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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1904)
Young Man Who Finally Won Out -By Edward Marshall (Copyright. lW'L All Rights Reserved, by F. L. Murshull.) fHAITKIt XIX. If close stcrrln was nil that thorp was iici di-d In the navigation nf a ship, nil tho skippers would be women. Thu Log Hook of The Lyddy. IV. few rriofnentM wtdrli fiilluuiil 11 this Interview were most satls- I fHitfrv tti ImiIIi of them: lint the doctor entered the stateroom ho Boon aH to niako them feel Inde finitely resentful of the furt thut he existed. It can hardly be said that he Interrupted them, for they were not even holdlnK one another's hands. Norah had returned to her post of ob servation at the port-hole, and l'arton was loanlnK bark in nix chair with his eyes Closed. Tu both of them It seemed that their love had befcun on Indefinite number of long years In-fore and would go on for an Indefinite number of short years to come. They felt no need to crowd love maklnK Indecorously In, In order that before the end they still should have eaten freely of Its sweets. The doctor looked at them with some surprise. "What," said he, "have you quarrelled?" "Quarrelled? No," said Parton. "I wonder If I diagnosed the case all wrontf, then," replied the doctor, with a speculative look. "Sure, It may be so," said Norali. "All doctors have to ask their patients about their fc-ellngs and their symptoms, before they deride upon their ailments, and, faith, you haven't asked a single question." All three laughed and the doctor looked at l'arton with an amused Interest. "I came with a innNtigc, Miss MacFar ren." said the doctor. "Your futher wants you. I told lil in where you were and sug gested that he might come here to see you; but he did not seem tu want to. I don't want to seem impertinent, but it may be only right for me to tell you that I gathered from whnt he said that lie did not disapprove of the abstract lde i of your acting as a numo; but that he criticised your choice of Invalid." "What lion he said to you?" linked Norah, qulckley. "Ho Is not my father he Is my stepfather. He Is no more a relative of mine than he Is of Henry's, here." "And as I understand it," said the doctor, "he is I'arton's stepfather, too. This Is very interesting. Have you and l'arton figured out what relation you aro to ono another?" "No," said Norah, "we've been too busy to do thut In In calculating the relation that we're going to be." "You see," said Norah, "we've been able to arrange the quarrel our part of It, at ledst, by arbitration; but we'll need a little help from you. It's not exactly professional services that we'll auk of you. You've you've already done so well as a physician that we can't bother you lhat way any more. The the professional services will have to come along another line. It's not the likes of you we're after now; tt'a a doctor of divinity." Parton gasped a bit, and the doctor sat down precipitately on the red plush covered aofu. "You needn't look at me so sore dis tressed," said Norah. "It's not a funeral we wai.t him for." She flamed with her Cheeks and flashed with her eyes at bxth of them. "It's for a wedding." l'arton, richly colored for a slclc man, waa quite speechless against his will. The doctor cat. evidently as happy as moat men ever are. lit. had not had an experience Juit like this before, in spite of his copious contact Uh the traveling and therefore the eccentric public. Ntirau went on. without hesitation, but not without maidenly confusion and re Serve, which was wholly overcome by what she cunstdcied the exlgemiea of an emer gent case. "We've got to talk to some one." she Slid lowly to the doctor. "We might much better talk to' you' than to some other. A little better, even, I'm thinking. Io you mind?" ' The doctor hastened to declare that he did not. "Will you promise that in all your life you'll never tell eeieclally till the episode la passed?" she asked "I'll promise." said the ' doctor. "I'll promise anything that you suggest. Just let ma ia un this, aad I'll talre an oath. Life gets monotonous to us chaps who sail the deep. We're glad to have a change. This la novelty. I ball it With delight." "Now I'm glad nf that," said N;inh. "Then you may go to work for us. Please, first, tell my stepfather that I am busy get ting Mr. l'arton ready to be taken to the shore. Just tell him that he's suffering from a complication that he's troubled with an affection of the heart. Sure, he Is! Tell hlr.i lhat I'll have to go with your pa tient to the hotel where we're going to take him to, and that afterward you neidu't say how long I'M Join him anywhere he says. You'll have to go with us, for we need you as a sympathetic witness, and I'll have to see him afterward In order to get my trunks. Hut don't go Into details, doctor." "Hut," said the doctor, "while all this marrying and giving In marriage is going on. what am I to do with the captain?" "For that." said Norah quickly, "I am willing to delay my wedding, if It were not for him I'm fearing that I might hurry It a bit. Did you think that I was so heart less as to forget the dear old captain? I sent a message to his wife by the tile- "What dc es Mr. MacFarren rnc.in to rlo?" nsked Norah. "How upon earth my mother ever learned to love that man Is more than I can tell; but she could do heaps of things thut no one else could. She was an able woman." "He's talking a good deal about police," the doctor said. "I would have given a month's salary if I could have locked him up while the newspaper men were here on board." "Where is he?" asked Norah. "I believe that he's at the top of the companion way, waiting for you to come up," the doctor said. Norah bent gently over Parton and kissed him on the forehead. "Sure, we won't mind the doctor, dear," she said with a fleeting laugh. "I'll run along and see what can be done with the stem step-parent. Faith, If he bothers me any more, I'll cast him off." She found MacFarren very 111 at ease and anxiously awaiting her. had turned upon. The fact that she waa to be with Parton would keep him satis fied of that young man's whereabouts. And so the matter was allowed to rest. MacFarren turned away. If the poles would uccept his statements, MacFarren Intended to havo him. in a, cell within an hour, so his time with Norah would be brief. He realized that there might be Borne dif ficulty In arranging the urrett so thu.t there should bo no unpleasant after effects. His training as an English barrister had taught him that one must be ciutl us about Invoking the unfamiliar laws of a strange country, as the United States was to him, and that If one ac,ted .hastily there waa always the possibility of reprisal. He Intended to get native advice on thlj point and act accordingly. In the mean time, as he thought It over; he became wholly willing that Parton should get what good he might out of his brlof society witli Norah. It would prevent him from dropping out MACFARREN AROSE AND BARRICADED HIMSELF BEHIND THE TABLE. graph e gent that came on hoard at quaran tine. Che's staying with her married daughter, ao far as I can find out. I read a letter that was In his pocket in order to learn that. It's only aurora the bay from New York City, ao she may get it alnv at In time to meet us when we go to thut hotel you apoke of." "What hotel?" asked the riortor. "The one that's named after a piec of the captain's oath," said Norah. "Sure. I've forgotten which part it was. 'Twas the John hotel, or Quincy House, or maybe It is kept and named by Mr. Adams." "The Qttic.cy House," said the doctor, smiling. "That's the place. It's where I alwaya stay I get -a discount there, and they'll make It for the whole of us. It's not fashionable, but it's comfortable and quiet." "Well, I telegraphed to her to meet u there," said -Norah. "I wish she ooald get there for the ceremony; but Tm afraid that we can't wait. Sure, I never waa In such a hurry to get married In all my life le fore." The doctor suddenly grew serious. . "I've got to say something disagreeable to both of you," he said. "The old man, I ant afraid, will spoil these pleasant plans. He's been talking pretty freely, and I guess he thinks It's not the bands of wedlock that should be put on.Porton's wrists. "I'm afraid that you'll find It In the papers. I've had a dreadful time with the reporter. They got on at quarantine, you know,' and it was only because I waa a cheerful liar that they have not been down to bother you. I told them that Parton was quite too ill to be seen at ail." "Did the doctor tell you that I wanted to see you, Norah?" he asked curtly. "Yes," said she, "he did. And It's a mes sage he'll never bear to you from me." "Norah," said her stepfather, as If maud, "what do you mean?" "I should think that thcre'd be no mis taking me," she said. "Indeed, I tried to speak aa plain as print." They hud walked up to the deck, and MacFarren evidently Intended to turn to the side nearest to the pier, where the passengers were already crowding. "I have all your things ready to be taken from the ship," he said. "I shall put you Into a carriage und send you to a hotel, where I will join you later. I have some matters to attend to which will take some time, although 1 shall probably be able to finish them up by 4 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon." "Will you tell me If they Include any trouble for Mr. Parton?" asked Norah, quietly. "I don't know yet," said MacFarren. "It i:-py do he has brought it on himself." I merely wantod to know," said Norah, "because I have promised the doctor to go to the l-. . I where he Is to take the two sick men nil and of course I should not Want to I f there when when anything dis agreeable harpens." "You'll not go with him," said the o'd man with decision. Then an Idea came to him and he corrected himself. "Or, after all, pre harm you may as we I." iad he. "You can telephone to me, or, brt.er yet. I can telephone to you and go thera to get you when I go to our own hotel." Norah did not fail to tea what his mind of sight before proceedings could bo cot menced. CHAPTER XX. It's Just when we feel certain est that wo know where we're ateerin' to that we find that mom one's worked a pocket magnet on our compose. The Log Book rf The Lyddy. MacFarren left the ship among the first of the departing passengers. Norah, Par ton and the doctor, tenderly caring for ths captain, who was evidently conscious of what was going on to some extent, al though he made no effort at all to speak, were the very last to go. At the hotel they made the captain aa comfortable as possible. The ship's doctor summoned other physicians by telephone, and none of the pressing business which was in. hand was discussed until they had arrived and begun their examination. At about the time the first superficial survey of the old sailor's case had Veen made by the medical men the ship's doctor waa called into the hall by a grinning bellboy. He returned to tell Norah nr.d Parton that a clergyman waa waiting in the parlor to perform tho ceremony. "He knows me." said the doctor, "and knows that it's all right If I say so. Ha crosses by our line every season, and I always make him a little more com fortable on the ship than his passage money calls for. And say, before we see the parson, I ought to tell you that I havo ake4 him to stay and eat with us. I've ordered It. It will be all right" Parton started to protest. He kr.ew that ahlp's physicians were not men with large Incomes as a general thing, and he feared mai mis eninusiaatie young man