The Red Cross Girl

bout but see only in the illustrated Christmas numbers. They promised mistletoe, snapdragon, and Sir Roger de Coverley. On Christmas morning we would walk to church, after luncheon we woul

it was not to be. Most inconsiderately my wealthiest patient gained sufficient courage to consent to an operation, and in all New York would permit no one to lay violent hands upon him save myself. By cable I advised postponement. Having lived in lawful harmony with his appendix for fifty years, I t

unts of men more crowded, the open-faced manner in which he forced himself upon me would have put me on my guard. But, either out of deference to the holiday spirit, as manifested in the fictitious gayety of our few fellow-passengers,

ad spent most of his years in India, playing polo, he was an American. He seemed to have spent much time, and according to himself much money, at the French watering-places and on the Riviera. I felt sure that it was in France I had already seen him, but where I could not recall. He was hard to place. Of people at home and in London well worth knowing he talked glibly, but in speaking of them he made several slips. It was his taking the trouble to cover up the slips

as at Aix-les-Bains I had first seen him, and that he held a bank at baccarat.

is hands and apparently search

I doing?

rat at the Cas

us relief

weakness, so frankly confessed, he begged me to excuse him, he smiled appealingly. "Poker, bridge, chemin de fer, I like 'em all," he rattled on, "but they don'

had hurt him physically, he shut his eyes, and when again he opened them I saw in them distress. For the moment I believe of my presence he was utterly unconscious. His hands lay idle upon the table; like a man facing a crisis, he stared before him. Quite improperly, I felt sorry for h

d he haile

laughed; "you know I ca

is chair, but he thought I had passed, and in reply to one of the players answered: "Known him for years; he's set me righ

t his eyes met mine with perfect serenity. He even held u

e that in silence I could on

pologetic. Instead, as though we were pa

to use your name. But I'm all right now," he assured me. "They think you vouched for m

you are not,"

y smiled. Then the smile died, and again in his

drove him to seek pro

on't think straight. I hear voices, and no one around. I hear knockings at the door, and when I open it, no one there. If I don't keep fi

low-passengers raised a pretty question of ethics. I meanly dodged it. I told

know HIM,"

had made of my name, I

ertainly don

t obviously

good taste forbade him saying who we were, he stopped. "But the ship's surgeon!" he

asked, "or watchi

as ship's surgeon on the P. & O. I came home on. There

es were becom

have you making trouble on this ship, too. How do yo

tion greatly enterta

a mock o

ted. "It's a professional secret that your nerves are out of hand,

he had gone too far, looked at me sha

e games of chance, and a card-sharp is one of the chances. Anyway," he

f them asked if I knew where they could find "my friend." I should have said then tha

m his revenge," one

ing, then

uckled com

y loser,

I advised. "He'll co

hed on the lights and saw him standing at the foot of my berth.

" he stammer

iving the man to understand I wanted it for myself. Uninvited, Talbot had seated himself on the sof

een drinkin

e he opene

ered simply. "It's nerve

s; his arms fell heavily at hi

ispered, "ho

the out-of-door life-his face showed white.

't been crowdin' me. Movin' me on, you understand? Always movin' me on. Moved me out of India, then Cairo, then they closed Paris, and now they've shut me out of London. I opened a club there, very quiet, very exclus

s tr

m coming home as the Prodigal Son, tired of filling my belly with the husks that the swine do eat; reformed character, repentant and all that; wan

were returning repentant, his course in the smoking-roo

said, "and they send a wireless to the police

to chance that. I GOT to make enough

see you?" I ask

lightly, almost with relief, as thoug

,'" he said. "And I won't be

and talking rot, and I gave him th

w my patient. He was once more a healthy picture of a young Englishman of leisure; keen, smart, and fi

e loser, and we dock to-morrow morning.

hers who made

ted. The others were on their feet, and behind them in a wider semici

e-holder was cocked at an impudent angle. There was a tumult of angry voices, and the eyes of all were turned upon him. Outwardly at least

st met you," he cried, "you

bot. "If I choose to dodge reporters, that's my pidgin. I d

e confident, bullying tones of the man who knows the crowd is with him,

ous concern brushed the cigarette ashes from his sleeve. As he moved toward the door he calle

to escape wit

r pointed his

he shouted, "make sure first he hasn't a friend on boar

gely and then shru

" he called, and walk

at my side and, catching

ness," he

ppened?"

m from the first-seems our surgeon recognized him-and to-night they had outsiders watching him. The outside

burg had meant by telling Tal

of Adolph Meyer, the banker; but it seems Smedburg is a friend of Meyer's, and he called him hard! It was a silly ass thing to do," protested the purser. "Everybody knows Meye

way of spending h

Meyer; wants to put Meyer under an obligation. It means a scene on the wharf, and newsp

me a distinct feeling of relief. But he would not admit me. Through the closed door he declared he was "all right," wanted no medical advice, and asked only to resume the sleep he claimed I had broken. I left him, not without uneasiness, and the next morning the sight of him still in the flesh was a genuine thrill. I found

u going to d

said. "Depends on Smedbur

erves jerking. Then quite simply he began to tell me. He spoke in a low, even mon

esides, no matter how close they watched I could have done wha

ave been obvious, fo

ey were watching, I was careful not to win on my own deal. I laid down, or played to lose. It was the cards they GAVE me I won with. And when they jumped me I told 'em that. I

oy was telling the truth, and I was deeply sorry h

rother to Adolph Meyer, either. Why did you thi

did not

I ins

aughed im

a good name, and he's a Jew, and two of the six who were in the game are

rted impatiently,

was Cohen, or Selinsky, or Meyer, instead of Craig Talbot, YOU'D have thought I was a Jew." He smiled

; lips, full; nose, Roman or Hebra

ged his

" he concluded. "I p

u suppose that Smedburg perso

fraid he had alrea

asked. "Will he drop it or

s the richest Hebrew in New York; given to charity,

efully, "he won't make a row,

. As though a burden had been li

arshly, in open pani

re, at the end of the whar

tected by two obvious members of the strong-arm squad, the grea

man intent upon his duty, unrelenting. Without question, of a bad business M

here now were hundreds of other empty, dismantled cabins in which he might hide. To my inquiries no one gave heed. In the confusion of departure no one had observed him; no one was in a humor to seek him out; the passengers were pressing to the gangway, the stewards concerned only in counting their tips. From deck t

oms shed when a white-faced steward touched my sleev

d, "asks you please to hurry to the si

s, stared at me. His shirt had been cut away; his chest lay bare. Against

d aloud, for the doc

d, "but he doesn't need you. For

wearily; before we cou

ispered. "Always moving

the two detectives pushed into the doorway. They shoved me to one side and thr

n stood with wide, owl-like eyes,

ees. In both his hands he cau

know me? It is your brother Ado