The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-03-15
The Rains
Came
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lfdAe MINI 4aalliE away AnAo III
obscunty where II was lost from
faith or understanding. 1t stayed
with him while he carried the dy-
ing Swiss into the music school,
while he undressed him and went
in search OF the major.
And now while he stood by the
chattee. pouring tepid water over
his body. scrabbing himself spar
ingly with the precious bit OF tired
soap, the vision was still with him,
and when he thought OF the major
he knew that the ma jor must have
seen something, some new look. in
the eyes, and understood. and once
again he experienced a warm surg
ing wave OF friendliness toward
the major and Raschid and the
Smileys and even the old ma
haranee.
He had been their friend. but
he had always been apart from
them separated by some vague
barrier which left him isolated and
turned the friendship sterile.
Now it was different He knew
them. He OWNED what il was they
were, in its very essence. He must
cling 10 this new understanding
he must not let this vision escape
as it had done so many times be-
fore.
When he had dressed again he
went TO find Fern. and discovered
her in the office where timid Mr..
Das, the director of the music
school, had once sat trying to
keep his muddled accounts in
European fashion: and when he
came in the door he saw her in a
new way, as if before she had
existed in a shadow where she re-
manned indistinct and endowed
with qualities and a character
built up out of the magma ton
which fed the ego of the old Tom
Ransome. He saw in her what
Aunt Phoebe with her simplicity
and age had seen long ago on the
night when he brought Fern from
his own house TO the Smileys
He said, Harry Bauer is dy-
ing"
Il know"
I've come to take his place"
For second she regarded him
in dismay. No, you mustn't do
that. You're too valuable"
I'm not valuable at all. I have
to do it,"
Then he saw with a quicken
ing of iife itself, that she was
glad
Its all arranged he said.
You'll have to show me the ropes.
l want some alcohol first to wash
my hands"
She gave him the alcohol and
stood watching him.
She said. There are fewer cases
today. The major thinks it may
mean the epidemic is under con-
troll"
Then suddenly he put his arms
about her and Rugged her close to
him, passionately; this new Fern
was somehow a woman and new
to him and precious in way no
woman had ever been before.
He said: 1T will be better work.
ing together"
In voice so low that he could
scarcely hear her, she said, I'm
frightened"
ut will be all right now. I
know it will be all right" 1t
mould l1o oil ,r,l1 L.
vision, if he destroyed what he had
been before. Then he would never
go away again. leaving her alone
and frightened.
I'VE must make the rounds now.
I'll show you what has to be done.
Some of them will be dead"
At o'clock Harry Bauer was
dead. All through the afternoon
Ransome came and went to and
from the little room where the
Swiss had installed himself 80
neatly, giving him the kaolin
solution and the chloride of sodium
and calcium. That the Swiss
should live became a kind of OBJ
session with him. Harry Bauer
had to recover and 60 back again
to Switzerland and that life to
which he had always belonged.
1s2some even understood for a
Inn the will to live which Miss
HscDaid eXerted over the i'll and
the dying. When he bent over the
half-dead body of Bauer and wiped
the froth away from the purple
lips, he kept thinking. You must
live. You must not die"
But Harry Bauer only lay still
without response, save when now
and then the agonizing cramps
drew his legs up beneath his chin.
The major knew that there was
never any chance because the
cholera asked nothing better as
feeding ground than fresh.
young and healthy body from the
west. A little before 5. when RAN
some came into the room, he was
aware that a change had come
over the Swiss. He lay very still.
There was no sign of breathing and
no pulse, and he thought. He is
dead. Now he will never go home
He went to fetch Fern. who
knew better than he the signs of
death by cholera. Bending over
MIN, she said It's no use"
ITO Re ConfinIIed)