Show roooooooococ JQJOrooooo JJ roooooooococTHE PRICE By CATHERINE CARR oooooooooooocoooeosoooooooo Dr La Tour camo out of his door and down tho walk with n brisk step nnd sprightly manner Thoy were nt mdrked variance with his appearance Ho was n tall husk of n man dried and yellow his dark eyes burning In cadaverous hollows his gray beard hanging untrimmed and stained with tobacco juice Also his clothes were I tint last word of shabbiness Ills linen was soiled and frayed pins wero substituted for buttons In many places and of his vest It was tho town Jest that ho boiled It once n week to I make soup Yet he wore withal an air of dignity which made the talo of blood convincing I lIe paused at tho broken binged gate Otl I and glanced back Ho did not look upon u vlow of thrift The house stood wcatherbcnten lacking In many windowpanes nnd shingles j and the gallery post that bore tho sign Dr Henry La Tour sagged perilously The line of neglected pines which led from tho gate made an avenue of gloom and from fence to fence the r yard was a tangle of undergrowth nnd weed Further tho walk itself was an assembly of pitfalls The doctors disapproval was obvious i Tut tut ho told himself this r will never do It certainly Is surprls In how one neglects things when theyre busy Ah must look aftah havln repairs made at once Tho grounds must bo cleared i and some roses planted There had used to be roses red ones and yellow along tho south wall Whore had they goner gone-r nnd when Sure It was that a doctor was n slave to the people not oven rxr to have them to notice that the rosebushes rose-bushes ball died Still It was a grand profession none more so A wing on tho cast sldo for anteroom ante-room nnd office commended Itself to him It would save so much passing through tho main portion of tho house And then painting and papering would have to bo done White with green blinds was to his taste but tho now houses seemed to argue this oldfash toned Yellow with brown trimmings or two shades of green would ho supposed sup-posed bo moro up to date Yet after all would It not bo better to take offices In some building downtown down-town That seemed the correct thing now a dnys nnd one really should move with tho procession Ho began straightway tho readjustment readjust-ment of his plans and though they wero absorbing ho greeted each familiar fa-miliar face ho mot with urbane courtesy court-esy sweeping his old slouch hat deeply r deep-ly after tho fashion of his youth when he saluted fomlnlno outlines They wore mighty nlco people theso llerlnvllle Beautiful women and fine men and ho know thom all Had ushered many of them Into tho world and attended nearly all at sometime some-time in their lives And what a fin o thing that wan Nothing could bo better bet-ter than the feeling of having helped your fellowmen Wealth and world fame were trivial beside It Ho como to a halt before a large building in tho course of construction and mado calculations One of those suites would probably bo the most desirable de-sirable Everything was to bo thoroughly thor-oughly modern ho understoodand ho could take his meals nt tho hotel His mind grasped the details at once It was really much more convenient l when you came to think of It and ho 1 decided to see Will Bailey about reserving 1 re-serving offices for him that morning j Tho doctor did not however go directly to young Baileys office Tho way led past Harpers drug store and t Frank Harper ho was sure would feel slighted if ho did not stop And he could not for a moment consider offending of-fending Frank Ho felt the obligation t to look after tho young man for ho and the elder Harper had been close friends for many years He greeted tho men in tho store I pleasantly Good nionln gentlemen good monln Fine day Howdy Frank Busy as usual Thats right Its the age of hustle Yu grow mo like yu fathah every day Shako hands man boy Ahm proud of yu Any lack of responsiveness from the group failed to strike through tho old mans large geniality of mood When ho finally left tho Interchango of comment was not so much tho expression ex-pression of uukindncDti as of tolerant contempt Old man must have taken nn extra shot this monln Rent one of tho now Templeton i suites Wouldnt that Jar yu When how ho lives is a mystery i I full to understand how it Is that ho Is so tolerated was tho northerners northern-ers observation lie was n capitalist and had dropped bints about locating at Ileriavllle They wore at once apologetic and explanatory i ex-planatory Oh well you see he used to be a ftty capable physician and Its bard 6 3OOOOCOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to turn him down one volunteered Yes and hes pulled most of us through some sort of sick spell when wo were kids and Its not ousy to forget for-get 1t said young Hunter thoughtfully thought-fully Still as you say ho Is a nuisance nuis-ance and the way he makes this hln headquarters is mighty annoying I I hnto to do it but I reckon Ill have to tako a stand against It somehow Meanwhile tho old doctor mado his way to the post office where he asked at the window for his mnllIt had been long since ho had hnd his own box lend as ho waited ho was suddenly sudden-ly aware of what appeared to him the clerks unnecessary slowness Ho grow irritated and took tho few advertising circulars which wore his portion with a sharp word of reproof that only elicited elic-ited a grin Tho doctors spare flesh flinched from the wind when he again faced 1t All warmth had gone out of It and out of life There was much much nt fault In tho world Courtesy was quite gone no consideration for ago or merit anywhere And one mot hiRrnt Itudo at every hand That young woman wo-man now in rustling skirts which she drew liBIdo as from contamination as she passed him with icy bend of the headthere was some reason why she should be gracious and kindly to him himHis Ills step lagged slower and his eyes wero glazed with tears And tho silken silk-en clad young woman of haughty manner man-ner was explaining to her companion a recent resident of Ilorlnvllle It was a task that came often to Dr La Tours acquaintance Ridiculous Isnt it to speak to such a looking creature I tell mother I dont know what strangers must think but she Insists on my speaking to him because ho was once tho best doctor in this part Of tho country and ho saved my life when I was a baby But ho got to using morphine and has simply gone down to the dregs AWful AW-ful Isnt It It certainly Is I cant for tho life of mo comprehend how a person can do such things Especially a doctor who knows what tho consequances must bo Oh of course not tho other agreed They wore young health ran full In every vein and life had been kind They went on with a high sense of virtue lifting them above those wboso feet go down In slippery places Dr La Tour was not observant of his dwellings deficiencies as ho again viewed It from his sagging gate Ho stumbled up tho broken walk and Into Its barren walls quite without thought of plan for Improvement The room ho entered had onco been a spacious apartment with frt > scoed ceiling and paneled walls but the Cupids and garlands wero blurred to vagueness now and signs of all processes pro-cesses of living wero in disordered evidence ev-idence It was indeed tho only kohl table room In tho house Books and bottles cumbered shelves and tables nnd wore heaped upon tho floor An unmade bed with soiled clothing stood In one corner a cooking stove with an overflow of ashes In another There wore remnants of a frugal meal upon nn oilclothcovered table near It and a smouldering flro In tho hearth of tho great fireplace The doctor stirred the embers to what life was possible and sinking Into a rickety arm chair spread his thin shaking hands over them as if to gather their warmth to himself He was tired very tired His head sank on his breast and his eyes closed But surely there was season enough for weariness With scarlet fever raging and but ono pair of hands to fight it the strength of a man was sorely tried Hack nnd forth back and forth from this house to that No time to eat or sleep Fight fight fight unceasingly tho subtle forces of the disease and the weight of spent flesh Back and fort hdny nnd night with now the wrenched heart of defeat de-feat and now the exultant pulse of triumph And always tho need tho demand for alert senses for strength that was more than human Still thoro was much that was good in It all Oh very much Tho grateful tears of mothers the fervent grasp of fathers hands Ho made n groping gesture to meet the friendly clasp but his fingers fin-gers only closed about a small aluminum alumi-num case lying l on the broad arm of the chair Ho stared at it for u moment with unseeing eyes then ho mechanically charged tho syringe and seeking out with dlfllculty nn unwounded spot of his shriveled flesh ho drovo tho portion por-tion of Lethe home And for tho life of the young druggist drug-gist Who must refuse him resting place of the young woman who mar voled at such weakness nnd for many other lives both useful and useless this wreck of a life was the price Copyright 1900 by Dally Story Pub Co |