The Mystery of Orcival

ith a passionate energy, he yet owed his
renown less to his science than his manners. People said: "He is
an original;" they admired his affectation of independence, of
scepticism, and rudeness. He made his visits from five to nine in
the morning--all the worse for those for whom these hours were
inconvenient. After nine o'clock the doctor was not to be had.
The doctor was working for himself, the doctor was in his
laboratory, the doctor was inspecting his cellar. It was rumored
that he sought for secrets of practical chemistry, to augment still
more his twenty thousand livres of income. And he did not deny it;
for in truth he was engaged on poisons, and was perfecting an
invention by which could be discovered traces of all the alkaloids
which up to that time had escaped analysis. If his friends
reproached him, even jokingly, on sending away sick people in the
afternoon, he grew red with rage.

"Parbleu!" he answered, "I find you superb! I am a doctor four
hours in the day. I am paid by hardly a quarter of my patients
--that's three hours I give daily to humanity, which I despise.
Let each of you do as much, and we shall see."

The mayor conducted the new-comers into the drawing-room, where he
installed himself to write down the results of his examination.

"What a misfortune for my town, this crime!" said he to M. Domini.
"What shame! Orcival has lost its reputation."

"I know nothing of the affair," returned the judge. "The gendarme
who went for me knew little about it."

M. Courtois recounted at length what his investigation had
discovered, not forgetting the minutest detail, dwelling especially
on the excellent precautions which he had had the sagacity to take.
He told how the conduct of the Bertauds had at first awakened his
suspicions; how he had detected them, at least in a pointblank lie;
how, finally, he had determined to arrest them. He spoke standing,
his head thrown back, with wordy emphasis. The pleasure of
speaking partially rewarded him for his recent distress.

John Addington Symonds (October 5, 1840 - April 19, 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. He was an early advocate of the validity of male love which included for him pederastic as well as egalitarian relationships, and which he would refer to as lamour de limpossible.

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