The National tribune., 1897-10-14
CHAPTER III-(contipu,dl.

friend, and when L thought about il
began to wonder why he was my
friend. if he did rot know my name
Then 1 wondered why / had no other
friends. There Were several / knew about
the building-tbe pames of some and what
were evidently nicknames of Others. These
had been accustomed to call me " Number
Nineiy-six." 1 knew now it was not my
name. though l had answered to it as if it
had been. After my friend went away in
such a huff / was greatly crieved, but gradu-
ally took to wondering about things that
had never before attracted my attention.
began to ask myself not only who / was,
but where 1 was, and why i was there.
1t made me tired TO think. so / laid N.Y.
self upon the bed and dozed through the
long Summer afternoon. 1t was night
when / awoke and looked out upon the
moonlit night. The questions started by
my friends inquiry multiplied. / asked
myself not only who was. but what had
been. What relations had father, mother,
wife, children? What might tie void con-
tain? Should / ever find nay way to the
light? Suddenly the cold sweat of an I'M
endurable agony burst out upon my brow
as looked down at the shadow cast upon
the greensvard below me by the building
was in. 1t answered to my struggling
thought questions / had asked. | had
heard it spoken of as "the institution, :"
but the word had meant nothing to my
clouded mind.
Now, knew: it was well-known asylum
for the insane. / had seen it often in that
life i could not yet recall, and now recog-
nized in the shadow below it's turreted cut
line. And my friend, DR.. Walcott. He was
The Superintendent.
think i must have tainted when I real
ICED the horror of my situation, and I'M
consciousness must have faded into sleep,
for when 1 awoke the dawn was lust show
ing above the eastern hills. The resurrec-
tion was complete: / woke not merely to
consciousness but to knowledge knowledge
OF who and what had been, who and what
was. All my life, up to the hour of my
Death, stood out clear and sharp in my
memory. Wife, child, home, the position i
had imperilled by my foolish venture in the
Z. T. e. i remembered them ALL
The old burdens rolled back upon me
with their pristine horror. l felt my brain
reel, and wondered if reason would again be
shaken from her throne.
Stop! What is this new uuesfion which
comes surging across the tnmult In my vet
9uivering brain2 Who? What? Where?
al! these had answered. There was still
another. When? How should it be solved
Hooked at my face in the little glass upon
the wall. i long dark beard. with scarce q
trace OF gray; head bare upon the crown.
the hair about the sides brown and curlIny
1T was not The face had known 1t told of
tlme elapsed since / had died How long?
Months, or years?
In las excitement the day before. nv
friend, the Doctor. had dropped paper on
tie floor. 1t had rolled under the cot and
hs had forgotten If. 1 picked it up and
looked at the date. 1t was 10 years after
the day OF my DEATH
j was alone all that day, overwhelmed
with surging tide of questions AS to what
had happened while i was numbered with
the dead.
1t Is wonder that did rot return into
the tomb from which / had just emerged |
did not think much abont the world and
the changes that might have occurred in il.
but OF my wife-my child. The former
must be growing old. / remembered that
she would be almost fifty, being but two
years younger than myself What were her
circumstances? Had she suffered from loss
Of Ely aid in the battle of lifea
And our child, she must now be a vou,g
LADY of-let me see-she was IL: she must
row he %. j wondered what she was
like. Were they still alive, or had they
died OF want through my weak and foolish
venture? All at once thought of the in
Eurance upon my life. 1t was evident that
she must have believed me dead since my
friend. The Doctor, did not know my name.
II so, she had probably collected the insur-
ance. Why MOI? Livery one must long ago
have given nie up Tor dead. So they could
hardly Lave suffer- cd want. How my heart
lesp'd with JOY ri The thought
Bat suppose ! should reappear, disclose
myself, he known to be alive? gaspcd for
breath as j thought she might be stripped
oil comforts because the dead was alive
Should i, whom she mad mourned and no
doubt haif forgotten, come forth from the
iomh and drag her down again to poverty
ana shame! knew 1t would mean shame
distress and social ruin. Society. the world
never forgets that an intellect has been
shaken-that a brain has lost it's eouili-
brium.
She might have married again. Why
not2 The thought was agony, but ali the
same i WAS bound 10 shield her from farther
suffering. Before the sun set, bad decided
upon my course: I had been dead for a
decade. and dead / would remain.
When the night came on L disrobed, con-
scious of my past and present. and kneeling
Dy the little iron cot, prayed for strength TO
sustain me in my fixed resolve never TO
break forth from the tomb in which had
been so long immured. Then Law down TO
sweet and peaceful slumber, only waking
now and then to rejoice in the fact that
knew myself-who had been, and " hat |
was.
CHAPTER ".