Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1908-02-13
"she followed me about, often

| came upon me IN unexpected places
and looked into my eyes. Simply
gazed with an icy CLEAN and yet
with no sign of recognition in the
stare. Neither did she attempt to
speak or would she answer if spoken
4 to. In brilliant bathrooms surrounded
! by festive crowds, at tete-a-tete in
roof-garden or abandon saloon, on the
street, at home or abroad this woman
would suddenly appear to rivet her
eyes on me with frigid, stony stare.
Not once did she attempt to interfere
with my plans. Neither did she con-
| duct herself reprehensibly or in way
open to general criticism or complaint.
Dressed in the deepest of black, her
features half-hidden in veil of the
same somber hue, her apparition-
like form would rise up, and after
| look-a -dagger's CLEAN from the cold
blue eyes-would gradually drift out
of sight.
cat first this method of following
me about seemed unique and more
amused than caused me pain. To be
haunted by pretty blonde, especially
one with forget-me-not blue eyes and
pink skin. was more of an exquisite
pleasure than the torture it afterward
became. | rather enjoyed the nov
city of the situation. would point
her out to my companions as The
/, Haunting Shadow The Beautiful
Woman in Black My Girl with the
Staring Blue Eyes, and dub her with
other terms appropriate to the case.
Many joke was cracked at her ex-
pense. In these / Joined in the laugh
with the rest. A heartless laugh, |
will admit, and which must have
wounded her full sore. If so she did
not manifest it by outward sign or the
slightest discernible change of the
eye. They only continued to gaze
at me, and-nothing more.
But all that is novelty has a limit,
and then the irksomeness OF it be-
gins Those haunting eyes began to
tantalize and mock me in my delirium
of fancied bliss. The charm of the nov
city then became abhorrent and was
no longer jubilant or filled with en-
thusiasm when they appeared. This
feeling grew upon me slowly, of
course, but it grew, and was doomed
j, to suffer the results. l became ir-
, ritable and nervous and i'll at ease.
There was falling off of my compan-
ions, especially those butterfly COM
panions in the social whirl, who made
: it plain they did not fancy a sutton
followed by shape From irritable
, ity turned to rage and cursed this
author of nv despair; but the curses
were as useless as my taunts or the
hollow mockery of my former laugh.
She needed them not. Neither did
they change one lineament of her
. face, or add a new flash or CLEAN to
the cold steel-blue of her eyes. All
lovable orbs had disappeared. They
now shone like winters sky, icy as
:, have said, and l might add, as i'm
penetrably clear. They became I'M
:. MISUNDERSTANDING
= Finally / fed would escape this
Nemesis who was slowly but surely
dragging me down. Flight would re
lieve the strain which those haunt
ing blue eyes were bringing upon me
1t was no use. Wherever | fed, she
followed. No disguise was intricaI.
d enough to obscure my path. She was
It ever present, though never to chide
e or upbraid only to face me under
$, the most trying conditions, and-look
e. 1t was the same everywhere. If
II reveled with danseuse or grisette, sh'
n was present. If l attended the thea
fn,. s.I 1yic{f
of bar to drown my troubles in the cup
v she would manage to seek some posi-
,; ton to give me one whitening glance
a. AS final resort | applied to tn
st police. They could do nothing. Sh
is had not Violated single clause in tn
rs law. pronounced her insane and er
Of tered a complaint to that effect.
e, this / also failed. Before an exami1
N ing board of physicians she was pro
as nounced as sane-more sane than
I'd What wasI to do? So indelibly pho
d. tographed upon my brain did her eye
IN become, that they began haunting m
st in the dark, and in the obscurity {
is my room when ] was alone. The
k glared at me from the foot of the bet
from the papered walls, from the eel
ne ing overhead 1t was horrible-ho
Mt rible Murder entered into my hear
Was to blame? Who would not XII
SIS that which is sapping the life out {
er him? | was insane; or that is,
RS soon would be under the continue
of strain and knew that some crime
lie. the killing of this girl, would be til
tn result
us Therefore to escape the inevitab
ell ] entered here. 1t was easy to pay
Ike the way, to prove that | was insan
at to show that murder was in n
in heart You know how it is-all me
nd are insane; only in some the insanit
ed is more pronounced. That is all tt
ed difference Certain subjects and co
lily ditions excite us though we are +
at tional upon all other points. ! ray
ole over an eye; an eye that has bee
OF working the horrid canker of insani