The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-10-22

ldCle. ne Hdu 0earQ OF inc accident
and had hurried to the scene, too late
to intervene.
Reynoldss strength was failing. II
would have been impossible to com.
plete the operation properly now. The
man had to be taken off the table as
soon as possible. The house surgeon
sewed up the external wound as
swiftly as possible-roughly, almost.
He had Just two minutes in which to
get Reyonlds back to his stretcher.
Finely done, sir" said the chief
surgeon, when the operator had con.
cluded
The house surgeon looked at him.
He knew that the chief surgeon had
seen every thing. He wondered at his
words.
III your patient lives" said the
chief surgeon, you will become the
most famous surgeon in this country.
That process OF cross-connection be.
tween an artery and vein will open
an epoch in surgery"
The house surgeon went home. That
night he wrote out his resignation. He
thought the chief surgeon was indulg.
ing in deliberate irony Put in the
morning, going to the hospital to wind
up his affairs, he was amazed to learn
that Reynolds was recovering.
Inconsciously, unintentionally. the
house surgeon had stumbled upon a
revolutionary principle In medicine. II
he had attempted to suture the rup
tured artery Reynolds would almost
certainly have died. BY q piece of
clever legerdemain he had saved his
life
That day he met Lillian BY the pa.
tents bedside. She rose and followed
him outside the room.
you have saved my husbands life"
she said.
The house surgeon bowed his head.
He had nothing to say.
i think you are the noblest man I
have ever met" she continued. 1T
was wonderful" She stretched out
her hands impulsively. 20. under.
stand" she said. 81 know, l realize
your feelings when he lay there be-
fore you, practically dead. 1t was a
temptation to which the best man
might have yielded. But not you"
she said proudly. Il would never
doubt You"
Stephen Reynolds got well and left
the hospital in due course of time.
And the house surgeon became one
Of the most famous surgeons of the
day His operation was repeated in
every hospital in the land and he was
always summoned to oversee it until
the technic had became a common
place surgery. He was called abroad
to hold high, honorable offices. And
ne carried his secret shame with him
everywhere.
The irony Of it ate into his soul He
might have continued obscure and
married Lillian. His crime had
brought him Dead Sea fruit, whose
core was ashes.
Three years after this event
Stephen Reynolds died under the dag
ger Of a workman whom he had dis
charged Six months afterward the
house surgeon met lillian. They were
, married work l9tcr Their NOR
riage was as fortunate as they had H.
ways known il would be Pnt tn re-
ives a shadow bowen tI.m--thn
shadow CT the remorse in the mans
heart.
Tin glad yol TOLD me this, Rarth,"
said OF cary, raising his white heed
and looking AZ the sncailor with his
direct, disconcr"'ng glance.
CAS- The story progressed NIL he'd
known that Darth was laying bare his
own past0
"Aly God, man, have you carried
that dclusion in your mind for fifteen
years. on cary continued Il saw
the operation frcn beginning to end
and can tell you that your idea Is
absolutely delusion from first to last.
Here is what happened:
when | entered you were just
about to consider the vital part Of tho
operation. The artery was rupturcd,
as you say. Your internal struggle
was evident, although wrongly at.
tributed 1t to the nervousness Of
young surgeon about to perform an
important operation. The mental
struggle was evident in your wet FORE
head and ashen face.
"Barth, you deliberately and care
fully suturad that artery with fine
needle. Then and not till then, you
connected it with the vein. was
Mortified, amazed, and, when I under
stood, overcome with admiration at
the bold conception.
But the mental struggle had been
too severe fer you. In that half min.
ute some nervous center in your brain
must have been thrown out Of gear.
You ima @ined that you had done what
you had been tempted to do. | assure
you, the whole idea Is that Of a man
under delusion."
Barth got up slowly and looked at
OF cary with d >ed expression
which suddenly gave way to Joy. !
never sew a man so transformed. He
looked ten years younger.
"TEank yrI, OIeary" he said quiet
ly. excuse NE, gentlemen. must
go home I"
We knew that he had gone to open
his heart 10 bis wife.