St. Tammany farmer., 1905-03-11

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cide?"
Hope he wouldn't be such a fool,
said the other, "and what would he d,
it for? He was the luckiest fellow
The refectory bell began ringing AM
they moved off. Warwick sat up
closed his eyes and sank back, then
rallying all his forces, struggled t,
his feet and leaned against the win
dow frame. His pulses were beating
deafeningly and his feet tingled as i
| full of needles. He would have faller
| had he not caught hold of the window
| sill.
Evans and Martin, two members Of
| the football team, looked in.
Somebody started a cock and bull
story about this place being haunted,
Evans said, leaning forward to get a
better view. AS he did SO, he laid his
hand upon Warwick's and reeled back
his face livid. Martin began pounding
him on the back; two or three passers
running up, laid him on the grass and
tore open his collar; others, swelling
the crowd, stood on tiptoe to catch
sight of him, and hazarded the infor-
nation that he was "in a fit from over
training" Presently he sat up, made
some explanations to the inner circle
and, having been helped to his feet,
went off in a shame-faced way with
the crowd.
Sick in body and mind, Warwick
crawled feebly through the window
and followed them. Hoping for some
opportunity of explanation, he went to
chapel, where DR.. Austin, the presi-
dent, motioning toward the place
where Warwick was sitting, spoke
touchingly of that vacant chair" then
announced the suspension of all col
lege work for the remainder of the
week, and the selection of Friday for
the memorial services.
On the appointed day, the Presbyte-
rial church, the largest building in
town, was packed to suffocation. War
wick had taken the precaution of going
early and sitting on the edge of the
platform where he was sure no one
would jostle against him. At half past
three the faculty marched slowly in,
to the strains of Chopin's funeral
march, and seated themselves on the
platform; after them came the trus-
tees, then the seniors in cap and gown,
followed by the lower classmen, then
the mayor and city council, and, final
ly, a great wave of femininity, in di-
aphanous lawns and with hats like a
parterre Of flowers. The aisles were
filled with chairs until there was no
more standing room, and through the
open windows he could see crowd
of people who could not get in. He
scanned the sea of faces in search of
one he hoped was there, and, by fol-
lowing the glances of Amber and a
dozen others, he finally discovered it in
the front row of the gallery. White as
her dress. and with dark shadows un-
der her blue eyes, Isabel famed her
self and listened absently to the whis-
pered remarks of her neighbors.
Suddenly Warwick became conscious
that the preliminary exercises were
over, and that DR.. Austin was speak
ing. People were shedding tears as he
told of the struggles of the young man
to get through college, of his wonder
full success in his chosen profession,
Of his enthusiasm at the discovery of !
radium, and of his conviction that one
might go step farther and render
Opaque bodies perfectly transparent,
# only one could find the right COM
binations.
Warwick looked up at Isabel. She
vas leaning forward now, her face
1ushed, her lips quivering as she
followed the speaker.
Suddenly she made wild gesture, as
f an overwhelming thought had
struck her, and, covering her face with
Ter hands, she leaned back, apparent
y weeping.
AS he stood on bench, waiting for
he audience to pass, he was deaf to
he peoples murmured comments on
sabel's behavior, as we'll as to the
ft-repeated wonder as to what could
AVE become of his body. He was
onscious of only two things-she un-
erstood what had befallen him and
he cared.
The long summer vacation was over,
nd DR.. Austin was looking over an
ccumulation of letters. Gazing
through the door he could see from
there he sat group of students
ounging under the trees, and the
ound/of the college song they were
nging mingled with the noise of ham,
lering at the laboratory near by. He
owned ard sighed. thinking of the
lperstitions that had grown up around
1at building. The janitor, Scott, had
bsolutely refused to enter the place,
nd it had remained a wreck all sum-
Ter. Mccarthy, who had been bribed
} do some scrubbing, now walked
cross the field of vision, bucket in
and, and the doctor, again signing,
oened the next letter in the pile. AS
3 read, his face grew stern; he 4
anced at the signature, John War
ick;;" at the postmark, Boston,
ass" His face was pale with in
gnation. This was no subject for a
lily hoax. The writer explained how,
the course of his Investigations he
I'd either discovered new element
md this he could only verify by fur
er experiments), or had stumbled
ION combination which united with a
e familiar quality of self-luminosity
9 power of imparting transparency
opaque objects. He had himself
en- rendered invisible by a sudden
plosion due to his ignorance of the