His Hearts Queen | Page 4

a physician to examine the injuries of the two sufferers.
Mrs. Richardson returned, just about the time that the surgeon arrived,
to find that her only son had been one of the victims of the horrible
tragedy, a rumor of which had reached her while she was out, and that a
strange but lovely girl had also been brought, through mistake, to her
home.

The surgeon turned his attention at once to this beautiful stranger, who,
to all appearance, seemed beyond all human aid; but during his
examination his face suddenly lighted.
"She is not dead," he said; "the shock has only caused suspension of
animation. Her heart beats, her pulse is faint, but regular, and I cannot
find a bruise or a scratch anywhere about her."
He gave her into the hands of some women, who had come in to offer
their services, with directions how to apply the restoratives he
prescribed, and then turned his attention to the son of the house, who
by this time had recovered consciousness and was suffering intense
pain from his injuries.
His mother was bending over him in an agony of anxiety and suspense,
while she strove, in various ways, to relieve his sufferings.
"Wallace--Wallace!" she cried; "how did it happen that you were going
up in that car at this time of the day?"
"I cannot tell you now--some other time," he returned.
Then turning to the surgeon, who entered at that moment, while he
strove to stifle his groans in his anxiety to learn how it fared with the
girl whom he had so bravely tried to save, he asked, eagerly.
"How is she?"
"She is not injured; there is not a bone broken that I can discover, and
she will do well enough unless the shock to her nerves should throw
her into a fever or bring on prostration," the doctor replied.
"Thank Heaven!" murmured the carpenter, and then fainted away
again.
A thorough examination of his condition revealed the fact that two ribs
had been fractured and his left arm broken in two places, while it was
feared that there might be other internal injuries.

All that could be done for him was done at once, and, though weak and
exhausted, he was otherwise comparatively comfortable when the
surgeon got through with him.
He then turned his attention once more to the fair girl in the other room.
"You will have your hands more than full, Mrs. Richardson, with your
son and daughter ill at once," he remarked. "You must have an
experienced nurse to assist you."
"The poor girl is not my daughter; I do not even know who she is," the
woman replied, as she bent over the beautiful stranger with a tender,
motherly face.
"Not your child! Who can she be, then?" her companion inquired, in
surprise.
They searched in her pretty velvet bag, hoping to find her card or some
address; but nothing was found save some car tickets and a generous
sum of money.
The inscription upon her music-roll revealed scarcely more--only the
initials "V. D. H." being engraven upon its silver clasp.
She had recovered consciousness, but still lay so weak and faint that
the surgeon did not think it best to question her just then, and, after
taking one more look at his other patient, he went away to other duties,
but promised to look in upon them again in a couple of hours.
When he did return he found Wallace comfortable and sleeping; but the
young girl was in a high fever and raving with delirium.
"Shall I have her taken to the hospital?" Doctor Norton asked of Mrs.
Richardson. "The care of both patients will be far too much for you,
and her friends will probably find her there before long."
"I cannot bear to let her go," Mrs. Richardson replied, with staring tears.
"She is so young, and has been so delicately reared. I know that she

would have the best of care; still I recoil from the thought of having her
moved. Leave her here for a day or two, and, if my son is comfortable,
perhaps I can take care of her without neglecting him."
Thus it was arranged, and the physician went away thinking that
women like Mrs. Richardson were rare.
Two days later the following advertisement appeared in the Cincinnati
papers:
Wanted, information regarding Miss Violet Draper Huntington, who
left her home, No. ---- Auburn avenue, on Tuesday afternoon, to take a
music lesson in the city. Fears have been entertained that she might
have been one of the victims of the Main street accident, but though her
friends have thoroughly searched the morgue and hospitals, no tidings
of her have as yet been obtained.
Doctor Morton read the above while on his way to visit his