The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-27
THE LADY OF THE
 MIDNIGHT SKETCH
BY GEORGE sHaEDp.

<ask . fcopyrixht. 1905, by Daily story Pub Cc.l
 clifton Aldrich always was gech,ssr ss ,,.,.. chap but ths final asasssaslS shes wSo p pnew n him best At college he was dreamy ana ihaot s. Ient--moody we called him; ,! ne ns.,s,sN sS sI1y fSne .mind. lie studied little. but seem ed to master his lessons by sort oI a ansu ition--sxceptng in rarely uSn,, he de- veIoped q power of concentration and ac- eofnplishment altogether asson,sniinE: ini nn. doing ing much of anything Compelled Ds.i .,,9 s8 choose @ profession he flippeo Sosn ,.it a.su went in for lay ,t nst ntseT t ns nractics. as lie furnished up offices very artissicaiy .ssaa nna completely but spent most ot a,s hIs .nrie sasas vate office" smoking ard reading GuJsr Gs1x bookn Sometimes we thought II was iucnS he had fortune suiiicaehn .,e ,essr,es we thought lt unfortunate because otherwise ne WouaV 4 have been compelled to arouse tnose ssvas sns make something of himself
 He lived in comfortable l#cheior Quar and his very few intnass fr1snc. svensnS Isua smoke the pipe of peace and discuss all sorts of things. He had the oldest sort sr.nd of sheoTsS or mind ssssed oens rather than occidental lie was altogether indifferent to women and aithongn as,n1s ne wss wish thsnr. he avoided their society. This tendency Tn creased funtil 1t was next to ,mpossig,ies ,s,,s io
 
 There's only one woman. Doe" Doc, he he saIa ia Whsrs SN srs shs % is or what she looks like. but sA7in This sUls was along the line of his queer
 when he was taken sick we all rallied to care for him, and because I had more time than the othsrs-i was no. wsS osesrnh ws.h n finn rather more than the others. He had hard pull for his life and was dslirious Tor was in the midst of his deiirium and at the critical point of the disease when l TI@st Tss ssdPssq wSsn %ss Rssf Watching with him by sharp exclamation of my name. Turning toward the bed was hoErifisd to s.s sec iaHa him burni5x with something more than the glare of the fever, and his right arm ex- tsSasH nn16;,nx a to run ths % shsdows of curtaInsd corner of the room. ..s
 Billy look Suichr he ,,s ssoif'sS lts sns1nnd d she's beckonins to me. Stop her'-stop her; don't let her g0 LA ... help glancing in the direction he pointed Of course I saw nothing ana turned 70 get the patient back in bed again; :.u... n.r 70. h. shztshsSi A,drsSn ta astop herr her" "
 His deiirium was so high and his halfuei- force and thinking fo humor him and gain time to think, started Blowiy toMeFu the corner at which he was aH the tine stop commanded the sick man so in perativeIy that halted tnvoluntarfly. ''You're driving her away. . ,..a
 "A pencil and paper. quick must get ne A pad" pad of paper lay on the table and me- chanically 1 handed it to him. together snplied the pencil to the paper giancing from his paper to the corner exactly as though he were sketching 6 figure spell bound Ss1sS l. nm him n0T by force yst Ing to let him sit up In that way; Finally he gave a quick cry and dropped the paper and pencil.
 left his eyes and the color his face and he toppled over unconscious.
 After I had got him tucked into bed egaln and applied such remedies as occurred stunned to see a most marvellous sketch of a girl of startling but unusual beauty. The sketch looked as though it was surely the likeness of a living breathing person, Sne far to me. I have forgotten to relate that Aidrich had an unusual talent at drawtnG indeed we had all felt that he would have made his mark as an artist m-Weh' "
 I chucked the sketch into drawer. Some days later the crisis passed and the patient lay weak and helpless. waiting for nature to do her work of restoring his vanished blt and walk about the room I came upon him one day paving over the drawers or his secretary. Looking up, he said:
 ssBnly, I saw her while was sick. She came to my room and beckoned to me I I put it. 1t seems as though you were there, although l ain't clear about that"
 I went and got the sketch and handed 1t to him. He shrteked with delight.
 That's her. he shouted That's her