Wichita eagle., 1888-07-07
A DOCTORS STORY.

railway to visit q frlend ana former pa
tic1t q resident Of Portsmouth It Is not
often that q medical man gets holiday.
and but for the kindness Of q fellow prac
titioner in taking my practice for fort
night. I should not have had an oppoe-
tunity Of enjoying the sea brea1es
The train on which | started was an
early one. and. having procured my ticket.
took uy place IN the second class car
rage and lit my cigar. for 1t was sznok
ing carriage On entering It | was sur
prised-and think naturally SOTO find
The farthe, end Of it occupied by a lady
'-OhoT said L inwardly, some fast
American demoiseue who desired to in
dulge In cigarette
On observation. however. it appeared to
me that the features of my fellow trav
aler Gid not bear upon them that impress
sion Of cuteness which marks American
nationality She had soft brown eyes. q
full. round face, and profusion OF chest
nut hair She was dressed in plain
travelling slit. bound with white braid,
and wore straw hat
Maybe a German soliloquised;
they are terrible smokers"
But again it occurred to me that posi-
bly, the young lady might be neither
American nor German. but had got into
the carriage without noticing that it was
reserved for the use OF smokers. Under
his impression l bowed slightly to her.
saying
Il fear my cigar may annoy you'll Per
hsps you are not aware that this Is a
smoking COMPARTMENT
oh. yes. !" she answered, with slight
German accent; yes, yes. yes, yesl
There WAS something peculiar In her
slow. deliberate Utteranoe and the four
times repeated monosyQable- A dreamy
iook too. in the speakers eyes as if her
mind was preoccupied However. the
train was now In motion, and had moth
ing for it but to ensooncs myself in my
corner, look out Of the window and take
q birds eye view Of tho surrounding
housetops.
For short time this was wen enough.
but l began at last to weary Of the
monotony of such an amusement We
Englishnen, as a rule, are so reserved and
unsocisble that we shrink into ourselves.
and every fresh addition to the occupants
Of a railway carriage or an omnibus Is re-
ceived with blank looks and sort of tacit
intimation that be has no right to enter
Now, l am free to confess that. whatever
nv failings, want of sociability is not one
Of them. and determined to try to en-
gage my companion in q little converse
ton There could be no improperly in
man of my age Il was 38 endeevoring to
Oeguile the tedium Of lazy journey by
conversing with fellow Travellers
school girl-and certainly not out of her
teens It was. therefore, with an almost
paternai feeling that addressed her
There are not many passengers BY this
train, remarked
Two Thousand and three, was the an
swer that not little startled my equa-
nimity
looked at the speaker. expecting to
End mischievous smile dancing in her
eyes or lurking in the corners of her
mouth Nothing Of the sort She was
perfectly serious. even stern, and her eyes
bad still the same dreamy far-away look
IN them
Very absent minded, or else In love. =
| Thought to myself. However. ! tried
again
Il think we shall have fine day for
our journey" | ventured TO remark
She turned upon me with that ferce,
despairing. yet restless look that we see
IN trapped rat.
How you talk, talk. talkl- she cried in
dignantly
Are you radf" she screamed In a tone
of such intensified shrillness, and with
such an awful, hungry look In her eye
spiration.
She was nadi
Medical man as am, feeling Of hor-
-Lan %L,% I
was shut up alone In the carriage Of a
lunatic- True. | was a strong man; she
only girl But 1t Is inconceivabIe what
extreme strength Is possessed By many of
afflicted require two, and even three, pow
erfui men to restrain her during one OF
her paro1ysmS
as possible as | looked the young girl
for q moment or so without ouailinE,
then she sank back in her corner. resumed
her spathetic posture and sat gazing out
of the window with the PARKWAY look IN
her eyes. as If no such person as myself
was in existence.
Poor girll' thought, and began to
Cow she came to be travelling alone.
Could she have escaped from an asylums
II 50. how came she to be possessed Of
sufficient funds to procure q railway
ticket
/ had had some experience IN mad
cases and l knew that the most out
rageous ones are those where the patient
maintains IN even sulle2ness Of demeanor
no 81 I,I - 10 h.
one Of them On the contrary, her sud
den change of mood when | angered her
seemed to indicate it to be Q case Of tenn
quently q durable one
looked at my watch In . quarter Of
al hour we should be at Basingstoke l
was IN the very act Of returning nay watch
to my pocket. when my companion with
q hooking laugh-the peculiar metallic
ring of which il Is quite Impossible TO de-
scribe-hterally hurled herself upon me
with overwhelming force, broke the watch
through the window In another second
she Was endeavorirg to force hersen also
through the window.
Then commenced terrible struggle, Of
which even yet shudde- to think Ny
limit Of tension, the perspirarton poured
down nv face. and my a-ms felt as If
about to be wrenched from their socketA
and al this 70 restrain one Of the sex com
monty called the weaker from self de-
st-uctioo.
Al this time the poor gin uttered no
sound that could give warning TO tie
guard OF ou. fellow passengers Of the ter
rble struggle for lie or death tia. vas
going on within tsw ysrds Of them As