CHAPTER VII. SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LAWRENCE TREMLETT. MRS. TREMLETT at first entertained the idea of living near her husband, and seeing him daily. At my earnest entreaty she consented to relinquish it. I pointed out the necessity for a total change of scene, and the probability of her visits becoming a recurrent source of irritation, as she would have to listen to groundless complaints, which being obliged to disregard she would appear helpless to assist, careless of his distress, or sceptical of his veracity; she agreed, therefore, to maintain a correspondence instead. I may remark parenthetically that he never showed any desire for her letters, but great anxiety that his should be remitted to her and that the contents should be inviolable. To this end he sealed them in half-a-dozen different places, moral injury done by the loss of confidence engendered, far exceeds the ill effect even of personal coercion; and it was of the last importance to my influence over him that he should have no deceit to lay to my charge. CHAPTER VII. SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LAWRENCE TREMLETT. MRS. TREMLETT at first entertained the idea of living near her husband, and seeing him daily. At my earnest entreaty she consented to relinquish it. I pointed out the necessity for a total change of scene, and the probability of her visits becoming a recurrent source of irritation, as she would have to listen to groundless complaints, which being obliged to disregard she would appear helpless to assist, careless of his distress, or sceptical of his veracity; she agreed, therefore, to maintain a correspondence instead. I may remark parenthes that he never showed any desire for anxiety that his shoni that the contents shou.. t. reers, but great med to her and Juubie. To this end the cry of an epileptic before he falls, the prolonged howl in brain fever. Having heard what quite satisfied me, I entered the room abruptly, and inquired what was the matter with him, and whether he wanted anything I could procure: he looked slightly taken aback. "I'm not aware there was a noise, doctor; it must be your fancy." "I think not, Mr. Tremlett; it was certainly your voice." "Most probably some one shouted out, who is, like myself, wrongly detained in this house." "I was outside, and know your voice perfectly well: : now is there anything which you wish to ask for?" "It was not a voice at all, doctor; and noises in this place ought not to surprise you. I was thinking of other things, and was certainly not making a noise." * The same thing in animal life: the shrill scream of a horse chased by wolves; the almost human cries of a hare when caught by dogs; the very singular sound emitted by a toad when pursued by a snake, are examples of this kind. "Very well, Mr. Tremlett," I replied; "but if I hear again a voice so like yours shouting out so near your room, I shall remove you into one next my own, as it cannot be agreeable to you to be distracted by such strange sounds." After this we had no more noise at night. I need not remark that if his outcries had been involuntary, and the result of genuine maniacal anger or terror, no threats could have procured silence. He experienced, as formerly, periods of sullen dejection, when for days he would refuse to speak, and was accustomed to sit motionless, his head resting on his breast. These were, however, rare, and were followed by an unusually active maliciousness of temper. I felt satisfied that this depression was not feigned.* Several times he obstinately refused his food; and this continued so long that I was growing alarmed about it. As there were no other * Silence may proceed from irresolution or resolution, just as stillness may be the result of exhaustion, or of equally contending powers. A fainting patient and a cataleptic are equally motionless, though from opposite causes. |