But he found no case that seemed in any way analogous to the strange case
of Valentine. As was only natural, the doctor did not forget the
possibility of hypnotism, which had struck him during his second
conversation with the lady of the feathers. Her confused declarations on
the subject of Valentine and Marr being one person, if they were really
a true account of what Valentine had said to her--which seemed very
doubtful--could only be made clear by accepting as a fact that the dead
Marr had laid a hypnotic spell upon Valentine, which continued to exist
actively long after its weaver slept in the grave. But Marr and Valentine
had never met. This fact seemed fully established. Valentine had always
denied any knowledge of him before the trance. Julian had always assumed
that only he of the two friends had any acquaintance with Marr. And
again, when the doctor, one day, quite casually, said to Valentine, "By
the way, you never did meet Marr, did you?" Valentine replied, "Never,
till I saw him lying dead in the Euston Road."
The doctor could see no ray of light in the darkness that could guide him
to the clue of the mystery. He could only say to himself, "It must be, it
must be an obscure and horrible madness," and keep his theory to himself.
Pages:
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554