The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-15

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Stand backr"

field of wheat and tottered. Then
there was a little panic among them,
a crashing and falling on one another,
and a stitled cry that the roar of the
northern express muff1ed.
And when the train had Whirled
through and the thunder and vibration
were past the 200-odd souls waiting
for its tardy successor realized that
something had happened.
Three in the rear of the throng had
had the life well-night pressed out of
them-one. woman. was badly
crushed between the wall and a trolly
laden with milk cans.
Fetch the DOCTOR" urged one and
another.
Suddenly someone made his way
through the crowd. Partly by virtue
of his height. partly of the load he
carried. a pathway was cut for him on
the instant, and he went on with his
burden to the station gate. Here he
halted
FOSTER he called.
A lath of a man threaded his way
defJly to his side, and to him he said:
Tell them to get a bed ready at the
Kings Arms at once"
1T only wants five minutes to the
London train, M. Frere," suggested
the station master at his elbow And
we could get DR.. Gill here in an hour"
Frere paused half a second. But in
what condition. he asked.
We'll, not at his BEST" allowed the
station master.
Il shall go on tomorrow. Keep back
my bags, will you, Buxton? Foster
can bring them across to the inn pres
emily. 1 shan't drive back to Dun
Moor tonight" And he preceded his
portmanteaus thither with the woman
he carried, as composedly as If 1t had
been his original intention to dine and
sleep in a wayside inn 300 miles from
town.
Men who have Travelled their thou
sands over half the countries Of the
globe have a knack of shaking down
easily and at short notice. He-had,
and generally came off fairly we'll; at
any rate, in his native county, where
he was a popular and conspicuous fig
ure, for whom the rustics cherished a
vague awe as for a person who had
dived deep into strange sciences;
weathered strange hardships, and con-
tributed strange books to the erudite
literature Of their land.
We'll, SIR" remarked the landlady,
when the injured woman was safely eS-
tablished under the funeral trappings
and prehistoric monsters Of the most
wonderful old bed in the peak. well,
sir, l always do say as It was q pity
you didn't stay among US to do what
you seem cut out for, instead Of facing
wild beasts and wild men in outland-
ish foreign parts with but fair
cooked meal once in six months and
never a nights rest to speak OFF,
Worsley Frere laughed, Adjusting
the final bandage on the arm Of his
unconscious patient.
"Who knows but that I may come to
It yet, Mrs. Greenfield? Nothing like
having half a dozen trades to fall
back on. I shall look in again before 1
turn in. Give the patient little brandy
now and then. We must have Gill here
the first thing in the morning"
For Gill message was accordingly
dispatched the next day, and FNrere,
scribbling kilograms in the bar par
lor, went out to meet him.
Zone Of the pleasure seekers come
to grief, eh?' said the little surgeon
jovially. Il heard something Of it last
night, but when they told me you were
here 1 knew better than to come. Who
is she?"
mo one knows. Not an excursionist.
Buxton tells me she had just booked
for town when the accident happened.
Come and see her. She slept fairly and
is conscious now. A bad case, though"
She was propped up against the huge
pillows when they entered together,
her cloud Of hair lost in the dark back
ground of grotesque carved figures.
The examination and consultation
occupied but q few minutes, during
which the object Of 1t kept her large
eyes on the two faces with curious
speculative calm. That the men differed
in their opinion was evident to her,
though they spoke scarcely half a
dozen words, and she dealt with the
dilemma in the curious frank manner
that had already puzzled the landlady.
1t was when Frere came back into
the room after a brief adjournment. A
bar of sunlight fell across the bed and
streaked the unbandaged hand that
lay before her on the sheet. She greeted
him at once.
You are the doctor who attended
me last night. 1 wish for no second
opinion"
Her manner, imperious yet simple,
impressed him as a little inconsonanu
with the severely plain garb he had
seen her in the night before, and he
said, almost in the tone with which he
might humor a child: "Dr. Gill is a
clever man; moreover"
II don't like him."
Moreover, 1 am not. as he is, doc
tor by profession. I have walked the
hospital, but"
But you don't mean to bother your
self with me. Tell me; he believes that
tit must come off?'
Frere, taken a little aback by the
quick intuitions of this girl, WINGED,
locking at the uninjured and beautiful
hand lying at his elbow
They are my one charm" she said
slowly to herself.
And as he had formulated no opin-
ion as yet on her points, he did not
challenge the words. He was a man
who generally said little, thought a
good deal and eschewed compliments.
Suddenly she laid hold of his bronzed
capable fingers, and, clinging to them,
said under her breath, gaspingly:
"Save it. save it for me if you can.
Don't listen to him! His sympathies
are deadened! Use your own judg-
mentv'
1t had urged him all along to dis
agree with this once-brilliant, half
sCddened little man. but he did not
EEL her this, only calming her with a
brief matter-of-fact word, and told
her she must not waste her powers in
farcieS.
Then she looked at him straight out
of her wide, fearless eyes, and he turned
and took out his watch, not choosing
TO acknowledge to himself that she
had read his thoughts.
1t wanted fifteen minutes to the de-
parture of the London express
He put 1t back again, and when he
did so had changed his plans.