The herald., 1894-07-29

ness ana bn6u COOk occdSlOu 10 urge uLao
as he was both able and anxious to pre-
pare home for her the sojourn at her
aunt's need be only temporary one.
Sylvia listened, reflected and shook
her head "One thing at once, !" said
she wisely when am safe at Aunt
Mary's, there will be time to talk about
the future. Don't forget, 0 o'clock this
evening. / depend upon you. On,
must gol The doctor is at liberty" And
at the funereal beck Of the undertaken
she vanished.
Sydaey was left in the waiting room,
but his oxcitement and ecstasy were
such that he could scarcely behave with
sobriety. A golden future lay before
him; his pulses throbbed as If to music;
he dreamed rose colored dreams.
The undertaken coming to summon
the dreamer to the doctor presence had
to touch him ON the shoulder before he
took any notice, and even then he fol-
lowed quite mechanically, muttering
and smiling to himself in quasi idiotic
way
"Well, sir, what can I do for your"
A grave, clean shaven, keen looking
man sitting at desk was eying him
with the closest observation, and 1t
dawned upon him that he was in for
serious consultation-he who had never
had days illness in his lifel He had
intended to give the undertaken half
crown and to depart as he had come, but
he had put it off until too late.
Here was q preposterous dilemma.
The doctor, who seemed to be in great
hurry, felt his pulse, looked at his
tongue and sounded him with q stetho-
scope before he had in any way recov-
cred his self command.
"What excuse shall I maker" Sydney
asked himself meanwhile. "What ex-
cuse shall Imalze when he finds there is
nothing the matter with me?"
To his surprise, the doctor, having fin
ished his examination, sat down at his
desk to write q prescription, looking
very grave indeed and trying not to
meet his patients eye.
"Your heart is all wrong he said
gloomily. ''You must be very careful
No excitement, mind; no violent exer-
tion. Light diet-chop, fish, weak
brandy and water, no wine, no beer, no
smoke. Take this three times a day
and como to see me again in a week.
I'm afraid it's all over with you. Good
morning, good morning"
Sydney was in the sunlit street again,
and the tide Of London life roared
around as before But to him everything
was changed. He stood stranger in
oity he had never seen.
T5rvo hoarf die
ease" he repeated to himself stupidity.
FITS all over with me. He needn't have
put it in that brutal way. Oh, bosh
There must be some mistake, The man S
an internal charlatan. I'll take no no
tice of him." But moment afterward
he was painfully calling to memory
every word Of the interview, every tone,
every lcok, and weighing them with
anxious deliberation. He could see moth
ing but the greatest concentration and
seriousness in the DOCTORS demeanor-
no trifling, no nonsense He evidently
knew what he was talking about, and
he had condemned Q man to death.
Perhaps it was only the mistaken
brusqueness Of extreme sympathy.
"No excitement, no wine, no beer, nc
smoke, no nothing" he nuttered
stur,----Al-- Al;-- - ;------s;1-.. :. 'u.9
all right when went into his accursed
consulting room, or at least l thought ]
was.
And then he recollected having heard
that people who had heart disease were
often the last to know of their state,
and he remembered, too, that he had
been troubled more than once with a
curious feeling in the left side. At that
very moment a sharp pain went through
him like knife.
'The doctor is right enough" he
muttered. "I'm very bad. I feel it now.
I'll go and get this stuff made up at
once. No excitement If get excited,
suppose shall fall down dead. But
how am to get over tonight without
excitement? If I happen to die just as /
am handing Sylvia into the carriage,
there will be frightful scandal. How
ever, ! must risk that. She lnust be tax
on out of the clutches of that old brute
of father of hers at all hazards. And
then must say goodby to her forever
II SURVEYOR it's clear that can +
marry her now with one foot-perhaps
both feet-in the grave"
He had his medicine made up and
took dose. But what oould medicine
do in serious case like this? He was
too far. gone. He had no doubt it was
only colored water, prescribed for the
sake Of soothing him, as if he were a
child. But he would look the thing in
the face and set his house to order. He
went to livery stable and ordered
carriage to call for him at o'clock in
the evening, Then he posted off to his
solicitor:
"Can you make my will-now--di-
rectly-this very moment-right Off
on the spot?"
'Most decidedly I oan, replied the
lawyer, becoming professional at once
and pulling sheet of fair, white fools
cap from his desk. Then he looked hard
at Sydney, whom the hours of mental
misery had changed considerably.
There's nothing wrong" blurted
out Sydney, but want it out of the
way once for all. ! should like to have
it signed and finished by Q O'Clock if
possible. -
That is in two hours, remarked the
lawyer, looking at his watch. eyes, we
can manage that, providing it isn't very