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

one Of those who can feign love. Some
men can; cannot. r.
Thus it will be seen that although a GER
tain GOODNESS had arisen between us, in a
manner that seemed almost mutual, We
were nevertheless the best of friends. Once
or twice she dined with me at a restaurant,
and went to play afterwards, on such
occasions remarking that 1t seemed like
"old times IN the early days of our bliss
full love. And sometimes she would recall
those sweet halcyon hours, until 1 felt
pang of regret that my trust in her had
been shaken by that letter found among
| the dead mans effects and that tiny piece of
chenille. But l steeled my heart, because
l felt assured that the truth must out
some day.
Mine was a strange position for any man.
l loved the woman, remember; loved her
with all my heart and with all my SOUL
Yet that letter penned by her had shown
me that she had once angled for larger
spells, and was not the sweet unsophisti-
Gated woman I had always supposed her to
be. 1t showed me, too, that in her heart
had ranked fierce, undying hatred
Because Of this I did not seek her So
ciety frequently, but occupied myself dill
! gently with my notwithstanding solace in
my work, as many another professional
| man does where love or domestic happiness
| is concerned. There are few men in my
| profession who have not had their affairs
| of the heart, many of them serious ones
The world never knows how difficult 1t is
| for a doctor to remain heart-whole. Some
| times his lady patients deliberately set
themselves to capture him, and will speak
| ill-naturedly Of him If he refuses to fall into
| their net. At others, sympathy with a
| sufferer leads into Irritation during con-
valescence, and often word spoken In Jest
| in order to cheer is taken seriously by ro-
mantle girls, who believe that to marry a
| doctor is to attain social status and dis
| tinction.
Heigho! When think Of all my own little
| love episodes, and of the ingenious diplom-
| acy to which I have been compelled to re-
| sort in order to avoid tumbling into pitfalls
| set by certain designing daughters of Eve
I cannot but sympathiZe with every other
| medical man who is on the right side of
| forty and sound of wind and limb. There is
| not a doctor in all the long list in the medi-
| cal register who could not relate strange
! stories of his own love episodes, romances
which have sometimes narrowly escaped de-
| veloping into tragedies, and plots concocted
| by women to inveigle and to allure. 1t is so
easy for woman to fegn illness and call
| in the doctor to chat to her and amuse
| her. Lots of women in London do that
| regularly. They will play with Doctors
heart as sort Of pastime. while the un-
! hold aloof for fear of offending. If he does
| then evil gossip will spread among his
patients and his practice may suffer con-
=, siderably, for in no profession does man
| rely so entirely upon his good name and a
| reputation for care and integrity as that Of
medicine.
| do not wish for moment to be taken
| that am antagonistic to women, or that I
| would ever speak Ill of them. 1 merely
| refer to the mean method Of some Of the
| idling class. who deliberately. call in the
| doctor for the purpose OF Irritation, and then
| boast Of 1t to their fntinates. To such, q
| mans heart or mans future are of no
consequence. The doctor lis easily visible
and is therefore the easiest prey to all and
| sundry.
| In my own practice had good deal OF
| oF nd
| Every other medical man, If not a gray
| headed fossil or wizened woman-hater,
has had similar episodesi2 many strange
| some even startling. ja jr
| Reader, in this narrative of curious events
| and remarkable happenings, 1 am taking
you entirely and completely into my conf
| dence. l seek to conceal nothing, nor to
| exaggerate in any particular, but to pre-
sent the truth as plain matter-of-fact
| statement Of what actually occurred. I
| was a unit among a hundred thousand
| others engaged in the practice Of medicine,
not more skilled than the majority. even
| ship had placed me In position Of promi-
| nence. But in this brief life Of ours 1t is
| Woman who makes US dance as puppets
| on our miniature stage. who leads us to
exalts us above our fellows or hurls us into
Oblivion. Woman-always Woman.
Since that awful suspicion had fallen
upon me that the hand that had struck old
Mr. sCourtenay was that soft delicate one
| that / had SO often carried to my lips a
blank had opened in my life. Consumed by
conflicting thought. / recollected how
| sweet and true had been our affection; with
! what an intense passionate love-look she
had gazed upon me with those wonderful
eyes of hers; with what wild fierce passion
i her lips would meet mine in fond caress
Alas! it had all ended. She had acted a
lie to me- That letter told the bitter truth
Hence we were gradually drifting apart.
One Sunday morning in May, just as i
had finished my breakfast and flung myself
into an armchair to smoke, as was my
habit on the day of rest, my man entered
saying that Lady Twickenham had sent to
ask IL ! could go round to Park Lane a,