Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-03
CHAPTER XII.
Polly Speaks Again.

| CHAPTER XII.
| Polly Speaks Again.
On small, white bed, in a cool, still
hospital room, I lay wrestling with
death My fidelity to Nan had cost me
dear, indeed l was bruised and brok-
EN-; was racked in every limb with
unspeakable pangs. My bandaged
head, from which some hand had cut
away the matted black hair, throbbed
with delirious visions. A window at
the head of the bed sent a shaft of
| light quivering across the spotless
counterpane that covered my helpless
body, and up that luminous way l was
always striving to climb. Somewhere
at the end of it fancied that Nan
waited. l must find her-even in the
midst of physical torments and mental
alteration, l could not forget my long
and luckless guest. l wore myself out
with mad efforts to mount the track of
the sunshine and go seeking lost Nan
far off through the shining window.
In those terrible days, neither DR..
Steele, of the medical staff of the hos
pital, nor his nephew, Dick Vandine,
student attached to the same es-
tablishment, believed that 1 had a
chance of recovery.
But these street Arabs and their
kind are hard to kill" heard the doc
tor say, in one of my brief moments
of semi-consciousness; "the tenacity
which they exhibit in holding on to
their worthless lives is often wonder
full"
He was a hum drum man, with a
detected air; his nephew, on the con-
trary, overfowed with the widest of
spirits.
Poor little beggar!" answered the
latter; Il shall not soon forget the
sickening sensation which l expert
enced as l saw the horses trampling
her."
You will soon get used to all these
things, lad"
My feeble hands made a vague
movement along the coverlid.
hoarsely. Nan is in Tiny little sis
ter Nan. I've been hunting for her
these three years, and I'll die if can't
speak to her once-just once!"
That's the way she goes on, day in
and day out" said Vandine. Some
how, I'm awfully sorry for the little
wretch! She cannot be more than
nine or ten years old, though she looks
as ancient and wizened as a mummy"
Pooh! You've no business to be
sorry for anybody" answered DR..
Steele; "a physician who begins to
waste sympathy on his patients is
lost"
Dick Vandine grinned. Being a pc
culiarly light hearted, devil-may care
fellow, he was not likely to suffer from
surplus of sympathy; but the case of
the street beggar, the recipient Of his
charity, who had been run over
crushed-almost annihilated before his
very eyes, interested him.
There was also kindly-faced nurse
who came often to my bed to minister
to my wants-an angel Of mercy she
seemed to me; and DR.. Steele and his
nephew held frequent conversations
regarding my condition
| was delirious r II of the time, and
l talked a great deal about Nan and
Harmony Alley-I was back in the at
tic, smarting under the blows of Gran
ny Scrags stick-I was fighting with
Pietro on the stair-I was shivering in
the rain and sleet of twilight streets.
There was no chapter in my brief life
which 1 did not live over anew in that
hospital bed-which l did not rave
over to my attendants. Dick Vandine
and DR.. Steele, and the kindly hearted
nurse soon knew my whole story.
1t was a long, hard struggle-so long
and so hard that a cynic might have
asked why a life that was worth moth
ing, even to it's possessor, should be so
unnecessarily prolonged. | was ten
acious-I clung to existence like bar
nacle to a ships keel. Despite my
| frightful injuries, and in defiance of
all rules and precedents, l, the wretch
ed slave of Granny Scrag, cheated
death and lived.
One day l opened my hollow eyes,
with a conscious gaze, on the face OF
Vandine, who chanced to be bending
over me, helping the nurse to adjust
a bandage.
by Jove! she's come to herself"
cried the young fellow, joyfully. Hal
loo, Polly! How do you feel, my
dear?"
| l stared up into his plain, florid
countenance with preternatural SOL
emnity.
where's Nan?" l answered.
! Really l can't say" replied Mr..
Vandine, airily; but without doubt
she will turn up soon."
II saw her in the carriage"
Did you, though? 1t was a rather
unlucky sight for YOU"
Another memory forced itself upon
me.
Say, where's the quarter you gave
| me Just before WAS hHoShSu uiiNN'
the wheels"
He burst into a ringing laugh.
That's right, Polly!-keep a strict
account of your small change. the
quarter is safe. l found it cilnched
fast in your poor little fist when you
arrived here at the hospital Behold
vour TREASURED"
He thrust a hand into his pocket
brought to view the piece of money IN
question, and tucked it under my phi
low.
DO not speak another word ne
said, but take this dose like good
girl It's plain that you are bound 10
pull through, after all"
| swallowed the medicine which ne
held to my lips, and fell into an easy
slumber. That was the beginning oil
my convalescence.
| I'm the davs that followed | saw a