The Argosy, December 1905 — page 112: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

90 personality had taken possession of Lloyd while he remained in that heavy stupor. His body lay there, writhing and struggling under Burress’ grip, but Lloyd’s self—the soul and mind of the man—had suffered a transformation. And with this change, whatever it might be, had come the bodily strength of a maniac. Burress saw that the patient would do himself some injury, -or harm _ those about him, if he was not controlled, and his own strength was waning. “Leslie! The trunk straps—in the rear office. Quick!” the doctor panted. The noise of the struggle had brought old Betty to the door, but she was help- less. The girl darted away instantly on the errand, and was back in a few sec- onds with the long strips of leather. Still holding the patient flat upon his back, Burress instructed the girl to pass one of the straps underneath the couch and so across poor Lloyd’s body and arms. She drew the straps tight and then Burress leaped off the writhing man and made it secure. The second he fastened about Lloyd’s legs. The patient was bound, but Burress himself was shaking like a leaf. Leslie was in tears and old Betty was moaning in the corner with her apron over her head. Burress dropped into a chair, staring into the glaring eyes of the man on the couch. - What had really happened to him the doctor could not entirely understand. His mind, that of a plain medical practitioner, had not become warped by dabblings in so-called psychic phenom- ena. Some phases of aphasia and amnesia had come under his notice during his practical work in the hospitals; in this nerve-stretching age such cerebral dis- eases are growing vastly common. And the blow upon the head which Seymour Lloyd had received might well have been sufficient to throw the victim into almest any state of brain disorder. “What is it? What is it?” begged the girl, gripping the physician’s arm with an energy which prevised hysteria. THE ARGOSY. °* “He is mad, Ramon! He does not know me! See—see! Look at his eyes. He does not know me!” Burress seized a glass of water from the stand, dashed into it a few drops of cordial, and administered the mixture to the girl. He seated her in his own chair. “No, no, Leslie!” he said firmly, holding “her hands. “You must not give way—if you would help Seymour. Be brave és “But he does not know me!” cried, as though that fact was a horror which dwarfed all other circumstances. “Look into his eyes, doctor. He is afraid of me.” — Burress was gravely contemplating the bound man upon the couch, al- she - though still holding her fluttering hands until the cordial should do its work. “ Wait—wait!” he muttered. “ Let us be calm. He is not mad, Leslie; it is not that. This—this is more serious than I supposed.” She grew rapidly calmer and he pur- sued his reflections: “See! That isnot the look of a mad- man—not as we understand madness. It is fear—wonder—amazement. No, no! I cannot believe him a maniac. It is something vastly different from luracy. This—this is not Seymour Lloyd who lies here; it is another.” “What do you mean, Ramon: You mystify me. I do not understand.” “Nor do I, only in part. This is not Lloyd—not as we have known him. He is lost for the time being. ‘This is a different personality—a new identity. “It is not delirium; something much more complex than that. <A _ trans- formation has taken place in his poor, hurt brain. He does not know us— neither you nor me, Leslie; nor does he recognize his surroundings. See? “ He is like a being new born into the world, but with a man’s physique. I did not undersiand what that struggle meant. I see it now. This is beyond my knowledge, I am afraid. I must wire Munhall; perhaps he can advise us, and he will know of somebody better in- structed in such cases than myself Se “Ramon, you will not leave him!” cried the girl excitedly. COMMICLOOOLK (C@