The story of Don Miff : $b as told by his friend John Bouche Whacker: a symphony of lifeDabney, Virginius
History
The story of Don Miff : $b as told by his friend John Bouche Whacker: a symphony of life
Dabney, Virginius
Richmond (Va.) -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
“Oh, yes,” said he, “I shall be all right in the morning.” But, opening
his eyes wide, he began to stare around the room. “Where am I? This is
not my room,” said he, with rather a wild look; and he tried to rise on
his elbow, but fell back with an expression of pain on his face, closed
his eyes, and lay motionless for a little while. Presently he opened
them again. “I don’t know this room!” And his eyes ranged up and down
and from face to face with a sort of glare. Mrs. Carter gave us an
anxious look. She arose, and, drawing her chair alongside the bed, began
passing her fingers through his hair. Immediately the wild look passed
out of his eyes, and his face was suffused with a smile of infantile
sweetness.
“You must keep quiet,” said Mrs. Carter.
“Yes,” said he, simply.
Suddenly he started up with staring eyes, and cried out, “There they
come! There they come! Molly! Take Laura! Molly! Quick! Quick! Get out
of the way! Ah! I missed ’em!” and he fell back with a groan.
Just then the doctor entered. Mrs. Carter touched her head.
“That’s nothing!” replied the doctor, in a cheery voice. He was a large
man, with a large head, covered not so much with auburn hair as with a
tawny mane. His face, too, was leonine in its strength, and his step
light and springy; and he came into a sick-room with an air which seemed
to say that when he entered by the door disease had to fly out by the
way of the window, or else he would know the reason why. He walked
straight up to the sufferer and placed his hand upon his forehead. The
Don gave him a perplexed look, which passed away, however, when the
doctor began to feel his pulse. The firm and confident look of the
doctor seemed to give the patient control of his faculties.
“Your head aches?”
“Badly.”
“Of course. Any pain elsewhere?”
“Whenever I move there are excruciating pains in my right side.”
“We must look into that. Mrs. Carter, you will please retire. By the
way, please send me one of Mr. Carter’s night-shirts. We will now
undress you,” said he to the Don, “and see what’s wrong with that right
side of yours. Then we shall tuck you away snugly in bed, and you will
wake up to-morrow a new man.”
“Thanks,” said the Don, smiling in sympathy with the cheerful tone of
his physician.
The examination over, the doctor wrote his prescriptions, and, before
taking his leave, suggested that one of us should sit up with the
patient, as his flightiness was likely to return during the night, while
the other made himself comfortable on a lounge till he was needed as a
relief. Giving us his final directions, he left the room; but no sooner
had he emerged into the upper hall than he was surrounded by Mrs. Carter
and the three girls, Mary having decided to pass the night with her
friends.
“Is he badly hurt?”
“Yes, badly.”
“Dangerously?”
“His body is black and blue; there is an ugly lump on the back of his
head, and—”
“And what?”
“He has three ribs broken.”
“Oh!” cried the girls in unison.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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