Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-18
A TWIN-IDENTITY.
EDITH STEWART pREwnY IN "GRAvrA. .

I rant under the Extraditions Act, and two
days later Saumarez was pronounced quite
able to be removed. As a result-well
within five or six days of his arrest he was
safely lodged in the Partisan prison. had
travelled swith my French comrades
| Gwo of course) and their captive, who
had maintained sulky silence save once
Ito savagely curse that ''diablesse OF
an agent"
| port myself to my delighted chef, who
asked how had trapped the bird at last?
felt too shattered then to tell him the
| actual truth, I shrank in sensitive dread
| from the possible smile of incredulity, SO
said that person 1 met by chance had
| spoken of Frenchrnan named Saumarez
who had one finger gone, and this person
had shown me his lodgings, which he was
on the point of leaving when entered
$50 had to be summary in my actions, -
added, as rose to go.
"Quite right, Marie, you are in
valuable and have we'll redeemed my
confidence in you. You have earned
rest truly y, and reward
made a promise there for you.''
Comment, .Monsieur?"-I was surprised
-"my existence is unknown to him and
his.
individually, yes, but professionally, y,
not so. went myself to tell M. Folcade Of
the daring arrest of the assassin by my
clever agent-a woman, I added, and he
made me promise to send you to his house
here in Paris directly you arrived. He and
his sister-in-Iaw, the wife's twin sister, es-
pecially wish to see the lady of whom I
spoke"
started, but said quietly:
1.-THE twin-sister, Monsieur, is she then
over here?" For though outwsrdly not a
muscle of mine moved, was startled right
through by his words, by the wildly ex-
traordinary fancy that flashed across me as
I recalled all that had taken place on
Christmas Eve.
'Yes," Dupre replied, 'Mademoiselle
Clarice Grey came over here to her be-
reaved brother-in-law just before Christmas;
she was too i'll to bear the voyage earlier.
Will you have facre and go at once, mon
agent?'
eyes, assuredly,"I said. 1 felt that 1
must go at once and solve this mystery,
which was, surely on the borderland of the
real and unreal, the seen and the wondrous
unseen, of which our finite humanity, the
SOULS prison, knows SO little and con-
lectures so much.
went then to the bankers house, but
from the bank, though momentarily ex-
pected. "Would 1 see Mademoiselle
Clarice?" I said yes, gave my name, and
was shown into an elegant salon.
In three minutes young lady came in,
and in that moment as we faced each other
we both stood transix ed, dazed-as if pull
sation itself were arrested-each had seen
the other, each knew where, but not how
not how;-my strange, silent fellow-pass-
enger and guide of Christmas Eve, no flesh
and blood, as this was who now came slowly
forward and held my hands tightly-but,
the same identity-only that other was in
the spirit.
sWe know each other" she said in q
hushed, awed way, mot in the flesh but in
the soul, and yet reality, not dream,
though they say 1 lay like one dead asleep,
and when L came back to sentiment life
knew nothing of where xe-she and had
been."
''We-you and shep' I repeated,
feeling nv flesh creep and
my heart stand still. "There-there were
not two but one guide with me-
"We, twain but always one," Clarice said
in the same way, her wistful eyes looking
into mine-"dead and living, our twin
born souls are one identity for ever, and so
the dread secret with which her soul was
oppressed, passed with it into mine, but
densely trammelled by nv mortality till
your despair and strength of purpose and
desire drew us from our mortal prison to
your aid felt the mighty spell of your
agony enfolding itself with my own mad
dened thirst for justice, felt strange OBJ
livion stealing my physical senses, and
knew no more, save when 1 awoke, q
deep joy, gratitude, triumph-a restful-
ness. 1 knew before your chef spoke that
the murderer was arrested by the agent he
named, it all came back to me then, and l.
we twain knew all.
I stood looking at her as her mystic pres
ence that night had looked at me. What
awesome secret OF the unknown was indeed
half unfolded it seemed, in these twin-born
sisters whom even the mystery of death
could not part from their entwined CO.
existence? Had, in truth, the dead sis
ter's soul passed as it were into its twin
soul yet encompassed by its mortal body,
and SO through its own beyond death,
knowledge, God-given vet only "through
glass darkly," had mystic power as the
one spirit of the Twin-Identity to guide
me, the mortal agent who was the mate
rial instrument of Gods justice? It might
be so. Could I-could any mortal in his
bounded fniteness say it could not be? So
there must it rest as mystery till all
mysteries shall be seen face to face.
You ask me "What was the end of
that grim tragedy" WE'LL traced out
Saumarez's antecedents and my su,picions
Of his motive proved to be true. His guilt
was undeniable by the proofs we had-the
ring, the finger and knife and many other
collateral links of evidence, and Louis Sau-
marez was condemned and guillot1ned.
1t was months before 1 could work again,
and indeed M. Folcade and Clarice Grey
would have bad me retire on the compe-
tence they insisted ON settling on me, but 1
could not settle to quiet, useless life while
I was young and strong. So 1 am still
agent-de-police, and I am going to visit
Clarice in London, where she is married to
an Englishman. All, see, the train is going
on again and we shall soon reach London.
Clarice likes her chere Marie Lacroix '.to
be with her on Christmas Eve"