O. Henryana: Seven Odds and Ends, Poetry and Short StoriesHenry, O.
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O. Henryana: Seven Odds and Ends, Poetry and Short Stories
Henry, O.
American fiction; American poetry; American wit and humor; Short stories, American
"Oh, dear!" sighed Annabel, "I've a Beall arm and a Rankin arm, then.
Well, I can use one hand at a time, anyway. People won't notice it as
they did before. Oh, what an annoyance those feuds were, to be sure!
It seems to me they should make laws against them."
Doctor Prince looked inquiringly at Professor Adami. That gentleman
shook his head. "Another day," he said. "I prefer not to establish the
condition at a lesser interval than two or three days."
So, three days afterward they returned, and the professor replaced
Miss Rankin under control. This time there was, apparently, perfect
success. She came forth from the trance, and with full muscular
powers. She walked the floor with a sure, rhythmic step. She played
several difficult selections upon the piano, the hands and arms moving
with propriety and with allied ease. Miss Rankin seemed at last to
possess a perfectly well-ordered physical being as well as a very
grateful mental one.
A week afterward there wafted into Doctor Prince's office a youth,
generously gilded. The hallmarks of society were deeply writ upon him.
"I'm Ashburton," he explained; "T. Ripley Ashburton, you know. I'm
engaged to Miss Rankin. I understand you've been training her for some
breaks in her gaits--" T. Ripley Ashburton caught himself. "Didn't
mean that, you know--slipped out--been loafing around stables quite a
lot. I say, Doctor Prince, I want you to tell me. Candidly, you know.
I'm awful spoons on Miss Rankin. We're to be married in the fall. You
might consider me one of the family, you know. They told me about the
treatment you gave her with the--er--medium fellow. That set her up
wonderfully, I assure you. She goes freely now, and handles her
fore--I mean you know, she's over all that old trouble. But there's
something else started up that's making the track pretty heavy; so I
called, don't you understand."
"I had not been advised," said Doctor Prince, "of any recurrence of
Miss Rankin's indisposition."
T. Ripley Ashburton produced a silver cigarette-case and contemplated
it tenderly. Receiving no encouragement, he replaced it in his pocket
with a sigh.
"Not a recurrence," he said, thoughtfully, "but something different.
Possibly I'm the only one in a position to know. Hate to discuss
it--reveal Cupid's secrets, you know--such a jolly low thing to
do--but suppose the occasion justifies it."
"If you possess any information or have observed anything," said
Doctor Prince, judicially, "through which Miss Rankin's condition
might be benefited, it is your duty, of course, to apply it in her
behalf. I need hardly remind you that such disclosures are held as
secrets on professional honour."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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