The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1903-11-26
CC!M. J. led TO
TIE DEEP
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TIL steward auoc1od, and put his
| head iu at tar door.
cabin pa -cuarr, sir, No. lG," he re-
ported, with a uusiucss-lilie breyity.
Very ugd'
Dr.. Walden Glanced up from his
desk irritab.l.
"What's the matter with him?'
Dunno, sir. Uncommon bad"
Usual thing, | supposc?'
NO, sir. Not Scasick. Queer when
he come aboard yesterday, | thought.
Been in bed all day. Wouldn't let me
get him anything-till just now he
asked me to fetch you"
mo. 1G, you say? All right"
The steward withdrew, and the doe
tor only delayed to finish the first
paragraph of letter he had been
writing when he was interrupted.
1t was not precisely an urgent let
ter, for he had no intention of doing
anything with it until the ship ar
rived at Liverpool but it was let
ter that required n deal of consider
alton, and, though he was in most
things phlegmatic, he was impatient
to have it all ready to post immedi-
ately he landed, for it was to CON
tain much that he knew he could not
possibly put into speech, and it was
to tell the recipient that he would
arrive less than half a day behind it,
Few of the passengers were in bed
yet, for the night was young; the
sea was quiet and the outer air
pleasantly warm, and through the
rhythmic throbbing of the engine he
-ould hear chattering and laughter
and footsteps pacing overhead as he
:, ,7ynade his way between decks to his
patient,
The lamp that shone from the wall
of No. 1G showed him a haggard man
stretched on thr bunk apparently
asleep.
lie was youu"i~h man-not much
over 30, anyway. His features were
gaunt and tanned with hard living
and rough weather, and his hands
were coarscuod as with manual en-
Payments. lie slept uncasily, and his
breathing was stcrtorous and diff
cult.
While the doctor was taking this
preliminary survey he coughcd and
awOkc.
"Stcward,"
I'm the doctor You sent for me.
What's wrong"
"Oh, thanks. 4 I don't know,
doctor, I've felt awfully knocked up
for days past and thought l could
throw it otf-but / can't. My heads
all atfrc, and my hands, too. Feel
that"
The doctor took his hand and laid
n finger on his pulse. The hand was
hot and dry, the pulse was galloping
furiously and brief examination
was sufficient to diagnose his all
ment.
"a touch Of pneumonia" said
Walden. you must take more care
Df yourself than you've been doing
lately. You were not fit to travel;
you must have felt i'll before you
started"
II wanted to get home" the other
answered, wearily. "I've been away
q long time"
"We must see what we can arrange
about nursing the doctor concluded.
III give you some medicine; you've
got n good constitution, and, with
care, you'll pull round all right"
Think SOP"
"Oh, yes. He mustn't be
left, Barrow" The doctor turned to
the steward. Somebody will have
to sit up with him tonight. I'll see
him again before | turn in; and I'll
get the captain to let you have as
sistancc."
After fulfilling which latter duty he
retired to his cabin and resumed the
laborious composition of his letter.
a glimpse Of what he was writing
would have amazed any man who
knew him. For to everybody who
knew him, with one possible cxcep-
tion, DIR. Walden was mattcr-of-
fact, rather unSympathctic, wholly
unromantic man, of nearer 50 than
10; whereas the letter that was slow
ly developing under his pen might
almost have been written by n senti
mental yuungstcr in the rapturous
agonies of first love. Nobody would
have credited the doctor with pos
sessing the smallest streak of senti-
ment anywhere in his robust. sub
stantial person. He never suspected
it himself even until three wears ago,
Three years ago he met in London
the girl he told himself he had been
looking for all his life. She was
nearly 20 years his junior, but what
did that matter? Her people had
been rich and proud, and now,
through recent financial disasters,
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