Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-05-04
CHAPTER V.
TAKEN ILL.

VI, luIec va idlSI, 4hdII'lAet vas
taken i'll. The doctors hastily sum-
moned, pronounced it peritonitis.
And peritonitis 1t seemed; for it was
certainly painful extremely painful.
Poor Mamma lay in agony, and
writhed and groaned with the spasms
that shot through her internally.
Every three hours Maisie had to give
her q mixture: 20 which she added
something on her own account; and
she positively shrank from giving it,,
80 appalling were the effects. But she
had put her hand to the
plough, and couldn't afford to look
back. Let it cost what it might now,
she must 60 right through with it.
To add to her horror, as soon as
mamma fell i'll, Jose went back unex-
pectedly to Nebraska. Maisie didn't
doubt he'd gone back to institute di-
vorce proceedings on the ground OF in.
sanity; and that was well enough in
its way, as far as it nt-but still, it
would have been SO much ghter for
her if he'd remained in Washington
and called now and then at the house
to see her Her loneliness and isola-
ton in this terrible crisis weighed
heavily upon her conscience. She
looked in her glass, md saw she was
growing haggard with suspense and
anxiety If she lost her looks like
this, would Jose care for her? But
there! She was herself; and, as such,
she knew herself to be .Tose's fate, to
be .Iose's affinity.
Mamma was only i'll three days al
together; but to Maisie, those three
days were an awful eternity. 1t was
dreadful to see her lying there, racked
with pain and agony, and to know
one could do nothing on earth to ease
her-nothing, that is to say. without
spelling ones own plans and destroy
ing ones own future. Maisie clasped
her hands. and nuttered "Oh Jose.
JOSEF On the third day. at last,
poor Mamma grew weaker Maisie
saw with much relief that her suffer
ings would very soon be over. Thank
Heaven for that; for ii they'd gone OF.
for twen:y-iour hours more, Maisie
really didn't know how she ever could
stand it. 1t was driving her mad. 1t
was terrible, terrible.
And when at last Mamma lay quiet
ly dead on her bed, with her face now
relaxed and looking almost like her
self again in its peaceful slumber,
Maisie was thankful to think she was
Released from her misery-and that
now she could marry Jose Mansfield.
Still, there's many slip 'twixt the
cup and the lip; and Maisie began to
be terrified after all about the chance
OF a post-mortem. So terrified was
she, that she even suggested it herself
to the medical man.
"Don't you think, DR.. Cooeyman,"
h sr ought Eh to he Ss al sato Thy PISS
Mamma was taken so suddenly i'll,
you know. and it was all so quick;
and she died 80 unexpectedly"
But the doctor shook his head with
a very decided air.
"Not at all, my dear madam" he
said, authoritatively. mo necessity
in the world. A very normal case OF
peritonitis. It's most prevalent in
the city just now. This spell OF cold
wind has brought a great deal OF work
for us doctors. Half my patients are
down with various internal troubles. "
That relieved Maisie much. She
breath d freely once more. The other
doctor coincided, to her intense sat
isfaction. There need be no autopsy,
and nothing could come out. Only
in her own room at night did she ever
for moment give way to her feelings.
And her outburst even then was
rather one of grief than OF actual re-
morse. She felt alone in the
world, SO solitary and desolate.
After all, she'd been very fond
OF poor dear Mamma. Nothing but
love for Jose would have induced her
-well-there-to add one ingredient
to Mammals daily tonic.
AS soon as convenient, Mamma
was decently buried. Maisie might
have cremated her; but she wouldn't
on purpose. She desired scrupulous.
ly to avoid all appearance OF evil. Ii
you cremate corpse, people may be-
gin to ask in their ill-natured way
why you want to get rid of it. But
if you bury it decently, you destroy
no evidence. And for her own pro-
lection, should any ugly whispers
hereafter arise, Maisie wanted the
evidence to be duly Forthcoming. Not
in vain had she studied that work at
the Smithsonian Institute. The drug
she had added to mammals tonic was
little known save to chemists and
psychologists, and difficult to procure
but of such potency that no trace o.
it can be detected by analysis. And
Maisie, being an intelligent girl, had
obtained small supply in a way
that would have occurred to few WON
en- save her.
A week or two more passed doubt
fully, TREMENDOUSLY. Maisie was much
engaged with her mourning and
other domestic arrangements. Sht
was wealthy now, and she hac
q hard problem to solve-hov
to dress herself in deep blacl
yet in such a becoming way
that she might prove AS attractive al
ever to Jose Mansfield. And ther
there was her complexion. Thai
needed much care. Were those crows
feet about her eyes? Was regret, o.
remorse, or terror, or what you will
beginning to make her less beautiful
than heretofore? She trembled tt
L.