The Black Doctor

by Arthur Conan Doyle


Bishop's Crossing is a small village ten miles south-west of Liverpool. A doctor called Aloysius Lara went to live there in the early 1870s. Nobody knew where he came from or why he wanted to stay in Bishop's Crossing. There were only two sure things about him: he was an excellent doctor; and he was a foreigner - he was so dark that he looked south Indian. But his face was certainly European - perhaps Spanish. Because of his dark skin, black hair and dark, bright eyes, the newcomer was soon known as "The Black Doctor of Bishop's Crossing." At first, people used the name rudely but, as the years passed, the people used it with friendliness and even love. Everyone knew him, even people who lived far from the small village. The newcomer was a very good doctor and Lara was a success in his profession and socially in the village.

His patients only had one thing they did not like. Dr. Lara was single. This was surprising because he lived in a large house and got a lot of money from his patients. In the beginning, the villagers talked all the time about Dr. Lara and this or that or another lady but, after many years, he was still unmarried. People thought that he - perhaps - had a wife already and he had come to Bishop's Crossing for that reason. Then, suddenly, when nobody expected it, he was engaged to Miss Frances Morton, a rich lady in the neighbourhood.

Miss Morton was a young lady who was well-known in the village because her father was an important man there. Both her parents were, however, dead, and she lived with her only brother, Arthur Morton. Miss Morton was tall and good-looking, and she was famous for her strong character. She met Dr. Lara at a party and a friendship, which quickly changed to love, developed between them. There was a difference in age - he was thirty-seven and she was only twenty-four - but everything else was perfect. They got engaged in February and they were going to get married in August.

On 3rd June, Dr. Lara got a letter from abroad. In a small village, the postman is also often the gossip and Mr. Bankley of Bishop's Crossing knew many of his neighbours' secrets. He noticed that the letter was in a strange envelope with an Argentinian stamp and that the writing on it was a man's. It was the first letter Dr. Lara had got from abroad and it arrived at the doctor's house that evening.

Next morning - on 4th June -Dr. Lara visited Miss Morton and they talked for a long time. Afterwards, Dr. Lara seemed very upset and Miss Morton stayed in her room all day. Her maid found her crying many times. In a week, it was an open secret in the village that their engagement was over, that Dr. Lara did very wrong to the young lady, and that Arthur Morton, her brother, was talking about hitting him. Nobody knew, however, exactly what Dr. Lara had done wrong. But on the evening of Monday, June 21st, everything changed.

The only people living in the doctor's house were his housekeeper, an old woman, named Martha Woods, and a young servant, Mary Pilling. It was the doctor's habit to sit at night in his study, which was on the other side of the house from where the servants slept. It had its own door for patients, so that the doctor could meet them late at night when his servants were asleep.

That night, Martha Woods went into the doctor's study at half past nine and found him writing at his desk. She said good night, sent the servant girl to bed and then did other little jobs in the house. It was eleven by the hall clock when she went to her own room. She was there about a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes when she heard a cry from the house. She waited some time but did not hear the noise again. Very worried, because the noise was loud and urgent, she put on a dressing-gown and ran at top speed to the doctor's study.

"Who's there?" a voice asked.

"I am here, sir, Mrs. Woods."

"Go away. Go back to your room this moment!" cried the voice. It was her master's voice; she was sure. But it was so hard and rude that she was surprised and hurt.

"I thought I heard you calling, sir," she explained, but there was no answer. Mrs. Woods looked at the clock as she returned to her room and it was then half past eleven.

At some time between eleven and twelve (she could not be sure exactly), a patient called for the doctor but did not get an answer. This late visitor was Mrs. Madding, the wife of the grocer, who was dangerously ill. Dr. Lara had asked her to call late at night and tell him how her husband was. She saw that the light was on in the study, but because there was no answer, she returned home.

As Mrs. Madding came out of the doctor's garden, a man was coming along the path. She thought it might be Dr. Lara returning from a professional visit and so she waited for him. She was surprised to see it was Mr. Arthur Morton. She could see he was excited and that he had a heavy stick in his hand. He was turning into the doctor's garden, when she spoke to him:

"The doctor's not in, sir," she said.

"How do you know that?" he asked rudely.

"I've been to the door, sir."

"Well, he must come in again," said young Morton and went in, while Mrs. Madding went home.

At three o'clock that morning her husband became very sick and she was so worried that she decided to call for the doctor immediately. As she went in the garden, she was surprised to see someone in the bushes. It was certainly a man and she thought it was Mr. Arthur Morton. But because she was busy with her own troubles, she paid no attention and hurried on.

When she reached the house she saw, to her surprise, that the light was still on in the study. She therefore knocked at the door. There was no answer. She repeated the knock several times without effect. She did not think the doctor would go to bed or go out leaving a light behind him. She thought it was possible that he was asleep in his chair. She knocked at the window, therefore, but with no answer. Then, seeing there was an opening, she looked through.

The small room was brightly lit from a large lamp on the table, covered with the doctor's books. She couldn't see anyone or anything unusual, except a white glove in the corner on the carpet. And then, suddenly, she noticed a boot from the other end of the shadow and she realised that it was not a glove - it was a man's hand on the floor. She understood something terrible had happened and rang at the front door and woke Mrs. Woods, the housekeeper. The two women went into the study, after sending the servant to the police station.

At the side of the table, away from the window, Dr. Lara was on his back on the floor - quite dead. One of his eyes was black and there were bruises about his face and neck. He was dressed in his usual clothes, but wore slippers, which were perfectly clean. The carpet was dirty all over, especially near the door, from the boots left by the murderer. It was clear someone had come in the doctor's study door, killed the doctor and then escaped. It was certain that it was a man from the size of the footprints and the bruises on the doctor's face. But that was all the police could say.

It was not a robbery: the doctor's gold watch was in his pocket. He kept a heavy cash-box in the room, and this was locked but empty. Mrs. Woods thought that there was usually a lot of money there, but the doctor had paid a big bill in cash only that same day and, maybe, that was why the box was empty. One thing in the room was missing. The picture of Miss Morton, which was always on the table. Mrs. Woods had seen it there when she said good night to Dr. Lara that evening and now it was gone. On the other hand, there was a green eye-patch on the floor, which wasn't there before. But maybe this was the doctor's.

Arthur Morton was arrested immediately. He loved his sister and, since the break between her and Dr. Lara, he had spoken very angrily about the doctor again and again. Mrs. Madding saw him about eleven o'clock going into the doctor's garden with a heavy stick in his hand. The police thought he then broke in the house and the doctor shouted loud enough to worry Mrs. Woods. When Mrs. Woods went downstairs, Dr. Lara made up his mind to talk about the problem with Mr. Morton and sent his housekeeper back to her room. This talk lasted a long time, became angrier and angrier and ended in a fight. The doctor lost his life.

A post-mortem showed that his heart was diseased - an illness that nobody understood while he was alive. Something that would not kill a healthy man could, therefore, kill Dr. Lara. Arthur Morton then removed his sister's photograph and went home, but went into the bushes in the garden so that Mrs. Madding did not see him. That was what the police thought and what they said to the judge.

On the other hand, Morton was easily angry, like his sister, but he was liked by everyone, and he was so honest that people thought he could not kill like this. He said he wanted to talk to Dr. Lara about urgent family business. He had heard from Mrs. Madding that the doctor was out and, so, he waited until about three in the morning, but when he did not return, he went home. He knew nothing about his death.

Some people thought he was telling the truth. It was certain that Dr. Lara was alive and in his study at half past eleven. Mrs. Woods knew the exact time she heard his voice. Possibly, Dr. Lara was not alone. Why was there a loud noise that woke Mrs. Woods and why didn't Dr. Lara want to speak to her? Some people thought he had a visitor. Perhaps, he died between the time that he told Mrs. Woods to go to bed and when Mrs. Manning knocked on his door and got no answer. Then Mr. Arthur Morton could not be guilty, because it was after this that Mrs. Manning met him in the garden.

But if someone was with Dr. Lara before Mrs. Madding met Mr. Arthur Morton, who was it and why did he want to kill the doctor? Arthur Morton needed to answer that question: who was with Dr. Lara and who killed him, if it was not him? But nobody saw anyone with Dr. Lara or in his garden or in the village - they only saw Arthur Morton!

The newspapers and the people were very interested in this case. Nobody knew where Dr. Lara came from, but everybody liked him. Arthur Morton was an important and famous young man and Dr. Lara was going to marry his sister but changed his mind. Romance, power and murder - everybody in England was interested.

Arthur Morton went to court. On the first day, several people said that he was a very fiery young man who got angry easily. Everyone knew that he was not pleased with Dr. Lara when the engagement to his sister was broken. Many people heard him say that he was going to kill the doctor. He knew that the doctor often sat alone in his study and, some thought, he chose that late hour to visit the doctor because he would be alone. Although nobody saw him kill the doctor, everybody thought he was going to hang.

Everyone was very excited in court when Miss Frances Morton, the sister of the prisoner, spoke. She was a tall and handsome woman and spoke in a low but clear voice. She mentioned her engagement to the doctor and said it was finished because of some family problems of his. She surprised everyone when she said that her brother's anger with Dr. Lara was unfair, but Arthur Morton was so angry that he did not wait to listen to all the facts. She also said that he went to Dr. Lara's house to fight with him. It seemed like Miss Morton was going to hang her own brother! But, suddenly, everything changed. She said she knew that he did not kill Dr. Lara - she knew it for sure. When the judge asked her if she believed or knew that her brother did not kill the doctor, she again said she knew... because Dr. Lara was not dead.

She then told the judge that she had got a letter from him since the date of his death, but preferred not to show it. She showed him the envelope, with the postmark from Liverpool on June 22nd, the day after his death. She knew the doctor's handwriting very well. Six other people would also tell the judge the next day that it was Dr. Lara who wrote Miss Morton's name and address on it. She said that the doctor told her to keep his letter secret and she was only talking about the letter now to save her brother from hanging.

Of course, everyone argued about if Miss Morton was telling the truth just to save her brother. The problem was now how the missing doctor could explain the dead body in his study that looked so similar to him. If he was not dead, then he must be the killer of the man in his study. It was possible that Miss Morton did not want to show the letter because Dr. Lara said he had killed the man. The next morning, the court was full.

Dr. Aloysius Lara walked in and everyone was amazed. He looked thin and pale and was very changed since he left Bishop's Crossing.

"I want," he said, "to hide nothing. When I left Bishop's Crossing so suddenly, I did not think that other people would get in trouble. I did not hear about this till yesterday when I arrived back in England. I only wanted to disappear and did not know that other people were in danger. I have come now to help them.

"Everybody who knows about the history of the Argentine Republic knows the name of Lara. My father was killed before he could become President of my country. My twin brother Ernest and I had great futures in front of us.

"I had, as I have said, a twin brother named Ernest, who looked so similar to me that even when we were together people could see no difference between us. We were exactly the same when we were younger.

"I should not speak badly about my dead brother. I will only say - because I must say it - that many years ago, I started to hate him. People thought badly about me because they thought I had done many of the things that he did. Finally, I had to leave Argentina for ever and make a career in Europe. I had enough money to learn medicine at Glasgow University and then I started work at Bishop's Crossing. I thought the place was so small that I would never hear from him again.

"For years, I heard nothing from him and then at last he discovered me. A man from Liverpool who visited Argentina knew where I was and told him. He had lost all his money and he rightly thought that I would pay him to go away. I got a letter from him saying that he was coming. It was the worst time for him to come because he could make trouble for me and for the woman I loved. I was engaged to Miss Morton, of course. I spoke to her and cancelled our engagement. And that" - here he turned and looked at Arthur Morton - "was why I behaved badly to her."

"My brother arrived one night not very long after I got the letter. I was sitting in my study after the servants had gone to bed, when I heard a footstep on the path outside and, a moment later, I saw his face looking at me through the window. We still looked the same and, for a moment, I felt like I was looking in a mirror. He had a dark patch over his eye, but our faces were absolutely the same. Then he smiled in an unpleasant way and I knew he was the same brother who had forced me to leave Argentina. I went to the door and I let him in. That was about ten o'clock that night.

"When he came into the light of the lamp, I saw at once that he had no money. He had walked from Liverpool and he was tired and ill. I was quite shocked by the look on his face. I am, of course, a doctor and I knew there was some serious internal sickness. He had drunk a lot and his face was bruised from a fight with some sailors. He wore the patch to cover the bruises around his eye. He was dressed in a cheap jacket and shirt and his boots were old and broken. But he was more unpleasant to me because he had no money. He hated me because I had lots of it in England and he couldn't buy food in South America. He shouted and said many very, very bad things. I thought that his drinking and having no money had made him mad. He walked around the room like a wild animal, asking for drink and money, and all in the worst language. Luckily, I never hit him, although he made me very angry. He tried to hurt me and then a horrible look passed over his face and he fell on the floor with a loud cry. I lifted him up and put him on the sofa and tried to make him better, but he went cold. His heart had stopped. His anger had killed him.

"For a long time I sat like I was in a terrible dream, looking at my brother's dead body. Mrs. Woods knocked on my door but I sent her to bed. A little later, a patient came but, as I took no notice, he or she went away again. Slowly, while I sat there, I made a plan. When I got up from my chair, I knew what I must do. My life in Bishop's Crossing was finished. I felt that things could never be the same again.

"There was a dead man lying on the sofa, exactly like me - there was no difference at all. No-one had seen him come and no-one would miss him. If I changed clothes with him, then Dr. Aloysius Lara would be dead in his study, and that would be an end of my life and career in the village. There was a lot of money in the room and I could take this to help me start a new life in another country. In my brother's clothes I could walk all night as far as Liverpool and, there, I would soon find a way of leaving the country.

"And that's what I did. I will not go into details; but in an hour my brother lay, dressed in my clothes, while I left by the study door and started off to Liverpool, where I arrived the same night. My bag of money and a picture of Miss Morton were all I took from the house but, in my hurry, I forgot the patch my brother had worn over his eye. Everything else I took with me.

"I never imagined people would think I had been murdered or someone would be in danger because of me. In fact, I thought I was helping other people by leaving the village. A ship was leaving Liverpool the same day and I bought a ticket. But before I left, I decided to write to Miss Morton, the woman I loved. I did not want her to think I was dead because I knew she would be very unhappy. I did not want her to feel sad for me for one moment! She understood my reasons and was sorry for me, even if her brother hated me. And so I sent her a note but I asked her not to speak about what had happened.

"It was only last night I returned to England and I had heard nothing of the problems which my 'death' had made for Arthur Morton. It was in an evening paper yesterday that I read about it and I came this morning as fast as I could."

And that was the end of it. The police checked what Dr. Lara said and found it was all true. He returned to the village. Arthur Morton said sorry and they became friends again and Miss Morton and the good doctor were married in September.