Show t THE THE GIFT WIFE tt By sr R RUPERT HUGHES O RUPERT HUGHES SERVICE wK SYNOPSIS On board the Nord Nord Express with Os Os- Ostend tend as his Immediate destination Dr David Jebb Is bound for America With him Is La year old year old Cynthia Thatcher his temporary ward On the train they meet Dill Bill Gaines former classmate of Davids David tells Gaines of his out out- standing weakness weakness weakness-an an overwhelming dc do sire to drink He lie feels the urge coming to him again and wants to safeguard the child chUd who Is returning to America with him During a stop Gaines leaves the train to buy Cynthia a present The train leaves without him Then Jebb Is painfully Injured In a minor accident A fellow passenger revives him with a drink which makes his desire for liquor all the stronger At the next stop David and Cynthia leave the train David begins drinking The next thing he Is conscious of Is a 8 strange sort of chant chant- Ing He lie looks around dazed and sick A door opens and In walks a strange Negro closely followed by a woman I heavily veiled and dressed In flowing robes She tells him that he Is In that her name Is Minima and that she Is the gift gUt wife of the Pasha who has another wife and who Is husband in name only to Minima She knows nothing noth nothing ing of the missing child Learning that David Is a surgeon Minima tells him of a powerful man In Akef Bey whose son Is slowly dying Jebb op op- operates crates on the boy and saves his life lUe thus earning the family's deep gratitude Jebb is surprised by a visit from the Pasha who has heard of his prowess as asa asa asa a surgeon He lie wants Jebb to examine the wife he loves who Is ill m. Jebb examines her with Minima as an Interpreter CHAPTER V Continued Y-ContInued 8 Jebb answered She Is too ill to feel it much much but but you needn't tell her so Just tell her I shall not give her much pain and that it is necessary necessary necessary sary for Cor me to find out what causes this condition Though Minima sought to reas reas- reassure reassure reassure sure Hanim she yielded rath rath- rather er from inability to resist khan han an from conviction And so at last with Minima hold holding ing trig the trembling hands of the pan pan- smitten ic-smitten Jebb placed the point of the needle against the white skin at ot the fifth space set his thumb along the needle as asa asa asa a check and pressed it backward inward and downward with the ut ute uttermost uttermost nicety avoiding bone and artery and cartilage and throbbing heart Hanim quivered with a 8 twinge of pain but she watched Jebbs Jebb's eyes She saw his intense frown dissolve in an arch of exultance exultance exultance tance of that exultance surgeons feel on tracking a hidden trouble home When he lifted away the needle the was cylinder-was filled with an evil fluid lIe He nodded his head and again he became very solemn What ees cot Mini Minima ma whispered Come with me to the Pasha ma- ma dame He turned to nod and smile as re re- reassuringly reassuringly re- re reassuringly as he could to the anxious patient and went into the hall where the Pasha rose to his feet with many questions Minima trans trans- translated translated Pasha Effendi to know do you know what ees Jebb answered of the pericardium Minima threw up her hands in dis dis- may The Pasha nagged her to translate but she could not Jebb tried to describe what he meant The heart you heart you understand the heart Ah yes yes yes The heart hangs in a kind of a n asack asack sack called the pericardium It has hasa a little fluid uld to lubricate it but the pericardium of Madame is not well It Is filled with thick liquid like this in the tube And her heart must beat through it like a man wading through heavy snow It grows wearier and weaker It can can- cannot cannot cannot not beat much longer Tell him The brows of Minima were beau benu beautiful with pity for the old Pasha and she told him as gently as if he were a child chUd He plucked his beard in mourning and sent his lean fingers to and fro Cro among his beads Minima Uruma turned to Jebb no hope of to save her Must she she must must she she of the Cup Jebb answered veered I think I can save her think thInk thInk-I I hope hope I I believe so U If I operate there Is at least a chance for her It is a very hard operation But without it there is no chance One cannot always be sure of oC a diagnosis but here I am sure I know I can see If U the pericardium is not opened and drained at once she will die and anddie anddie anddie die soon If U I am given freedom to act I can save her her I I think I am amI I almost sure translated the message of hope with a lilt of enthusiasm that i raised the Pasha from the cold I ashes of despair At length the Pasha took the leap commended his beloved to the goodness of Allah Allahand Allahand Allahand and the skill of the Jebb was more alarmed than he hedared hedared hedared dared confess lie He felt the need of skilled help He could think of no noone noone noone one but Munson to hold the Instruments Instruments ments meets and hand them to him as they were needed After the deed should be done a trained nurse was w s sadly to be de de- desired de- de sired Lacking such an aide be he turned to Minima for Na Na I 1 need someone to care hir Hanim afterward to to help me Will you did not trust herself to speak peak She nodded And now I must find Munson Explain it to the Pasha please please ma ma- ma dame All he saw of her face was her eyes They were enough They wid wid- widened widened widened ened and deepened with understand understand- understanding ing of an inner meaning he had hardly realized himself till the mo mo- moment ment In a seizure of confusion he dashed from the house CHAPTER VI 1 Hanim was was too weak to be bevery bevery bevery very curious The be ebbing of her life ille had brought its own anesthesia to soul and body Her chief emo emo- emotion emotion emotion tion was a dim wonder like moon moon- moonlight moonlight light wavering through a fog A Apart Apart part of her was detached from Crom the total of her The soft hearted Munson was far more terrified than she He stood fighting off womanly tenderness and whispering to himself to be a man lest Jebb despise him The doctor selected a scalpel of medium size and holding it like a violin bow drew v it across the skin which parted and drew back like silk Then he incised the thin straw- straw like covering of the fascia of the greater breast muscle and pressed the blade through its stout fabric Some retractors he said Munson felt the room rocking The retractors quick Jebb re re- repeated repeated re- re repeated sharply and he fitted them 1 j 7 y I I 1 w I Ir r T Jebb Effendi could not notha have ha ve passed through Salonica into the opposite edges of the mus muse muscle muscle cle clo to hold bold it back The forceps he commanded and a clamp Clamping one end of a severed vein he picked up the other with the forceps Hold this He gave the forceps into white hand while he snatched up a catgut thread looped It over the mouth of an artery and knotted It with a dexterity a sailor would have envied And so he be did with all the small arteries he was compelled to cut Give me a couple of toothed for for- forceps forceps quick Munson handed him a cartilage knife Hell growled Jebb as he snatched two forceps himself and delicately fastened one of them in inthe inthe inthe the wall of the pericardium Hold this and be careful and he be put the forceps in grip Dont move He seized the wall a little lower down in the other forceps trans trans- transferred transferred them to his left hand with his bis right reached for the scissors and made a slight incision which he be lengthened a trifle tri e with a probe- probe pointed knife The gushing result so delighted Jebb that he called out to the wa wa- wavering wavering vering Munson That ought to please you old man were we're turning the yellow devils out See em scatter At last with every faculty at work his task of reconstruction was finished He had bad come safely through a thousand dangers and he breathed deep It was a long and busy week be bee before fore Jebb felt that Hanl could safely be entrusted to the cart can of Minima and Munson though he ht h had schooled them in all aU the task and problems that were likely tr U arise Meanwhile Gant Bey wa wa- flourishing in the radiant of his father and mother He fel i that he had a right to set about his own business Jebb called upon the Pasha and after as much delicacy of palaver as his curt soul could manage he broached the hateful subject of com com- Your servant can never repay you for your service by mere paras and Jebb but may he ask what you would consider a fair recompense His smile turned to a grimace of pain as os Jebb answered crisply x Twelve hundred pounds It Is the price of the wife herself herselL Having led him into the noose Jebb tightened it itI ItI itI I will throw off oft one thousand pounds of my bill Pasha if you will release Minima Hanim and restore her You ask me to to-to to to divorce my wife Your other wife But why wh-why Do you want to marry her If I wanted to marry her should I be leaving tomorrow for for- forever forever forever ever You leave forever What of my poor sick wife wife wife-my my Bash Ka din You will leave her to die The best thing I can think to of-to of to cure your wife Pasha would be bethe bethe bethe the news that she no longer had a ayoung ayoung ayoung young and beautiful rivaL If you went to her and said You are my only wife now it would be better than any medicine I could pre pre- scribe The Pasha was breathing deeply and his eye was softening And Jebb added you will save one thousand pounds of my fee You think my wife is well enough to leave With the instructions I have given given en him Munson Effendi can bring her back to health in two or three months And you truly think it will help her to recover if I inform Worm her ben that I shall put away the gift wife It will help more than all my skill Then your servant will obey your instructions in everything Minima Hanim shall have her talaq and her On my honor and as soon as the court will grant the decree and once more You are sure you are leaving forever Tomorrow without fail faU If U you could have my money at my hotel hotel- hotel It It will be there For your skill I shall pray Allah also to reward you For your journey Al Al- Allah Allah Allah lah Jebb had Indeed resolved to leave forever and forever The fierce demands of his duties to the lost child cried out against him for his neglect though he felt absolved to a degree by the necessity of earning funds and sav say saving saving saying ing the lives perishing at his very feet But now there was no further excuse to give his conscience He had come to know Minima bet bet- better better better ter through the veil the actual veil she wore and the impalpable yet im im- impenetrable impenetrable im- im impenetrable penetrable veil her self respect her duty the danger of their situation drew about her And he had come cometo I Ito to love her and desire her with a passion his heart had never dreamed itself capable of entertain- entertain ing He lie planned to hurry forth to hunt the lost child He dreamed that he stumbled upon her without delay He imagined himself telegraphing Minima to join him and go with him to America as his wife And then his thanks choked in his throat A chill hand seemed to reach from the fog and throttle him It was his curse that had brought him to with infinite disgrace with a deep shame that he had con con- concealed concealed concealed only by cowardly silences His curse forbade him to marry any woman least of all He thought long and fiercely over his farewell to He wrote many letters and tore them In pieces Worn out and nauseated with life he dashed off and sealed the curtest message of all with no hint of the love that neither had expressed In a word and both had understood with all aU their hearts Hanim Madame Hanim-Madame Madame I leave for Salonica by the next train I shall hunt for the child chUd until I find her I will let you know when I do Fehmi Pasha has promised me on his honor that he will grant you at once a talaq and restore your in full I should like to tobe tobe tobe be assured of this You might send me word if it is not too much trouble My permanent address will be the Union Bank I Graben 13 Vienna Austria With all good wishes Yours faithfully DAVID JEBB CHAPTER CUAl ER VII VU Salonica the Hot Springs of An An- Ancient AncIent dent Greece seemed pretty ancient to the Yankee surgeon who came in an express train and took a cab to the Grand Hotel d' d and the British consul had helped him over the important matter of his missing papers had provided him with a substitute for his lost passport anda and a or license to travel had coached him himin himin himin in the important Intricacies of Turk Turk- Turkish Turkish Turkish ish machinery and given him cordial letters to the representatives of Great Britain and Austria in Salon Salon- ica lea When he left the train he was compelled to have his by a Turkish official who took it in charge until he should leave the town again Will the effendi look through his papers and see if by chance he heis heIs heis is holding another of mine he asked He did not fall to slip sUp a little bak bak- baksheesh baksheesh baksheesh under the documents on the desk The recorder ransacked his files graciously Jebb Effendi Effend could not have passed through Salonica at Salonica-at at least not openly and legally Jebb dissipated the menace of this suggestion with a further insinuation insinuation insinuation tion of baksheesh and hastened to his cab At the Austrian consulate Jebb was received with the distinction due his recommendations as a friend and a physician He also learned that every effort to trace the miss miss- missing missing missing ing child had ended in negation He visited the American consulate consulate consulate late but the consul had been sum sum- summoned summoned summoned to Constantinople and his of of- office office office fice could give no help At the British had bad much proffer of aid but bu no no encouragement One of the attaches a younger son of a noble house but smothered under the simple style and title of Cranford Banbury Esq was especially courteous He took Jebb to the office of the Polis introduced him and translated the commissioners commissioner's ac ac- account account ac- ac account count of his vain efforts to find the child Banbury insisted on Jebbs Jebb's dining with him Youre in a blue funk old man and you oughtn't to be alone Im always alone said Jebb grimly Well Ill I'll do my best to make Sal Sal- Salonica Salonica Salonica onica an exception Theres There's not much to occupy an Saxon Anglo-Saxon in Salonica unless youre you're interested In politics We rather feel were we're sit sit- sitting sitting ting on dynamite The Young Turks are in power but they have an Au Au- Augean Augean AuBean gean Bean stable to clean up and the old Sultan isn't dead yet What have they done with the theold theold theold old Sultan Why haven't you heard Hes He's here here here-here here in Salonica Fact He Heis Heis HeIs is a kind of prisoner de settled in to a wonderful villa built ten years ago by an Italian for the family Now the government has I turned it into a gilded cage for the I ex They didn't quite like to treat him as we did Charles I but buthe's buthe's buthe's hes he's a problem and no mistake The Theold Theold Theold old tarantula may pop up uR any day I and there are people enough eager to help him back to his web TO DE CONTINUED |