The Case of Bertram Porter

Fiction ~ short story
Published in The Windsor Magazine, March 1911
4,355 words
(First read 07/05/1992) 

A simple and mildly diverting twist-in-the-tale about a chap suffering from acute hypochrondria.  Erm ... that's pretty much all there is to it, actually.  Available in Desirable Residences and Other Stories (1991) and online here.
See also Dicky's Pain (1927), another tale of galloping hypochondria.


QUOTABLES

... in the sad case of Bertram Porter, his one defect gradually invaded and blotted out his other merits [...]  His defect ~ to put the reader out of suspense, and to assure him that no attempt is being made to interest him in the career of some moral delinquent like a cannibal or a second-rate pianist ~ was that he thought about his own health.

That 'second-rate pianist' is a nice touch.



THE CRITICS

The March Windsor Magazine is particularly strong in complete stories by famous novelists, and all of them are finely illustrated. Here, for instance, within the cover of this one issue, are to be found a complete story of exceptional interest by E. F. Benson […]

~Burnley Gazette [UK], 01/03/1911