Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-10-04
CarlistOls Gift.
PART L
TOLD BY PHILIP BRAND, N. d., LONDON
III HreH CONWAY.

man WIN hef--a man who had placed his
nano ! heT wrist and kept IL there. am
20, accotuhg to CaTristOn's Wild reasoning
him. 'i"0 I"
Set told me DE had watched them for some
moments, until the man. tightening his grir
on the girls alma, endeayored, he Thought d
Lead her n tnuuce her TO follow him SOME.
wheIe NJ his uncture, unaware That he
was gazing at a vision, he had rushed 10 hel
assistance In the frantic way / have describ,
ed-then he awoke
de also told nae he had studied the mans
Leatures pad general appearance most care.
fnlly With a view TO future recognition. All
these ridiculous statements were made M hs
made the former ones, with the air az ENC re-
i8ting simple, undeniable facte-0ne speak k
ing plain, unyarnished Truth, and expecting
full credence TO be given 10 his words.
III was too absurd too sadl Ii was evident
TO me that the barrier between HIS hallucina,
IONS creams visions, or what he chose to
can them, and pure insanity, was now n -rfy
slight and fragile ono. But before I gave his
case up as hopeless l determined to nakean
other strong appeal 10 his common sense \
Told him OF his cousins visit to rie--of hts n
tentions and proposition. begged him to
CONSIDER what consequences his extraordinary
beliefs and ext:acsgeilt actions must eventli-
ally entail he listened attentiyeiy and
calmly ~
yen see now" he said, show right I was
an a''fibuting all this TO Ralph Csrflslon~
now right | was to rome Ia ycu,.A doctor OF
standing, who can votrh for my sanity"
"N0tch for yclf sanity How can ] when
You sit heTr n talk such arTan. nonsense.
and expect me to believe il? When YOU
jump from your chair mo rush madly M
some visionary foe? Sane as YOU NAV lie IN
all else any evidence i could give in your
favoE, must break down In ross-eyamiuatiot
u an inkling of these things got about Come.
NHfrIgtDn no rRq Cnuahla and krn.ro 800,
sanity by setting about this search for Mis-
h2wsn In a proper way"
He n.oey no reply, but wa liked up and
DOWN the room apparently in deep thought.
My ~oids seemed TO have had no effect upon
flbs,. Presently he seated himself: and AZ II
80 avoid returning 10 the argument drew a
book at bazaId from my shelves and began 10
read He openct the volume az random, hat
after reading a few lines seemed struck by
something that met his eyuA and in A few
minutes was deeply irnmeised IN thecon.ants
OF The book. L glanced az II 10 SEQ Nhat had
20 awakened his Interest. b. a curious ia.
tally he had chosen a book the very worst
for him In his present frame of mind II IL
christs recently published life VI William
Blake, That mastery memoir of a man who
was on certain points as mad as Carriston
hinself, L was about to demonstrate. when
be laid down the volume and turned 20 me.
",Varier, The painter" he said, was a firm
believer In Blake's visionS.''
"Vnrley was "a bigger fool than Blake
reverted. Fancy his sitting down and
watching his clever but mad Friend draw
spectral heads, and believing them IN fs
genuine portraits of dead kings whose foyns
co1descended TO appear to Blakei"
A sudden thought seenfcd 10 strike Carris-
ton. '-Nill you give sne some paper and
halky" he asked, Upon being furnished
with these materials he seated himself at the
table ard began to draw. At least a dozen
times he sketched, with his usual rapidlty,
some object or another, and q dozen tines
after q moments consideration, threw each
sketch aside with an air of disappointment
and began a fresh one At last one OF his at
tenptS seemed 10 come up 20 his require
mentS II have 1t now, exactly rs he cried
with joy-even tiumph-in his voice. lie
spent some time IN putting finishing touches
70 The slrncessfnl sketch, then he handed ne
That Is the man i saw just now with
Madelinen he. said. When 1 find him
and conviction. Hooked at the papcf WITH,
am Djuhd TO say, a great amount OF coz i0si-
~;
No matter from what visionary source Car
rlston had drawn his inspiration. his sketch
was Vigorous and natural enough. | have
already mentioned his wonderful power of
drawing PORTRAITS from memory, 80 was will
Ing to grant that he might have reproduced
the Outlines OF some face Which had some
where struck him, Yet why should it have
tbree-quasyef face of a man--an ordinary
man-arparently between forty and fifty
Seafsof age. IL was a coarse~featlied, Ill
favored face, with a ragged ruff of hair hound
Ve chin. IL wa not the face of a gentle
man, nor even the face OF g~ently-nurtured
man !; and the artist, bya fewcunning strokes,
nad made II weare crafty and sullen look.
The sketch, as write this, lies before me, so
that i am not speaking from memory.
NOW there are some portraits of which,
witfeut having seen the original, we say
what splendid likenesSes these must be-
stwas SO with Carriston's sketch, Looking
at II you felt sure IL was exactly like the maj
whom 1t was intended 10 represent. So that,
with the certain anount OF art knowledge
which 4 am az least supposed 10 possess, il
was hard for me, after examining the draw
ing and recognizing the true artists touch in
every line, TO bring myself TO accept tie fact
mat IL was but the outcome of a diseased I'M
sgination. As, at this very moment, Iglance
Stthat drawing, ! scarcely blame myself for
the question that family frames itself In my
innerHtcst heart. Gould il be possible
ouh there be In certain organizations pow
eIs not yet known-not yet properly iaveSti-
gatedr'
My thought supposing such a thought was
ever tllere-was not discouraged by Carris-
ton, who, speaking as II his faith In he bodL
~ existence OF the man whose portrait lay in
my hand was unassailable, said.
noticed that his generalappearance was
that Of q countryman-an English peasant;
80 In the country l shall indm my love. More
over, II will be easy to identify the man, as
the top Joint Is missing from the middle fin
ger OF his right hand. As II lay o. Machines
arm | noticed that"
argued with him no more. ! felt that
words UVnld be but wasted.
-
*.
A day or two after 1 had witnessed what I
must call Carriston's second seizure we were
favored with q visit from the man whose ser
vices We had secured TO trace Madeline.