Carmilla

"My beloved child," he resumed, "was now growing rapidly worse. The

physician who attended her had failed to produce the slightest

impression on her disease, for such I then supposed it to be. He saw my

alarm, and suggested a consultation. I called in an abler physician,

from Gratz.

"Several days elapsed before he arrived. He was a good and pious, as well

as a learned man. Having seen my poor ward together, they withdrew to my

library to confer and discuss. I, from the adjoining room, where I

awaited their summons, heard these two gentlemen's voices raised in

something sharper than a strictly philosophical discussion. I knocked at

the door and entered. I found the old physician from Gratz maintaining

his theory. His rival was combating it with undisguised ridicule,

accompanied with bursts of laughter. This unseemly manifestation

subsided and the altercation ended on my entrance.

"'Sir,' said my first physician, 'my learned brother seems to think that

you want a conjuror, and not a doctor.' "'Pardon me,' said the old physician from Gratz, looking displeased, 'I

shall state my own view of the case in my own way another time. I

grieve, Monsieur le General, that by my skill and science I can be of no

use. Before I go I shall do myself the honor to suggest something to

you.' "He seemed thoughtful, and sat down at a table and began to write.

"Profoundly disappointed, I made my bow, and as I turned to go, the other

doctor pointed over his shoulder to his companion who was writing, and

then, with a shrug, significantly touched his forehead.

"This consultation, then, left me precisely where I was. I walked out

into the grounds, all but distracted. The doctor from Gratz, in ten or

fifteen minutes, overtook me. He apologized for having followed me, but

said that he could not conscientiously take his leave without a few

words more. He told me that he could not be mistaken; no natural disease

exhibited the same symptoms; and that death was already very near. There

remained, however, a day, or possibly two, of life. If the fatal seizure

were at once arrested, with great care and skill her strength might

possibly return. But all hung now upon the confines of the irrevocable.

One more assault might extinguish the last spark of vitality which is,

every moment, ready to die.

"'And what is the nature of the seizure you speak of?' I entreated.

"'I have stated all fully in this note, which I place in your hands upon

the distinct condition that you send for the nearest clergyman, and open

my letter in his presence, and on no account read it till he is with

you; you would despise it else, and it is a matter of life and death.

Should the priest fail you, then, indeed, you may read it.' "He asked me, before taking his leave finally, whether I would wish to

see a man curiously learned upon the very subject, which, after I had

read his letter, would probably interest me above all others, and he

urged me earnestly to invite him to visit him there; and so took

his leave.