Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-12-26

her brother and niece Indeed, / guess
| that was what took her out) that Miss
| Nourma overheard conversation
which let her know what to expect.
Someone was giving dance in honor
of her eighteenth birthday; and while
| she was sitting on balcony, waiting
| for her partner to come back (the
young man she'd fallen in love with,
| 1t was), couple inside a window be-
| gan to talk. At first they didn't men
| ton her name, but said what pity
| 1t was, beautiful girl like that, GER
tain to fall into decline and go off
before the age of 21-only three more
! years to live at most. Then came the
name, and sheiknew. But think of her
pluck, sir! She just got quietly up and
moved off to another place at a little
! distance, so that when her partner
came the people on the other side of
| the curtain needn't discover what an
awful thing they'd done. But instead
of saying yes when the young officer
proposed, as he did that very night,
| she said No. pretending not to care
bit, and telling him he must find
some other girl better suited to him
than she was.
mot word did she tell her father
when she got home, either, but went
on living as if nothing had happened,
as long as she could. Only her body
wasn't as strong as her soul. She broke
down, and finally grew delirious, so
| that her father heard the truth in a
broken kind of way, which made him
question the girl when she was getting
i well. My guess Is that something he
must have written about 1t, and the
tragedy of it, to his sister, brought
Miss Dalrymple flying out to India,
u She'd never seen Nourma before, and
now she blames herself for not going
sooner; she just adores her niece. She
isn't too rich herself, but she sold
stocks or something, and got hold of
enough cash to take Nourma a long
sea trip, which doctor there said
might possibly give a new tone to the
girls constitution, late as it was to try
experiments. But the day 1 met the
ladies, Miss Nourma was no stronger
than the day she left home. And to-
, day she's no better than the day we
started motoring. l don't think she
cares much, except for her father S
sake. You see how serene and-and
} radiant she is always, as If she'd sailed
right up to the zenith to live with the
, moon and stars. Only this afternoon it
was a little different with her, maybe;
for the trip will be over tomorrow,
and she and her aunt have been hav-
ing talk about-her being worse, and
going back to India. Miss Dalrymple
told me- And she told me something
else, which she hadn't mentioned be-
fore, because, as she said, there seemed
no use speaking of it.
ITS that want to ask your advice
about, Mr.. Race. 1t seems that when
they got to London. Miss Dalrymple
!, took Nourma 10 see great specialist
a doctor in New York had recommend
; ed her to consult, as she was always
!, catching at some hope or other. His
opinion was that there might be a
, good chance of saving Miss Nourma,
making her strong and well as any
girl Only neither Of them saw how
the thing he suggested could be done;
! and she didn't even tell her niece
what he'd said"
|; What was the thing?" Christopher
asked. intensely interested.
J "Oh, / guess you've heard of it
} mostly in story books, where beauti-
full girls do 1t to save their lovers
, lives. But the question is, could chap
like me, so much beneath her in every
way, and almost stranger as far as
time of acquaintance goes, have any
] right to propose it? Would it be a
monstrous liberty that lady would
resent like kind of insult? i don't
see how | could bear it If she did,"
! "You forget you haven't told me yet
what the thing is" Christopher re-
minded him.
"Oh, so ! didn't was just thinking
out loud. Why, that doctor said. if a
perfectly healthy person, who never
drank alcohol or took any other poi
son into the system, would give his
or her blood to Miss Nourma, il could
make her all over again like new. She
might marry, and be happy, and live