The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-08-10
Something
On This
from Yesterday

The cary part OF the night had
been cloudy. but when | got t. t!.e
roof IL was clear starlight. The wand
blew through the electric wires strung
across and set them singing. The oc-
CasioBai hleat of a belated autona-
bile on the drive below came up 10
me ra8cously. The tent glea mel. a
starlit ghost of itself, and the box
woods bent in the breeze. | went ove-
IN the parapet and leaned nv tl-
bows on it, | had done the same
thing 80 often hssore; had carrie J
all my times Of stress SO infallihly
to that particular place. that ins'inc-
lively my feet turned there.
And there in the starlight. | went
over the whole serio-comedy. and /
loathed my part in It. He had been
perfectly right tn be angry with me
and with ala Of us. And ! had been
a hypoerite and a oharisee, and had
thanked God that ! was not as Other
paapie, when the fact was tltat ! A. RS
worse than the worst. And although
1t wasn't dignifled 20 think of him go
ing down the drain pipe. still--nn one
could blame him for wanting 10 get
away from us, and he was quite mus
cular enough to do Il.
] was in the depths OF self abasN-
nlent when | heard sound behn.l
aii6- as "a tVtak bifaiiit db'tC tfb]-
BILE, that ended in a groan. ! gripped
the parapet and listened willis nv
heart pounded. and in minute il
came again.
/ was terribly frightened. Then
don't know how l did il. huv ! wus
across the roof .kneeling beside Ia
tent, where Il stood against the chin
neg. And there. lying pr ne among
the flower pots, and aimos. entirely
hidden. lay the man we had been
looking for.
His head wa toward me- and |
reached out shakingly and touched
his face. 1t was cold, and my hand.
when l drew ii back. was covered with
blood.
CHAPTER XXff
IL Was Delrium.
was sure he was dead. He did
not move. and when / caught his
hands and called him frantically. he
did not hear me. And SO, with the
horror over me. half fell down the
stairs and reused Jim In the studio.
They all came with lights and
blankets. and they carried him into
the tent and put him on the couch
and tried to put whiskey in his mouth. |
But he could not swallow. And the
silence became more and more
emineas Until finally Anne got hys-
terical and cried. "He Is dead dead"
and collapsed on the roof.
But he was not just as the lights |
in the tent began to have red rings
from away across the river. some body
said. There. he swallowed that and
soon after. he opened his eyes. He
muttered something that sounded like
Andean pinnacle" and lapsed into
Inconsistencies again. But he was
not dead He was not dead!
When the doctor came they made /
stretcher out of one OF Jim's six
foot canvases--it had a picture on /
1t. and Jim was angry enough the |
next day--and took him down to the
studio. We made 1t as much like a
sick-room as We could. ana we tried |
to make him comfortable But he /
lay without opening his eyes, and at /
dawn the doctor brought a consultant I
and a trained nurse.
The nurse was an extensively capa-
bic person She put ns all out. and /
scolded Anne for lighting Japanese
incense in the room--although Anne
explained that IL Is very reviving. And
she said that IT was unnecessary to
have dozen people breathing up all
the oxygen and asphyxiating the
patient. She was good looking too
disiiked her at once. Any one could
rec ny AkA way SIG TOOK MS pulse
just letting his poor hand hang. with
out any support--that she was pure
iy mechanical creature. without heart |
Well as ! said before she put us
all out, and shut the door, and asked
us not to whisper outside. Then. too
she refused to allow any flowers in
the room. although Betty had got a
horist ont Of bed TO order some
The consultant came, stayed an
hour. and left Aunt Selma who
proved herself trump In that trying
time, waylaid him In the hall, and he
said 1t might be a fractured skull,
although il was possibly only CON
cussion,
The men spent most OF the morn
Ing together in the den, with the door
shut. Now and then one of. them
would tiptoe upstairs ask the nurse ,
how her patient was doing. and creak
down again. Just before noon they !
all went to the roof and examined
again the place where he had been
found ! know, for | was In the upper
hall. outside the studio. / stayed {
there almost all day. and after a
while the nurse let me bring her
things as she needed them. don't