The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1909-08-03
LOVE AND THE
PAY PATIENT.
BY |. E. EsERLE.


called him DR.. Bob She was careful
to let none but her own ears hear the
words When she spoke to him or of
him she was most punctilious and re-
spectful
Miss Eleanor Blake was DR.. Bob's
office nurse. Their attitudes toward
one another were impeccably profess
sional, but by a strange coincidence DR..
Bob also dropped the formal Miss
Blake" when conversing to his own
inner consciousness concerning her.
She became "NeIlie' on these occa-
sions, which were numerous.
Miss Nurse Blake was well born.
She had perceptions 1t went to her
wholesome heart to see with what
smiling poise Dr. Bob waited-and
waited. He did not adopt bravado.
He never grew embarrassed or apo
logetic, nor did he finch In meeting
her eyes day after day In the empty
rooms
So she loved him, quite hopelessly,
fessional manner never broke through
once
Then came the first call! Eleanor
answered the telephone and kept all
the elation that was humping up aud
down in her heart out Of her quiet,
businesslike voice as she reported to
DIR. Bob She was only sorry that the
patient had not come to the Office so
that she might have the glory of ush-
ering him in.
DIR. Edwards hurried to the address
she gave him. He said, 81 don't think
shall be long, Miss Blake" and she
said, Every well, Dr. Edwards"
The address did not indicate very
good part of the city. he could not
expect a rich call from that quarter.
But 1t was a beginning-a beginning.
1t took DR.. Bob some time to reach
the address given him, for it led him
by devious ways to an old Office build
ing, up many flights Of rickety stairs
and to a dark room at the end of
hall. There was no response when he
knocked, but a frowsy boy from the
next Office appeared.
"You Doct' Edwards?' he asked.
DIR. Bob admitted that he was.
"He told me t. give you this here"
said the boy and handed him folded
paper, then disappeared. DR.. Edwards
opened the paper. The words Fooled
again" and slangy sentence or two
greeted his eyes. He went downstairs,
wondering which Of the fellows at the
clinic had devised the subtle joke.
DR.. Bob returned quietly to his Of
fee. Eleanor as she saw him return SO
soon, with his face more quietly COM
posed than ever, conjectured that he
had found his patient beyond human
help She was sorry on his account.
She tried to work off her vague feel
ing of sympathy, for she did not know
what, by going into the operating room
and cleaning again the often cleaned
but never used instruments. She stay
ed at her work till after hours, till
suddenly the consciousness that she
was alone and lonely came over her.
She finished her task quickly, then
quietly opened the door into DR.. Bob's
office.
DIR. Bob was sitting at his desk, his
arms across 1t and his head on his
arms. There was a stiffness about him,
a look Of having been motionless for
ever, that brought Eleanor to his side
with one terrified dart She seized his
hands, and he looked up at her. His
stiffness was pain, not-what she had
feared.
That foolish joke had brought down
crushingly on his head all the burden
of all that waiting and hoping, and the
sight of it took away every conscious
thought in Eleanor save that the man
she loved was suffering.
She took his hands in hers, whisper
ing in mechanical way: Let me
help. Let me help. Let me help" But
she was scarcely aware of it.
DR.. Bob looked at her with light In
his eyes. He laid his hands on her
shoulders and gazed down at her with
a face wise md loving.
when the first patient comes" he
said.
Eleanor decided against the new
summer suit She was saving very
strenuously, for she had a purpose In
view
One day she counted her money
Then she put on her hat and went to
call on a cousin. The cousin had mar
ried poor, had swarm of children and
was chronically ILL., When Eleanor
came away the cousin said she'd go to
the doctor tomorrow and swore be-
tween kisses, hugs and fearful maun-
behring's that she'd never, never tell
who had sent her.
The patient-the first patient-Was
to arrive the next day! The weather
was the hot, soggy kind that enervates
spring feverish world in May. The
saving that Eleanor had done had
meant much overwork and late hours
She was physically at her limpest and
nervously at her most uneven. She
was haggard with anxiety and was
made a coward by each footstep
sounding near the door.
The hour came for Rhoda-but no
Rhoda came with the hour. Eleanor
watched eagerly from the window.
And then she saw Rhoda at last
Rhoda was stealing swiftly along
the opposite side Of the street, in her
hand box containing the chiefest
treasure from the window of big
milliner's store, the purse that had
contained cleaners savings clutched
as tightly in her hand as II it still had
in it the money that had been tempted
from her.
Eleanor obeyed a blind Impulse.
With one reckless rush she left the Of
fee door and plunged into the stream
Of passing vehicles and across the
street
A moment later she was lying white
on the pavement. blood trickling from
her shoulder, and crowd gathering
about her and the panic stricken
chauffeur whose machine had run her
down. Then DR.. Bob was bending
over her and raising her tenderly, low
ingly, in loving, strong arms.
When she came to again she was ~
ing on a couch In an operating room
that was very familiar to her, with
implements about her that she had
cleaned herself day after day for the
patients that never came.
she lay still and white till DIR. Ed
wards began to wonder at her slow re-
covery. He did not know what Won
drous dreams had suddenly turned to
ice that weighted and froze and broke
her. But he did know that the pulse
was gaining no strength, the cheeks
were bloodless and the eyes listless
and dull, and he did know that be
would like to fling aside his remedies
and try how kisses would redden the
pale lips.
n,hor Extraordinarily there WAS q wave