DR. ROY'S PATIENT; Oft, LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 29, 29 August 1868, Page 5

DR. ROY'S PATIENT; Oft, LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

"Tt is so strange that you did not marry, William," said Harry Sutherland ! to his friend, Dr. Roy, after the tea things had been carried away, and they sat together by the pleasant fire-light. The remark was a most natural one — the cosy parlor seemed so suggestive of all sweet home comforts. There were marks of a woman's tasteful fingers everywhere, and Harry's eyes dwelt lovingly on the closed door whence his household fairy had disappeared with the year-old baby asleep in her arms. Dr. Roy looked around with a slow, sweeping glance, •which took, in all the graceful appointments of the room. He had the face and manner of a master, and, looking at him, you would not wonder that, although young, he held a prominent position in his profession. "It is strange, Harry; X wish I couM." "Why not?-" inquired Sutherland, surprised at his friend's earnest tone. There was no answer for a moment. Roy bent forward -and looked into the fira. / " The witchery of the fire-light mufet be on me to-night," he said at last with a smile: "It is not often lamin a mood for confidences. ' Why not ? ' did you say. Because I believe I am hopelessly in love — with a memory. You would hardly suspect me of such romantic impressibility ; that the face of a girl I only saw once, a id that many years ago, could have the power to come between me and every other woman that I might have loved ; and yet, looking back to-night, I know it is true. Having once seen my ideal, I can never be content with -less. It was my first year at the German Uuniversity. I was very ill, and my physician positively ordered me to take fresh air and active out-door exercise. So I set out, although I could ill afford either time or money, in company with some others, to visit, on foot, various places of interest. We stopped for a week at Dresden. One day I had been strolling along the Elbe, through the public gardens. My walk ended as usual ii the Art Gallery, for pictures were to me companions as much then as now. Going into the hall where hung the Sistine Madonna, I saw a party of tourists standing before the picture. My first glance assured me that they were English, and this of itself attracted me to" them ; a home face is so dear in a foreign land. But the central figure in that group rivifced my attention. This • girl; a slender creature of not more than fifteen, stood motionless and silent ; her lips parted, a faint flush on her cheeks, and her hands tightly clasped together. You want me to describe her face 1 I cannot. It was very beautiful ; tmtno meie beauty could have held me for such a length of time with undimmished charm. Her expression indicated not so much simple admiration of the picture as a complete merging of her own personality into the sublime emotions which the theme inspired. The Medonna seemed reproduced in So her features until the canvass might have been a mirror, where the image of the dark-eyed, oval faced girl who stood there was portrayed. " ' We must be going,' said a lady, whom I judged to be her mother ;• ' the train leaves at six, and there is the packing to be finished. Come, Anna ! Why, die child would stay here all day.' 14 The girl thus addressed started, looked around her, and, still without speaking, turned to follow the company "from the room. As she passed me at the door, a knot of leaves fell from her brooch on the floor. I stooped quickly and returned it to her, and to this day I cannot breathe the spicy fragrance of geranium without feeling again the thrill which her smile conjured up." Dr. Roy might have said more, but little Mrs. Sutherland came in at that moment. " What, the gas not lighted • You gentlemen must have been asleep, or telling secrets. Shall I break the spell V 41 1 wish it were always as pleasantly oroken," answered Dr. Roy gallantly, while Sutherland rose to light a taper at the grate. ' " Your new croquet-table is finished I see, Mrs. Sutherland ; may we have a game 1 Harry shall have two balls, and you and i will play against him. It is out iair, Harry ; 1 have played my game of life alone so long." Later, when the strife had been triumphantly concluded by-Mrs. Sutherland, who compassed two arches, and the stake at her dual stroke, and wlien they were quietly seated again, Harry said to his -iriend — 44 You will hardly thank me, Willie, for sending you another case, when you are overcrowded already. Our house has j lut lost the services of a young lady, one or the best designers we have ever employed. Uur last order she was not able to execute, so 1 called on her to-day. found her sitting with bandaged eyes in a darkened room, suJ^ering great pain. Knowing you made diseases of the eye a speciality, I rccommeuded her to you. But I have another reason for doing so. Both mother and daughter are evidently retined and sensitive; and although I felt great sympathy for their ill-concealed poverty, 1 could tiuuk of no way to, offer them any substantial assistance. Bat I thought of laying the case before you, and

asking, as a great favor, to make your terms as nearly nominal as possible, without offending her 3sn3,e of propriety." " I should do so moat gladly, Harry," said the doctor; is the young lady's name?" " Miss Drayton-wAnna Drayton. Here is her last work." He rose and took some sketchy from, a portfolio — marginal designs for a book of poems. "Look here ! did you ever see anything drawn with greater spirit than that cliff, with its bold lines and apparently inaccessible approach ? Yet the bit of regular wall on the summit shows human presence and effort, and so appeals to the universal sympathy of the race. One w,ho could sketch that must know what it is to. be at hojpie among the mountains." " I like this one best," said Roy, after apause^ "although it is the simplest of all — this tuft of moss shot through by a spray of scarlet holly-berries, I like it because of the marvellous faithfulness with which it is finished, and the evidence of a touch so tender and delicate, as to be almost & caress. I a.m. quite anxious to see my patient ."- " Perhaps there is a charm about the name sha bears," said his friend playfully, while Dr. Roy took out his watch and rose to take his leave. Among the visitors in the anteroom, when the doctor's office door was thrown open next day, sat a young lady dressed in black. She patiently- awjdted her turn, then rose, and went into the inner apartment. " Dr. Roy, I believe 1 " she said in a voice singularly clear and musical. "I am Miss Drayton ; will you please look at my eyes ? " As she spoke she threw back the heavy veil, whose double folds had protected her eyes from the light, and lifted up to him — the face of the Dresden gallery ! The same, and yet not the same. By the influence of years of trial, patient endurance, and earnest, hopeful effort, the unformed capabilities of the girl had crystalised into many-sided character. Sha stood before him, the perfection of his dream — his own out of all the world, he thought. Yet he must school himself to the utterance of professional commonplaces, while not a tremor of a nerve should betray his long constancy. " Is it only a temporary difficulty, Dr. Roy?" '• That depends entirely on the care you take of yourself," he answered, gravely ; " As yet, there is no " organic disease. You must have strained your whole nervous system by some kind of overwork. Only rest and a careful obedience to prescribed treatment can give you back unimpaired sight." " For how long ?" she asked. " At the very least, six months," said the doctor The poor girl uttered an involuntary exclamation of dismay ; her lip quivered for a moment with strong emotion, but 1 she controlled her emotion by a ' great effort. " I ought to be very thankful for the hope of being well at all," she said wearily ; " but it seems such a long time to wait." The autumn and winter wore on. Miss Drayton's eyes improved but slowly. It was true that she needed rest, both mentally and physically ; the latter she took of necessity, but the former was beyond her power. To find her way through the glare of the streets was a task so trying that Dr. Roy forbade it, visiting her at home instead. Her heart sank when she thought of the loug bill of charges to come in by-and-bye. There was the piano, as a last resource ; her father's treasured gift. Her jewels had been sold already to defray present emergencies. Mrs. Drayton's watchful and tender eyes could not fail to detect the brightness which Dr. Roy's lingering visits brought into her daughter's pale face. A secret trouble grew at her heart, which she would not for the world have put into spoken words. Must a greater sorrow be in store for the young heart that had wrought so patiently and suffered so nobly 1 y One day the doctor would bring a basket of rare fruit ; another he would j fetch a bunch of hot-house flowers, fra- I grant with geranium and heliotrope ; or a magazine, filled with graphic details of different countries. Indeed, he had ao succeeded in interweaving himself with all her few pleasures,- that it was no wonder if Anna said a dozen times a day, " How kind of him, mamma^ The time came at last when the bright sunshine was allowed to find its way unchecked through the windows. Anna's eyes were not yet strong enough fur painting, but the days of idle darkness wore past. " You will not need me much, longer, Miss Anna," said Dr. Roy, finding her alone one day ; " shall you be glad ?" She did, not reply, but he went on as if he had not noticed her silence. " I have brought you something that I am sure will please you," he said, as he unrolled an engraving. " You have seen the original, Miss. Anna V " Yes, but how did you know V* "The poor student who picked up your bouquet in the Dresden Gajlery has remembered you too well to be mistaken." "Can it be possible?" she cried. "Now, I can understand the strange consciousness I have often had of having seen you somewhere before ! Here is the lost thread wh&h has eluded me so long I"

" Anna," said Dr. Roy softly, <« aince then your face has been with me always It has helped me to overcome the evsa & my nature, and lifted me towards &U ftf& is noble and true. When I g&r yog again, the other day, I dared to fcop% that God had given you to me. Thore, few months of your darkness seem to, have concentrated all the light of my life. Anna, darling, have I presumed too. much?" Doctor Roy's house is rich in paintingand statuary. Connoisseurs go there to, atudy and admire. " Mrs. Roy," said Harry Sutherland^, as he went from wall to wall the otherday, "your husband has mistaken hi% vocation. With his taste he might have, been a great artist." "No, Anna, tell him no," said? Dr, Roy, coming to his wife's side, and draw.-, ing her within the shelter of his arm j " iio immortality on canvas or in marble, could have made up. to me for- the loss oijthe one patient, which I have so often thanked him for sending me, by merit of; my plain profession."-