The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-04-21
N THREE WEEKS
[coNrrNrEp rnon FIRST pAeE.l


fCONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.
They were literary, social, and politica
He wanted to be everything, which Is nc
uncommon with ambitious young mel
He also imagined that he was capable Q
achieving everything even the Earl's core
net Of Benjamin Disraeli, who has so 70
beaten the record-and this also is no
uncommon. Now that he was limited +
three weeks of life, all these ambition
were dwarfed down to what he could finisl
and leave behind him, to be produced afte
his death. That is why he sat before tn
pile of MSS. correcting, rewriting, touch
ing.
There were essays, stories, and verses
In reading over these and working a
them he forgot his impending end; h
even forgot the soft eyes of the girl upor
whom his untimely fate would bring ;
lifelong sorrow. At night he remember
ed them; so soft, so full of light, o.
lofty thought, of maidenly affection, and
his head in his pillow, he-again to droE
into 4 dead language: Lacryn,is Sc trddidit
But all day long the fervour of compost
ton and the consideration Of his Opuscuta
by which his memory would live, and the
necessity for not wasting a moment, kept
him from dwelling upon the inevitable.
But the days passed on. Three weeks
became fortnight. A fortnight became
week. Seven days became six, five, four
three, two, one. Then came the last
night, the twenty-frst Everything was
finished, so far as the work of young
man could be finished; he had all his MSS
arranged, and tied up ready for publica-
ton, with preface written on the last
day Of my life" There were instructions
to his lawyers. Enough money had been
kept over and above that magnificent
transfer to the maiden of all constancy and
truth to bring out these immortal postum
mites at the authors expense. There was
also money left for various purposes and
bequests-in fact. three or four thousand
pounds were so disposed of The rest, as
you have seen, had been already given to
the bereaved and inconsolable fiancee
Midnight. In another twenty-four
hours he would be no more. Strange to
say, the thought did not disturb his sleep;
he dropped off instantly; he slept the whole
night through; at he awoke. Suddenly
he remembered that three weeks were
over, and that this must be the last day of
his life; he sprang out of bed; he stood
upright; he looked for pains, for languors,
for faintings-not at all; he felt perfectly
well and strong. But that was often the
case-consumptive people, he had heard,
often feel very strong on the very morning
of their death; it would be so with him.
He dressed with beating heart and
shaky fingers. He looked in the glass.
Heavens Was that the face of dying
man-that, with the ruddy hue of the
New Zealand rose upon it, with eyes clear
and bright, with cheek full; that? But it
must be; there was no hope.
He sat down to breakfast. Nature,
though moribund, felt supported, not OPP
pressed, with plate of ham and eggs
He took a pipe. Nature, though MORT
bund, made no objection. And a walk.
Again, Nature, though moribund, refused
him not. And so on through the day.
Every hour he expected the summons;
every hour found him as strong and well
to appearance as ever Finally he went
to bed fully persuaded, if words said over
and over again can persuade one, that he
mnst die in the night.
He lay awake, light burning, and
expected the end. | do not know how
long he expected it. In the morning it
was past when he awoke, feeling not
bit nearer to the promised dissolution.
After breakfast he held colloquy with
himself 81 was assured" he said, "that
| had an incurable disease, Of which |
must die in three weeks at latest. | un-
derstood that | should get weaker and
worse every day. | am not dead. am
not weaker. | am not worse. And !
feel perfectly well.
He went to consult practitioner of the
town, selecting him by chance. He lighted
on young man of his own age, highly
scientific, and, in his own opinion, quite
thrown away and wasted in a little place
like this.
The young medical man listened patiently.
Then he tapped, listened, hammered,
squeezed, felt the pulse, looked at the
tongue, handled the temples, looked in the
eyes, asked a thousand questions. Finally
he said "Sir Christopher Fairlight told
You so and so? Said you were going to
be dead man in three weeks? Oh He
did, did he?"
"Wen?"
"Well, sir, all | can say is, we all make
mistakes; to err is human. Sir Christopher,
who has fine practice still, must be get
ting on for eighty-and you are at this
minute as sound as bell, without, so far
as | can see, the least symptom of any
kind or sort of disease upon you, and that
you are as likely as not to reach green
old
age" he would have said, but when
the doctor arrived at these words his
patients cheeks became suddenly white,
and he fell headlong, fainting at his feet.
''Iumph p said the medical man,
Now | expect he didn't faint when he
was told that he must die. | know this
sort.
With the artful aid of science, the man
was presently persuaded to come out of
his swoon, and after decent interval for
the exhibition of more science he was
allowed to walk away. Walk He
danced away; he ran away; he would have
waltzed away but for the look of the
thing. And those soft eyes, aglow with
love and tenderness and constancy, which
he had tried to forget, came back to his
mind. lie saw them heavy and red with
weeping He longed to dry those tears,
to see those eyes once more clear and
limped With all the speed he could he
bundled his MSS. into his portmanteau
and hurried back to London, there to re-
place hopeless grief and hopeless loss by
tender love.