The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Last Test The last test By ADOLPHE de CASTRO EDITOR'S NOTE--Dr. de Castro was author with Ambrose Bierce of _The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter_. (At that time he used his full name, Gustaf Adolf de Castro Danziger, which he has since shortened to his ancestral Spanish form, Adolphe de Castro.) We commend _The Last Test_ to those who appreciate a truly artistic story, with its suggestions of unthinkable horrors from the elder world, which sweep through the story like a cold breeze from the tomb. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales November 1928. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Few persons know the inside of the Clarendon story, or even that there is an inside not reached by the newspapers. It was a San Francisco sensation in the days before the fire, both because of the panic and menace that kept it company, and because of its close linkage with the governor of the state. Governor Dalton, it will be recalled, was Clarendon's best friend, and later married his sister. Neither Dalton nor Mrs. Dalton would ever discuss the painful affair, but somehow the facts have leaked out to a limited circle. But for that, and for the years which have given a sort of vagueness and impersonality to the actors, one would still pause before probing into secrets so strictly guarded at the time. The appointment of Dr. Alfred Clarendon as medical director of San Quentin Penitentiary in 189- was greeted with the keenest enthusiasm throughout California. San Francisco had at last the honor of harboring one of the greatest biologists and physicians of the period, and solid pathological leaders from all over the world might be expected to flock thither to study his methods, profit by his advice and researches, and learn how to cope with their own local problems. California, almost overnight, would become a center of medical scholarship with earthwide influence and reputation. Governor Dalton, anxious to spread the news in its fullest significance, saw to it that the press carried ample and dignified accounts of his new appointee. Pictures of Dr. Clarendon and his new home near old Goat Hill, sketches of his career and manifold honors, and popular accounts of his salient scientific discoveries were all presented in the principal California dailies, till the public soon felt a sort of reflected pride in the man whose studies of pyemia in India, of the pest in China, and of every sort of kindred disorder
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