Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-09-22

81 mean I want 70 tell him there
fs something that 1 wish TO be In
formed about"
ooh! He'll give you tho informa-
tion cheerfully."
johnson presented himself to the
'omnis lent Jaynes that evening as a
humble seeker after knowledge, and
no intimated that he thought he had
come to the right place.for it. Jaynes
took the compliment easily, as he
took all things Of that kind. In his
lexicon there vas no such word as
aattery; it was always praise, and
well-merited praise, too.
s:Have you ever heardof the science
of. graphology. Jaynes?!" began John.
son.
"Have l ever heard of it?." scorn-
fully, repeated Jaynes, who had a
faint impression that he had.
johnson realized that he had made
q mistake.
II mean," he said, shave you ever
given the subject much thought?:"
"Oh, yes, l've, looked into it some.
Its a pretty accomplishment" replied
Jaynes, who was trying to think what
difference there was, IL any, between
1raphologY and cheirosoph, of which
he had alsU heard. He must proceed
carefully les. he betraY his ignorance;
he realized that the next best thing
to knowing something was the abil-
ity to conceal the fact that he did.
not know it.
"It is useful as we'll as ornamen-
tai" observed johnson. So know q
man who makes a handsome living
by reading character in handwriting"
"Do you believe IN it?:" asked
Jaynes
'Oh, yes; do you?"
"No."
johnson might have known as
much. He probably did.
"It's all a fraud, "%conttnued Jaynes.
"Those people pretend to be able to
read character in the hand, but they
only occasionally stumble upon the
truth"
"Why don't you test the ability,
and then refute the claims of this
man I alluded to- He claims he can
read character from handwriting.
Submit to him a specimen Of your
writing and await results"
$50 IL is character reading from
hand writing, is it?:" thought Jaynes,
considerably relieved at discovering
this fact.
81 may decide to do So" he said
aloud; "not that ] believe in it, but
I'll do 1t simply to prove how far out
of the way this fellows deductions
are. Reading character in hand
writing! Bah!"
"Let us both send a specimen to
the professor" suggested johnson.
"Let us do it now. There is time
enough. l oelieve the professor re-
quires a page of original composition,
that is ALL"
An idea suddenly occurred to Jaynes,
and he hesitated to act on the sug-
CUSTOM of johnson.
II shall write it in the morning"
he said. .'My hand is not very steady
at night. and 1 want to give Profess
sor What's-his-name a good test"
But he did not write it in the
morning. Instead he studied up on
the subject of graphology in what
ever books were accessible to. him in
which the science was treated of.
He obtained in this manner a pretty
clear idea of the claims of graphol-
ogy and he had more faith in it than
he admitted having On the evening
when he discussed the subject with
johnson. In fact. he became a cOn-
vert to the theory CT character read
ing from handwriting, and was quite
ready to believe that the professor
might be able to arrive at the truth
through the medium of the written
characters.
Then it occurred to him that DOS
sibly he was about to become the VIC
tim Of a practical joke on the part Of
johnson and whoever others there
might be in the secret. He knew
johnson bore him no great love.
'lf they think to trap me-" he
unused, "they have reckoned without
their host. I'll circumvent them.
I'll send the professor a copy of the
verses that Emma (his swectwheat)
Transcribed for me the other day.
She being the most gentle and low
able person in the world, her hand
writing will of course show the most
lovable traits of character that NOR
tails possess, and then I'll palm it off
on johnson 4 Company as the delip-
cation of my own character"
Then he inclosed the verses to-
gether with a note and the proper
fee in an envelope and sealed it. But
he did not mail it to the professor af-
ter all. He thought better of it. He
came to the conclusion after a little
thought that he was taking unwar-
raDtable liberty with Miss Gordon's
property, and that he was doing
something that was not square
and above board. something that
he would not care to tell
her about and that hearing of it
she would not think favorable of. So
he decided not to send the specimen
of her writing to the graphologist.
Instead he prepared a page of his
own. determined to test the ability
Of the professor at character reading.