The record-union., 1896-11-15

dldn KNOW anything about ltI Inat
is what puzzles me. Mr.. Terry. Do you
believe we can be conscious and un-
conscious at the same time? Now 7
was certainly unconscious after that
accident last evening-Dr James will
certify to that. Yet when l came to my
self l remembered queer dream, just
as distinct as anything in the world,
that l had eloped with a centaur. and
we We're having dreadful time getting
away. and the family were after US
with faster horses than the centaur's,
and they had just caught up with us
when l woke up or came to, which ever
it was, and found myself here in Tom
Mitchells. You don't look a bit like
my centaur-I had a good view of you
while you were out on the veranda to-
day, in front of my room-and yet that
centaur does not look unlike YOU Ism t
it queer?'
And Miss Edwards stopped for mo
ment, having talked pretty fast for a
supposed invalid
Miss Edwards" 1 said, perhaps I
can help you little"
Can you?" she asked. How"
Il wonder" I replied, ''if you remeln-
ber thunder storm at sea While we
were coming down on the Carroll:"
why, of course I do" she answered,
I'VE We're talking about it just before
our carriage went over the bridge. 1t
darkened in, and the two nights were
pot unlike
We'll, during that storm at sea-"
continued, you got up, threw some
thing over you, and went out on deck
to watch it,
so I did, she said. II was awfully
nervous that night, and the boat rolled
50 l could not keep in my berth. Then,
just as the storm was breaking away,
mamma woke up and found out what
had done and called me i'm
And that is just what mamma is 60
ing to do now" a pleasant, but slightly
imperative voice broke in. You have
been out here altogether too long now
Excuse me, Mr.. Terry" Mrs. Edwards
added, turning to me, but I hardly
think that more of this night air will
co for my daughter
ooh, mamma" broke in Miss Ed
wards, Il am SO comfortable and warm,
and Mr.. Terry was just explaining to
me why 1 eloped with centaur last
night, when you all thought 1 was un-
Unconscious, and he is just reaching the
interesting point
We'll, ! have no doubt Mr. Terry can
explain SO remarkable a proceeding by
daylight as easily as by moonlight. ana
it will be then easier for you to Judge
whether his explanation really ex-
plains said Mrs. Edwards "Ar any
to T inly r l,,+
you have been up long enough
And in they went.
AS may be easily guessed, I did not
sleep well that night. Up betimes,
secured some roses, and laid them by
Miss Edwards plate. How the hours
dragged until she came down to break
fast! She delighted me by appearing
after breakfast wearing the roses.
invited her to go out for a short row.
and she asSented. 1t seemed as if she
must hear the beating of my heart or
see through my coat the picture of the
ghost-girl in an inside pocket. 1 rowed
her out quite little distance in COM
plete silence and then stopped.
Il have been wondering, Mr.. Terry
she said, speaking first, whether you
are sphinx as we'll as a centaur to
bring me in profound silence way out
here to keep me guessing about you in
stead of answering my riddle-why you
should have been distinct impression
to me, when, to my knowledge, I had
never seen you before, and I was at
that time to all appearances uncon-
scious.''
Miss Edwards replied, 'T can say
in solemn earnest there is nothing in
the coincidence which surprises me. For
it is all a part Of a deep, unfathomable
But now delightful mystery, with which
your personality, if not your actual
presence has inspired me for weeks
long before l ever met or saw you. You
seem to think it strange that you seem
to know who was carrying you to Why
coccamaugh on that dark night, after
you had been stunned by your fall, al
though you We're unconscious. WHY,
that night was by no means unlike the
one when you, not knowing it, caught a.
glimpse of me after storm at sea-
when every incident would impress it.
self upon you as a part of an unusual
experience, even the incident of q
your fall you might have been thinkins.
of that night, just as I, only few short
turns in the road behind you, was then
thinking of you. And if there is any,
thing in the unconscious influence of
enc mind over another, what was there
in that small stretch of space to stop
the reach of my thought and desire GO
ing out toward you at that very moment
what was there to prevent the impress
of myself upon you in a. way as little an
ticipated by me as it was impossible of
recognition by you?
''This is no suden fancy. For weeks,
as / said, you had been present to me.
inspiring hope, longing, baffied purpose.
and at times despair. You have filled
my waking thoughts, and you have pos
sessed yourself of my dreams 1t was
in a certain sense, to avoid you, and to
regain control of my personality, tina.
! sought the wilds of Cape Breton. Yet
before / had left the wharf at Boston
you had asserted yourself. In the lone
liness of storm at sea you revealed
yourself. In the heart of this wild coun-
try was destined to come to your help.
Call it what you please-Proyidence
fate or coincidence-I am merely stat
ing the sacred truth. This picture
drawing the ghost-girl from nv
pocket, which is a picture of you, or
of your twin sister, l obtained under
circumstances most extraordinary
and weird. 1t has haunted me
ever since, filling me now with delight.
and now with despair, until I return
it here now to its original, with the SOL
emn assurance that she has become
part of my very life."