The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1896-01-23
CHAPTER XIV.
LOVE CONTINUE ED.

alG(i'|;: |!ll(|
~ 4rtl marry yo, ,oIaen you bring Kep
pei DaTke here"
Olympia Raven, since the night of the
counts ball, had been in a condition
which gave her friend Mrs. Bannick
some anxiety. She was not ill, but she
was not her usual self. She sat for long
periods of time plunged in intense medi-
tation; then she would rise and wander
restlessly about; sometimes her mood
would be gloomy, sometimes sudden
change to hilarity would come over her.
In answer to the tender questionings Of
her friend, Olympia would reply, with a
look of surprise, that she was perfectly
we'll; and Mrs. Raven, whom Mrs. Ban
nick consulted, shook her head and de-
clared that Olympia looked to her about
the same as usual she had never been
| able to understand her, anyway! Mrs.
Raven, never brilliant or powerful in
tellect, had been growing old of late;
she was very deaf, and spent her time
chiefly in reading old newspapers. Her
mind was dull and vague, and she was
| inclined to resent any attempt to arouse
| her to living interest in what was pass,
| ing around her.
| .sPm afraid" said Toms wife to her
husband, as he was putting on clean
shirt for dinner, ''that Olympia was
| thrown off her balance by that hypno-
| tizing business. Nobody really under.
stands what these frances are; and there
may be more harm in them than we
| imagine"
She'll come around all right" an
swered Tom, with cheerful optimism.
every young unmarried girl goes queer
once in while; and quite proper, too!''
Olympia did not herself know any
thing Of the mysterious part she had
played on the night of February twenty
fifth. It had accidentally transpired some
! time before that she was an exceptionally
| good subject for hypnotic experiments,
and the count had intimated that she
might, if she chose, become instru-
mental in discovering the murderer of
Harry Trent. She finally consented, on
| condition that she be not informed of
the manner in which her power was
used. She was willing to become an in
| strument in the cause of justice, but
shrank from being made privy to the
means adopted. Garcia, after the first
| experiments, was able to throw her into
a trance without her even knowing of
his proximity; and it had thus been pos
sible to take her to the counts house and
back again without any consciousness of
the transaction on her part. But the
experience had had other effects upon
her which were not as yet suspected by
| any one.
| She was sitting at the piano one after
noon when the count came in. The air
| was still vibrating with delicate har-
monies, softly tuned into life by her fin
gers, as she turned to meet him 1t was
the first time he had come to her since
the night of the ball.
81 was thinking about you, Count de
Lisle," she said, as she gave him her
hand, "and l was expecting you.''
''That is good news" he replied. "Can
I be of any use to your
She looked at him while he was speak
| ing in singular manner, as if she saw,
not his physicist self, but something
within that or emanating from it. Her
eyes sparkled, and their glance was not
fixed, but wandered from point to point
of the counts face. A smile glimmered
on her lips and was gone, and again re-
turned, like light upon dimpling water.
Though she sat still, there was subtle
unrest perceptible in her, as if the
| kho,,obfc fbof +,.ox x,arca1 l,ar 10 o,,J
fro left vibrations and fine STRINGS in
her palpable organism. In the shadowy
room Olympia seemed spiritualistic and
to possess spiritual powers, SO that the
count felt as if she could see what was
in his brain as easily as she could see his
face.
"The time is come wnen we must
part" she said, after pause.
"Part! What do you mean? Where
are you going2 What has happened?''
He was startled out of his customary
self possession, and spoke impulsively.
"Yes, Count de Lisle, we must part,
she repeated, smiling still mysteriously.
"And we must never meet again, in this
| world or the next"
She said this so decisively and yet 80
quietly that the count was dumfounded.
He could not think she was jesting, and
yet how could she be in earnest? He had
been fattering himself Of late that she
| had been learning to regard him with
anything but Indifference. Even now,
though her words were so strange, hel
manner had never had such attractive
ness.
CONTINUED
A clergyman was censur1ng