Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-30

~ "
"Let me see him! oh, let me see him"
spairing gesture said to Damer: ''She ex-
poets me. Go and explain to her; say am
i'll. Tell her I would get up and keep my
tryst If died at her feet, but fear-I fear
the contagion-for her."
"Lie where you are, and you will probably
be well in few days." said Damer. 81 will
leave Stefanio with you and take your
message. I shall soon return. Meanwhile
your man knows what to do"
Stefanio was the valet.
The eyes Of Andreis followed him from
the room with longing and anguish. He
was not yet so ill that the apathy of ex-
treme illness dulIed his desires and stilied
his regrets. Both were intense as life was
still intense in him. He would have risen
and dragged himself to the Ca Laranigra;
but as he had said he feared the infection
for. her which would be in his voice. in his
touch, In his breath, in his mere presence.
She loves me, she loves me-" de thought,
and he, like coward, like knave, must
be Untrue to the first meeting she had
promised him!
why Is it." he thought, as the tears
welled up under his closed eyelids, that
our better. kinder impulses always cost us
so much more heavily than all our egotisms
and all our vices?"
If he had left the little child underneath
the barge to drown, would it not have been
better even for the child? The little thing
had only suffered some eighteen hours
longer through his rescue.
what did you tell her?' he asked,
breathlessly, when Damer at last returned.
Il told her the TRUTH" replied Damer. as
he placed the thermometer under the sick
mans armpit. You have worried and
fretted; your fever has increased"
What What ., did she say? She is not angry
who can be so at the misfortune of dis
ease? OF course she knows that you have
folly"
Ibid she say sop
mo: 1 am not aware that she said So
But she no doubt thought it. She babe me
tell you not to agitate yourself"
WAS that all?"
with a cold, slight smile. He was truthful
In what he repeated: he scorned vulgar
methods of Misrepresentation and betrayal.
The heavy eyes Of Andreis cleaned and
lightened with joy.
Thanks he said softly, and his hot
hand pressed that of his friend.
II will write to her." he added You can
disinfect a note?"
Sleep
He crossed the room and closed the green
wooden blinds: he gave an order to Stef-
anio. and dipped his hands in a disinfecting
mud; then he sat down and took up book
But he could not read. He saw before him
that blanched frightened face, which a lit
tie while before had been raised to his as
the voice OF Veronica had cried to him:
save him! You will save him? You have
SO much knowledge. so much power. You
will save him for my sake!
He had promised her nothing; he had only
said briefly, in the language of people who
were fools, that the issue of life and of
death was in the hands of Deity. He had
promised her nothing; in his own way he
was sincere. Up to that time he had done
everything which science and experience
hn he
He called In a second medical man of the
town and two sisters of charity to replace
Stefanio who grew alarmed for his own
safety and would no longer approach the
bed.
Send for my mother" said Andreis in
his choked voice.
Certainly" answered his friend, but
Damer telegraphed only to the Andres
palace in Palermo, and he knew that it
was unlikely she would be in that city
in the summer heats of the end of June.
1t might be forwarded or it might not;
Italian households are careless in such
matters.
The disease which had fastened on An
dreis was not one which waits. But when
he murmured once and again, Send for
my mother?' Damer could, with a clear
conscience, reply, II have telegraphed."
The day wore into night, and the night
waned into dawn. All the animation of
Venetian life began again to awake with
the whirr Of the pigeons taking their sun
rise flight from dome and cupola and pin
nacIe and gutter. To the Sisters of Char
ity their patient seemed better, to the
surgeons of the city also; Damer said moth
ing.
Andres drew his pencil and paper to
Damer read the name.
"she came to see you an hour or two
ago." he answered. But could not allow
it. Your illness is infectious
He spoke in his usual brief, calm, in
different manner. Andreis sighed. but it
was a sigh of content; he was half asleep;
he turned on his pillows and drew the lit
tie note which he had hidden under them
once more against his cheek.
He will sleep himself WELL" said the
nun.
Let us hope So" replied Damer, but she
heard from his tone that he did not share
her belief.
1t was now II o'clock.
go and rest" he said to her. you need
it. I and his servant will watch tonight.
If there be any necessity 1 will summon
you"
"Will his mother soon be here?" asked
the sister, whose heart was tender.
II believe So" replied Damer.
He lit candle and approached the bed.
Andreis smiled family. He could not
speak.
Let me see your throat" said Damer.
He saw that the nun had spoken truly;
the fungus growth was wasting, the false
membrane was shrinking; there was a
healthier look on the tongue. He set the
lamp down and said nothing.
rs he net better?'' said the sister,
arxiously.
Perhaps" he replied. 'If there be no
Reformation of the false membrane he
n ay be saved. Go, my good woman, and
rest while you can.
She went, nothing 10th, to her supper
and her bed. Damer was alone with the
man who trusted him and whose mother
trusted him.
Man cannot control circumstances" he
thought, but the wise man can assist cir
cumstances; the fool does not"
Once 1t had suited him to save that
young mans life; now it suited him to end
it.
One action was as wrong or as righteous
as the other. 1t was an exercise of power
as when the monarch grants an amnesty
or signs death warrant. Who blames
the monarch who does but use his power?
The prerogative of superior reason is
higher than the prerogative of a monarch.
His professional conscience would have
shrunk from giving the disease, but it did
not shrink from making death certain
where 1t was merely possible. He did but
add stronger poison to that which nature
had already poisoned.
Men slew their rivals in duels and no one
blamed them: who should hlama him l,a