Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-10-25
to himself and staring about with fright

my heart sank when L thought OF Do
rothy watching by her dead boy.
1.-THE men handed Paul over to me as
a matter of course; people had come to
consider me sort of keeper for him.
took the precaution of tying his hands
and feet, and put him into the wagon on
bed of blankets, and after sending off
a lad for doctor to meet me at Seaview.
I drove him home. I would have wished
to take him to my own home, but knew
Dorothy would think it her duty to
nurse him, wherever he was, and that it
was no use trying to spare her.
by the time we reached Seaview his
delirium had increased terribly, and it
was as much as | could do to keep him.
bound as he was, from pitching himself
out of the wagon.
1.-The doctor was waiting for us when
we arrived, and helped me get the man
into the house. In the hall Dorothy met
us, her face white and drawn with grief.
When she saw her husband she gave one
cry and tOttered back to the room where
her child lay. The sight Of her seemed
to enrage Brereton, and before we could
prevent it he had wrenched his hands
door behind him. AS we burst open the
door to follow him, we heard a scream
of terror and the fall of some heavy body,
and our first view of the room showed US
Dorothy lying senselesS on the floor,
blood streaming from terrible cash in
her forehead, while Brereton stopped
over her, heavy ruler in his appraised
hand.
"We sprang upon him in time to pre-
vent a second blow, and carried him,
struggling from the room. 1t was some
time before we could bind him again,
and in the meantime, Charlotte, Doro
thy,s nurse, had come to relieve our
mil Dis about her Her mistress was bet
ter, she said, and had sent word to the
doctor not to leave her husband until he
was quiet, assuring us that her own
wound was slight.
''For the next half hour it was as
much as we could do to keep the maniac
we were guarding, from killing US or
himself Twice the doctor injected NOR
phine without any apparent effect. The
delirium was, if anything, increased, and
death in its most frightful form, momen-
tarily drew nearer the stricken wretch.
"The doctor was in a dreadful dilem-
ma. If he administered morphine again
it would very probably prove fatal, while
on the other hand, to permit the delirium
to run its course uncontrolled, meant GER
tain and loathsome death.
''In this disagreeable situation he ac-
copied the alternative that presented
some slight hope and administered third
dose of morphine.
Its effect was almost instantaneous.
From writhing, screaming maniac, he
became, suddenly as immobile as fallen
statue, his heavy breathing the only sign
of life.
''For another quarter of an hour the
doctor watched every pulsation of his
heart, in evident dread of some sudden
catastrophe. At the end of that time he
rose, visibly relieved, and said in a whis-
per:
& I must 90 to attend to Mrs. Brere-
tons wound, Holiday; keep your atten-
ton closely on this fellows heart. If it
does it's work well for the next half hour
he'll pull through, but if there is the
least Punctuation call me at once; delay
ten minutes, and not the whole college
of surgeons could bring him to life
again
HE left the room noiselessly, only to
turn at the door to repeat his warning:
* Remember, Holiday, delay means
death
with those words he left me. Left
me alone with the man who had ruined
my life and broken the heart of the
woman | loved, whose life meant misery
to the trembling, wounded girl in the
next room; whose death meant release to
her and peace, and it was to this man
that delay, not blow or any violence,
but a simple ten minutes of quiet wait
ing, of delay, meant-death.
i prayed, yes, sir. you my think [
could not pray about such thing, but
could and did, and then all my doubts
cleared away The crisis, of which the
doctor had warned me, might not occur.
In that case he should live; by no act of
mine should his death be fastened, but
neither should any act of mine prevent
it. If the crisis cam, l should-de-
lay!
"Well, sir, just as I had made up my
mind, there came smothered cry of pain
from the next room. It was Dorothy's
voice; she was suffering under the doc
tors hands. At the same instant felt
change in her husbands pulse, it fut-
tered-stopped- on again faint
ly. A cry for the doctor rose to my lips,
and died away, unuttered. My watch lay
on the table beside him, the hands NOV
ing slowly, oh, so slowly, marked three