The Argosy — page 37: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Monsizur Silvain'’s Secret. 27 ‘He couldn’t get out of the way quickly enough, and the horses knocked him down,” someone explained, and other voices in the. crowd echoed the words with a murmur of regret and compassion. The next moment a policeman approached, and after a few briet enquiries, which Maurice answered, peremptorily dispersed the lookers- on, and hailed a passing carriage, giving the order, “To the Hotel- Dieu.” The injured man having been carefully lifted in, Renée and Maurice followed, and the carriage drove rapidly along the Quai de V Horloge to the axcient hospital which looks down upon the Seine. Pere Joyeux, still unconscious, was at once carried to the accident ward, while Maurice and Renée waited to learn the surgeon’s opinion of his injuries. After what seemed an interminable interval, one ot the hospital Sisters appeared and beckoned to Renée. ““He has regained consciousness and asks for you,” she said. ** Pardon, monsieur,” she added, as Maurice was about to follow, “ he wishes to speak to Mademoiselle alone.” The girl’s heart beat fast with some vague expectation which she could not define, as she followed her guide along an echoing stone corridor to the accident ward, a long narrow apartment lighted by half-blocked windows high in the wall, which admitted the last pale gleam of daylight. A tall stove stood in the middle of the ward, and on each side was a row of pallet-beds, most of which were occupied. The latest arrival had been placed in one near the door, sheltered by a screen. The surgeon, who was bending over him, straightened himself as they approached, and looked at Renée. “Ts he seriously hurt ?” she asked, in an anxious whisper. ‘* He is dying,” was the grave reply. ‘He has sustained internal injuries which leave no hope of recovery.” He drew back as he spoke, to allow her to approach the bed, but after one glance at its occupant she recoiled with a stifled cry of astonishment. The face on the pillow, though familiar to her, was not that of “ Pere Joyeux.” “You are surprised at the change in his appearance ?” the surgeon remarked in an undertone; “he had been wearing a false beard, and without it he looks quite a different man. It is possible that he —_ 9) He left the sentence unfinished, as his patient moved uneasily, attempting to raise himself from the pillows. “Ts she there?” the latter asked faintly. When Renée advanced, a sudden light irradiated his face ; he put out his hand to her witha smile. ‘“‘ A happy New Year, my little lady!” The girl mechanically gave him her hand, looking at him as one in a dream. ‘Monsieur Silvain,” she breathed, in a low tone of questioning wonder. He glanced significantly at the doctor, who, understanding the look, gave him a kindly nod and vanished behind the screen. — comicbooks.com