Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-01-01

Ez5g ~
1t qraS an ordinary cabinet photograph.
! ing forward to help her except US, and
we're men, you see, and it's very en-
barrassins. She isn't the sort of girl
to take help from any one, and it
looks as if it might end by her taking
up some confounded occupation that
she isn't fit for. We are all very blue
about it,"
| have no mystic power to read the
mind or the heart of another, but |
perceived clearly enough that Mr..
Burnham was in love with Miss
Vaughn and that she did not find her
self able to respond. TO settle this
point | ventured TO say that ! had
heard she was quite pretty.
"Prettyw echoed Burnham. well.
that's hardly the word. II happen to
have portrait of her"
And he pretended to forget which
pocket it was in. 1t was an ordinary
, cabinet photograph, but it showed a
most extraordinary face, dainty CON-
posite of womanly and childish quail
ties. | would not have been able to de-
eide from this picture whether Miss
Vaughn was fifteen years old or TWEEN
ty-fiye, and after my first glance | look
ed up at Burnham and asked, "How
old is She?"
He laughed.
You'd be as much puzzled If you
saw the original" he said, and this
proved to be no eXaggeration. "The
youth, think, is in the lower part OF
the face. What a pretty mouth and
chin! Did you ever see such a pretty
mouth and chin? There's all the dim
pied sweetness, all the quick sensitive
ness of girlhood, and yet no weakness
But there's a calmness in the forehead
and eyes-the eyes bit long, as you
notice, with very delicately marked
browS. The eyes are deep blue and all
the coloring exquisite. Her hair is
like the gold of Ophir 1t may seem
bad taste for me to run on like this"
he added suddenly, but Miss Vaughn's
| beauty is such a simple and natural
thing that one feels no hesitation in
speaking of it. Why, even in her pres
ence | sometimes find myself-howev-
er, that's neither here nor there. You
asked how old she was. She'll be
eighteen next week"
IF the young lady's peculiar powers
are Of interest to science" said |, lit
would seem as if some financial ar
rangement might be made whereby
"We've suggested that but she won't
listen to it." he interrupted. "The
queer part of it is that Miss Vaughn
insists that she has no powers which
are not shared by all our species. She
has, though"
We had reached Burnham's lodgings
by this time, and there we conversed
for an hour or more upon the subject
of the experiments which had been
made in the case of Miss Vaughn
They seemed to me to possess the
vague and unsatisfactory character
which l had learned to associate with
common fraudulent practices. The
young lady answered questions con-
cerning matters of which she was sup
posed to have no knowledge, peculiar
tiles of persons whom she had not
seen, incidents in the lives Of the ques-
TONERS or of their friends. 1t was not
able that she passed into no state Of
trance or mesmeric sleep. She remain
ed entirely normal, not even exhibiting
the excessive fatigue which usually
follows such manifestations. She did
show repugnance however, and was
always more pleased when she failed
than when she succeeded. After Sc
ries of failures she would laugh almost
Historically and display childish re-
lief and delight Her successes de-
pressed her. The best of them, so far
as | could learn, were not conclusive,
but there were some that were hard to
explain upon any natural hypothesis,
and they must have been extremely
startling to the inquirers.
AS Burnham continued to speak | be-
came less hopeful of Miss Vaughn as
possible subject of investigation, less
interested in her as a psychic, but far
more interested in her as woman.
Somehow the words of this fiery but
hopeless lover, this poor little, thin,
dark. ugly faced fellow, who had no
right to crave a beautiful wOman-eX-
| cept that he couldn't help it-built up
| before my minds eye Il very charming
| personality.
| | talked the matter over with Hack
! EFT, and we agreed that Miss Vaughn
was undoubtedly worthy of substantial
! assistance, ii it could he rendered with
| out oTense Her situation was GER
| tainly most lamentable and involved
/ no fault of her own. Having heard Of
/ this case, we could hardly pass by
! on the other side" as Hackett eX-
pressed it. The fact is that my part
/ ner had been playing the role of the
| good Samaritan in many towns that we
had visited, and mostly to the unde-
/ serving am afraid.
| We decided that | should call upon
| Miss Vaughn, and so | asked Burnham
| to secure her permission; but he told
me very promptly that he did not care
/ to undertake the errand.
Il couldn't lie to her" said he. Shed
have to know the object Of your visit
here and then she wouldn't see you"
incidentally | learned during this
conversation That Miss Vaughn was an
! intellectual prodigy, having been the
youngest girl ever graduated from
Smith college Indeed, she would prob