, 1877-11-30

..I lU' uu matter MY daughter Is
s5rl GEAR 'o me. and have heard of your
tkI ~H. !, wursc again. Can you call
-r,. rm, to-day, rs early as possible, at
EF N.s,
o a.. le there in an hour"
T.. .Iy took out her purse.
q am au uld-fashioned woman she
.sH q retain oli-fashioned habits. In
H., Iay tie doctor received his fee on the
.I.' !, vas, in ordinary cases "A guinea,
N.I Euu receive II nowf'
I dIi not know what 10 say, but she
.sIi the money on the tables and departed.
ate my breakfast, and, having dressed
m,. .,li carefully, y,made my way to the old
aiy. house. knocked. The door was
op,ncd by the stout female who had dis
missed me the night before.
The DOCTOR" said, by way of ex-
planstiun.
"Ah." said She "lIas missus called
you in againt'
AYES" answered.
There is no need, assure you, sir"
she said II cant really ask you in.
There's no one i'll here. It's a whim of
missus'. I'm better judge of illness
than she. No need of doctorw
! left the house, of course, partly in
dudgeon, partly in amazement.
Three weeks passed by, when, 10! the
old lady again.
She walked into my consulting-room,
dressed as before, as greatly agitated, as
carefully polite.
"Sir," she said, "again trouble you.
NY poor daughter Come at once"
"Madam," answered, "it is doctors
duty, as it should be his pleasure, to obey
such calls; but you are aware that have
been sent from your door twice without
seeing the patient. Allow me to ask you
question-are you the mistress of that
house"
"Heaven knows I am," said the old
lady. II have lived there for forty years.
am the only person under that roof who
has the right to give an order"
"And the person who sent me away2"
"My old servant, Margaret"
"Did she do it at your order"
"No, sir; it was a piece of presump-
ton. But Margaret means well. She
loves u.s."
"Then, madam, if l accompany you, l
shal see the patientl"
"Assuredly, SIR"
put on my hat again, and we went
out of the house together. We exchanged
very few words as we walked the streets.
At the door of her house the old lady
paused
Don't mind Margaret, she whispered.
"She means WELL"
Then she assembled the steps.
At the last one the door was opened to
US by the woman / had twice seen before.
"The doctor must see my child, Mar
garrett" said the old lady.
Margaret stepped back.
"Walk in, sir" was all she said.
The old lady beckoned ne to follow
her. l did so. She went up stairs, and
opened the first door we came to. 1t was
an empty bedroom. She closed it with
sigh. The next room into which she led
me was also empty. So were all the 9TH
ers. In effect, we visited six apartments,
only one of which seemed to be regularly
occupied as sleeping chamber; and at
the last the lady turned to me with a
strange glitter in her eyes.
"Stolen," she said, "stolen; somebody
has stolen my girl. Sir, do you know, l
think it must be Satan!"
Then steady step crossed the sill.
Margaret came in, and the old lady, burst
ing into tears, suffered her to lead. her
away.
As made my way down stairs, Mar
garet rejoined me.
"You understand it now," she said.
"You see this poor lady is not in her
right mind"
81 do, indeed" said.
"She had daughter, once" said Mar
garet, "and the girl-a pretty creature of
sixteen-ran away with bad man. She
came back home one day, land begged for
giveness. Her mother turned her from
the door, in fury. 1t was night; the
rain and hail beat down on the poor
thing, and the wind butfeted her. There
is no knowing what happened to her that
night; but, next morning, she lay dead
in the police station. Her mothers ad-
dress was pinned to her baby's clothing,
ana tney Drought her nome. FROM tnat
awful day, sir, my mistress-who, in her
remorse and delirium, called in twenty
doctors to bring her dead daughter to life
has always been doing what she has done
TO YOU. / try to keep the secret gener
ally, but some find it out, and Others
think hard things Of US. l thought !
would let you know the truth. If she
. =.
always promise to call, and so be rid of
her. Poor soul She has nobody in the
world but me now. She's punished for
her hardness, at any rate, and you'll ex-
euse her conduct"
bowed. | could say nothing. Mar
garet opened the door for me, and |
walked out into the fresh air.
A looked back upon the house, with
all It's elegance, it seemed to me to have
a haunted air, as though the ghost of the