The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-05
NUMBER TWENTY-NINE.,,

FROM the London World
Inc vast, mud-colored building doomed
Out OF the fog as the Doctors brougham
drew up, with a jerk, under the portlco
Against the dark lining Of the carriage tho
set race OF a man inside was visible by the
light Of a portable lamp. 1t was the face
Of man whose mind is not at ease. There
were irritable folds at the corners of the
mouth, restless look IN the keen eyes.
even as they travelled over the page he was
reading. Sir Kenneth Brandon only shut
his book as he stepped out and entered
the Whitechappel hospital. The doctor
always read as he drove about London
from one consultation to another. II
was his habit to allow himself no leisure
for idle thoughts
Sir Kenneth Brandon was one of the few
London doctors whose names are familiar
abroad. He had made one big discovery.
he had done a great deal of useful work.
and at 80 he was already making a large
income. His recent knighthood was pop-
ular-Hot only among his patients but
among mis- professional brethren-and his
dinners were among the incest in town
And yet many peOple-and, who knows !?
perhaps Sir Kenneth himsef-missed a
hostess smile. a woman's winning phrases.
at his brilliant dinner table in Wimpole
street. Sometimes-if ever he had had
time to think-perhaps the great physician
might have regretted the pretty, bad-tem-
pered, foolish wife, whom he had scolded
and neglected in the old days. the child
for She was little mOre--WhO had finally
left their dingy suburban villa for good /:
the girl he might have saved before Il
was too late-fOr at first she had left his
house after one OF their miserable, sordid
squabbles, and had gone back TO her
father and Il was only after a humiliat-
ing scene with her husband that she had
finally disappeared. She had disappeared
1 -. L.,
had been unable to find a trace of her
beyond that. she had first gone to Spain
with some man VINO was unknown to him.
After that all was a blank. To all intentS
and purposes his wife was as one who is
dead Yet the embittering quarrels of
those early years; his severity when he
should have been lenient; his carelessness
when he ought TO have watched over the
foolish young life that he had sworn TO
cherish and protect-were facts which,
though he seldom allowed himself TO think
of them had left their trace written on
the great physician's face
Inside the hall where a marble statue
of the queen doomed chilly out of the
vague half-nght, lady was already walt
ing for him-a fair, high-bred face, with
something of the look of a student, mod
ernzed by slightly bored air, such as is
often seen in q cultivated woman of the
world. Lady Sibthorpe was a widow of
leisure and was internationally interested
in a variety of questions She occasionally
wrote short article for one OF the month
not usually commend themselves to the
more tender-hearted sex, for she by no
means posed as philanthropist, and was
understood to have views a little in adj
vance of those of the British matron.
Just now. for instance, she was interested
in the hospital question, and at a dinner
party the night before Sir Kenneth had
volunteered TO explain the internal work
ing of the "Whtechapel" The doctor
never missed an opportunity of being use
full TO Lady Sibthorpe; she was just the
woman he would have asked to be his wife,
If only
They met as people meet who are more
than Interested in each other For some
time past Lady Sibthorpe had known that
he liked her, and for some time past she
had almost made up her mind that she
might accept him, but there was no hurry;
they were both of a certain age; they both
had their occupations, their affairs And
now they turned up the stone staircase
together. on their way to the womens
wards. Lady Sibthorpe paused for an in
slant as they passed the operating theater
The doors were closed. Outside two por-
tiers were waiting with a stretcher Sud
denly the door was pushed atar, and then
there was a vision Of anxious, Interested
faces lit up by strong glare Of gas; Of
a nurses back bending forward, and Of
surgeons face blowing spray on to same
thing that was invisible over all an in
tense silence, broken only by the hoarse
whispers of the porters with the stretcher.
wondering how long they would have to
wait. Lady Sibthorpe was not emo
tional but she shivered a little as she
passed on.