Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1908-08-08

CHAPTER XIII.
JOY heard the truth from Frank Tis
dale, and all the truth, because he
knew what manner of woman she was
One can best describe him by say.
ing that he was the antithesis, physi
cally and mentally, of DR.. Snelgroye,
the medical attendant of the Misses
Mottisfont, the Bungays, the Jallands
and the Pundles. Tisdale had an
enormous and badly paying practice
in suburb of Easthampton. DR.. Smell
grove living the VS., which may be
called the heart of the Forest, paid
his visits sitting at ease in comfort
eble brougham drawn by a pair of
grey horses, an equ1page which would
have been no discredit to Harley
street; Tisdale ratified about in a
motor, which he steered himself; and
it is to be feared that he often ex-
ceeded the legal limit of speed. Smell
grove was type, not an individual.
He represented the old school, now al
most extinct. and washed his pink
face and white hands with more care
so it was said-than he bestowed
upon his instruments. His manner, in
cases of bereavement (his word) was
nicely adjusted to the position and
fortune of the bereaved. Lady Albinia
Jalland as the daughter of mar.
guess, and a Slowshire marques into
the bargain, gave utterance to an
opinion repeated by others of less hign
degree, when she said that Dear DR..
Snelgrove was tower of strength in
the hour of need" If things went
wrong, as they did with poor little
Mrs. Bungay, DR.. Snelgrove humbly
admitted, with unaffected piety and
In half a dozen felicitous phrases, that
greater Physician had taken the case
put of his hands. The finite prostrat-
ed itself before the Infinite: a beauti-
full and precious thought, as Miss Pris-
ella justly observed. A radical den
list, very common fellow, had the
fmpudence to assert that DR.. Smell
groves success was entirely due to his
admirable treatment of the healthy.
During times of dangerous illness, full
blooded relatives were discreetly en-.
Joined to nourish themselves properly,
and not to allow any falling of the sys-
tenn below par. This solicitude for the
living, when less sympathetic practi-
with the dead, had endeared DR..
Snelgrove to many influential neigh
bours. In person, he was portly,
bland and pulpy. He wore white
whiskers and had a commanding brow.
Compared with this Olympian, Frank
Tisdale cut but a sorry figure, with a
keen, sallow. weather-beaten face, and
hard, long, lean body. He devoted
himself to the sick, fighting disease
desperately and to a finish. Unhap
PLY, his treatment of the full-blooded
hesitation in accusing them of crimi-
nal negligence and Indifference; he
docked them of food md sleep; lie
told respectable, God-fearing rate.
paying tradesmen that they were too
intent upon filing their tills; he
stuck pins, so to spet,k, into the fat
sluggish servants; he had no respect
for the cloth of clergyman of the
Church of England unless it covered
something more than convention and
depo1 tment
For more than three years Tisdale
had been in love W tn Joy. He was
aware that she liked him, and being
an optimist by temperament. hoped
that liking would warm into love
Hitherto, his profession had engrossed
him; and his income had barely suf
feed for his own needs Of late, how.
ever, his practice had percolated into
the richer residential quarters Of
Easthampton, and it was known that
he had been highly spoken Of by more
than ore London celebrity Tisdale
knew we'll enough tat the years Of
lean kline were past.
He knew also that interminable
work, the drudgery Of an immense
practice, had turned him into some.
thing approximatinF to machine
His very thoughts were automatic
Each case, in daily practice, had to
be taken on merit, considered dispas
sionately, and then pigeon-holed. This
pigeon-hole habit. fastens itself mex
orably upon all very busy men. A
leisurely chewing OF tne cud of pleas
ant thoughts, dear to true lovers, be-
comes impossible of achievement. Tis
dale kept Joy in a shrine, and gazed
at the distracting image furtively, as
schoolboy glan,es ct his watch to
wards the close of a tiresome lesson
she represented .nnumerable delights
which he had foresworn: the fragrance
OF spring, holidays, sympathetic