Page 19 (1/2)

Mrs Slocuht you knew," said she "His name is Meserve, Mr Edward Meserve,

and if he has coood pay, and if

he was took sick whilst he was to my house, I could have asked twice as

ht you had to take my

boarder to the hotel He was ht back That's what I have came for"

"Mrs Slocum," said Gordon in a hard voice, "Mr Meserve is too sick to

be ht lose all your

other boarders, and whether he recovers or not, you would be obliged to

fuate your house, and have his rooh to pay for it," Mrs Slocuedly

"How do you know?"

"You think he ain't?"

Gordon looked iular, and he ain't been to hts

two-thirds of the ti

"You mean if my other boarders went, and the rooh to eted "Well," said she, "if there's

any doubt of it, ave a

suspicious glance at Gordon "Say," said she, "the roooin' to pay for that?"

"The room is isolated," replied Gordon briefly

The wo of the word

"Well," said she at last, "if the roo to pay for that?"

"I am"

"Well, I don't see why you couldn't pay me for that as well as Mr

Evans"

"Don't you?"

"No"

"Well, I do Now, Mrs Slocum, I really have no more tio to him I came down here

to consult with my assistant, and you have hindered us Good-day!"

But the wooin' to see him," she said

"He's my boarder"

"You will do so at your own risk, and also, if your call should prove

injurious to hihter, besides

possibly catching the disease"

"You say it's ketching?"

"I said it nosis"

The woain Then she turned about with a switch which

disclosed fringy black petticoats and white stockings "Well, form your

noses all you want to," said she "You have took away its well, and it ain't ketchin', I'll have the law on ye"

Gordon drew a deep breath when the door closed behind her "It seems

soedy," he

said griht I

aht You will

have to look after my other patients when you leave here I aht," said Ja Gordon upstairs But as he

spoke he wondered more and more that this man, after what he had known

of him, should be ofthe short tiry red around

the abrasion on the cheek had widened, and widened toward the head

Gordon opened his medicine-case and took out a bottle and hairbrush and

commenced work Directly the entire cheek was blackened with the

application of iron Georgie K had brought glasses, and o and have so it here yourself, if you

will I hate to trouble you"

"That's all right, Doc," said Georgie K, and went

James remained only a short time, since he had the other calls to make

He returned quite late to find that dinner had been kept waiting for

hi Mrs Ewing had

not come down all day "Mother says she is easier," Clemency observed,

"only she thinks it better to keep perfectly still" Clemency said very

little about the man at the hotel She seemed to dread the very ether, and she was

entirely charan to put behind hih fond, was as elusive as a

butterfly She had feer tips, but she was quite

innocent of the fact that they iles It took the whole evening for

the young man to secure a kiss or two, and have her upon his knee for

the space of about five h of happiness for a very little while, then she slipped away,

and stood looking at hi to do that ?"

"Because I am not It is silly I love you, but I will not be silly I

want only ill last The love will last, but the silliness won't

We are going to be married, but I shall not want to sit on your knee all

the time, and what is more, you will not want me to Suppose we should

live to be very old Who ever saw a very old wo on her very

old husband's knee? The love will last, but that will not We will not

have so very ht Clemency and kissed her until her soft face

was crimson, but he said to hiirl so wise, and how much more he wanted to hold her upon

his knee--as if he had not already held her there--and yet she was not

coquettish She was simply earnest, with an odd, wise, childlike

earnestness

Early the next ard

and intense, sitting beside his patient, as evidently worse The

terrible red fire of Saint Anthony had her, and settled

lower "It has attacked his throat now," Gordon said in a whisper "I

expect every minute it will reach his brain When it does, nobody but

you and Isoht, bless him! But when it reaches the brain till be needed here, and the two must be you and I Take this list, and

make the calls as quickly as you can, and colance at the black and swollen face of the man, who now seeh his list, and

returned He found no apparent change in the patient, and tried to

persuade Gordon to take a little rest, but the elder man was obdurate

"No" he said, "here I stay I have had a bit to eat and drink You go

down yourself and get so, then come back The crisis may arrive

any second Then I shall need you"

The fire had outstripped the blackness on the man's cheek toward the

temple One eye was closed

When James returned after a hurried lunch, he heard a loud, terrible

voice in the room Outside the door a rasped her roughly by the shoulder "Get out of this,"

he ordered "If I find you or any one else here listening, you'll be

sorry for it"

The asped out an excuse and fled James tried the door, but it was

locked "Is that you, Elliot?" called Gordon above the other awful

voice

"Yes"

The door was unlocked, and Jah, for the man was almost out of bed, when the two doctors

forced hith Then he sat up and raved, and

such raving! James felt his very blood cold within his Once in a while James opened the door

cautiously to be sure that no one was listening The ravingthem, and many

names of women, one especially--Catherine He repeated that naion There was

so this repetition of names of

unknown people, acco thehastly, and so was the younger

doctor's "Look and see if any one is listening, for God's sake," Gordon

gasped, after one terrific outburst, and Ja watch that nobody approached the door

Ja he was in that roos, and striving with hiht waned, Ja was heard outside, and Georgie K, hireat supper tray, knocked at the door "It's ," he shouted, and then they heard his retreating footsteps

Much delicacy was there in Georgie K, and ht in the tray, and now and then he and Gordon took advantage

of a slight lull to take a bite, but neither had any desire for food It

was only the instinctive sense that they th in

order that nobody else should hear what they were hearing, that forced

thes stopped

suddenly, the ht at first that all was over, but presently stertorous breathing

began

"Now get Georgie K up," Gordon said hoarsely "There is no further need

for us to be alone, and there will be directions to be given"

Ja up in his bar-room

"Doctor Gordon wants you," he said

"How is he?" asked Georgie K, following Jaie K made an indescribable sound in his throat as the twoIt seele of the soul for release froht he knew, that there was no suffering to the dyingseemed alie K, as if the dying ie K tiptoed out in his creaking

boots, and Jaements were to be perfected for

the last services to the dead Gordon stood over the bed, with his own

face as ghastly as that of its occupant Jaht when the dreadful breathing ceased, and there was

silence Georgie K had returned The three livingof what had happened, then they

hastily arranged some matters The dead man was decently composed and

dressed, his throat swathed anew in linen handkerchiefs, and another

handkerchief laid over the discolored face, which had in death a strange

peace, as if relieved of an uneasy and wearing tenant Before Georgie K

went out, the village undertaker had been su

for so assistant Theysome appurtenances of their trade Gordon addressed the

undertaker briefly, giving some directions, then he ie K remained in the roo the linen swathe on the dead ," he said, and the undertaker drew back quickly

When Gordon and Jaave a great sigh, like that of a swihter who sinks before his opponent "I'm about

done, too," he said "Here, take the lines, Elliot"

James took the reins and looked anxiously at his coht "You are not ill?" he said

"No, only done up For God's sake let et home!" Jaan to breathe regularly He did not wake until James roused hi before breakfast Jah-pitched one of a woman He recalled how exhausted

Doctor Gordon had been the night before, and rose and dressed quickly

When he entered the office Gordon was sitting huddled up in his old

arht beside hiry tones, which Gordon seemed scarcely to

heed When Jait

anythin' out of you," she said "He" (pointing to Gordon) "don't act as

if he was half-alive I'it 'em Doctor Gordon took away my boarder And if I'd had hiot extra Nohat I want is jest

this, an' I'oin' to hev it, too! Doctor Gordon said Mr Meserve