Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-04-08

I They want you to be very quiet"
"Oh, they don't want me to breathe!
Why don't they dose me up and get
me out of here. All they do is jab
thermometer down my throat
But Bob, you're sick-very, very
sick"
We'll scribbling my temperature on
that chart up there isn't going to
| make me any better. And that night
But the exertion of talking was
| too much, and now he lay with closed
eyes and labored breathing. Helen
smoothed the already smooth covers
and watched him anXiously. How
saunt and changed he was, and his
hand was burning hot.
She knew that he had been partly
unconscious during the night. Doctor
Elliott had told Warren that this
morning. And now, as she waited,
she could see he was doing off. He
still held her hand, and she did not
withdraw 1t for fear of arousing him,
In the oppressive silence of the
room, Helen could hear the faint
ticking of his watch as it lay on the
table beside the bed Even the noises
| from the Street seemed curiously sub
dued and far away.
At length Bob stirred and glanced
| up at her. She leaned forward now,
determined to ask the question that
had been beating in her mind ever
since she knew he was seriously i'll.
Bob, do you want Louise to know
you are ill? Shall 1 write herr"
For a moment he did not answer.
What difference will it make to
herr" bitterly.
That's an evasion. want to
write, but not without your consent
Just say that I may-that you'll not
be angry"
Helen's heart beat fast. as she
| waited for his answer. There was a
long silence. She could not see his
face. He had turned it from her.
Then the door opened and the nurse
entered At glance she saw Bob's
labored breathing, and turned to
Helen with a whispered,
I'm afraid you'd better not stay
any longer"
! Helen rose reluctantly. She lin
gered by the bed a moment, hoping
Bob would speak to her. But as he
did not. she tip-toed out and waited
in the corridor.
The Women's Ward
What are you giving him for
nourishment?" she asked when the
nurse came out, a decided frown TN
| der her stiff cap.
principally albumen water. He
cannot take milk"
| "Albumen water?" questioned Helen
"The white of an egg and little
\ lemon The nurse hesitated, and
! then added coldly, Doctor Elliott
will be here at and I hope he'll
leave an order for fewer visitors
while his temperature is so high. You
can see yourself how they excite him.
Knowing Bob, Helen wondered ii
| the fact of visitors being excluded
would not excite him more. She had
always dread of hospitals, and now
she wished that he could have less
scientific and more human treatment
This nurse was undoubtedly capable
but she was cold and austere.
AS Helen was leaving, in the con-
fusion of corridor she took the wrong
turn and found herself before the en-
! trance Of free ward.
1t was a woman's ward, long room
with rows OF narrow white beds AL.
most every bed was taken. and Helen's
heart ached as she saw the faces or
the pillow, patient faces, querulous
faces, but all of them pale, haggard
and lined with suffering.
The nurse directed her back to the
private ward elevator, which took hei
down to the main hall. Outside the
sunlight seemed strange after the
gloomy depressing atmosphere of the
| hospital
For the rest of the day, Helen wa.
In the throes of indecision. From