Round the Fire Stories Chapter 6 - The Black Doctor

**Arthur Conan Doyle** (0:00)
Story Six of Round the Fire Stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Story Six. The Black Doctor.
Bishop's Crossing is a small village lying ten miles in the southwesterly direction from Liverpool.
Here in the early seventies there settled a doctor named Aloysius Lana. Nothing was known locally, either of his antecedents, or of the reasons which had prompted him to come to this Lancashire hamlet. Two facts only were certain about him, the one that he had gained his medical qualification with some distinction at Glasgow, the other that he came undoubtedly of a tropical race and was so dark that he might almost have had a strain of the Indian in his composition.
His predominant features were, however, European, and he possessed a stately courtesy and carriage which suggested a Spanish extraction. A swarthy skin, raven-black hair, and dark sparkling eyes under a pair of heavily tufted eyebrows made a strange contrast to the flaxen or chestnut rustics of England, and the newcomer was soon known as the Black Doctor of Bishop's Crossing. At first it was a term of ridicule and reproach. As the years went on, it became a title of honor which was familiar to the whole countryside and extended far beyond the narrow confines of the village. For the newcomer proved himself to be a capable surgeon and an accomplished physician. The practice of that district had been in the hands of Edward Rowe, the son of Sir William Rowe, the Liverpool consultant, but he had not inherited the talents of his father, and Dr. Lana, with his advantages of presence and of manner, soon beat him out of the field. Dr. Lana's social success was as rapid as his professional. A remarkable surgical cure in the case of the Honorable James Lowry, the second son of Lord Belton, was the means of introducing him to county society, where he became a favorite through the charm of his conversation and the elegance of his manners. An absence of antecedents and of relatives is sometimes an aid rather than impediment to social advancement, and the distinguished individuality of the handsome doctor was its own recommendation.
His patients had one fault, and one fault only, to find with him, he appeared to be a confirmed bachelor. This was the more remarkable since the house which he occupied was a large one, and it was known that his success in practice had enabled him to save considerable sums. At first the local matchmakers were continually coupling his name with one or other of the eligible ladies, but as years passed and Dr. Lana remained unmarried, it came to be generally understood that for some reason he must remain a bachelor. Some even went so far as to assert that he was already married, and that it was in order to escape the consequence of an early misalliance that he had buried himself at Bishop's Crossing. And then, just as the matchmakers had finally given him up in despair, his engagement was suddenly announced to Miss Frances Morton of Lee Hall.
Miss Morton was a young lady who was well known upon the countryside, her father, James Haldane Morton, having been the squire of Bishop's Crossing. Both her parents were, however, dead, and she lived with her only brother, Arthur Morton, who had inherited the family estate. In person Miss Morton was tall and stately, and she was famous for her quick impetuous nature and for her strength of character. She met Dr. Lana at a garden party, and a friendship which quickly ripened into love sprang up between them. Nothing could exceed their devotion to each other. There was some discrepancy in age, he being thirty-seven and she twenty-four. But save in that one respect, there was no possible objection to be found with the match. The engagement was in February, and it was arranged that the marriage should take place in August. Upon the third of June Dr. Lana received a letter from abroad. In a small village the postmaster is also in a position to be the gossip master, and Mr. Bankley of Bishop's Crossing had many of the secrets of his neighbors in his possession.
Of this particular letter he remarked only that it was in a curious envelope, that it was in a man's handwriting, that the postscript was Buenos Aires, and that the stamp of the Argentine Republic. It was the first letter which he had ever known Dr. Lana to have from abroad, and this was the reason why his attention was particularly called to it before he handed it to the local postman. It was delivered by the evening delivery of that date. Next morning, that is upon the fourth of June, Dr. Lana called upon Miss Morton, and a long interview followed from which he was observed to return in a state of great agitation. Miss Morton remained in her room all that day, and her maid found her several times in tears. In the course of a week, it was an open secret to the whole village that the engagement was at an end, that Dr. Lana had behaved shamefully to the young lady, and that Arthur Morton, her brother, was talking of horse-whipping him.