Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-10-12


Ihad already entered the carriage,
but this suspicious answer inspired
me with distrust. I made a step to
descend, but I was too late; the vehicle
was already in motion.
"It is quite unnecessary to alarm
yourself, DOCTOR" said quiet, meas
ured voice at my side. believe me,
you are quite safe; and I trust you
will not feel any uneasiness when
tell you that you must be blindfolded. =
And at the same time folded band
age was deftly slipped over my eyes.
"Holdp' Iejaculated. !" 1t strikes me
that is rather superhuous. The night
it dark as Erebus and you have no
lamp"
Possibly" returned the dry voice /;
"but it is best to run no risks"
And then ensued silence of some
ten or fifteen minutes, while the
carriage rolled swiftly along, and the
low, measured breathing of my un-
known companion kept time to my
own uncomfortable thoughts.
At length my companion spoke,
again in the same soft, modulated
tones.
"Doctor One more little precau-
tion is necessary; your promise never
to divulge to human soul a word of
this nights visit"
I Ihesitated.
"I cannot bind myself by any such
covenant. The relations between
physician and patient are Of course con-
fidential but
The carriage paused abruptly here
and the door was swung open. At the
same instant something cold touched
my temples-it was the muzzle of a
pistol. / recoiled in horror.
"You surely would not murder
meP"
"Your promise, doctor r.
81 promise r I gasped, recoiling
once more from the chilling touch Of
the cold steel at my temples.
Every well. Gomez
Twas led up a narrow walk, through
a doorway, into room, where the
bandage was removed suddenly from
my eyes.
The spot was very familiar to me
"a ruinous cottage, long since
abandoned to decay, in the very heart
Of dense, swampy woods. How
the carriage had ever reached it I was
at loss to know. Upon a pile of
straw, hurriedly thrown into the cor
ner Of the moldering floor, lay a pros
trate figure, moaning at every breath.
His face was concealed by handker-
chief, and the blood was slowly drip
ping from a glmshot wound Just above
the ankle-a wound that had been
clumsily bandaged by some unskillful
hand. Moreover, there was dark red
stain upon the straw where his head
lay, and his light-brown hair was mat
ted with coagulated drops. Two or
three men stood around with rude
masks of black cloth drawn over their
faces, in which three Sits were cut for
the eyes and mouth, and female fig
ure knelt beside the heap of straw,
yelled very closely.
THE men silently made way for me
as | advanced into the apartment, and
held their lanterns SO that the lurid
light should fall full upon my strange
patient. AS silently stopped and ex-
amined both wounds.
"Wells" asked my carriage COM
panion.
II can do nothing. The man must
die"
"Nonsensel A mere bullet through
the leg-what does that amount TOP"
hurriedly gasped the man.
"In itself. not much: but that blow
upon the skull must prove fatal"
A low, suppressed cry broke from
the woman opposite; she tore the vel
from her face, as if she could not
breathe through its heavy folds, reveal
ing features as white and beautiful in
their marble agony as so much
sculptured stone. She did moi
seem more than thirty, but
II afterward knew that she was
indeed ten years older. But in spite
Of her present anguish, how grandly
beautiful she wasl Large dark eyes
hair like coiled gold, catching strange
CLEANS from the shifting lanterns
and broad, smooth brow-it was {
face you see but. once in a whole life.
time.
And yet, in the midst of her dis
tress, she never spoke.
AT least you can do something
for him, DOCTOR said my interlocutor
impatiently. "Don't let US waste time
here"
As I proceeded in my ministrations
the morning grew fainter and fainter
the convulsive movements became
scarcely perceptible: a faint CLEAN d
hope lighted up the face Of the woman
who knelt with clasped hands opposite
she looked appealingly at me.
"He is better-he is surely better p
"He will be better soon," an
swered, moved to pity IN spite Of my