Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-09-05

was certain unwonted sprightliness
becoming apparent in Miss Abigail's
approach which caused vague apprehen-
sion
my dear young lady," he began,
and his nervousness lent ardor to his
words, ''I am inexpressibly thankful to
see you. There is a subject, delicate,
closely intimate, ON which I must
speak. -
eyes, whispered Abigail, with
downcast eyes, IT think I under
stand''--
s'Your sister''-
"You fear she may suspect? Yes,
there is danger. We must be cautious.
We must dissemble We must meet as
stranger" -
Good Lcrd!' groaned Paul.
''There, darling, don't be impatient.
I know it's hard, but perfect trust is
such courage. Remember our motto in
the dear old days, 'Semper Fidelis.
See, Twill set an example of prudence.
And, coyly touching her forefnger to
her lips, Abigail likewise tripped away.
tI see how it is" concluded Paul
gloomily after a moments pondering.
81 am going daft myself-overwork and
worry, suppose. Perhaps, though, the
dread malady may be checked in its in
ception. I will go tp my room and tako
every sort of pellet in our medicine box.
I shall surely thus get the right one.
But despite this diagnosis he walked to
the open window of the smoking room
and looked in, in fear lest some one
might have heard these conversations,
if perchance they had really occurred.
AS he failed to look behind the door,
however, he saw no one, and so went
away satisfied in his most unsatisfac-
tory secrecy: Had he looked behind the
door he would have seen Mason Welles,
and from the expression of his face not
only have been treasured as to the gen.
uineness Of these conversations, but
warned as to the use that unscrupulous
young man would make of his knowl-
edge.
Mason Welles had indeed been wit
ness, and an expert one, too, for he had
known the Mantell girls from their
childhood, and now, as he reviewed the
singularity of their single conduct, he
was able to trace its course. He remem-
bered long ago hearing his father, Dr..
Welles, shrewd old physician that he
was, discuss the idiosyncrasy of the
Mantell twins. ''Those children are not
simpletons, his parent had said. ''To-
gether they possess all the faculties
The trouble is that certain ones, due to
the mysterious intimacy of their birth,
they hold in common. Separately each
one is apt to grin and caper like an idiot.
I do not believe that any education,
however thorough, can .eradicate this
Stiffness. But when they are kept in
company, as they should be, this per-
version not only disappears, but they
are utterly oblivious that it ever exist
ed. In fact, one is the complement of
the other. Together they form the per-
feet circle of common sense. The rem
edy is, and I have impressed it on their
parents, to make them to all intents
and purposes Siamese twins. -
Years had passed since childish
pranks had provoked his fathers speech,
and since then Mason had seen the girls
develop into the fullness of cultured
young womanhood, and he had forgotten
that there had been time when their
sanity had been topic for sympathiz-
ing friends. Now, for a truth, he re-
membered it all, as he also remembered
that until this hour he had not seen
them apart. Now, through deduction,
he comprehended that together the sis
ters had entertained highly proper and
respectful admiration for Paul Dupont,
which had affected each Of them when
separated thus disastrously. eff that
little witch of an Alice could witness
their fond attentions, " Mason comment
ed, perhaps she would abandon her
abominable pretense of pl --dery. And
upon this hypothesis he began to scheme
demonstration.
To Paul in his course of treatment
came no such clarity of vision. Bus
since his head remained unaffected:
however much his stomach did suffer,
he gained slight approximation to the
situation. Evidently what had happened
had happened, incredible though it ap-
peared The solution rested solely with
old Hodges Until his return he was
helpless. Unless-why, of course, un-
less he could play one sister against the
,ther. Each had asserted the necessity
of assembling. Undoubtedly, then, if
he could associate with them jointly the
old formality would continue, and, bet
ter still, he would be relieved from the
dreadful apprehension of a separate en-
counter. Perhaps, too, that object which
had provoked his approach to Sophronia
might also be achieved. For the next
few days fishing was neglected, and
Paul combined the outdoor study Of bot
any and geology.
So marked a change in her husbands
avocation did not escape Alice's sharp,
bright eyes, When she commented ON
his ''taste for curios, " as she termed it,
Paul's abstracted 'Eh? All! presume
so" seemed more a disguise than
slight In word, she grew suspicious.
jealous, unhappy, lamenting as lost
what she had not cared to hold and
burning to prove beyond cavil that
which she would give worlds to disbe-
lieve. That right jolly party became
compound of inanity and Mason Welles
easily it's quintessence. However, when
this beamful young man, in his pursuit
of the vicarious mote, suggested a jaunt
to the summit, artfully mentioning that
the Mantell girls were going and add
ing, "and of course Mr.. Dupont, Alice
agreed with an eagerness which he mis-
interpreted, for her "delighted' should
have been taken as 'heartbrozen. :"
Nor was this the only error that Mason
made. He offended the twins sense of
decorum, supersensitive in its entirety,
by q jocular reference to their intimacy
with Paul.
ST detest that Mr. Welles," said So
phronia frigidly.
"He is abhorrent to all ideas of de-
cency," agreed Abigail.
Ill fated Mason, not to have applied
discrimination to his own case! If
such was their united Judgment, what
might not be their individual impulse?
But no man while digging a pit ever
whistled more merrily than he. "When
we get there, T" he meditated, "T'll man
age to separate the girls, and it will be
hard if I can't arrange to have Dupont
come across one of them while pretty
Alice is looking on. And them
Co cott1o5 woe Macon in tho eertaiDtv