Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-02

to wait longer. Yes, he would give her
day. That was time enough for a man SUI
fering on the rack of such an intoieraole
suspense-one day.
But even that day did not pass without
breaks In his mood and more than one walk
in the direction of the st. Denis Hotel. IL
Gerridge's eye was on him as well as on
the special object of his surveillance, ne
must have smiled more than once, at the
restless fittings of his client about the for
hidden spot. In the evening it was the
same, but the next morning he renamed
steadfastly at his hotel He had laid out
his future course in these words: Il Will
extend the time to three days; then If l do
not hear from her 1 will get that. wry-
necked fellow by the throat and twist an
explanation from him. But the three days
passed and he found the situation unchang-
ed. Then he set as his limit the end of the
week, but before the full time had elapsed
he was advised by Gerridge that he himself
was being followed in his turn by a couple
Of private detectives; and while still under
the agitation of this discovery was further
disconnected by having the following COM
munication thrust into his hand in the open
street by young woman who succeeded
in losing herself in the crowd before he had
got so much good look at her
You can judge of his amazement as he
read the few lines it contained
Read the papers tonight and forget the
stranger at the ST. Denis.
That was all, but the writing was hers.
The hours passed slowly till the papers
We're cried in the street. What Mr.. Ran
som read in them increased his astonish-
ment, 1 might say his anxiety. 1t was
a paragraph about his wife, an almost in
credible one running thus:
A strange explanation is given of the
disappearance of Mrs. Roger Ransom on
her wedding day. AS readers will re-
member, she accompanied her husband to
the hotel, but managed to slip away and
leave the house while he still stood at the
desk This act. for which nothing in her
previous conduct has in any way prepared
her friends, is now said to have been due
to the shock of hearing. some time during
her wedding day, that a sister whom she
had supposed dead was really alive and in
circumstances of almost degrading poverty.
AS this sister had been her own twin, the
effect upon her mind was very serious. To
find and rescue this sister she left her
neWly-made husband In the Surreptitious
manner already recorded In the papers
That she is not fully herself is shown by
her continued secrecy as to her where
abouts. All that she has been willing to
admit to the two persons she has so far
taken into her confidence--her husband and
the agent who conducts her affairs-is that
she has found her sister and cannot leave
her. Why, she does not state. The case is
certainly a curious one and Mr. Ransom
has the sympathy of all his friends.
Confused, and in a state of mind border
ing on frenzy, Mr.. Ransom returned to the
hotel and sought refuge in his own room.
He put confidence in what he had lust
read: he regarded 1t as a newspaper story
and great fake but she had bid him read it,
and this fact in itself was very disturbing
For how could she have known about it if
she had not been its author, and if she was
its author, what purpose had she expected
1T to serve?
He still debating this question when
he reached his own room. On the floor, a
little way from the SILL lay a letter. 1t had
been thrust under the door during his alb
sence. Lifting it in some trepidaton, he
cast glance at it's inscription and sank
staggering into the nearest chair. asking
himself If he had the courage to open and
read it. For the handwriting, like that of
the note handed him in the street. was
Georgian's and he felt himself in a maze
concerning her which made everything in
her connection seem dreamlike and unreal
mastered its contents. They were strange
enough, as this transcription of them will
show.
You have seen what has happened to me,
looks exactly like me. 1t Is that which
makes the world eddy about me. 1 can
not get used to it. 1t Is like seeing my
own reflected image step from the mirror
Roger, two! If you saw her you would
call her Georgian. And she says that she
knows you, admires you! and she says it
In my voice. 1 try to shut my ears, but
| hear her saying it even when her lips
do not move. She is as ignorant as she is
afflicted and I cannot leave her. She can
not hear sound, though she can talk
well enough about what is going on in her
own mind, and she is so hayward and I'M
certain of temper, owing to her ignorance
and her difficulty in understanding me,
that l don't know what she would do if
once let out of my sight. I love you'll
love you-but I must stay right here
Your affectionate and most unhappy
GEORGIAN.
The sheet with it's tear-stained lines fell.
frorn his grasp. Then he caught it up
again and looked carefully at the sigma
ture. 1t was his wife's without doubt.
Then he studied the rest of the writing and
compared it with that of the note which
had been thrust into his hands earlier in
the day. There was no difference between
them except that there We're evidences of
faltering in the latter, not noticeable in the
earlier communication. As he noted these
tokens of weakness or suffering, he caught
up the telephone receiver in good earnest
and called out Gerridge's number. When
the detective answered he shouted back:
Have you read the evening papers? If
you haven't, do so at once; then come di-
rectly to me. It's business now ard no
mistake; and our first visit shall be on the
fellow at the ST. Denis"