The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1895-04-20

towards the students who We're fol-
lowing behind me l have no doubt
they would have taken me for the SUBJ
ject itself. AS / drew nearer to the
table my assistant drew back the cloth,
and suddenly l caught his hand just
as the face only of the dead person
lay bare. II l had been shaking flesh
and blood before, for a moment now
1 was marble. This face-this sub
ject that had been procured-this dead
m lying under the cloth-these
long curves and outlines more beauti-
fully nodded than sculpture as they
stretched beneath the sheet-that clay
cold forehead with all the yellow hair
sweeping back from it and falling to
the loor-what was it all but Elise?
And l had not known she was dead.
And with that it overcame me, like a
blast of fire fusing every other thought
in that one, that my last words with
her had perhaps excited the excess of
fever that must have swept her away,
that it was l who had killed her in
deed-and then came the bitter sense
that she had died and been buried,
yet | had not been beside her, and now
exposed to the vulgar gaze Of student
and janitors, she lay awaiting the
knife. 1t fell from my hand.
81 hope there is no mistake, sir
said the assistant in a low tone, hav-
ing noted my agitation and the face.
1 found the body already procured
when | came in, and presumed you had
given the %janitor your orders, as usual
But | could not open my heart before
this gaping throng. Mechanically l re-
placed the face-cloth, with a gesture
that made my assistant understand
that it was not to be disturbed, and 1
sank into a seat. my head in my hands.
None Of them had ever seen that face
hone but the assistant and I; and
whether they thought l was ill, or
was simply collecting my scattered
thoughts the students awaited me
awhile in respectful silence then COM
mencAd CHATTING among themselves;
and it must have been nearly an hour
that 1 sat there, without one thought
in my mind, with nothing but a sensa-
ton Of blank misery that seemed to
sponge out all the world from eX-
istence. My brain was fairly drowned
In unshed tears. 1t was the corps it.
self that awoke me. A hand that. had
been composed by its side, vibrating
as the heavy tread of a student crossed
the room, fell away loosely from its
position, with one dead, awful swing,
and hung there. 1t Is Elsie that calls
me- murmured a voice within, that
hardly seemed my own consciousness.
She gives herself to her race; she
wills that the secret of the disease that
destroyed her shall be discovered, that
no other girl shall die away from love
and lover and heaven. on earth by
mea of it. And with the thought
all my medical fervor surged back
upon me, my divine curiosity, my de-
sire for knowledge, for the means to
work miracles Of healing, to bring hap
piness into homes and life back to the
dying. I rose instantly and uncovered
that portion only of the subject on
which. my work was to be done, and,
without speaking a syllable to the stu
dents clustered around me, I was at
work.
They might watch me If they would,
l forgot them, l was on fire and tremb-
ling everywhere but in my hands,
which could no more have shaken than
RAJ fiat of fate could waver from its end.
The soft surfaces, the delicate tissues,
the placid muscles, n by one, Were
laid aside, and my knife wen piercing
deeper and deeper, first into the mys-
teries that had entangled themselves
upon the wholesome scheme of crea-
ton. 1t was a terrible while; the flesh
| cut. 1 fancied that it quivered; the
ganglions of nerves, | seemed to see
the electric fluid of life and of wolf
ton running along them with intelli-
gent suffering. What minutes, what
hours passed l knew not; the stu
dents dropped away n after the
o~ther-the work was beyond their
depth-and I did not miss them. Sud
denly I flung up my hands; crying
aloud; I have found it. The secret
was mastered and nine. Elise had
taught it to me. liz she were alive
all, bitter mockery-I could have heal.
ed her with the knowledge she had
given me! Then I replaced everything
drew the. sheet over what no longer
seemed to bear any relation to Elise
went and cleaned my, hands and took
off dissecting dress, glanced at my
assistant lying back in a dream, where
he, hhd sank against the wall, and
heard the clock strike three. l haG
been six hours at work. The doc,
opened; two young men entered-en
gagged for the service. as i thought
advanced to the dissecting table, shout
uNlt IN chbJNNhy "AN hioN'N '"
toward the door. l turned my heaC
away, for. after all, the touch of othel
hands than mine on those remains
seemed Il profanity that l could no
endure to see. 'Rebury her where yol
found her. l said hoarsely, and, with
u looking up, yet stratled at thu
sound of my voice.
But something, l never knew what
l do not know to-day, made me lift m,
head. l had not heard the fatal click
nor the door close, nor a football upOl
the floor. Yet they were gone and
) was alone in the room with my heavil,
, slumbering assistant. But l had stooC
almost facing the door toward whicl
they went; they would have bee
obliged, too. in order to open it. t.
, move Il heavy table that still remain
ed there unmoved. Was l the victim
: of an optical deluSion? Was | losin,
!. my mind? l ran to the door, it had
!, chain-bolt, and that was shot together
! | threw it open; there was not a Sounl
on all the long stairway, only a cold
cold wind came blowing by me.
smiled at myself then a little attel
ward, as bweildered as one in a delil
: ium, forgetting for the homer tina
' people who leave a room cannot Dol
it on the inside, and l said that m,
| nerves had been under more tenSio
2 than they could bear. And then l sa
down to think-to think over my dis
cOvery which involved so ineStimabl
a gain, to brood over the fact of m