The Parasite Chapter 2

Arthur Conan Doyle (0:07)

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The Parasite A story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle CHAPTER II MARCH 26 Wilson was, as I had anticipated, very exultant over my conversion, and Miss Penclosa was also demurely pleased at the result of her experiment. Strange what a silent, colorless creature she is, to save only when she exercises her power. Even talking about it gives her color and life. She seems to take a singular interest in me. I cannot help observing how her eyes follow me about the room.

We had the most interesting conversation about her own powers. It is just as well to put her views on record, though they cannot, of course, claim any scientific weight. You are on the very fringe of the subject, said she, when I had expressed wonder at the remarkable instance of suggestion which she had shown me. I had no direct influence upon Miss Martin when she came round to you. I was not even thinking of her that morning. What I did was to set her mind as I might set the alarm of a clock, so that at the hour named it would go off of its own accord. If six months instead of twelve hours had been suggestion, it would have been the same. And if the suggestion had been to assassinate me?

She would most inevitably have done so. But this is a terrible power, I cried. It is, as you say, a terrible power, she answered gravely. And the more you know of it, the more terrible it will seem to you.

May I ask, said I, what you meant when you said that this matter of suggestion is only at the fringe of it? What do you consider the essential?

I had rather not tell you. I was surprised at the decision of her answer. You understand, said I, that it is not out of curiosity, I ask, but in the hope that I may find some scientific explanation for the facts with which you furnish me. Frankly, Professor Gilroy, said she, I am not at all interested in science, nor do I care whether it can or cannot classify these powers. But I was hoping, Ah! That is quite another thing. If you make it a personal matter, said she, with the pleasantest of smiles, I shall be only too happy to tell you anything you wish to know. Let me see. What was it you asked me? Oh, about the further powers. Professor Wilson won't believe in them, but they are quite true all the same. For example, it is possible for an operator to gain complete command over his subject, presuming that the latter is a good one. Without any previous suggestion, he may make him do whatever he likes. Without the subject's knowledge?

That depends. If the force were strongly exerted, he would know no more about it than Miss Martin did when she came round and frightened you so. Or if the influence was less powerful, he might be conscious of what he was doing, but be quite unable to prevent himself from doing it. Would he have lost his own willpower then?

It would be overridden by another stronger one.

Have you exercised this power yourself? Several times.

Is your own will so strong then?

Well, it does not entirely depend upon that. Many have strong wills which are not detachable from themselves. The thing is to have the gift of projecting it into another person and superseding his own. I find that the power varies with my own strength and health. Practically, you send your soul into another person's body. Well, you might put it that way. And what does your own body do?

It merely feels lethargic.

Well, but is there no danger to your own health, I asked?

There might be a little. You have to be careful never to let your own consciousness absolutely go. Otherwise, you might experience some difficulty in finding your way back again. You must always preserve the connection, as it were. I am afraid I express myself very badly, Professor Gilroy, but, of course, I don't know how to put these things in a scientific way. I am just giving you my own experiences and my own explanations.

Well, I read this over now at my leisure, and I marvel at myself. Is this Austin Gilroy, the man who has won his way to the front by hard reasoning power and by his devotion to fact? Here, I am gravely retelling the gossip of a woman who tells me how her soul may be projected from her body, and how while she lies in a lethargy, she can control the actions of people at a distance. Do I accept it? Certainly not. She must prove and re-prove before I yield a point. But if I am still a skeptic, I have at least ceased to be a scoffer. We are to have a sitting this evening, and she is to try if she can produce any mesmeric effect upon me. If she can, it will make an excellent starting point for our investigation.