Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-02-03
THE HOSPITAL MISTLETOE.

what is that faded branch?" you
ask. 1t is sprig of mistletoe. 1t is
the token of our love =
"How sentimental" you exclaim
No; it is not culled from the bougE
under which L kissed her Gus was
not match of the common kind; il
was not inaugurated with blind mans
buff and kiss in the ring. "The mis-
tletoe hung in the castle hall?" No
my friend, you are quite wrong
There were no merry guests going
hither and thither under that treas
ured sprig of the mysterious para
site. Tell you the story? L will. II
happened in this wise:
I was the house surgeon of the
Severnshire hospital. One autumn
day a patient was brought into the
accident ward. He was a gentleman
No one in the town knew him. He
was travelling through the country
In the high street of the city he had
been thrown from his horse. When
he was picked up he said,-
"Take me to the hospital; ! am a
gentleman and will pay for attention
but 1 prefer the hospital"
SO they brought him to us. He
was very seriously hurt internally.
George Gregory Newbold was his
name.
Il don't live anywhere in partic-
ular," he said, week after he was
brought in. Il am traveller; l have
been in nearly every nation in the
world. 1 can refer you to the bank
of England. have property in
Hertfordshire. l am very comfort
able here, and grateful Tor all the
kindness you have shown me-"
He was a handsome man, with a
tender, sympathetic gray eye and a
soft, musical voice. There was some
thing about him that excited interest
at once. 1t was an honest, open, can
did face, with lines of trouble about
the eyes. s ~ 4 q.
"Yes, you are right, DOCTOR he
said to me one November day, when
he appeared to have rallied consider
ably. Il have had a great deal of
trouble; not the sort of trouble which
usually knocks a man up-not money
anxiety, nothing'of the worlds worry,
in truth. Yet l have suffered tortures
almost beyond endurance"
"Can 1 be of any service to you,
Mr. Newbcld, beyond the poor pro
fessionafservices which it has been
your misfortune to require here?"
mo, thank you, 1 think not. !
often think / shall never recover. Ii
l could see my sister again 1 could
die happy; that is, happy as a man
can die, when death separates him
from the only being whom he loves,
and whose protecting hand she may
need. 1 will tell you my story, doc
tor-you are good man; l know
that by your face, and by your great
kindness to me, stranger"
81 trust I should be none the less
attentive to any patient" l said,
"although / confess you have inter
ested me much"
"You are very good,' said Mr.. New
bold; "heaven will reward you. When
I was an infant my father died, and
left myself and my sister to the care
of my mother. 1t is only doing the
memory Of my mother an ordinary
Justice to say that she was as good as
she was beautiful. She died ten
years ago. For five years we lived
in the old house, my sister and my
self. We had no cares, no troubles;
life with us was a continued summer;
to make each other happy was our
only anxiety. 1t had occurred to me
more than once-many times, indeed
that Lucy might marry and leave
me. l shonld have regretted this
for myself. but not if it secured and
perpetuated Lucy's happiness. One
day-it only shows how blind we men
are-Lucy told me she was in love-"
You are faint, Mr.. Newbold," ]
said: "rest awhile"
"No, no; am stronger than you
think" he said, smiling and waving
me to be silent. 1T was young
fellow who had often been to the
house I ought to have known.
When Lucy told me could see how
indiscrete l had been. He had
neither friends nor position. I did
not forbid the match, but / discoun
tenanced it, expostulated with Lucy,
and privately expressed myself in
severe terms to her lover. If it were
not that he believed Lucy would
deeply feel his leaving her, he said
he would go away, since I questioned
l. L L. Il L
ness was awakened; l urged him to
go, implored him; gave him money;
and he left Lucy to her brother in
the old house that we had known
since infancy. When Lucy discov-
ton, she she as upfaided %s, me- called me @ erasl
and selfish, and a month afterward
she was missing. i have never seen
her since"