The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1879-03-20
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and without moments hesitation We

ppite the signs Of hardship aud sorrow
visible on her features, very beautiful.
Her form was slight and even attenuated,
but. in ito shabby dress preserved traces
of former refinement.
"Her companion, young man Of her
own age, attired in wood-mans suit,
had evidently succumbed to hardships
or disease, and was either insensible or
dead. His pinched and ghastly counte-
nance must have been once very hand
some, but now it looked old and worn a.
that Of q man of sixty. He had apparent
ly fallen in the present position, and the
girl had been unable to raise him.
my friend, the Doctor" continued the
worthy Professor, "surely uncouth and
cynical AZ be commonly appears, has as
kind a heart a. ever beat in mans breast
no fattery, my dear fellow, for it must
be confessed that you have faults that
more than counterbalance your one good
trait. Well. gentlemen, he bent over the
Door creature, and in voice as gentle as
a woman's, endeavored to arouse the girl
from her 'ethargy.
"'Who are you?' said he, and what has
happenedr
".He is dead-dead!'. abe mutterd,
hoarsely.- =: a - :,,-.-
"'Perhaps it is not as bad as that he
rejoined. Tell us all about it. We are
friends, my dear, and medical men, and
may be able to assist YOU.
"'He died this morning, before my
very eyes, she moaned; died, oh. my
Godl of starvation. And never knew
he was depriving himself for my sake.
o, my husband! why did you not let me
die with your And she threw herself
across the body, sobbing IS if her poor
heart would break. There were tears in
the Doctors eyes as he looked at me-"
added the Professor, with a tremor in
his voice, land the rascal has always
sworn that my own were not dry. That,
however, is aside from the subject.
"Though we knew nothing Of these
two poor children-for they were but
little more-we felt that we had CHANGED
upon strange story Of love, pride and
suffering, such as is rarely told, even i'll
this unhappy world:
1.-THE Doctor stopped down and felt at
the beart of the PROSTATE man.
"'He is dead;' he whispered, motion
ing me to initiate his example.
"'Yes, Dead I replied after examin-
ing the corpse.
"How We made the truth known to the
poor wife I do not remember. It would
seem that she had preserved some faint
remnant of hope until our assistance
destroyed it utterly. With low groan
she fell suddenly at our feet insensible,
Although we were at q loss what course
to pursue, we felt it no more than our
duty to remain in the hut for the night,
and on the morning to make the best
arrangements for the poor girls comfort
that were possible.
'Fortunately the Doctor had his medi.
cal case in his pocket. Administering a
powerful sleeping potion to her he placed
her in happy Inconsistencies Of the
events that we're to follow. We then pro.
ceeded to more careful examination OF
the man.
"Without vanity I can say that both
the Doctor and myself have received
some few testimonials as to our scientific
ability from the world. You will prob
ably believe that we are capable of decld.
ing upon very simple case of death by
starvation2' BE paused, and looked
gravely around. very good remember
then. that assert upon my professional
reputation that the man was stone dead.
"'Yes,' added the doctor, who had
hitherto remained silent, the life must
have been extinct more that five
hnurs when we fOund him.
"'Well,' continued the professor, with
increasing gravity, having satisfied our
selves upon this point, we covered the
corpse decently and sat down to wait for
morning. Though in no mood for con-
versation, the startling experience of the
evening kept US both awake for several
hours. But at length. completely over
come By WEAKNESS and excitement, fell
into light slumber.
"Almost Immediately, it seemed, I
was awakened with shock. The doc.
tor was bending over me with an express
sion of wonder and alarm upon his face.
Wake up he said, in troubled
whisper. Something very strange has
been going on in this room for many
minutes past
"'What is it," asked. Il thought I
heard some one speaking.'
"'You did, he replied. Il have dis.
tinctly heard voice close beside US, yet
| there is no one in the room except our.
selves and these two Door people.
"'Perhaps the woman has been talki1e
in her Sleep suggested, or it may be
that the man is not dead, after all.
"'No, have looked to both,' he re-
turned. 'One sleeps soundly, and the
other will never speak again in this
world. So satisfy YOURSELF
III arose, and trimming the lamp, pro.
ceeded first to the couch where the girl
lay. She at least could not have spoken
for all her senses we're locked in pro
found stupor. then examined thu
corpse, and found it a. we had left it, ex
cept the features were more shrunken and
sallow than before. No voice could have
come from those rigid lips. Concluding
tat We had both dreamed or had mis-
taken some nocturnal cry for the human
voice, 1 replaced the light and was abou
to resume my seat. when my movement,
were arrested by very singular voice
"'There it's again!' muttered the Doc
tor, agitatedly.
"A low, confused murmur, resembling
nothing that ! had ever heard before
arose in the room, and seemed to clrcu
late in the air for an instant and dice
away. Again it rose, coming from :.
point over our heads, and gradually de
scending until 1t appeared to emanat,
from some invisible source Immediately
beside US. I know of nothing Will
with which to compare the information
except it may be the articulation of tn,
telephone. or that of ventriloquist.
"rhe first words We caught were, %
my poor wifel'
ut would be impossible to describ'
the effect that these words produced up
on US. It was not 30 much the tone
weird and uncanny as it was, as the start
ling significance of the words that amazed
US.
"Who could have spoken them but tn
husband of the woman lying stupefet
upon the couch2 Yet he had been deat
for many hours. Full of repugnance o