The Mad Doctor of London Part I

The Mad Doctor of London

A Great Mouse Detective Pastiche

By Ethel M. Grimes

Part I: The Arrival

The grim-faced gentlemouse stood glaring out the window of his flat, watching the rain fall upon
the cold London streets. Though to call him "gentlemouse", or a gentleman of any sort, was quite
inappropriate in light of his true character.

It had been only a few nights since his train had pulled into London, and he had been grateful to find
a place to settle. His flat was rather shabby, located near London’s East End---just barely away from
"the wrong side of the tracks". It was a far cry from his richly decorated home in Vienna, but things
would soon change, if he could help that. And having fled Vienna in such harrowing circumstances,
Dr. Heinrich Von Seyss would have been grateful for a mere hole in the wall.

For Von Seyss had literally fled for his life. Once director and physician of an insane asylum in Vienna,
he had found plenty of unwilling subjects for his questionable and often deadly experiments. But in his
twisted mind, they had served a purpose---if only to satisfy his sadistic curiosity. And if they died, he
decided, it was only in the name of "science".

"Small sacrifices for my cause," was Von Seyss’ conclusion. Exactly what his "cause" had been,
only he could have understood. It was definitely a case where the lunatic ran the asylum.

Not all of the doctor’s "sacrifices" had been his patients, however. Von Seyss had often preferred to
use the mice he found in the slums...the drunkards, derelicts, street urchins, dirt-poor vendors and
such...those that he felt would not be searched for, would not be missed. And, he had reasoned, who
would care what became of them?

But evidently, somebody had cared...and once the Kaiser, Franz Josef Mausberg I, heard about
Von Seyss’ murderous activities, he had ordered that the doctor be investigated--- and, had he
been arrested, there would have been enough evidence to lead to his execution. And so, Dr. Von
Seyss, having caught wind of the Kaiser’s wrath, had quickly drawn out all his money, packed what
belongings he could and fled into the night. Yet he had learned nothing...rather, he planned to continue
his deadly work once he found a safe place. For he had visited England before, and it had not been
mere chance that he had become attracted to the East End---for he was certain that the riffraff that
crawled through its streets would provide him with more victims.

All these things were running through Dr. Von Seyss’ deranged mind as he now settled by the hearth
with a bottle of cognac, while his phonograph played a piece from Wagner. He now remembered the
pitiful souls that he had duped and destroyed, but with neither shame nor remorse---then or now. And
yet, there had been that one exception.

"Anna," he whispered, as he stared into his glass.

Anna Heinstoffer, that pathetic girl he’d found selling flowers in the streets. Indeed, she had seemed like
a flower herself, a delicate blossom floating in a mud puddle...a bit of innocence and beauty in a dirty
world. Orphaned, starving, and half-witted, Anna had been too easy a mark. Yet, for all the doctor’s
cruelty and coldness, he had spared her the torments that he had so easily inflicted upon others---finding
her more useful, and far more pleasing, as his personal companion.

Refusing him nothing, submitting in everything, Anna had been his most willing and faithful slave.
Faithful--because he fed and clothed her, and gave her his roof to sleep under and because he
eased her loneliness with his presence. Faithful, even when he would beat her sometimes in fits of
childish rage...faithful, because she loved him. And, for all his self-serving exploiting of the hapless
young woman, a part of Von Seyss had loved her in return.

It was that part of him that wished Anna were with him again, as he sat alone in his dimly-lit flat...
with only a small fire in the grating and the cognac to warm him. He missed Anna’s pretty white face,
her gentle and innocent eyes, and her warmth and softness in his arms.

She could have been with him, in fact; but the night that he had fled Vienna, things had gone
horribly wrong...

That night, Anna had come to Von Seyss’s room to find him hurriedly packing a valise. He had
already sent off some of his other baggage, and dismissed his servants.

Anna was dismayed at the terror in his face. "Must you leave for London tonight, Heinrich?" she
asked him in despair.

"Would you rather the Kaiser had me shot?" he retorted. "They’re on to me, Anna! I don’t dare
stay another night!"

"Then take me with you!" Anna pleaded.

Von Seyss shrugged, and managed to smile. "But of course, liebchen. You don’t think I want to
spend my exile alone, do you?"

Anna laughed happily. "And then...and then, we could get married!"

He stopped packing and looked up in astonishment. "What??"

"Married," she repeated plaintively. "Don’t you love me, Heinrich?"

"I don’t want to get married," he protested, "and we don’t have to! I’m quite comfortable with
what we have now."

"But of course!" Anna blurted, as tears came to her eyes. "You don’t have to listen to the gossip
among the servants, the neighbours either. You don’t have people pointing at you and whispering! I
know you think I’m stupid, and perhaps I am...but I’m smart enough to know what they’re thinking.
Don’t you even care?

"I’m sick of being ‘kept’, Heinrich---I want to be your wife!"

"I have my work to do," Von Seyss said coldly, "and I’m not about to be tied down to a nagging wife
and a bunch of squalling brats! Anyway, I despise children."

To his surprise, the normally meek Anna suddenly became enraged and defiant, replying that
Von Seyss had better learn to like children---and quite soon.

"What are you saying?" Von Seyss answered hoarsely, as he glared dangerously at Anna---for
it had not escaped his notice that she had been very ill the past few mornings, and had taken to
wearing cloaks and long jackets over her dresses, despite the warm weather.

To answer his question, Anna pulled open her cloak, to reveal a small but obvious swelling under
her dress. The doctor drew back as if slapped, and if one look from him could have killed, Anna
would have been dead at his feet.

"Get rid of it!" snarled Von Seyss. "I’ll give you the money for that---"

"I will not!" Anna shot back in horror. "Have you no feelings for your own child?"

Von Seyss pulled out a large wad of money. "Then take this, and say nothing!"

"I don’t want your money," replied the girl, as she began to cry. "I want you to make an
honest woman of me...leave me behind if you wish, at least give our child your name!"

Von Seyss sneered. "Oh, yes...so you could track me down and make my life miserable? I was
a fool to have taken you in, girl. You and that brat can rot---you’re useless to me now!"

With a withering, contemptful glare at Anna, he shut his valise and started toward his staircase.

"How dare you!!!" Anna cried as she ran after Von Seyss and violently grabbed his arm. "I’ve done
everything for you, I’ve denied you nothing---not even myself! Is this my reward?"

The doctor’s only reply was an icy stare.

"Then you are the monster that they say you are," Anna said sadly. "I never let myself believe that...but
I can believe it now."

She started down the stairs, but in sudden panic, Dr. Von Seyss grabbed hold of her.

"Where are you going?" he demanded, but she gave him no answer.

"You’re going to call the constable, aren’t you?" he continued. "So that’s your little revenge, eh?
Well, you won’t live to talk to anybody!"

He remembered struggling furiously with the hapless girl, her screams as he cruelly hurled her down
the staircase, and how he had stood watching coldly as Anna’s tiny body fell in a heap to the floor. He
had rid himself of both her and his unwanted offspring.

Suddenly fearing that the neighbours might have heard the commotion, Von Seyss grabbed his valise
and ran down the stairs, past the body of his mistress...stopping only long enough to look down, as if in
a trance, on his monstrous handiwork. He remembered, also, the wild and maniacal laughter that burst
forth from his throat as he walked away from Anna, lying so still...

As Von Seyss sat remembering these things, he was suddenly startled to feel a sharp sensation in
his hand, and looked down to find that he had crushed the glass he was holding, as both his blood and
spilled cognac dripped down to the floor. He stared at it, the same way that he had stared at Anna’s
body. Throwing the broken glass into the grating, he lifted his bloody hand to his mouth, as that same
nervous, demented giggle emanated from him.

Going back up to the window, he gazed out into the rainy London night, as a cold smile came to
his lips.

"Soon, very soon," he hissed, "my work will begin again."

End Part I

Part II: Beginning of a Nightmare

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