her sorrow. 
 
 " Lost !" she cried. " Lost on the chain of mountains 
 which stretch through the Island of Cuba." 
 
 " Darling Sophia !" he quickly replied, " sometimes I 
 have almost believed your son to be this remarkable 
 young Fred Wilson. He, I believe, remembers hearing 
 from his old nurse something about his lost mother." 
 
 " Impossible !" she cried. " And yet, oh ! let me see 
 him ! let me see him !"
 
 324 TALE OF A PHYSICIAN. 
 
 The physician soon brought the young New-York de 
 tective into the lady's presence. 
 
 " Ah doctor !" said Wilson, gracefully bowing, " this 
 lady is the sweet singer who saved me from the com 
 mission of a great crime. She, sir, is my adorable re 
 deemer." 
 
 The now greatly excited lady looked at him with in 
 tense anxiety. His pale face, his long, wavy, black beard, 
 his fine curly hair, his tall, manly bearing all strange 
 to her longing eyes. Alas ! she could not see in him her 
 little sad-eyed, incomprehensible, cheerless baby boy, 
 whom she had twenty long years before left in the arms 
 of his nurse in the rich Spanish mansion. 
 
 " Young man," she said, looking him earnestly in the 
 eyes, " will you oblige me by showing me your right 
 shoulder near the neck ?" 
 
 He removed his garments so that she could see the 
 " mark" which in a certain moment her suffering spirit 
 had impressed upon his white skin. 
 
 " Cctrmof" she instantly cried "my own child! my 
 long lost son!" and she fell upon his neck in a paroxysm 
 of joy. 
 
 ; " My own darling mother !" he said, folding her pas 
 sionately in his arms and embracing her over and over 
 again. " O my God ! I thank thee for my mother ! My 
 own sweet-voiced, darling mother! my adorable re 
 deemer !" 
 
 In the evening of that day the four happy ones drove 
 in a carriage through the crowded streets to the residence 
 of a well-known Presbyterian minister a pleasant, 
 elderly, white-haired gentleman by whom the beautiful 
 Madame Nelson, of New- York, became in law (as she 
 had been for yearsjin spirit and in truth) the bride of
 
 REAPING THE FRUITS OF CRIME. 325 
 
 Doctor La Force Du Bois, of New-Orleans ; and on the 
 same occasion, and by the legal authority of the same 
 minister, the young golden-haired, bright-faced, inno 
 cent Mary Morgan, of Syracuse, became the true and 
 happy wife of the redeemed and wealthy Carmo del 
 Aragoni. 
 
 In a certain city in Spain a grand charitable asylum 
 for homeless girls was established, and an immense 
 foundling hospital was erected and furnished with every 
 comfort, by the rich and universally beloved Madame Du 
 Bois. One of the most distinguished men in the govern 
 ment of the ancient kingdom was the great General 
 Carmo del Aragoni. His brilliant-faced and happy- 
 hearted American wife was courted, admired, and re 
 spected by all the gallant officers and fair ladies at the 
 Spanish capital. But mankind must wait awhile longer 
 for the publication of the noble physician's great scien 
 tific work on the causes and cure of crime. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 DESCRIPTIVE LIST 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, 
 
 FOR SALE BY 
 
 - WM. WHITE & CO. 
 
 (PUBLISHERS OF BANNER OF LIGHT),. 
 
 No, 158 Washington Street, Boston, Mass,, 
 
 AND 
 
 American News Company, New York, 
 
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 ANSWERS TO EVER-RECURRING QUESTIONS FROM THE 
 
 PEOPLE. 
 
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 MORNING LECTURES: 
 
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 A STELLAR KEY TO THE SUMMER LAND. 
 
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 MEMORANDA OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND EVENTS: 
 
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 6 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL PROVIDENCES. 
 
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 ment of Spirits; The Stratford Mysteries; The Doctrine of Evil Spirits; The 
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 FREE THOUGHTS CONCERNING RELIGION. 
 
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 CONTEXTS. How shall we Improve Society ? The Influence of Churches ; The 
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 THE APPROACHING CRISIS: 
 
 A Review of Dr. BushnelTs Lectures on Supernaturalism. 
 % / 
 
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 THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EVIL. 
 
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 8 
 
 Chain Recitations, Hymns, and Songs. If any doubt that this Lyceum movement is 
 an inspiration, let them stand among the groups a single day ; let them feel the holy 
 influences that fall in showers from the higher spheres ; the uprisings of the soul, as 
 involuntarily it answers to the call from its true home; the inspirations that full 
 upon the heart like angel breathings, thrilling ea,ch string with melody, and filling 
 the whole being with a yearning for God and Heaven. Hundreds of these beautiful 
 " Children's Lyceums" have been organized during the past year, and thousands of 
 juveniles and youths of both sexes have embarked on the great journey of progres 
 sion. This Manual is a chart to indicate the best methods in the grouping and educat 
 ing process. Price, 70 cents; postage, 8 cents; for twelve copies, $8.00 ; for fifty* 
 conies, $30.00 ; and for one hundred copies, $50.00. 
 
 We have also published an 
 
 ABRIDGED EDITION OP THE LYCEUM MANUAL, 
 
 Comprising all the Rules, Marc7ies, Lessons, Silver Chain Recitations, Hymns, Songs, 
 <&c., printed on good paper, and firmly bound in cloth, at 40 cents per copy, and 4 cents 
 postage if sent by mail ; for twelve copies, $4.00 ; for fifty copies, $16.00 ; and for one 
 hundred copies, $28.00. 
 
 The whole set (twenty-two volumes) $24.00; a most valuable present for a library 
 public or private. 
 
 We have also a large Lithographic Likeness of the Author. Price, $1.25. 
 
 JS^~ On receipt of $24.00, we will carefully and securely pack and ship, to order, 
 one copy of each of these works, and also one lithographic likeness. 
 
 J2?~ When drafts on Boston or New York can not be procured, we desire our pa 
 trons to send, in lieu thereof, a Post-Office money order. Post-Office orders are 
 always safe, as are registered letters under the new law. 
 
 all orders to WILLIAM WHITE & CO., Publishers, 
 Banner of Light Office, 158 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. 
 
 New York Agents : American News Company.
 
 305 De 
 
 
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