The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1915-04-28
LOVE WAS NOT BLIND
BY GEORGE MuNsoN.
Copyright. 1915. by W. 9. cbapman', ~,

me SICK man stirred uneasily upOI
the bed, and Julia Crothers ran ou
to where her younger sister. puIcie
waited upon the landing.
1T is terrible. ] cannot stay there,
she whispered.
Dulcie, who had been trembling
suddenly managed to pull herself to
gether and entered the room with q
firm tread. She went up to the bed
side.
rs that you. Julia?" murmured the
sick man again.
"Yes." answered Dulcie bravely.
Two days before, Jim Ridgely, her
sisters fiance. had been struck by
lightning. His recovery, at first de.
SPARED of, now seemed assured. but
he was blind. and the doctors held out
no hope of his regaining his sight.
THE optic nerve is paralyzed," they
said There ia the barest chance.
but the cure must be spontaneous
one, and 1t must happen within the
next two or three days. Unless by a
miracle that should happen. he will
be blind the rest of his life"
Julia Crothers was the belle of the
town, and Ridgely rising young law
yer. Though Julia and Dulcie were
alike in speech and manner, and were
often mistaken for each other, when
side by side 1t was plain that Dulcie
was only poor image OF Julia. She
was generally considered plain; the
difference, however, existed principal
ly in Julia's dashing ways and Dulcie's
unattractive and simple ones.
Poor Dulcie. whose tender heaSt
went out to Ridgely. knew that her
heartless sister would never dream of
marrying blind man. She could
trace the unconscious processes in
Julia's heart even now. And 1t
seemed to her that she must do her
best to shield Ridgely until he recov-
cred. Possibly his sight would come
back to him. and then he need never
know that 1t was she, and not Julia,
who had sat at his bedside all those
ong hours when he lay racked with
pain and fever.
"He is sleeping she told her sister,
when at last she went out to her.
What shall do, Dulcie?" moaned
Julia 81 cannot bear to look upon suf-
fering. What shall ! do?"
Then Dulcie told her her plan. And
1t worked surprisingly. A week
elapsed, and at the end of that time,
although the doctors announced that
there was now no hope Of Ridgelys
ever recovering his sight, he was able
to sit up. And he had not guessed
that It was Dulcie who had sat by his
bedside and read to him in her gentle
voice He had thought II was Julia.
And in the midst of the pain Dulcie
felt to think of Ridgely's coming disil-
there was fierce exul-
Iation in her heart.
For Dulcie loved Ridgely. She had
loved him from the beginning, and
now more than ever before her heart
went out to this blind man, doomed to
be dependent throughout his life upon
he help OF others
Ridgely had been brought into the
~rothers home simply because he had
no one to care for him. Old Mrs.
srothers, a gentle old lady. alternately
dominated and petted by Julia, had
to the plan with alacrity.
But when she understood Julia's inten-
ions she shook her head mournfully.
.He thinks I am Julia, mother"
)ulcie whispered TO her Il don't
mow how to tell him"
The old lady fiered up for the first
ime in many years. IF you ask me-"
he said, tossing her head. II think
hat Jim is we'll rid OF her"
"Will you tell him. mother?' asked
)ulcie, eagerly.
mo, my dear. That is for you,"
aid the old lady.
And then, resolved to end a situation
which had become unbearable, Dulcie
an up the stairs and into Jim's room.
Ie was lying on the sofa, looking out
i the window with his sightless eyes.
"Do you know, dear, that | have
'either asked nor received kiss dur
ng the whole of my illness?" asked
i'm patiently.
Dulcie blushed painfully.
Jim, there is something that
must tell YOU" she stammered, seat
ng herself at his side.
rs 1t something terrible?" he asked
ayly. Tell me, Julia, and let me see
shether find it as bad as you think
Is"
"Oh, you don't understand the girl
urst out And yet ] don't know how
ou can have been SO bli--so unable
0 understand. am not Julia am
)ulcie. and Julia--Julia oh, Jim, how
an ! manage to tell you that she does
OF care for you any more and has
OF been near you since the second
ay of your Illness? Oh. Jim, she
oesn't care for you and never did
are. and II is hard to have to tell
ou, and-and--"
And Dulcie broke into a storm OF
assionate tears.
sJim's hand fell lightly upon her own.
knew 1t was you, Dulcie," he said
oftly.
Dulcie raised her tear-stained face