The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1894-04-07

~ sA
THE MAN BEFORE ME- WAS MYSELF.
markably unimaginative, the two sure signs
of such "A character being want Of humor
and want Of fear, for only imaginative
people are witty or nervous | am neither.
Moreover, enjoy unvarying good health,
nor have ! for | have been examined) any
ocular defect which might explain the
sight saw rs a delusive vision. So il is in
all ignorance OF causes, perhaps purely ma
terial, perhaps mysterious beyond our ken,
that lay before you the plain narration Of
the fact.
Some years ago ! took lodgings in the
neighborhood OF st. James park. Being
somewhat proud of my new abode, was
one day exhibiting it To my old friend.
John HOyle. He was. as in duty bound,
expressing his approval of things in gener-
al when, CHANGING into my bedroom. his eye
caught a heavy bronze bust, which for its
utter lack of beauty had been consigned TO
high shelf in that apartment.
Rather risky, that ancestor OF yours up
there, isn't hes' said Hoyle.
"Oh, safe ~ "A house, John" | replied
and thought no more about it, Indeed 30
careless was | that few days afterward
because of a draft that ran through my
room, | had my bed moved and placed
right beneath the shelf on which the bust
rested
Some time elapsed aud one evening was
returning in the dusk of the twilight from
my work along the path which skirts St.
James park. | was tired and somewhat
out of spirits and walked modify along
with eyes fixed upon the ground, but can
not say now that had amy real prescience
of evil.
When had got about half way along the
path, became conscious Of the presence of
some person walking in front of me-a
presence had not before noticed. Raising
my eyes, ! saw at about 20 PAGES ahead a
figure that seemed strangely familiar to
me. The man was walking at the same
pace rs myself with his eyes on the ground
as mine had been just before. The strangest
part of the affair was that, familiar ~ his
whole appearance seemed, | could not for
the life of me recall his name or i'm any way
fix his identity. This not only aroused my
curiosity, but somewhat irrtated me, as
one is irritated at "A trick played by ones
memory. quickened my pace in order to
get up to the man before me. and rs / did
so his walk. his clothes, his hands casped
behind him, the whole man became more
and more familiar TO me, but il was not till
had peered into his face in the gathering
dusk that my growing suspicion became a
certainty, and | knew that the man before
me was myself
hung back, startled, dismayed, but with
as yet no sensation of actual fear | never
thought of flight. l was attracted to the
figure before me and compelled to follow,
my reason struggling with me all the while
People had been called doubles before
now; there were hundreds OF cases OF curl
Gus likenesses. Why should not this be like
the rests But all the while l knew it was
not. 1t was not the mere face and figure
that were the same-the clothes, the hair
ON the face, the wear Of the very boots,
every detail told me that this was no mere
likeness-that this was my own image So
l followed. with my mind all restless with
dazed thoughts and feelings which cannot
now define. The position was so strange,
80 new. that my mind could not grasp it.
On the man walked. slowly. terribly slow
ly, in the direction of my home. Down the
street, l following, he went, paused at my
door, unlocked il and entered.
| have said, | believe with truth, that
am not a man who is easily frightened, but
then at that moment thechill horror OF fear
seized me.
Before my sensations had been so unde-
fined that l had not been actually afraid;
now the sense of loneliness, separation oven
from the mysterious figure that had gone
in at my door. weighed me down with a ter
ror of what IL all might mean. dared not
enter and meet that presence in the dark
ness OF the house. | could not get right
away; fascination held me TO the spot So
all night Icing l hung about the streets
around trying TO catch a glimpse Of the
house as often a. l could without arousing
tine curiosity Of the people about, for some
thing more than fear Of ridioule prevented
me from telling my story to any one.
At last the eternal night was over. The
morning broke, and with the light came
confidence, for the fears of the day are
never like the fears OF the night. When It
was broad daylight and the world was
soon to be astir faced the task. un-
locked the door and entered. In the hall, on
the stairs, all was still and undisturbed.
passed into my sitting room. There was
no one there-all WAS As | left IT, In the
bedroom, no one. but there where should
have lain asleep-the bronze had crashed
upon the bed