Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-07
Amorcordis
By NATHAN BAKER


see Miss Edna Verne She handed
him a bit Of paper on which was writ
ten a single word. ''Amorcordis," and
said: ".~ -. r.. ...=s
DR. Robinson gave me that paper.
He says that 1t bears the name Of a
disease from which am suffering and
that Ii has proved fatal In a large
number OF cases. He says be is too
busy to give me the attention l require.
! must be under the care Of some
physician who will keep me under
close observation"
Miss Verne was an attractive young
lady. She was the picture Of health.
and DR.. Philbrick was puzzled both
as to her not showing any symptoms
Of disease and as to the disease itself.
Of which he had never heard. He was
a recent graduate in his profession and
knew that there was great deal be
had yet to learn. but be did not care
to reveal his ignorance to Miss Verne.
He felt Of her wrist. and a current.
electrical or otherwise, entered the tips
of his fingers and ran up through his
arm. Miss Verne lowered her eyes.
He asked her II she had headaches. and
she replied in the negative. He inqulr.
ed as to warm flushes-he had noticed
one in her cheeks when he felt her
pulse-and she was not sure but that
she did feel something Of the kind &C.
casionally. He placed his ear against
her heart. listened to its beating and
thought 1t a triie faster than normal.
The doctor carried bread tablets In
his medicine case and before going
away left q few Of them with the pa
tent to be taken three times a day at
mealtimes. AS soon as he had gone
Miss Verne dumped the tablets into a
wastebasket, then threw herself on a
couch with a novel and-thought Of
DR.. Philbrick. ~. 49,. r. =.
Now DIR. Philbrick. had he been long
er In the profession, would have taken
some short cut to discover the nature
of amorcordis. As 1t was. fearful of
betraying that be didn't know as much
as physicians Of thirty or forty years
standing. be went through medical
library for the purpose without finding
meption of such an ailment.' he tried
hard to screw up his courage to go to
DIR. Robinson. confess his ignorance
and ask him where he could end n
treatise on 1t. This he shrank from
doing. Had Miss Verne been closely
related to him he might have succeed
ed. .impelIed by a fear that she would
die of the disease While he was trying
TO find out what 1t was. but she. being
d young lady who expected him to
know about all bodily troubles, II
would never do toprun any risk Of her
finding out his ignorance. p,
So the only chance Miss Verne had
for a cure was the doctors bread tab
lets, and his constant visits. He called
regularly. intending with each call to
devote the time spent in her company
to finding out what allied her by what
she would tell him Of her symptoms.
But the young lady was prone to chat
upon other subjects. and when the doc
tor attempted a thorough questioning
upon what he needed to know she In
variabIy found some method Of evad-
lag him, ...-....
Had it not been for that bit Of paper
on which the great DR.. Robinson.
whose patients lay exclusively among
millionaires. he would have been in
clined to suspect that amorcordis was
n sham disease. As 1t was, he believed
implicitly that it was genuine. and aft
er Il number of visits to his patient, re-
Iuembering that the doctor had told
her that It was sometimes fatal. he
feared it might be so in this case.
All this SO absorbed the doctor that
he failed to pay that attention to
friends and associates required Tor
building up a practice. His mind was
continually upon one patient to the ex'
clusion of others and on one disease.
Smallpox. measles. typhoid fever-in.
deed. all the diseases he had studied
in the medical college-were as nothing
compared to amorcordis. He thought
of it all day and all night and Fever
thought of 1t without associating with
it Edna Verne. H.. ..:
One day Miss Verne fell really Ill.
She sent for the doctor and told him
that while her present trouble was not
her chronic disease 1t was intimately
connected with that trouble. The doc
tor turned pale. He spoke to her IN a
comforting tone that be did not feel
himself. The thought that she reght
die suddenly doomed up before him as
a terror. Telling her that he would
himself bring from the druggists the