Dr. Breen's Practice

er shawl and hat, before going to Mrs. Ma

ith Mrs. Mayna

e. I couldn't take the responsibility of doing anything for her, and it was such a worry to stay and see everything go

bridge!" ec

but you had better be careful. The woman is a fool." She now looked up at her daughter for th

d Grace calmly. "T

d make you feel wild," said her mother, d

side of a chair, with her shawl still on her arm, and her hat in her

that," said Mrs. Breen. "He's always going and coming for you and Mrs. Maynard. Wher

egraphed first, and had to be sent for. We found a despatch

plain that Mrs. Breen was in her most censorious temper, which had probably a

u think that I have done anything to encourage Mr

asked Mrs. Breen, without li

nk I cared for him; to

tacles up on her forehead, while she regarded her d

es

it with her thumb-nail. She made this action expressive of having foreseen such a result, and of having

the

week that you have n't been with Mrs. Maynard. At least I've seen nothing of you, except when you came to te

uch a thing, mothe

you go with him this after

I did it fo

which she pulled from her knee, where one end of it was pinned, towards

o out in his boat, till I could n't bear it any longer. It seemed to me that if I to

you were drowned, or to her? And if," she added, her conscience rising equal to the vicarious demand upon it, "you hoped there would be danger, had you any right to expo

silly now," said the gir

other. "I'm glad you

it was going to storm that day, when he took Louise out. His man sai

f he was willing to deceive her the

d what he had heard. And he sa

. That is what I was taught; and tha

He is perfectly frank about himself. He confessed that he had d

ou have acc

ynard comes." She sat looking at the window, and the tears stole into her eyes, an

r, "their that is the

risk their lives because I thought myself so much better than they; because I was self-righteous and suspicious and stubborn. Well, I must bear the penalty: and oh, if I could only bear it alone!" With a long sigh she took back the burden which she had been struggling to cast off, and from which for a time she had actually seemed to escape. She put away her hat and shawl, and stood before the glass, smooth

forward whispering. "She's asleep," she said very sibilantly. "I have read her to sleep, and she's sleeping beautifully. Have you ever

Why, of cour

she fluted. "Mrs. Maynard sees the resemblance, as well as the rest of us. But I know! You don't approve of them. I suppose they can't be defended on some grounds; but I can see how, even in such a case as this, the perfect mastery of the man-physician constitutes the highest

winningly over toward Grace, and fixed her with her

go with Mr. Libby because you hoped it might storm, and wished t

s resentment. "I should consider that a very silly motive," she said, helplessly ashamed th

ic! Do forgive me," she said, seizing Grace's hand. She held it a moment, gazing with a devouring fondness into her face, which she

opened her eyes. "I was n't asleep," she said hoarsely, "but

d felt her hands and

s evening," sai

at the bedside, with her eyes fixed in a sort o

in the same low, hoarse murmur, "you might at lea

ell. We wer

went out with Mr. Libby. But p

with something more like content than she had yet s

ce humbly. "There was a despatch waiting f

ct of this other than to say, "He had b

lace in order, and Mrs. Maynard did not speak again till she had finished. T

anxiety," Grace began, wit

ured the sick woman. "He isn

t talk," the girl flashed out. "And if you insist upon doing so

George Maynard gets here I will have some one that can cure me, or I will know the reason why." The conception of her husband as a champ

ce. "He seems to have st

to look after poor little Bella then," she added, as if, during her sickness, Bella mu

se," she added beseechingly, "I've suffered so much from my own wrong-headedness and obstinacy that I couldn't be

irit?" croaked

to pleas

s him," replied Mrs. Maynard, in the low, husky, monoto

meet him as if no unkindness had parted you, and as if you were to be always together afte

lways a mercy to them," hoa

become of that poor child? Who will take a father's place with her? That's the worst about it. Oh, Louise, I feel so badly for you-for what you have lost, and may lose. Marriage must change people so that unless they live to each other, their lives will be maimed and useless. It ought to be so much easier to forgive any wrong your husband does

r face visible above it. She now turned her head a little, so as to pierce the earnes

ce, with a blush th

ink sash,-not the cherry one. I should think you would have studied to be a minister instead of a doctor. But you need n't preach to me

recalled to her more i

help and suggestion, and he gave them, as if nothing had passed to restrict or embarrass their relations. There was that, in fact, in the awe of the time and an involuntary disoccupation of hers that threw them together even more constantly than before. Dr. Mulbridge remained with his patient well into the forenoon; in the afternoon he came again, and that night he did not go away. He superseded Grace as a nurse no less completely than he had displaced her as a physician. He let her relieve him when he flung himself down for a few minutes' sleep, or when he went out for the huge meals which he devoured, preferring the unwholesome things with a de

y change with a wary intelligence which no fact escaped and no anxiety clouded; alert, gentle, prompt; suffering no question, and absolutely silent as to all impressions. He allowed Grace to remain with him when she liked, and let her do his bidding in minor matters; b

o smokes?" he asked, as if nothing unusual had

er. I must know the worst-you have no right to treat me i

tinued firm, and placed herself resolutely in his way, he relaxed his scrutin

f aside, and ma

ld have said more, but h

Breen," he said, "I saw a good deal of pneumonia in the army, and I don

ld have been glad to keep Libby from talking or even smoking with him. But she relented a little toward him afterwards, when he returned and resumed the charge of his patient with the gentle, vigilant cheerfulness which she had admired in him fr

er pillow, and Grace spoke the terror of both when she

sleep in

ou!" she cri

inded way, certain directions. Then he went out, and Grace sank back into the chair from which she had started at his rising, and wept long an

dear?" she as

less she forgave the wrong which she had hoarded in her heart, and there perverted into a deadly injury. But they both knew upon w