Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1895-03-16


come. and during that time Royal hoped
to arrange matters in such fashion as
to withdraw his future, in measure,
from the shadow of the dead mans past.
The feeling of possession, of beng him
self, and yeG other than himself, which
had been so strong upon him during the
ceremony, had modified, but enough of
it remained to make him FESTIVE. To
himself he neither denied the impression
nor attempted to explain it, and he spoke
of the matter to no one. That the soul
of dying man, freed from the material
in the intensity of dominant and un-
fulfilled desire. should, operating through
spiritual or imaginative laws, influence
the soul of another man dominated by
the same desire and III an abnormally
quickened condition by reason of nerv-
Gus excitement, was to him thlnka Die
proposition, and one which it would re-
Quire no more credulity to admit than
would be demanded by nine-tenths of
the theses constantly presented for the
consideration of mankind.
The intellectual man was i'll Royal
sufficiently developed to enable him to
recognize that all thought pertaining to
that infinite which permeates and tran
scends material things must forever root
itself in instinct and intuition, and also
that his individual knowledge of the laws
of spirit or imagination, CLEANED from
observation Of their manifestation in the
life Of matter, was, relative to his ig-
ci,,f
eagles wing to the sum of the birds
aerial JON neyings.
Still, withal, Royal was u very human
natured man. and since realization that
PHYLLIS was his own wife had come to
him matrimonial association of her, even
in idea, with another man had become
offensive. 1t was not that he was Jealous
of the dead mans memory; Royal was
not sufficiently in love for that, and
would besides have been incapable Of the
meanness. Phyllis, as his wife, would
be quite as free to eXpend regret upon
her cousin as though she were still I'M
wed. That which CALLED Royal was his
inability for the time to escape, III her
thought, from the dead mans Identity
the knowledge that he was not himself
to her, but the incarnation of another
soul 1t gave him when with her sense
of duality which was maddening. The
endeavor to think the things which John
Royal might have thought, and to speak
the words which John Royal might have
spoken, made him at times feel almost
ready to cut his own throat, if only to
evict the interloping spirit which seemed
to share the material tenement with his
own.
Il know TO the finest fiber of sensation
how it feels to be haunted" he whimsi-
cally declared to Mrs. Hart. Ever since
that fellow thrust his identity upon me
my soul has had Siamese twin. He
ought to be ashamed to hang on to earth
so. It's stealing march on the other
ghosts who have cut into the Infinite the
instant death shuts the door on them. y
1T won't be for long now" comforted
the lady "And after while, when it
shall have become past experience, you'll
view it as psychological phenomenon
of great interest and Importance. You'll
take pride in it us an exceptional mani
festation of heaven knows what, and
write articles, which nobody will read,
or could understand if they did, devoted
entirely to its ysis-from which you
will gain renOwn."
THAT may be-" grumbled Royal, "but
as present experience | find duality of
being disconcerting. If | don't get out
of this before long I'll blurt the whole
truth out to Phyllis, if only to give my
lol cfn iY1it 70
own body"
Mrs. Hart laughed. wonder Phyllis
has never suspected anything The idea
that you may be other than you seem
never appears TO shadow her mind. To
be sure, the time has been short and
your intercourse desultory and super
fetal; added to which, her whole soul is
absorbed in anticipations about the re-
covery of her sight. But you are obliged
to make blunders-multitudes of blum
ders-and she ought to notice them. I'm
disappointed in her penetration"
You needn't be-" Royal retorted.
my familiar stands by me better than
that When blunder recover myself
with nimbleness and celebrity which
would shame an acrobat. You under
rate my ability. I'm getting in a stock
of substitution and suppression which
would furnish capital for the founders
of many theories. Besides, we've the
margin of those six years, into which
considerable change may be crowded"
In which last statement Royal fastened
on a truth, for with Phyllis all discrep-
ancies (and the time, as Mrs. Hart re-
marked, had been too short for many
were put down to the inevitable growth,