taken the gas at one time or another, and pretty well know what the experience is like; but I may as well describe to you the effects it had upon me.

I was first of all conscious of a kind of half-choking sensation in the throat and some uneasiness in the chest, but that quickly passed off. Then I began to get gradually more and more exhilarated in mind somewhat like dram-drinking would affect one, but of course quicker, and also more easily and buoyantly. I wanted to talk, but the infernal mouthpiece prevented me. I seemed conscious that I had lots of things to say that were really very witty; but no, I could not get utterance for them.

All

sorts of humorous ideas struggled vaguely in my mind; and though I felt I was growing very silly, yet I wished to let the feeling increase. Then it appeared to me to be necessary that I should get up in order to give free vent to my mirthful tendencies; but no, the dentist held me down in the chair, and kept the mouthpiece still over my face. I struggled to get free, and fought with my hands. to release myself; for I felt that there was a whole tempest of laughter within me that ought to be let out. Every moment, too, the dentist himself and the whole situation seemed to become more and more ludicrous to my mind, and I strove and strove with the little man, who was fairly lying on top of me now, until I suppose I lost consciousness more or less.

I came to all of a sudden, with a singular feeling of shame and contrition, as it were, for the fool ishness I had been guilty of. But one consideration bore all others down before it. The pain in my jaw was intensified instead of being relieved.

Mr. Masseter was standing in front of me, looking rather rueful.

'Have you got it out?' I gasped.

No,' he said smilingly. The fact is you are a little rough under the gas. It excited you a good deal; and so, as you kept moving and struggling with me, I did not get a chance to operate till just as you were coming round again.'

'Well, what's to be done? What do you propose?' I said querulously.

'O,' he replied, 'it will be all right if you'll only just permit me to do what is needful in cases of a similar idiosyncrasy to your own.' What is that?' I questioned.

Nothing that need discompose you, sir,' he answered; merely to let me fasten your limbs for the moment, so that I may get at your mouth when you are under the gas. I've several times had to do just the same thing to lady-patients.'

'Fasten me up!' I said, in amazement. I never heard of such a thing before! It's very unusual,

is it not?'

'Unusual, yes, in a general way; but every dentist who employs the gas must sometimes have recourse to it, or else operate without the gas at all; which, in your own case, would be very painful, as I have told you.'

'How do you mean to do it, then?' I asked him.

'In this way,' he answered: 'I have here two collars or bracelets united by a short chain. Now if you will pass your hands behind the back of the chair, and permit me to fasten your wrists with this contrivance, I shall be able to get to your mouth without your fighting with me when you are under the influence of the gas. There is a bar here, too, that I can shut down over your knees to control them, and a strap to pass across your shins and keep you from kicking.'

My jaw was now aching so furiously that I was ready to close with any plan that offered speedy relief.

'Fire away,' I said. 'Do what you like, only rid me of this pain.' So, in a minute or two, I was made securely captive in the chair, in the manner as aforesaid. I am not a suspicious man, and as everything seemed natural enough, I had not the least reason for objecting to the plan. Certainly I felt a little foolish, and the thought crossed my mind that, if the unprepossessing little man who was busying himself about me meant foul play of any sort, he had me most completely in his power. But there was no excuse for harbouring such a notion; and if events had taken the course they were intended to, I should have had no occasion to grumble at my temporary bonds. That they did not do so the sequel of my tale will quickly show, but of course I could have no prevision at that moment of what actually was to follow.

So it was with perfect composure and acquiescence that I again felt the mouthpiece put over my face, and that I recommenced inhaling the gas. I underwent much the same succession of feelings on this second occasion as before, with this difference, that my bonds prevented my struggling and interfering with the dentist in the performance of his work. When I recovered from the gas, therefore, I found, to my delight, that the job was over, my offending member gone, and my pain with it. Mr. Masseter was holding a glass of water to my mouth, and I felt altogether in a state of tranquil blessedness.

So far, then, things had gone according to settled plan and intention; now they were quickly to ssume a course extraordinary.

What fiend prompted him to do it, I do not know; but, just at this juncture, Mr. Masseter asked me to let him take a cast of my upper jaw. It was from the lower, you understand, that the broken stump had just been extracted. The reason of his request was that I have a peculiar arrangement, or disarrangement if you like, of the teeth, and the dentist, so he told me, was desirous to have a cast of the jaw.

As you may suppose, the request, my compliance with it, and its execution occupied such a short moment, that I never thought to ask for release from my bonds first; and, to do the poor little man justice, I am perfectly sure it never occurred to him either.

Everything being in readiness, Mr. Masseter stepped over to me, and, telling me to open my mouth to its widest extent, he placed in it a sort of little spoon or trowel filled with some composition resembling putty in consistence. This spoon was flat at the bottom, and shaped so as to fit the mouth, which it nearly filled. By raising and manipulating it a little the composition came in contact with the palate and upper teeth, and being soft, moulded itself to their shape.

Just at the precise moment when my teeth were fixed in the composition in this way, the dentist moved to the table to reach a spatula or probe or some such instrument. He said something, but I failed to catch what it was, as he moved away from me. Then, to my utter amazement, he suddenly fell to the ground, turning partially towards me as he sank, so that his head and back came up against the panelling below the window in front of me, and were supported by it.

Naturally I thought he had but tripped over the carpet or some

thing, and I instinctively made an effort to rise and help him. Of course I could not do that, fixed as I was, and I was rather amused at the contretemps. I looked to see him spring up again at once, as a man would under the circumstances. For several moments I watched him, all the while seeing nothing but the ridiculous in the incident. Then my mirth gradually gave way to concern, and that became in its turn actual alarm. What could be the matter? The man did not move a muscle or even speak!

There he lay, or rather crouched, without visible motion of any kind, just as he had fallen; one leg was drawn up under him, the other extended; his back and shoulders were resting against the wall, his arms hanging loosely down, and his face fully turned in my direction. His eyes and mouth were open, the former fixed and staring, with a certain glassiness coming into them, while his complexion was beginning to assume a more ghastly and livid look. What on earth could be the matter with the man? I asked myself. Was he in a fit of some sort? Hardly, for there was none of that convulsive motion one usually associates with the idea of a fit. Then what was it? Could it be possible that-the man-was-dead?

I had enough knowledge of medical science to know that these deformed subjects, born into the world with a body that had seemingly been the sport of creative nature, were often gifted with emotional capacities of a very extraordinary kind. In other words, it sometimes happened that a body, physically a structural abortion, might contain nervous centres and organisations capable of singularly delicate sensation and faculty. Again, I knew that persons, in whom was this hypersen

sitive nervous power, were peculiarly liable or predisposed to a class of diseases not ordinarily met with among others, and which, too, might be manifested in them in a strange and inexplicable manner. All this, and more that I need not weary you with, existed in my mind in a confused and hazy sort of way.

You will wonder what I was doing all this time. Briefly, then, I was making the strongest and most frantic efforts to free myself from my unfortunate position.

This is how I was situated. I was sitting in the chair, which was like an ordinary solidly-built large armchair. The back had been let down to a considerable angle, so that I was really in a half-reclining posture. My arms were held round the back of the chair, behind and partially below me, and were fastened at the wrists in the manner already described. So tightly were the bracelets buckled round my wrists, that it was impossible to slip them off; while the coupling-chain between them. had apparently been passed through a ring attached to the chair itself.

Across my knees was a bar that passed through the arms of the chair, and that was immovably fixed; while over my shins was a strap, completing the bonds that held me most securely fast.

To add to the miseries of my position, the spoon and its contents yet remained in my mouth, nor was any effort of mine able to dislodge it. Biting made no impression on the metal spoon, while every movement of tongue and teeth only forced the composition into my cheeks and gave it a firmer hold. I was simply bound and gagged in the securest possible manner. Had I been a slighterbuilt man, I might have contrived to wriggle my legs upwards, and so possibly I might have twisted

myself free; but, being large and heavy as I am, this was wholly impossible. Indeed, the chair seemed to hold me as though it had been fitted to my body, and I filled my bonds without an inch of room to spare.

Of course my first impulse, after the whole horror of the situation had forced itself upon me, was to struggle to release myself. I prolonged my efforts with frantic persistence until the perspiration streamed from every pore-cold as the weather was-and until I was thoroughly exhausted, but without relieving my position in the smallest degree. After every conceivable endeavour, after exercising my strength and ingenuity to the utmost, I still remained as at first, helplessly bound, hopelessly gagged.

I had been primarily excited to try and release myself by the desire of assisting that poor little man, who had been struck down before my eyes so suddenly, so strangely, and so awfully; but I soon began almost to forget him in alarm for my own case. Clearly I must remain where I was until somebody came to the rescue, nor could I shout to summon aid, or make any noise sufficient to attract attention.

I remembered that Mr. Masseter had told me he was alone in the house. His servants had gone away to make holiday with their friends, and he himself had just been going off somewhere when I arrived. Yet, surely, I thought somebody would come to the house before long; some servant would return, some tradesman or messenger at least would call presently, and I should be relieved. Surely, I argued with myself, here, in the very heart of London, I could not remain undiscovered.

Much as I pitied the unfortunate object before me, the outlines

of whose figure I could just perceive through the gathering gloom -for by this time the light had waned very much-deeply though I deplored his sudden and fearful fate, my mind was now fully occupied with my own personal con

cerns.

I thought of the party that was expecting me, whose members would shortly be commencing their Christmas-eve festivities, probably with much wonder at my non-appearance, and, likely enough, with plenty of jests at the expense of the laggard. When-O, when !— might I expect to join them? There was a disagreeable apprehension stealing into my head that was momentarily increasing into a terrifying certainty. The morrow was Christmas day, and the day following was Sunday. Doubtless the dentist's servants had received leave of absence until Monday, or perhaps till Tuesday. These were days on which there would be no likelihood of tradesmen, patients, or other callers coming to the house, and consequently but small chance of any one discovering my situation. My prospect of liberty, therefore, depended on myself, or on my succeeding in attracting the attention of some passer-by in the street. It was a horrible conclusion to arrive at, just as I was panting with the futile efforts I had already made to release myself.

Again, and yet again, I strove and fought for liberty; struggling until my wrists were swelled and raw, until my arms were strained as if they had been drawn out upon the rack, until every muscle of my body and limbs seemed wrenched and torn. The muscles of my cheeks and throat were cramped and painful; my lips and tongue became swollen, tense, and bled with the strenuous efforts I made to eject that infernal spoonful of

plaster from my mouth. And when exhaustion and torture precluded all further attempts, I found all had been to no purpose-I had not gained an inch. Weakened and racked with pain, I lay in my bondage; and I am not ashamed to say that tears of despair and mortification welled from my eyes as, half choked and panting, I lay there in the darkness.

Now commenced a time in which my suffering was so acute that the living reality of it seems present with me still. That period of horrible anguish has left an ineffaceable brand upon my memory that will remain with me always. I may as well tell you at this point of my tale that I remained a prisoner until late on the Monday following only some seventy short hours in all, but, O God, hours that to me seemed unending years!

I cannot describe to you separately each hour as it passed, each night or each day; that first night was, perhaps, the easiest of all. Gagged and bound to that fearful chair, I reclined a tortured prisoner. Prostrated by unusual exertion, my body and limbs were alternately numbed with cold or seized with cramps that would have caused me to scream if I had had the power to do so. By and by I was assailed with intensest thirst, and anon with hunger also; and these, added to the pain I suffered from the immovable constraint of my position, the aching sores and bruises my struggles had left me, and the horrid cramps that griped my limbs, effectually banished all chance of sleep.

But the wretchedness of my physical condition was intensified by the mental misery I endured. Realise my position to yourselves if you can, and you may form some idea of my state of mind. As the slow hours passed on and on, bringing no relief with them,

and my torments grew worse and worse, I began to lose hope, and to harbour apprehensions that I might not be found until too late. Imagine the thinking and thinking I continued to endure all that horrible time, the growing despondency, the utter depression, the sense of isolation there, close to the Strand and Charing Cross, the very centre of London.

And, worst of all, I am a nervous man; and my situation was such as might have wrought upon the courage of the strongest nerved. For do not forget the silent watcher who all the time crouched opposite to me. I could not see him by night, yet I knew he was there; and with the first streaks of daylight came the gradual growing shape, joining itself among the shadows until the dead glassy eyes sprang suddenly out of the gloom and fixed themselves on mine. Though dull and cold, their immovable stare had a weirdly awful expression that fearfully excited my imagination. If I closed my eyes I still seemed to see the ghastly form through the lids; and the unquenchable fixity of that horrible gaze impelled me to turn my eyes to it.

Sounds of life were around me in plenty; and perhaps that may have kept me from going actually mad. It was a quiet street, with little or no traffic through it; but the nervous tension of my faculties made me alive to noises that one would scarcely notice in general. Moreover, after a bit, I began to link the sounds I heard to strange effects of imagination; they became living things to me, and part of the dismal nightmare through which I was passing.

By night I heard the constant chiming of Big Ben and other clocks, the occasional distant rattle of a cab, the solemn tramp of the policeman on his beat, the