“Those few words are sufficient, however, to show that he belongs to some English-speaking nation, probably either to our own country or to America, or perhaps to some of the British colonies. And my object in laying the case before you at this length is to enable the Board to determine whether under the circumstances he is a fit subject for further treatment in the hospital. Some question has been raised on that point on account of the doubt whether the man is even a British subject.”
“This is indeed an interesting case—a most interesting case!” the chairman said, when the house surgeon sat down. “I do not remember that such a problem has ever been presented to us before. Whether this man, being no longer bodily ill, is entitled to our further treatment and support, is what we are called upon to decide. I understand from our worthy chief of staff that he is now strong enough to walk about without assistance. Would it not be well to bring him into the room, that we may see for ourselves?”
“Yes, yes; bring him in!” was echoed by several voices. “Let us see whether we can make him out.”
“And if we find that he is an American,” one of the governors said, “he should be taken in charge by the consul of his own country.”
“One word more, Mr. Chairman,” said the house surgeon, taking the floor again. “I must explain that there is some slight ground for believing that the man is an American rather than a British subject. The orderly on duty in the exercise yard reported to me several weeks ago that a ship had that day come into the harbor, flying the American flag; and that this John Doe, seeing it over the top of the wall, showed more interest in it than in anything else since his arrival. He extended his arm toward it, and tried to mutter some words that the orderly could not make out. With this hint I have had it in mind to try upon him the effect of the flags of other nations; but anticipating your desire to see the result for yourselves, I have postponed the trial until to-day, and have also asked the American consul to be present—subject, of course, to your wishes. The consul is now waiting in my office.”
“Let us see John Doe first,” said the chairman; and the house surgeon pressed a bell button and gave some instructions to the orderly who answered.
In a few minutes the door opened again, and the orderly escorted into the room what seemed at first to be a bent and stiffened old man, leaning heavily on a cane and making his way along with difficulty. His hair and beard were almost white, and he shuffled in without raising his eyes from the floor, as if he took no interest whatever in the proceedings. Led to a chair, he sat down heavily, and half-closed his eyes. But the professional eyes present saw that it was not age, but suffering and illness, that had reduced him to this condition. The aged look in his face was caused rather by pain than by years, for there were few of the wrinkles in the forehead or about the eyes or mouth that come with advanced age; and his hands were those of a man in the prime of life, “sixty-five or seventy,” an unprofessional person would have pronounced him; but the physicians present knew that he was very little, if at all, past forty.
“Well, my good man, how are you feeling to-day?” the chairman asked.
“I don’t know,” John Doe answered, without raising his eyes, and with a dazed look on his countenance.
“When did you leave London?” one of the governors asked; but the man merely shook his head.