Arthur Fenton

Arthur Fenton
impulse comes from a person at a distance--an uncontrollable impulse."
"Obsession!" he shrieked, in an ecstasy of delight. "It is the rarest condition.
We have eight cases, five well attested. You don't mean to say----" His
exultation made him hardly articulate.   "No, I don't," said I. "Good-evening!
You will excuse me, but I am not very w ell to-night." And so at last I got rid
of him, still brandishing his pencil and his note-book. My troubles may be bad
to hear, but at least it is better to hug them to myself than to have myself
exhibited by Wilson, like a freak at a fair. He has lost sight of human beings.
Every thing to him is a case and a phenomenon. I will die before I speak to
him again upon the matter.   April 12. Yesterday was a blessed day of quiet,
and I enjoyed an uneventful night. Wilson's presence is a great consolation.
What can the woman do now? Surely, when she has heard me say what I have
said, she will conceive the same disgust for me which I have for her. She could
not, no, she COULD not, desire to have a lover who had insulted her so. No, I
believe I am free from her love--but how about her hate? Might she not use these
powers of hers for revenge? Tut! why should I frighten myself over shadows?
She will forget about me, and I shall forget about her, and all will be well.
April 13. My nerves have quite recovered their tone. I really believe that I
have conquered the creature. But I must confess to living in some suspense. She
is well again, for I hear that she was driving with Mrs. Wilson in the High
Street in the afternoon.   April 14. I do wish I could get away from the place
altogether. I shall fly to Agatha's side the very day that the term closes. I
suppose it is pitiably weak of me, but this woman gets upon my nerves most
terribly. I have seen her again, and I have spoken with her.   It was just after
lunch, and I was smoking a cigarette in my study, when I heard the step of my
servant Murray in the...