The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-10-09


The presentation Ginning clock, which
stood between the terra Gotta busts of
Claude Bernard and John Hunter upon
the dining room mantelpiece, had rung
out tho half hour and the three quarters
Now its golden hand was verging upon
the o, and. yet there was no sign Of the
master of the house. IL was an unpreo-
edented occurrence. During the 10
years that she had kept house for him
his younger sister had never known him
a second behind his time She sat now
in front of the high silver coffee pot,
uncertain whether to order the gong to
be resounded or to wait ON in silence.
Either course might be mistake Her
brother was not q man who permitted
mistakes.
Miss Ainslie Grey was rather above
the middle height, thin, with peering,
puckered eyes and the rounded shoulders
which mark the bookish woman. Her
face was long and spare, fiecked with
color above the cheek bones, with q
reasonable thoughtful forehead and a
dash of absolute obstinacy in her thin
lips and prominent chin. Snow white
cuffs and collar, with plain dark dress,
cut with almost Quakerlike simplicity,
bespoke the primness of her taste. An
ebony cross hung over her fiattened
chest. She sat very upright in her chair,
listening with raised eyebrows and
swinging her eyeglasses backward and
forward with nervols gesture which
was peculiar to her.
Suddenly she gave a sharp, satisfied
Jerk of the head and began TO pour out
the coffee. From outside there came the
dull thudding sound of heavy feet upon
thick carpet. The door swung open, and
the professor entered with u quick nerv-
Gus STEP he nodded TO his sister, and
seating himself at the other side Of the
table began to open the small pile Of
letters which lay beside his plate.
Professor Ainslie Grey was at that
time 43 years of age, nearly l2 years
older than his sister. His career had
been a brilliant one. At Edinburgh. at
Cambridge and at Vienna he had laid
the foundations of his great reputation
both in physiology and in zoology. His
pamphlet ON "The Mesoblastic Origin
of Excito-M Motor Nerve Roots" had won
him his fellowship of the Royal soci-
ETY., and his Researches Upon the Ma
ture Of Bathybius, With Some Remarks
Upon Lithococci," had been translated
into at least three European languages.
He had been referred to by one of the
greatest living authorities as being the
very type and embodiment of all that
was best in modern science. No wonder,
then, that when the commercial city OF
Birchespool decided TO create n medical
school they We're only too glad TO con-
fer the chair of physiology upon Mr..
Ainslie Grey. They valued him the
more from the conviction that their
class was only one step in his upward
journey, and that the first vacancy
would remove him TO some more illus
trious seat of learning.
In person he was not unlike his sister
the same eyes, the same contour, the
same intellectual forehead. His lips,
however, were firmer, and his long,
thin lower jaw was sharper and more
decided. He ran his finger and thumb
down il from time TO time as he glanced
over his letters.
"Those maids are very noisy" he re-
marked as a clack of tongues sounded
in the distance.
''It is Sarah" said his sister. ~
shall speak about it. 4" She had handed
over his coffee cup and was slipping at
her own, glancing furtively through her
narrowed lids at the austere face of her
brother.
''The first great advance of the hu-
man race, said the professor, twas
when, by the development of their left
frontal convolutions, they attaiped the
power Of speech. Their second advance
was when they learned to control that
power. Woman has not yet attained the
second stage" He half closed his eyes
"a he spoke and thrust his chin forward,
but as he ceased he had trick Of sud
denly opening both eyes very wide and
staring sternly at his interlocutor.
Il am not garrulous, John. " said his
sister
mo Ada. In many respects you ap-
proach the superior or male type"
Tho professor bowed over his egg with
the manner of one who utters courtly
compliment, but the lady pointed and
gave an inpatient little shrug of her
shoulders.
lyon were late this morning, John,"
she remarked after pause.
eyes, Ada. Islept badly--some little
cerebral congestion, no doubt due To
over stimulation Of the centers of
thought. have been little disturbed
in my mind.
His sister stared at him in undis.
ruised astonishment. The professors
mental processes had hitherto been as
regular as his habits. Twelve years
continual intercourse had taught her
that he lived in a serene and rareiied at
mosphere Of scientific calm. high above
the petty emotions which effect hum
bier minds.
You are surprised, Ada" he re-
marked. "Well. cannot wonder at it.
4 should have been surprised myself if
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