The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-06-19
SHE UNDERSTOOD.


peculiar q Other men were not al
way sure that they liked him. With
women it was generally different. They
did like him. There was no possible
doubt Of that. They maintained that
he was handsome; q statement which
never failed to call forth from their
husbands Or lovers an emphatic protest;
and they still more vehemently affirmed
that his manner in a sickroom, the
stimulating magnetism of his presence,
the soothing influence Of his strong yet
gentle touch. were unique and I'M
rivaled and more than sufficiently &C
counted for his extraordinary suscess
in his professional which the hus-
bands would again. below their breath,
pish ard pshaw.
DR.. Irving was thirty-nina and still
unmarried. It could be said Of him, as
in the cas- Of sundry young women,
that this was not from lack Of chance.
To those to whom he v spoke on the
subject he would la%ughingly assert that
his profession was his mistress, and
that he should never marry at all. But
there were very few persons indeed to
whom Dr.. Irving unburdoned himself
as to his inmost thoughts. Perhaps
there were none at all. He was not n
communicative man. Some of his lady
patients were sure he had q history;
there was something mysterious about
him, the more imaginative would aver.
Had DR.. Irving known of these things
he would have been amused; but they
never cameto his ears. His brougham,
with the superb pair of grnys, now
drewup before his door and he came in
for his dinner and evening Office hours.
AS Iris key turned in the lock a shad-
Ow PASSED across the curtain that yelled
the lighted interior from the passer-hy,
and q small. slight, dark, pale girl,
scarcely mor than a child, pressed
close against him the moment the door
opened.
Well, Nita," he said kindly, aud
bent down to kiss her on her forehead.
The girlha his hand tightly clasped
in both her own narrow, slim ones, and
was looking up at hint with the dumb,
pathetic eyes of q faithful dog. She
had no beauty save her eyes. Those
we're large, black, full, luminous, with
an intensity Of expression that some
times half-startled and half-amused
strangers who CHANGED to see her. The
rest of the face, with its swarthy skin,
its irregular features, was quite plain.
6ho was q singular little thing, this
ward Of the doctors, whom he had
brought to his home twelve years be-
fore, after an absence of some time in
Europe, a fatherless and motherless
hid, the daughter of Italian parents.
People understood that DIR. Irving had
taken tho weird little foreign girl under
his protection to fulfill the last wishes
Of q dead friend, and then they well
nigh forgot her existence. She was so
quiet, SO mirthless and almost speech
less at oil times, 80 unlike other chill
dren in every way, that il was not diff
fcult TODD 80. And so Nita had grown
up to the threshold of womanhood, and
had had few or no companions Of
her W age, but spen t the long days
in the quiet house on Lexington avenue
in tho company OF the doctors old
h~ousekeeper, all rolled up in a ball on
the lounge iii the library with a book
on her knees.
Something in her face that night as
she sat opposite to him at the dinner
table, perhaps the fact that her cheeks
jihad 9 flush Of color unusual to them,
which Frightening her skin, made her
look for the moment almost pretty,
causing the doctor to look attentively
lat her an instant and then to say laugh
ingly:
why, Nita, you're getting to be a
woman, and Q nice looking little woman
too. We shall have to be hunting up o
husband for You very soon."
The girl dropped her fork, opened her
lips as tito speak, suddenly got up and,
without uttering q word, rushed from
iEhe room.
Doctor Irving looked after her in
considerable surprise for . moment.
NitA had always been odd; but she had
never done anything Of this sort be-
fore. It was Edwin Irving's way al
ways to look for the cause of things. He
went on quietly with his dinner, but he
,pondered various subjects in his mind
while doing 10. When the door OPEN
ed and Nita came back to her seat as he
WAS eating his dessert, he raised his
eyes with one ksen, searching glance.
The color in Nita,s cheeks was all gone
NOV; they e paier even than usual,
and the heavy eyebrows were drawn to-
ssennkhoN < in - rus1 u that y,aoln kln no
quite old and hard.
After his Office hours. as DIR. Irving
WAS preparing to start on his night
rounds. he called the girl to him. She
came, still with the same look in her
face.
aNita," he said, IT want you to ex-
plain your rather extraordinary conduct.
What on earth is the matter, child ?
You don't suppose / want to marry
Jyon off to any n you don't care for,
Or
81 do not want to marry any one"
said the girl. b~rusquely and fercely.
Upon second thought doubt wheth-
;er any one wonld want to marry you, I"
remarked the doctor dryly, taking up
his hat. Mia stood sulienly, with drawn.
brows, until hs had reached the door,
then she suddenly flew after him and
caught him by the arm.
AOh, don't-dont-dont be unkind
+ meso she cried. There was a sharp
sound ssf pain in her voice which caused
Doctor IRVING to look at her attentive