The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-11-05
THE ACTORS DOUBLE.

festations at the Thirty-nine club, and
retailing the usual second or third hand
accounts of deceased ladies and gen
tlemen showing themselves to their sor-
rowing relatives.
at is strange the tricks which our
brains will sometimes play us" said
Dr. Macpherson. Il remember once
seeing ghost myself, and l can tell
you that the sensation is very curious
one. 1t was a good many years ago, in
my examination days, and | had been
s:TNg up until the early hours cram
ming Everybody in the house had
long since gone to bed, where ought to
have been myself, so l was rather sur
prised when l glanced up from my
book to see somebody sitting at the
table where 1 myself had been few
moments before writing. l felt quite
startled for an instant, until [ recog-
nized the intruder. He was little hazy,
but / could see plainly enough who it
was"
"A dead relative?" asked Maj. Den
nett, who was a firm believer in the
good old-fashioned ghost.
Macpherson answered in his pecul-
iarly quiet way: "No, it was myself.
The experience of seeing ones own
ghost is not altogether unusual, be-
lieve"
snow, l do not think your expert
ence was half so remarkable as one of
mine." said Gilbert Dane, the we'll
known actor and manager of the How
ard theater, who happened to be there
that night. Dane is not a member of
the Thirty nine, but had come with
Macpherson. Most of the brain spe-
cialist's friends are in the profession,
fact which is perhaps due to the year
which he himself spent on the stage as
a young man.
MY story begins prosaically," said
the actor, VIXEN we begged to hear it.
81 lost the latchley with which L let
myself into the theater, and took some
body else's to the locksmith's to have
duplicate made. | agreed to call for il
the following morning as | was going
up to town for rehearsal. | was living
at Putney then, and we were actively
preparing a play which deserved a bet
ter fate than it received, if thought
and preparation go for anything, for
l came near making myself i'll over it. |
was feeling out of sorts on the morning
that called for the latchkey, and when
the locksmith swore positively that he
had given me the thing already-that
less than ten minutes previously had
come in for the key, paid for it, and
taken it away with mel will confess
that l lost my temper, and stormed at
the fellow; but l could not get him to
bulge line from his story. He
seemed to have an idea that | was play
ing practical joke, and the only re-
suit of my talking was that / nearly
lost my train to Waterloo. 1t was NOV
ing when 1 reached the platform, and l
had to run for the only compartment
of which the door was open, near the
end of the train.
THE compartment contained two
other passengers, but if | glanced at
them at all, L noticed nothing except
that each was pretty well hidden be-
hind daily paper. l had fortunately
bought my own paper before calling at
the locksmith's, and | speedily followed
their example. So far the story is
painfully commonplace. Now comes the
truly remarkable experience which
has stamped the doings of that day in
dehbly on my memory"
The actor paused to strike a match
and relight a cheroot, which he had al
lowed TO GO out. aId we all watched him
in silence, wondering what was coming.
Macpherson only had the air of a man
who had heard the story before.
Il had become rather interested in
my paper" Dane went on, when the
cigar was lighted again, "and did not
notice my companions talking until one
of them started telling an anecdote.
1.-THE story and voice startled me, but
i. is difficult to describe my feelings
when put down my paper to glance at
the narrator"
at was yourself?" asked Maj Den
nett, excitedly, as the actor paused;
and Dane nodded.
Yes, gentlemen, l saw seated at the
other end of the compartment by the
window, opposite his companion, fig
ure that was an exact fac-simile of the
reflection which see in my glass every
day when | have dressed for the part of
respectable citizen. 1t was myself
complete in every detail of face and at
tire"
IAN optical delusion, I suppose?" I
suggested; and the actor shook his
head.
''No; that was the first idea that oc-
Cured to me-that l had been working
and worrying too much over the new
play, and my brain had played me
trick. The unconcerned way in which
the third man glanced at me encour"
aged me in the belief, for the likeness.
unless / was imagining it, was enough
TO attract instant attention. | won
dered whether there was actually
man sitting and talking whesH l had
seen and heard my fac-simile; for the
third man, an ordinary, everyday indi-
vidual, had not spoken a word to him,
and might from his expression have
been listening to his anecdote or simply
thinking. l was relieved when he
i i