The Utah County Democrat. [volume] (Provo City, Utah) 1898-1909, 1908-09-26
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BY RICHARD B. SHELTON
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thing. and suggested the prosaic
course Of inquiring into the origin of
the curio. He sought the manager of
the auction room. who, with smile
and bow, protested entire ignorance
of the source whence the mirror had
come. Caverley. taking out a $40.
dollar note, clipped It in two with his
pocket scissors, and handed one half
to the auctioneer.
This half is now useless to me"
he said, but It will be worth $40 to
you when you discover who sold you
the mirror"
Some weeks passed and Caverley
studied the mirror in a practical way.
He noted that II was of unusual thick
ness, and this aroused his suspicious.
"I'll take It to pieces" said he, and
this he proceeded to do. 1t took CON
siderable time and patience 10 work
the back loose without damaging the
glass. but, by dint of perseverance,
he managed It. Back Of the glass, he
found shallow metal pan. He at
tackled this, and In q few moments had
separated it from the mirror proper.
The pan removed, the whole matter
was plain Set slantwise beneath the
beyeling on the right-hand side was
an ambrotype of the face he knew
so well. The picture extended per
haps a third OF the distance across the
mirror, and was covered with a thick
plate Of glass, so that looking squarely
into the mirror. reflection was nor
NAL. but by sloping It to the right
until the ambrotype was horizontal,
the face with the scars appeared
Caverley took the ambrotype to the
light and stood looking at 1t for some
time.
Whoever you are" said he, you're
not an attractive chap, but I'd double
that twenty to find out about you"
The matter was rapidly slipping
from his mind when one day the man
ager of the auction-room called on
him and brought with him an elderly
gentleman whom Caverley judged
/ rightly to be lawyer
That mirror" the elderly gentle
man said, when the matter on which
| they had called was preached, was
the property Of a client of mine, a
| Miss Damon. II was sold, after her
death, with a lot of other personal
property not disposed of In her will
| There's a queer story about II, but
! don't know that ] can tell Il correct
ly, for It was told to me in fragments
whenever my client cared to mention
the subject, which, | assure you, sir
was seldom indeed. AS well as can
piece these bits together it was some
thing like this:
Many years ago her family lived
in the south and there she met q
young physician, who became greatly
attached to her. II seems an epidemic
of smallpox broke out, and the doctor
risked his professional reputation In
getting the Damons away and through
the lines OF the shotgun quarantine
which had been established. lie re
manned there and eventually came
down with the disease, which left him
with horrible scars. Upon his re
covery, he wrote Miss Damon telling
her of this and she replied In a letter
filed with expressions of deepest sym
pathy; scars OF the skin, she wrote
could not mar the soul, and babe him
come TO her, but, somehow, the letter
miscarried and he never received il
He waited for the answer through
several trying months and then wrote
her saying he should go abroad tC
bury himself somewhere in Europe
She was right, he said, to consider
him as one dead. He sent the mirror
at the same time, There wasn't much
to tell, and fear have hardly done
1t justice" the lawyer concluded.
Caverley, with great patience, pu
the mirror together again, and tina
evening he took 1t to The lady fol
whom he had bought It, and told hei
the story. And she, being a sympa
thetlc little woman, wept.