Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1900-05-08
We were the best Of friends.

We were the best Of friends.
would need to take nothing with them
out of this world. 1t would not be
pleasing to be classed as a fortune
hunter. All the philosophy available
would not remove the sting from that
reproach.
Meditating these things, 1 fell into
habits entirely reprehensible from the
standpoint of everyday sanity. / sat
up late o nights, smoked more strong
tobacco than was for my good. took
to moping and violent language. On
the whole, it was fortunate that my
practice was limited-fortunate for
both me and my supposititious patients.
Whether anybody guessed the charac
ter of my thoughts, or fathomed my
moods, was a matter almost of indiffcr-
ence. told myself that the mask
should always be worn in the presence
of Mrs. Loring and her niece; as for
the others, their opinion did not count.
AS a matter of fact, imagine that my
secret was known to all the women
thereabouts, and perhaps to some of the
men. Banks now and then cracked
jokes ut my expense of character
which gave ground to believe that he
had made u shrewd diagnosis of my
alaaH e Bit YhfRa I'll is sn asid a aa9
as nearly at my wits end, even with
the ghost of the colonels rivalry eX-
orcised, as probably half half the adult
males of the nation would own them
selves to have been on various occa-
sions, would they but make confession.
Mrs. Loring was unquestionably the
better for her life in the country. She
still kept herself under the discipline
OF an invalid, though the precaution
was entirely unnecessary. Her appe-
tite was excellent, her nerves were al
most forgotten, the daily record of her
symptoms was limited to an entry of
few lines, in place of the pages she
had covered at first. She often failed
to remember that was her physician,
and suffered me to depart without
nearing Il word bearing on her long
cherished aches and agonies. She had
become acquainted with everybody in
the yillage; nobody knew better than
she the true inwardness of every piece
of mild scandal rctailed from one end
of it to the other. She was hand i'm
glove will, the ringleaders in its social
diversions, and was the moving spirit
in an enterprise which promised to
eclipse anything of the sort ever at
tempted in Rodueytown. This was no
less than "Fete Internationale," as
the programme had it, in which youths
ana maldens of many lands were to be
personated by the young people of the
village. There We're to be tableaux,
recitations, music and dancing, and al
together somewhat ambitious list of
advertisement. Mrs. Loring had as
sumed the responsibility of designing
the costumes, duty which she was
well fitted to perform, for she was
blessed with keen eye for color eff
fects, and her travels had made her a
trustworthy source of information re-
gnrding the details of the picture it
was proposed to present. There were
no suggestions of invalidism in her as
she hustled about on her coneenial
tasks; this buster she was, the greater
her content. The fete was to her a
mental and physical tonic, more bene-
fetal than any possible combination of
chemicals. This I realized, but with
the peryerEe pessilnism brought about
by my season of unrest, feared that it
would result in opening her eyes to
the truth that she needed no physician
And when that discovery was made,
how long would she and her niece tarry
In that quiet ncighborhood?
The weather about this time took
turn for the worse; for As hours n
dense fog hung over the coast. 1t
thinned somewhat by the third morn
Ing. The banks of mist were drifting
seaward when ! plodded across the
plain to The house on the knoll. Lamar,
who wnsawaiting me in the living-room,
appeared to be giving himself up to
idleness, for there were no books on the
table at which he sat, and he seemed
to be unusually willing to engage in des-
ultory chat. After @ little, he told
me that lie had been feeling far from
we'll for some weeks, and that the de-
pressing weather had aggravated his
trouble.
10 stranger he would have looked
sick mon, but perhaps association
had blunted my perceptions in his case.
and his words surprised me. Assured
~ he was no weaker than on the night
When he first came to me. If there
had been any change, it had been an
improvement. The old air of the flu
gitive had in great part disappeared,
though he still gave one the impression
OF continual vigilance.
+ Hs described his aymptoms with his