Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-12-14

l bore her, belleYe tnal, nau lhouShI
such prayer would be answered, l
should for her sake have prayed that
those lashes might never again be lifted.
Morning at last broke on my creary
vigil. Philippa still slept. l returned
to the sitting room and drew back The
curtains from the window. Yes; it was
morning-such a morning as leaden.
wintry skies can give. 1t was still snow
ing as heavily as. if not more heavily
than, it had showed last night. For
twelve hours the fakes had fallen with
out intermission.
There was little wind now; It had
dropped, | knew, about an hour ago.
The world, SO far as / could see, was
clad in white: but the snow lay uneven
". The wind had blown it into drifts.
On my garden path it's. depth might be
counted by inches; against my garden
wall by feet.
William now made his appearance. lie
prepared some breakfast for himself,
and then, having done justice to It,
started for Roding 1t occurred to me
that he might be the first to find the OBJ
ject which lay on the roadside.
Except that so doing might delay him
and cause him to miss his train, this
mattered little. l was now calmly await
ing the inevitable. Someone must make
thea discovery. However, as | wanted
the nurses, said to him:
Remember, this is life and death:
Nothing must stop YOU. tie touched
his hat in a reasSuring manner and
tramped off through the snow.
/ returned to my patients bedside and
sat watching her, and waiting for her to
awake She had now slept for nearly
eleven hours, and I knew that return to
life might take place at any moment. l
longed for, and yet [ dreaded, her aWak-
ening. When the effects of the opiate
1oxry CHI f1ld hn1t A LOG
I knew that the chances were a thou
sand to one that her brain would still be
full of strange decisions; that she would
turn from me, as she turned last night,
with loathing and anger. But my great
est fear was that she would, upon COM
ing to herself, or rather to her poor in
sane self, be conscious of the act she had
accomplished. 1t was the fear of this
which made me wish that the opium
would hold her in it's drowsy grasp for
hours longer.
This, wish was granted. Hour after
hour I sat by her motionless form.
Now and again | glanced from
the beautiful, senseless face, and,
looking out Of the window, saw the
snow still falling. Would my messenger
ever be able to reach town? If he did
so, would he be able to return? | was
bound to have a woman's aid. The pres
ence of the toughest daughter of the
pillow would be welcome to me when
Philippa aWoke. And now it was time
she did so.
Although 1 felt her pulse almost every
other minute, and could find no reason
for alarm, [ am bound to say that her
long sleep, prOtracted far beyond any
had in my experience seen produced by
the exhibition of narcotics, rendered me
very uneasy. I shall, am sure, scarce
sly be credited when say that Philippa's
Inconsistencies lasted for sixteen hours
from half-paSt 9 at night to half-past
/ on the following afternoon. | began
then to think the duration abnormal,
and determined to take some steps to-
ward arousing her.
But | was spared the responsibility
She stirred on the couch. Her head
turned languidIy on the pillow. Her
dark eyes opened, closed and opened
again. She looked at me in a dazed
or to understand why [ was near her,
or where she was. A prey to the Wild
est anxiety, [ leaned over her, and wait
ed until she spoke.
Little by little her bewiIderment
seemed to leave her. Her eyes rested
with curious inquiry upon mine. ''Ba,
sill, she said, family, but in a tone of
SURPRISE you here! Where am II"
Under my roof-your brothers roof"
said.
''Ah! I remember she said, with a
deep sigh. Then she closed her eyes,
and once more seemed to sleep.
What did she remember? 1t seemed
those hours of oblivion had effected a
cure, but my hope was that she did
not remember what had happened when
she met Sir Mervyn Ferrand on the
road. l was almost trembling with ex-
element. was longing to really know
in what state her mind was. Besides,
| thought she had slept as long as was
good for her. / took her hands and
called her by name.
Once more she opened her eyes. They
expressed no fear of me, no dislike to
me. They conveyed no reproach. They
were calm, sad, weary, but gave no evil
dence of any mental disorder.
"Have | been i'll long, Basil?" she
asked
Not very long. You are going to get
better soon'
81 came to your house, did I not?"
"Yes; and here | mean to keep you.
Do you feel weak?
very weak. Basil, have dreamed
such horrible things"
You have been feverish and delrious.
People. like that always fancy strange
things"
She was indeed as weak as a child; but
for the time, at least, she was perfectly
sane. could have cried for joy as /
heard her faint but collected words.
ventured to hope that | had before me
one of those very rare cases-such as
had seen described, but had not as yet
met with-where the patient awakes from
the long, artifcially produced sleep per-
fectly free from all maniacal symptoms
If this were so with Philippa. if the re-
turn of reason were to be permanent, /
knew that a few weeks careful nursing
and judicious treatment might quite re-
store her to health. Even as this com
forting thought came to me, | remem-
bered the peril in which she stood To
morrow-ay, even today-the thing
which dreaded might happen, and sweep
away all the good the narcotic had done
her.
She was now fully awake, and perfect
~ quiet. | gave her some refreshment;
then seeing she was lying in peaceful 81
lencee, | thought it better to leave her
AS | quilted her room / drew down the
blind, fearing that the whirling snow
might bring recollections which it was
my one wish TO keep from invading her
mind.
!. The long, dreary day wore away. The