him, and he got into that particular part of his memory where the pictures of previous lives are stored."
"I suppose he is living over again some vivid past experience," I remarked.
"I don't think it is quite that," said Taverner. "If two people feel a strong emotion, either of love or hate, for each other, it tends to link them together. If this link is renewed life after life, it becomes very strong. Black has evidently formed some such link, and is feeling the drag of
it. Usually these memories lie quiet, and are only roused by the appearance of the second person. Then we see those extraordinary loves and hates which disturb the ordered state of things. Black has recovered his memories owing to being hypnotized by the nose-dive. It now remains to see how he will work out his problem."
"Supposing the woman is not upon the earth?"
"Then we shall have a singularly nasty mess," said Taverner.
"And supposing she is upon the earth?"
"We may have an equally nasty mess. These attractions that come through from the past know no barriers. Black would drive that car of his through the Ten Commandments and the British Constitution to get at her. He will go till he drops."
"Our night drive only ended at the sea wall," I said.
"Precisely. And one night it won't end there. The trouble is that Black, while he was able to feel the presence of this woman in his abnormal state, was not able to locate her. To him she seemed to come from all points of the compass at once. We shall have to move with great caution, Rhodes. First we must find out whether this woman is on earth or not; then we must find out what her status is. She may be a scullery-maid or a princess; old enough to be his grandmother or not yet short-coated; it won't make any difference to Black. Moreover, she may not be free, and we can hardly launch him into the bosom of a respectable family."
Next morning Taverner informed me that his occult methods had enabled him to locate the woman, that she was on earth, and about twenty-three years of age.
"Now we must wait," he said. "Sooner or later that tremendous desire of Black's will bring them together. I wonder whether she is conscious yet of the attraction."
A few weeks later a Mrs. Tyndall brought her daughter Elaine to consult my colleague. It seemed that the girl was developing delusions. Several times she had roused the household with the announcement that there was a man in her room. She imagined that she heard someone calling her, and used to wander about at night, taking long walks after dark, and often finding herself tired out and miles from home, reduced to finding what conveyance she could for her return.
"You do not have lapses of memory?" asked Taverner. "Never," said the girl. "I know exactly where I am and what I am doing. I feel as if I had lost something, and couldn't rest till I had found it. I go out to look for--I don't know what. I know it is ridiculous to behave in the way I do, but the impulse is so strong I yield to it in spite of myself."
"Do you feel any fear of the presence you are conscious of in your room?"
"I did at first, it seemed so strange and uncanny, but now I feel more tantalized than anything else. It is like trying to remember a name that has slipped your memory. Do you know that feeling?"
"I should like to have your daughter under observation in my nursing home," said Taverner to the mother, and I saw by this that he did not regard the case as the commonplace type of insanity it appeared to be.
Miss Tyndall was shortly installed at the Hindhead nursing home, which was Taverner's headquarters, although he used his Harley Street room for consulting purposes. I liked the girl. She had no pretensions to striking beauty, but she had character.
For some time our patient led the life of a normal girl; then one evening she came to me.
"Dr. Rhodes," she said, "I want to take one of my night walks. Will you
"I suppose he is living over again some vivid past experience," I remarked.
"I don't think it is quite that," said Taverner. "If two people feel a strong emotion, either of love or hate, for each other, it tends to link them together. If this link is renewed life after life, it becomes very strong. Black has evidently formed some such link, and is feeling the drag of
it. Usually these memories lie quiet, and are only roused by the appearance of the second person. Then we see those extraordinary loves and hates which disturb the ordered state of things. Black has recovered his memories owing to being hypnotized by the nose-dive. It now remains to see how he will work out his problem."
"Supposing the woman is not upon the earth?"
"Then we shall have a singularly nasty mess," said Taverner.
"And supposing she is upon the earth?"
"We may have an equally nasty mess. These attractions that come through from the past know no barriers. Black would drive that car of his through the Ten Commandments and the British Constitution to get at her. He will go till he drops."
"Our night drive only ended at the sea wall," I said.
"Precisely. And one night it won't end there. The trouble is that Black, while he was able to feel the presence of this woman in his abnormal state, was not able to locate her. To him she seemed to come from all points of the compass at once. We shall have to move with great caution, Rhodes. First we must find out whether this woman is on earth or not; then we must find out what her status is. She may be a scullery-maid or a princess; old enough to be his grandmother or not yet short-coated; it won't make any difference to Black. Moreover, she may not be free, and we can hardly launch him into the bosom of a respectable family."
Next morning Taverner informed me that his occult methods had enabled him to locate the woman, that she was on earth, and about twenty-three years of age.
"Now we must wait," he said. "Sooner or later that tremendous desire of Black's will bring them together. I wonder whether she is conscious yet of the attraction."
A few weeks later a Mrs. Tyndall brought her daughter Elaine to consult my colleague. It seemed that the girl was developing delusions. Several times she had roused the household with the announcement that there was a man in her room. She imagined that she heard someone calling her, and used to wander about at night, taking long walks after dark, and often finding herself tired out and miles from home, reduced to finding what conveyance she could for her return.
"You do not have lapses of memory?" asked Taverner. "Never," said the girl. "I know exactly where I am and what I am doing. I feel as if I had lost something, and couldn't rest till I had found it. I go out to look for--I don't know what. I know it is ridiculous to behave in the way I do, but the impulse is so strong I yield to it in spite of myself."
"Do you feel any fear of the presence you are conscious of in your room?"
"I did at first, it seemed so strange and uncanny, but now I feel more tantalized than anything else. It is like trying to remember a name that has slipped your memory. Do you know that feeling?"
"I should like to have your daughter under observation in my nursing home," said Taverner to the mother, and I saw by this that he did not regard the case as the commonplace type of insanity it appeared to be.
Miss Tyndall was shortly installed at the Hindhead nursing home, which was Taverner's headquarters, although he used his Harley Street room for consulting purposes. I liked the girl. She had no pretensions to striking beauty, but she had character.
For some time our patient led the life of a normal girl; then one evening she came to me.
"Dr. Rhodes," she said, "I want to take one of my night walks. Will you
Similar Books
