Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1880-09-25
FROM FIRST TO LAST.
"TelI me the worst at once. docto


either. AIR. Ellery was unnecessarily
alarmed. The lady, his 'wife's sister, had
been taken with asuccessiOn of fainting
hts, the result of fatigue from the long
journey to Colorado Springs. She had
been thrown from a carriage six weeks
before, her brOther-in-law told me. and
sustained an injury to her head, and the
trip had been undertaken by the advice
of her New York physician, who cOnsld-
cred an immediate change necessary.
was glad to assure him that there
was no danger, and that she needed only
complete rest, yet was not sorry that he
urged me to see her the next day, and
still the next. He was exceedingly anx-
iOus about her until, in the course of two
or three weeks, she began to make rapid
progress towards recovery. At the end
of month he made arrangements to re-
turn east, leaving her at the little hotel
to which they had come on the night of
their arrival, the house which was the
nearest approach to home that had
found since the beginning of profession
al existence, twelve years before.
IL would like to feel that she is nOmi-
nally in your care, DIR. jerks" her broth
er said to me before he went away. "She
will stay several months, hope, and /
shall come for her when she thinks best
to return home"
She was the most lovely and interest
ing woman; not young, for, the hair
which had been cut short after the &C
cident was just touched with gray. Yet
q physicians eye could easily detect the
fact that there was something wrong
in the spiritual nature, which reacted on
the physical, that in spite of COlOra-
do air and sunshine and her determine
ton to grow we'll and strong and happy,
it was struggle against great odds. /
said physicians eye, yet with meht had
become lovers also. Agnes Kingdom
was the only woman, except my mother,
for whom / had ever cared, and from the
first realized the utter helpleSSneSS of
INV affection. I could not ignore the
unreas0ning, intuitive knowledge. /
felt sure she had lived through the great
est experience of wOman's life, that it
had made her prematurely old, that it
had saddened and depressed a naturally
buOyant and happy nature, yet that hers
was fidelity until death. UnreasOna-
bly,, helplessly, only loved her the more
for this belief. '--- l--- 40
As the weeks went on and she grew
no stronger, she became little anxious
about herself, and spoke to me about it.
/ could make but one answer:
Tell me nothing that you do not wish
to, Miss Kingdom, but in my opinion
yours is more of mental than bodily
lila trouble which no physician can
reach or cure"
She grew very pale as / spoke, but
with the franknesS which was one of her
greatest charms, replied. without mo-
ment's hestitatiOn:
you are probably right, DR.. jerks. As
your patient have no right to deceive
you. | have no wish to do so. / am do
ing my best, however"
She tried hard to smile. The white
lips quivered, the delicate face never
looked so patient or heroic. Instructive
ly I caught her hands.
"YOu have my sympathy" Iexclaimed,
Il wish l could help you; wish
Il believe; / thank you" she said, sim
ply; and without another word, went out
of the room.
1t was five months before her brother
came for her. 1t was plain he expected
to find her much better than she really
was.
Her letters have given us no idea
that she was so delicate" he said to me,
yet it would not be like her to complain"
with some embarrassment, you under
stand that what is troubling her ment-
ally has much to do with her physical
condition. She has so far hOnOred me
with her confidence that know" 4
Course him" he muttered under his
breath, springing up and pacing the
floor, not realizing in his excitement
that he might be saying too much, ''he
has been killing her by inches for years
and years. He would be more merciful
stop" cried, checking him by my
grasp upon his shoulder. you are tell
ing more than have any right to know"
He looked at me keenly. --
Il thought you knew already"
shook my head silently.
"And you" he added, after a long pause
and the same fixed look, "yOu have not
told her, either" 9.
He did not say what; there was no
need. In moment he had read my
heart as she had never done.
IF she could have loved man worthy
of her." he went on, "if she love you,
Jsnks-9 but he mercifully forebOre to
say another word. Es
Something went out of my life with
their departure-sOmething that the
years could never restore. But it had
never been mine-neyer could be; and
that consciousness helped me somewhat
to bear its loss. Two years later was
thankful for an opportunity to set my
face eastward once more, thinking less
however, of the friends / was to meet
than of her whom in all probability l
should never see again.
Sidney Meredith, my old college chum,
had changed more in the ten years that
had elasped since our last meeting than
any member of our class. whose reunion
we had met to celebrate. 1t seemed
natural to be sitting again in Ne. 80 of
the old North Middle, looking at each
other through curling smoke across the
table covered with books and papers,
pipes and cigars. The literature belong
ed to younger generation of students,
in whose apartments we were Temporal
rily located. The pipes and cigars we
had added to give little present life to
the old room, haunted by countless
ghosts of dead and gone past.
Sidney was as handsome fellow as
six; feet of height, a corresponding
breadth of chest, a fine complexion and
mass of coal black curly hair could
make him. We agreed that he was the
ornament of our class in physical
sense as truly as in an intellectual one.
He was good natured fellow, too; easy
going, full of fun, prone to see the
best in everybody and everything,
and his popularity was immense. He
graduated with high hOnOrs, and was a
lawyer with successful and growing
practice when we met four years later;
but here, at the end of ten more, was the
mere suggestion of his old self. The
though the lips smiled less often, the
hair was thinner and straighter than
in tho old eOlIaOa dovc Dr. - "a