The doctor explained. "We were afraid to move him--till you came. In
fact, he wouldn't let me move him. If you say so now, we will take him
up." With these words the watchers shifted their responsibility to her
shoulders, uttering sighs of deep relief. Whatever happened now, Mart's
will had been secured. At her command they lifted the table on which her
husband lay, and the wife walked beside it, unheeding the throngs of
silent men walling her path. Every one made way for her, waited upon
her, eager to serve her, partly because she was Marshall Haney's wife,
but more because of her youth and the brave heart which looked from her
clear and candid eyes.
She showed no hesitation now, gave out no word of weakness; on the
contrary, she commanded with certainty and precision, calling to her aid
all that the city afforded. Not till she had summoned the best surgeons
and was sure that everything had been done that could be done did she
permit herself to relax--or to think of rest or her mother.
When she had sunk to sleep upon a couch beside her husband's bed,
Williams, with a note of deep admiration, demanded of the surgeon:
"Ain't she a little Captain? Mart can't die now, can he? He's got too
much to live for."
CHAPTER VI
THE HANEY PALACE
One day early in the following summer a tall, thin man, with one
helpless side, entered the big luminous hall of the Antlers Hotel at the
Springs, upheld by a stalwart attendant, and accompanied by a
sweet-faced, calm-lipped young woman. This was Marshall Haney and his
young wife Bertha, down from the mountain for the first time since his
illness, and those who knew their story and recognized them, stood aside
with a thrill of pity for the man and a look of admiration for the girl,
whose bravery and devotion had done so much to bring her husband back to
life and to a growing measure of his former strength.
Marshall Haney was, indeed, but a poor hulk of his stalwart self. One
lung had been deeply torn, his left shoulder was almost wholly disabled,
and he walked with a stoop and shuffle; but his physical weakening was
not more marked than his mental mellowing. He was softened--"gentled,"
as the horsemen say. His eyes were larger, and his face, once so stern
and masterful, gave out an appealing expression by reason of the deep
horizontal wrinkles which had developed in his brow. He had grown a
mustache, and this being gray gave him an older look--older and more
military. It was plain, also, that he leaned upon his keen-eyed,
impassive little wife, who never for one moment lost her hold upon
herself or her surroundings. Her flashing glances took note of
everything about her, and her lips were close-set and firm.
Williams, ugly and wordless as ever, followed them with a proud smile
till they entered the handsome suite of rooms which had been reserved
for them. "There's nothing too good for Marshall Haney and his
side-partner," he exulted to the bell-boy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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