Thoroughly alarmed, Mr. World called for help while he supported her with his arm.
“It seems strange,” gasped Miss Church-Member in a brief interval of relief, “that, with all the pure air along this way and the variety of things to engage my attention, I should be seized, at shortening intervals, with these cruel and unbearable heart-pangs. Oh, that I might be free from this intruder’s grasp! What shall I do? Where shall I go? I feel again the edge of the invisible blade!”
At this she threw her arms upward and, shrieking in agony, was about to fall as she was caught by Mr. World.
“Let us hurry her off to the nearest hospital,” promptly suggested one of the bystanders who had responded to the call for help. An ambulance carried the fainting Miss Church-Member to one of Satan’s hospitals near by.
An ambulance carried the fainting Miss Church-Member to one of Satan’s hospitals near by.
The chief physician ordered the apparently lifeless form to be taken at once to an examination room, granting Mr. World the privilege of remaining by the side of his suffering friend. A quick investigation disclosed the fact that Miss Church-Member had been overcome by a partial paralysis of the heart, induced by intense mental anxiety dating from the time when she had passed through the Valley of Conviction.
“Not a serious case,” said the suave doctor in reply to a question from the anxious Mr. World. “An operation will take away, almost entirely, the cause of this trouble.”
“Will you not explain to me the trouble, and the nature of the operation?” nervously asked Mr. World.
“Certain nerves which ramify through the human heart have been affected emotionally by the nonsensical teachings of the King’s Highway. These teachings are commonly known us ‘Narrow-Gauge Ideas.’ If these nerves are rendered insensible, there is scarcely any trouble of that kind again. We can, by an intricate operation, paralyze the mother-nerve leading to the heart, and thereafter you may expect to find the heart of this woman almost dead to the foolish influences that needlessly send conviction and remorse into so many lives.”