Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-11-24
CHAPTER XTfI.
TIE pHYsICIAN.

THE PHls lsltlAN.
| was now Captain Campbell, of the
Scotch Greys, contrlving to live on my
half pay. and thinking far more about
the past than the present or future.
NV father was dead. My only brother
was also gone. and the property had
passed into other hands. | had no
fixed place of abode, but went from
one spot to another, as the whim seZ-
ed me-sometimes remaining months.
sometimes removing next day. but
generally choosing retired villages
about which | knew nothing.
I had spent a week in small town
on the borders of Wales, and intended
remaining a fortnight longer. when I
was suddenly seized with a violent i'll
ness. in which I lay insensible for
three weeks. When i recovered con-
sciousness | found that my head had
been shaved. and that the cicatrice of
NV old wound was occasionally very
nninful. OF late | have suspected that
I had some operation performed upon
NV skull during my Illness; but DIR.
RuthwelI never dropped a hint to
that effect. This was the friend whom,
when first | opened my seeing eyes,
I beheld sitting by my bedside, watch
ing the effect of his last prescrip-
ton.
you would laugh at me, Campbell.
wore | TO confess some of the bother
this illness of yours has occasioned
me. enough -indaad-- To overthrow any
Iaa In
SIS"
go on" answered; II promise not
to laugh"
He little knew bow far | should be
from laughing.
"In your case" he continued, ''the
pathognomonic, If you will excuse
medical slang, was svery now and then
broken up by the il .1lsion of altogeth.
er foreign symptom ~
/ listened with L ,athless attention.
'1ndeed, on seve Il occasions, when
after meditating your case TIL L
was worn out, ha fallen half asleep
by your bedside. came to myself
with the stranges conviction that
was watching by t bedside of wo-
man."
THANK heavenr' exclaimed, start
ing up, "she st.ll Ii .s"'
| need rot desert the doctors look
of amazement. all ost CONSERVATION,
for he thought fl sh access of fever
was upon me. and / had already be-
gun to rave. For his reinsurance,
however. I promis ! TO account fully
for my apparently senseless excite
ment; and that cvt 1ing | commenced
the narrative whicl forms the preced-
ing part of this st' y. Long before
reached its close y eXultatlon had
vanished. and, as wrote it for him,
it ended with the pressed conviction
that she must be de I'd. Ere long, how
ever, the hope o. ce more revived
While. however, III, narrative was In
progress, | gave hin Il summary which
amounted to this:
| had loved In ly-loved her still.
l did not know " lcre she was, ana
had reason to fear lhat her mind had
given way under ,e suffering of our
separation. Betwet II us there exist
ed, as well, the bone of n distant blood
relationship; 50 distant, that but for
its probable share ~ the production VI
another relationsh! OF very marvel
Gus nature, it wtuId scarcely have
been worth alludn : to. lhls was
kind of psychological attraction.
which, when jUsdhrd and strengthen
ed by the spiritual energies of love,
rendered the immt diate cOmmuBica-
ton of certain feelings, both mental
aud bodily, so rapid. that almost the
consciousness of uIe one existed tor
the time III the mental cOnsclousn 'ss
of the other, Nay 80 complete AT
times was the communication, that !
even doubted her testimony as TO some
strange corrcspOnuences III our past
history on tins very ground, suspectlnS
that. my memory being open 10 her re
trospection, she SAW my story, ana
took it for her own. 1t was, therefore.
easy for me TO account for Dr. Ruth
wen s scicntinc bewiiderment ~ the
symptoms ! manifested,
As my lcalth revived, my hope and
longing increased But although /
loved Lady Ancc with more cntircncSs
than even during the latest period oil
our intercourse, a certain calm endur-
ancc had supcrvencd, which rendered
the relIct of fierce action pa IOnser
necessary tQ the continuance of sane
cNistaucc. 1t was as If the conccntra
ted orb Of love had diifused itself In
genial warmth through the whole orb
OF life, mpartlng fresh vitality to
many roots which had remained leaf
.css in my being. For gears the he'd
OF bat1l" was the only held that Ia
,oruc the HOwer of delight; now M
cure began to live again for me.
one day, the first on which | ven
tured to walk into the fields alone,
was delighted with the multitude Vt
the daisies peeping fgom the grass
cycrywbeIS the first attempts of the
earth. become conscious OF blindness,
to open eyes, and see what was about
ana above her. Ey arything Is wopdeg
ful after the rcsurl ection from Illness,
1t Is q resurrection of all nature. But