Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 246, 21 October 1904, Page 4

Literature.

THE DISILLUSIONMENT OF THE .; DOCTOR. '• You know I love you, Harry, and it is cruel oi you to say that you ~ ~ don't believe me I No, I won't for- „ . give you, and 1 won't let you kiss me—' for a very long time. You are not as nearly a s nice as you used to be." ; i:< " Will you listen to reasoni Dora? ' ■'-'?• No, I won't ! That is, I am ] 'ailwayV reasonable':' It la. you .wh» are always unreasonable, and altogether horrid ! "■ " And all this because I pressed you to marry meat once, and-—" •'And you said . I could not love : UI rtally loved you, 1 .would agree to it." •' So you would." •• That is just the s a me as saying ■„,. - ibat;l don't low you." "j ..'?.'Stt "doesn't ■' look as if you did, does it ? '-' 'iTHarry,':: aaidthe'.girl, earnestly, .ilf.t'X edhgoing to be reasonable, as you say you are. I have said I loved you, and would marry you. But we must wait until Aunt Mary gives us ■leave—rr'' ~. . ■ . "Gives us leave, indeed ! " '.''For the very good , reason that Jfe can?t ; afford to get married without help from her." ,1- . dim't seethat. at all," cried the young man. "My practice is not ..• ■»; terge: yet, but every day my father's old. parents are coining back to me, and leaving th a t odious cad, Mal- • <wyt-T7'V ■,'..::. . •••I'd like <to: know who you call an odious cad, young man? " broke in .„. _a - sharp, thin voice, and a tall lady', wearing a " front," a set of f a lse j and a pince-nez,, came sudden- * " round ' the corner of the laurel hedge. ' V■ ! ■'■' iJtoung. ; ' Harry Lawrence stooti speechless, for he knew that Miss Matilda Prendergast professed ft , great ":'esteem-(and' possibly cherished a yet .warmer feeling.) for the plausible, red-' •-'• • 'haired'lrishman,'who had stolen an >.-.•;: ,wayj.his father's patients while pr 0.,,,.-, ~,,.-, teasing.-. the practice together .while he finished his course at Guy's! That evening Mr. ; Denyer, the- solii sat in his d'ning-room, cele- "" "fcrafdhg the .recovery from a fit of gout, which he owed—the recovery, not the gout—to-, the skilful pre- _ ... scriptions of , Michael Majohey, -.'' M.H.C.S., and other initials, ''. who ' now sat opposite ' him, enjoying a glass of very fine old port. " A doctor should be a married * njfom, i X feel that,", said Dr. MaJoney, With, a sentimental air. '■' The ladies don't altogether like an unmarried man. And there's only one objection to Miss • Prendergast, and that is that I can't find out anything "• definite about her position." " The aunt, do you mean, or the Diece? " " Oh, the aunt, to be sure. I'm aware the money belongs to her. She's as much as said so in my hearing m a ny a time." " Humph ! " " But I'd think it safer, as a l*ruBeiit man, to have a few particulars. ,f.'d ,jiko to know, for one thing, */whether" the money' belongs to her, to do as. she likes wi,th, or whether she has only a life interest in it." .-. ;Lawyer Denyer was occasionally as Leaf ias a post. He chose to be deal now. " You and I have done one anothet ;«; many a good turn,", said the doctor, - .'• edging hisschair a little, nearer, "and .... I hope weshalllive to do each other many more. Now, I should Ik eternally obliged if you would tell moin strict confidence—mind in the very strictest confidence, how much Miss ~. Prendergast possesses in her own light, with absolute control." " Arc you aware, Dr. Maloney," said the lawyer, speaking very alowh " that you are insulting me in t very' gross manner ? The late Stephen: Prendergast was my client, sir, and you calmly propose that I shouh make his affairs known to a perfect stranger ! And you have the audacity to do this "

" Hang you, sir ! " ro a red the hot- ] headed Irishamn, flinging out of the : house. . At his next attack, which happened i not long after, Mr. Denyer of course t called in another medical man, but whether it w a s that Dr. , Maloney s knew the patient's constitution better, or that he was in possession of : i a drug of singular effic a cy, the fact remained that the lawyer did not receive anything like the same relief from the new doctor's .remedies as he had been accustomed to obtain from i those supplied by the Irishman. The .lawyer.,had fully made up his mind that under no circumstances : would.he ; speak to.Doctor Maloney ' again ; but pain is a Wonderful stimu- . lant, and in one of his worst paroxysms he sent ft message to him, begging him to come and do what he could to relievo him. Dr. Maloney promptly attended the : summons, but on entering the sickroom he advanced to the bedside,, and : said with a frown : " When 1 was here last, Sir, Den- \ yer, you all but kicked me out of the I house." , " Man, how can you remember such i things at a time like this ? j draw all I said. But I am in .tor.rnent, I tell you > Will you give me t some of that medicine I had from you last time ? " " I have no doubt that I shall bo , able, to give you relief, a t a ll events," ' t said the doctor smoothly, " and, I . supjjose that. I may take it that you wi)l oblige me in that little matter ' I spoke of.? " The lawyer glared at him for a ) moment or two in silence, then pointing to a long blue envelop that lay on a table near by, hesttid :" Open ' & that. Perhaps you may gather from what you find inside anything you . wish to know." . The envelop was addresses to Mr. j Denyer, and without hesitation the _. doctor opened it. It contained a t note from Miss Prendergast, inclost ing her will. It was not signed—she wished some minor alterations to be " made in it. But it was the will itself that interested the doctor. ; r : He hastily pan his eye over it, and found that to his surprise Miss Prcn- /, dergast wan leaving nearly all her u money to medical charities, and ' i( Dorothy was to receive an annuity of a hundred and twenty pounds a year. I " The will's not signed," the doctor muttered to himself, " and if it ' 3 was, a new will.can bo made any day. t For ;hat matter, the day she is marl ned, it is so much waste paper " , He quietly replaced the will' and letter i n tte envelop, ama turned to • his patient. The medicines he sent in were as effectual as they had al- . ! va - vs Proved, and in less than a week t ™,Z er h I,enye ''' as tno countl 'y P^l'^ called him, was as well as ever » During that ]>eriod, also, the attentions paid t0 the aunt by his professional: .rival became rather marked but ; everybody thought that the ide a of a match between them too ridicu* i • lous to be worthy of a serious con- , sideration. Harry at l a st became so importunt _ ate that Dolly yielded ; only she sti- ' pul a ted that, as slie could not hope .' to obtain her aunt's consent, tho' 0 marriage must be as private as cir-' ie cumstances would permit. To this,' of coursie, the young man readily asis seated. _ ! if It was a quarter to eight on a cold winter's morning when Dolly slipped ;r out of her room, and paused at the •, door of her aunt's bedroom, with the d intention of slipping in and bidding t her a silent adieu. To her surprise the room wasi empu ty. Yet the hed had been slept in, y and there was nothing that suggestis ed that anything unusual or disasn trous had occurred. Dolly would lave stayed to investigate, but she " heard the impatient footsteps of her y lover on the gravel outside, and she a hastened to join him. i- '■• Oh, she will be all right," said r, Harry. We'll see about her afterId wards. I hope fo goodnesß, though, t s'u) hasn't gone to the church to try ;- to slop our wedding." On the way they met no one, but _ the low stone building was lighted up, anil in the church porch they met Miss Matilda Prendergast and Dr. Maloney by her side. The four stared at each other for some seconds in silence. Then the elder lady, with a pretty shyness, adManced her withered check to her niece, saying—" Kiss me, my de a r, 1 ami wish me joy. We have just bem married." Just then 'an' urgent message arrived from tho Vicar, who was both cold and hungry, and the junior pair proI c-eeded into the church, and walked ' up to tlile a ltar, In fees that a month both couples had returned from their respective honeymoons, and then Lawyer Deivyer had the satislaction of firing a I bombshell which had the effect of destroying Dr. Maloney's matrimonial happiness for ever. Miss Prendergast, he said, derived her property from a will of her fathr er, made many years before, when she then a giddy young tiling, of romantic tendencies, was in danger of making an extremely undesirable match; It provided that his daughter should irtherit his property, subject to the ' provision that if she should at any «J time marry without the consent of i certain trustees the property should go to the chuldren of his brother Stephen,of whom only Dorothy now survived. As the trustees were all long since i dead, it had not occurred to the elderly bride that she ran any risk of los- [ ing her money by marrying without legal advice. Hut fresh trustees had been appointed, and their consent, it 1 Seemed, was absolutely necessary, if the conditions on which the property ' was held by Miss Prendergast were to be fulfilled. As matters stood, she had nothing beyond any allowance her niece might be disposed to make to her. Dr. Maloney was beside himself with rage, quarrelled with his wife, on the ground that she had swindled him, and witk Mr. Denyer, on the ground that he had cozened him, and threatened all manner of legal proceedings. " I allowed you to deceive yourself, my good sir," saicl the lawyer bl a ndly, " when you insisted on poking your noso into matters you had no business to pry into. I shall be delighted to accept service of any number of writs you)' attorney may be fool enough to appjy for, ,1 m»j; tell you one thing, however, and that is that I will see that whatever sums Mrs. Lawrence's trustees may pay to your wife by her'directions, shall be paid in such.a way that you sha'n't have the fingering of a penny of the money." To Dr.. Maloney's ineffable disgust, MIMIMaMMiaHHMBiHHIMBB

lias wife approved to tho arrangements suggested by Mr, Denyer to secure Uiis end, and before long the illmatched pair thought it best to separate. Not long afterwords Dr. Maloney sold his practice, which was bought, through the medium of a friend, by Harry Lawrence, and departed from the neighbourhood, never to return.