M. R. James - "Two Doctors"

[Fried Egg]

After reading the story; "Two Doctors" in my collection of ghost stories by M. R. James and it's left me confused.

Sometimes I think that his tales are just too subtle for me and they go over my head. Can anyone who's read it shed some light on it for me? The full text is available on line here: Two Doctors.

Regard the following paragraph near the beginning of the story:

There is one very obscure part in this statement — namely, the reference to the former affidavit and the matter of the bedstaff. The former affidavit is not in the bundle of papers. It is to be feared that it was taken out to be read because of its special oddity, and not put back. Of what nature the story was may be guessed later, but as yet no clue has been put into our hands.

What indeed was the nature of the story that might be guessed at later? I was never able to fathom it. I have an inkling the concluding paragraph alludes to it but I can't see exactly how:

Annexed to the other papers is one which I was at first inclined to suppose had made its way among them by mistake. Upon further consideration I think I can divine a reason for its presence.

It relates to the rifling of a mausoleum in Middlesex which stood in a park (now broken up), the property of a noble family which I will not name. The outrage was not that of an ordinary resurrection man. The object, it seemed likely, was theft. The account is blunt and terrible. I shall not quote it. A dealer in the North of London suffered heavy penalties as a receiver of stolen goods in connexion with the affair.

Did anyone understand this story better than I (who am left in a state of confusion)?

 

[The Judge]

I'd not come across the story before, Fried Egg, but have read it very quickly from your link. I was also confused at first, but I think I can see some light.

Firstly, I checked out 'bedstaff' to see if that gave a clue - apparently it's a wooden pin that used to be stuck at the side of a bed to stop the bedclothes slipping. So it may be that Abell had been practising his telekinesis on someone in his own household, removing the bedstaff to the dispensing room - not only would this be odd in itself, but perhaps there is the implication that it made the bedclothes move, nearly smothering the person in the bed at the time. This fits in with Jennet not wanting to sleep in the same house as Abell that last night.

Second, the Middlesex mausoleum belongs to a noble family. This suggests to me ducal - which also suggests crowns/coronets, which links up to the very fine bedding with its coronet and bird. A mausoleum means the noble bodies are entombed rather than buried, so it's possible one was coffined with the bedding. The not-quite resurrectionists ransack the tomb (resurrectionists were body-snatchers - they removed new corpses to give to medics for dissection practice/research) and steal what they can, and Quinn then buys the bedding from the North London fence who gets convicted later. This idea of robbing the grave is backed up by the chrysalis image of Quinn's dream where he is digging up the corpse with its 'stuff'.

As I say, have only read this very quickly, so I may be missing something, but it seems to hang together for me.

J

 

[Fried Egg]

Well, thankyou very much for your analysis. I did indeed have no clue what a "bedstaff" was. Nor did I see the connection with the new bedding that Dr Quinn purchased as having been stolen from the mausoleum. I'm sure you're correct in both cases.

So Dr. Abell caused Dr. Quinn to suffocate using his powers of telekinesis (that he aquired by some diabolical trade with the devil) on his new pillow. Fine, but it still doesn't fully make sense to me.

Why was Dr. Quinn having dreams about digging up a chrysaslis of himself? Was he a regular purchaser of goods stolen from mausoleums? Why introduce that concept attall? Dr. Abell had a grudge against Dr. Quinn for supposedly stealing his patients and therefore I suppose a motive for killing Dr. Quinn. What did stolen bed furnishings have to do with anything?

And what was this affidavit about?

 

[The Judge]

I assumed the dreams were procured in some way by Abell as part of his supernatural powers - after all, if you want revenge, it isn't enough to kill the person quickly, you want them to suffer for some time. A dream of digging up any swaddled corpse would be unpleasant, but to have an image of one's own dead body is, I'd have thought, much worse. So it would please Abell more than Quinn was sufffering more. And as far as James the author is concerned, it is a gruesome image calculated to harrow the souls of his readers, plus he is pre-figuring not only Quinn's own death but the source of the mysterious and fatal bed linen (the killer-pillow!).

Again, I see Quinn as being directed to buy the bedclothes from the fence by Abell's powers - since this is seen as something strange by Quinn's servants. I assume that more than just the pillow is bought in order for James to show us the fine thread of the linen itself with its embroidered coronet. And it is the stolen pillow - with its deep filling of soft, noble feathers - which suffocates Quinn after it has (presumably) been manipulated by Abell.

In a sense, you're right - there was no need for James to introduce the pillow and other bedclothes from the mausoleum. Quinn could have been suffocated by Abell's powers pulling up the ordinary blankets around him or something. But the idea of using the winding sheet of a corpse as the victim's bed linen, and its pillow as the murder weapon adds a frisson to the story.

As for the so-called affidavit (more likely to have been a simple statement if the other extracts are any example) I imagine that it's Jennet's story about the moving of the bedstaff and the possible charge facing Abell of attempting to murder Jennet or one of the other servants.

Ta da!

Any more ??

J

 

[Fried Egg]

Well, ok, fair enough. I'll just have to chalk that one down to experience. Thankfully he doesn't always leave that much for the reader to fill in the blanks because he would find me wanting!