The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1915-02-12
mark and HIS Wife
BY GEORGE A. ENGLAND.
lCopynghtl

Look here, Malcolm, you've got TO
,en me! She's my wife, and
Hush! Not so loud!'
She can hear, then?'
yes, she's conscious-how much
longer she will be l can't say"
Sinking, Malcolm?"
Nov, now, no questions! You'd
better go out in the hall"
Never" Marks Redeemed eyes
glinted defiance. mo, no, I'm not 60
ing to leave her while she's gasping
like that" His voice shrilled hys-
terically.
But you're only harming her by
s~taying!"
mo, no, she's my
Malcolm slid a broad palm e the
protesting mouth; his other hand
gripped Marks elbow.
out you co." he commanded try
ing to thrust Mark into the hall, but
Mark chung and the doctor could not
shake him off. He had perforce to drag
him out. When they we're both in the
hall and the door was shut:
Hang you!" said the doctor in a
voice tense as steel, you get out and
stay out! Don't be a crazy fool!
"Mally, Mally! She's my wife and
you're my ~friend-my best, Oldest
AN the more reason why I'm going
to keep you out of there till she-ral-
lies! Till then, I'm not your friend
I'm the doctor, nothing else, nothing.
Remember
The hand-grip was gone from Marks
angular elbow; the hall door was shut,
the man was alone. He leaned against
he wall for a minute, shivering as he
heard the windows rattle with the Jan
uary gale; then he shufled to the
stairs and sat down.
His air was that Of a man who has
been painstakingly mangled on the
rack and then given five minutes re.
spite. The gas fame over his head cast
a high light on his salient cheek
bones. After a while he nodded and
dozed, with pendent arms.
Malcolm's hand on his shoulder wax
ened him in half an hour; he started
up w~ild-eyed and shivering.
"What-what time is it?" he STAN
mered in confusion. rs Dorry-is
She
Come, now, pull yourself together
said the doctor, sternly. I've got
some work for you. Get your things
on quick! You've got to go down tc
the dispensary."
What. And leave"
yes. l can't go, Miss Abbott hert
can't go, and somebody's got to go, 81
you see how it is. We've got to have
tank of oxygen, right off"
"What?"
Oxygen. It comes in big steel Cyl
inders like soda water tanks, painte
blue, with a valve at the top-you'y
seen EN-. The quicker you can ge
one up here, the better it will be-"
"What-what are they for, thos
tanks?"
We'll, when there isn't anything
else to do, we give oxygen to aerat
the blood and stimulate the heart
sometimes it keeps the patient u.
until the congestion begins to resolv
and then"
Her lungs, you mean, are" h
began; but Malcolm interrupted.
Nov, you see here, Mark, if yo
want your wife to die, stand RICH
there where you are and discus
things. II you want her to live, hustl
into your overcoat and get a whee
barrow and bring up a cylinder
oxygen from the dispensary Just a
q quick as the Lord will let you! III
n derstand?"
yes, yes-but cant you telephone
Can't l? We can save no end Of tim
that way"
n Tried it, and can't. Central say
the wires are going down all ov,
Hampton. This storms a recor
breaker. No, you've got to go for
yourself. Hustle out with a wheC
barrow and follow the a tracks. tt
snow plows have probably kept e
& clear, There's a fellow named Til
If othy Foley for night orderly dow
there this week. He knows me. Ju
say l sent you, and he'll let you ha,
it all right. Now get alongl If you,
not back in half an hour"
=. IAN right! All right" said Mar
la and tiptoed shakily downstairs.
to .
OF Tim Foley, reading an old magazl
~ in the %dispensary office, under the y
ID low circle Of a hooded electric ligl
mn became vaguely conscious Of a curio
ed sound as Of some one struggling a
of foundering up the steps with a b
e. den; then, after a minute or two,
'ei heard a fumbling at the door.
Tim dropped the magazine and
tened then he got up, vent silently
the door and opened It.
Through the snow eddy that swirl
In he saw something that looked Il
a man standing outside-a snow-mI
thin and tall, with teeth that chatter
like c~astanets.
This man had neither hat
N gloves; he was gripping the hand
of a wheelbarrow. He stamme,