SHORT STORY.

Lake County Press, Issue 2168, 9 May 1907, Page 7

SHORT STORY.

THE SCAPEGOAT, THAT the death of Lord Imcson ] ia d been caused by a shocking surgical blunder could not be denied A post mortem examination threw a pitiless light upon the tragic error. The operation, winch should, under ordinary conditions, have been performed without ! *Si clanger, had been bungled in an elementary and barbarous fashion, for which there could bo no possiMc excuse. JNatirrally.a great scandal arose. Though no one had ever been known to speak a good vi ortl tor the bachelor nobleman when he was living, any number of doughty champions sprang up after his death, and they never rested until they had hounded out of town the young and reputedly clever doctor who had performed the fatal opcation. Old Dr. Burnett was thus left without a partner, and tho double strain of overwork and anxiety prostrated him. He took to his bed and his beautiful daughter, who was not yet twenty-one, came suddenly face to face with tho necessity of keeping her father's practico together. She did not wring her hands in pretty helplessness and sit down to bemoan her fate. She east hockey and dancing and novel reading and all the other pleasures of girlhood, behind her, and acquired an unusually violent headache in studying the numerous replies Jo hor advertisement for a locum tenens. Bofore she had quite succeeded in boring out her bounic eyes, however, she came across a letter from the sort of man she wanted, and immediately wired for him to come. 'I like his manly way of writing, and his qualifications are first-class,' she said to herself, scrubbing her cheeks with her pink knuckles to bring the roses back again. ' But I was awfully careless not to ask him his age. If he is as young as poor Phillip Eigge I shall make him bleach his hair and moustacho to a snowy whiteness. Young doctors have gono quite out of fashion since Lord Imeson's death.' She need not havo been apprehensive on this point, however, for the new doctor brought no air of aggressivo youthfulness into tho surgery. Ho was a bronzed, bearded giant of forty or thereabouts, and his cool, quiet manner inspired Belle immediately with a pleasant con.idencc in him. ' I see you still retain Dr. Eigge's name on the door-plate, Miss Burnett,' he remarked, after he had boon there long enough to feel slightly more at home, 'Do you think that wise ?' 'Not wise, perhaps, but certainly just,' the girl answered, 'Dr. Eigge is still my 'father's partner, oven though he has deserted his post, and I should not like to find his name torn off the door when ho sums up courage to return.' ' But your father would never consent to work with him again. Ho committed an unpardonable blunder.' 'Not unpardonable, Dr. Stccvcns,' the girl replied, her voico vibrating with sweet compassion. 'lf surgeons were denied forgiveness for tho mistakes they made, there would be few of them left in the world. I have heard people speak enthusiastically of Dr. Eigge's steady hand and splendid nerve, and it is pitiful that one fatal slip should blight his whole career.' Tho new doctor nodded his head in agreement. 'You are right, Miss Burnett,' he said. 'The most self-possessed and skilful surgeon is, after all, only human. His cold professional mask may hide his feelings, but thoy are just as surely there as any other man's.' _ He always spoke in this grave manner, as if the cares of the universe were pressing on ' his shoulders. Indeed, he so seldom smiled that she tried occasionally to trick him into it by little feminine mannerisms and epigrams, which he received with a gentle, tolerant amusement that both jneased and piqued her. But as tho weeks went by their scanty talks became even fewer and shorter, for the new doctor worked with unexampled enthusiasm to restore the prestige of Burnett and Eigge. _ He performed some difficult operations with a skilfulness that bcsp»ke success and pulled out of the fire, by sheer grit and determination, cases which Dr. Burnett himself had given up as hopeless. Naturally his fame spread, and tho demand upon his services became phenomenal. Importunate patients begrudged him the little time ho spent in eating and sleeping, and would have chained him to their bedsides day and night had it been possible. He got through an amount of work which would havo racked an ordinary man to pieces, yet through it all a light shone in his eyes which no physical fatigue could put out. Once, and onco only, did ho refuse a case, and that was when there came to him a long- ! faced relative of the very Lord Imeson whose death had been Phillip Eigge's ruin. 'I cannot operate on a member of the Imcson family,' the new doctor declared, harshly. 'lt woidd be almost like tempting providence.' 'I implore you to reconsider your decision,' tho caller whined. 'The life of tho new Lord Imeson is in jeopardy, and he will have no one but you to operate on him.' ' And if he dies there will bo a post mortem examination to prove that I killed him:'" Dr. Stccvcns sarcastically inquired. 'That was difforent, tho caller protested. * You aro a clever surgeon, and have yet to lose your first case, whoreas Dr, Eigge was a bungling amateur—virtually a murderer!' Thon the new doctor quietly opened the door, and the next morning everyone was talking of the 'accident which had happened to Lord Imcs ;n's Jong-faced relative, who had fallen down tho stone steps outside Dr. Burnett's surgery, and received n rude shaking. The victim himself circulated this garbled version of the affair. He did not choose to confess that he had been thrown out neck and croj). Meanwhile, Dr. Burnett had lapsed into a feeble and listless state, and daily grew worse, despite tho loyal attention lavished on him. In the end another medical man had to bo sailed in to watch the case, while Dr. StecTcns performed an imperative operation in a distant town, and it was in the presence of this temporary physician that Bella's lather Oponcd his mouth, and spoke the first sane words he had uttered since his illness began. _ ' Any news of Phillip Eigge, Bella ?' he inquired. 'Nono whatever, father,' answered Bella, who was now, as always, at her post beside him. 'That is bad. I mid hoped he would return ere this. Something which concerns him very closely must be told before I die.' In vain did they try to persuade him not to talk. He was determined to have his Way, ' I refer to the lincsc*- fatality, which was set down to Eigge's blundering,' he said, in the weak voice of a child. 'As you know, Lord Imcson desired me to perform the operation, but at the last moment Eigge begged to be allowed to take my place, on the ground that my hand seemed a trifle unsteady that morning. 'I foolishly took umbrage at what he said, and insisted upon doing the delicate work myself, although I felt, in my heart, that it would be safer in his hands than mine. Still, I had a fair amount of confidence in myself, and I did not dream that I should make such a terrible mess of the operation. My hand, which had never played me false before, slipped at the critical moment, and the eyes of myself and my partner met in dumbstruck horror over Lord

Imcson's dead body. In that fatal instant my clumsiness had killed him!

' I burst into puerile tears, and begged Eigge to help me cover up the truces of my bungling. His face was white and drawn, and I could see that he was suffering as keenly as 1. 'My conscience will not permit me to do that,' he answered, 'but you may rest assured tint you will not be blamed for this affair.' ' Then he passed out of the room, and I was astounded to hear him telling someone that Lord Imoson was dead, and that he himself had performed the luckless operation! ' I rushed out to deny the statement, but Eigge silenced me with a look, and I weakly allowed the noble lie to go uncontradicted. Why he voluntarily ruined himself to save my reputation I cannot imagine, for he had been my partner only a short time, and had shown no particular affection for me. His whole attitude was a mystery, but I bitterly regret that I permitted him to bear the brunt of my shame, and I charge you, Bella, and you, Dr. Walters, to publish my confession broadcast, and to do your utmost to clear poor Eigge's good name. God grant that it may not be too late, and that he is still alive!' Old Br. Burnett's prayer was answered, though he did not live to see its fulfilment, which came to pass on the day of his burial. Walking sadly into the surgery, Bella eaw a familiar but strangely altered figure standing before the mirror. ' Phillip Eigge !' she gasped, in the first shock of her startling discovery. The man turned round with a cry of alarm and clapped his hand to his mouth, but any attempt at concealment was useless now, and he wisely resolved to make the best Of it. 'At your service, Miss Burnett,' he said. ' I throw myself entirely upon your mercy, and beseech you to keep my presence here a secret. I found myself drawn irresistibly back, and was obliged to stoop to a daring deception in order to gain admittance.' ' Deception ?' Bella repeated, in a puzzled tone. ' I see no deception, unless it is that you arc mimicking the voice of Dr. Stccveus, and wearing clothes which arc similar to his.' ' Precisely,' said Phillip Kiggc. ' Until a few minutes ago, I was wearing Dr. Stcevons' wig and beard, and making arrangements to operate on some of Dr. Stccvcns' most influential patients. Surely you see through my trickery now, Miss Burnett! Nothing could bo more transparent.' A passicn of sheer fright seized the girl; her shaking hands gripped the young man's arm, her white face was bent upon him. Then her habitual calm came back to her, but her cheeks and lips still wore a profound pallor as she said: — ' Yes, I sec ! You posed as Dr. Stccvcns when you answered my advertisement, and your ingenious wig and beard completed the disguise. But why did you return here to heap coals of fire on our heads, when poor father had let you suffer so gricviously for his mistake ?'. Phillip Kigge gave her a lightning flash of a look, a riot of surprised lights in his eyes; then caught himself under instant control. 'You know the truth, then ?' ho inquired quietly. 'Ye 3. Father told it to mo on his deathbed, and at his request I wrote down every word of it. Here is his signed confession.' Not a muscle of the young doctor's face moved as he read the confossion, though the fingers that held it shook perceptibly. Having come to the end of it, he bent over the fire, and tore up tho paper with as little concern as if it had been a tradesman's handbill. Thon he dropped the fragments into the flames. ' People must never hear of that,' he said. ' Let the dead rest. Your father had a brilliant career; why should it be dimmed by one last fatal error ? Let me bear the stigma of it. I am young, and can live it down. Men have done greater things than that—for the love of a woman.' The throb of passion in his voice was a revelation to Bella. All at once she comprehended why he had taken up her father's cross and borne it so heroically before all the world. It was love of her that had impelled the sacrifice—love so deep and silent and pure that she vory holiness of it shamed her soul. She strove to interpret in words the tumult of emotions which warred together in her breast, but found the task beyond her. So she lowered her rose-lipped mouth until it sank with exquisite softness into the palm of his hand, and simply said : ' Heaven bless you, Dr. Eigge, for your great goodness to my father and to me! But you burnt the confession too late. I sent a coj>y of it to the newspapers last night!' The story of Phillip Eigge's sacrifice made a nine days' wonder in the town, and immediate result of it was to treble demand for his services. In an effort to meet these existing calls upon his time he cheerfully burned the candle at both ends for six months, while Bella Burnett, aided by an elderly female relative, busied herself in other directions. Then, one morning, people who called to inquire for one or the other of them, were politoly turned from the door by a prim mtiid-servant, who had news ofanintorosting character to impart. 'Mr and Mrs Eigge arc away on their honey-moon !' she proudly announced, with the faintest glimmer of a smilo upon her lips.