Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-08-18

zof's lantern Sometimes there was a
burst of flame from the peak of Vanglor,
amid which huge, grotesque silhouettes
seemed to hover. We do not know what
turks at the bottom of these fathomless
craters Perhaps they are the souls of the
under world, which turn to vapor in rising.
The doctor and the old woman followed
the curves of the little bays on the shore.
The sea was white with livid pallor-the
whiteness of MISUNDERSTANDING with
phosphorescent light along the line of sun,
which broke in shining waves upon the
strand.
Both climbed to the bend in the road, be
tween the downs, where the broom and
fupze met like thicket of bayonets.
The dog had come close to his master and
seemed to say;
Hal a hundred and twenty fretzers for
the str0hgbosi That's the way to get rich
More land for the Vineyard! Another dish
on the supper tablet Another bone for
faithful Hurzof Let us nurse the sick
rich people and bleed-their pockets"
At this point the old woman stopped, and
with trembling finger pointed to a ruddy
light shining through the gloom 1t came
from Wort Kartf's house.
"There?" asked the doctor.
YES" replied the old woman.
The dog howled plaintively.
Suddenly the volcano with roar which
seemed to shake it to its foundations sent
forth ? sheaf of flames which appear to
touch the clouds. DR.. Trifugas was thrown
down by the shock
Swearing like a trooper, he rose and
looked around him.
The old woman was no longer there. Had
81 ia Il ignn a1 n aCln In bfaa h
or was she concealed by the heavy mist?
The dog was standing erect on his hind
legs, with his mouth wide open and the
lantern out.
Let us go onr' murmured DR.. Triful
gas.
The worthy man had pocketed his mon
ey. He must earn it.
There was only one glimmer of light
perhaps half mile away. 1t came from
the room of the dying or dead man. That
was the house The old woman had point
ed to it. No mistake was possible
Amid the roaring of the wind, the rush
of the rain, the whole fury of the tempest,
DR.. Trifulgas walked swiftly on As he
advanced, the house, standing alone in the
fields, became more and more clearly Wis
ible.
1t was strange how closely it resembled
the doctors residence, Six-Quatre at LUX
trop; the same arrangement of the win
dOws in front, the same little vaulted door
Dr. Trifulgas hurried on as fast as the
hurricane would permit The door was
ajar He pushed it open, and the gale
banged il after him rudely. The dog, left
outside, howleG, pausing at intervals like
the singers between the verses of a psalm.
Strange, One would think that DR. Tri-
fulgas had returned to his own home Yet
he had not grown bewildered and made a
circuit. He was really at Val Karinon, not
at Luktrop. Yet there was the same low
vaulted corridor; the same winding wooden
staircase, with its wide railing worn by the
friction of many hands.
He went 10 the landing. A faint light
filtered under the door as at -Quatre
Was it delusion? In the dusk he recog-
nized his own room, the bed with its vel
low canopy; on the right the old pearwood
chest, at the left IA strongbox where he
meant TO deposit his l20 fretzers There
stood his leather cushioned armchair, his
table with its twisted legs and on it near
the dying lamp his Codex, opened at page
l91.
what ails me?" he muttered.
What was tY y chill of fear crept through
his veins His pupils dilated. His body
seemed to shrink. a cold perspiration
came through the pores of his skin.
He must hasten. The lamp was going
out for lack of oil He must look at the
dying man.
Yes, there was the bed-his bed with pill
lars and canopy, closed by lowered cur
tains. Was it possible that that was "A poor
mans wretched pallet?
With trembling hand he grasped the
curtains, parted them and glanced within.
The dying man, with his face in full
view, lay motionless, as if about to draw
his last breath. The doctor bent over him.
Oh, what II cry escaped his lips-answered
by the mournful baying of the dog outside.
The dying man was not Wort kartif but
DIR. Trifulgas. 1t was he whom the con-
gestion had attacked. A cerebral apopleXy,
with a sudden accumulation of water in
the cavities Of the brain, with paralysis of
The side of the body opposite to the seat of
Ihe injury.
Yes, it was he for whom physician had
been summoned: be, who in the hardness
of his heart had refused to go to the poor
man. he who was dying.
DIR. Trifulgas was like mailman. He
felt that the case was hopeless. The gravi-
ty of the symptoms increased every mo-
menI. ne dCllOn Oh lne utdfJ ana feSplfd-
ton were about to cease. Yet he had not
wholly lost the consciousness of existence.
/ What should he do? Lessen the quantity
I of blood by means of bleeding? DR.. Triful-
gas was a dead man if he delayed
Bleeding was still practiced at that time,
and, as at the present day, the doctors cured
of apopleXy all who were not destined to
die of it.
DR.. TrifulRas seized his case of instru-
ments, took out lancet and cut the arm
of his double. The blood did not flow. He
rubbed the chest violently, the action of
his own heart was failing. He put hot
bricks to the feet-his own were growing
cold.
Then his double started up in bed strug-
gled violently for breath and drew a long
Sigh And DR.. Trifulgas, spite of all that
his knowledge could suggest, died under
his hands.
The next morning only corpse was
found in Six-Quatre-the body of Dr. Tri
fulgas 1t was inferred with great pomI
in the cemetery of Luktrop after numerous