The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-13

Copyright. 1902. by Daily Story Pub. Co.
My Dear Sir: Can you come to me
tomorrow at , o'clock. Come prepared
to draw up the last will and testament
of man who hopes the world will re-
ceive more benefit from his gift to it
than it ever has from him
I found this letter on my desk three
days ago. Since then it seems as if 1
had lived years, because / have had
one of the strangest experiences that
ever comes to mana glimpse, almost,
of another world than this we live in.
AT least, so it seems to me.
The letter was like a voice from the
past. l had almost forgotten Julian
Searles. Three years before he had
suddenly seemed to drop out of exist
ence. We knew that he was not dead,
but he might as we'll have been for all
he was to the world, or the world to
him.
When I had known him he was what
men call a dreamer. He read strange
books, full of occult knowledge and mys-
FERROUS speculation. Men said he was
mad from overstudy; that he sought to
pry into the unkowable, and the unfath-
omahle mysteries that met him on every
hand were more than his brain could
bear. SssA
He had but one intimate friend John
Fordyce was, like himself, dreamer.
They had been in college together, and
after graduation they had kept up their
study of strange books and stranger
lore, seeming to care for no other society
than their own. We saw but little of
them. When we did see them it seemed
as # we hardly met men like ourselves,
because their life and habits threw about
them an air of mystery and aloofness
that kept us at a distance. They always
gave me the impression of being in the
world, but not of it.
Bye and bye we heard that Julian
Searles had gone abroad to pursue his
strange studies at university where
men seemed to gain wisdom that al
most unlocked the outer gates of the
other world TO those who were anxious
to know what was beyond them before
death turned the key. Then we heard
after a time that his friend was likely
to die, and that he had been summoned
nome.
remembered as I sat with Julian
Searles' letter in my hand, how it had
been reported that John Fordyce was
dead-that he had died an hour before
his friends arrival. And then came back
to me wildly the remembrance Of the
strange disappearance of the dead mans
body. In a night of wind and rain il
mad been stolen from the room in which
"
though a long and diligent search haC
been made by those whose business il
life it is to discover crime and make
clear dark transactions, no trace of i
had ever been discovered.
From that time on the world seemed
to have lost track of Julian Searles. He
was as nearly forgotten by nine out Of
ten who had known him as the mar
whose body had so mysteriously disap
peared.
When I rang the bell at the searles
residence, the next day, I was admit
ted by an old man who had grown
gray in the service of the family.
remembered him but he had forgotten
me.
You are the lawyer, I suppose?" he
said.
nodded
Come with me-" and he led the way
up two long flights of stairs. He i!
expecting YOU
He tapped at door at the end of +:
long hall.
Come in said voice, family.
Its the lawyer, sir" the old MAJ
answered.
Very well, show him in. When
ring I want you and the housekeepe
to come"
Yes, sir Then the old man mo
toned me to enter the room and with
drew, leaving me alone with a MAJ
who seemed but a shadow of the Julia1
Searles I had known years before.
The word shadow" exactly express
es the impression that the sight of tn
man in the chair before the fire CAV
me. had never seen another Iiyin
creature so thin, so frail, so bloodless
But out of his pale face, with it's hollo7
cheeks, looked a pair of eyes that start
led me with their strange expression
They seemed like the eyes of a haunte
man-eyes that saw that which was II
visible to me.
He motioned me to CHAIR and I sa
down.
II am glad you have come" he sale
presently There is no time to lost
The end may come at any time TIL
end?-no, no! the beginning of eternity.
He shivered as he spoke and his eye
appeared to darken with a nameIes
fear. He seemed to have forgotte
my presence. He was talking WI
himself.
A moment of embarrassing silence er
sued. I moved hoping to bring hi1
back to the world we were in. H
heard the movement, and seemed t
wake I'D to the fact that I was there
and to recall, with an effort, the reaso
OF my presence.
Pardon me-" he said, ct am not use
to visitors, and treat them with scar
courtesy. Are you ready?''
quite ready 1 replied, and sprea
out my paper and produced pen an
ink
Il have been thinking for some tim
back what I wanted done with my pror
erty after I am dead,' he said, in
voice that sounded weak and far ava,
From time to time I made memorand
OF the decisions 7 arrived ct relatiy
to its disposal. You will find them n
the desk there, numbered in the orde
I would like to have them mentioned
my will. You understand how to pl
them in legal phraseology? When va
have done so, I will listen to VIII;
You have written"
1 found the memoranda to which /
referred, and fell to work Oceasionall-
as I wrote, I glanced at him. He seen