Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-10-13
~ ~ sg --.
TIE BASILISK.
A STORY OF TO-DAY

IL" DA0lL10N
A STORY OF TO-DAY.
- CHAPrER ~.
e. NEW DEPARTURE.
I was quite surprised, and not q little
touched, at the amount of good feeling
ELECTED by the news of my departure
from st. .Bartimeus's.a It was not al
together pleasant to realize that n
had been neglecting 50 many possibili-
ties Of friendship, and keeping selfshly
aloof from people who were full OF
simple kindness. Not that friendly
manifestations are necessarily worth
much when bestowed to speed . part
ing guest. 1t is easy enough to show
q little extra civility to one whom you
never expect to see again. And in our
little community there was a certain
importance attached to going away,
which made me for the time a person
age Of some note, SO that, possibly >
proportion of the interest manifested
by my worthy "co-mates and brothers
in exile" in my pending departure was
due to q desire to be associated as
closely as possible with the involuntary
hero of the hour. I remember how, at
school, the dignity Of an unexpected
journey made any of Us feel considers
bly, taller; and how boys with whom
We were, under ordinary circumstan-
ces, on terms of a decidedly unsettled
kind, would gladly lend q hand
in the preparations for departure to
help. to carry bag or rug, it need were
to the station. Some such spirit as
this was abroad in the Home, and
brought my school-days wildly back
to nv mind. The care that had been
taken of me, and the little l could do
for myself in the matter of my journey
took me back, indeed, to an earlier
period Of my school-life than l could
| distinctly remember. Other feelings
also were working in my breast which
were amusingly, If somewhat pitifully
| childish. I was, during the last days
! of nv soiourn under DR.. Shaw's care,
In q state of suppressed excitement
and impotence, such as l used to tee]
as q boy. when within measurable dis:
lance Of thu holidays. l was Amos,
! f%iercely eager to mix in some sort Will
the world again. / did not consider
| how small that world must necessarily
be. I only realized that I was nc
longer to be shut away into q corner
classed with other sufferers, whose tel
low in affection l could not bear t.
think myself. And above all there
was the strange and growing charm o
Miss Beaufoy, with her power, OF Which
Shaw had so evil an opinion, and III
sympathetic chord struck by the gentl'
voice and kindly words of her quie
cousin. To Mr.. Beaufoy I did not Civ
much thought. The human interes
was centred for me in the two women
And So, living in q state OF concen
trated expectation, the hours wen
slowly by for me, till the time OF m.
emancipation should arrive.
u At last the eventfnl Saturday came
aXoke4 teeliae; c1eavtldg the helpless
less and suffering of years behind me
Shaw, not for the first time, rathe
rallied me on the joy with which l wa
preparingto leave the Home,swhere II
truth, I had met nothing but kindness
I did not attempt to dissemble my JOY
but I assured him, in the most forcibl
words l. could find, of my sense of al
his goodness to me, and of all his ad
vantagess of St. Bartimeus's. Thought
still like q s~choolboy, of the pleasure
and even the triumph, of coming t
visit him and my former associate
among the patients. with something c
the glory of an old boy revisiting b
old comrades who are still in stat
Pupillari.
INV dear Doctor" I said warmly, g
can never forget all you have done fo
me-"
II haven't done much" said Shaw
who loved to be correct on professions
points. YOU'RE neither better nc
worse than when you came, exce{
that you have picked up marvelous1
in spirits, and therefore in gener.
health, during the last few weeks"
al don't mean what you've done fo
me- professionally" I answered
THAT, no doubt, is all man could hav
done. But you've kept me aliv'
That's the long and short OF it,"
''I've kept you alive for Miss Beaufo
to take you of, and try some Of he
wiles on you"
} "What wiles can Miss Beaufoy IT,
on a blind music masterp"
Il don't know what she car do. 70
can't see her as loan. There is notl
ing straig htforward, nothing plainl
good about her, or any of her works.
II will be OF my guard. doctor,
said l, laughing. It was really ridict
lous, the way in which the mention, G
even the idea of Miss Beaufoy affecte
the cool and kind-hoarted Shaw. !"
will come and report progress soon
and you shall judge whether thing
are getting really desperate"
you'll never come," said Shaw
"Beaufoy seems to have the stronges
objection to letting anybody either in
to or out of his house now. Since hi
wife's death they scarcely ever 6
out themselves, and no one, 60 far as
know, eve goes there"
"Well, I will take + of myself
but l certainly will see you now an
then. He can't surely make any oh
iection."
He has had two or three patient
from here in various capacities wher
they could be generally useful to him
We never saw anything of them, an
when / have made inquiries, or invites
them here, he has always put me of
No; it will be good bye to Us when Jo'
once get to the Beaufoys."
! l was rather pleased at this. TIL
idea of being over-ridden in any law
full matter of choice by Mi. Beanfoy
or by anyone else, now that my spirit
had revived with the interest and hop
of the new engagement, did not com
mond itself tn ma for an instant,