His silence in some degree distressed me, as
I thought he resented my levity in commenting upon his convictions; so
it was with some relief that Dr. Rogers came in and sat down at the
table, apparently to wait for a call to the bedroom. A man this of
ostentatious gloom,--too grave to deign to be witty, too sanctified to
stoop to be cheerful, and therefore not the man I could have wished to
see as the medical adviser, and perhaps the religious confidant, of my
friend and his wife. A temperate man, too, by his own confession,
pronounced over the top of a bottle; and he drank as if for health,
while his manner of beslabbering the glass with his thick lips indicated
a contempt for its confined capacity; a tumbler would have suited him
better; and he waxed apparently graver when the delightful aroma of the
Bordeaux grape fondled his nostrils. We got into supernaturals
immediately, though how the subject was introduced I cannot remember;
but Dr. Rogers was a grave and heavy advocate for divine manifestation,
and Graeme's ear, circumcised to delicacy, hung upon his thick lips. I
asked for instances beyond the domain of the addled brains of old women,
or the excited fancies of young; and Graeme looked at me intently,
without saying a word.
"I have seen hundreds die," said the doctor, "ay, strong men, the
tissues of whose brain were, in comparison of those of your old women
and young enthusiasts, as iron wires to pellicles of flesh.
Pages:
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288