, 1896-12-23
NURSE MORRISON.

She was rather u little woman, with
o great mass of yellow hair and a timid
sort of way about her. She looked after
her cases, however, with n great deal Of
nerve, and Trafford, my senior. agreed
with me that she knew her work. 1t
was a small hospital, as hospitals go
nowadays, and Iratford and ], the only
resident medical officers, could speculate
on life and humanity and yet do our
work, we thought, with credit. To us
she was just Nurse Morrison. Still,
when the staff nurse told us that wild
horses wouldn't drag Nurse Morrison's
history out Of her, we, the staff, felt
sympathetic and interested.
"She doesn't wear Il wedding ring
anyway" Tratford said ono night. He
had just been doing his round, and she
was on night duty.
"That proves nothing, except il nov
els" l said sagely. "Inever could make
out what would bar a woman from get
ting. or getting rid of. IA wedding ring
any time it suited her,"
"She's plucky, "Trafford said. stretch
ing OH our sofa and staring up ut tho
ceiling. ''but l don't think much Of hcr
constitution, don't you know. She's
rather %neurotic, poor little SOUL"
"You're right" told him. GIVE
noticed it myself. Sometimes, if one
spe AXIS to her suddenly, her eyes look
quito fearful"
AT this TIaiforn e"s Up, took his pipe
out Of his mouth and stared at me.
"WLat tho devil have you to do with
he- eyes?" he asked sharply. "Remem-
Der, once for all, I'm senior resident
here"
"Who said you WEREN'T" l asked. Il
don't see what that has to do with it,"
II do. I'm responsible for things in
my department. and l won't have any
humbugging flirtations going on"
"Better talk to the matron and report
me to the board" l said sulkily and
took up the book that l had been read
ing when he came in. I didn't read,
though, and Trafford still smoked and
stared at the ceiling. Presently he spoke
again in u way that showed he had
made a fool Of himself.
"Well," he said, ''neurology's not in
my line, and I'd like your candid opin-
ion Of her. AS u psychologist, wouldn't
you say that she's running a risk OF
overstrain? One can see that she takes
things too seriously"
wasn't inclined to give Trafford Az
other chance of ~snubbiug me, but when
. fellow apologies practically l think
u ought to be decent. Besides, the
nervous system is n thing I've worked a
good deal at, and Trafford doesn't know
anything about it, so I put down my
book again and thought the thing over
carefully.
"Thcre's no doubt" I said ut last,
"but that she's inclined to be neurotic.
That very fine, soft hair, Of that particu-
lar shade, goes with what outsiders call
a highly strung nature
"Oh, you've noticed her hair, have
your" Tratford asked, and l said that Of
course any man who was interested i'll
physiology and psychology would pay
particular attention to the hair.
"These women are perfect brutes to
one another" he went Oh. "She's too
good to lose through Il breakdown. and
I'd like to ease her work a bit. As sem
Tor resident I'm responsible for a thing
like that, but il / speak to Buz Miss
Buzzard is our matron) she may turn
rusty"
"Speak to the chief tomorrow morn
ing when he comes around; then hell
look at her."
"He does that already" Trafford said.
"But she's so plucky, she brightens up
when he's about"
couldn't suggest anything more. ex-
oept to KEEP an eye on her. and we agreed
to make the poor little things work as
light as possible.
"Has she friends near?' Trafford
asked me when I said "Good night.
And l was able to tell him that l
thought she had, and that she always
went to see them when off duty.
Well, when I thought over his elm
terest and responsibility as senior resi-
dent I couldn't help laughing at Traf-
ford, for I knew very well that Nurse
Morrison wasn't interested in him, but
all the same, after keeping an eye on
her. AZ I had promised, I began to feel
mat ne was Qulte Ilknl IL Saying sAos
she needed to be looked after. She be-
gan to develop a set look about the
mouth and o strained appearance of the
eyes that I didn't like Mt all. She would
jump II one spoke to her unexpectedly,
and once, when going round at night in
my slippers l brushed against her, b
threw up her arm with a little cry ~ II
AYnnntin0 ma tn hit her.
! was much hurt at this and spoke 70,
her, but only said vaguely that she was
always expecting something to happen
now, and OF course ! oonldn't bother her.
Presently queer rumors got about the
place and one could sec quito well, BY
the why that tho other nurses put their
HATARRA