The Upturned Glass Page #2

I won't be a minute.

For all his air of

quiet confidence,

the surgeon who is about tooperate is

often as nervous as a prima donna.

This was exaggerated in the present caseby

thefeverish devotion ofthe child's mother,

which had conveyed

itselftoMichaelJoyce,

and robbed him of

that cold detachment,

which is a doctor's

greatest strength.

Never before had

he been so acutely aware

ofthe identity ofthe piece ofhuman

material he was working on

as he took the scalpel

and made thefirst incision

and his assistant handed him

the artery forceps.

Stations on.

There were no

complications at all.

The child took the

anesthetic easily,

and the foreign body was located

and successfully removed.

A chiefsufferer, ofcourse,

was the wretched woman who had been pacingup

and down the waiting room for two hours.

She broke down as soon asMichaelJoyce

came in and made his report

and only

pulled herselftogether

when she remembered,

rather guiltily,

the promise she'd made to Ann to stay

with her throughout theoperation.

She was anxious to get back to her

before she came out ofthe anesthetic.

There was another woman

in the room with her,

whom she introduced as her

sister-in-law, aMrs.KatherineHoward,

a rather overdressed young lady

who seemed to have very little

interest in Ann 's welfare.

They had to wait some weeks to

find out whether theoperation

had actually succeeded

in saving Ann 'seyesight.

Meanwhile, they shared the daily

uncertainties and anxieties.

EmmaWright depended more and more on

thefeeling of confidence, which had gave her.

And when it became obvious that

Ann was on her way to recovery,

she was tremendously

grateful to him,

afeeling whichMichael

Joyce did not mistake,

but he knew that his own interest in

her was greater than it should be.

Without admitting

it to himself

he began to dread the day when

the job would be completed,

the day ofthe

final examination,

after which Ann and her mother would

return to their home in the country.

Ann and I went to the

pictures last night.

The first time

for over a year.

It was all colored.

Well, I don't suppose

we shall see you again.

I hope you will.

I hope so, too.

Not professionally, of course.

The sun's come out, Mommy.

We'll go into the

park, shall we?

Goodbye.

Are you really

going to the park?

Yes. Why?

Do you mind if I go with you?

Of course not.

But oughtn't you should tell

someone you're going out?

I'll tell them

when I get back,

and then there can be

no mistake about it.

He should have said goodbye when their

relationship came to its natural conclusion,

but

he couldn 't bring himselfto.

She represented all ofthe things

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