Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-01-20

pecuniary harvest Then the crash
came, and they had Slnk with amaz-
ing swiftness. Only three days before
| had telephoned my broker to sell
out and send the wretched remnant
to my wife, that she might have
least. And if l had not sent it l
should have made fortune.
The broker was an old acquaint-
ance; he had been the cause of my
ruin; perhaps he would give me work
any work, at ten dollars a week,
something that would at least provide
us with the bare necessities of life.
Resolved to plead my cause desperate
ly / hurried to his Office, where
found him just taking off his coat.
When he saw me he FASTENED forward
with hands Outstretched.
Congratulations, my dear fellow"
he cried heartily. You have made
thirty-seven thousand odd on this deal.
| have been expecting your instruc-
lions to sell. The boom won't last
perhaps not over tonight. Shall l sell
for you at once? Be satisfied with
what you've made!"
He had never received my telephone
message. His clerk must have re-
ceived it and, in some incomprehens-
IDLE lapse of memory, forgotten it.
The next day Seaboard Eagle stocks
fell back to what they had previously
been, but not before | had sold out
for nearly forty thousand dollars.
On the next day l went back to my
Offices in Pitt street and re-engaged
them, paying a years rent in advance.
Though l had been compelled to dis
pose of all my instruments and Ii
brary, by some fortunate chance they
still remained there; the dealer had
sold them to the landlord, who had
contemplated transferring them to his
son, young student. In a few min
utes / had again become their pos
SCISSOR / looked round my apartment,
Patients will not matter to me
now" l unused aloud. Il shall have
leisure to devote myself to medical
investigation"
o knock at the door recalled me to
myself / opened it; there upon the
threshold stood Van Wybergh himself.
He sprang forward and grasped my
hands.
Thank God l have found you, doc
tor" he exclaimed. l have heard of
the reputation you made for yourself
at the hospital; you performed the
identical operation successfully, they
tell me, and / would not trust any
surgeon but you. Come quickly"
Within two years | had gained
reputation second to no surgeon in
the east l attended the president;
my fame spread to Europe, and l re-
ceived the largest fee upon record
for curing the infant Prince of Portu-
gal of some childish complaint, being
escorted to Lisbon upon the royal
yacht with naval honors. My home life
was ideally happy. Two children were
born to us. With money, fame, and,
best of all, work, nothing was lacking
to make my fortune complete. l had
forgotten the misty dream of that
L
| dismissed it as the phantasy of a
starving man. And yet, somehow,
somewhere, l felt the existence of
some troublous thing that l put from
my mind, some dark secret which
hardly entered my field of conscious
ness.
For several weeks | had been feel
ing curiously indisposed. They say
that the physician who diagnoses his
own ailments has fool for patient
| went to Sargent of Buffalo. He
sounded me; then he took me by the
coat lapels and l saw the joy of the
doctor over some rare complaint burn
in his eyes for all his solemnity.
my dear DOCTOR" he said, your
working days are over. Has your heart
never troubled you before?"
MY heart." / exclaimed
You have a congenial malposition
of the heart" he answered. did you
not know that it was on the right side
of your body? 1t is one of the rarest
things in pathology, isn't it? l have
seen two cases in thirty years of
practice and neither survived to adol-
escence. Surely you knew"
Yes, l had known. This was the
secret that / put out of thought and
mind.
How long do you give me?" l
asked
-Four weeks" he answered.
The blow had fallen. / was to taste
the lees at last For days | wrestled
with my despair And at last thought
Il