The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-05-07

that viii enable you 10 comprehend
my thoughts, whatever may DO the
distance between u.s. Ina short, you
must turn author h8 we'll ne artist and
conceive tho Same situations that
do. The only difference will be- ia the
execution, I expressing them In words,
you In pictures.
Clarence groanod heipleasly.
"HrOat heavens. Miss Pearson 7" he
exclaimed. "What DO You take mo
for, anyway am no mind reader.
l didn't know you believed in such
1tufL"
"Of course you didn't know. That
was what / meant when said you didn't
understand me as you should have
dabbled 10 oil tho occult sciences. /
firmly believe In apiritualism, hypno-
tiym and theosophy-"
Socialism, Byntax and prosody," ho
interposed viciously.
Don't interrupt me, please, - sho
returned, with an air Of severity. 81
know that IL Is possible 10 read the IN.
ture in cards aud In the stars, and ]
also know that mind reading will in
time become as commonplace as con-
yersing by tAeans Of spoken and written
words Is now. To DO sure, i am not
such staunch advocate OF idealism
as TO assert that our bodies exist in
Imagination only, but / do believe
that mind is far more powerful than
matter. IL has always seemed very
strange TO me, Mr.. Hay" she added,
tentatively, "that you should to so
practical. ] have always supposed
that an artist should have an exceed.
ingly vivid Imagination"
81 am not entirely devoid Of it, " he
retorted, bitterly; "but / exercise
common sense more than anything
else. Besides, am not a Raphael nor
a Murillo. Perhaps if / we're / should
be something of an anomaly with
their power of vision seeing allied to
my decided praetioality, capable OF
earning a good salary, and / never ex-
pect to be anything else, because it
isn't in me. I'm too practical. But
/ am pretty true to nature, and ]
think, Miss Pearson, that if you will
give a fellow q fair show / could illus
trGte your story as well as anyone.
But she was obdurate to oil his APP
peals.
Don't argue with me or try to
change my views, she said "This Is
no mere within. On the contrary it is
a serious matter. I decided upon these
conditions years ago. If you cannot
do as / have suggested we are not
fitted for each other"
1t was the most difficult problem
which Clarence Hays practical mind
had ever been called upon to solve.
There were times when he had serious
doubts of Miss Pearson's sanity, and
had she been q less attractive woman
he would have abandoned all hope of
winning her and left her to find some
body else to do her illustrating. But
whenever he began to consider that
course Of action the valves of his heart
contracted with a sudden spasm of
desolation, and he would once more
begin cudgelling his brain for a posi-
bic clew TO the theme of her story. He
hunted up every old magazine and
newspaper in which she had ever had
anything published and read her
work carefully, IN the hope of thereby
gaining some idea of what might nat
urally be expected of her But she
had written in many veins, and he
might as well have tried to read so.
luton in the stars as in the printed
pages wherein was mirrored the state
of her mind in the days gone by. Be-
sides, in none of them was there visi-
BILE trace of the belief in the super
natural that had characterized their
last conversation, and the theories
then expressed left him more mystifed
as to the probable subject than any.
thing else could nave done.
She had stipulated that at the end
of month he should come to her
with his drawings. Then they we're
to read her story and examine the
pictures together; if each was the
complement of the other, she would
marry him as soon as he wished.
Three weeks of the allotted time had
passed away and Clarence Hay had
fretted and fumed himself into a mere
shadow of his former robust self, but
with all his worrying and specializing
no wandering shaft from her high
train of thought had pierced his OBJ.
fuse brain. He studied out a plot
every night in his dreams, but they
were all different, and when it came to
selecting one from such heterogene-
Gus mass of fancies, his predicament
was as woful as though his slumbeI
had been visionless. He was about to
go to her and explain that as mind
reading was not his forte his was 6
hopeless case, and that in the name OF
justice she ought to be lenient anG
rescind her unreasonable decree.
But Just at that time he received an
inspiration.
On the last day of the month he