Evening star., 1922-05-21

=
which you are going is. assure you.
delightful. II you can only put up
with the bad hotels. In some places
they are really appalling"
4 4
NEXT day we arrived at the Prfh-
cipe Pho station in Madrid. and
together We took the motor omnibus
to the Ritz Hotel in the Plaza de-
Canovas, close to the Prado Museum.
The doctor and his wife took an ex-
pensive suite Of rooms, while oc-
cupied a single room.
For three days we met at dinner
for my days were occupied at the
embassy in the Gale Fernando el
Santo. and I had an important affair
of strictest confidence on hand. In
the evenings we dined together mer-
rify and afterwards went to the
Trianon. the Lara. or the Teatro
Espanol in the Plaza Alfonso. One
of the attaches at the embassy put
me up for the Nuevo Club and on
the fourth night they were my
guests there at dinner.
liked them both. Though madame
could only speak English with great
difficulty, her husband was typically
Londoner. notwithstanding his
French appearance.
On the fifth day I was with them
all day. We spent half an hour in
the Puerta del Sol. and then wan
dered beneath the trees in the Passeo
de Recoletos. and later took our
aperatifs at the Suzio, In the Gale
de Alcala. We returned to the Ritz
for lunch, and 1 sat as usual at their
table
Only that morning 1 had told them
my name. and I saw that 1t had i'm
pressed them. Why. I could not tell.
They had viewed me as q mere
wandering Englishman. hut now they
knew that not only was I novelist.
but I was engaged in matters Of
diplomacy. His name I learned for
the first time was DR.. Booth -Evenden.
We were chatting after dinner of
life in London, when he CHANGED to
let drop the neighborhood where he
practiced. 1t was in the working
class district of. CamberwelL True,
upon the fees in that quarter he
could not make much of a living.
Further. from another remark he let
drop, I learned that his first wife had
died a year ago, and that he had only
married madame. who was herself a
widow. three months before.
r + y r
GEORGE BOOTH-EvENDENI I grew
to like very much. and madame
herself was charming. The apparently
had much money at their disposal,
for in the weeks that followed they
went everywhere and spent very
freely. Indeed, so friendly had we
become that when the day came for
was filled with regret.
Il shall be back in London in about
six weeks" the doctor said. LAS soon
as I get home I'll write to your club
and should be delighted il you would
come to see u.s.
Certainly I will come" I promised.
and then I wished them bon voyage
as the overcrowded train moved off.
1 returned to London and went up
to Scotland, where I remained for
nearly three months.
One day I received a letter from
Booth -Evenden, and on my return to
London a few days later I went to
Camberwell one evening. The doc
tors house was singularly de-
pressing one. very old-fashioned, built
of stone. and detached. 1t was situ-
ated halfway up long. dismal street
m cd lhaD Ioy
ago they had been pleasant residents
with large gardens. but now they
were hemmed in by jerry-built houses
of the working class. Unkempt chill
dren were shouting and playing in the
streets, and the exterior of all the
buildings was blackened by London
smoke and fog.
Upon the door was a brass plate
which had apparently not been
polished for many weeks. and in the
fanlight was a sheet of red glass.
When rang the bell an elderly
woman appeared and showed me into
the doctors consulting room, q mar
row little space reeking with some
disinfectant.
The squalor Of the place amazed
me. I recollected my elegant fell
low traveller with the scarlet button
in his coat. and was much surprised
to see his place of abode.
+ + + +
A FEW moments later he entered
the room and gripped my hand in
welcome. He was dressed in shabby
black, and his face was pale and care
worn.
"Ah, my dear friend. it is so good
of you to come to see me. am in
much trouble-such great trouble
Ny wife Is. fear, dying!"
Dying" I gasped. what is the
matter?'
'she was taken i'll when we were
in Lisbon. failed to diagnose what
it was, and called in an English
medical man there. He also failed
For three weeks she remained in bed,
and then at last was able to get her
home by easy stages. I've called in
two specialists and they now agree
that 1t IL serious heart trouble. She
Is away at q nursing-home in VIM
pole street.. .,. ...-
I'm awfully sorry." declared.
Madame did not strike me as being
very strong"
mo, she was not. She had a very
serious illness six years ago-before
I met her-and think that must
have been the beginning Of it."
saw that tears were in his eyes,
for know how devoted he was to