my home. I was born and reared there, and I came back there
after I had graduated in medicine, and began to practice. A number of
families had moved into the place during the years I was away, and among
them were a Mr. and Mrs. Lamberton. He was a traveling man, and was at
home very little. The trouble began when I was called in one day, the
occasion being some slight difficulty in hearing. When I entered the
room I was stricken still with amazement. I had never seen such a
perfectly beautiful creature in all my life. She was young, not tall,
and possessed of a wonderful wealth of colouring. The apartment was
permeated by some essence entirely new to me, some rare and delightful
perfume. She was reclining upon a couch, alone. She, of course, knew who
I was, and she did not rise, but bade me come to her. I did as she
asked, and took a vacant chair near her. At that day I knew practically
nothing of women, good or bad. My path had been a pretty rough one, and
I had all I could do to go forward, although there was always the wish
within me to know and associate with women, the natural complement of
man. She stated her trouble briefly and clearly, in a most pleasing
tone, and when I endeavoured to put some necessary questions I found to
my dismay that my mind was muddled, and wouldn't work well. She smiled
when she noticed my embarrassment. Whenever she turned her eyes upon me
I felt dizzy. They were wine brown, and in them dwelt twin devils which
beguiled. I had to touch her with my hands; to put back the hair from
the affected ear. I was young--I was far more innocent than she--so help
me God! I maintained my professional reserve with difficulty, and
escaped from the room with my brain whizzing and my breast on fire. But
the mischief was done. I could not forget her. I thought of her
constantly during my waking hours. I did not stop to analyze the trend
or character of my thoughts. At the time I do not think they had any
definite shape. I simply could not withdraw my mind from that
incident--that half hour in her presence. Nothing was said and nothing
was done which a third person might not have heard and seen, but it was
the awful _suggestion_ back and beneath it all. Her attitude towards me,
while not in the least familiar, was charged with an undefinable under
current of what our future relations might become. I knew that I wished
to see her again, but when the summons came on the second day from the
one when I first cal