Walda | Page 7

stretcher upon which lay the unconscious form of an old man.
"Wilhelm Kellar hath been stricken with a sudden illness," said the school-master. "The apothecary hath worked over him and cannot restore him. Will not the Herr Doktor send for a physician?"
"The nearest chirurgeon is eight miles away," re plied Adolph Schneider. "Let the apothecary bleed Brother Kellar as soon as he is taken to his bed."
Seeing that the man was emaciated and had no blood to lose, Everett stepped forward.
"I am a physician," he said. "I will do what I can."
He directed the crowd to fall back so that the sick man could have more air, and helped to carry the stretcher into an upper room of the school-house.

III

IN an upper room of the school-house Wilhelm Kellar lay upon a high-post bedstead that was screened by chintz curtains drawn back so that the air could reach him. His thin, wan face looked old and drawn as it rested on a feather pillow. He was comfortable, he let Everett know, when the physician went to visit him early in the morning after the seizure. His tongue refused to frame the words he tried to utter, but his eyes showed his gratitude. Everett took a seat in the heavy wooden chair at the foot of the bed, which stood in a little alcove. Beyond the alcove the main room stretched out beneath the roof, which gave it many queer corners. Rows of books partially hid one wall. In one corner a high chest of drawers held a pair of massive silver candlesticks. An old desk with a sloping top occupied a little nook lighted by a diamond window; here were quill-pens and bottles of colored ink. This upper room, occupied jointly by Wilhelm Kellar and Gerson Brandt, bore the impress of the school-master, who waited now, leaning on the back of an old wooden arm-chair polished with much use.
"He will be much better," said Everett. "He may recover from the paralysis, but it will be a long time before he leaves his room."
Behind the curtains there was something like a groan. The sick man tried to say something, but neither Everett nor Brandt could understand him. Suddenly his eyes looked past them, and there was a smile on his face. Walda entered the outer room and came to her father, kneeling down beside him, apparently unaware that there was any one except them selves present.
"Art thou better, father?" she asked, in the softest tone, and then, burying her white-capped head in the pillow beside him, she murmured something in a low voice. Everett and Gerson Brandt left the two to gether and went into the larger room, where the physician began to prepare some medicine. Presently Walda's voice was heard in prayer. The two men waited reverently until the last petition, uttered with the fervency of great faith, had died away.
"The daughter loveth her father; she hath a true heart," said the school-master. He turned to the little window and looked out. Everett, who was distributing powders among a lot of little papers, went on with his work without making reply. The old hour-glass on the high chest of drawers had measured several minutes before any word was spoken. Then it was Mother Kaufmann who broke the silence, She entered the room with a heavy step, and with a "Good-day, Brother Brandt," stood for a few moments studying Everett.
"Where is Walda?" she asked. Gerson Brandt made a little gesture towards the alcove.
"She hath no right to come here alone," the woman replied, with a frown. "She is my care, and she hath done a foolish act. I shall forbid her to leave the House of the Women without me."
"Walda was drawn hither by anxiety concerning her father," said Gerson Brandt. "Thou wilt not wound her by a reprimand, Sister Kaufmann?"
The woman went near to him and spoke in guttural German some words that Everett could not catch, but from her furtive looks and glances he knew she was talking of him.
Walda passed through the room. Everett raised his eyes and they met the girl's glance. Then he bent his head in deferential recognition of her presence. It was only a second that each had gazed at the other, but the man from the outside world felt a heart-throb. He spilled the powder on the table cloth, and after he had brushed it off he hastily took up his hat. He went down-stairs, Gerson Brandt and Mother Kaufmann following him to ask about his patient. The three stood in the little porch talking of Wilhelm Kellar. From the garden, Walda, who stood among the flowers, watched them as if she would hear every word. Involuntarily she was drawn to the little group.
"Thou wilt tell me the truth about my father," she said, addressing