Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-07-06
AtNightfall
By. GEORGE GISSING
Copyright. by ]. B. LIppincott CO..

(Copyrlght, by ]. B. Lppincott Coz
The sick man had lain still for sew.
eral hours: an ominous stiffness, un-
derstood as such by the nurse, who
moved silently about her duties, oc-
casionally speaking low with some
one at the door. The light of close
shaded lamp fell upon the corner
table covered with sick-room appli-
ances, but as yet it was only after
noon-the afternoon of an autumn day
in London. cold, gray, turbid.
The man seemed to be about 80
years old. A face much shrunken; !;
eyes with the look of long pain;
mouth relaxed from the half-sullen en-
9rgy which had been it's wonted char
acter. Resignation, self-abandonment,
spoke in the changed features, and in
the voice a mildness strange to it
before.
DO the servants wait upon you
properly?" he inquired, after gazing
half absently at the nurses face
Very well indeed"
Good girls. II 1 haven't another
chance, tell Moreland to pay them
well. Give them enough to let them
take good holiday. You won't for
get?"
He closed his eyes, and kept them
closed whilst answering the inquiries
about his feelings which the nurse put
to him.
I'm quite clear-headed, but seem to
be all head. You can hear me? I
seem to myself to speak indistinctly.
The old cottonwood feeling in the
ears. Legs gone-simply gone"
He kept silent for some moments.
What's the world doing7 Any
news?"
His voice was stronger, with a note
of the old irony. The nurse told him
briefly what the newspaper con-
tanned
Anyone dead?" he asked, again
smiling.
mo one in particular, l think Some
millionaire. Yes, Mr.. Clifford Bates"
She was stopped by a movement Of
her listener. He had thrown up both
his arms and raised himself from
the pillow, but in the same moment
fell heavily back. His face was deep
ly flushed, his mouth quivered; upon
the outside OF the bedclothes his
hands clutched and struggled. The
nurse believed that the end was COM
ing; she had been prepared for some
such paroxysm as this. But the
eyes that were fixed upon her kept
the light of life; new and wonder
full vitality appeared on the haggard
features. One or two efforts to speak
were unavailing; at length his voice
became ineligible.
How? Where?"
Thrown from his horse"
Dead? Not only in1ured?"
KILLED"
He breathed quickly and irregularly.
Again his hands were thrown up, but
more feebly. He turned his head this
way and that, as II endeavoring to
raise it. When the nurse exerted her
self to tranquillize him, he kept his
look steadily upon her, and the ex-
preston in his eyes grew to one of
passionate entreaty
What chance have II" he asked in
whisper-"any? Is there one In ten
thousand?"
"You mustn't excite yourself"
Il know. I'm getting quiet. Is
there shadow of hope?"
The nurse answered only by spong-
ing his forehead and hands. He took
the silence as it was meant let his
eyelids fall, and seemed to relapse into
the comatose condition in which he
had spent half the day.
After a long look at him the nurse
turned with a suppressed sigh. She
was a woman of kind and cOmely face.
still young; the best type of nurse
professional aptitude and gentle man
ners combining in her to make an
ideal attendant upon the sick. Present
ly she glanced again at the newspaper,
wishing to re-read the paragraph
which had SO strong an interest for
her patient. The rustic caused the dy.
ing man to open his eyes again, and
again he gazed hard at the woman,s
face, now visible by lamplight.
COluc anu SlI Wy mc.
At once she did SO.
1T always has to be a woman" pur-
sued the unsteady voice. II could al |
ways tell a woman anything-men |
nothing. You know the world; you
see a great deal. of course; one can
talk to woman like you.
"She is nearly 40-ten years young
er than I, and ten years since we met,
and seven since she lived alone"
Who are you speaking off," asked |
the listener, gently.
"Of his wife-that fellows that is |
dead. Is he really dead? Then she
will come back at once. I suppose
they have cabled to her. She went
to India three years ago. I am glad |
she won't see me. / have one more |
day, perhaps. It will be an old story
by when she gets home. I want you