The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-07
.A Problem Of Inc Unlnown

| CONSCIOUS of his unredeemed weariness of body, mind and spir- l it, Dr. Donsen hung up the re- | eeiyer and glared thoughtfully at noth- ing in particular. Ten minutes to de eide if he would SO out on this call l that had been sent over the wire. Ten seconds only, and he had decided. z The buzzer in the hall was sounding an insistent summons when he too a. his coat and vest with grim determina- l tion. But the buzzing irsitated his nerves, already strained by the long l vigil at Claymore's bedside. He would | have to go out into the hall and shut l the thing off.
 Leaning over the bannister he could see the woman's head through the lace 1 covered panel that covered the. glass in the door. He shut off the buzzer and returned to his room. Reaching for the nail scissors on the dresser, intent on cutting through a l boot lace that would not unite, he saw her reflected in the mirror before him. | Tn spite of his resentment at the intru- | sion. he was conscious of a moment of l wonder. How had she managed to l get in?
 I Hearing her sigh Git sounded more like a sob), his naturally sympathetic I nature caused his irritation to die, l while compassion took its place.
 had decided not to go out tonight, but since you are here
 My errand does not concern my I self" she told him, but I said would be here in ten minutes to take you---' I Mot tonight r Donsen intended to be firm on that one point, at least.
 I've been with patient, day and night, for the last 72 hours, and I've
 got to rest
 But. in spite of himself, she broke I down this resistance, though he never knew just how she persuaded him to,
 Afterward, in the light. of events as
 they happened, he thought that he un. derstood. However, though he wal
 conscious of a mild surprise at him. self. he was driving his own car, which
 he had taken from the garuge, thr 9ugh
 dafk streets, the woman seated beside him directing the way.
 "What is the nature of this case Did I understand you to say 1t was ar
 accident?"
 She indicated that they were to turn
 into a country road, unfamiliar to Don
 sen, though she seemed sure 0f every
 foot of the way, before she answered 'An acoident-yes."
 Where did it happen-and when 7 t Ut hasn't happened-yeti ]" Th'
 woman leaned forward, her body grew tense, her face whitened in the moon light. At the end of this road ther' is a sharp turn-Ah-h Y
 Her grasping cry was drowned 1T
 the roar of speeding motors. A grind Ming, splintering impact reached Don sens ears as they rounded the curve . In a few minutes he had set his brakel ! and. out of his car, was racing towarS : the wreckage in the road that burs
 into flames as he ran.
 His hands were blistered, his cloth , ing smoking, before he found and res cued the man that she told him h. would find under the burning car. BI
 the light of his own car lamps, whicl
 he hurriedly brought tO the scene, h. : saw that the tortured thing was stil a living man.
 With a skillful touch and sure, h. went about his professional work, whil the woman hung over the injured maI in a passion of tenderness and fear. There's no danger of his dying
 now!" Donsen meant to be comforting [ ''He will have his chance to live } though it's just pure luck that l wa l right here"
 And then, for the first time, he won L dered how 1t happened that he wa z there-and in the nick of time to say i this man, who, without prompt attend ! s