The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1903-05-15

SAT in my bath chair lit the cor
4 ner ~ thr square alone, for / had
sent ms man O. dispatch telegram
and ~ was plea=anter for me To wait
APP that quiet spot than III The busy
thoToughfare. 10 was 4 warm day
and the sun shone with soft, mellow
radiance on the yellow leaves that
were clinging TO the trees ia the gar
len of the square or futteriug
quietly 20 rest on their parent earth.
No passengers were To be seen: but
for the dull sound from the far of
streets the silence was profound.
The melancholy OF autumn that
season Of spent endeavor. OF slow de
cay. OF rest WA. iu the air.
Most Of the houses ia the square
were shut. their owners not vet re
turned from the country. but one
very lary. houSe was evidently in
habitcd. III filed the center Of the
block facing the square ON my right.
was wondering what il could bc,
Tor the building seemed too large for
a private dwelling house. when my
attention was attracted by Young
man youth, l ought rather To say.
Tor he did not seem TO be more than
10 or 2O-who was slowly pacing
along the pavement close To the rail
Iugs that iuclOscd the square gar
den. looking all the time at the large
house / have Just mentioned 1t
seemed almost as if he were expect
ing pr hoping to see the face of
some one ne knew appear at one OF
the tail windows. And what particu-
larly struck me was that as he
walked he touched with his fingers
every fourth one Of the iron uprights
that formed the railing.
ne came nearer and nearer TO me,
still touching as he went. and then
when he had reached the corner.
without noticing me in the least. he
turned round and retraced his steps.
still touching the ratings. But it
seemed To me that he did not lay his
hand on the same uprights that he
had touched before
This circumstance stimulated my
idle curiosity Those who have
known as l have what it is TO lie for
many hours too weak to read or
talk, q prey TO wandering fancies.
viii understand me when / say that |
became intensely anxious To know
why he was touching those ratings.
There did not seem to be any way Of
satisfying myself on this point. and
strove-this viii explain my state
OF mind rs well rs anything / can
say strove TO make sure that he
was really putting his fingers on
different uprights from those ne had
touched when he was walking toward
me. There was a ready way of set
tling this point. Every twelfth up
right terminated in a spike some
inches higher than the others. and
observed that he had touched the
high ones rs ne came toward me. I
II he touched one of them now, /
was wrong: If ne touched the next |
10 one Of the high ones, then | was |
right.
\ few seconds told me that | was |
right. The youth laid his fingers on l
the upright beyond the tall one |
every time. And so ne went on till |
he reached the further corner of the /
square.
| thought he would turn and come |
back again. / was sure he would. |
lie did. touching the ratings as be-
fore And this time he touched the /
uprights on my side of the tall ones. |
That meant that he was systematic
ally touching every one of them.
My curiosity satisfied on this point,
reverted to the more
qucstion-what could be
the young mans reason for behav-
ing in this extraordinary way?
He came slowly nearer. and just as
he was about To turn round, obeying
an impulse, L called TO him