The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-05-14

THE LITTLEDARK DOCTOR.

THE LITTLEDARK DOCTOR.
BY MARY N. PRESCOTT.
From Harper's Bazaar.
The doctors all said that Ladislaw
must go to Europe to recover his
health, and Ladislaw said must go
with him; but it was necessary that
ne should travel with physician, who
would watch the variations of his
pulse, and q friend introduced him to
the "little dark Doctor" as Ladislaw
described him to me, who, having been
overworked himself, needed a vaca-
ton. On my part, 1had my chaperon,
to be snre-a widow, not too old and
not too frivolous, who knew how to
be blind at discretion, and who was
at the same time, SO dreadfully near
sighted that she could hardly distin-
suish a Irritation from a quarrel, and
who, moreover, never made her ap.
pearance ON deck after the first day
during the whole voyage. Ifound the
Doctor agreat convenience, you may
be sure. Ladislaw said one would
suppose was his patient; but Lads.
law always exaggerates a little about
such things. Our passage was long
and rough, and Heaven only known
what / should have done but for the
little dark Doctorl If I wanted an ex-
ira wrap-and one always does on
shipboard-or book, or my chair
moved, he was at hand. He read
to me on calm days, he sang to me
little Spanish and Italian ballads
on moonlight nights; he beguil-
ed me with anecdotes of his
profession when we sat upon
deck in heavy swell, with our chairs
iashed to the house, and the spray
driving over us-that is, unless Mr..
Finch, the English gentleman who had
made our acquaintance through Lad
islaw, stole u march upon him, and
erected q canopy over my head with
his umbrella and macintosh, or gave
me his arm for promenade on the
tipsy deck. The doctor, however,
lavished his attentions upon me with
an air which made one sensible that
he would do as much for any woman.
kind who happened in his way; that
there was nothing personal or par.
ticular in his devotion. Perhaps
divined his feeling from the perfect
case with which he made himself at
home with me, as if were merely a
companionable cousin or other mdif.
terent feminine relative. Shall lever
forget that pitch black night-"a very
Walpurgis night" the doctor had sald,
earlier-when the engine stopped sud.
denly, like a tired-out heart, on tile
Irish coast, and all the gentlemen
came tearing up from the card-room
and the ladies, in all degrees of toilettes
from their state-rooms, forgetful o
seasickness or appearances; and 1
with sudden visions OF shipwreck lr
that plunging sea, with the hustle o.
launching lifeboats, and the terror O
being swung into one, and possibly
dropping between the two, rising be
fore me like spectral scene, tainted
outright upon the deck, and walked tt
find myself in the Doctors arms in tn,
saloon?
You thought this was the end of tn,
world?" he said, smiling as only tn,
dark Doctor could smile.
II fancy that lam dead-and damn
ed!" l answered laughing hysterically
He dropped ME upon the sofa ant
turned away. ''They stopped to tax,
soundings," he said. at is nothing
You had better 60 to bed"
"Do you charge much for your nd
vice" ! asked. Well goodnight.
hope We may not meet in the life
boat"
One day in London, as we wer,
walking through the dim old cloister.
at the Abbey, and trying to spell! out
the names Of the dusty dead on tn,
worn pavement, having left Ladislav
and Mrs. Adams still-mooning in tn,
Poets Corner, the Doctor said:
"You were a little frightened thai
night OH the Irish coast. To tell tn,
truth, small pipe in the engine broke
but there was no real danger, l sus
pect."
"And you were not frightened at all
knowing this?"
81? We would all 60 together, yor
know. Your company would be a.
pleasant in heaven as on ship
board"
"Equivocal-but thank you. Asfol
me, like to choose my company, moi
have 1t thrust upon me-"
"Yes!" he said, indifferently
"Whose company would you select?'
II would select an artist, or mll
sician, or perhaps a poet"
II see. In heaven they need no doc
tors"
"Nor on earth either, general,
speaking" And then impertinentls
repeated to him the little German le
gend Of the Doctor whom Death pait
q visit one day, and who, begging tt
defer the debt of Nature, offered to di
vide all his future patients with TIN
King of Terrors; and so engrosset
were we with this pastime that W,
barely escaped being locked into tn,
Abbey.
"You do not think well of the pro
fession," he said.
"Oh, don't 1? But, honestly, doyor
think yourself that the one who vol
unfairly elects to live in the constant
sight OF disease and suffering can hav,
q sensitive or aesthetic nature? And
love the esthetic?
He did not answer, but looked al
the yellow horn of the new moon, max
ing a rift in the fog, which the sunse,
light family tinged, while looked a
him. There was certainly nothing
aesthetic about the Doctor, if you ex
cept his triste mustache and his gener
al shapeliness. l remember once, il
Holland, as we steamed in q littl
packet to Zaandam, and counted tn
windmills and the cottage roofs tha
appeared to grow up behind the dikes
that he, happening to speak of him
self, remarked that he had been mis-
taken sometimes for a Spaniard.
eyes, you are dark enough to b
the shadow of somebody else," l said
"And your ideal is q blonde hero,
he returned.
Chow we'll you know my ideals!'
answered. "Like Bobby shafto, ia
and fair, combing down his yello,
hair'-of lofty stature, I'm certai