The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1893-12-20

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ldlcr tonight rs usual7 If Mrs. Nc
Gwiginu should happen TO take it into
her good old head to ask mo to pay or
skip out, I'll have to realize on some Of
my personal property, and az | don't
know the best places in town, | want
you to steer me around. Won't object,
will your"
"Not in the least. My services are al.
ways at your disposal, and I'll be at the
club at half-after seven or eight. And
now | must tear myself away; so, until
then" and the end of the sentence
was lost in the slight slam of the or as
he went out. The artist listened until
the echo of his friends rctrcatiug foot
steps had died into the murmurous
silence of tho greai tenement in which
he lived, and then going softly to tho
door himself, he turned the key In It.
Coming back to the table, he drew his
chair close up to il, and cast n furtive
glance about the uuhc me- like room and
into the deep shadows that lurkcd in the
cobwcbby corners. Then, with com
pressed lips and trembling hands, he
drew the palette to him and gently
pressed a finger into the little daub of
mummy-hrown still upon it.
A cold thrill shot up his arm, shaking
the very nerve centres of his body as It
did so, and making him shudder again
and again, even ~ he sank back into the
chair half unconscious. In another mo-
mcnt sudden dusk filled the room, through
which tho familiar pieces of furniture
and drapcrics seemed TO lose their famil-
iarity and TO take new shapes and Colors
unto themselves. With staring eyes he
strovo to pierce the mist that half OBJ
scurcd his vision, and 10 shake of the
weird feeling that had seized upon him
but gradually the lids dropped and
closed and to his distcudcd nostrils there
came, as H. lost CONSTITUENCIES, n faint,
sweet odor which even then he reoog-
nizcd-thc smell of cedar pitch and
myrrh. How long the terrible dream
which followed lasted lie could not
know but Mt last he woke to life again,
and, struggling to his feet, he staggered
to the window, threw it open, aud let
the faint breath of air stirring
in the court yard far below
sweep up past him and into the
dark room behind The dusk was Just
falling over the city, aud far, far below
him he could hear the tenemcnt's iuhab.
itants of the first and second floors pre-.
pairing their evening meal, singing and
cursing 10y tuns us the preparation
pleased or diSplcascd them. The night
air cooled his fevcrCd face and refreshed
him, however, and the great beads Of
pcrspiration that hal gathered on his
forehead were gone, as he turned back to
the room again.
81 am n fool - he exclaimed im-
patiently, "aud haugry, dare say. No
wonder imagine things ~ and catching
up the worn soft hat that lay beside hi,
tumblcd bed he hurried out into the
hall and down the weary length Of stairs
to the street
Bat as he ciSsed the door, small,
heavy bladcd dirk, upon n shelf directly
over tho spot where he had hastily showed
the unfinished picture and its easel.
Jared BY his haste, whirlcd slowly
around until it rested upon the very edge
ot the shelf, where it balanced to aud
fro and trcmblcd in the little breeze that
still pulled in at the open window.
Morgan, the favortc story-tc Ter OF the
Bohemian Idlcr's Club, was talking as
Richardson and the painter came in from
their journey 10 the pawnshop, and the
usual audience of interested listeners
was collected about him.
at mag or may not have been a hum.
bug, J C was saying, with shrug Of his
shabby. .Scntcel shoulders, "but it was
dc'ilish queer any way you take it. I
saw the man do it five times, too. and no
failed but once"
What do YOU call it-hypnotism2"
asked new conner.
III don't know; he simply says he
sen>itizcs tho water and lets you call it
what you like. First he puts the tum-
bier of pl in hydrant water into one
room, and Ire and the bjcct 90 into
another. lie ma es a few paSscs--that
is where the hypnotism comes in, | sup
posc-and once the man is under his
contIol, the professor walks into the
other room aud stands with his hands
over that tumblcr Of water for perhaps a
minute, not uttcring q sound. Then he
sends some Of us into tho room with the
sleeping subject, and he stays with tho
re't Of the witnesses Whom everything
is ready, he tells one OF them to take his
pcnknifc and thrust the blade carefully
into the water lie does so, and we hear
a nuiilCd scream from the other room, as
IL tue hypnotized man had felt the stab.
This was repeated three times, and every
time the subject screamed and twisted
about In his chair, as il in agony, whilo
the knife remained in the water. As
soon as it was removed the pain ap-
parcntly ceased, and he rested quietly
again. ] was skcp,ical, of course" con
cluded the laxative Morgan, "and said
II was ali chicaneTy but after seeing
the thing half Gozcn times, felt diff
fcrcutly, and must say that IL is ex-
tremcly peculiar. il not mysterious"
What had the subject to say for
himself when he came to?" asked Rich
ardson, who had joined the group.
Very little, except that some one had
tried TO stab him, and had succeeded three
times in sticking a knife into his back,
he thought"
"And did he know Of the tumbler
OF water aud its bearing on his halluci-
nation?"
"No, he had been kept in still
another room when first brought to the
house, and had not seen or heard Of the
water"
That is rather peculiar, said Rich
ardsou, thoughtfnlly. II should like to
have seen 1t myself" As he spoke,
Knowliou, who had been talking with
fellow painter at the other side OF the
smoke.fill,d room, started across Il In