The Dawn of All

by Robert Hugh Benson

  CHAPTER III

  (I)

  "Just be natural," whispered Father Jervis a quarter of an hourlater, as they passed through the big ante-room. "You needn'texplain a word. I've told him everything."

  He tapped; and a voice answered.

  Sitting in a big arm-chair drawn up to the writing-table, the manwho had lost his memory saw a tall, thin figure, in black withscarlet buttons, and a small scarlet skull-cap crowning hisiron-grey hair. It was a little hard to make out the face atfirst, as the window was immediately beyond it; but he saw almostimmediately that, although the face smiled at him reassuringlyand welcomingly, it was entirely unfamiliar.

  The Cardinal stood up as the two approached, pushing back hischair, and held out both his hands.

  "My dear Monsignor," he said, and grasped the other's handsfirmly and kindly.

  "I . . . your Eminence . . ." stammered the man.

  "Now, now; not one word till I've done. I've heard everything.Come and sit down."

  He led him to a chair on the hearth-rug, placed him in it,and himself sat down in his own, facing him. The priestremained standing.

  "Now, I'm going to begin with an order, on holy obedience,"smiled the Cardinal. "You and Father Jervis--if the doctorapproves--are to start for a little European tour by themidnight volor."

  "The . . . ?"

  "The volor," said the Cardinal. "It'll do you good. Father Jerviswill undertake all responsibility, and you needn't worry yourselfat all. I shall telegraph to Versailles in my own name, and makeone or two arrangements, and a couple of my servants will attendyou. You will have nothing to do but get better. You can't bespared. It'll all come perfectly right, I have no manner ofdoubt. Father Jervis, just ask the doctor to step here."

  The Cardinal talked a minute or two longer, still with thatsoothing, peaceful air; and Monsignor, as he listened, watchedthe priest go up to a row of black boxes, resembling those inhis own room, and take down a shutter from one of them. He thensaid a rapid sentence or two in a whisper, reclosed theshutter, and came back.

  "If things don't clear themselves, you will just have to learnyour business over again, Monsignor," went on the Cardinal, stillsmiling. "Father Jervis has told me how well you did at lunch;and Mr. Manners said nothing, except that you were a very goodhost and a very graceful listener. So you need not fear that anyone will notice. So please put out of your mind any thought thatany one else will take your place here. I shall expect you backin a month or two, and not a soul will be any the wiser. I shalljust let it be known that you're gone for a holiday. You havealways worked hard enough, anyhow, to deserve one."

  At that moment, somewhere out of the air, from the direction ofthe boxes on the wall, a very deferential, quiet voice uttered afew words in Latin.

  The Cardinal nodded. Father Jervis went to the door and openedit, and there came through a man in a black cloak, resembling agown, followed by a servant carrying a bag. The bag was set down,the servant went out, and the doctor came forward to kiss theCardinal's ring.

  "I want you just to examine Monsignor Masterman," said theCardinal. "And, doctor, please observe absolute silenceafterwards. Just say that you have found him a little run down."

  Monsignor made a movement to stand up, but the Cardinalrestrained him.

  "Do you remember this gentleman?" he asked.

  Monsignor stared blankly at the doctor.

  "I have never seen him in my life," he said.

  The doctor smiled, simply and frankly.

  "Well, well, Monsignor," he said.

  "It seems just a loss of memory," went on the Cardinal. "Justtell the doctor how it happened."

  The invalid made an effort; he shut his eyes for an instant torecover himself; and then he related at length his first apparentconsciousness in Hyde Park, and all that had followed. FatherJervis put a question from time to time, which he answered quiterationally; and at the close the doctor, who was sitting opposite,watching every movement of his face, leaned back, smiling.

  "Well, Monsignor," he said, "it seems to me that your memory issufficiently good. Just put another question, father--a reallydifficult one--about something that has happened since noon."

  "Can you remember the points of Mr. Manners' speech?" asked thepriest doubtfully.

  The other paused for a moment.

  "Psychology, Comparative Religion, the Philosophy ofEvidence, Pragmatism, Art, Politics, and finallyRecuperation. These were the----"

  "Now that's astonishing!" said the priest. "I could onlyremember four myself."

  "When did you see the Cardinal last?" asked the doctor suddenly.

  "I have never seen him before, to my knowledge," faltered the sick man.

  The Cardinal leaned forward and patted him gently on the knee.

  "Never mind," he said. "Then, doctor----"

  "Would your Eminence put a question to him on some very importantmatter? Something that would have made a deep impression."

  The Cardinal considered.

  "Well," he said, "yes. Do you remember the message brought byspecial messenger from Windsor yesterday evening?"

  Monsignor shook his head.

  "That'll do," said the doctor. "Don't attempt to force yourself."

  He rose from his chair, fetched his bag and opened it. Out of ithe took an instrument rather resembling a small camera, but witha bundle of minute wires of some very pliable material, eachending in a tiny disc.

  "Do you know what this is, Monsignor?" asked the doctor, busyinghimself with the wires.

  "I have no idea."

  "Well, well. . . . Now, Monsignor, kindly loosen your waistcoat,so that I can get at your breast and back."

  "Is it a stethoscope?"

  "Something like it," smiled the doctor. "But how did you knowthat name? Never mind. Now then, please."

  He placed the camera affair on the corner of the table near thearm-chair; and then, very rapidly, began to affix the discs--itseemed by some process of air-exhaustion--all over the head,breast, and back of the amazed man. No sensation followed this atall, except the very faint feeling of skin-contraction at eachpoint of contact.

  "May I have that blind down, your Eminence? . . . Ah! that'sbetter. Now then."

  He bent closely over the square box on the table, and seemed topeer at something inside. The others kept silence.

  "Well?" asked the Cardinal at last.

  "Perfectly satisfactory, your Eminence. There is a very faintdiscoloration, but no more than is usual in a man of Monsignor'stemperament at any excitement. There is absolutely nothing wrong,and--Monsignor," he continued, looking straight at thewire-bedecked invalid, "not the very faintest indication ofanything even approaching insanity or imbecility."

  The man who had lost his memory drew a swift breath.

  "May I see, doctor?" asked the Cardinal suavely.

  "Certainly, your Eminence; and Monsignor can lookhimself, if he likes."

  When the other two had looked, the sick man himself was given the box.

  "(Carefully with that wire, please.) There!" said the doctor."Look down there."

  In the centre of the box, shielded by a little plate of glass,there appeared a small semi-luminous globe. This globe seemedtinted with slightly wavering colours, in which a greyish bluepredominated; but, almost like a pulse, there moved across itfrom time to time a very pale red tint, suffusing it, and thendying away again.

  "What is it?" asked the man in the chair hoarsely, lifting his head.

  "That, my dear Monsignor," explained the doctor carefully, "is areflection of your physical condition. It is an exceedinglysimple, though of course very delicate instrument. The methodwas discovered---"

  "Is it anything to do with magnetism?"

  "They used to call it that, I think. It's got several names now.All mental disturbance has, of course, a physical side to it, andthat is how we are able to record it physically. It wasdiscovered by a monk, of course."

  "But . . . but it's marvellous."

  "Everything is marvellou
s, Monsignor. Certainly this, however,caused a revolution. It became the symbol of the whole modernmethod of medicine."

  "What's that?" The doctor laughed.

  "That's a large question," he said.

  "But . . ."

  "Well, in a word, it's the old system turned upside down. Acentury ago when a man was ill they began by doctoring his body.Now, when a man's ill, they begin by doctoring his mind. You seethe mind is much more the man than the body is, as Theologyalways taught us. Therefore by dealing with the mind----"

  "But that's Christian Science!"

  The doctor looked bewildered.

  "It was an old heresy, doctor," put in the Cardinal, smiling,"that denied the reality of matter. No, Monsignor, we don't denythe reality of matter. It's perfectly real. Only, as the doctorsays, we prefer to attack the real root of the disease, ratherthan its physical results. We still use drugs; but only to removepainful symptoms."

  "That . . . that sounds all right," stammered the man, bewilderedby the simplicity of it. "Then . . . then do you mean, yourEminence, that physical diseases are treated---?"

  "There are no physical diseases left," put in the doctor. "Ofcourse there are accidents and external physical injuries; butpractically all the rest have disappeared. Very nearly all ofthem were carried by the blood, and, by dealing with this, thetissues are made immune. Our discoveries also in the region ofinnervation----"

  "But . . . but . . . are there no diseases then?"

  "Why, yes, Monsignor," interrupted the Cardinal, with the patientair of one talking to a child, "there are hundreds of those; andthey are very real indeed; but they are almost entirelymental--or psychical, as some call them. And there arespecialists on all of these. Bad habits of thought, for example,always set up some kind of disease; and there are hospitals forthese; and even isolation homes."

  "Forgive me, your Eminence," put in the doctor, with a certainimperiousness, "but I think we ought not to talk to Monsignor toomuch on this subject. May I put a question or two?"

  "I beg your pardon, doctor. Certainly. Put any question you wish."

  The doctor sat down again.

  "Have you been in the habit of saying Mass every day, Monsignor?"

  "I . . . I don't know," said the invalid.

  "Yes, doctor," put in Father Jervis.

  "And confession once a week?"

  "Twice a week," said Father Jervis. "I am Monsignor's confessor."

  "Very good," said the doctor. "For the present, as far as I amconcerned, I should recommend confession only once a fortnight asa general rule. Mass can be as before. Then Monsignor may sayhalf of his office every day, or the rosary; but not both. And noother devotions of any kind, except the particular Examen. IfMonsignor and Father Jervis both consent, I should like theExamen to be forwarded to a priest-doctor for a few weeks."

  An exclamation broke from the invalid.

  "Well, Monsignor?"

  "I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

  The Cardinal leaned forward.

  "Monsignor, listen to me. In these cases the doctor always giveshis advice. You see even the sacraments have their mental side;and on this mental side the doctor speaks. But the whole decisionrests entirely with the patient and his confessor; or they cancall in an expert priest-doctor. Only a priest can possiblydecide finally the relations between the grace of the sacramentsand their reactionary effect upon the mind. A lay doctor onlyrecommends. Are you satisfied?"

  The man nodded. It seemed very simple, so stated.

  "For the rest," continued the doctor, with a certainstateliness of manner, "I order a complete change of scene.This must be for a fortnight at least, if not longer. If thepriest-doctor's report--to whom the Examen may be sent--isnot satisfactory, it will have to be for longer. The patientmust engage in no business that does not honestly interest him."

  "May he travel to-night?" asked the Cardinal.

  "The sooner the better," said the doctor, rising.

  "What is the matter with me?" asked the invalid hoarsely.

  "It is a small mental explosion, but it has not affected themechanism of the brain. There is not, as I have said, a trace ofinsanity or of loss of balance. I cannot promise that the injurywill be repaired; but defects that may follow from this caneasily be remedied by study. It simply depends upon yourself,Monsignor, as to in how long you can be at your post again here.As soon as you have learned the threads of business, you will beable to apply yourself as before. I shall look for a report in afortnight's time at the latest. Good day, your Eminence."