The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1901-01-24
AN EMERGENCY CASE.
ny ERNEST M,GArrEY.

ana was low brlck Dulldlng with OUTSIDE
steps leading to its front door gas lamp
hared gustily in the wind broken pane
gave ingress to the wandering breezes. The
alley TO the rear was one Of those blank
ooking city byways that smell of dust, dirt
and vegetables. The moon looked down
| from n waste of gray clouds, and smoke
from tue factory chimney near by hoated
lazly skyward A wagon ratified over the
nearest street crossing, turned into the al.
, ley. and halted by the back entrance to the
| hospital. Two policemen stepped from the
vehicle bearing a stretcher. On the can
| vas lay man with white face and closed
eyes, corpse-ike object in the half.light.
| The door opened swiftly and smoothly,
and girl in the uniform OF the hospital
nurses appeared and the officers hurried
in with their gruesome burden. Presently
they emerged and climbed into the ambu.
lance and drove away.
"a cool little woman that" said one of
them.
Zone of the finest" said the buecoat
who had been addtessed.
| The next morning Frank Hamilton woke
with dull pain in his left side that brought
back the night before when he had been
caught between the cars in the switchyard.
| He remembered the face of the night nurse,
| Ddit ldtt WIN udTk eyes ana ITdntU
! heavily with the duskest Of tresses The
day nurse was little slip of blonde who
slipped around in the corridors and halls
of the hospital as unobtrusively as a mouse.
Hamilton was of good family, but was
down on his luck from rash speculation,
and had accepted job in the railroad yards
rather than write home for money He
! was OF an impulsive nature, and rather
! emotional and hopeful than man able
to stand steadily up against m .sfortune.
lie waited curiously for the night nurse
TO make her appearance. Presently she
| came, and he noted that she took no more
4 interest in him than she seemed to take
| in an old man who lay in the same room
! with him. Her attitude and demeGnor
we're strictly professional. very calm and
self-possessed, and she looked and remind.
ed him somehow of a serene and fair lily.
"How badly am hurt?' he asked her
"Not seriously" she replied. It's merely
a shock and bruise. no bones broken"
How long vii! it be before | am well?'
be returned.
"If nothing happens she responded, Sin
a week OF ten days"
what could happen?" he inquired.
Fever for one thing" she replied. "All
that is necessary for you to do is TO keep
quiet and not worry.
"That ought to be easy enough, he an.
swered 'few people worry do they?"
Not il they care to get well.
"Do you like this work." he ventured.
you are very inquisitive and presume
on your hurts" was the girls reply. 'If
didn't like it | would not be here
isn't it pretty hard for woman to be
here with, what do they call them, emer-
/ napoiae rnrnipp in piuht and Ia,r
1T is hard and disagreeable often" the
answer came 'but it is hardest on the
people who are hurt and those who depend
on them for support"
She gave him the drops the doctor had
ordered told him brusquely to go to sleep.
and presently he did so, half ulled by the
stiffness which seemed to fall over the mar
row streets outside when night fell. In
the morning the little blonde nurse came
on duty, and Hamilton began his daily task
of trying to be cheerful.
When the long, long afternoon began to
wane, Hamilton found himself waiting
eagerly for the pale-faced girl who had
first welcomed him to Doubling Castle, as
he had christened the hospital. As the
twilight crept in and began to darken the
alley he felt an uplifting of the spirit. At
the sudden flare of the street lamp, he
sensed her coming, and when at last she
stepped into the dingy little room, it was
as il the space had burst into blossom.
Lady Disdain, he called her in his
thoughts after the first few nights
"You are not getting along as well as you
should" she warned him on the fifth even
| ing.
''Well, that isn't my fault, is it ?" he in
quired
81 don't know positively" the nurse re-
piled, but the day girl says you are
fdgetty."
81 may be a trife uneasy in the daytime,
but you don't have any trouble with me,
do you?" he asked.
mo! You seem to be fairy reasonable"
II may turn out to be very unreasona.
bic when get WE'LL" was his answer
well, there will be time enough to think
about that when the time comes for you to
CO."
II am going to take you with me when
| leave" he said.
Her face darkened into frown. "You
mustn't Joke, Mr.. Hamilton" she said,
coldly
'I'm not joking" he said, earnestly.
"Will you come with me when | get out
of this hole! No, l beg your pardon for
finding fault, they-you have all been very
kind and good to me here"
Then if we have, if | have, please don't
say anything like that again"
"Just as you say" he answered. The days
and nights passed on, and what with fever
and complications, Frank Hamilton was
over six weeks in the hospital before he
was entirely well. His conversations with
the night nurse had resumed the old friend
ly tone, but he had never given up his
resolve to make her his wife The day he
left he asked her to marry him, after Civ
ing her briefly his history.
1t was hard position for the girl, and
she told him that she was sorry that he
really felt serious about it.
II am to he married when ! graduate"
she told him, "and am only waiting for
that"
SIS there no possibility of anything hap
penng to change your mind?" he asked.
Nothing at all, was the reply, but
am sorry, Mr. Hamilton. But you viii
not remember it long 1t seems to be nat
ural in sickness for men to fancy they
are in love with their nurses-I don't want
| n he cynical but vou will hn bannv ~,