The Press., 1905-05-03
Copyright, 1905, By Il. S. Richardson


y
later. 1t was part of the process of &C
cIimation. The cases were rarely seri
GUS, the patients uniformly stolid. The
fever ran its course, the Grimm Coal
and Coke company paid the hospital
charges, and the patients as stolidly
returned to the mines to have part of
their wages deducted each month and
applied on this hospital account.
The deadly monotony was getting on
| Marion Kent's nerves. At st. Paurs
! there had been no monotony. The OPP
Grating room had been the workshop
Of some of the most marvellous sur
geons in America. There had been
| fights for lives in which house doctors
and nurses had Joined hands and faI-
tered not day or night.
The surest cure for Miss Kents pres
| ent mental condition was work, actiV-
| ity and a patient who was at least in
| teresting She felt a wild inclination
| to go into the convaleScent ward and
stir up the men, stolidly sleeping even
before the night.
At this same moment she glanced
down the road which led from the
railway station and saw that the su-
perintendents special car, attached to
the construction train engine was slow
ing up by the water tank. A cot was
carried out of the car, and four bear
ers brought out a limp figure swathed
in a blanket. Another typhoid patient
no doubt, probably a little worse than
ordinary or the special would not have
been called into service.
She was further surprised a few mo-
ments later to find herself greeting
the superintendent of the mining COM
pany.
81 want you to give this case par
ticular care. He is young Jack STAN
ton, nephew of Mr.. Grimm, president
of our company. 1t is the same old
story of typhoid, and, though l warn
ed Mr. Grimm that it would come,
feel responsible for the boy. Give
him the best nurse you have and as
much of your own time as you can
spare"
you call him a boy?" said Miss
Kent.
Eyes; he is only eighteen. Between
ourselves, Grimm claims the young
ster has made him q lot of trouble
He didn't like school, and so Grimm
sent him down here to learn the coal
and coke business from the beginning.
You'll find him rather a decent sort of
patient, and for heavens sake don't
let anything happen to him. Grimm
oil 6 fn
on to me; but, lust the same, don't
imagine he will be any too gentle with
me If anything goes wrong"
Ten minutes later Marion Kent was
in the private ward in which young
Stanton had been placed. He had just
received a cooling sponge bath, and he
looked at her with eyes that shone with
something beside fever. my, but that
felt good, and it is awfully jolly. don't
you know, to see a woman's face
again.
Miss Kent turned up the lamp a
trifie and bent over her new patient.
1t seemed to her that she had never
looked into such marvellous brown
eyeS-eyes that could twinkle and dance
and hide the deepest and tenderest of
feeling. She glanced from them to the
boyish features. Stanton lifted his
hand weakly and felt of his chin.
81 wanted 'em to give me a shave be-
fore they brought me down. knew
would give you women an awful start
I look so like a tramp"
Here was novelty with a vengeance,
a patient who cared how he looked in
the presence of the nurses.
Miss Kent sat down beside him. She
felt somehow as if she ought to ad-
dress him as a willful boy.
you know this is sort of a low fever
you have, and you'll get very tired of
1t and of u.s.
''Not of you, you bet! Say, did you
ever sleep on the hard side of q straw
tickY
Miss Kent shook her head and con-
tinued her little moral lecture. 81 just
want you to realize that while you
don't feel very sick you're liable to be
a good deal worse If you are not a
good patient"
"Oh, I'll be good. all right You just
watch me-"
And Miss Kent did watch him close
ly more as psychological study than
as patient. Without asking questions,
bit by bit she pieced together the his
tory Of his boyhood. She saw the
businesslike, uncompromising attitude
Of the uncle to whom the boy had
been left as a legacy by his dying
mother. The wealthy bachelor had
given freely of his money, but not of
his sympathy. He had made no effort
to understand the boy-to establish in
Innate relations with him. If teachers
and tutors had said that the boy was
lazy or Indifferent he hadaccepted the
criticism without question. She was
morally certain he had never looked
into those luminous brown Eyes and
read the truth.
On the fifth day after he arrived at
the hospital she received a letter:
Dear Madam-Mr. Grimm has re-
ceived word that his nephew, John
Stanton, is confined to your hospital
with typhoid fever. He requests that
you spare no expense to make him
and to bring about his ul-
innate recovery. Kindly render a
weekly statement to Mr.. Grimm and
notify him If we can ship anything
that will make John more comfortable
or that will expedite his recovery"
The signature was the name of Mr..
Grimm's secretary.
Miss Kent laid down the letter and
at an engraving of Esculapius
which hung over her desk. She could
zee the man of business in his richly
appointed Office turning from his tele-
phone long enough to give the secre-
AIRY some curt directions. She could
llso see-and the memory of that sight