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Page 32
It was not very long before Leaver was breathing more easily, and a trace
of colour had come back to his face. He moved his head and tried to speak
naturally:
"I am--rather--ashamed of myself--"
"You've no business to be. When a fellow is played out Nature takes her
innings--and she takes all that's coming to her. You're going up to bed
in a few minutes, and you're going to stay there till the rest has had a
chance to get in some work. Miss Mathewson will stay with you for a bit.
She's a famous nurse."
Leaver's head moved in surprised protest, and Miss Mathewson spoke:
"He doesn't know, Dr. Burns, that that is my profession."
Burns laughed. "Oh, I see. That was a bit startling, for a fact. But she
is, Leaver, the most accomplished of her guild, and my right-hand man.
She can make you more comfortable in an hour than I can in a week."
Upstairs, while she released Amy from the apricot frock, that something
more in keeping with the duties of a nurse might be donned, Ellen
questioned anxiously:
"The Doctor must think him really ill, to speak of keeping him in bed. Do
you know what is the matter?"
"His heart action is weak. I don't know the cause, of course. He seems
worn out; that showed plainly all the evening. I'm going to run home,
Mrs. Burns; my wet things must be quite dry, now. There'll be time, I'm
sure. The Doctor won't bring him upstairs for a little yet."
She hurried away, and was back within the half hour. Although she no
longer looked the part of the fine lady, the old r�le seemed hardly hers.
The new fashion of her hair had changed her appearance very completely,
and the youthful look it had restored to her remained, to Ellen's no
little pleasure. Her cheeks were still flushed with the evening's
excitement, and her eyes were charmingly bright and happy.
When everything was in readiness, Burns, in spite of all remonstrance
from his friend, lifted him in his powerful arms and carried him
upstairs. The exertion made him breathe a little heavily for a moment,
but that was all. Leaver was not a light burden, in spite of his
thinness, for his frame was that of a man who should carry many pounds
more than he now bore.
"You strong man, how I envy you," Leaver said, sadly, as Burns laid him
upon the bed.
"Your envy of me can't be a circumstance to that I've felt, many a time,
when I've watched you. But you've been working like a slave too long.
Rest is all you need, man."
But Leaver slowly shook his head. He did not reply to this confident
statement, and Burns knew better than to try to argue it out with him
just then. Instead, with a warm grip of the hand, he turned his new case
over to the care of his nurse, and went away, his heart heavy at sight of
a strong man prone.
CHAPTER VI
BROKEN STEEL WIRES
"But I can't stay here," John Leaver protested, a few days afterward. He
was still in bed, much against his will, but not, as he was forced to
admit, against his judgment, when he allowed it consideration. "I can't
impose on Mrs. Burns's and your kindness like this. I shall soon be fit
for travel, and then--"
"Would you mind listening to me?" R.P. Burns, M.D., sat comfortably back
in a large willow chair, by the bedside, and crossed one leg over the
other in a fashion indicative of an intention to settle down to it and
have it out. "Just let me state the case to you, and try to look at it
from the outside. Of course that's a difficult thing to do, when it
happens to be your own case, but you have a judicial mind, and you can
do the trick, if anybody can."
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