Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-08-31

"Nou arc "a" The physician faced his
patient with cold eyes, "You are made,
Won think for long life. Your parents
were klIIed in an accident. Otherwise
they might have lived to an old age. Your
people for generations have all been long
lived. Aos. LUu seem framed lUr an Az
tainment of old age. Yet there are chances;
there are flaws No one must count upon
the outward promise of longevity There
is no certainty. There are germs III the
air, in the watCr''--
You think, them" tho patient inter
rupted without the least appearance Of
discomposure or anxiety.
"What l think, young gentleman, Is
this: You are so strong THAT you are brave
enough to face the truth"
II hope So"
"Then, sir you will be dead in three
weeks.
There was silence for a space. The pa
tient received this intelligence with steady
look He hinched not, nor did his cheek
turn pale. He got up slowly and began to
walk about the room, looking at the pic
lures, taking up trifles from the mantel-
shelf as one does when the mind is great
ly preoccupiod. Then he turned suddenly
to the doctor. You are quite sure Of
what you say"
II am quite sure"
"You are an old man. You have seen
thousands of cases. With your experience
a mistake Is impossible"
ut is, humanity speaking, impossible.
For one of my experience such mistake
is, humalIy speaking, impossible.
"And there is no loophole, no chance of
escape?"
l., 20 nj n
chance In your case the locality of the
mischief cannot DO reached. You must
die"
"Thank you," said the patient. "It is
rather a pity that did not know of this
a week ago. You might then have
savcd''- He stopped short, with a choke
in his voice. It was the only outward
sign of emotion. ''Thank you," he re-
peatcd, laying an envelope, with check
in it, on the table. II will not take up
your time And my own is too short to be
wasted.'
The physician looked out of the window.
The young man walked across the street,
and with head erect and springing gait
marched down the pavement
"a long rope, my lord" the condemned
criminal used to pray the judge Three
weeks was thought a reasonably long rope.
Whatever the length Of the rope it was
counted short toward the end, when only
the last hours of waiting seemed long
Gilbert--the Christian name of this con-
damne was Gilbert - had a rope three
weeks long, and it seemed at first a rea-
sonable time within which to make the
necessary dispositions. At this the very
beginning of the limited period the young
man was surprised to find himself neither
dismayed as many would be; nor dis
gusted as be had a right to be; nor terri
fed, nor III rage. He was as yet, he said
to himself, inscnsible TO the greatness Of
the disaster. That, he thought, would
grow upon him day by day; the doubtful
step into Llo dark, the terrors of the tomb,
the lonely journey, the sudden abandon
meptAf all his hopes, the loss of love and
the/sorrcv that would fall upon Others
</He was y New Zealander by birth and
Jan only son and an orphan and very com
I fortably endowed with wealth-that is, he
\could live in clubland, or in Bayswater-
hand, or in West Kcnsingtonland, without
doing any work at all, and he had ambi-
ti6ps. He had English relations but they
did not know how rich he WIS and thought
he "a nuisance in a respectable family
Therefore they gave him the cousinly cold
shoulder.
lie had friends in plenty such friends
as a clever young fellow readily makes at
Cambridge lie believed that his friends
wer. the coming men, and much finer fell
lows than the existing lot. They believed
the same Of him. They further believed
l,, ne. t, l.,,
vanced in life, and that to be still working
afterwurd was n scandalOus invasion Of
the rights of the grave. You understand
exactly, therefore, what manner Of man he
was
Young, rich, strong, capable, ambitious
and he had to leave the banquet of life at
"a! Then, wanted but one thing more
and that, too, was granted to him! He
was to leave love behind himl
He was a happy lover, made happy ex-
sctly a week before this dreadful thing fell
upon him. The name of the girl was
Violet think if his thoughts had turned
in the direction of Violet just when the
physician told him the truth about his case
he would have taken it fainting. Fortu-
nately he only began to think of her now
in his own room alone when he was begin
ming TO understand little. 1t takes time,
you see, for a man to discover the meaning
Cf any event. Most Of us never do succeed
in understanding what any event means
birth, belongings, disease, loss-so that
all the consequences, which are absolutely
certain and unavoidable, fall upon us as
so many distinct and separate operations
of fate and yiudctiveness
When he did think of his girl and of the
grief that would fall upon her, he,Ewell,
forgive him. Love makes man weak as
well as strong-lacrymis SO iradidit. 1t
sounds more manly in Latin. Violet, he
said was all affection, a creature of pure
affection. She was all constancy and
truth She was wholly his She had
given her heart tc~him for life or DEATH
She would never never, get over it, He
saw in imagination her widowed form,
graceful even in grief, kneeling beside his
tomb year after year. gain-laorymis Sc
iradidit Does it not look better in the
dead language
He was a man quick to resolve. He
made up his mind at once what was best
to be dGne. Since they must part let them
part IT once Let there be no leave taking
-hqfrible, acute, agonizing. Let the end
be Inade and the knot cut at once.
CHo dried his unmanly tears and sat
down to write--a hard thing to do but he