Left in Charge.

Woodville Examiner, Volume 3, Issue 284, 17 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Left in Charge.

By the Bakox, The physician’s house stood at the corner cf a humble little strict, in a not over-popu-lous suburb, at some distance from the great metropolis, and the shiny bnss plate on the door here the inscription—“ Dr. Talent.” Gifted with exceptional aptitude for his profession, the owner of that name had become, as the saying is, “well-to-do” in a shorter time than falls to the lock of most people, and he might have continued to fill an eminent position among the oppidan members of the fraternity to which he belonged, had he not married on the threshhold of his career. His wife’s delicate constitution, weakening into a stats of positive ill-health, determined him to remove from the glare and distraction of the city to some quite spot, where he might still practice his vocation, and yet bask in the sunshine of domestic peace. And in such a place, where rural adjuncts mingled with the surroundings of the town, we find the doctor’s establishment when our story opens. It was a raw night, with a keen wind blowing, as Dr. Talent strode briskly homewards after his day's labors. The medical faculty at A was neither represented by quantity ncr quality ; and, when the arrivr-.l of a certificated and reputedly ciovcr physician among them became known to the residents, immediate and numerous demands were made unon Dr, Talent’s services. By the successful issue of two or three cases, h;s preeminence was recognised and established, and the good doctor soon found that where he had corns to seek rest, he found only renewed necessity for unflagging industry, if he would preserve his own reputation and satisfy the needs of his fellow creatures. He had scarcely turned h:s key in the lock ere his young wife tripped along the passage and greeted him with a beaming smile, radiant with promise of hot tea and a cosy fireside. “I’m clad you’ve come home, Dick,” she said, “it’s very lonely here; you’re not going out again to-night, dear, are yon ?” Dr. Talent’s only reply was to take the earnest, upturned face between his two hanas and kiss "it, but the owner said that his moustache was wet with dew, and it tickled besides, so she was obliged to rub the kiss off again on the sleeve of his coat, during which operation her husband suddenly clasped her in his strong arms and carried her upstairs, finally depositing her on the sofa in a state of great bewilderment. Now, a doctor’s life is a very uncertain one. He never depends upon anything occurring as he desires, nor knows where he may be next from one hour to the other, and Mrs. Talent was about to experience an instance of this professions! inability that very night. For her husband had scarcely taken his neat at the tea-table when an ominous ring came to the door-bell. It happened that Dr. Talent, with a forethought which proved extremely serviceable, had arranged a speaking tube, which had one outlet onto the street, c!o;;e to the handle of the bell, another over the doctor’s own bed head, and also a thiid at a convenient place in his sitting room. By this means, when he was roused up at night, as often happened, he could communicate with the nocturnal disturber of his rest, ascertain if ;t was a case of sufficient gravity to need his immediate presence, and, if not, issue his directions for whatever was necessary to be done ; and all this without being obliged to leave a warm bed to stand at a gusty street-door, perhaps to no purpose. By this tube the physician learnt, daring the evening, of the serious illness of an old lady in whoso welfare ho was .much interested, and so he did not hesitate to tell the servant whom she had sent that he would be down in a moment. And thus faded all his expectations of a quiet evening. Mrs. Talent’s usually bright face became as cloudy as if it had determined to keep in strict concordance with the prevailing weather, when tbs doctor appeared equipped for his unexpected journey. But he kissed away the tears of disappointment, and promised a quick return. “I shall not be long, dear, and you may look for me not later than nine at the outside.” These were almost his last words as the door closed behind him, and Mrs. Talent realised that she was left in charge. She was almost accustomed by that time to her husband’s enforced irregularity of habits, and she, therefore, philosophically accepted the situation, put the tea-pot back on the hob, in readiness to be heated cn the doctor’s return, and extinguished the lights in the lower rooms, after which she went up stairs to her bedroom. The latter was a comfortable room at the back of the house, with two glass doors opening on to a balcony, which overhung the yard. Having drawn the curtains, she lighted the gas, and made herself as cheerful as circumstances permitted. Then she fell to reading, but the book was not interesting, and the frequency with which she glanced up at the clock, only to find that it was scarcely sixty seconds since her last look, rendered her perception of the principal incidents therein narrated somewhat hazy. She then began to crochet, and divided her attention between the feminine occupation, and wishing that her husband was home. The servant had left her a few days before; the doctor did not keep a man-servant, and consequently she was all alone. The evening had dragged on, and it wanted only half an hour to the time at which she expected her husband, when a slight noise in the direction of the verandah caused her to raise her head and listen intently. As she did so, to her utter terror and affright, the black shadow of a man’s head was thrown on the white curtains before the glass doors. Then the handle turned gently, but the door was bolted on the inside, snd it did not give even when considerable force was applied from the outside. Overcome with horror, Mrs. Talent was rooted to her chair, her hands dropped nervelessly into her lap, and, with eyes distended to their utmost width, she gazed at that horrible shadow in the slouched hat. Suddenly there was a crash of glass, and a brawny arm was thrust in through the opening of the window thus made. The curtains were pushed aside, and a most truculent visage appeared enclosed in a frame of broken glass. The doctor’s wife shrieked and sprang to her feet, the baud immediately sought the bolt, found It, and shot it back. The owner of the hand speedily followed, a villainouslooking ruffian, who smiled with sable malevolence as he saw that Mrs. Talent had retreated to the further corner of the room in her fright. “Now, look ’ere : I aint goin’ to ’urt ye,” he said, “but yer’ll have to fork out yer cash, and that pretty smart too, for I’m in a ’urry, and when I gets himpatient I gets dangerous. I watched the old bird out of the nest, and I’d abeen ’ere earlier myself but for a meddling trap ; so you plank the ready sharp, and nothin’ll happen to yer, but as sure as you dawdle there’ll be ructions.” Thereupon the rascal produced a pistol and gave the trembling Mrs. Talent clearly to understand that if she loitered in obeying his behests he would put a bullet into her, or into the doctor, if perchance bis return interfered with the execution of his laudable intentions. Completely terror-stricken as much by the precious appearance of the maurauder as by the contact of the cold barrel against her check, the physician’s wife yielded up her husband’s keys to the urglar. After forcibly admonishing her again, the burglar commenced to ransack the room, stowing away on bis own person whatever was portable and of value. That done, and having turned the room upside down,_ hej* wrapped out a few of the most handy im'

precations, and demanded a candle. Having been furnished with one, he lit it, pointed the pistol at Mrs. Talent, and said: “ Now I’m going to take away a trifle of plate from this ’ere ’ouse as a memento like of my visit; if there aint any, silver spoons ’ll do just as well. I aint perticklor ; such things I believe are generally to be found in the parlor, so I’m goin’ there, and I’d just advise you to keep quiet, for if I ’ears yer cryin’ for ’elp or carryin’ on any other tomfoolery of that kind I’ll kinder damage yer.” With that threat, and a menacing shake of the pistol, he left the room, and his heavy footsteps sounded down the stairs and died away in the parlor, from whence presently arose the jingle of spoons and forks. With his departure, her senses in some measure returned to the doctor’s wife, and she strove desperately to think how she mteht save her husband’s property, but no ' feasible plan presented itself; she was helpless and despairing, and, for her child’s sake, unwilling to hazard any desperate risk. At that moment the clock struck nine, and almost simultaneously with its strokes a footfall sounded on the pavement and stopped at the doctor’s door. Much as she had previously desired her husband's return, she now dreaded it, for a fear had presented itself in vivid colors to her imagination. The burglar had sworn to shoot the doctor if he returned before the former had accomplished his nefarious purpose, and this he was enabled to effect the more easily from his coign of advantage in the parlor, since his victim would be unconscious of his presence. Fortunately, the physician was some time before he found his latch-key, and in those few moments love and necessity had found i a way out of the difficulty and shown Mrs. . Talent the means of preserving her husband’s life. She darted to the speaking-tube, and in a quivering, but distinct voice sent the warning clown it; “Don’t come in the house, a burglar is iu the front room with a pistol ; he says he will shoot you. Don’t come in !” It was scarcely fifteen seconds, though it sc-cmed minutes to the anxious wife, before she knew her artifice had succeeded. Then came the answer iu the surprised but wellknown accents of Dr. Talent — “ All right; don’t fear ms, but look out for yourself." That was all, and Mrs. Talent was left to await the issue of this adventure with resignation, but with any thing but patience. Her unpleasant visitor had been making the very best use of the limited time at his disposal in pillaging the whole place, and he now re-ascended the stairs and once more entered the room, loaded with booty. “ Now I’m hoff,” he said, and added, with malignant emphasis that caused Mrs. Talent to shake like a leaf, “ and yer husband can bless ’is stars that he didn’t take it into ’is head to come ’ome early. I’m going back the way I came, cause I ’card footsteps in front as I think belong to that interfering trap, and ’e might make a row if ’e was to catch mo with these walables, so I’ll jist trouble you to hand me this bundle when I gets down into the yard.” The words were hardly past his lips, when, all in a moment, the glass doors were burst open, the burglar, taken by surprise, was hurled to the ground, and Dr. Talent stood over him, covering him with hia own pistol. Never were the tables so completely turned. The physician, climbing into the balcony, as the levanter had done before him, arrived in the very nick of time to take the scoundrel in the rear and defeat hia villainy. Never was man more chagrined and astonished than that evil-doer when he found his wrists and ankles tightly bound with chord, and a dismal prospect of more gaffing iirnko before him. Never was doctor’s wife, or auy other, more thankful for her husband’s safety than Mrs. Talent that night. On the following morning the burglar was transferred from the scene of his unsuccessful attempt to the interior of a respectable though slightly unfurnished tenement, yclept the stone jug; and subsequently, when the doctor’s wife related her experience on the evening when she was “ left in charge” to twelve good men and true, he found his liberty abridged for a lengthy period, and auy opportunity for a repetition of those nocturnal gymnastics, which the peculiar nature of his profession necessitated, put quite out of hia power.