The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-11-11

Chat seemed to buPn with lambent fame
was sure that was invisible 20 her, be-
ing on the dark side of the draped window.
Nevertheless felt that she saw me-
A cry escaped her. and she drew the gar
ment about her and buried her face In the
pillowa
I pushed open the window and stepped
quickly across the room. Bending over
her hidden face, poured ont torrent of
excuses and accusations against myself.
called myself boor and coward. / i'm
plored her to strike me, To. drive me away,
but with a word of pardon. For n long
time continued To plead thus without
sign from her. At last she turned, and /
saw young face. extraordinary and
charming, which smiled at me.
at Is you, II is your she murmurcd.
What she meant by that could not COM
prehend, but /, too. felt that l had seen
her before. There was something In her
face, her glance, her graceful movements,
that awoke vague memories.
l stood gazing at her speechless for
moment, and then mad desire came over
Nie To take her in my arms. But she read
the Thought In my eyes, and, evading me
with surprising agility, she ran To the
lamp and extinguished IL.
There was hooking laugh, then ST.
lence. Hastily strikinga match, relit the
lamp and looked about me. The woman
was nowhere To be seen. / had heard no
door open or close, and yet she was not in
the room. Besides myself there was no liv-
ing thing there except the golden cat,
which came to me and rubbed herself
against my legs. l had not noticed her
before, but evidently she had been asleep
In some corner, and my entrance had
aroused her.
/ could not very well search the apart
ment so waited few moments and then
returned by the balcony to my room. The
light In the neighboring apartment
streamed out from the window, but there
was no sound to indicate living presence.
AS pondered on the affair began 20
feel vague fear of this woman, with her
strange beauty and her enigmatic smile,
who said TO me, ''It Is your as If she knew
me- i could not drive away the memory
of those green eyes that had flashed at me
from the darkness as she extinguished the
lamp nor of the electric shock that had
thrilled me once when / touched her hair
with my hand.
Scarcely was in bed again when felt
a weight fall upon my legs II was the
golden cat. / pushed her away, but she
IcNuTHeNts pdfe up bHc SbTuRSio
and fell into troubled sleep, with this
strange companion, as on the other night,
still on my bed
The next night l again entered my
strange neighbor's apartment. she SEEM
ed not surprised to see me now, and we
chatted together for half an hour. at the
end of which time she dismissed me, with
n smile, but in "a way not TO be denied, and
/ returned to my own room She had told
me that her name was Linda, but beyond
that she would give no information about
herself
And so ii ran on for week. What had
taken place on the second night was re-
peated again and again. Scarce had l left
Linda and returned To my own room when
the golden cat appeared, leaped up on my
bed, installed herself there and remained
until morning. l knew now TO whom the
animal belonged. Once when / spoke of
it Linda said: Oh, yes; my cot. Is it
not the one which seems tn be all OF
gold?'" Nothing new took place, but new
ertheless little by little an intangible ter
ror took possession Of me.
There were moments when these two be-
ings, with their great green eyes, their
supple movements and their glory of gold
en- hair, became confused in my mind
and seemed To me TO be only the dual form
Of single soul In spite Of my impor-
tunities Of Linda and my efforts TO surprise
her / have never been able to see them at
the same time. / tried to reason with
myself, TO convince myself that as mat
ter of fact, there was nothing absolutely
inexplicable In what had befallen me. /
rallied myself on being afraid of a woman
and a pet cat. And then, as the result Of
all my reasoning, found that in reality l
was afraid neither of the animal nor of the
woman, but of a symbolical duality which
existed only In my own mind.
actually suffered from this obsession.
After the nights I'm their presence 1 had
days of secret torture such as madmen I'M
dergo. Little by little resolution was
born, grew and ripened In my mind-the
woman held me by her beauty, but re-
solved that should kill the animal.
One evening before going to Linda's
pot of glycerin, flask of hydrocyanic
acid and one of those little glass sticks
that chemists call mixing rods
When / regaincd my room, the cat, as
usual, followed me there / called her, and
she ran To me, her back arched, her tail
erect, purring took the glass rod, dipped
ward the animal She licked 1t dry with
her rosy tongue. l repeated this operation
three times. The fourth time dipped the
rod in the acid The cat licked il unsus-
piciously, and Immediately she became
rigid Then she bounded into the air and
rolled over and over in terrible agony.
Finally she fell back upon the floor with a
fearful cry-a human cry, one would al
most have said. She was dead
With great beads Of perspiration on my
temples and my hands trembling violently
leaned over the warm body. Her staring
eyes had look in them that froze me.
Her black and swollen tongue stuck out
between her sharp, white teeth Her limbs
were extraordinarily contorted. With an
extreme effort of will took the animal up
by her paws and left the house. hurried
straight before me down the deserted street
to the quays, and there l threw my burden
into the river.
Until day broke / wandered about the
city, / knew not where. At last the sky
grew pale with the coming dawn, and l
decided tn return TO my house. AS my
hand touched the doorknob / shivered. l