The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-07


 had not been inside a church fer fifteer
 years. He remembered aguely this after
 noon that his father had been a deacon
 that when he himself was a child his
 mother had been wont on Sunday morning
 to pin about his neck a broad white col | lar and send him out to Sunday school All that was a thousand years ago. They
 had been poor. As for himself, he hao succeeded. He had had no mother for
 very many years. He had had the city He had succeeded--yes, there was nc doubt of that. That proof lay all about him.
 As he gazed at the printed page before him. Harrel frowned; his broad jaw tight ened in indignation. He had read this ] column head several times, and he had forgotten 1t. Why should he be preoc- cupied? He had read of the danger of too much preoccupation. Perhaps he would do better If he took up the magazines. He did so. He found himself reading the same page over and over again. He for got the full page picture, and turned back 1 again. Now he began to wonder in q vague way and as he did so he sat up 1 listening.
 l What was that annoying noise? Was any one talking, whispering, disturbing | him against his orders. breaking the sl- l ence which he coveted, which he needed He drowned sternly and turned again to l the page, which again began to bur- His mind was unstable. lis detail not clean cut in line, its performance like that of an un- focused lens. It once again came to his ears, that sound. It was not whispering :; it was not distant talking. It was moan 1 ing, low distant moaning, as of some creature suffering.
 Harrell sprang upright. Ills face had horror on 1t. It was his own voice that he had heardi
 God have mercy!' he murmured to himself 'I didn't know I was i'll. Non sense nonsense!" He repeated 1t over and over again, looking about him. He stepped to the tall glass and gazed at the reflection which he saw. He seemed full figured, a bit forid. apparently strong and healthy. Perhaps his gaze was a trifie tired but then-might not man become tired now and again? The forehead was still smooth, the eyes clear enough. A faint shade of Something lay upon his face But nothing-no, there was nothing in the face he saw which could suggest that back of it was he'll
 Am l going insane?" Harrcll asked himself, seating himself and undertaking to argue the matter impartally. Has anything gone wrong without my knowing it?' He paused, thinking. Again that sound came to his ear-the low moaning ms own Volcei lie Snuddered, the sweat coming out upon his face.
 ''Nonsensel" he exclaimed again. '.It is physical, purely. A brisk walk, little exercise" His glance fell upon a pair of dumbbells in front of the mirror. He picked them up and began going through a series of exercises. He had been an athlete in his day. It was of no use. His arms fell at his side nerveess. A cold terror seized hlm He sprang to the door, found his hat and coat in the hall and hastened to the street.
 The air and sunlight steadied him trlhe. Ut is all right. he assured him self Ut might become serious, but I'll attend to it in time l suppose I must see a doctor" He recalled that of late he had seen his wife look at him queerly, and had heard her sigh. At least she was not there to bother him today. It was three months since she had left for Old Point with her friends. He was proud of his wife She carried off things well. And if one cared to remain home alone quietly, whose affair was it but his own? If one found it necessary to consult a doc tor for a little nervousness. whose affair was that unless his own? Arnold was a specialist. He did not really require specialist, he assured himself, but Arnold was a member of one of his clubs, and we'll he would drop in on Arnold casually.
 But Doctor Arnold, the celebrated spe- cialist, was not at home, neither was Bill ings, on the second block, nor Ismond, nor Joachim.
 Why. don't these fellows stay at home?" protested Harrel to himself querulously. Why. one might be really Ill., you know-a man obliged to go to work on Monday morning"
 In a half daze Harrell found himself wandering away from the wide, clean. paved avenue with rows of mansions like his own. He found himself far to one side. upon street he had never seen.