Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-07-06
DIR. DaWsOn's Ward.

DR.. Arthur Dawson rose from his
easy chair and welcomed to his COM
fortably furnished consulting room
the well-dressed young man whose
card his servant had just handed him.
Always glad to see you, George. l
think | can guess what your visit
means. You wish to ask me to con-
sent to your engagement to Laura?"
George Abbott felt far more nervous
than on the well-remembered occasion
and stammered out "Ye-es, sir. But
how did you know? Has Laura-?"
Laura has said nothing to me- But
it is said, you know, that lookers-on
see most of the game, and your atten-
lions were such as no honorable man
would offer without serious inten-
tions."
Then you CONSENT" the young man
broke in.
If, after you have heard the story
am about to relate to you, you still
persist in your request for my wards
hand"
your wardi"
eyes, Laura is not my own child. She
is my adopted daughter, and I love
her as dearly as, Is years ago, | loved
her poor, Inflated mother. But
listen to her fathers history"
after passing through Guys, and
being duly licensed to kill" said the
DOCTOR Il proceeded to India, having
obtained a government appointment in
the land of cholera and chutnee.
was there 10 years and was resident
surgeon at Berri-Berri barracks, in
the Neilgherry hills, when | first met
Capt. Kerr. He was a tall, undeniably
handsome man, probably about 80
years of age.
THE colonel of his regiment was
Walter White, whose fag l had been
at Winchester. | was a frequent WISH
tor at his bungalow, and one Of the
many victims to the charms of his
lovely daughter. Even now | can re-
call her willowy figure, her merry
laugh, her flaXen ringlets, and trust
rul, violet eyes. But | needn't enter
upon a description of her; her daugh-
ter is her living image.
'Laura-her child bears her name
had many suitors, and among them
was Rupert Kerr. The captain was
generally looked upon as the lucky
man; and, by degrees, most Of the
young ladys admirers withdrew from
the unequal contest.
"One day a startling rumor passed
round the camp. / heard of it as
made my morning round, and, though
l pooh-poohed it, it still gained cur
rency. Men said that Capt. Kerr had
been secretly married, more than a
year before, to a half-caste woman at
Bombay, and that she had appeared in
camp to claim her rights as his wife.
After the mess, at which Col. White
and the captain were both absent, I
was summoned to the coloneIs buga-
low. | went across at once, and
found that poor Laura was in high
fever Her father and mother were
endeavoring to calm her, and ever
and anon she would shrek: My Ru-
pert, my Rupert-nO, you're not
mine! Not mine, oh dear!' and then
would follow a burst of tears. I then
learned that the sinister rumor was no
cantOnment gossip, but the plain,
unvarnished truth.
ION returning to my quarters 1 was
astonished at finding Capt. Kerr
awaiting me. 'Ha, DOCTOR he exclaim-
ed as he saw me, I want you to come
over and see my-my-wife, with a
curiously hard intonation of the last
word
q resumed my hat, which I had laid
aside, and followed him to the bunga-
low. On my way l asked What are
the symptoms?'
Well, she is sleeping, and has
been sleeping since noon, and I can't
awaken her. was the answer.
''0n couch on the veranda was
stretched an exceedingly fat mulatto
woman, with brown features and a
curiously puckered skin. She was
lying on her back, and was snoring
like a senator.
Il grasped her and felt her pulse
1t beat fast and irreguIarly. The cap
tain stood at the head of the sofa and
leant over her. Almost at that in
slant the woman awoke. and poured
forth such a voluble string of the
most awful language English an6
Hindustan) that even I shrank back
appalled,.
THE captain motioned me to the
door. She's come round, doctor, sc
there's no necessity for your kind ser
vices I will only ask you not to de
scribe Mrs Kerr to the mess I gave
the required pledge and left him.
For some weeks I attended Mrs
Kerr in her apparently cataleptit
frances. They came at irregular in
teryals and were always marked b.
similar symptoms
My other patient, Laura White. haC
by this time recovered, but was hardl,
more than the shadow of her old sum,