The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1901-03-21
Drank sTOCKBRIDGE was nervou

NRANk kSTOCKBRIDGE was nervous.
The edge of his hauteur was still
HAWKES.; the toss of his head still
high. But there was q grayness about
his lips; aweariness a in his eyes, and
his hands were cold. He paused before
the dressing-table to take up his
gloves and stared hard at hiA own i'm
age, trying in vain to shut out for an
instant that shape in grey and gold
trimmed glasses. is
Two years ago an accident in .
strange city had laid him low in q hos
pital ward. Among the doctors who
came to his cot was woman In . trim
gray suit who wore glasses. She had
been kind to him with all . woman's
wonderful patience. One day he fam
cied that her eyes faltered under his;
the next, he had gone on his travels
without waiting to say good-by.
For two years he had lodged the
memory of that gray cloth gown in
vain. To-day he had come back to face
down the illusion and before he
reached his hotel he had encountered
that shape in gray. The gold glasses
and immaculate linen were precise and
spotless as Of yore. But there were vi
olets, rich and fragrant, nesting
against her throat. She had told him
once that she never wore flowers; that
the thought of anything withering
upon her was intensely repulsive.
Man of the world that he was, the
sight of these nesting violets had un-
nerved him. He had stammered out
broken sentences that it made him hot
and cold now to remember. He had
committed himself to a call. The doc.
tor had granted his request with a
courteous gravity that he should. have
known was professional and meant
nothing. He was thinking. instead,
what the violets probably meant, and
had begun to lash out impatiently at
the thought of those two wasted years
when he remembered that he had only
come back to be- disillusioned. and
walked downstairs with his head in the
air.
DR.. Murray was at home. He was
shown into her study. The violets
against her throat were little crushed
and the air of the small room was filed
with their fragrance. Scientists tell
us that the odor of some flowers pos
sess intoxicating properties. The say
ing may be true of violets. Frank
Stockbridge again lost nerve and cool
ness, and held outhis hand with greet
ing he had never dreamed of making.
''For two years have been wishing
for an opportunity 10 thank you for all
your Kindness to me when was in your
ward. You have probably forgotten ;"
"No," she touched his hand and with
drew her fingers, II remember. An
ugly bruise."
he had figured in her memory, then?
IAN ugly bruise." He had imagined
something rather more fiattering.
"I'm sorry" he said, apparently apro-
pos of nothing.
"Yes?" The rising infection suggest
ed an inquiry, but the doctor added, a
little hastily: "Please be seated"
Thank you. / wanted to talk with
you about something. but probably it
will not be worth WHILE"
"Yes?" the doctor said, again. Then
politely: "You are, of course, the best
judge"
Stockbridge walked to the window,
but came back at once and threw HIM
self carelessly into chair, II don't
know" he began, slowly. I'm not
squ sndering too much Of yonr time.
am II"
mo, my days work is DONE"
do YOU never get tired of doing2"-
he asked, restlessly.
Tho doctor quoted Mrs. Browning
With stereotyped smile:
II have lost the dream of Doing
.&Pd thAt other dream, of Done"
~ dear SIR, when woman has
worked ten or fifteen years in this
World ehe begins to understand that
hss feeHpgs don't cut any ics with life.
inese - He work and here am to do
o. = - s9u total of the SITUATION
stcckePl1Q> etoap and wsnt 70 stand
beside ~ ~ ~ ~