Show com committed m bitted to the dee deep P the steward knocked and put bis his head in at the door cabin passenger sir air no IS IG he reported with a businesslike abrev ity very bad s dr glanced up from his desk irritably what a the matter with him dun no sir uncommon bad usual thing I 1 suppose no sir not sea sick queer when be he came aboard yesterday I 1 thought been in bed all day wouldn t let me get him anything till just now he asked me to fetch you the steward withdrew and the doctor only delayed to finish the first paragraph of a letter he had been writing when he was interrupted it was not precisely an urgent let ter for be he had no intention of doing anything with it until the ship arrived at liverpool but it was to contain much that he knew he could not pos sibly put into speech and it was to tell the recipient that he would ar rive less than half a day behind it the lamp that shone from the wall of no 16 showed shor ed him a haggard man stretched on the bunk apparently asleep while mile the doctor was taking a preliminary survey of him he coughed and awoke steward I 1 in the doctor you sent tor for me weats what wrong oh thanks I 1 don t know doctor my head heads s all afire and my hands too I 1 beel eel that the doctor took his hand and laid a finger on his pulse the hand was pulse was galloping furiously and a brief examination was sufficient to diagnose his ailment A touch of pneumonia aid qaid yal aal den you must take more care of yourself than youve you ve been doing late ly IY you were not fit to travel you must have felt ill III before you ata ta ted 1 I wanted to get borne bome the other answered wearily I 1 ve been away a long time we must see what R hat we can arrange bout about nursing the doctor concluded 1 I III II 11 give you some medicine you ne cot got a good constitution I 1 and with care you 11 pull round all think so bof oh yes he austri t be left barrow the doctor turned to the steward somebody will have to sit it up with him to night III I 1 II 11 see him again before I 1 turn in analil and get the captain to let you have assist coca after fulfilling latter duty lutyhe he retired to his cabin aid a id resumed the laborious composition it f bis bettem lett let tem ef three years ago he met in T lonbon bondon the girl he told himself been looking for all his life ohp h was near ly twenty years his junior but what did that matter her je bad had been rich and proud an I 1 now through recent financial disasters disaster si they were poor and prouder but what did all that matter either t she heard him with pity jn her N what a the matter with him yes eyes but not love and ahe he bold bold him with only pity in ln her tones thattie inan she loved was dead and her heart was buried with him later he learned the lay behind her words and saw more hope in it for himself than shu she tad had given him tor for surely his ih ing icya pf bey hev could in due time win her away from the memory of a dead rival he would not take her answer the begged her to think of all it must mean to him and let him ask her for it once tor for all when he came home from bis his next voyage he was speeding homeward now and the letter was to prepare her for his coming he wrote it with so many pauses tor for reflection that by 10 clock it was still unfinished when mindful of his patient he re locked it in his desk no 16 was awake but drowsy with sheer weakness it if I 1 don dont t pull through this doc doe tar dont you worry about that you will but it if I 1 don dont t I 1 in not afraid of dying I 1 ive ve been near it too often ai fling the glass far out into the dark for that and yet now it seems hari bar er than it ever did before you d better not talk I 1 don t want rant you to excite yourself not met me what I 1 mean Is it would be hard luck to die on the way home lve 1 ve been away nearly nine years I 1 went away as poor as a rat and I 1 in going back rich that s something isn t it ita it Q a great deal and im I 1 ni not dead yet though im I 1 m supposed to be the other chuckle 1 i gramly one everlasting terrible winter we gewere were snowed up miles away from everywhere and we were put down as done for only two of us managed to worry through and we wandered heaven knows where and we lived well we didn dian t live but we worried through and I 1 in going home his eyes closed and he ram bled on dreamily nine years but she shell 11 be waiting I 1 told her that it t be more than two and she said it s till you come ned and if it lou never come I 1 shall wait till I 1 meet you at the end he lay quiet a minute and then opening his eyes and finding the doc doe t tor 0 r regarding him intently he con tinned we ve never written to each other we promised her people we t sn sh was to be free to change it if she would they said it was best I 1 had no money and no prospects but it I 1 pent eat baek back a rich man and she had bad not c chanced an ed I 1 I 1 knew she rayer would woul d whether I 1 lived or died she said ae che would never change and she wont won t T did you say your name aps was ed win 3 the doctor was startled by the alien sound of his own voice the ick man nodded and pointing across the cabin n per her portraits in my bag doctor he said do you mind getting it tor for mea 7 my will wills a in there too I 1 made it as soon as I 1 struck my first luck in case oh what I 1 wanted to ask you doctor was if I 1 don t pull bound round will you have my bag and everything sent to her hert you 11 find her address s 4 yes yes but not now interrupted harshly you ve to talked too much already come along barrow he hailed the advent of the steward with ineffable relief cail call me if he is worse in the night he lie was dazed and Supe stupefied fled by the knowledge that had come upon him so unexpectedly and yearned to get away and be a one where he might think of it ono one thought only burned to a clear and fiercely steady blaze a sinister hellish thought that be he dared not face and could not ox ting aff if t ewt f lf yar tie he ht all count of time as a wan man does when he sleeps but when the steward summoned him hurriedly an hour after midnight he had evidently not been in bed a light was burning in his abin be he was ras still dressed and slid bis fan face was wan and his eyes heavy ds ts if it he were in pain mr ashton s worse sir edwards Is with him ind called me to fetch you he can t sleep keeps sitting up edwards qa s staring as it if he could see people an talking very sing lar delirious I 1 expect sir we must try a sleeping draught said dully be there dl erectly barrow being gone he him self in the medicine cupboard and hastened after him carrying some in a glass drawing near to no 16 be he could hear the sick man babbling moncton bously and the very sound of his vo ce stung him and quickened a fiercer flame within him till suddenly he caught a word of what the man was ras saying merely a name but the utter ance of it checked him instantly as it if a hand had bad plucked pinched at his sleeve he stood trembling and in that same instant saw shaping white in the darkness before him a sweet sad face grown pale with weary years ot of longing the pure wistful eyes looked into his and their calmness calmed him and their sadness made him ashamed with a something breaking like a sob in his throat he swiftly retraced his steps pausing in the unlighted saloon to open tie ce t ie of the portholes and fling the glass he carried far out into the dark thereafter he sat till well into the day watching and tending the man she loved and had loved so long going on deck in the morning he leaned over the side to tear up the letter he had written and scatter its fragments into the sea it was the burial of a great hope that had died in the night As he walked away the captain coming from breakfast met him and lingered to make inquiries morning doctor how s the pa tient flout you re not going to make a funeral of it I 1 hope not quite laughed carelessly he has taken a turn for the better black and white |