The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-03-07

HUN o.
Of her own town In the Ukraine
long ago when people died like
flies of cholera, dropping IN the
streets. in the shops, writing,
black in the face The thought,
7 never have luck. have never
had any luck Even when | fight
II is no good. There is nothing
nothing" And aloud she said,
IF anything happens TO him will
keel myself. 3"
II was the first time that she
had even limited TO Her Highness
that she loved Harry Bauer.
Nothing will happen TO him.
He is young. He is strong. He
is vigorous. She chose her words
carefully. knowing the image they
would raise in the tormented mind
of poor Maria Lishinskaia, know
ing, too, that often enough it was
the young and the strong who
were stricken first by cholera.
The Russian woman felt sud
denly that she was suffocating.
The walls of the tent whirled about
her. She managed to say, May
go and lie down. Your High
ness? l feel very faint"
of course" And she went
away, not knowing that she was
being tortured again because the
Maharanee was in a bad humor.
The old lady was furious now with
herself, because she had yielded
about Lady Esketh, because the
sight of Ransome had made her
weak. She liked men and she
liked Ransome, and in her heart
she hated all women, even those
whom she had spent her life trying
to help.
At the hospital the major lay
trying to sleep on a bed in the
tiny room off the hall, which
served him as a private sanctum.
He had been sent there by Miss
MacDaid. who said to him sharply,
you're behaving like a fool, DR..
Pindar and I can manage things
for five or six hours. God saved
your life once. He may not do 1t
twice. You've got to have some
rest"
He was beyond sleep now. His
still bandaged head ached I'M
mercifully and one worry after
another chased through his tired
brain. Now and then the figure of
Lady Esketh appeared before his
tired, closed eyes, not as she had
been on that night at the palace.
The woman with the smooth
hair and the jewels had left him
unmoved. But the tired woman in
Mrs. Smiley's dress had reused
his interest. The one in the calico
dress looked infinitely older, but
there was quality of humanness
about her. When she looked at
him scornfully for a second, he
had almost doubted that she was
the same woman he had seen at
the Bannerjee's.
This other one, since she came
to the ospital, had scarcely
noticed him at all. There was
about her something dead, save
in the moments when a certain
fire came into the blue eyes; not
dead, perhaps, but like something
submerged, deadened for the mo-
ment.
He knew that she had been given
the worst and most revolving OF
tasks by Miss MacDaid in the
/ hope that she would not have the
strength or will to go through
with them, but she had accepted
the tasks without complaint
Fern Simon, for whom Miss
MacDaid also professed contempt
had gotten off much more easily.
Then all at once he felt drowsy
and just as he was falling asleeI
To the sound of the beating rair
he heard the sound of voices II
the corridor-Ransome's and Mis-.
MacDaid's. She was saying, He!
asleep and can't be disturbed"
How long will he Sleep"
81 don't know. ! certainl,
shan't disturb him till he wakes. "
Il suppose you're right. He i!
the most valuable man"
Drowsily he rose and went Il
the door. When he opened it, h
said. Il wasn't asleep yet VIVA
is it ?"
Miss MacDaid looked at Ran
some furiously and gave an in
dignant snort. The nerves o
everyone, even those of the ole