"
"There is something singular about that party at Mr. and Mrs.
Birtwell's, added Doctor Hillhouse, after a pause. I hardly know
what to make of it."
"Singular in what respect?" asked the other.
The face of Doctor Hillhouse grew more serious:
"You know Mr. Ridley, the lawyer? He was in Congress a few years
ago."
"Yes."
"He was very intemperate at one time, and fell so low that even his
party rejected him. He then reformed and came to this city, where he
entered upon the practice of his profession, and has been for a year
or two advancing rapidly. I attended his wife a few days ago, and
saw her yesterday afternoon, when she was continuing to do well.
There were some indications of excitement about her, though whether
from mental or physical causes I could not tell, but nothing to
awaken concern. This morning I found her in a most critical
condition. Puerperal fever had set in, with evident extensive
peritoneal involvement. The case was malignant, all the abdominal
viscera being more or less affected. I learned from the nurse that
Mr. Ridley was away all night, and that Mrs. Ridley, who was
restless and feverish through the evening, became agitated and
slightly delirious after twelve o'clock, talking about and calling
for her husband, whom she imagined dying in the storm, that now
raged with dreadful violence. No help could be had all night; and
when we saw her this morning, it was too late for medicine to
control the fatal disease which was running its course with almost
unprecedented rapidity.
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