The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-05

Even so would q corpse look which had
murdered not only bodies, but brains,
hearts and souls. Even so would such
eyes look as are the phantom windows Of
some soul in hell. I am not exaggerat-
ing. I have called this one Of those
faces which are absolutely plain to read !;
and to see such face, and such figure
so costumed, behind bank counter, was
startling enough to make every least de-
tail of expression fix itself In the mem
Ory.
The sunken, hungry, desperate, deadly
eyes looked like the reservoirs of the fire
by which the flesh of the body was being
slowly consumed. The clothes hung
loosely, as if they had been made for a
much taller and stouter wearer. To
judge Of the rest by the head, they might
have covered corpse half way on the
road to being skeleton, which the grave
worms had already half devoured. Every
now and then livid flush fitted over
the ashiness of the gray.
How the well-dressed young clerk at
the middle of the desk could bear to
have such suggestive incarnation of
deadly sin 'unrepented of, but self-de-
vouring, at his elbow, I could not under
stand. / had only time to notice two
more details when the eyes attracted me
again with g look q sunutterable famine.
The first was very remarkable scar,
something in the shape Of the letter Y
the stem descending down to the left
cheek, one limb branching diagonally
across the forehead and the other
stretching nearly to the highest point of
the ear. The color Of this scar was of a
reddish purple. The second note was of
dress only. IT was a brooch used to fas-
ten the voluminous cambria neckcloth,
made Of gold, and Of q fashion such as
| have never seen elsewhere. An oblong
frame, slightly convex, and set all round
with small seed-pearls, held glass in
the place Of stone; under the glass was
a twisted lock of reddish-brown hair, fas-
tened with a true lovers knot of pearls
like those in the setting, and with an
"A"on one side in like pearls and an III"
on the other. 4.
I should certainly have chosen$to re-
ceive my cash from the other clerk; but
he was busy at the moment making en-
tries, and presently my check was in the
thin dead-white fingers Of the strange
and evil-looking cashier who had attract
ed me. Surely, thought, appearances
must be indeed deceitful if fingers be-
longing to such fendish face az that are
trusted by the corporation of the Bank
of England. +tl
"How will you take itT' asked he, in
q hoarse, vague voice, without any
strength or tone. "Short or long"
, I never heard even dying voice at the
last gasp express such utter abandon
ment to weariness of being. Before I
could answer such mere routine ques-
tion I had topass my hand over my eyes to
make sure l was not looking atand listen
ing to figure in dream, or rather in a
nightmare. The reason was that, in a
dream, one hears with the inner ear only; ;
and it was 10 that I seemed to hear this
mans Glow will you tahe iti Short or
longT'
But it was certainly not dream.
. With my outer ears I heard the ticking
of the clock and the scratching of many
quilts. My hand was still passing over
my closed eyes while I answered, II will
take it in one note if you please"
I Iheard light crisp rustic. / opened
my eyes dreamily. They fell upon clean
bank.note lying before me At the edge Of
the counter. The very repulsion ! felt
drew me to look up from the note to the
cashier; but he had left the desk; and the
same feeling Of repulsion which had forced
my eyes from his while he was stand
ing close to me kept them from follow
ing him now that he was gone.
But the other clerk at the center Of
the desk was still at his place; and / fam
cied that, while / took up my note, he
eyed nae rather curiously. He had no
doubt, however, been too much absorbed
in his entries to notice that my business
was already done; at any rate he half
held cut his hand as II to attend to me.
t"Thank you, ! have been attended to-"
said. 1 and he, having looked round him
az we'll as at me little oddly and ab.
sently, returned TO the books before him.
] took out my pocket-book and began TO
fold up the note to stow II away safely
in one Of the divisions. As I did 20 the
note seemed to double of itself cross-
ways, as If it had been already slightly
creased in one direction; but |. was too
completely unversed in the routine Of
the Bank Of England to take any special
heed Of 20 seemingly slight and to me 80
meaningless circumstance just then. <.
But most certainly while I had to
bring It into i new fold one way, it
seemed to fall eressways into q natural
fold; and that Is a great desl more singu.
lar than it sounds, as anybody who is
fortunate enough to possess the materials
may learn by experiment, 90 long as he
Is sure that the notes he experiments
with are new. IT,. r.. a1ris7l ~. ' ..'.-.
But--well, after all, the whole trans
action came simply to this: that my
check had been duly paid byDa very sin
gular.looking man, to whom should
have very decidedly objected in the ca
pacity of q fellow-clerk, but whose fin.
gers were fully as good to receive d
Thousand pounds from o. If they had
Il. L =