Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-13

once. Not at all pleased with this call, just
at a moment of laziness, l was neverthe-
less, obliged to respond because her lady
ship was one of Sir Demands best patients;
and suffering she was from a malignant
internal complaint, knew it was necessary
to respond at once to the call.
On arrival at her bedside I quickly saw
| the gravity of the situation; but, unfortun-
ately, l knew very little of the case, be-
cause Sir Bernard himself always made a
point of attending her personally. Although
elderly, she was prominent woman in So
cfety, and had recommended many patients
to my chief in earlier days, before he at
tanned the fame he had now achieved l re-
NAMED with her a couple of hours; but
finding myself utterly confused regarding
her symptoms, l resolved to take the after
noon train down to Hove and consult Sir
Bernard l suggested this course to her
ladyship, who was at once delighted with
the suggestion. Therefore, promising to
return at 10 o'clock that night l went out,
swallowed hasty luncheon and took train
down to Brighton.
The house was one of those handsome
mansions facing the sea at Hove, and as
drove up to ii on that bright, sunny after
noon 1t seemed to me an ideal residence for
man jaded by the eternal worries of "a
physicians life. The breeze stirred the
sun blinds before the windows, and the
flowers in the well-kept boxes were already
gay with bloom. I knew the place .yel, fer
l had been down many times before; there
fore. when the page opened the door he
showed me at once to the study, a room
which lay at the back Of the big drawing
room.
'Sr Bernard is in, SIR the page said.
'I'll tell him at once you're here and he
closed the door, leaving me alone.
/ walked toward the window, which look d
out upon a small flower garden, and in so
doing passed the writing table A sheet of
foolscap lay upon it, and curiosity prompted
me to glance at-it.
What saw puzzled me considerably, for
beside the paper was a letter of my own
that 1 had sent him on the previous Gay.
while upon the foolscap were many lines Of
| writing in excellent imitation of my own.
He had been practicing the peculiarties Of
my own handwriting. But with what pur
pose was profound mystery.
/ was bending over, closely examining the
been traced in imitation, when, of a sudden,
l heard a voice in the drawing room adjoin-
ing-a womans voice.
I pricked up my ears and listened for the
eccentric old fellow to entertain was most
unusual. He always hated women, because
he saw too much of their wies and willful-
ness patients
Nevertheless 1t was apparent that he had
a lady visitor in the adjoining room, and
| moment later it was equally apparent that
they were not on the most friendly terms;
for, of a sudden, the voice sounded again
quite distinctly-raised in a cry Of horror,
| as though at some sudden and terrible dis
covery
"Ahl / see-I see 1t all nowr shrieked
the unknown woman. You have deceived
me! Coward! You call yourself a man-you
who would sell a woman's soul to the devilr'
Hold your tongue!" cried a voice which
I recognized as Sir Bernard's You NAV be
overheard. Recollect that your safety can
only be secured by your secrecy"
II shall tell the TRUTH the woman de-
clared.
Very well,'' laughed the man who was
my chief, in a tone Of defiance. Tell it,
and condemn yourself.
(To be continued)