The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-11-10

This Was Alix's Grave, Newly Covere,
With Flowers.
-.~Ae room for MIN Deslue ueI. -.
dog would bound into the tonneau
Alix would hand her husband his
mail, the car would start with a great
plunge toward the mountain-towarC
the cool garden high up on the ridge
.
Cherry looked small and pathetic in
her fresh black, and her face was
marked by secret incessant weeping.
But the nurses and doctors could not
say enough for her s~elf-control she
was always composed, always quietly
helpful and calm when they saw her,
and she was always busy. From early
morning, when she slipped into the
sick-room. to stand looking at the I'M
conscious Martin with a troubled, in
tent expression that the nurses came
to know well, until night, she moved
untiringly about the quiet, shaded
house. She supervised the Chinese
boy. saw that the nurses had their
hour for rest and exercise, t%elephoned.
busted and arranged the rooms. saw
callers sweetly and patiently, filed
vases with flowers.
Every day she had several vigils in
the sick-room, and every day at least
n long talk with the doctors. Every
afternoon and evening had its callers;
she and Peter were rarely alone.
Martin was utterly unconscious of
tho lffa +hof aour1d On oho,+ IS,o.
sometimes he seemed to recognize
Cherry, and would stare with painful
intentness into her face, but after d
few seconds his gaze would wander
to the strange nurses, and the room
that he had never known, n with
a puzzled sigh he would close his eyes
again. and drift back into his own
strange world of pain. fever and IN
consciousness.
Almost every day there was the
sudden summons and panic in the old
house, Peter going toward the sick
room with a thick beating at his heart,
Cherry entering, white-faced and with
terrified eyes. doctors and nurses gath
,ering nOiselessly zeal for the last
scene in the drama Of Martins suffer
ing. But the release did not come.
There would be murmuring among
the doctors and nurses the pulse was
gaining, not losing. the apparently
fatal, final symptoms were proving
fatal nor final. The tension
would relax; a doctor would go. q
nurse slip from the room; Cherry,
looking anxiously from one face to
another, would breathe more easily.
1t was inevitable, she knew that now
but 1t was not to be this minute; IL /:
was not to be this hourl :
my dear-my deari' Peter said to :
her one day, when spent and shaken :
she came stumbling from Martins bed Z
side and stood 'dazedly looking from :
window into the soaking October :
'orest, like a person stunned from a :
)low. MY poor little Cherry If / :
'ould spare you thisi" :
Nobody can spare me now !" she :
whispered. And very simply and {
she added: eff I have been a z
ool-if | have bean a selfish, wicked 8
1rl all my life, I am punished Z
Cherry" he protested, beartsick to z
ee her so. &
"Was ii wrong for as to low each z
Their, Peter?" she asked In q low tone. e
| suppose It wasl | suppose it wasl z
er yes and shivered-"as if-this- 9
'ould come of 1t" she whispered. f
This :" he echoed aghast. e
"Oh, ! think this is punishment" g
berry continued, IN the same lifeless, =
tone. e
There was a silence. The rain e
and dripped from the red e
GODS. the room in which they stood e
as In twilight. even at moo Peter e
ould think of nothing to say. e
About two weeks after the accident e
Iere was q change in the tone of the e
1ysicians who had been giving al e
ost all their time to Martins case. e
here was no visible change in Mar e
n, but that fact In itself was SO sur e
Using that II was construed into a =
finite hope that he would live. e
Not as he had lived. they warned e
g wife. Ii would be but a restricted e
e; tied to his couch, or permitted, =
best. TO move about within q small e
undary on clutches. =
Martin y his wife exclaimed pite- e
sly, when this was first discussed. e
lie has always been so strong-so =
DEPENDENT He would rather-he =
,uld infinitely rather be dead" But e
r mind was busy grasping he pos =
,iHties, TOO. HE won't suffer too =
ich n she asked fearfully. =
=. -
They FASTENED TO assure her that e
: chance Of his ever partial recov- =
was still slight, but that 10 case =
his convalescence Martin need not e
cessdrily suffer. In