Part 17 (2/2)
The girl's eyes grew bright. ”Oh, we are all doing it. Has Mrs. Morrow told you about the Pioneer Story Club we have formed? Helen suggested it, in a way.” Nathalie was modest, for the suggestion had really come from herself, and also the planning with the aid of Helen's wise head.
”We go down to the colored settlement,” she continued, ”every Sat.u.r.day morning and take turns in telling stories to the little children. Don't you think it a fine idea?” She spoke animatedly.
”Indeed I do, but now for the business.”
”Oh-but please tell me about the operation first!” Nathalie was afraid the doctor intended to put her off. ”Tell me, will d.i.c.k really be good and strong again after he has the operation?”
The doctor gazed at her a moment with serious eyes and then said slowly, ”Yes, Miss Nathalie, I believe that if your brother could have that operation he would be just as well as if this unfortunate accident had not happened.”
”But what makes the operation necessary, and what would you do to him?”
she insistently demanded.
”Well, I am not going to tell you exactly what we would do to him. We shall not make hash of him-”
”Oh, Doctor!” exclaimed Nathalie with a s.h.i.+ver.
”But we will remove an unhealthy bone in his leg and replace it with a new one. I saw an infected finger joint removed the other day and replaced with a joint taken from one of the patient's toes.”
”Oh, Doctor Morrow,” cried the distressed girl, ”you are kidding, as the boys say.”
The doctor shook his head. ”No, some years ago I might have been indulging in a yarn, but surgery has made great strides these last few decades, and cripples nowadays may be restored to health and strength by transplanting entire bones with their joint surfaces. This discovery was announced a short time ago by an eminent surgeon before the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery. Tests were made on dogs first, and the results were so satisfactory that the same methods have since been applied to the human body with like results.
”Hitherto bone transplantation had been attended with great stiffness and lack of power in the members treated, but now an infected hip joint may be removed in the same way, and replaced by healthy bones, and the functions work properly. But, young lady, I came here not to deliver a lecture on the transplantation of bones, but to ask you to do something for me.”
CHAPTER XI-THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER
”Do something for you? Oh, Doctor, I should just love to!” Surprise and pleasure caused Nathalie's eyes to light expectantly. And then, ”Do tell me what it is; perhaps it is something I can't do!” she said doubtfully.
”Oh, you can do it all right,” a.s.serted the doctor confidently.
”Remember the old adage, 'Where there's a will, there's a way.'” His eyes twinkled humorously as he watched the girl's face. ”But let's get at the beginning of things. The other day as I was hastening to my little African friend, Rosy, I heard some one talking to her. I stood still, for it was some one telling the fairy tale of Jack and the Bean Stalk.
”Now when I was a wee laddie,” continued the doctor, ”that fairy tale was the star one to me, so I plead guilty, I was tempted and listened.
And then when I discovered that the Story Lady, as Rosy says, was a sometime friend of mine, I found that old tale doubly interesting. A few days ago, when talking to a patient, I happened to relate this little incident in connection with something else I was telling, and then my troubles began.”
The doctor pretended dismay. ”That lady has a crippled child who rarely goes out, never meets children of her own age, but is compelled a good part of the time to lie on a couch suffering more or less pain. This little girl was injured in an accident which her mother, poor creature, believes was her fault.”
”Oh, how dreadfully she must suffer!” burst from Nathalie involuntarily.
”Yes, I sometimes think the poor mother suffers more than the child. Now this mother, from a mistaken idea, believes it best to keep her child secluded, thinking that the comments of strangers would hurt the child's feelings and cause more suffering. So you see what a miserable life the little one leads. Well, I must cut my tale short-” taking out his watch and glancing at it; ”perhaps it was something I said, I don't know, but this lady asked me if I thought the young lady who was so good at story-telling would be willing to come and amuse her child with stories.
You see I was in for it, but all I could do was to say I would ask her,”
the doctor's eyes sobered, ”for I believe that this Story Lady girl is not only a worth while girl-is that the way my wife puts it when she lectures you?” the doctor's face had wrinkled into a smile again, ”but that she has one of the kindest hearts in the world.”
”Oh, Doctor, Mrs. Morrow never lectures,” answered Nathalie enthusiastically; ”she just talks to us in the sweetest way; we just love to hear her. But, Doctor, why did you not tell the lady I would be only too glad to tell her little girl stories, but if she suffers so much it might tire her.” This was all said in one breath.
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