“Yes, but there has. There are several authentic instances on record of individuals who have been resuscitated after execution, and who have all agreed in testifying that the manner of death was easy, thus demonstrating the theory of science in that respect. But if you want farther confirmation, Eudora, you can have it in my own professional experience.”
“Yours!” exclaimed Eudora, in quiet incredulity.
“Yes; I resuscitated a man who had, in a fit of despair, attempted to destroy himself in that very manner. He was found by his friends suspended from a tree in a grove, and when taken down was quite insensible, and apparently quite dead. But the vital spark had not fled, for when I was called to him, and took proper means to restore him to consciousness, I succeeded. He was very penitent for having, in a fit of despondency, tried to rush unbidden into the presence of his God. But what made his case most interesting to me, as a medical man, was his description of his sensations while undergoing that process. He described them as being without the least degree of suffering, and as resembling the effects produced by the first inhalations of chloroform, until, like one under the full influence of that drug, he lapsed into insensibility, and knew no more until his resuscitation; and now I hope you will believe me, and dismiss your fears of suffering.”
“Oh, yes; I suppose I was a sad coward to dread torture so much.”
“All women do, Eudora. It is their nature; their tender, delicate sensitive organizations shrink from torture. But now, what other feature is there in this fate that so distressed you, for the dread of physical agony was not all?”
“Oh, no, for there was the sense of deep dishonor.”
“Yet you say that you are innocent?”
“I am weary of repeating that to incredulous ears, and yet God knows that I am innocent.”
“Then trust in God to redeem your name from all lasting reproach, as your Christian faith teaches you to believe that He will; and consider also, dear child, that when, in a few more hours, you shall stand in the presence of that Divine Judge who knows your innocence, the opinion of the world you have left behind will be as nothing to your released and happy spirit. Should not such thoughts console you?”
“Oh, yes, they should, indeed. Oh! sir, you have given me comfort—such comfort as I could not have believed in before you came to me. I could not have imagined that any earthly power could have lifted me from the pit of black despair in which I seemed to have fallen. Heaven bless you, Doctor, for the help you have given me,” said Eudora, holding out her hand to the kind physician, who pressed and released it, as he said: