The Portland daily press., 1875-02-06

such cases enabled him TO conVlHce mamie
that she had at least better sleep over night
on the subject.
But it could not go on so long. The doc
tors daily reports grew less assur!ng; and
one morning as he was speaking quite freely
and auxiously with me in the library, heard
a sob in the conservatory, whose curtained
entrance was directly behind us, and there
appeared Mamie, the picture of heartbroken
woe, tears primming over her soft eyes, and
he very ribbon at her throat quivering with
the motion of the heart beneath.
''You would have kept it from me-" said
she, with reproachful eyes and accent. 81
shall go to John now;'' and she swept past
us, dropping rose and violets frsm her hands
as she went, like striker Flora.
Go to John she did. ADdI have no doubt
that the gentle presence which the invalid
could not recognize in his delirum, the quiet
attentions, and the subtle essence of devoted
love which pervaded all like healing ether,
must have Strengthened and comforted the
struggling spirit in its fight for longer posses
sion of its racked tenement. Certain 1t IS
that John somehow pulled past the Crisis,
feeblv recognized us all, smiled CHASTITY
smile when Mamie kissed him, and entered
on the period when, in the proper course OF
events, he should recover.
Here was another puzzle tor Dr. Brough-
ton, His patient should have begun TO gain
in Strength. but he did not. He still lay
there, speeches. and helpless, his constitu-
ton seeming powerless for reason. Each day
Johns long face grew longer, and the doc
tors heightened with it. His pulse sank I'M
til only the feeblest vibration marked the
beating of the heart that used to thump so
stontly against the broad breast of the young
man. There seemed, indeed, little work for
Johns heart to do, so bloodless had the poor
fellow become. He lay there like vampires
victim, helplessly and hopelessly feeling the
vital fluid ebb from his veins day by day.
The transformation of lambs blood, from a
healthy and living specimen CT that animal,
into the veins of patient suffering from
anemia, or from such decline of vitality and
circulation as in JOINTS case, was much lie. 8
~csnmon operation few years ago than it is
now. But this, in DIR. Broughton's opinion
was tie last and only hope of orr fsiend. 1t
was undertaken the very day on which
Maine, finally suecumbing to fatigue and
anxiety, was sent to bed with slow fever,
having very much the same symptoms that
preceded Johns attack. 1t was nothing
much, afterall; but it kept her away from
John, and allowed her to know of the opera
ton only By messages brought twice daily
from the sick room of her lover.
The lamb was chosen from Johns own
K.
the carriaoe-house, under treatment for re-
pose and quiet; and on the afternoon OF the
day when Maine fell sick, the Cotswold was
brought into the chamber by the awe-struck
shepherd. The creature had suffered much
at the hands of DR.. Broughton and his asso-
ciate, in the way of having its veins tied up
to limit the circulation to the jugulor, and il
needed only the least painless incison of the
lancet, as a cup was quickly inverted ovel
the oritice, and the blood came putting out.
Slowly through the cup. through the glass,
where it showed strange red, through the
flexible tube in the Doctors hands, and
through the needle like duct, flowed the
stream of life from Johns lamb to Johns
heart.
1t was over in few minutes, and the pa
tient, after some queer pains in his back anG
temporary shortness of breath, went Oft in
to quiet sleep, and awoke refreshed. i
| was a success. The forlorn hope had sue
ceeded. DR.. Broughton was sef-satisfied ant
| congratuatory. Uncle Stuart fairly owned
| up that Johns experiment in breeding at las
| proved of some practical benefit, since he
| had produced animals of as good blood as hi:
own.
So we all thought, as John grew daily
stronger; and Mamie on her sick-bed clasped
her hands and thanked God in as pure a
prayer as ever maiden mingled with tears.
The one strange thing was thai John
seemed as thin in the face as ever. Another
strange Thing was that the fever, loath tC
leave its victim without some souvenir of its
visitation, had struck malevOlently at the
vocal cords of his throat whose fine baritone
notes used to blend so splendidly with the
tender soprano of Mamie's and left his voice
rancous, and harsh. 1t was as if the east
wind had crept in and found lodgment
there; and although the Doctor gave hope
that this change in time was only temporary,
it must be said that John was not pleasant as
a speaker in those days. Rasping and stri-
dent, his tones, though weak, were like any
thing but the breathings of love.
As the day approached when, by the doc
tors autocratic decision, Mamie would be
permitted to ride around to Johns house
and again see her lover, we all felt rather
chagrined that the best we could show heI
was such cadaverous spec men of GONZALES
cence. Not SO Mamie. She was such a
quivering little piece of femininity all the
morning that uncle had to threaten her with
bed and quinine to bring her to semblance
of control.
'sThe dear, dear fellow" with tears IN hel
eyes. Prank (petulantiyl, ''your watch is
slow; so is the parlor clock. The carriage
ought TO have been here Tonga "Fathe''
WlnKll9 very udru w biuc oouothiHS oCi-odie
on her lashes, 81 think am strong enough
to walk"
At last we were there. The door was
closed softly behind us, and John was seen
bolstered up in bed, with pillows behind him
and at each side, the chair in which Mamie
had watched so many long hours placed close
to his bed, her portrait hanging where his
ewes might fird It in whatever position he
placed himself, and one of her handkerchefs,
which she had left in the days of her nursing,
in reach of his hand.
It was the most foolish thing in the world
for John to have his mustache cut off. But
he said it kept his medicine under his nose
all day, and off the offending ornament came.
His hair. too, had not grown again from the
clipping it received when the fever heated his
brain so that every curl was an intolerable
weight and, in fact, it was a far from at
tractive-looking lover to whom we brought
Mamie.
Still. the alteration that shone out of those
cavernous eyes as we entered the door made
him almost handsome. Mamie flushed up as
we stepped over the threshold.
''Now don't tear him to pieces in your at
fiction; he's tender yet" said /, somewhat
cynically, anticipating violent demonstra-
ton of rapture.
But there was no need of caution. As
Mame's eyes rested upon Johns face felt
a slight recoil in her movement. The flush
upon her features died out, giving place to
a pallor that was startling. Her hand trem-
bled upon my arm. She was staring strange
" at the SEX map, and her lips began to
twist and her breath to come fast.
"Johnr' she spoke with sort of sur
prised interrogatory, rather than joyful recog-
milton, Then, in quavering' voice to me,
What have they done to him, Frank?'
''Why, Mamie, what in the world do you
mean ?' said |, in amaze.
All this passed in the moment while Uncle
Stuart was closing the door behind us. As
he stepped forward, with the heartiest sort of
a smile on his face, Mamie whirled around
to him, and spoke rapidly under her breath:
''You told me they brought him to life
again by putting lambs blood into his empty
veins. You told me SO! Look at him! !
Look at him! o dear! oh dear!' and the
little girl seemed almost frantic with an I'M
named terror.
l did look at John, and suddenly it all
flashed over me. There, in the emaciated
features of the convalscent, were truly the
distinguishing characteristics of a sleeps
face. The absence of hair emphasized the
peculiar effect to the sloping lines of her
frontal bones; the long nose, gently bending
in aristocratic curve at the end, continued the
ovine contour; and the conformation OF lips
and chin, as his head was leaned family back
on the pillow, completed the resemblance.
Once with the idea in my head, there was no
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