The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-06-05

4 - lish country house house a at th, the
morning. The elder had beauty express
sive Of strong. tender character The
younger. a ragfeatured, plquant little
creature with eyes full OF curiosity,
was speaking.
$50 you married poor manT
"a distinguished soldier"
81 know; still"
Exactly l will crafty you, ror VI
I do not tell you the truth you will
Invent n fiction"
The inquisitive one laughed and nod
ded. She who was willing TO be com
municative continued:
"You know / was without family or
kindred. heiress Of large income and
n beautiful old home. After my school
days attached myself TO good lady
who Travelled with me over great deal
of the world, for felt unbearably soil
tary In this place, and ! had lively
desire to visit other countries and
have the experience OF other lives be-
sides my own. After some years, my
dear companion having died, i found
myself here, alone except for servants
and the neighbors and acquantances,
who made me an object Of their at
tentions."
II wonder you did not marry at
once" interrupted the inquirer.
"Many wondered; but partly because
my friend had warned me. perhaps too
urgently, against mercenary men, n
good deal because had not been odi-
fed or attracted by any Of the mar
riages had seen, and | suppose" with
a sudden smile, because j had not
met with the man who was happily
my fate, shrank from all suggestions
OF the kind and held on with both
hands to my liberty.
"After n season or two of pleasure
In both town and country ! craved for
another change. Ungrateful for my
endowments / envled some others their
poverty, and at last resolved TO taste
an experience which il seemed that
Providence had hardly ordained for me.
I allowed my friends to suppose that
was bent on further foreign wander
ings, wound up my affairs in prepnra-
tion for a long absence. committed
my home once more to the guardian
ship of my trusted housekeeper, and
departed this (society) life.
Imagine me then in ST. Thomas's
Hospital. in cap and apron, studying
hard TO flt myself for first-class work
as a nursing sister.
"Oh, that was what you did, was ?"
broke In the listener. How quiet you
kept Il! My dear, wish had seen
you in the cap; it must have been so
becoming to you"
ut was different from this" said the
narrator, touching the diamond star
In her hair, "but liked il well. There
was no time to think about becoming
ness; l was thoroughly sick Of oil that.
and had left 1t with my laces and jew
els at my bankers. What / wanted
was work worth doing. an assurance
that my suffering fellow creatures
were ever such n little bit the better
FOR my existence"
The listener made little grimace
and smiled you were always so
odd. dear" she said, indulgently.
Just as l finished my term and re-
ceived all my qualifications the war
broke out, and l was soon in the thick
Of IL, for I was of the very first band
of nurses dispatched to the front"
'I can't believe it, You were not
afraid of being shot, or blood poisoned.
Or terrified into fts?'
~ Just felt that l was living in ear.
nest"
Come to the point. however. Where
did you meet him?"
II think the very first time l saw him
was when he lay i'm the hospital bed
In Pretoria covered with blood. You
shrink at the thought. l did not at
the sight / went TO work to help
the surgeon and 10 make the patient
rs comfortable rs could after a cruel
operation"
"And he fell in love with you on the
spot?'
HE wasn't in n condition for any
such prompt proceeding. He required
all his energies to wrestle with the
Il
first time l spoke TO him about any.
thing beyond his medicine and nour.
lshmeut and the ease of his pillows
was after he had been some time con-
valescent-one day when saw n par.
ticularly sad look on his brown face
and asked II l could do anything for
him: perhaps write n letter to his
friends. He thanked me and said he
had no relatives, no one would be
specially interested i'm hearing about
him: aad | thought il n pity that some.
body should not be glad OF his recov.
cry rs well as of the distinctions that
awaited him"
$50 YOU began to he glad yOurselfY'
Il did my best TO cheer him, and on
the long, hot summer evenings while
I was tanning him we had many a
quiet conversation. He was much in.
terested in all the nurses. was always
adnirinG their skill and gentlencss. de.
ploring their fatiguCs, which he con.
sidored more TO he pltied than the suf
ferings of their patients"
"And you were iealousP"
"No. I thought of him only as
sick man under my care. and wa,
pleased TO amusc him with whatevei
discourse lie might fancy. One da,
he gave me his ideas about the nursin,
vocation. which included the opinion
that ladies' with home. money and posi-
tion ought not to forsake their NOR
immediate duties for the hospital. bu
that the career of the cars of the sicl