Show Y a OO 1 r t. t t i WA W w fW WI W Ii R f r e tr l. l 1 i f n fj I v Q l Z d t. t l rm j Q jj ff f I A 1 D M I 1 r I 0 lt A t. t v b m 5 l 4 w. w It J d. d How a Nervy Quack Doctor I a Made a Famous F Fa English hshI oaf ids I fw Manor House Into An AnI I i Exclusive Health Resort I r fi i- i Fer I 4 i and Lived Like a Sultan i Until Jealousy Wrecked a z zt f t J His Darin Daring Scheme t m R W i S y A F M 1 4 fr 4 I f w s n G r aRt f zY s 's rs' rs Miss Amelia Dowers the f f f nurse nurse whose whose k x jealousy of Doc Doctor Doctor k tor Provis' Provis Pro vis' vis favorite led to the exposure of the thereal thereal thereal real nature of his establishment LONDON OT so sly long ago it was Vas quite the NOT N thing for women wealthy enough to have nervous diseases to take the nature cure at Astle Hall in Che Che- shire ire Some of the very best people went there ind nd gave glowing flowing accounts of the treatment and the nature healer bealer him him- self He was Dr Robert S. S Provis his heads bill stated So austere and yet et so kindly my dear one oile county dowager would say to another Theres peace and health in inthe inthe inthe the very air down dow there Astle Hall is one of the show places of Cheshire and was taken over by Dr Provis and his corps of nurses attend attend- attendants attendants ants guards and domestics about eighteen eighteen eighteen teen months ago He lie converted it into pis idea of a model health resort with what he called natural therapeutics as the foundation of his treatment Such Sucha a mighty thing is the imagination that many women actually returned from the establishment cured their in the r- r and resumed places so- so social social 2 cial life of London It was part of the treatment to starve half the inmates but no no- nobody nobody nobody body thought much of that until just recently when w h e n Doctor Provis hovis got into difficulties with his wife w e. e The overfed ladies who were put on a bread and water diet thought it was all for the good of their nerves and never suspected that it was an economy dodge until II Mrs Provis sued for separation f fand and disclosed some exciting information K matron mation mati on about the nature healer and his highly original practises Now the women who were cured at Astle Hall BalI are arc trying to make f their friends forget it all alI and some somer r l if f them have even cven gone to the th con con- continent continent until London stops laughing What Mrs Provis Pro vis disclosed about y the doctor was indeed embarras embarras- sing Doctor Provis it developed is isI I the sort of person known in the col col- colorful colorful I slang of the United States as asa asI asa I a love lore pirate Astle Hall BalI was con con- conducted conducted conducted ducted primarily as a love nest in which he lie might bill bilI and coo with pretty nurses without incurring the wrath of the police or Mrs 1 Grundy The twenty four nurses who helped him run the place were chosen for lor their beauty of face and form rather than their bedside manners or their gentleness with patients and he made love to one and all of them at various times The good ladies who were being treat treat- treated treated treated ed were not subjected to his amorous at at- They merely paid the bills i And the Ute reason they were kept on prison diet dirt was that Dr Provis wanted to save sa money to squander on motor cars fine dresses champagne and caviar for forthe forthe forthe the favorite ladies of his strange harem The patients paid him well and it is estimated that he took in thousands thousand of ot pounds but when creditors pounced down upon him and he lie tied ned nedith with ith Renee who was the tho queen of his seraglio seraglio lio no he lie was in debt deLt to velone in the county It costs money morey tc maintain a nest love of twenty four girls In these f- f f days of ot high prices and women's rights Provis of course is not a i doctor He and medical colleges are arc total strangers r f fp p pp M d p d Ef b 9 C Ee Astle Hall the historic Che manor house where Provis i his well well-to-do patients support r and his harem in luxury perhaps but primarily beauty In selecting patients his standard was wasN q y q wealth N r woman of ordinary means could afford to go o to his K r d s health resort He lie made an ana a P r sf s impressive ranee ran r a n c e talked well had the stage set properly lie charged the ladies well and they liked it They liked it too when he put them on bread and water They liked it when he told them they must must be in their rooms by nine o'clock a S each night They even put up with it when he locked them in to make sure they would not saunter through the halls and what r see they were not meant to see sec 5 After they were locked in their little rooms the fun rl x d would begin In time Dr Provis accumulated twenty twenty- rA four of the prettiest jolliest most obliging and inefficient young nurses in the king king- kin q f dom They would gather in inthe ine the ilie e great nurses' nurses hall and sit y down to a supper of champagne cham cham- champagne champagne and caviar Or they r would dance Or go motoring g or strolling in the wildwood F As the months drifted by and S y the seductive impostor mould mould- Robert Provis the suave nature healer ed cd them to his will he would who tricked rich society matrons into 3 s lect a different favorite every e ery supporting his unique love cult evening svening and pass the time with her There was no trouble For years he lie and his wife and daughters lived in a mean little street in Didsbury and he conducted a shady sort of practice in nature healing Even among the quacks he ho had not much standing Then he became ill himself and was sent toa to ton toa a n thought new-thought hospital where he lie re re- remained remained remained for two months When he emerged he lie was obsessed by two thoughts Thu The first fint was that a lot lotof lotof lotof of nurses were astonishingly pretty girls The second was that there was a lot of money to be made preying upon the thc sick Using a daring he lie had not known he possessed he borrowed right and left and got enough cash together to rent Astle Hall for a year ear lie He put in a heat heat- heating heating ing system a lighting system and other modern modem improvements He lie hired domestics domes domes- domestics domestics tics and garage hands and bought a number num num- number number ber of motor cats cars on credit With that accomplished he ho began to angle for patients and also for nurses In selecting a nurse his standard was always alwa's beauty Submissiveness too loo for at first he played the field and there were no permanent penn anent favorites lie He loved them all Throughout the enactment of the com com- edy-drama edy the patient slightly bc bewildered bewildered vil- vil dered and shocked Mrs Provis looked on She and her husband continued to occupy the same room and she was his wife and the the matron of the hall nut But when she protested against his philan- philan he threatened to box her ears Astle Hall was doing a thriving business busi busi- business business ness and making plenty of money for its proprietor which proprietor which he promptly spent spent spent- when Renee arrived arr ed Renee is isan isan isan an alluring little baggage pretty charm charm- charming charming charming ing and gay gay and not too strait She find and the doctor got on famously from the first The second night she was wason wason wason on the nursing staff stair Provis Pro ordered his wife to leave their room and installed Miss there When Mrs Provis showed a disposition to argue about it ithe ithe ithe he got a horsewhip and to chastise her liar Mrs Provis is a gentle 4 J is' is r 1 78 I Tt a f t r s r i of Sift 3 fn 7 Yr Wt t shire nade him r 3 t i k w AI d 4 s sY sI I Y sv A Mrs M r s. s Lucy Provis who w h o divorced her doctor hus hus- husband husband husband band for his 1 shameful be be- behavior behavior 4 havior soul rather inadequate and her com com- complaints complaints complaints plaints did not make much of an im im- impression impression impression on the nature healer but among the other twenty-three twenty inmates of his harem were ladies with more iron in their souls They did not like the idea of an outstanding favorite favorito of their sul sul- sultan sultan sul- sul sultan tan and they began to make trouble about it The Tho nightly gatherings in the nurses' nurses hall were not as harmonious as they had been and rumors began to drift upstairs to the highly conventional ladies who were paying all the bills One night there was a regular pulling hair-pulling match with champagne bottles flying lying through the theair theair theair air feminine shrieks and masculine im im- imprecations imprecations im- im imprecations splitting the accustomed si- si Mr rF Q J v aN s a flat In n a South Kensington a The doctors r J 5 i kM wife w e went there ait ai t 6 one day dar and andi i ti found Provis at M home Dont make a aN N s scene like a good girl rv a he begged of her He Her r af told her he had put the Astle AsUe Hall adventure ad out Renne the harem favorite who of h his mind and was stole Provis from his wife and fled with turning a dishonest dol dol- dollar dollar him when the jealousy of her sister lar Jar b lectures by giving ing on nurses nurses made it impossible for him to J nature healing He lie had continue his clever hoax hoar rented Essex Market J 9 lence caviar being hurled about with truly accuracy Miss l had precipitated the crisis by referring rc erring to Dr Provis as papa and also as x Provis had a hard time rector rector- restoring ing order on that occasion and he must have seen that his days 1 as pasha of a contented harem were numbered for he began to tomake tomake 1 make plans to get away awn lIe He was just in time Miss Amelia Dowers one of the dis dis- disgruntled disgruntled dis- dis disgruntled nurses who nurses who used to call Provis papa and herself until the fascinating Miss tuned in t in-t told in-told told ld a patient of or what was going on below The patient told another and the two left the next morning Within the week most of the prosperous inmates had made their escape from Astle Hall lIall seen their theil solicitors and paved the way for forthe forthe forthe the financial downfall of Dr Provis Pro vis Process servers arriving one fine morning to tell the nature healer that the owners of the th property properly wanted him to clear out found that he lle and Renee his favorite had fled tIed Mrs Provis was there and in tears The rhe de de- deserted de- de deserted twenty three were there and in ill inn ina n a rage The unpaid domestics and garage hands were there and threat threat- threatened threatened ened to wreck the place In the weeks that followed it was discovered discover d that Provis owed the rent all allbut allbut allbut but the first payments on the automo automo- automobiles automobiles automobiles biles and was in debt to every everY butcher baker and stick candle maker in that part of Cheshire The money money he had wheedled out of the irreproachable ladies who had taken the cure had been spent on wine women and song Not ot so much of it for song Slighted and humiliated for eighteen months Mrs Provis had spirit enough left to desire revenge re and freedom from her amazing husband She helped the creditors to track him from place to place finally catching up with him in Hall for a very el night Mrs Provis Pro threatened to attend the meeting and expose him and it was cancelled She called at the house the next day and Provis was away awa but Miss was in As soon as she saw who was seeking entrance she slammed and bolted the door and shouted Go away Cant Can't you OU stop bothering a man when he tells you OU he is tired of you ou 2 Mrs Provis made other inquiries and doctor associated found that the was with a new batch of nurses in a shady little office practice in the neighborhood and was giving the once supreme Renee plenty of cause for jealousy jealous With such conclusive evidence in her possession she had no trouble getting her decree of separation and an order for two pounds a week for maintenance Provis did not appear According to the police he is still in inthe inthe inthe the company of the fair but frail Renee and changes his lodgings regularly every time an inconsiderate landlord asks him for the rent So clever has he been in his various quackeries that it is doubt doubt- doubtful doubtful doubtful ful that he will ever serve a prison terra tern although regular physicians are taking steps to drive him out of practice Some of or his Astle Hall victims are suing him for getting clients under false pretenses That though is more to save their faces than with any idea that they will ever collect The abashed ladies wish it un un- understood understood understood they had no idea of ol the orgies going on in the nurses' nurses ball hall while they slept i t tIn In view of the embarrassment embar ment of or the women who thought they were cured by Provis Pro vis it is obvious that none of them can be got to discuss her experiences at length but one of them has given an inkling of what life me was like under the nature healer As soon as she arrived he told her that self sell help was one of or orthe the rules of the tho place and that she must not expect attention from any of the twenty four nurses unless she was Very cry sick l |