The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-05-27

street, walked quickly, walk ed for minutes
without any other purpose but to walk-
and think. o.. ~ --r:-,.il-z 7..~
II there were such a fend as the in.
triguing gentleman in the opara of Faust"
| moving along with him. and inspiring bis
thoughts, one could imRgins sueha Mephis-
topheles pausing now and then to rub his
| Invisible hands .
It was bright summer night, with 4
lofty, far-away sky, in which few stars
shone brightly. Needham walkei as far
as the park, sat in seat for some time, re-
turned along Oxford street, and back to
Portland place, opened his door with his
latch key, went into his room again, and
finging himself into bis chair remained in
| an attitude Of intense thought. -
'sMany q man comes to London" he said
| presently to himself, land Is heard OF nc
| moro. He is on his way to . foreign Land; ;
| it is thought he has gone thither, but he re.
| mains in London; sometimes he is dead and
sometimes he lives People are missing
daily; they are advertised in the papers;
they don't wish to return; they are dead,
or wish to be thought so. A man leaves
home to go to America, Australia; he Is in
| earnest, but doesn arrive; or if he does, 1t
| is months before he can be heard from;
months must elapse if no letters come be-
fore he can be followed up. What is one
| life more or less, his or mine, or anybody's2
Life is O battle; it has its wounded, its
killed, and its missing" .a
He paused, and lightei another cigar;
the one in his hand was only half consumed.
He slipped little brandy and water.
"Wby did he tell me so much about him
self9 Why did everything he said seem to
drive nail into my first thought as if to fix
it into my snind-a nail in his coflna
asked myself q while ago before his exis.
tence was made known to me If were mad,
and the conclusion I arrived at was that
had begun to come to my senses. had
been mad. T thought-mad to do what I had
done, mad to forge, and lie, and cheat, and
now that had resolved to end it oil was
| sane. And nowl Is it the demon that has
possession Of me, or guardian angels l
once read O German legend of man who
was two one invisible except to himself,
| and that they were never separated. Is it
| 7, alone, who have seen this other self2 No,
other men at the club talked to him. Why
did keep away from him until found an
opportunity to be near him-he in the light
of the lamp, I in the shadow, so that they
should not see the Likeness? It is mystery.
| 1 was already in the valley and shadow Of
DEATHS he one of the myst teries of the
valley9 We have our doubles in the spirit
| world, they say-a familiar like ourselves,
who, if seen, would be our very image. Is
this my spirit materialized. my familiar
come to my rescue?" ....
The clock of an adjacent church struck
two. He paused on this last thought to
listen.
1.-TWO" he said. and looked at his watch
''rn sleep on it-if can, if can"
he heard the same clock strike three, and
four, and five, and fell asleep nt last, to
dream that he had taken poison; that it
had paralyzed all his physical powers; that
he was laid out and conscious Of the prep.
arations for his burial; saw his brother
and his father and his mother stand by
him; heard them say it was better thus
after all-better than transportation for
life; heard the voices Of great crowd out
side the room believing for his corpse-for
the scoundrel who had ruined them, for the
fiend who had robbed the widow and the
orphan; and their cries awoke him.
He started up in alright, leaped from
the bed, stood painting in the middle Of the
room, went to the window and looked out.
A party of ladies and gentlemen were leav-
ing the opposite house in masquerading cos.
tune. There had been fancy ball, and
the last of the merry guests were being
handed into their carriages