| Show THE YOUNG MEDICO by CLARENCE PUGH there goes doe doc rogers up to wheeler heeler place remarked one of ot tarboro to another 1 I guess the doc cc will be glad to his bill paid remarked the other that miss lucys bucys always ailing she dr frank rogers the young medico of tarboro was in no very pleas pleasant ant state of mind as he dismounted from his vehicle in front of 0 tho the ornate lux uric urics 9 but rather mansion on tho the hill the wheelers were a wealthy new york family who made tarboro ra their summer residence they were the summer despots ot of tile the little town in which eld cyrus wheeler had largo large interests and the doctor knew that there was nothing the matter with miss lucy he was shown into the living room where a pretty dark hatred haired girl eirl lay on the lounge though she was such as to cause any ordinary observer to look twice at her tile tho mouth drooped petulantly and there was a dissatisfied look on tile the features her mother a society woman of the common type welcomed elc omed the doctor with cold cordiality 1 I cant imagine what Is the matter with lucy I acy she said she has been under the care of the best specialists for years cant you tell me frankly doctor yes madam answered doctor rogers sharply and his tone was not the less sharp in that lie he had felt himself unusually interested in the girl she needs to occupy her mind and body what do you mean questioned tho the elder woman sharply she is an imaginary invalid mrs wheeler replied the young man boldly 1 I should be false to my duty it if I 1 did not tell you so there is nothing at all the matter with her except boredom and distaste for mental and physical occupation why how how dare you stammered the girl sitting bolt upright upon the lounge 1 I seem to have dared successfully for already you are looking better miss wheeler answered doctor rogers you need stimulus plenty of exercise less eating and something to occupy yourself your with besides novels Z why how how dare youl you such as that one you have just been reading and he pointed to a lurid society y novel upon the lounge the mans a perfect boor declared the girl furiously 1 I am a physician and I 1 treat the sick not the well replied the young man well I 1 guess you wont have many more people to treat sick or well answered mrs wheeler significantly my husband has a few friends in tarboro and he will see to that now you can take your fee and go there will be no tee fee because there were no services replied frank rogers bowing himself out of the room lucy wheeler had never been crossed in her life before what added to her anger was the tact fact that she believed the doctor had discovered her motive in sending tor for him for she had been distinctly impressed by his appearance and it war vas to while away I 1 i an idle hour that the fhe had summoned him to attend her for her imaginary complaint A woman scorned has been tho same since immemorial time all the energies of the wheeler family were devoted to making leaking life in tarboro impossible pos for him cyrus wheeler hear tj a garbled artoy to the effect that agers i kers had bad insulted his bis daughter dau aej led that he would arh drive e the young out of town t the busy season was the summer during tho the winter the few cases requiring medical attention were mostly handled bandied by the older practitioners frank rogers hung on that winter hoping that his relentless enemies would have forgotten their grudge when the next summer came but it was soon evident that they had returned bent upon giving him the coup do de grace lucy wheeler Vh eeler cut him dead in the street her mother tittered when she passed him ay july it deemed as though the young man would have to pull up stakes and get gel out but with july came the crash of 0 a dozen banks in the east and cyrus wheelers capital was wiped out I 1 in a wacie tun day worse than that he was caught gh t short on the exchange he had just figured out that the sale of all his holdings and property including the big house would about liquidate his debts and leave him tree free to start life again thieu ifon a fit of apoplexy seized him frank rogers was passing at the foot ot of the hill when tile tho terrified ter rifled mother who had been unable to locate any of the other physicians on the telephone came rushing out and summoned boned him A brief examination was sufficient to show that wheeler had no chance of recovery frank stayed with him all that night until the next morning when ho he died then lie he remained to care tor for the prostrated mother and for days thereafter he attended her at the big house from which the servants had all fled when they realized that there was no money to pay them frank rogers was the only friend the wheelers had in ia those dails daik days lor for malice breeds malice and the sentiment of the town which had been maliciously set against tho the young doctor now automatically swung round against the wheelers in their poverty 1 I dont know how to thank you for your conduct doctor doe tor faltered lucy ono one day she was looking very cry different now from in the old days there were no novels and hard work about the house had brought the color into her cheeks checks you know we wa may not be able to pay you for a little while she continued we dont know where wo we are going to get any money the house has to be sold next week mother brother is going to live with her sister but I 1 i I 1 suppose I 1 shall have to try to find some employment frank felt that ho he was more than repaid by the privilege of seeing lucy every day two or three times a day for he was indefatigable in his attendance people in tarboro began to speak of it in their gossiping way and then a second catastrophe occurred for one morning mrs wheler called her daughter and when the girt girl arrived tried to speak could not speak and died she had been unable to survive the shock of her husbands death and bankruptcy A week later lucy rogers stood in her traveling dress upon the steps of the house that she was never to enter agala again at her feet was a suitcase 1 I have waited tor for you to say goodby she said when the doctor called yes I 1 am going away you have suffered a good deal from us wheelers but we are going out of your memory with my departure and wont you forgive me and try to think better ot of me but I 1 dont don want you to go stammered in ered the young man you have come to fill my life so BO much w wont 0 nt you think about remaining permanently in it he continued then each of them understood that it had not cot been really hatred and though she went vent away she returned two months later as frank rogers wife it was a very happy homecoming in spite of the shadows that lay behind them copyright 1914 by W G chapman |
