{"product_id":"2940013740792","title":"Circumstantial Evidence and Other Stories","description":"Colonel Chartres Dane lingered irresolutely in the broad and pleasant\u003cbr\u003elobby. Other patients had lingered awhile in that agreeable vestibule.\u003cbr\u003eIn wintry days it was a cozy place; its polished panelled walls\u003cbr\u003ereflecting the gleam of logs that burnt in the open fireplace. There was\u003cbr\u003ea shining oak settle that invited gossip, and old prints, and blue china\u003cbr\u003ebowls frothing over with the flowers of a belated autumn or advanced\u003cbr\u003espring-tide, to charm the eye.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn summer it was cool and dark and restful. The mellow tick of the\u003cbr\u003eancient clock, the fragrance of roses, the soft breeze that came through\u003cbr\u003ean open casement stirring the lilac curtains uneasily, these corollaries\u003cbr\u003eof peace and order had soothed many an unquiet mind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eColonel Chartres Dane fingered a button of his light dust-coat and his\u003cbr\u003ethin patrician face was set in thought. He was a spare man of\u003cbr\u003efifty-five; a man of tired eyes and nervous gesture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDr. Merriget peered at him through his powerful spectacles and wondered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was an awkward moment, for the doctor had murmured his sincere, if\u003cbr\u003econventional, regrets and encouragements, and there was nothing left\u003cbr\u003ebut to close the door on his patient.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You have had a bad wound there, Mr. Jackson,\" he said, by way of\u003cbr\u003echanging a very gloomy subject and filling in the interval of silence.\u003cbr\u003eThis intervention might call to mind in a soldier some deed of his, some\u003cbr\u003efar field of battle where men met death with courage and fortitude. Such\u003cbr\u003ememories might be helpful to a man under sentence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eColonel Dane fingered the long scar on his cheek.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes,\" he said absently, \"a child did that--my niece. Quite my own\u003cbr\u003efault.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A child?\" Dr. Merriget appeared to be shocked. He was in reality very\u003cbr\u003ecurious.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes ... she was eleven ... my own fault. I spoke disrespectfully of her\u003cbr\u003efather. It was unpardonable, for he was only recently dead. He was my\u003cbr\u003ebrother-in-law. We were at breakfast and she threw the knife ...\u003cbr\u003eyes....\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe ruminated on the incident and a smile quivered at the corner of his\u003cbr\u003ethin lips.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"She hated me. She hates me still ... yes....\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe waited.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe doctor was embarrassed and came back to the object of the visit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I should be ever so much more comfortable in my mind if you saw a\u003cbr\u003especialist, Mr.--er--Jackson. You see how difficult it is for me to give\u003cbr\u003ean opinion? I may be wrong. I know nothing of your history, your medical\u003cbr\u003ehistory I mean. There are so many men in town who could give you a\u003cbr\u003ebetter and more valuable opinion than I. A country practitioner like\u003cbr\u003emyself is rather in a backwater. One has the usual cases that come to\u003cbr\u003eone in a small country town, maternity cases, commonplace ailments ...\u003cbr\u003eit is difficult to keep abreast of the extraordinary developments in\u003cbr\u003emedical science....\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Do you know anything about Machonicies College?\" asked the colonel\u003cbr\u003eunexpectedly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, of course.\" The doctor was surprised. \"It is one of the best of\u003cbr\u003ethe technical schools. Many of our best doctors and chemists take a\u003cbr\u003epreparatory course there. Why?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I merely asked. As to your specialists ... I hardly think I shall\u003cbr\u003ebother them.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDr. Merriget watched the tall figure striding down the red-tiled path\u003cbr\u003ebetween the banked flowers, and was still standing on the doorstep when\u003cbr\u003ethe whine of his visitor's machine had gone beyond the limits of his\u003cbr\u003ehearing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"H'm,\" said Dr. Merriget as he returned to his study. He sat awhile\u003cbr\u003ethinking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Mr. Jackson?\" he said aloud. \"I wonder why the colonel calls himself\u003cbr\u003e'Mr. Jackson'?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe had seen the colonel two years before at a garden party, and had an\u003cbr\u003eexcellent memory for faces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe gave the matter no further thought, having certain packing to\u003cbr\u003esuperintend--he was on the eve of his departure for Constantinople, a\u003cbr\u003eholiday trip he had promised himself for years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the following afternoon at Machonicies Technical School, a lecture\u003cbr\u003ewas in progress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \" ... by this combustion you have secured true K.c.y.... which we\u003cbr\u003e    will now test and compare with the laboratory quantities ... a\u003cbr\u003e    deliquescent and colorless crystal extremely soluble....\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe master, whose monotonous voice droned like the hum of a distant,\u003cbr\u003ebig, stationary blue-bottle, was a middle-aged man, to whom life was no\u003cbr\u003emore than a chemical reaction, and love not properly a matter for his\u003cbr\u003eobservation or knowledge. He had an idea that it was dealt with\u003cbr\u003eeffectively in another department of the college ... metaphysics ... or\u003cbr\u003ewas it philosophy? Or maybe it came into the realms of the biological\u003cbr\u003emaster?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\\ ","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47099591786736,"sku":"2940013740792","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013740792_p0.jpg?v=1763589625","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013740792","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}