The Iola register., 1886-01-01

L
I. would be q matter Of great difficulty Q
long as he remained in his preser
state Of mind; SO long As !. doctor q
some standing. could go into the vii
! ness-box and swear 20 his unity. Bu
my old dread was always with meth
: dread that any further shock woul
Overturn the balance of his sepsitiy
. mind.
So it was that every hour that Car
riston was out of my sight was fraugh
with anxiety. II Ralph Cayriston wa
really as unscrupulous a. my frien,
I.supposed; if he had really. IS SCENE,
almost probable, suborned our agent
he might BY some crafty trick obtail
the needful certificate, and some day
should come home and find Garrison
had been removed. In such case
foresaw great trouble and distress.
' Besides, after all that had occurred
it was as much as could do to believ,
that Carriston was not mad. Any doc
tor who knew what knew would have
: given the verdict against him.
) After dismissing his visions and hal
: lucinations with the contempt which
!. they deserved. the fact of a man who
was madly, passionatcly in love with q
> woman. and who believed that she had
been entrapped and was still kept in re-
straint. sitting down quietly. and let.
ting day after day pass without making
an effort toward finding her, was in
itself prima tacte evidence of INSANITY.
A sane man would at once have set all
the engines of detection mt work.
felt that If once Ralph Carr;ston
obtained possession of HIM he could
make out a strong case in his own
favor First of all. the proposed mar
riage out of the defendants 8 own sphere
OF life; the passing under false name:
the ridiculous, or apparently ridiculous,
accusation maize against his kinsman:
the murderous threats: the chastise-
ment OF his own paid agent who brought
him report which might not seem at
all untrue TO any one who knew not
Madeline Rowan. Leaving out of the
question what might be wrung from
me in cross-examlnation, Ralph Car
rlstOn had strong case, and | knew
that, once in his power, my friend might
| possibly be doomed to pass years, if not
| his whole life, under restraint So |
was anxious, very anxious.
And felt an anxiety, scarcely second
to that which prevailed on Carriston's
| account, as to the fate of Madeline.
Granting. for sake of argument. that
CarristOn's absurd conviction that no
bodily narm had as vet been done her
was true, l felt sure that she. with her,
scarcely less sensitive nature, must feel
the separation from her lover as much
as he himself felt the separation from
her. Once or twice tried to comfort
myself with cynicism-tried to persuade
myself that young woman could not
in our days be spirited away-that she
had gone by her own free-will- THAT
there was man who had at the
eleventh hour alienated her affections
from CarristOn. But could not bring
myself to believe this. So l was placed
between the horns of a dilemma.
If Madeline had not fled of her own
free-wiil, some one must have taken her
away. and if so, our agents report was
coined one. and, if a coined one, is |
sued at Ralph's instance; therefore,
Ralph must be the prime actor in the |
mystery.
But In sober moments such a deduc- |
tion seemed an utter absurdity.
Although have said that Carriston
was doing nothing toward clearing up
the mystery, wrong him in so saying.
After his own erratic way, he was at
work. At such work, too! l really
lost all patience with him.
He shut himself up in his room. out
of which he scarcely stirred for three
days BY that time he had completed
a large and beautiful drawing of his
man. This he took to we'll
known photographer and ordered sew
eral hundred small photographs of it to
be prepared as soon rs possible. The
minute description which he had given
me of his fanciful creation was printed
at the foot of each copy. As soon as
the first batch of these precious photo
graphs was sent home. to my great Joy
he did what he should have done days
ago: yielded to my wishes and put the
matter into the hands of the police.
l was glad to find that in giving de-
tails of what had happened he said
nothing about the advisability of keep
ing a watch on Ralph Carriston's pro-
ceedings. He did. indeed, offer an alb
surdly large reward for the discovery
Of the missing girl. and. moreover,
gave the officer in charge of the case a !
packet of photographs of his phantom !
man. telling him in the gravest manner !
that he knew the original of that like
ness had something to do with the dis
appearance of Miss Rowan. The Off
Ger, who thought the portrait was that I
Of a natural being. took his instructions ,
n good faith. although he seemed great !
y surprised when he heard that Carris.
.on knew neither the name nor the Oc-
'upation, in fact, knew nothing con- |
,ernIn9 the man who was to be sought s
Tor. However, as Carriston assured 8
llm that finding this man would insure
he reward as much as if he found c
Madeline. the officer readily promised '
o combine the two tasks, little know
ne what waste of time any attempt to d
,erform the latter must be. s
Two days after this, Carriston came t
o me. Il shall leave you Tomorrow" q
le said. y
Where are You going?" asked. u
Why do you leave?' h
Il am going to travel about. have S
10 intention of letting Ralph get hold o
+ me- So mean to 60 from place to v
lace until find Madeline" a
BE CAREFUL" urged. p
Il shall be careful enough. I'll take a
are that no doctors, surgeons. or even Il
pothecaries get on my track. shall "
% just as the tit seizes me. If l can't Il
ay one day where shall be the next o
will he impossible for that villain to v
now" fl
His idea seemed to be that chance
Tould sooner or later bring him in con- d
act with the man of his dream. How fe