| Show THE TIIE GIFT WIFE M to d tF O 0 RUPERT HUGHES HUGHES SERVICE By RUPERT RU P E RI HUGHES H U G H ES SYNOPSIS On board the Nord Express Nord-Express Express with Ostend as ns his immediate destination Dr David Jebb is bound for America With him is five year old year old Cynthia Thatcher his temporary tempo tempo- ward On the train they meet Bill Gaines former classmate of or Davids David tells Gaines of or his outstanding weakness weakness- an overwhelming desire to drink He feels the urge coming to him again and wants to safeguard the child who is returning to America with him During a R stop Gaines leaves the train to buy Cynthia a present The train leaves without him Then Jebb is painfully injured in a 3 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 Cynthia thia leave the train David begins drinking drink drink- ing The next thing he is conscious of is a strange sort of or chanting Hr He- looks around dazed and sick A door opens and in walks a strange Negro closely followed by a woman heavily veiled and dressed In flowing flowIng flow flow- Ing robes She tells him that he is in that her name name is and that she is the gift gilt wife of or the Pasha who has another an an- other o wife wire and who Is husband in name nameon on only y onto to She knows nothing of the missing child Learning that David is a sur sur- surgeon geon Minima tells him of or a powerful man manin manin in Akef Bey whose son is slowly dying Jebb operates on the boy and saves his life thus earning the family's deep gratitude Jebb is surprised by a visit from the Pasha who has heard of his prowess as a surgeon He wants Jebb to examine the the wife he loves Hanim who is ill ebb Jebb examines her with as ns an interpreter CHAPTER V Continued V-Continued 8 J Jebb ebb 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 me to find out what causes this condition Though sought to reassure reassure reassure reas reas- sure Hanim she yielded rather rath rath- er from inability to resist than from conviction And so at last with holding holding holding hold hold- ing the trembling hands of the pan pan- smitten ic-smitten Jebb placed the point of the needle against the white skin at the fifth space set his thumb along the needle as asa asa asa a check and pressed it backward inward and downward with the uttermost uttermost uttermost ut ut- nicety avoiding bone and artery and cartilage and throbbing heart Hanim quivered with a 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 cylinder was filled with an evil fluid He nodded his head and again he became very solemn What ees ma whispered Come with me to the Pasha ma- ma dame He turned to nod and smile as reassuringly reassuringly reassuringly re re- re- re as he could to the anxious patient and went into the hall where the Pasha rose to his feet with many questions translated translated trans trans- la ted Pasha Effendi to know do you know what ees Jebb answered of the pericardium threw up her hands in dis dis- 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 asack asack asack sack called the pericardium It has hasa a little fluid to lubricate it but the pericardium of Madame N ahir 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 cannot cannot cannot can can- not beat much longer Tell him The brows of were beautiful beautiful beautiful beau beau- with pity for the old Pasha and she told him as gently as if he were a child He plucked his beard in mourning and sent his lean fingers to and fro among his beads turned to Jebb no hope of to save her Must she she must must she she of the Cup Jebb answered I think I can save her I think think think-I I hope hope I I believe so 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 a diagnosis but here I am sure I know v I can see If the pericardium is not opened and drained at once she will die die die- and anddie anddie anddie die soon If I am given freedom to act I 1 can save her her I I think I am almost sure l translated the message of hope with a lilt of of enthusiasm that raised the Pasha from the cold 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 J Jebb ebb was more alarmed than he hedared hedared dared confess He felt the need of skilled help He could think of no noone noone noone one but Munson to hold the instruments instruments instruments ments and hand them to him as they were needed After the deed should be done a trained nurse was sadly to be de de- de- de sired Lacking such an aide he turned to I need someone to care for Na Na- hir Hanim afterward to afterward to to help me Will you did not tru trust t herself to speak sneak She nodded I And now I must find Explain it to the Pasha please please please-ma- ma- ma dame All he saw of her face was her eyes They were enough They widened widened widened wid wid- ened and deepened with understanding understand understand- ing of an inner meaning he had hardly realized himself till the mo mo- ment In a seizure of confusion he dashed from the house CHAPTER VI Hanim was too weak to be bevery bevery bevery very curious The ebbing of her life had brought its own anesthesia to soul and body Her chief emotion emotion emotion emo emo- tion was a dim wonder like moonlight moonlight moonlight moon moon- light wavering through a fog A Apart Apart Apart part of her was detached from the total of her The soft-hearted soft Munson was far more terrified than she He stood fighting off womanly tenderness and whispering to himself to be a man lest J Jebb ebb despise him The doctor selected a scalpel of medium size and holding it like a violin bow drew 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 felt the room rocking The UThe retractors quick Jebb repeated repeated repeated re re- re- re sharply and he fitted themI them n I 1 i p 4 I 1 1 1 Jebb Effendi could not have passed through Salonica into the opposite edges of the muscle muscle muscle mus mus- cle to hold it back The uThe 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 did with all the small arteries he was compelled to cut Give me a couple of toothed forceps forceps forceps for for- 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 th the wall wall of the pericardium Hold this and be careful and he put the forceps in grip Dont move He seized the wall waIl a little lower down in the other forceps transferred transferred transferred trans trans- them to his left hand with his right reached for the scissors and made a slight incision which he lengthened a trifle with a probe- probe pointed knife The gushing result so delighted Jebb that he called out to the wavering wavering wavering wa wa- 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 come safely through a thousand dangers and he breathed deep It was a long and busy week before before before be be- fore Jebb felt that Hanim could safely be entrusted to the care of and Munson though he had schooled them in all the tasks and problems that were likely to arise Meanwhile l Gani Bey was flourishing in the radiant household of his father and mother He felt that he had a right to set about his own business J Jebb ebb 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 J Jebb ebb but may he ask what you would consider a fair recompense His smile turned to a grimace of pain as J Jebb ebb answered crisply Twelve hundred pounds It is the price of the wife herself Having led him into the noose Jebb tightened itI itI it I will throw off one thousand pounds of my bill bilI 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 If I wanted to marry her should I be leaving tomorrow forever forever forever for for- ever You leave forever What of my poor sick wife wife wife-my my Ka Bash-Ka- din You will leave h her r to die The UThe best thing I can think 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 any medicine I 1 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 N ahir is well enough to leave With the instructions I have 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 her that I Ishall shall put away the gift wife It will help more than all my skill Then your servant will obey your instructions in everything 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 If you could have my money at my hotel hotel- It will be there For your skill I shall pray Allah al also o to reward you For your journey Allah Allah Allah Al Al- 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 saving saving saving sav sav- ing the lives perishing at his very feet But now there was no further excuse to give his conscience He had come to know better better better bet bet- ter through the veil the actual veil she wore and the impalpable yet impenetrable impenetrable impenetrable im im- im- im penetrable veil her self-respect self her duty the danger of their situation drew about her And he had come cometo cometo cometo to love her and desire her with a passion his heart had had never dreamed itself capable of entertain entertain- ing He planned to hurry forth to hunt the lost child He dreamed that he stumbled upon her without delay He imagined himself telegraphing 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 was was' his curse that had brought him to with infinite disgrace with a deep shame that he had concealed concealed concealed con con- 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 their hearts heads M ruma Hanim Madame Hanim-Madame Madame I 1 leave for Salonica by the next train I shall hunt for the child until I 1 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 your in full I should like I 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 1 I Graben 13 Vienna Austria With all good wishes Yours faithfully DAVID JEBB CHAPTER VII Salonica the Hot Hat Springs of Ancient Ancient An 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 and a or license to travel had coached him himin himin himin in the important intricacies of Turkish Turkish Turkish Turk Turk- ish machinery and given him cordial letters to the representatives of oJ Great Britain and Austria in Salonica Salon Salon- ica 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 fail to slip a little baksheesh baksheesh baksheesh bak bak- under the documents on the desk The recorder ransacked his files graciously Jebb Effendi could not nol have passed through Salonica Salonica-at Salonica at least not openly and legally J Jebb ebb 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 missing missing missing miss miss- ing child had ended in negation He visited the American consulate consulate late but the consul had been summoned summoned sum sum- to Constantinople and his office office office of of- fice could give no help At the British consulate they had much proffer of aid but no One of the attaches a younger son of a noble house but smothered under the simple stylo 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 account account account ac ac- ac- ac count of f 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 I Well Ill I'll do my best to make Salonica Salonica Salonica Sal Sal- 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 sitting sitting sit sit- ting on dynamite The Young Turks are in power but they have an Augean Augean Augean Au Au- gean stable to clean cleal 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 a wonderful villa built ten years ago by an Italian for the family Now the government has turned it into a gilded cage for the 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 Theold Theold The Theold old tarantula may pop up any day and there are people enough eager to help him back to his web TO BE DE CONTINUED |
