The daily Alaskan., 1907-06-21
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. The Strange Detective.
LOriglnall

l had married a wife and found thnt l had been mistaken In her. Marriage to ne had meant perfect accord, Perfect accord had not been the result In my case, aud l resolved to cut the knot that bound me to Della by going away from her | had no intention of lcay- Ing her t0 support herself l would give her the lions share of my Income and supply any need for which tLls share was inadequate. It was near midnight after a quarrel that ] camO to this dec.s.ou
 Opening my front door, went out It was dark anal mlnvitiug Here and there street lamp Hlckcrcd, aud an occasional vehicle rumblcd on tho payemcut Pew were obrood and to avoid even these l turucd down an unfrc0uented street. My cheeks were burning. and ha night air could not cool thcm. ] took no thought as to where | world g1. Indeed, l had no desire to go anywhere l wished only to walk and be alone.
 l heard footsteps beside me and turn ed my head to discover who had thns taken it upon himself 10 inuude upon me. saw u0 U4r.
 "Au. sec" l muttered. Its the echo"
 l was walking by a high brick wall and attributed what had heard to the sound of my own footsteps seu, back from 1t. But when l passed beyond It to uu opening between the houses ] still heard it. ALaiu | turned to see fl any one was beside me
 This time l was sulpriscl-ludect. so much surprised that my attention was drawn mumcutariIy from my uou- ble. l saw a figure the counterpart of myself. He was myself tn every re- spect except that he Wore a very dis agreeable expression l stopped and stood still He did the same. moved on. He moved on too. ] concluded to speak to him.
 "Wuerc are you goiugt' I asked
 "Where are you gomgF he replied.
 "I? don't care where l go"
 "So long as you get your revenge. l suppose"
 "Reveu@e, Revenge ou whom"
 "YOur wife"
 thought a moment. Could It no possible that what l did was influenced by desire to hurt Della.
 My wife will not trouble herself about my leaving her so long as she is provided for"
 Better than that, she won't sleep a wink all night"
 Do you think sot'
 "I know so. IL will serve her right She has treated you shameful,y.'
 had considered that Delia had treated me shamefully, but preferred ,o be the only oue to accuse her. Sow that this dtsagreeable counterpart o' myself did Sd l reyoIted.
 ~Cw you name any one thing ] asked. irrtu.ed "iu which she has treated me slamcfully"'
 "Yps. she married you for one thing and found you another This caused her lo treat you badly in cycTlh,ng.
 "Shc disappointed in me? Why. us | who am disappointed in her"
 "Aud you huye a right to be. You were looking for a woman with go dis .usf.ruu that nothing can ruGle. You know that you were quick spoken md .r.n unjust Ton wanted some "un to bear with you You didn't get i-"
 "Na. l didn't get it you're right there But was Justified in expect mg all thatE"
 "You married for ly and siucr yon have Hnen disappointed y0u are right In resumtur your former status"
 But | don't like the Jdel of Della lying Uvalic."
 You have Co cypr.. that'
 That doesn't help the matter"
 "Bettcr go back and comfort her"
 "Who are vou anyway? You have been telling mc that I should be sat lsfn1 with what I've got Now you turn about and tell me to go and com fort her."
 "It wouldn't do any good for me to tell you who am. You wouldn't rec ognfze me any better for the telling. But. if you wish to know, I'm your cou- science"
 "Now ] know you're lying Con- science doesn't go about telling people who have done wrong that they've done right Il tells them that they've done wrong from first to lust."
 My other self chuckled. Con- science" he said. "lsnt Nlways libe that. Conscience uses all sorts oi means to right people. Often he is a r-l,.-f--, b,rr7tfr,r r1f a p1ayy whereby