One evening the man she was with--a good-looking and unusually
interesting young chap--suddenly said:
"What a heart action you have got! Let me listen to that again."
"Is it all wrong?" asked Susan, as he pressed his ear against
her chest.
"You ask that as if you rather hoped it was."
"I do--and I don't."
"Well," said he, after listening for a third time, "you'll
never die of heart trouble. I never heard a heart with such a
grand action--like a big, powerful pump, built to last forever.
You're never ill, are you?"
"Not thus far."
"And you'll have a hard time making yourself ill.
Health? Why, your health must be perfect. Let me see." And
he proceeded to thump and press upon her chest with an
expertness that proclaimed the student of medicine. He was all
interest and enthusiasm, took a pencil and, spreading a sheet upon
her chest over her heart, drew its outlines. "There!" he cried.
"What is it?" asked Susan. "I don't understand."
The young man drew a second and much smaller heart within the
outline of hers. "This," he explained, "is about the size of
an ordinary heart. You can see for yourself that yours is
fully one-fourth bigger than the normal."
"What of it?" said Susan.
"Why, health and strength--and vitality--courage--hope--all
one-fourth above the ordinary allowance. Yes, more than a
fourth. I envy you. You ought to live long, stay young until
you're very old--and get pretty much anything you please.
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