LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7725, 30 January 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

the finger ok justice.

When Walter Terraine decided to : exchange his Wmipole Street practice v tor Ihe work of a private physician. r >stfl'iook up bin residence'at Vernon Court with old Mr Gyles, it was 'with a certain lack of gleefulnesi not j fl a v together surprising, •} It was true that he was to have L £4OO a yoar, a suite of rooms to Irimseit, and the use of whatever hor&?s u.rg'ht happen to be in the but ail these would be his £ as €oon ae the old man died. For seven ycari* Terraine had con- ! ( miiued his roul with patience, waiting for a dead *iao'» shoes, and now when everyone else has of ht* 'life, he found himself called upon to lengj fain the days of this old m&a who intervened beiw-jen him and his grandfather's fortune. Had he cho*;?n, he .uisht have, declined to Interfere in the stutter, stairdin-g by to watch things take their natural course, but in this ev-" ent old Mr Gyles voal'l have cut Wm oft with a shilling. It was n casie of decaying his accession to wealth or going without it altogether. jt is whfn a man has reached middle-&g» that he wants to be rich, frra^n « wa» forty-two, but whatovier K:s own inclinations were be successfully stifled them. ' . had been virtually M ethics of life aod death are Concerned, for exactly 1 year* and yet those ten years nad perhaps been the happiest of his 4w,. becau&s they were stolen- It ■was tho 23rd of July, 1893, and on tte 23rd of JuJy. 1883, the doctors had solemnly shaken their heads fcnd said that the old man could not possibly live through another night. It w»s painfully clear that this lease of life had expired!, the d a y of his, Heath had dawnwi, and Nature, tsftth unmistakable emphasis, refused to support him any longer. He owed hi s artificial existence to Terra+ne, the specialist, the only i-e- ---• lation hj« had in the world. Terraine had fhoated ieith of n victim, as he had cheat:xl him innnv i\ time hefore, bj- the woruforfu'. treatment hj» had discovered for weak-H&-1 i ! t-he he.ii".. said that once he hal undertaken the case, he spared neither pains nor trouble to make his cure permanent. devoted his wliole attention to the conditioa of oild Mr nnd bis unßrifiehnesß must have a])pea!'ed to anyone of a less subpicioMS nature. -Vot even iu thoug-ht was he guilty of unfaidlifulness to hi* charge initil th# eld roan's oonstant ingratttude at last reached a climax, whiah. loi to open wai fn ro. " The library at Vernon Court was . the most (bariit'og room in the _ whole establishment—and Mr Gvlos was sitfijig in a huge armchair "k's long legs stretched out by force of hat.it. towards the fireplace, although fcbe window was open, and the world out-side wag qui red n- beneath the ; sun - U not often that he allowed himself the luxury of an idle affcrnoon, but a sea u n , tk of in the . night had made him disinclined even for carnage exorcise. It was the from a " ack ( , had sulTeml thTlloct C °i, rf at tew il : ' c da >- "'ion the doctor;, had stood aside to a!low his spi.it to pass. . n T :: r ''l- . hMI l>oe " b.V his bedside an .nstant, and forctxi a few drops of the wopdeful tonic between h!s imrchCng lips. Almost immediate';the choking sensation passed awav. the pain in his heart ceaswl tUat his life had ''een spared once more.

J" ®? R blls >" now with the mErf "? w ° r . th . v thoughts Which had Ailed his nvnd from the firfit. How ioag would Terraine be faithful ■> *or his own part, he had never known what irt was to have a conht.COUld not un< * ers tan(l imtlo T code „f honour which r^r ines devou ° n « inutit 'r th^il. smmd of wheels upon VCl ' nnJ he Cognised hj" to P^r\,CC 8 Si * Dß SOmu ° rde, s ■"3?££V!2i£ tO find hj<) unrip tr till other attack of pa.pitSs.T C sotm relievt-d on that score MiMs own rf* a Cha ' r t0 the sido Of ' to it. ' " his nephew j 10 the day of 'his death l,„ wS C9bC?ed j»«t as it

Mr y ° U ,. to rcad this " said "^'rrZXV 1 ' a c-umpled at - which Terraine took it womlerinßilv Tt small blame to him either " BMd Mr Gyles, injudiciously Terrawe hit his lip in evident ,ii„ comfort, and shiftod his chair. I think it was a most adraiirablp wrangemnt,". persisted Mr Gyles striking a match and handing it to Jns nephew, ." It was only a .very pratical form of insurance 'i "Agalnat another man's carelessliesß." «■ Whidi ts tho same thSng in different words. Carelessness is a crime , • Wlt l h a man who is dealing- with matters of Jifo and death." " X am sorry that you tako that IWew of the matter, Walter," said Mr G.Vles, with some sincerity Why ? Hccqus£ I am thinking of doing She samci thin® myself." A faini pink, flush crept into the doctor's face. H» clasped his hands, .which dropped - between his knees, ,tightened ominously. He looked fixedly at Mr Gvles, and fiisconcerted tijat gentleman so much, that he brought, out his pocket handkerchief and covered his-whole face in a valiant endiaavour to imitate a man wfaq wants to sneeze. Did his uncl« mistrust him ? Or .was it merely chalT ? Th»n it occurred to Terraine that Mr Gyles might li&ve got wind of the fact, which he had certainly taken no trouble to conceal, that his tradesmen were growing dissatisfied and a little bit sceptical at the way in which tho old man eluded the fingers of death. It) was possHile that Mr Gyles had Iwen taken with' a sudden lit of generosity «tKI had conceived this chunky way of lending a helping hand to lus nephew without appearing to hlim irtiden any obligation. The i(lea of his taking offence at a loan or gift from the old man tickled Terraine's fancy, and he "smiled. H you come down from theoretical flights to tho level of every-day practifift" he said, there may be a , great deal ill the idea. I don't mind wnfessvng that I ain hard up just now, and " •'■'•l think you understand me," said Mr Gjfies, drumming with his fingers On the arm of his chair, and keeping time to the tune, whatever it jwas, with his foot'. " I do not intend to. insult you by offering to increase your allowance. A positive -system of insurance does not seem » to be quito to emphatic as a negaitive system. You see that safe • fr theru ? Ho pointed with his finger •cross tlw room. Terraine followed iiho direction of his eyes, and saw .beneath tho writing-table a massive • Jittlo saife. sively, ■ is locked " —with an insulting emphasis on the word—" a new - .will, which I drew up this mornMgv Every penny I have goes to the Society for the Prevention of Cruel ty Ito Animals, i( I die before 1 have * my eightieth birthday." L Ho laitghad, and thien stopped sudflenly. b , Mr Gyles had shown tys hand. They d Waned at one another, and in the C heart of each a soundless storm was ? •> raging. Hi Terra ino had tnvn educated in » fr , School oi self-control. Of the two. u Wwas far the more composed,. Ins to grew family games he had learnt to ci P- y his cards with caution. Whiat- It bi ====== ==; iv

ever emotions he may have felt, hie !j concealed them ' admirably. I, "•I don't quite sec]." he began. |< ■'••"Ui hardly expected that you i would,. | j Mr Gyles laughed again ; this time \ rather less nervously. j 1 [ " The least I expected of you j was your utmost confidence." Tor- 1 raine said, in a wounded tone. | '* Confidence, 'my dear boy." re- \ I ■turned Mr (iyles, trying to assume J a conciliatory air which he was far < jfrom lefling. "Of course, you have : my {onlidcncc^—" '1 j *' 1 am flattered," said Terrain*?, ! i with infinite scorn. Tlis uncle's rtis- j trust had wrecked a great moral \ sacrifice. If il was to he wa:. war ; jit should be. There wcie some games ;at which two could p-ay f and this \ was one of them. (To bo continued.) 1 WHOSE FAULT IS IT ? LET NEW PLYMOUTH PEOPLE ' DECIDE THE QUESTION, When a log Uorn warns the marin"er.to steer off the coast, it* be still hugs tHie shore and wrecks upon it, whose fault is it ? If the red switch light is up and the ewgine driver deliberately pull ahead into another train, blame the driver. If a caieless workman will, in spite of wanting, try to find out how many , teeth a buza saw has, and the saw tries to find out how many fingers the workman has, blame the work- ' man, not the saw. If New Plymouth ► people who have kidney complaint r and backache will not take Doan's i Backache Kidney Pills when they are 1 endorsed by scores of citizens blame the people, not the medicine. 1 Mr Donald llobertson, of Man-aia, j late toll-keeper, Junction lioad, New i Plymouth, says ;—"For twenty years t I was troubled with my kidneys, which caused me to suffer with very ; bad pains. At times these pains f nearly crippled me. If I stooped I , could scarcely rise again, and work 1 was out of the question-. I swallowed enough medicine to cure a dozen > ir.en, rightly taken, but it did me - no good. I then got Doan's Back- - ache Kidney Pills at the Co-opera- _ the Store, and these seemed to do 1 nt£» good right from the start, and a . short course completely cufed my _ kidney trouble. I have other troubles with my health, a-rrd if I q could get as efTectrve medicine for n them as Doan's Backache ICidney r Pills proved for the kidneys, I . would be quite well. Everybody 3 round about knows wTiat I suffered ■j with my back, and now I tell them all that I have no backache, thanks - to Doan's Backache Kidney Pills." 0 lake 110 substitute. You want v tiro pills which Mr Hofofertson. re- _ commends, therefore see that the full name is on the wrapper, and, that the word "Backache" is in the s name.

Doan's Backache lOidnoy Pills are solrt In- all chemists and storekeepers at 3s per box—six boxes 16s Gd—or will be posted on receipt of price by Foster McClellam Co., 76 PittSrfct. Sydney, N.S.W. •