Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 330, April 1843Various
Science
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 330, April 1843
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
"Well," continued Doctor Maybew, "he must leave this house, at
all events. I will run the risk of losing him no longer. I will
write this morning to the overseer. Yet I _should_ like to
know--really--it may be, after all, the case. Stukely, lad, look here.
What county is this?" he continued, placing his finger on the map.
Somerset was written in the corner of it, and accordingly I answered.
"Very well," replied the doctor. "Now, look here. Read this. What do
these letters spell?"
He pointed to some small characters, which formed evidently the name
of a village that stood upon the banks of a river of some magnitude.
I spelt them as he desired, and pronounced, certainly to my own
surprise, the word--"_Belton_."
"Just so. Well, what do you say to that? I think I have hit it.
That's the fellow's home. I never thought of that before, and I
shouldn't now, if I hadn't had occasion for the road-book. It was
the first thing that caught my eye. Now--how can we find it out?"
"It is difficult!" said I.
"It is likely enough, you see. What should bring him so far westward,
if he hadn't some object? He was either wandering from or to his home,
depend upon it, when the gypsies found him. If Belton be his home,
his frequent repetition of the word was natural enough. Eh, don't
you see it?"
"Certainly," said I.
"Very well; then, what's to be done?"
"I cannot tell," I answered.
The doctor rung the bell.
"Is Robin up yet?" he asked, when Williams came in to answer it.
"He is, sir."
"And the man?"
"Both, sir. They have just done breakfast."
"Very well, Williams, you may go. Now, follow me, Stukely," continued
the physician, the moment that the butler had departed. "I'll do it
now. I am a physiognomist, and I'll tell you in the twinkling of an
eye if we are right, You mark him well, and so will I." The doctor
seized his map and road book, and before I could speak was out of
the room. When I overtook him, he had already reached the idiot, and
dismissed Robin.
My friend commenced his operations by placing the map and book upon
the table, and closely scanning the countenance of his patient, in
order to detect and fix the smallest alteration of expression in the
coming examination. He might have spared himself the trouble. The
idiot had no eye for him. When I appeared he ran to me, and
manifested the most extravagant delight. He grasped my hand, and
drew me to his chair, and there detained me. He did not introduce
his treasure, but I could not fail to perceive that he intended to
repeat the scene of the previous day, as soon as we were again alone.
I did not wish to afford him opportunity, and I gladly complied with
the physician's request when he called upon me to interrogate the
idiot, in the terms he should employ. He had already himself applied
to the youth, but neither for himself nor his questions could he
obtain the slightest notice. The eye, the heart, and, such as it was,
the mind of the idiot, were upon his sister's friend.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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