Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1922-07-08
xlx-continued.

he got back into the motor car;
ire man who drove them quickly to-
ward the valley talked easily and
eteadilv TO Peter, attempting to inter-
,zf him in the affairs Of some water
~nnpanv In San Francisco. When they
cot 10 the valley a city train was ar
rising. and Peter saw~peOple looking
st HIN furtively and sorrowfully. He
RENEE bered the many, many times
AIix had waited for him at the trains
he elanced toward the big madrone
undef which she always parked her
ear. She was usually deep in a hook
as he crossed from the train, but she
would fling it into the back seat and
make room for him beside her. The
dog would bound into the tonneau,
AK would hand her husband his
mail, the car would start with a great
plunge toward the mountaln-toward
tbs 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 self-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-rQpm, 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
hours for rest and exercise, telephoned,
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
one long talk with the doctors. Every
afternoon and evening had its callers
che and Peter were rarely alone.
Martin was utterly unconscious of
the life that flowed on about him;
sometimes he sc amed to recognize
Cherry, and would stare with painful
intentness into her sace, but after a
few seconds his gaze would wander
70 The strange nurses, and the room
that he had never known, and with
\ puzzled sigh he would close his eyes
again, and drift back into his own
strange world of pain, fever and IN
eonsciO BUSINESS.
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, whlte-faced and with
terrified eyes, doctors and nurses gath
erlng noiselessly near for the last
scene In the drama Of Martins suffer
ang. But the release did not come.
There would be murmurlng among
the doctors and nurses; the pulse was
gaining, not losing. the apparently
fatal, final symptoms were proving
neither fatal nor final. The tension
would relax; a doctor would go,
nurse slip from the room; Cherry,
looking anxiously from one face to
another would breathe more easily
= was inevitable, she knew that now
but It was not to be this minute; it
was not TO he this hour!
NY dear-my dearr' Peter said to
her one day, when spent and shaken
she game stumbling from Martins bed
side and stood dazedly looking from
the window into the soaking October
forest, like q person stunned from
blow. MY poor little Cherry If
could spare you this"
Nobody can spare me now p she
whispered. And very simply and
quietly she added: If I have been a
fool--if have bean a selfish. wicked
girl all my life, I am punished
Cherry" he protested, heartsick to
see her so.
Was 1t wrong for US to love each
other, Peter?' she asked In low tone
7 suppose it wasl suppose IT was!
But it never seemed rs If" she shut
her eyes and shivered-"as if-this-
Woald come Of itr' she whispered.
This" he echoed aghast.
Oh I think this 80 punishment"
Cher continued, in the same Hfeless,
wear tone.
here was silence. The rain
dripped and dripped from the red
woods, the room in which they stood
vas n twilight, sSen at nooa. Peter
could think of n~Jhing to say.
=
About two weeks after the accident
There was chazke In the tone Ct the
phgsicians who had been giving al
most all their time to Martins case
IAaTe was no sisible change In Mar
IN. but that fstt in itself was so sur
psislng that Il was construed into q
1ehhlte hope chat he would I've.
Aot es he had lived. they warned
s sc. II would be but a restricted
IT, tied t. his couch. or permitted.
g PES to move about within q small
poancary ii crutches.
Ttin > his wife exclaimed pite-
sssy wL-n this was first discussed
iae has always been so strong--so
AnaepeSaent! lie would rather-hc