The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, 11 September 1913, Page 5

The Storyteller

DOCTOR MORROW ' It will be better for the good doctor when his son dies,' said a passer-by. ' Hush ! Let him not hear you say it, my friend, or he will kill you with a glance of his great black eyes. This son is his one hope — ambition—he lives only for him.' 'True; and cares not how few his other patients, so that he can but watch and nurse his son. But it is true he would be better off if it ended as I said; for while he tends him like a doting mother the other doctor finds his business growing bigger day by day.' ' Look,' said his companion, and pointed to a shadow on the blind of the house they were passing. ' That is the room, and that is the doctor's shadow.' Against the blind was seen the tall form of the doctor, pouring something from a phial. ' Doctor and nurse, father and mother all in one,' said the first speaker as the shadow vanished and they passed on. ' Doctor Morrow is a good man if ever man was, and deserves a good ending to it all.' Within the room where the speakers had seen the momentary shadow Doctor Morrow raised the patient gently in his strong arm, gave him. the medicine he had prepared, and sat again at the bedside to watch and hope. Ten weeks had passed since the lonely widower had started his fight against death, and it had been a brave fight in which he had sacrificed health and practice and done all that mortal man could do. And now. at the end of the tenth week defeat seemed to stare him in the face. The heightened color on the strong-built but

attenuated face, and the lustre of the deep grey eyes, could not deceive one so expert as he: he dreaded them more than he had dreaded the pale cheeks ■ and lack-lustre eyes which preceded them. For slowly and steadily the fever was getting the upper hand; he had played his last card, and prayed until prayer seemed to wither on his lips, and now any hour— any —might rob him of the life for which he had so dearly fought. Of the prospect of the future, if God should so will it that Death was to be victor, he dare not think. It was not the outlook of his business prospects that he thought of, though he knew full well that the utter neglect of his practice had well-nigh ruined him; but the thought of taking up that struggle for the place he had lost if the son whom he so loved r should be taken from him brought a film even to the strong eyes of the man whose business had. so often taken him face to face with death. So strained were his nerves with the night vigils and constant watching that a ring at his bell which sounded at that moment made him start nervously. 'Ten o'clock, Frank, and a visitor. Surely they know I am too busy.' The servant brought up a-card, and at the sight of the name upon it his cheek flushed. •' The Duchess of Lille,' he muttered. ' What can have made her send so far when the Court Doctor is so close at hand? But no, no,' he said, putting the card upon the table, ' you must tell her Grace's servant that Doctor Morrow is engaged. Doctor Berger, in the next street, will doubtless attend.' 'lt is not a servant,' answered the girl; it is the duchess herself who has come. I said that I feared you could not stir from home, and at first she cried, and then said she would wait until you would see her.' 'The duchess herself,' he replied; 'and at this time of night!' He thought for a moment; then, ' Wait with Mr. Frank for an instant or two until I return,' he said to the woman, and haggard and worn looking, went quickly downstairs to the reception room. As he entered the room the Duchess of Lille rose hurriedly, and without waiting for him to speak, crossed to him and shook his hand. ' Your son—how is he V she asked quickly. ' No better — worse,' he replied. It is almost beyond me. God must decide. But your Grace'* visit?' ' Is about my daughter, Doctor Morrow. She .is dyingnay, God help me! may be already dead. All the doctors have despairedthey cannot fathom the causethey cannot stay the fearful waste. One gives her a day, another only a few hours to live, and all the time they do not even know what is killing her. Oh, doctor, it is cruel, cruel! And at the last, when I have offered half my fortune for a cure, that useless Doctor of the Court -niggardly mentions your name. "He is clever and may know," he mutters; and when I turn upon him like a wolf to know why he did not send for you himself he tells me it is useless —and then he tells me why. But could I sit there and see her die and leave a stone unturned? It is ten miles, as you know, and I had four horses put to my carriage to bring me here the quicker. Oh, doctor, can you leave him? Three hoursfour hours at the most—for fresh horses shall bring you back again as fast as man can urge them.' She spoke in tones that were eloquent of her earnestness and her despair, but before the doctor was only the face of his dying son in the room above. ' You ask me more than I can do,' he answered. ' Think what it means to me, those three hours in which my son might even be breathing his last, and . I not here to help him, to cool his hot brow, to hold his restless hand. I have scarcely stirred from the house these ten weeks. He is all that is left to me in the world, and God knows how I have struggled for his life.' Alas, alas, they said it would be hopeless,' she moaned, 'and yet I prayed—oh, .how I prayed each moment of the journey that it might be otherwise; that your son might be better, that something might

happen so that you, my last chance, should not fail me.' But even while she thus urged him he moved restlessly and fidgeted to be gone, and, the tears falling unrestrained down her cheeks, the duchess moved Lu the door and opened it. Nor was the doctor himself much less distressed. ' Not ten but a hundred miles would I travel were it any time but this,' he said in a choked voice; ' but now, believe me, I dare . not; I cannot tear myself away.' The street door was already opened when upon the threshold stood Father St. John. He had heard in the town of the steaming horses that had dashed along with the Duchess of Lille's carriage to Doctor Morrow's house, and, wondering what it might portend, had come along himself to inquire; and now the door opened and he saw the duchess in tears and the doctor beside her. The tale told itself—he knew without asking that she had come to seek his aid, and guessed that he had refused. The arrival of Father St. John just at that moment was God's answer to those repeated prayers on the headlong ten-mile journey. 'Let me see your son, doctor, before the duchess goes,' he said, and, not really needing permission, went softly but quickly upstairs. In a moment or two he returned, and the duchess, guessing his meaning, waited his verdict with a piteous look of expectation. ' How long did the journey here occupy?' he asked her. ' Scarcely more than an hour,' she answered. The priest calculated, and murmured ' Three or four hours'exactly the duchess's own calculation. ' It will do,' he said, and then, turning to the doctor: ' Doctor Morrow, if your own health permits of the journey you may safely undertake it. I will sit with your son and be answerable to you for his being no worse on your return, and you may go with an easy mind to cure where others have failed.' Even the hearty, words and confident manner of the priest failed altogether to move him. Certainly with no lesser man's assurance would he have been satisfied. He stood for a moment undecided and unwilling, but at last he pulled himself together and said simply: ' I will go, and let us not waste a moment. Father St. John, I leave my son ; n your hands—and in the hands of God. I will not go up again now. Tell him where I have gone. Duchess, I am ready.' To describe her almost hysterical relief at these words should be difficult. So glad was the look on her face that she might already have been told that her daughter was better and would live. She hurried out to instruct the footman that no pains were to be spared as far as humanity allowed in urging the horses forward at their fastest, and in less than three minutes Doctor Morrow, seated opposite the duchess and her maid, was watching the flying panorama of phantom trees and hedges, as they sped swiftly by in the darkness. His mind was too occupied to take much' note of the passage of time, and he was surprised at its seeming shortness when the panting horses at last turned into the avenue and soon afterwards drew up with a jerk before the open castle door. ' No change, madam,' butler softly, anticipating the question which "his mistress already had upon her lips; ' but once or twice lately Miss Helene has asked for you.' My darling, my darling! I am coming, I am coming !' she said, and together mother and doctor went without delay to the sick chamber. ***** Three hours later Doctor Morrow was back by the bedside of his son, flushed with his journey and its success. His first glance at the beautiful sick girl had told him that none but desperate remedies could avail, and boldly choosing the most desperate of all, he succeeded beyond all expectation and had left her in a calm and healthful sleep. And may be as a reward for leaving the son whom he thought was dying, to

perform that act of mercy, he found on his return that there was a remarkable change for the better. Father St. John was still at his post of trust, and was delighted to hear of the success of , the doctor's mission and the joy and rapture of the duchess at what she deemed was 'little less than a miracle. At first his son did not seem quite to understand where the doctor had been, but on mentioning the name of Herene he looked around and blushed. 'Helene, did you say? Helene— V ' Helene de Lille,' replied Doctor Morrow, and noticing the blush and curious look upon his son's face, he added: ' Did you think it was a Helene of your acquaintance ?' ' There is one I know,' he answered, ' but it is unlikely to be she.' That night seemed to be the turning point of the illness. The next morning he was better, and on each succeeding morning; until at last one day three weeks later, he was able, leaning lightly upon, his father's arm, to take a turn or two up and down the street. As they were turning the duchess's carriage drove up to the doctor's door, and this time a radiant vision of youth and beauty stepped out with the duchess and blushed to find herself face to face with the doctor and his son. Or was it only on finding herself face to face with the son, who .in his turn was blushing like a schoolboy? But the duchess herself had noticed none but the doctor. For the hundredth time she repeated her gratitude, the impossible debt she owed to his goodness, her gratification that his son was better, her thanks again and again to the cleverest man in the whole wide universe. He ought to be Court Physician; he was already talked of by half the nobility for fifty miles around; he would become as famous as any doctor who had ever lived. And then for a moment she ceased her voluble flow of praise to notice that a few paces off Helene and the other newly recovered patient seemed, without introduction, to be on a surprisingly friendly footing. ' Helene, how forward !' she said. The young man raised his hat, and Doctor Morrow introduced his son. ' Your daughter and I have met before,' the young man told the duchess. ' He forestalled my dear, dear doctor in saving my life,' said Helene, ' and that was five years ago. It is true I had not forgotten itand —and —well, he tells me he, too, has remembered.' 'But what a romance!' said the duchess. 'Tell us how it was, Mr. Morrow. Why, my daughter's life really scarcely belongs to -her if both of you have saved it.' 'I was able to be of a little service, that is all,' the young man answered. Your daughter's horse had overpowered her and was near a precipice. My own horse was the faster, and so, of course, the precipice was never reached.' ' Helene, you never told me!' ' I feared you might forbid me to ride again: that was why I did not tell you. But Mr. Morrow has not done himself justice. It was not. the simple act he says. He threw himself from his horse to catch my bridle, and brought my horse to its knees on the very edge of the cliff. He saved my life as certainly as you saved it again the other day, doctor.' There seemed so much to talk about that the carriage was put up at the neighboring stables, and nothing would please the duchess more than a little cold luncheon, if it was not imposing upon the doctor's kindness. And after lunch, when the carriage returned, she resolutely declined to leave the house until they both had accepted her invitation to stay at the castle for at least a week in the ensuing summer. My practice has already suffered,' urged the doctor. ' I dare not leave the remains of it to look after itself. But, noticing the disappointed look on his son's face, his business instinct succumbed and the promise was given. ' Shall I tell you, Frank, what is going to happen? he said when their visitors had gone. ' You have made

me accept an invitation which will' only bring you disappointment. You are in love with Miss Helene.' A blush and a denial on the part of the younger man somewhat contradicted each other. 'Oh, indeed you are, my boy. I should be in love with her myself if I were your age. Well, you will go there, fall deeper in love, propose, and very properly 'be declined because your station in life is too humble. I warn you of the disappointment, for I should be sorry to. think I saved the young lady's life merely to bring a great trouble into yours.' 'A trouble, dad !' he answered. ' Why, the greatest kindness you ever did me was going out that night to save her lifefor me.' • I For you V 'I think I shall succeed. I have only seen her twice, with five long years between, and yet, without knowing it, I think I have loved her all the time.' ' How presumptious is youth !' the doctor answered, ' and yet not presumptious altogether, \ Frank, for ■ you are worthy of her in yourself, though your father's station in life will probably drag you back.' And much of what the doctor then predicted soon came to pass. It seemed cruel of the duchess to tacitly encourage what was so palpably going on during the visit which followed, for she certainly did not spoil the many opportunities her daughter found for being in her young rescuer's company. Day by day, just as Doctor Morrow had warned him, he fell deeper in love. At last only a few days remained, and the doctor knew from the electric state of the atmosphere that the culminating point was at hand. Young Morrow himself had little doubt of the result. It was the doctor who most feared what the duchess would say when she heard the avowal. In the twilight, when blushes could be less seen, they stole into the room one evening later, and the fact that they came hand in hand foretold something of their story. The young man told the rest of it simply and bravely in these words: ' Your Grace: Rightly or wrongly, remembering my position, I love your daughter with my whole heart. Did I do wrongly in telling her, and hearing from her lips that, however unworthy, she loves me in return?' For reply the duchess crossed the room and kissed his forehead. ' I should not do that, Frank,' she said, ' if I did not approve. Helene loves wisely in loving Dr. Morrow's son.' 'lt will leave you lonely, mother mine,' said. Helene. , The duchess laughed quietly. ' Perhaps not; for I have my own little secret to confess,' she said. 'lt is leap-year—andand I took advantage of it, that's - all. You won't mind another father, Helene, when I tell you it is the cleverest man in all the world. The young people cannot have it all their own way, I told him, and the doctor was good enough to agree and accept me for what I am worth.'— Gouteulx Leader. ... ,