The record-union., 1898-10-17
P. P. C.

The nurse followed the doctor out on
to the landing, as usual.
.F,r-discontinue the medicine" he
said: "leave her alone if she seems
sr-to desire it. Let her do as she likes
from now. l shall come early in the
morning. You had better not leave
the room tonight. Sleep in there with
her. The easy chair-er"-
"Oh, | can sleep anywhere. You
think there's no improvement this ev-
ening, then?"
.None F'ranlxly-er-I consider that
another twenty-f four hours will see her
through"
You mean?'-
'She will not last longer than that"
The nurse watched him down the
first of the two hundred and fifty steps
0here are no lifts in the North Ken
aington mansions), and then turned
back and re-entered the sick room with
that never-failing air of subdued cheer
fulness which fitted her for such oc-
casions.
She noticed that the door, which she
thought to have closed, stood ajar; but
draughts could not matter on this hot
July evening. Besides, nothing was
to matter any more.
The patient was lying with her face
to the wall
Nurse without turning around.
I'm here"
II want to go to sleep-by myself,
please"
Very we'll Shall draw the blinds?"
mo, thank you
The nurse went quietly into the next
room. The patient lay wonderfully
still, with her face to the wall.
The clock on the narrow sea-green
overmantel, which was considered one
Of the attractions of this unsubstantial,
cramped modern fiat, licked through
en- hour.
Then the nurse put down her pen
tshe had been writing letters on her
knee) and looked into the other room
The patient heard her-her hearing
was quite marvelously acute of late
and said, Come in. Can 1 have some
water?"
''Of course you cam And as the
nurse came to the bedside with the
glass, the girl turned suddenly and sat
upright, saying: Il heard what the doc
tor said'
For moment the nurse could only
pale a little without answering. Then
her professional tact came to an effort
at rescue, and she said, "Well, we won't
talk of that. Lie down, please. Doc
tors aren't infallible you must remem-
ber. And while there's life there's
hope
mo. While there's hope there's
life," said the girl.
She was only a girl in the sense that
she was unmarried, for she was over
thirty. Her face was so worn by this
illness that it was impossible to tell
whether it had ever been beautiful or
the reverse. But the reverse seemed
the more likely, for the nose was clum-
silly shaped, and if ever there had been
beauty, it must have been several years
ago. at the age when nature paints
superficial charm on the face of al
most every woman
She drank the water and sank back
again, her narrow gray hands lying
parallel on the counterpane.
The nurse busted herself noiselessly
about the roon-moved the medicine
bottles from the bedside, since they
We're useless now, took out a half
empty cup and saucer, Strengthened the
few bits of Tottenham Court Road
" cOO--
tidied, this very small room-the best
in the fiat which consisted altogether
of minute sitting-roomS and three more
minute bedrooms; the girls, the SER
wants, and the one where the girls
brother had slept till he went East to
understudy a war correspondent, and
Where subsequently a girl friend had
slept until this illness had made pro-
feSSiOnal nurse imperative.
There was no effort at luxury, but
rather a feeble struggle for art, which
came out in patches, as it We're, about
the place. and took the form of profuse
Aspinalling.
But there was no actual discomfort,
and theres was as much cleanliness a.
London and Annie, the servant, would
permit.
Only this last visit of the doctors
had made horrible difference in the
atmosphere. The nurse was tactful
enough not to overact her cheerful
part, and the silences We're brimful.
She was thankful when the time came
for lighting the candles After they
had burned into the silence for few
minutes the girl turned on her side
and called Nurse
Yes" Down went the pieces of linen
that she was mending.
will you please write a letter for
me. I'll dictate. Take my things and
sit near
The nurse fetched the writing ma
terials and wrote. the girl debating.
The letter was to- that brother, leagues
away in a place that the nurse couldn't
pronounce. There We're long pauses be-
tween the sentences that We're to pre-
pare him for such a home coming as
her former letters had never allowed
him to dream Of She cried twice be-
fore it was finished, and the nurse
shifted manfully.
Them there was another of those aw-
full silences, till the girl said: And now