Two Doctors

Two physicians are named in the strange will of a wealthy, eccentric patient, and the inheritance sets them against each other. Dr. Audley is good-natured and wants the estate settled in an orderly way. Dr. Quinn has other plans.

Quinn is sinister and driven by relentless ambition, and he opposes Audley with open violence. His determination draws on dark occult forces, which gives his side of the quarrel a power that Audley cannot match by ordinary means.

The contest over the patient's legacy leaves the consulting room and moves into the supernatural. Ancient pacts and malignant presences are called up to win the final prize, and professional malice turns into black magic.

M. R. James wrote this short ghost story in the antiquarian ghost story tradition. Reading it means watching a petty academic-style rivalry sour into creeping dread, with the question of which doctor will claim the inheritance hanging over every scene.