Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-08-11

/ . u. :
| rate Tisdale's claims as sutton for
Miss Vennable. There is still preju-
dice against doctors, even in the
minds of enlightened youths, particu-
larly those who have distinguished
themselves in academical fields. To
Burgess, Tisdale was slave, at the
beck and call of the great unwashed,
and therefore not quite free from their
faint He would have said, in public
(and with sincerity that the medical
profession was one of the greatest
and noblest, but in private he would
nave admitted that as possible hus-
bands for ones sisters and cousins,
doctors-and country practitioners, es
pec1ally-wer not quite eligible. Ro-
nance and iodoform were chemically
not to be combined.
Burgess replied:
I'm much distressed at your news,
| but surely diphtheria is not very dan
gerous to men of Vennable's age. And
he has always had wonderful health.
am writing to Joy. Your hint about
| Ilsdale leaves me calm, but I'm aw-
fully obliged to you for writing. |
can feel for him, poor chap! All the
same, he wouldn't have a chance with
JOY. | know that. I have been
tempted to run down to Hernshaw
but I'm no longer my own master.
have got at last that billet wanted:
assistant-editor of the Saxon. And I
have undertaken to make series of
speeches for the man the New Brooms
are running at this bye-election in
Norfolk. We are going to have a ire
mendous tussle. Victory means a
seat in the house for me, almost def
nitely promised ;.
Hugo put the letter away. After
wards, 1t might be interesting to look
at it, as adumbrating great political
career. Burgess was quite right
about George vennable. The diph-
liberia had attacked him lightly; Tis-
dale spoke already of a quick recov.
OF relapse could hardly be exaggerat-
ed. In both villages the epidemic,
apparently had run it's course.
Hard frosts ushered in the New
Year, icicles, upon which the sun
sparkled, hung from the trees in the
Forest; upon all the ponds children
were sliding. The ,diphtheria, nipped
or numbed by the intense cold, ceased
to be aggressive, and Hugo-fnding
his occupation Of nurse at an end-re.
membered that he was still a licensee.
A few more days brought him face
to face with a puzzling moral exigency
Till now he had scrupulously avoided
any paths which might lead him to a
more intimate social intercourse with
the Vennables, That Joy, quite limo,
Gently had indicated such paths to
him, he knew, and the knowledge
brought with it a curiously bitter-sweet
! satisfaction. She desired his compan-
ionship! More, he was assured that
his avoidance of those pleasant paths
which they might have trod together
had aroused her pride and pricked it.
| Why, in the name of the Sphinx,
should they always part as friends
to meet again almost as strangers?
| Had Hugo defined that this question
was daily presented to JOY he might
have answered it directly by telling
| her his real name and the reasons
why he had masqueraded as somebody
else. Instead, he held his tongue, be-
ing obstinate, and-a stronger reason
fearful of losing her good opinion
of him.
| The moral exigency arose when she
asked him to come to the Rectory to
play cut-throat bridge with the parson
and herself Tisdale happened to be
present when she preferred this very
natural request. And Tisdale an
swered.
why, of course he will. And it
will be capital thing. I ought to
have prescribed it before. An hour,
not more, every evening
But Joy looked steadily at Hugo
wondering why he was silent
"Will you come Mr.. Charters"
with pleasure he said quietly.
CHAPTER XIV.
AS he spoke, he salved his con-
science with the determination to tell
the truth at the first convenient oppor-
tunity. The Vennable. in any case,
had sought him, not he them. And
| 1t would have been almost impossible
| to have refused the rector's invitation.
| Tisdale added a few words as soon as
! the men were alone
| you will be doing a good deed" he
said. "And, look here, talk to the
dear old man about things outside the
Forest. Fancy what it has been,
buried alive in Hernshaw Magma for
five and twenty years, with the Pun
| dies and the Bungays and the Motifs
fonts all around him. Personally, I'd
sooner associate with publicans and
sinners-and, breathe it not'-so
would he"
I'm in rather a hole" said Hugo.
sLook here, Tisdale, my name is Hugo
Reginald Charters, and if you can be-
lieve the halfpenny papers, I'm one
of the biggest blackguards in the king.
dom!''
"Phew-w-w!'
That's why I've kept out of the
Rectory."
Tisdale's eyes were wide open Then
he threw back his head and laughed:
"Scapegoat is the word, isn't it?'
Give been a fool and knave" said
Hugo slowly. 1.-TWO or three people
have stripped the scales from my eys,
and you're one of them.
Then, very guilty, he added few
details. When he had finished, Tis