Detective and mystery stories; English fiction -- 19th century
[Footnote 4: The arrangement alluded to will be seen from the
accompanying plan. The inner partition is entirely of glass, while the
outer has a row of large panes along the top.]
[Footnote 5: In a former portion of the case we are told that this
patient was _clairvoyant_ and could see her own internal condition.--R.
H. pard.]
Section VIII. Conclusion.
[Illustration]
There now only remains for me, in conclusion, to sum up as briefly
and succinctly as possible the evidence contained in the preceding
statements. In so doing, it will be necessary to adopt an arrangement
somewhat different from that which has been hitherto followed. Each
step of the narrative will therefore be accompanied with a marginal
reference to the particular deposition from which it may be taken.
First then, for what may be called the preliminary portions of the
evidence. With these we need here deal but very briefly. They consist
almost entirely of letters furnished by the courtesy of a near relation
of the late Mrs. Anderton (I.), and read as follows:
Some six or seven and twenty years ago, the mother of Mrs.
Anderton--Lady Boleton--after giving birth to twin daughters, under
circumstances of a peculiarly exciting and agitating nature, died in
child-bed. Both Sir Edward Boleton and herself appear to have been of
a nervous temperament, and the effects of these combined influences is
shown in the highly nervous and susceptible organisation of the orphan
girls, and in a morbid sympathy of constitution, by which each appeared
to suffer from any ailment of the other. This remarkable sympathy is
very clearly shown in more than one of the letters I have submitted
for your consideration, and I have numerous others in my possession
which, should they be considered insufficient, will place the matter,
irregular as it certainly is, beyond the reach of doubt. I must request
you to bear it particularly and constantly in mind throughout the case.
Almost from the time of the mother's death, the children were placed
in the care of a poor, but respectable woman, at Hastings. Here the
younger, whose constitution appears to have been originally much
stronger than that of her sister, seems to have improved rapidly in
health, and in so doing to have mastered, in some degree, that morbid
sympathy of temperament of which I have spoken, and which in the
weaker organisation of her elder sister, still maintained its former
ascendency. They were about six years old when, whether through the
carelessness of the nurse or not, is immaterial to us now, the younger
was lost during a pleasure excursion in the neighbourhood. Every
inquiry was made, and it appeared pretty clear that she had fallen into
the hands of a gang of gipsies, who at that time infested the country
round, but no further trace of her was ever after discovered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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