The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-18

anyhow out of a. basket. II thought,
perhaps. my dear, down in the country
they might change their habits and
live on vegetables"
She smiled at me, deprecatory,
trembling little smile.
you know you haven't found yet
that vegetables have consciousness"
she added.
what kind of germs were there?"
/ asked, sterny.
"Diphtheretic," she answered In a
faint voice and looking down.
said nothing. What could one say?
II don't know how they got at her."
she said, despairingly. But 1t proves
one thing-that humanity is their
proper food, and that they must have
it," she added reflectively.
"T suppose you have a doctor?" 1
asked, hardly knowing what to say,
while she stood there with her head
thoughtfully on one side, abstractly
pulling at her gloves which were half
an inch longer than her fingers.
II think 1t was very clever of them"
she murmured in a kind OF subduedly-
reckless triumph--"in all that garden"
l asked again.
"Oh, yes, Rudolf got some one from
London. And he's not only doing some
thing to her." she said, vaguely, but
to the garden! 1 think he might have
saved her and spared them. 1 wanted
| to prevent him, but Rudolf wouldn't let
| me speak to HIM"
And she went away in a dazed state.
| I believed she realized far more that
the germs were being destroyed than
that Daisy was in danger. She always
| felt that human beings must be all
right, there were so many people to
| look after them.
1 went often to inquire after Daisy
who never did anything wrong and
| began to get well at once; but one day
when / arrived there was nobody
about. Nobody answered the bell, so
i walked in at the open door and went
| to the dining-ro and drawinS-room.
| They were empty. In the passage 1
| met an alarmed maid,
"Oh, please. m she gasped, "the
mistress has got it,
| turned straight up the stairs to her
room. She was alone, queer little
hony body in a queer little uncom-
Portable box of a bed. She smiled en-
couraginEly at Inc.
isn't it odd2" she said in a husky,
| dlfnCult voice. Il can get over tue
| oddness of it,"
ITS much more important for you
to get over it." I said stupidity.
"We'l see about that" she answered
| with an indescrbably wise, roguish
| look
What do you mean?' / stood at
the bottom of her bed and looked at
| her as severely as I could.
She chuckled. There was something
about that hoarse, painful little chuckle
that made me turn away and gulp.
We'll" she said, word or two at a
time, II don't mind telling you. They
injected serum, of course l couldn't
prevent that anyway, but I take and
do only half of what the doctor tells
me. 1t gives them and me equal
chances, you see. That's only fair,
isn't it?'
1 nodded. couldn't speak. / wanted
to kiss her or slap her. 1 didn't know
| which.
AT first | thought I'd not do any
thing to hurt them, and then ] remem-
bered what you said about good germs,
and remembered there was a great deal
more work 1 wanted to do in the world,
and so / thought I'd take half! And
nurse is so angry"
1t took her a long time to say all
that, and brought tears into her eyes
| with the pain of it, 1 found out from
the nurse afterWard that the doctor
had also ideas, and ordered her to
take and do" as she called it, exactly
| twice as much as was necessary.
And" she struggled on after little,
with that magnificent illogicalness of
| harS. url,i hppn GIlph a
solace to her if she had only appreci-
ated it, 81 should like to die for my
faith. Every new cause demands at
least a martyr, you know"
The next day she was much weaker.
81 wonder" she croaked at great
intervals almost inaudably with a
faint flicker of a smile. Il wonder if
all the germs will die when 1 die, or
how long it will take to kill them. 1t
seems rather a shabby sort of thing to
do, TO go and die and kill them all.
doesn't it?'
had my hand on hers and the only
answer / could make was to squeeze
it in a dumb, stupid way.
All at once she feebly snatched it
back.
go there to the window" she said
i want to tell you something"
| ] listened and by and by came the
hoarse whirring, distressing speech.
It's this" she said, and her discol-
ored little face worked with the an
guish of effort around those shining
beads of eyes. IF it hadn't been for
all those dear. despised things to love.
should have gone mad-mad / tell
you, my dear!'
| / murmered something.
| And then all at once in heart break
ing haste she made shift to cry: "Oh,
my dear, love something. If it kills
you, it is better than not TO have
loved"
turned and saw the light of her
face.
Il have been happy" she croaked in
agony; such happy life-so-full-----''
And then she choked horribly and
the nurse came flying and sent me from
her. And l never heard her speak
again.
The next day when | went she was
dead. Three days afterward her fun
eral went by, / stood behind the blinds
drawn down over the open window
and listened to the slow wheels.
"The mad old maid!" l heard a con-
temptuous voice say I'm the road below
Constance Cotterell in Temple Bar.
HOSPITAL FOR ANIMALS.
A Model Government Institution al
Bombay, India.