The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-04-09
IL.
II.
ONE WAY TO CURE ENNUI.


"Just say that over again, will you
doctor? l don't think l quite took is
the length and breadth of it,
| Thorndyke was in his shirt-sleeves,
I but he reached mechanically for h.
coat and vest when the physician re-
placed the stethoscope among its kins-
men in the glass case.
| Il said that your condition is very
critical"-the concern in DR.. Perevin's
voice was too real to be professional;
that if we don't look out you'll slip
away from us as your Uncle Granville
did,
| Granville Thorndyke had died of
quick consumption when his nephew
was boy of 12, and Philip had q very
vivid recollection of the strong mans
steeple-chase down the road to emaca-
| ton and death. 1t seemed incredible
that such a thing could happen to him.
He sat down and tried to realize it.
Realizing is usually a methodical
process, but when a man believes he
has just heard his death-sentence pro-
nounced it is apt to be different. Thorn
dykes mind skipped the intermediate
| steps and arrived at the end of things
with a shock that Jared him out of his
usual habit of Indifference.
For Gods sake, doctor! Do you
know-but of course you don't; no man
can really put himself in another's
place when it comes to the pinch"
"Not wholly, perhaps; and yet can
tell you it isn't pleasant to be prophet
of evil. Iadn't you any hint of your
danger?"
Not the least in the world Why,
I'm here now only because the mother
and Helen insisted upon my coming.
And can't take it in yet; I'm not sick
I've never had a twinge or symptom
worth mentioning"
"That may be; the trouble frequently
begins so stealthily as to give but little
warning. Your uncle reached your age
without susrecting that he had the
disease, and then, as you remember, he
died within the year."
"Yes, l know all about it," assented
the young man, moodily, "and now l
know why mother was SO anxious"
He got up and walked nervously back
and forth in front of the physician,
with his hands behind him and his head
down. "If anybody had told me was
such coward | shouldn't have be-
lieved it, doctor. This thing has come
SO suddenly that I'm all at sea. What
is there to be done ? or is there anything
to be done?"
The physician shook his head. "Tals-
ing it for granted that you want the
plain fact, I'm afraid the chances are
against you. Sometimes a complete
change of scene, climate, and habit will
work the miracle that would seem to be
necessary in a case like yours, but it is
only fair to warn you that such an ex-
pertinent might only shorten your life"
"a sort of forlorn hope" rejoined
Thorndyke. "Nevertheless, think I'll
try it, not SO much on my own account
us because-Doctor, where should go,
and how long time can 1 count on?"
answering your last question first
Il don't know; no one can say positive
ly; but unless yon get help almost i'm
mediately the disease is likely to de-
velop very rapidly. should say that
six months would tell the story, one
way or the other; though it might take
longer. And as to the place, there isn't
much choice, SO long as you get an even
temperature and pleasant surround
ings. l have considerable faith in the
climate of the southern end of the Blue
Ridge; but you must live out of doors
if you go there"
six months; something less than 200
days. That ought to give a man time
enough to make his peace; many poor
devil gets less than that many minutes
or seconds. And yet there are some
things that can't well be settled in a
short half year."
"You are thinking of your engage
ment to Helen?"
"Ies; that, and the property, and
my mothers grief and worry, and q
hundred other things that were not of
the least consequence an hour ago."
He tool his hat and paused in the door
way. Doctor, l wish you wouldn't
say anything about this-at least, not
Just yet. Don't tell the mother or
Helen, mean"
Certainly not"
"Thank You. Til see you again be-
fore go, that is, if it seems worth while
TO make the experiment"
An hour earlier in the day, Philip
Thorndyke had sauntered into the ves-
tibule of the great Office building with
the thought this visit to DR.. Perevin
would answer the double purpose of re-
lieving his mothers anxiety, and OF
enabling him to wear out half-hour of
the afternoon in a chat with the old
family physician; and he went the more
willingly since the hslf-hours had of
late taken to dragging rather discourag-
ingly. especially in the afternoons.
That they dragged was due to number
of causes, the chief of which was that
Thorndyke was an unsuccessful idler.
His father had been u hard-work-
ing attorney, gathering and leav-
ing an estate which would have
been a fortune elsewhere than in
New York, and which was COM
peteh-e even in that city of mil
lionaires. The will gave Philip half.
and thc irksomeness of its possession
had not made itself felt until after his
postgraduate course in the law had