The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-05
THE VAMPIRE LIFE.
BY BEEN E. RExFoRp.

no rose, ana Walkeo tottSInsy NCC he seemed about to fall. l sprang to ms side. to asstet him.
 "You herer' he cried. T thought you had gonts nGpr-leAye me alone; You can TSers nGs ssan Mss sound ee ees % wall of despair In his voies.s ' SssF
 shall I not call the servantT' asked.
 No, no!-only leave me-"
 did as he ordered. and when the door was closed between us I breathed freer. When I was out in the street felt as the man does who has made his escape from some miasmatic swamp, Iuii ot deadly odors and influences and repulsive with slimy, crawling things. That fancy chung to me all the rest of the day.
 Two days later this message was
 He is dead. He told me you would come as soon asiyou heard of It. after reading the paper he gave you' as you Ju,aa M,n sss t1Ss %s sas Srsks RsRss iss seal anjksa46am wAk4o read 1t before Ye- spondingeto the summons Of the old servant.
 T do not know into whose hands what am going to write down here will fall, only know that must write the truth for some one to read.
 The proof of my sanity Is in the room above me. and he to whom this Is given can. # he ebeys my wishes. convince himself that this confession is true one and not the fancy of an unbalanced
 John Fordyce and were like broth CTS. We had the same longings to Know apout common things-always about the world beyond, the influence of mind on mind. and that strange thing men call death. ...
 'One day said to him that believed man. by the exercise of the power he calls will. could call back life to the dead body. if his will was stronger than not. stronger in itself. 1t had acquired such influence over the will of tho dead. by ties of companionship and mutual in- terest. that the two wills seemed to have become one will. common to both. a.s ,v friend. If l die first. you shall test the power you believe you possess over me. If you die. will make the trial. and of life into motion again. after death has
 ''So the unholy compact was made be- tween Us.
 tigations in the realms of the mysterious. During our absence from each other we were In constant communication: by some subtle and unexplainaDle influence of mind on mind. Call 1t mental tele- pathy, or what y,u will. there was be- tween us a mind-intercourss which was not cognizant of space.
 One day a message came from him to come homo at once. He felt that death was near. and he wanted me to be with him when the great change came. T started homeward at once. but death was ahead of me. When l reached the bedside of my friend he had been dead
 ''As I stood and looked upon him I felt none of the grief men seem to feel for the friends they lose. felt instead, | l wild mad longing tn bring t0 hear unOn | the dead man the power of my will, and force life to come back to him. That night. while the elements seemed my plan. I entered the room in which | my dead friend lay. and bore away his body. The rain obliterated all traces of my footsteps, and when morning came there was not a clue to assist in the | discovery of the midnight visitor. T bore the body to my room, by a | flight of stairs communicating with 1t from ths garden below. Over this room. | at one corner of the house, is another room. connecting with 1t by. narrow 1 stairway. This upper room John FJrdyce atory, and no one was ever admitted to 1t. In this room I bore the body. and laid 1t upon a couch I had prepared for 1t. i And then began the test of my fam
 T knelt beside the body. and took the cold hands in mino. I closed the door | of my mind and locked 1t against the | admission of any other thought than the centrated my mind, my will, upon the | awful task before me. and brought all my power to bear upon this supreme eff | fort of my life.
 l life,' I kept saying over and over. come 1 back. come back!'
 "The night was giving way to the first gray light of dawn before success re. uy ordp fhA trial was to end in utter failure. In one last. wild. cumulative attempt. l cried out:
 strong enough to ,baffle will like mine Life that once dwelt in this form. I command you to come back to 1t! My mad defiance of God seemed to be the one thing that was lacking to bring success for scarcely had 1 uttered the | terrible words before saw change talk ing place in the form over which I was bending. A faint flush came stealing back into the marble cheeks. felt a culver in the cold hands, as If a current | of life began to move there, and pres ently l felt sensation Of warmth be- still face. l felt breath upon my cheek.
 "I have done it!' cried in fierce ex- ultation. I have done what bllnd' fool, ish men say no one but God can do. I have forced life to obey my will. and he who was dead lives again.
 >"Then came sudden reaction from the | terrible tension which had been upon my mind. and I sank upon the floor. weal CT than a newborn babe, and unconscious ness came to me. Oh, God!-if 1t had only been death!
 Hours nassed before I came to a | knowledge of life again. When l did SO. the body of my friend lay there in the same position 1t had occupied when tenn porary oblivion had come to me.
 "I knelt beside 1t and peered into the still face. There was the color of Tiff. there. could feel the breath coming and going over the lips that were awfully still. But the hands l pressed in mine had no responsiveness in them. Again friend. but no reply came. There was nothing to tell that l was heard.
 Like a lightning flash the truth came to me. l had called back life to the dead, and nothing more! The soul was not there! Before me was a living, breathing form, but that which had made 1t man was not in it!
 Then 1 knew that l had undertaken the work of God and failed. My power was not strong enough to control that which Is infinitely more than the prin- cipal of life.
 "Oh, the anguish. the remorse of that terrible moment! I stood there banled. in the presence of an unseen God, and His voice said to me, out of time and space: You have sinned the sin that is beyond all pardon. and you must pay
 % And have i not not paid it? Oh. God!-I dare not Iaay .mY aGod. for I am forever shut out from YeHr mercy. because have neddled with that which belongs to You al0ne-have l not suffered enough here to- entitle me to the boon of oh- Iiyion In the hereafter? I ask for noth- | ira Int m