A drowning man clutching at a straw--such is Dr. Fenwick, hero of
Bulwer-Lytton's "Strange Story" when he determines to lend himself
to alleged "magic" in the hope of saving his suffering wife from
the physical dangers which have succeeded her mental disease. The
proposition has been made to him by Margrave, a wanderer in many
countries, who has followed the Fenwicks from England to Australia.
Margrave declares that he needs an accomplice to secure an "elixir
of life" which his own failing strength demands. His mysterious
mesmeric or hypnotic influence over Mrs. Fenwick had in former days
been marked; and on the basis of this undeniable fact, he has
endeavored to show that his own welfare and Mrs. Fenwick's are, in
some occult fashion, knit together, and that only by aiding him in
some extraordinary experiment can the physician snatch his beloved
Lilian from her impending doom.

As the first chapter opens, Fenwick is learning his wife's
condition from his friend, Dr. Faber.



Bulwer-Lytton


The Incantation


I