The Portland daily press., 1888-02-25
HER OPPORTUNITY.
BY HELEN T. CLARK,


81 every minute, drew off her arctcs, and sat
down before her cheerful open fire, WIFI
discouraged sigh. A lady busily writ
ing on the other side Of the room looked up,
with her pen poised in mid-air, and mildly
interrogative arching of the brows. She
knew DR.. Mary's ways, and was discreetly
silent
The doctor sighed again, and gave the
fire an impatient poke. She knew the ner-
vous system, root and branch, yet had her
little tempers like any ordinary woman
without scientific bias"
''Yes, know what you're waiting for,
Eudora Blake. You are holding your pre-
cious pen 'twixt heaven and earth, like Ma
hornets coffin, waiting until my wrath
chooses to explode. suppose have inter-
rupted the thread of your love story, but as
long as you depend on me for hints from real
life, you will have to take them as they
come"
Eudoroa turned her eyes slowly upon her
friend.
"a little tired, aren't you, dear?'i she said,
meditatively. you make too many visits
in one day. Don't let your own vital springs
run down trying to keep other people in re-
pair"
She dipped her pen in the inkstand, and
scrubbed a sentence or two.
"'Trying to keep them in repairv Yes,
that's just the trouble" exclaimed DR.. Mary.
81 might try till the day Of doom, and they
would go on violating one hygienic law after
another till it makes ones soul sick within
one What do you suppose / found Bridget
Dolan doing this afternoon? Pat was dead
drunk on the bed, and she was washing,
with her two-weeks-old baby tucked away
on one corner Of the table, and breathing the
steam at the rate Of forty respirations min
ute. Bridget herself looked scarcely able to
stand. Tomorrow they will send for me
post-haste to attend both mother and child,
and then Systematically disobey every in
junction l give them. | wish it were posi-
BILE to find one human being whom could
truly help"
She passed her shapely hand across her
full forehead, and brushed back the short
dark hair from the temples to relieve the
nervous tension.
Eudora Blake came to the fire and spread
her fingers TO the blaze.
AhS hNAAN 70 ihAA Va PNcpAS W W -ASAifNN'
You will find the right one some day. DO
you remember the sentence la Little Dor
rit?'-'In our course through life we meet
the people who are coming to meet us from
many strange places and by many strange
roads, and what it is set to us to do to them,
and what it is set hem to do to us, will all
be done.'"
THAT is as solemn as the tolling of a fu-
neral bell" said DR.. Mary "What over
shadowing things you do pick up, Eudora. l
suppose if 1t should be my fate to admins
ter dose of poison to a patient | should do
it, in spite of all my care and watchfulness.
1T will all be done. II ,oiU all be d0nep"
She lighted the gas and made tea for Eu-
dora and chocolate for herself. They kept
house together to save expense and for the
pleasure of each others company, taking
turns at the simple household duties. The
romance of life had faded out for both, and
now they were sober women with purpose.
Dr. Mary's office was in the neighborhood
of Riggs court. The place had been selected
with purpose. "The rich have physicians
enough" said the doctor. 81 will minister
among those who faint by the wayside in
sight of priests and Levites."
Unjust not be understood that DR.. Mary
said this in any self-righteous or complacent
spirit, 1t was only her iguratiye way of
putting things.
Riggs court was of the CRIME grmy. Its
morals were as far removed from immaculate
whiteness as were the wretched vestments
which futtered ON long lines from window
to window when Riggs court had wash
ing day. Yet DIR. Mary did not always des-
pair.
The day after this sketch begins she was
walking toward her Office when her atten-
ton was drawn to woman staggering in
front of her, and holding at intervals to the
area ratings of the dingy tenements. The
loctor quickened her pace, 1t was such an
old, old story. yet her heart yearned over
this poor tossed creature. She laid her hand
n the woman's arm and said:
my friend"
The woman turned upon her such face
Marian Earle must have shown to her
.ormentors when, as she tells Aurora Leigh;
They feared my eyes, and loosed me- as boys
A mad dog which they had tortured"
A face in which the hollow cheeks famed
with fever, and the eyes cleaned with wo-
full, desperate light
"Im not drunk. Don't think it. Pm
only-Stdrcing!
"Yes," said Dr. Mary, Il know it-now."
They were but few steps from the office,
and she supported the trembling figure till
she had seated the woman in the easy-chair
before the fire.
"Gustava to the little Swedish Office girD,
run to the eating house around the corner
for bowl of hot coffee and quart of oyster
broth as quickly as possible. Take this
purse. can't wait to count the money"
The bue-eyed, faxen-braided, Morse
maiden flew to do her mistress bidding, and
the doctor chafed the hands of the woman,
who had tainted outright The food and
drink restored her scanty strength, and she
ga1ed into the doctors face like one brought
hack from the brink of the grave.
81 am not a beggar. can and will pay
n They have kept me waiting three
weeks for my wages at the coat and vest
a4ore nm - street, and ] am a stranger and
oannot asl, for trust at the stores The
,acnev has been honestly earned, aud is mine
by every Ilglt uiuel ho"'o' ~
n ill they choose to give it to me and to
others like me-"
She smoke bitterly and pulled at the fringe
of her faded shawl
= "Wbat reason do they give?' asked Dr.
Mary. wo thirt thew
la : hack ia draw more interest. Mean
time YOU see for yourself.
The doctor quivered with indignation,
~ viii try and get it for you. WIN 20
NTH Won myself. Tell me your name anu
little about your circumstances.
II was sorrowful history, yet lar from iS,.
heino new one to the doctors ears. Inc
woman's name was Sarah Hilton ana sne
had come to the city % search for an eriihs
daughter. her only child.
Or. Nary heart beat faster :, ia
81 may be able 60 help you, she sald
$50 many sad cases como to my knowledge