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(Book titles are subject to change)

A Royal Engineer in the Low Countries

A Cavalry Surgeon at Waterloo

With the Third Guards during the Peninsular War

The First and Last Campaigns of the Great War

Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Vincent O'Sullivan

Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Algernon Blackwood

Narratives of the Anglo-Zulu War

and many others

The Complete Dr Nikola—Man of Mystery

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The Complete Dr Nikola—Man of Mystery
Leonaur Original
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Author(s): Guy Boothby
Date Published: 2009/3
Page Count: 468
Softcover ISBN-13: 978-1-84677-619-9
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-1-84677-620-5

The second volume of the complete adventures of Dr. Nikola

Leonaur have brought the complete Dr.Nikola stories together in two complementing volumes available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket. The three books in this second volume are The Lust of Hate, Dr Nikola’s Experiment & Farewell, Nikola. The dark, intense visage of Dr.Nikola is a clear indication of the nature of the man. This is a highly intellectual being whose life and studies have taken him far beyond the limits of conventional academia or the laws of normal society. This is a driven man, ruthless, dangerous, mysterious and a delver into mysteries—obsessed with discovering the secret of eternal life for himself. His own objectives govern all and sudden death is no stranger. Guy Boothby's Dr.Nikola adventures continue to fascinate readers and enthusiasts of crime and mystery fiction because—in the manner of Raffles, the gentleman cracksman—here is character far removed from the uncompromising goodness of Holmes and Watson or the uncompromising evil of Professor Moriarty. Nikola is a complex personality—an anti-hero to continually surprise us, to dislike, fear, intrigue and admire by turns.

Of what happened during the fortnight following I have little to tell. Nikola and I watched by the bedside in turn, took our exercise upon the battlements, ate and slept with the regularity of automata. The life on one side was monotonous in the extreme; on the other it was filled with an unholy excitement that was the greater inasmuch as it had to be so carefully suppressed. To say that I was deeply interested in the work upon which I was engaged would be a by no means strong enough expression. The fire of enthusiasm, to which I have before alluded, was raging once more in my heart, and yet there had been little enough so far in the experiment to excite it. With that regularity which characterised the whole of our operations, we carried on the work I have described. Every sixth hour saw the skin tighten and become elastic, the hue of the flesh change from white to pink, the veins recede, and the hollows fill, only to return to their original state as soon as the electric current was withdrawn. Towards the end of the fortnight, however, there were not wanting signs to show that the effect was gradually becoming more lasting. In place of doing so at once, the change to the original condition did not occur until some eight or ten minutes after the pads had been removed. And here I must remark that there was one other point in the case which struck me as peculiar. When I had first seen the old man, his finger-nails were of that pale yellow tint so often observable in the very old, now they were a delicate shade of pink; while his hair was, I felt convinced, a darker shade than it had been before. As Nikola was careful to point out, we had arrived at the most critical stage of the experiment. A mistake at this juncture, would not only undo all the work we had accomplished, but, what was more serious still, might very possibly cost us the life of the patient himself.<br>
The night I am about to describe was at the end of the fourteenth day after our arrival at the castle. Nikola had been on watch from four o’clock in the afternoon until eight, when I relieved him.<br>
“Do not let your eyes wander from him for a minute,” he said, as I took my place beside the bed. “From certain symptoms I have noticed during the last few hours, I am convinced the crisis is close at hand. Should a rise in the temperature occur, summon me instantly. I shall be in the laboratory ready at a moment’s notice to prepare the elixir upon which the success we hope to achieve depends.”<br>
“But you are worn out,” I said, as I noticed the haggard expression upon his face. “Why don’t you take some rest?”<br>
“Rest!” he cried scornfully. “Is it likely that I could rest with such a discovery just coming within my grasp? No; you need not fear for me; I shall not break down. I have a constitution of iron.”<br>
Having once more warned me to advise him of any change that might occur, he left me; and when I had examined my instruments, attended to the electrical apparatus, and taken the patient’s temperature, I sat down to the vigil to which I had by this time become accustomed. Hour by hour I followed the customary routine. My watch was early at an end. In twenty minutes it would be time for Nikola to relieve me. Leaning over the old man, I convinced myself that no change had taken place in his condition; his temperature was exactly what it had been throughout the preceding fortnight. I carefully wiped the clinical thermometer, and replaced it in its case. As I did so, I was startled by hearing a wild shriek in the hall outside. It was a woman’s voice, and the accent was one of deadly terror. I should have recognised the voice anywhere: it was the Dona Consuelo’s. What could have happened? Once more it rang out, and almost before I knew what I was doing I had rung the bell for Nikola, and had rushed from the room into the hall outside. No one was to be seen there. I ran in the direction of the corridor which led towards the Dona’s own quarters, but she was not there! I returned and followed that leading towards that terrible room behind the iron gate. The passage was in semi-darkness, but there was still sufficient light for me to see a body lying upon the floor. As I thought, it was the Dona Consuelo, and she had fainted. Picking her up in my arms, I carried her to the hall, where the meal of which I was to partake at the end of my watch was already prepared. To bathe her forehead was the work of a moment. She revived almost immediately.<br>
“What is the matter?” she asked faintly. “What has happened?” But before I could reply, the recollection of what she had seen returned to her. A look of abject terror came into her face.<br>
“Save me, save me, Dr. Ingleby!” she cried, clinging to my arm like a frightened child. “If I see them again, I shall go mad. It will kill me. You don’t know how frightened I have been.”