The Parker post., 1914-03-14

Rcy uOluS 3 SlTGuSLu WAS IAllluS. IL
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 mad 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 everything. He wondered at his
words.
IL your patient lives" said the
chief surgeon, you will become the
most famous surgeon IL 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. But in the
morning, going to the hospital TO wind
up his affairs, he was amazed to learn
that Reynolds was recovering
Unconsciously, unintentionally, the
house surgeon had stumbled upon
revolutionary principle in medicine. If
he had attempted to suture the rup-
tured artery Reynolds would almost
certainly have died. By a piece of
clever Iegerdemain 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.
81 think you are the noblest man l
have ever met" she continued. "It
was wonderful" She stretched out
her hands impulsively. 90, ] under
stand" she said Il know, I -ealize
your feelings when he lay there ba
fore you, practically dead It was
temptation to which the best man
might have yielded. But not you,"
she said proudly. 'I would never
doubt you"
Stephen Reynolds got we'll 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 Il common
place surgery He was called abroad
to hold high, honorable offices. And
he carried his secret shame with him
everywhere.
The irony OF 1t 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 Il workman whom he had dis
charged. Six months afterward the
house surgeon met Lillian. They were
married a week later Their mar,
riage was as fortunate as they had al
ways known it would be. But there
was a shadow between them-the
shadow Of the remorse in the mans
heart.
"I'm glad you told me this, Barth,"
saiti O'Leary, raising his white head
and looking at the speaker with his
direct, disconcerting glance.
(As the story progressed all had
known that Barth was laying bare his
own past,)
MY God, man, have you carried
that delusion in your mind for fifteen
years?" O'Leary continued 81 saw
the operation from beginning to end
and I can tell you that your idea is
! absolutely a delusion from first to last.
Here is what happened:
when I entered you were just
about to consider the vital part Of the
operation. The artery was ruptured,
as you say. Your internal struggle
was evident, although I wrongly at
tributed it 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 sutured that artery with g. fine
needle. Then, and not till then, you
connected 1t with the vein. I was
Mortified, amazed, and, when I under.
stood, overcome with admiration at
the bold conception.
but the mental struggle had been
too severe for you. In that half min.
ute some nervous center in your brain
| must have been thrown out of gear
YOU imagined that you had done what
Jou lad been tempted to do. I assure
you, the whole idea is that of man
undor {. delusion."
Barth got up slowly and looked at
O'Leary with a dazed expression
which suddenly gave way to Joy.
never saw a man so transformed. He
looked ten years younger.
THANK you, O'Leary," he said quiet
ly. Excuse me, gentlemen. must
go home. i"
We knew that he had gone to open
his heart to his wife.