The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1889-11-08

began again with nothing out Of the usual
way except that Ellen and both answered
ssunprepared" in German. The professor
looked at US searchingly over his glasses.
Whether or not our faces betrayed any I'M
usual emotion, cannot say, but know my
heart was throbbing in a very cratic
manner.
1t was our secret, that escapade. Some
times we met MIR. Kimball and his wife,
for they seemed to be inseperable, and
Ellen would fash me glance of mock
tragedy from her black eyes. We even
gave name to the little episode. We call
ed it the Strange Experience and then alb
breviated to rs. E., to the mystification
of our friends By and by our college days
were ended. We separated and the strange
experience passed out of our minds and
lives.
A dozen years later Ellen Fay, now Ell
len Thompson, came to make me a visit.
The slender, big-eyed girl had developed
into handsome matron. Much Of what
we used to call espirituality' had vanished
from her face, but it had gained in strength
and repose, and she was the same genial,
delightful friend as of old.
One evening we denied ourselves to all
our little world, and safely hidden behind
the portiere of the study, we thought we
could devote ourselves to "reminiscences.
Both our lives had been very full and busy
and the present had so fully occupied us
that we had not spared an hour to those
dear days of our early friendship until this
ev ening, when we deliberately barred out
everything and everybody, determined to
devote this time at least to our college
days.
Ellen very nearly filled the great easy
chair but her slippered feet upon the fen
der still slender and dainty, suddenly re-
called to me that evening when we sat in
that same fashion, by the fire in the Lad
les Dormitory'' of c. College, and talk
ed about Supernatural manifestations. I
laughed quietly to myself as I inquired:
"Ellen, do you remember the "Strange
Experience?'
Ellen smiled ever so slightly and then
looked sober.
'It is the one thing in my life that can
not understand" she said ibid you ever
hear the sequela"
1.-The sequels No, indeed. Is there Sc
quel!" I asked incredulously.
eyes, there is a sequel, and very re-
markablc one. You may call it a coinci-
dence, if you like, but I must confess to
have felt a sort of creeping sensation when
heard it. About two years ago I met a
lady at dinner party whose face seemed
strangely familiar but whose identity was
completely lost She was dressed plainly
in black and her hair was quite white al
though her face was not old. I was so
tormented by the half knowledge of her
face that asked our hostess to present me
to her.
"'Ah, you noticed her. She certainly has
remarkable face. and her history CORE
spends to it. This is the first time she has
come out since her husbands DEATH
"'Her face seems familiar, think must
have met her before
''By this time we had reached her. She
was the center Of brilliant and animated
group and appeared to be the leader in the
conversation. Her face was study. It
made me think Of battlefield where the
flowers, and the graves were seen Only as
green undulations. At the first available
opportunity my friend presented her as
Mrs. Kimball. Instantly knew where I
had seen her. We talked little as people
do at such places and then parted, with the
determination on my part to know her bet
ter.
"My friend had certainly described her
face in calling it remarkable You know
we used to think her very plain, almost
ugly. In fact the strange experience hing
ed upon our simultaneous thought in that
very particular" Ellen laughed little
and then went on.
"She did not seem to me nearly as plain
as had remembered her. Her gray hair
softened the effect Of her face, I think, and
that alert, suspicious glance that used to so
amuse us was quite gone She had the
chastened look of one who had come up
through great tribulation. I found her
quite accessible, indeed, glad to make new
friends in strange city, and when she
found that had spent four years in c.
she treated me like an old, familiar friend.
She was usually quite reserved, but she
gave me her confidence with at least no con-
scious effort on my part to gain it. Natur-
ally, I felt interested in her, particularly as
we girls used to speculate so much about
her and her husband, and supposed may
S4S VIGIL COulcSS W d lltUl0 CuElOSlGy dU LILO
bottom; but as soon as had learned to know
her, loved her too well to wish to pry into
her secrets. Little by little, however, she
told me about herself will coudense the
story for you"
"You needn't" answered. 1t is as in
teresting to me as a'to-be-continued-in-
next"
Ellen gave her shoulders that little de-
shrug that used to be so charm
ing when she weighed a hundred pounds or
50, and went on with her story.
"She was an orphan and an heiress. She
had been educated on rather severe plan,
and her education instead of softening her
angularities of face and disposition, had in
tensified them. All the latent nobility Of
her nature was smothered in the oppres-
sive moral atmosphere in which she had
been reared. An ill-dispositioned relative
had impressed upon her mind from her earli-