Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-09
l. 1wiu warm my hand. before touching

her."
He stepped to the cracking fire of stumps and
knots and extended his unmittened palms to-
ward it. He stood silent. with his outreaching
hands, and seemed to have forgotten to remove
his hat on entering the place.
"Oh, doctor. You have made me happy again!"
The husband followed him over and stopped
beside him, his whole frame shiverfng with hope
and Il newborn happiness. II will say. doctor,
that a<tcr years of prospecting through pow
erty. suHering and almost death, in which she
was always and forever the heroine, have
struck 1t rich at last; have found the biggest
kind Of paving lead and my fortune is secure.
Nurse my wife back to health and strength and
one half of /. shall be yours"
John Warndyke, that is not what want Of
YOU
The doctor snatched off his hat and flashed
his face about with the suddenness Of light
ming. The countenances of the two men were
not foot apart. That Of the doctor was ahame
with rage, hate, fury and the very ecstacy of
revenge. The glare Of his eyes was the Bengal
tigers when his fangs meet In the velvet throat
Of his rival.
MY God! Edward Creighton!''
The other breathed out the husky whisper
with q single aspiration, recoiling q step, his
hands suppicatingly upward and outward.
the sleeper. She opened her eyes, large, dark
and lustrous. and, from the slightly elevated
rest on the rude pillow, saw the couple facing
each other.
"Is that you, husband?'' she family asked in
dazed way. "whom have you brought with
you?"
He called back enough self control to answer:
''The doctor, Maggie, and he says you are
| better. / am sure"
go to the next room, close the door and do
not come back till bid you"
Red Mike could not have obeyed the COM
| mand more meekly than did the husband. 1t
was dark and cold whittier he went, for the biz
card was still raging and little heat penetrated
from the fire by the sick woman, but John
Warndyke knew it not. He walked out un-
| steadily and closed the door behind him.
The doctor waited until 1t was shut, when,
keeping his back toward the patient, he removed
his outer coat, into whose pockets he had thrust
his mittens, laid 1t one of the few chairs in
the room, where also was placed his medicine
case, and then, turning slowly about, walked to
the side of the couch with the sedate step Of q
soldier on parade. In that gentle, sympathetic
tone which became him more naturally than
any one else, he said, drawing up his chair and
tenderly lifting the wasted hand:
"Well, Maggie, 1 am glad to find you better. p"
Surprise at hearing herself addressed BY her
the face Of the doctor. The burning candle
and blaze Of the open fire filed the room with
yellow light. Besides the doctor purposely
placed his countenance 80 as to reflect its glow.
She attempted to raise her head to gain q
| clearer view, but he gently forced her back.
"What! Can 1t be2 No, but you look like
him, but he is dead, has been dead-died years
ago-what does it mean? Is my brain going
wrong again? No, no, no. but you look so like
him and he had no brother"
"Don't excite yourself, Maggie; I come Is
| your physician and must not endanger your
life. But you are growing strong, l see that
little care and the danger will be past. l am
Edward Creighton, to whom You confessed
| your love more than six years ago. / am not
dead, though John Warndyke made you think
| So"
The dark eyes were conferred on the counte-
nance and for minute she was silent. Not yet
could she be fully assured Of what she heard
and saw.
eyes, it is he-it is Edward. know that
noble countenance. He was the truest man that
ever lived, and how loved him.
She was murmuring to herself. and any one
beside the doctor would have believed her mind
was wandering, but he knew her senses had
crystalzed and they were viewing each other
through the windows Of the soul.
He still held the hand, but spoke not.
| Edward, no woman ever loved man as
loved you and no man ever loved woman more
than you loved me- John sought me first, but
turned him aside for you. I thought he had
| given me up, but he came to me with the woeful
word of your death at Petersburg. was broken
hearted, helpless, homeless, with no friends, and
took me- knowing nv heart was with you"
hot tear dropped upon the tiny hand i'm
prisoned in that Of the doctor, but that was all
"God knows I cannot censure you, Maggie,
but what Of him who has wrecked two lives?
must settle with him."
He is my husband, the father of little Alice
| there"
| 81 am mortal and his crime is beyond mortal
forgiveness" -
She repeated more softly, more gently, more
pleadingly than before, with the great lustrous
eyes looking up in his:
"He is my husband-the father of little Alice
| there"
He shifted his gaze 10 that of the sleeping
child.
"Yes, your child-his daughter-with all your
loneliness and, thank God, none of his hard,
| cruel features"
The hand nesting in the broad palm crept out
and the wasted fingers closed as far as they
could around those Of the doctor. Their grip
frightened so strongly that he withdrew his gaze
from the child and looked wonderingly into the
mothers face.
will you promise me, Edward?"
| promise you what, Maggie?'
"To harm him not. 1t is for my sake; 1t is
for the sake Of little Alice there. Edward, have
your prOmise?'
| The grand head bent lower and the Inns
touched not hers, but the smooth, cool fore
head. from which all fever had fed. He did not
speak-he could not-but with face as it was
the face Of an angel she said, looking up in his
face:
"Thank you, Edward"
Through the moan and howl Of the blizz ard
came the thudding report Of Winchester Just
outside. The door was hastily pushed inward
and John Warndyke, his cadaverous face Gyid
as death itself, bounded in.
The gulch is full of Indians! What shall we
| do dOctor?'
Fight was the calm reply, the physician
rising to his feet rs if, having completed his
professional call, he was about to make an
other.
i "But-but they will burn us out; the cabin
isn't stronger than cobweb; have only q
single rifle; you have none"
Il have my revolver; what else can We do?
II your wife was strong enough to walk we
might reach the other cabins"
rustling caused the doctor to look around
! The woman was hastily DOMINIC her outer gar
ments and shoes.
"what does this mean?" he asked sternly.
eve must leave"-
Impossible! I order you to lie down at
once; you may as well be shot here as outside"
She gave no heed, but wrought with the delft
celebrity which only her sex can show in an
emergency the i'll, weak patient had become
well and strong in twinkling. Comfortably
clad, she donned all the heavy outer garments
at command and hurriedly swathed her child
| The little one reused from deep sleep was
| stupid and without comprehension of what was