Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/213

 *ease and he coughed but little, and that weakly. The beard upon his face hid to some extent the terrible emaciation, but the chalky pallor of the swarthy skin was sharp and startling. He dozed at times, but never seemed to lose consciousness. He did not suffer physically. There was nothing to fight against now but the lassitude of utter exhaustion, and this the doctors—Munn and Janeway—did with the most powerful stimulants, thus prolonging life by a few hours, but doing no good that could be measured.

Several times during the night it was thought that he was going, and the family were hastily summoned to the bedside. But he rallied each time with wonderful vitality, and his will remained strong and under control to the last.

Those in the house besides the medical attendants and nurses were the children—George J. Gould, who is already enthroned as his father's successor in business; Edwin, the second son; Helen Miller Gould, the young heiress, who was the apple of her father's eye; Howard, who is just coming into manhood; the schoolgirl daughter Anna and the youthful Frank, with Mrs. George Gould, Mrs. Edwin Gould and a lady intimately connected with the family.

Daylight brought an apparent renewal of the lease of life. It was not much of a rally, but it was enough to give hope that the invalid would struggle along through a great part of the day. Windows were raised and curtains drawn in parts of the