Three John Silence Stories | Page 5

but on the stairs I've seen him standing
aside to let some one pass; I've seen him open a door to let some one in
or out; and often in our bedrooms he puts chairs about as though for
some one else to sit in. Oh--oh yes, and once or twice," she
cried--"once or twice--"
She paused, and looked about her with a startled air.
"Yes?"

"Once or twice," she resumed hurriedly, as though she heard a sound
that alarmed her, "I've heard him running--coming in and out of the
rooms breathless as if something were after him--"
The door opened while she was still speaking, cutting her words off in
the middle, and a man came into the room. He was dark and
clean-shaven, sallow rather, with the eyes of imagination, and dark hair
growing scantily about the temples. He was dressed in a shabby tweed
suit, and wore an untidy flannel collar at the neck. The dominant
expression of his face was startled--hunted; an expression that might
any moment leap into the dreadful stare of terror and announce a total
loss of self-control.
The moment he saw his visitor a smile spread over his worn features,
and he advanced to shake hands.
"I hoped you would come; Mrs. Sivendson said you might be able to
find time," he said simply. His voice was thin and needy. "I am very
glad to see you, Dr. Silence. It is 'Doctor,' is it not?"
"Well, I am entitled to the description," laughed the other, "but I rarely
get it. You know, I do not practise as a regular thing; that is, I only take
cases that specially interest me, or--"
He did not finish the sentence, for the men exchanged a glance of
sympathy that rendered it unnecessary.
"I have heard of your great kindness."
"It's my hobby," said the other quickly, "and my privilege."
"I trust you will still think so when you have heard what I have to tell
you," continued the author, a little wearily. He led the way across the
hall into the little smoking-room where they could talk freely and
undisturbed.
In the smoking-room, the door shut and privacy about them, Fender's
attitude changed somewhat, and his manner became very grave. The

doctor sat opposite, where he could watch his face. Already, he saw, it
looked more haggard. Evidently it cost him much to refer to his trouble
at all.
"What I have is, in my belief, a profound spiritual affliction," he began
quite bluntly, looking straight into the other's eyes.
"I saw that at once," Dr. Silence said.
"Yes, you saw that, of course; my atmosphere must convey that much
to any one with psychic perceptions. Besides which, I feel sure from all
I've heard, that you are really a soul-doctor, are you not, more than a
healer merely of the body?"
"You think of me too highly," returned the other; "though I prefer cases,
as you know, in which the spirit is disturbed first, the body afterwards."
"I understand, yes. Well, I have experienced a curious disturbance
in--not in my physical region primarily. I mean my nerves are all right,
and my body is all right. I have no delusions exactly, but my spirit is
tortured by a calamitous fear which first came upon me in a strange
manner."
John Silence leaned forward a moment and took the speaker's hand and
held it in his own for a few brief seconds, closing his eyes as he did so.
He was not feeling his pulse, or doing any of the things that doctors
ordinarily do; he was merely absorbing into himself the main note of
the man's mental condition, so as to get completely his own point of
view, and thus be able to treat his case with true sympathy. A very
close observer might perhaps have noticed that a slight tremor ran
through his frame after he had held the hand for a few seconds.
"Tell me quite frankly, Mr. Pender," he said soothingly, releasing the
hand, and with deep attention in his manner, "tell me all the steps that
led to the beginning of this invasion. I mean tell me what the particular
drug was, and why you took it, and how it affected you--"
"Then you know it began with a drug!" cried the author, with

undisguised astonishment.
"I only know from what I observe in you, and in its effect upon myself.
You are in a surprising psychical condition. Certain portions of your
atmosphere are vibrating at a far greater rate than others. This is the
effect of a drug, but of no ordinary drug. Allow me to finish, please. If
the higher rate of vibration spreads all over, you will become, of course,
permanently cognisant of a much larger world than the one