Wichita eagle., 1888-06-21

Z.
the poor woman before she could say what
she had intended to say. As there was no
improperly In the thing Itself, this desire
seemed inexplicable. Another thing which
occupied me was feeling that somewhere,
| sometime, I had seen something like the face
of one of the Thirkles-I could not tell which
before. Sometimes this dimly remem-
| bered, ever elusive face, which haunted me-,
resembled Mr.. Thirkle's excepting that the
| red scar was wanting), sometimes 1t resembled
his wife's. Then at times it seemed to resem-
BILE neither, but to fade away into the many
peopled realm Of morbid imagination.
The recollection of all these things passed
over and over again through my mind dur
ing the five minutes which passed ere
reached the Golding house after leaving the
vestry room.
Instantly admitted, figure an IN white
Dora in her bridal dress-opened the parlor
door, before the servant who ushered me
could do so, and almost pulled me into tho
room. Ere could utter q word, Dora ex-
claimed:
"Hushi say nothing. Papa and mamma
know nothing as yet of the discovery have
made You know I am spoiled child. |
am master and mistress here-always have
lucy huoW do SCI AosAAAAA6 "a NY
reasons for putting an end to the wedding. l
insisted upon seeing you alone. After l have
told my story, you can consider what had
better be done And now tell me-" her eyes
burned with excitement, ''does this photo
graph look like mep' and picking up photo
graph from an adjoining table she extended
it toward me-
I examined the photograph. Yes, it was
4, r. Id
it anywhere I should have recognized it as
Dora's likeness The outlines were trife
blurred and the portrait could not be con-
sidered fine specimen OF photography, but
the resemblance was unmisbakable, and / said
so. Then tried to put my arms around my
darling girl, but she held me aloof, and
motioning me to sit on the sofa beside her, but
at little distance, she made the following
curious statement:
"You know that, unlike most girls, am
the soul of punctuality, being generally
ready for anything fifteen minutes before
anybody else. It was so, even this morning.
Papa, who Is always late. was later than
usual Mamma was fur1ied and had twenty
things to do at the last moment Every
thing and everybody in the house were in
confusion excepting myself. Dressed az
for papa He Yves In his private room, the
little photograph gallery told you Of which
ii was his custom to lock himself IN, SO that
he could pursue his favorite hobby undis-
turbed knocked at the door-no answer.
called-stiu no answer. Alarmed, l tried
the handle, suspecting that the door was
locked On the contrary, it yielded to my
pressure, though 1 had to push very hard.
hop a& fnofT
was pushing against papa's bodyi He has
lately had bad attacks of vertigo, and, es we
found out afterwards he had just unlocked
the door and was preparing to come out,
when the vertigo seized him and he fell"
'Then that was the reason" exclaimed,
feeling an immense relief, ''that tho wedding
was postponedP'
"That had nothing TO do with It what
ever" replied Dora ''Papa was not hurt. I
rang for assistance He recovered almost
Immediately. It vas what saw in the room
that made it impossible for me to marry
you"
A chill went through me, but would not
interrupt her. She continued: "You have
heard papa speak OF composite photography
It has been a favorite amusement of his
lately. Do you know how it is donef 1t
consists In taking two or more photographs
and hanging them on pins, enc in front Of
the other in such a way that the eyes Of all
the portraits shall coincide as perfectly as
possible. Then you throw the image of each,
In succession, upon the same part Of a
properly prepared plate, and the result is the
generalized likeness of ell the faces so taken
This, for instance said Dora, taking up the
photograph she had held out to me, sis
COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPH of men
| stared at her in surprise. Then sudden
light broke In upon me.
81 understand, !" exclaimed. "Your father
has followed the process you have just ex-
planned. He has used several Of your pho
tographs. taken at various times, he has SUBJ
jected them to that process, and the result Is
this portrait, which Is so like you-with a
difference"
'fNot at al, !" replied Dora, smiling, though
very sadly. "He has done nothing Of the
kind. This portrait is simply the result Of
combining into one the portraits of my father
and mother"
els 1t possibleF' I exclaimed Then I
thought to myself: 'Isit Dora's own subtle,
far OFF resemblance to her father and mother
to one or both-that has been haunting me
all this whilef" But what said aloud was:
Then understand that Mr.. Golding has
simply blended together, by the process you
describe, the portraits Of himself and his
wife, and that this likeness Of you is the re-
sult7"
No, my poor Arthur, you are not to I'M
derstand even that; and do not wonder you
are mystifed.n
"What then can you meanT
She was silent moment; gave me long,
searching look, then, putting her hand in her
pocket, took out another photograph Of the
same size as the one 1 held She glanced at
it for moment, then extending it toward
me, exclaimed:
"Lookn
looked and saw the portrait Of young
msn-but young man SO precisely like Dora
that, but for the side parting OF the hair, the
difference of SEX would not have been sug-
gested, the portrait revealing nothing distin-
guishable in the dress. I glanced from the
portrait to Dora and fran Dora 10 the por-
trait, and finally, lost in amazeSnent, eiacu-
lated:
"What is the explanationfr
"Do you remember Mr.. and Mrs. Glasgow
ThirkleT asked Dora do you remember
the woman who parted her hair like boy'st
This" picking up the portrait had Just ex-
amined, sis the portrait Of their son And
this resuming the photograph she had first
shown me, sis the portrait Of their daugh-
terf'
need not dwell upon the scene that en-
sued. need not relate at length how took
Dora in my arms, kissed her over and over
again with elusive tenderness and assured
her that it was she whom ! loved, not her
parentage, and that she was just as dear to
ina as the daughter OF the Thirkles as she had
ever been in the much higher social position
to which We had believed her birth entitled
her. The behavior Of Mr. and Mrs. Thirlle