Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-11-27
A Strange Coincidence.

n OII dHS6 OUluGiutuC0'
1t happened, three or four years ago
that young English lady in leaving the
boat at Lucerne, met with what at the
moment appeared to be very trilina
accident. She slipped and fell, and in
falling struck her head against the bull
wark of the boat. Her mother, who was
close by and had seen the blow, was
alarmed by it and asked her daughter il
she had hurt her head.
"No, mamma" the girl answered;
nothing to signify, but / have hurt my
foot L don't think | can stand"
By this time she had been helped out
of the stream of passengers, which was
pouring from the boat to the shore, and
placed on one of the deck seats. Even
pain that there was clearly bad sprain,
if not fracture, to be apprehended, and
father, mother and sister were standing
ro1nd the sufferer in considerable per-
plexity and dismay.
merry, half-rueful laugh. "Don't look so
miserable, please" she said. | suppose
j must get to the hotel somehow, and the
whether / can stand. Papa, do you
think / could be carried on shore?"
Two gentlemen, the last of the passen-
gers, had been standing at short dis
lance from the family group until this
moment. When the girl spoke the elder
of the two made a step forward with a
remonstrative, "Well, l suppose l must,
but its horrid bore!" And then, with
Il oh - -
raising of his hat, addressed the mother:
Il am doctor. Can be of any ser
vice to your"
wonderfully relieved countenance. "Oh,
thank you." she said. "How very for
tunate! What comfort to see an Eng
much she is hurt"
Not very much, hope" he answer
ed, and proceeded to feel the girls foot
and ankle gently. She WINGED a
little, but smiled and thanked him pref
tily.
In another minute he had picked her
up (she was not very heavy weight,
certainly and had put her-hardly hurt
ing her at all, she said to him-into the
carriage which was to take her to the
went with her--her father was for the
moment absorbed in the care of lug
gage-and the doctor, with his fellow.
traveller walked briskly along the sunny
street after the invalid and her compan-
ion.
Mr.. Garston, the English surgeon who
had SO opportunely come to the relief of
his country-woman in distress, was by
no means knight-errant, nor was he at
all pleased by the unexpected call made
on his time and services. He had just
begun to enjoy a long desired and hardly
earned holiday, and had come to Swift
zerland resolved to conceal his profess
sion and avoid his compatriots. Even
when the accident happened before his
eyes he had only waited to assure him.
self that no danger to life had apparent
ly arisen before he said to his brother:
Now we will keep out of their way
there are plenty of other people to help
them" And he had been rather annoy
ed at being answered: Gall the same,
think that if l were you l should
see that the sprain was properly attend
ed to-"
When the girl, whose very lips were
white with pain, had said those few
laughing words as he put her into the
carriage, his disinclination to help her
had partly melted. "She does not make
any unnecessary FUSS" he said to him
self; and although he still grumbled at his
brothers remark, he offered himself as
victim to circumstances. He and his
brother were going to stay few days at
the Schweizerhof, and as they walked
thither he felt that after all it would
have been brutal to refuse his aid in q
case where it could be given with 80 lit
tie trouble, and might alleviate much
suffering.
Before the end of the day tolerably
friendly relations had been established
between the Garstons and the elder Mr..
Garston's patient. The head of this fam
lily was Mr.. Sterling, a Scotchmsn long
established in Manchester, and very
wealthy. His wife was kind, simple
woman, who was not yet quite sure
whether for her own part, she liked the
grandeur of her later days one bit better
than the comparative poverty of her
earlier ones, but who certainly did like
her pretty daughters to have Everything
of the best" and their own Wills in al
most everything. The girls were both
pretty and good; and that one of them at
least possessed considerable amount of
courage and self control Mr.. GarstOn
could have testified after he had strap
ped up and bandaged her poor swollen
ankle and told her that for good many
days to come she would have to limit her
acquaintance with beautiful Lucerne to
as much of it as could be seen from her
couch and a window.
Nor was his opinion shaken when,
quite early the next morning, Mr.. Ster.
ling came to his room and begged he
would have the goodness to visit Minnie
as soon as possible, as she had had q
restless night and much alarmed her
mother. He obeyed the call directly,
and was shocked to find the girl half
delirious, moaning now and then, "My
head, nv head !" and in high fever. It
was evident that the blow on her head,
regarded as of no consequence at the
time, had been really the more serious
injury of the two, and Mr.. Garston at
once found all his care and skill called
upon to avert very serious consequences.
This care and skill, however, were not
small. nor were they grudgingly used,
and with the tender nursing of mother