Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-10-05


"pretty," and which really deserved a
more forcible epithet, were too plainly to
be seen; and if, when Ranse had been
told she was dying, the thought had come
to him, "Well, it is better So" that
thought was all gone now.
he stood some minutes, looking and
trembling, before he dared to speak.
He saw that her hair-and she had a
luxuriant supply-had been shorn; he
saw the thin and wasted cheeks and the
closed eyes.
He thought the hand of death was laid
upon her. He spoke gently, for him,
saying:
"Millicent.
The gentleman at the side of the bed
motioned him to silence, then he covered
the wrist, of which he had been feeling,
and, rising, nodded for Ranse to follow
him from the room.
Ranse was so absorbed he did not no.
tice the hand of the doctor put out to-
ward him.
She's in deep Sleep" said the
doctor, "under theinfluence ofnarcotics.
She wouldn't know you nor any one else
were she awake. She'll need, for the
next week, the most constant and careful
attention, or [ shall not be able to save
her. !"
"She shall have it, Ranse said, but
it was not the Ranse of the morning that
spoke.
The strength and the endurance of the
powerful man showed themselves. Every
morning he walked to his shop, and every
evening he returned to Squire Holbert's.
doing the distance twice day, and in
the time never removing his clothes to
sleep. More than a fortnight passed,
and as he sat quietly by the bedside to-
ward one morning, the dim-hght of
candle scarcely dispelling the darkness,
there was slight movement of the bed
clothing, and voice, weak but natural,
asked, "Who is it ?"
"It is Ranse," was the reply. "Do
not speak"
1t seemed to be satisfactory.
He was gone in the morning before
she had awakened from the sleep that
announced her safety and recovery.
When Ranse appeared again that
evening before Squire Holbert, he
called him apart in his sitting room.
sit isn't MUCH" said .Ranse, laying
several bank bills, piece of gold, and
few silver coins in the squires hand
''lt isn't much, not half what I should
have, or what you deserve. She will
get well. The doctor said 50 this morn
ing, and she will explain everything to
you better than I cam"
Squire Holbert carelessly looked over
the money i'll his hand.
"Why, this is more than I want" he
said
"What is left over" replied Ranse,
"give to her. l will settle with the
DOCTOR"
He had risen as he spoke, and moved
toward the door.
"Where are you golng?" the squire
asked.
"Back to Kettle Creek"
"To-night ?"
eyes,
"And your wife?'
81 have said she would explain it all
I to you, better than can. 4"
He opened the door and stood upon
the threshold, looking out into the dark
night. He took one step beyond, and
then, with cry of pain, fell backward
into the room again, senseless.
=" All !" said the doctor, who, being
summoned, speedily appeared, "what
devotion in this strong man But his
strength will not avail against the Mon
sieur Typhoid. He should have given
up three days ago. I am afraid it will
go hard with him. What mercy that
he did not feel this first attack on his
journey between here and Kettle Creek.
He might have died by the wayside."
r ko I
heartier the person, the more there is
for a malignant fever to seize hold on
and devour, and the longer it clings.
For many days, Rause's nature, the
disease, and the doctor wrestled. Some
of the time you would have thought that
the doctor and the disease were fighting
together, and that against them nature
would have no chance; but the end
proved instead that the doctor and
nature were allies.
Ranse's recovery started early one
morning, at er three nights of danger
and solicitude. He had been laying in
stupor for many hours, and hope for
him was low, if not exhausted.
His wife, just recovered sufficiently to
drag herself YEARLY around, at midnight,
sat with others in a room adjoining
where he lay. It seemed to them only
a turn of the finger between his life and
death. The doctor, who was watching
him, came into the room where Millicent
sat-
His eyes are open," he said. eco
see Ii he knows you"
Millicent arose and stood in the door
way. A bright light was at her back.
She could just see, in the dimly- Lighted
room where she looked, that Ranse's
head was moving on the pillow.
His face turned toward her. and his
eyes rested for a moment on her.
There was a cold, forbidding look III
them, and then he turned them toward
the wall.
There was similar experience on the
following midnight.
On the third night his face remained
turned toward her. In his eyes there
was happy, almost a gloriied express
sion. Millicent was sure that she saw