Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-04-06
AVeryRomantic Affair O. B, A'"'~ Bennett

deed during the previous afternoon and
evening. The hour between seven and
eight comprised some six hundred and
sixty minutes
And then in bursts his old and valued
friend. the Irish girl, with her: Its you
who are the queer man to be giving q
false name to the police, Mr.. Purfll."
Somehow she knew his real namel
Perhaps the night Nurse had known 1t,
too, and the knowledge would explain
the extraordinary fortitude with which
the latter had borne his infelicities. No
wonder that the patient was gravely dis
turbedl His fractured leg became an af-
fair of secondary Importance. He felt
like a criminal detected.
Didn't I give the right name?" he
asked, with feeble cunning. 1T must
have been because / was dazed then.
What name did I give?"
Its yourself that ought to know" the
smiling girl replied. Talking so free.
The policeman wrote 'Beachcroft' in his
big black beast Of a book and the police
man saw it,
MI. Purfll tried to laugh. not with
complete success.
well" he said, that must have been
because I was in Beach street"
Abo III oCHSAl JOa W0aSs 1AN
what power put it into your mouth to
say your address was Piccadilly, London,
seeing that you were staying at No. 10,
Channel View, here, and it's the land
lady called here all in her fnery because
you didn't go home to the fine tea she'd
cooked for you, fish and all. n she'd
heard of q fine fat young man knocked
down to the earth by a woman and him
brought in here with a leg dangling"
II do live in Picadilly," Mr.. Purhll in
sisted.
You say it, and you wouldn't tell a
poor girl a lie, for / judge you're quality
by the smallness of o III feet. But it's
the policeman himself's been here this
morning, as I'm telling you, but the ma
iron pushed him out again, and the way
she did 1t, saying you were asleep yet,
and the giant said he would come again.
II now it's this thermometer in my
hand for your sweet mouth. Ali Would
you suck the very mercury out OF it?"
While sucking the mercury out of the
thermometer, Mr.. Purill was debarred
from speaking, but not from seeing. He
gazed foolishly at the nurse. What he
liked IN her, more than her u~ndeniable
fresh comeliness was her Irish speech
both phrase n accent. There Is no
ground to suppo hat the Irish are less
cruel, more benevolent, more unselfsh
than Anglo-Saxons, but their speech al
ways predisposes Anglo-Saxons, in their
favor, and undoubtedly Mr.. Purfill had
taken quite a fancy to the girl of whose
very name he was ignorant. He did not
say to himself that the p-icturesqueness
of her tongue was a reason for counting
on her and trusting her, but that was
what it amounted to in his mind.
Il can't see any policeman today" he
said fretfully as soon as she had with
drawn the thermometer
And you shan't,' she exclaimed, ex-
aiming the instrument. TITS myself
that will stop aim. Your temperature is
the temperature of a calm and holy saint
-98 but Ill write it down on the
chart 102, and it's the doctor will shut
his ~squeaking boots and his roaring great
voice" She laughed lightly and wrote on
the chart and showed 1T to the patient.
AS for Mr.. Pu-fli, he was thunder
struck by her irresponsible audacity. To
tanper with the record of a sick mans
temperaturel h frightened him. With
nurses so fantastic and constituencies
no uatient could feel safe anywhere. And
every patient was helpless. He spoke not
a word. His breakfast arrived on q green
lacquer tray and on the tray a bit Of
paper with his name in pencil. "Mr. Pur-
FILL" 1t was a breakfast for a weak girl
after an operation. MIR. Purfill ate 1t in
a OlilC dli0 III &AObllCl i1iOillCllI Was
hungry again. But he dared not ask for
more. A maid came in to clean the room;
she kept covertly and fearfully glancing
at him, as at q murderer, for he had
given a false name to the policeman. The
matron herself came in, evidently out of
curiosity to see a murderer caught and
rendered innocuous by the deserved acct
dent of a broken leg. The doctor came
in. The nurse respectfully offered TO
him the chart, and made surreptitiously
a face at MIR. Purill, who trembled.
Surely the doctor could not fail to see
through the trick of the false tempera-
ture chart. But the doctor did not
blench.
Yes, I expected it," said the doctor.
Another knock at the door, which the
nurse cautiously opened a few inches.
Mr.. Purfll can see nobody today,
said the doctor.
1T was Miss Brewer" said the nurse.
ITO inquire after YOU health. And she's
brought these flowers" In her hand was
a miserable bunch Of cheap flowers.
Who's Miss Brewer?" Mr.. Purall ques-
toned, at a loss.
Sure, and isn't it the untidy creature
that broke your honor's leg with the tail
end of her tin lizzie? And did you ever
see the match of it?" She held up the
flowers to derision. And it's to soften
your heart not to fetch the law on her
for her sinful clumsiness that she's
brought them-ferns and all"
Once more Mr.. Purfill tried to smile
and fell short of success.
Then Mr.. Purhll suddenly resolved on
a certain course of conduct. He would
confess the truth to Nurse. To do sc
would give him satisfaction and would
not disturb her because she took every
thing for granted, even a broke leg;
moreover, she bowed Intense interest al
the slightest symptom of the emergence
of a bit Of personal gossip.
1T was the thought OF journalists that
made me give a false name to the police
man." he began.
Then 1T wasn't dazed he wasl"
MIR. Purfill proceeded. I'll tell you
what nobody else knows, except the land
lady at Channel View. I came to Rust
ingor to get my weight down. / weighed
nineteen pounds more than I ought. Anc
1 came here to hide myself while / tool
it off. I didn't wan all my friends il
London teasing me about my diet. Be-
cause you know / am not to eat bread
or pudding, or cakes, or butter, or milk
or ham, or bacon, or potatoes, or sugar
and / mustn't drink alcohol at any time
or drink anything at all with meals
Stiff, eh? Especially when you're asked
t out to dinner, ehP But I'm told If l sticl
to 1t I shall lose q stone in a month"
you'll be losing a stone in a month 1
you stop here and eat every scrap thel
give you" Nurse put in, casually realistic
I'm really doing it," Mr.. Purhll fin
ished. because my doctor says that fa'