Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-09-29

On 80 terized by people who had
&#KEkA6x more than a shop-counter
acquaintance with him as
"fussy,' and indeed close student of
human nature could hardly have pur-
chased Il cake of soap from the trim
little man without registering men,
tally some such epithet. Spare and
specialized. with 4 dropping mustache
and half-apoiogetic air, he conveyed
the impression of being in a perpetual
state of subdued anxiety. Perhaps the
cause was to be found in the reputa-
| ton for counter prescribing he had
| built up during the ten years he had
! been in business IA reputation which,
on the principle of noblesse obhge,
could not fail to make him feel at least
as old as he was; perhaps it lay in
the fact that his returns were not quite
large enough to justify so cautious a
man in keeping an assistant; perhaps
again it was connected with the dom
nance of masterful wife.
But whatever the cause. the effect
was plain-Hubert Watkins showed to
the world C. careWorn countenance.
And on certain day his habitual ex-
| preston was more marked than usual,
fC- he had cold. 1t was not a dan
gerous, nor even severe cold-the use
of clinical thermometer selected from
his stock soon settled that point-but
it was bad enough to cause a shuttle In
his speech, and he was fretfully ap-
| prehensive that his customers, perceiy-
ing it. would begin to doubt the eff
cacy of medicines in general and of
| his in particular.
1t must have been the harassing eff
feet of his cold that resulted in his
making a terrible mistake. In all his
! honorable career he had never been
known to go astray in deciphering a
prescription, and, having had a thor
ough training in dispensing, he had
made his name in the little town of
Burgmore as the best, or, as he would
have said, the most elegant dispenser
therein. The writing of the local doc
tors had naturally become familiar TO
him. and if prescription from a
strange hand was brought to him
could almost always master its hero
glyphics.
just after noon on the day In ques-
ton DR.. Crabbe, practitioner who pat
ronized lin, handed over the counter
prescription which Mr. Watkins. as
was his wont. received with the brief
ritual Of a bow and THANK you.
doctorp' Then, taking in the patients
name and the directions at glance,
he murmured, every four hours, l
see; I'll send it at once" DR.. Crabbe,
a massive parsonage with a preoc-
cupied air, briefly calculated. THANK
you," and went his way.
Now it CHANGED that the prescription
was written for a patient, Miss Pur-
fleet by name, for whom Mr.. Watkins
had a peculiar esteem. She was not
only the most influential member of
the choir chapel which the Watkinses
attended, but she was distinguished
from her colleagues by pretty figure
set off by taste in dress that in a
more worldly milieu would have been
called coquettish. Mr.. Watkins regard
for her was Of the palest platonic
order-the application to her Of such a
word as "coquettish' would have
moved him to grief-but, strictly dis
interested though it was, he would
never have dreamed of mentioning it
to his wife. If that lady's all-embrac-
ing scrutiny happened to result in her
pronouncing, on the way back from
Sunday morning service, she being a
yard or so in front of her spouse
Miss Purfleet was pretty we'll got up
this morning." lie would discreetly re-
ply "Ah, yes" and give no further
sign. 1t was the one secret which
he hoped he did right-he shared with
no one; and, although the force of his
sentiment would not have disturbed a
bit of floating gossamer, be cherished
the feeling assiduously, marking with
tick in red ink on the calendar over
his desk the days on which Miss Fur
fleet set her gracious foot inside his
| shop.
Just as he was STOPPING to q locker
| In which medicine bottles were kept to
select the smartest looking, Mrs. Wat
kins CALLED peremptorlly from half
opener door at the back Of the shop:
Dinner, hub"'
Zone moment only, loyeyw he
meekly responded, feeling that. it was
trifie unfortunate that he should be
| obliged to hurry so sacred a task as
| the preparation of a mixture for the
exquisite singer. Disastrous hurry
For, reading in his haste 'Tinct. Opii.'
for what was really 'Tinct. Quin" the
20" being very indistinct-he poured
Into the bottle an ounce of tincture of
opium in place of an equal quantity
of tincture of quinine
Summoning his errand boy from the
cellar in which that hireling had been
| cutting sticks of licorice-and incident
ally his fnger-Mr. Watkins des-
patched the bottle, addressed in spite
of his hurry not less neatly than usual
Then. leaving the bell of his shop
door "on," he obeyed the summons OF
his wife, who by that time had become
Ominiously ruftled by his non-appear-
ance.
During the meal Mr. Watkins
| thoughts naturally reverted to the fan
| patient to whose restoration to health
he hoped to
Good heavens: How many doses
was that ounce Of tinct. opii. divided
into? Mr.. Watkins sprang to his fee
in cold perspiyation.
what is it," said Mrs. Watkins
sharply. not without tinge OF anxiety
for such behavior on her husband:
part was quite unprecedented.
Nothing mE..mured the unfortu
nate druggist. growing paler and paIer
ssThat is-I'ye forgotten something.
He rushed into the shop, and, hay
ing closed the door behind him
groaned aloud.
Reaching his desk. he tore the pre-
scription from the file on which he has
left ii, and stared at it distracfedly
Then some yestige Of reason returned
/ to him. and on d sheet OF plotting