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PAGE NO. THIRTEEN, WARD THIRTEEN 1 HADLEY'S CAVE 22 THE YOUNG HEIRESS 29 DR. IZARD 45 NOCTURNAL WANDERINGS 71 THE PORTRAIT 92 WHAT THE STROKE OF A BELL CAN DO 97 THE HOUSE ON THE HILL 114 ASK DR. IZARD 125 AN INCREDIBLE OCCURRENCE 136 FACE TO FACE 145 AT HOME 152 A TEST 157 GRACE 167 THE SMALL, SLIGHT MAN 186 THE LETTER 206 MIDNIGHT AT THE OLD IZARD PLACE 220 A DECISION 230 TO-MORROW 237 DR. IZARD'S LAST DAY IN HAMILTON 251
DOCTOR IZARD.
A MIDNIGHT VISITANT.
NO. THIRTEEN, WARD THIRTEEN.
IT was after midnight. Quiet had settled over the hospital, and in Ward 13 there was no sound and scarcely a movement. The nurse, a strong and beautiful figure, had fallen into a reverie, and the two patients, which were all the ward contained, lay in a sleep so deep that it seemed to foreshadow the death which was hovering over them both.
They were both men. The one on the right of the nurse was middle-aged; the one on the left somewhat older. Both were gaunt, both were hollow-eyed, both had been given up by the doctors and attendants. Yet there was one point of difference between them. He on the left, the older of the two, had an incurable complaint for which no remedy was possible, while he on the right, though seemingly as ill as his fellow, was less seriously affected, and stood some chance of being saved if only he would arouse from his apathy and exert his will toward living. But nothing had as yet been found to interest him, and he seemed likely to die from sheer inanition. It is through this man's eyes that we must observe the scene which presently took place in this quiet room.
He had been lying, as I have said, in a dreamless sleep, when something--he never knew what--made him conscious of himself and partially awake to his surroundings. He found himself listening, but there was no sound; and his eyes, which he had not unclosed for hours, slowly opened, and through the shadows which encompassed him broke a dim vision of the silent ward and the sitting figure of the weary nurse. It was an accustomed sight, and his eyes were softly re-closing when a sudden movement on the part of the nurse roused him again to something like interest, and though his apathy was yet too great for him to make a movement or utter a sound, he perceived, though with dim eyes at first, that the door at the other end of the ward had slowly opened, and that two men were advancing down the room to the place where the nurse stood waiting in evident surprise to greet them. One was the hospital doctor, and on him the sick man cast but a single glance; but the person with him was a stranger, and upon him the attention of the silent watcher became presently concentrated, for his appearance was singular and his errand one of evident mystery.
There was but one light in the room, and this was burning low, so that the impression received was general rather than particular. He saw before him a medium-sized man who sought to hide his face from observation, though this face was already sufficiently shielded by the semi-darkness and by the brim of a large hat which for some reason he had omitted to remove. Around his shoulders there hung a cloak of an old-fashioned type, and as he approached the spot where the nurse stood, his form, which had shown some dignity while he was advancing, contracted itself in such a fashion that he looked smaller than he really was.
The physician who accompanied him was the first to speak.
"Is No. Twelve asleep?" he asked.
The nurse bowed slightly, half turning her head as she did so.
The watching man was No. Thirteen, not No. Twelve, but his eyes shut at the question, perhaps because he was still overcome by his apathy, perhaps because his curiosity had been aroused and he feared to stop events by betraying his interest in them.
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