The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-22
THE MINNEAPOLIS JOURNAL

iHe!e was momenI 3 pause OF I1gns-
ing. Lly's courage sank away after
his first words like the mercury exposed
to a temperature Of zero. Then, in the
pause, she braced herself again. It was
that he had been waiting for.
"Lord Thurso has lived thru six
hours, when he might have died at any
moment" he said. ssThat shows he
has fine constitution. This attack of
syncope-failu ar Of the heart-was
not killed him, and he will not now die
of this attack. He may have other at
tacks, but don It see why he should,
unless he provokes them himself
He f1icked the end off his cigaret.
That is the bright side," he said.
"There is the other side. Opium, I
suppose-laudaannm, morphia, it is all
ten me everything. I guess good deal
from what I have seen. And-now you
must be brave-there is nothing which
you can tell me which will be worse
than what conjecture Sill.
But as she spoke, tho he attended
very carefully to all she said, he
watched her not for that reason alone.
1t was very likely, he saw, that he
hands. .. ~ BIS. ;.
! Then she began. She concealed moth
ing of what was within her knowledge.
and she exaggerated nothing. She told
Of the secret dose which Maud had seen
Thurso take in the train, she told him
OF Maud's previous Suspicion suspi-
cion only. She told him also of the
at al namely, those overmastering
headaches. At that, for the only time,
he, interrupted her. - ~
"Quite .so,'' he said. ct gave him
the prescription myself.''
Then the tale became harder of tell
ing: She told him of the intercepted
bottle, Of the growth of his suspicious
OF her, and the certainty of her suspi-
clon of him, Of the browning insult.
And when she had finished there was
silence. ! ~ :
She was prepared nowhere was no
takes it quite early,'' he said, lis the
most difficult thing in the world to
cure-give me ten drunkards, and I will
cure, eight, but give me ten opium
why it is so, Lady Thurso, but this par
ticular drug, this poppy of the field.
binds body and soul in a way that moth
ing else-not alcohol or sensualisn-
binds. And your husbands case has
not been taken early; it has been taken.
as far as | am concerned, at the last
gasp, when he was nearly dying"
<tHa And '? now be brave r: sgain,o he said;
might have been better if he had. It
might have saved suffering and misery
to himself and those about him. Of
course one cannot, and I do not say
that any case is incurable, because,
thank God, miracles do happen. But
as he gets stronger again from this
attack, so, too, will his craving for the
lutely shut him up, he will find means
OF getting it, and he will probably be-
gin with small doses again. Then he
will increase them and increase them
till this happens once more.'
"But if one succeeded in keeping
him away from it by any means9"
asked Lily,
.sHe would probably go mad It is
from you, dear lady. Thank heaven,
you are q brave woman, and you are
bearing it. all as-well, as I think we
are meant to bear things. We may get
white with pain, we may feel sick with
the anguish Of it all, but we can clinch
our teeth at any rate, and the very eff
fort to be decent. to be brave, always
All such efforts strengthen ourselves
Just as gymnastics strengthen our mus
cles.'
Something in this arrested her. She
was led away from Thurso for mo.
ment to another matter that concerned
her Just as vitality.
edo you mean that if-if we resist
anything, our powers Of resistance are
increasedsO she asked
Sir James took in this also. His
eye, trained to observe obscurities, saw
she was not thinking for the moment
of her husband. Z
Certainly that is So" he said,
just as the absence Of resistance, the
yielding, weakens our power of resist
ance. The strong body is built up by
resisting, and so venture to say is
the strong soul. -
She thought about that for moment,
noting down, so to speak, in her mind
how it concerned that of which the
doctor knew nothing. 3
nTen me all you fear about Thur
SO, she said quietly. "Ten me what
you think the end will be. and when.
I gather that you regard him as incur