Show THE NURSES PARADOX by HAROLD CARTER A RT E R g xa g amax imax ulu copyright 1915 by W 0 chapman it did not require much discernment to discover that miss joyce the head nurse and doctor raymond the senior In terne were in love with each other some of the nurses prophesied that they would get married when the doctor started his private practice in the fall I 1 was not so sure I 1 was watching them narrowly you know how bow one ona falls into the habit ot of being interested in the others of tho the personnel in little hospitals I 1 had seen the romance flame out remain tor for one brief and glorious week and come crashing to earth I 1 was wondering what had bad come between them when I 1 played the eavesdropper unintentionally that night in may it was the sort of night that poets sing about all lilac scented with a young moon and an inviting darkness in the recesses of the hospital garden I 1 dont know what took me toward the summer house but I 1 heard them talking at the door and dared not stir tor for fear of letting them know they were overheard it if you had told me miriam I 1 heard the doctor say that I 1 am married she answered so that you need not have fallen in ill love with me I 1 suppose no miriam heaven knows I 1 never could have prevented that but at least I 1 should have lived in no fools paradise you can divorce him dear I 1 heard her weeping in his arms and I 1 knew that her response was a negative one she was a catholic divorce did not exist for her church I 1 heard her say they could never marry I 1 heard his passionate declaration his reluctant acquiescence and then I 1 managed to slip anayas away as they came out of the little place together it would be two months till doctor raymond left us nurse joyce contemplated tem plated remaining indefinitely I 1 never saw two people look so ao miserable as they did during those two months only a week remained when something occurred that neither could have foreseen I 1 was on duty among the outpatients and I 1 had perceived the adissi looking man in the corner and nurse joyce look in and disappear with a startled expression I 1 had carried back some bottles to the dispensary when I 1 saw nurse joyce there weeping in doctor raymonds arms ho he la is my husband she was sobbing dear dear if you want MO me later I 1 learned that the man had recognized his wife and was to undergo an operation he had come in quite by chance it was serious and might be extremely so but there was a probability that he would live through it the next morning it was nurse joyce who administered tile tho ether I 1 never saw a woman so calm the poor pathetic trembling wreck upon the table was gradually lulled into oblivion and so he fell asleep and was wheeled into the operating room and as doctor raymond proceeded with his work and nurse joyce sat at the head dropping ether quietly upon the cone I 1 seemed all at once to see right into their hearts it if the patient recovered I 1 know knew that nurse joyce was resolved to get her divorce just the same and commit sin as she thought in marrying while her husband lived and it seemed to me then that this had come as a test it nurse joyce were resolute not to violate her conscience but to send bend doctor raymond front her then the man would die but so long as she was bent on an marrying raymond he would get well I 1 dont know how I 1 came to reason out this singular paradox but I 1 knew it by a sort of intuition I 1 prayed that the wreck might die if she change her decision but he passed through the operation well and in a few hours he was on the mend the next day he was declared out of danger and he lay on his bed following her with looks of dumb gratitude as she passed I 1 saw her talking to raymond outside the door the second night my ears are sharp a nurses have to be anyway I 1 heard what they were say ing you will como come with me as soon as aa be la Is out 0 of danger then whispered raymond I 1 saw her shake her head and place her hand band on his shoulder 1 I cant dear she answered his eyes hardened his lips were compressed tightly why he demanded because I 1 have watched him who was my husband once and is still lying in the bed watching me la in turn she answered his eyes are like the eyes of 0 a dumb animal harry have you not seen them and I 1 cant it breaks my heart but I 1 cant I 1 said that it had come as a test to her I 1 had felt elt confident conO dent that her husbands useless life served no other purpose now but to develop the highest in her and she had risen to it nobly J 1 felt elt quite sure the man would die I 1 saw miriam joyce turn back and dash her hand across her streaming eyes enes and at that moment I 1 heard a ch choking oking gasp from the bed A clot of 0 blood they said such as forms rarely alter after operations and may cause immediate death it carried into the heart it may have been but at bezat the paradox was an odd one md and my vidol ta in th tb roo jooa fulfilled |