The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-09-21

MisEsHTagSz &xsE
She Asked His oplnion Of the Plans.
. tremor of a muscle, not the slightest
uneasy movement to betray that he
was under any strain.
From the nurse Billiard took the
keen, slender scalpel which she hand
ed him and held 1t poised for a mo-
ment, while with the other hand he
drew the skin taut, Just at the base of
the neck, above q plexus Of arteries
and b~loodvessels throbbing under
meath.
In that moment there required to
his mind a sentence he had once Used
at a clinical demonstration Of his CD.
Grafton.
"The incision must be quick, straight
and true as a rifle bullet" he had said.
The slightest bungling. the least devi.
alton from the line and the result is a
catastrophe"
And suppose-the unbidden cues
ton came-he should bungle or deyi.
ate now? AS in . flash he saw all the
vexing complications in which he was
involved swept away; no boyle of duty
standing longer in his path, but a clear
road to all that his ambition coveted
and to-Sylvia.
Did the dazzle OF the vision momen
tarily obscure his eyesight, or did his
hand tremble? He never knew, him
self. He only knew that-a second la.
ter-he was staring aghast at the re.
suit Of his handiwork, while Doctor
Davie thrust him hurriedly aside in
h fruitless effort to repair his blum.
dering.
The next that he knew he found him.
self aimlessly wandering through a
wood about a mile back of the hos
pital, and he judged he must have
been roaming about q long time, for he
was wet to the knees from blowing
through successive drifts of the deep,
slushy snow, and shivering with the
cold.
Slowly he awoke to the conscious
ness OF what he had done, and in the
depths Of his misery there came to
him by some trick OF association of
ideas a memory of the highly-eQuipped
instrument cabinet In his Office and of
the manner in which it had come to
him.
1t was in the early days of his prac.
tice, and Esther, hearing him bemoan
his lack Of adequate equipment, had
taken b money which she had pains.
takingly boarded for her winter ward
robe and bought the cabinet without
letting him know. going shabby all the
season through, yet with never a word
Of complaint.
That was Esther, he reflected-al
ways self-sacrifcinS, always generous.
always thinking of him instead of her.
self. And how had he requited her de-
votion?
Again remorse. black and bitter, en-
quilted him like . wave.
He started up from where he had
thrown himself down on the wet and
soggy ground and set OF toward town,
h~aif-runnirg like q mailman.
And so at last he burst into his Of
lice, and found Mrs. Sands there still
waiting for him. He had forgotten
that she would probably be there, had
indeed forgotten all about her. But
now. as he saw her sitting there in one
OF his office chairs carelessly pufing a
cigarette, his eyes dilated and he
lurched toward her with something Of
a snarl.
She gave a little shrek and, terrified
at his wild. disheveled appearance,
dashed away to cover from him on
the other side of the table.
Billiard stood staring at her with his
blood-shot heavy eyes.
Col" he croaked hoarsely, Con-.
mandinEly.
Then. as she h~esitated, held by her
panic of fear, he half flung up his arm
as II still more emphatically to repeat
his injunction.
But the arm he raised stopped half
way and fell helpless to his sidc-the
arm upon whose sxill and steadiness
he had prided himself. His face twist.
ed strangely. and the words he tried
to speak became q mere gurKle In his
throat.
With a stagger, he collapsed int 4
chair, stricken by q sudden paralyxls.
his brilliant career over and .n1lus
written upon his record OF achieve.
ment-a hitting ~retributioo. perhaps.
Rut who was really guilty.
nAD or FIRST sTORY.