The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-07-24
OF UNCERTAIN MIND,
ny MARY r. ELLIOTT.


the front door.
"cecile," said the mother, Ego and
see who Is there"
Cecile opened the door ana revealed
the figure Of a stranger standing with
his back to the cottage. The girl wait
ed for him 70 turn. but since he did
not she coughed to attract his atten.
ton. This falling, she said, Monsieur.
what can do Tor your Since be still
paia no attention 10 her. thinking him
20 be deaf, she tonched him on the
shoulder Then he turned and looked
her IN the face. He was Of small
stature, and bis countenance was intel
ieetual. He Looked at the girl with
puzzscd expression. but did not speak.
The girl repeated her question.
Y don't know" said the stranger at
last.
"weA. come IN. It is beginning to
sainls
He entered the house and sat down
by the fireplace, pseYing into the Gre
as enc An dveagn.
Mne. T0uEget looked at bin ina
pakieutly aud Was about to say some
thing iruatmble when Creole threw her
a degreeatoFy slapne. Then the latter
said 10 the stranger:
Have you sapPsd. monsieur7"
The man. Is IL awakened from
drenm, glanced up at her, smiled
faintly-'the girl thougAt II very
pleasant smlle--turued bis bic eyes up
on the SKIPPER, arose ani took a seat
hy the table. Cooile served him. and
he ate with the same pTeoceupied o..
ratheg, s0mHabuIistic air be had main.
taaned since bis arrival when be had
finished Nine Tourget questioned him.
'4FEom where do you Gomez"
= started from B. this morning"
~FEom BIZ On footg'
'sYes. No. believe had a horse"
You believe you he'd horseg"
A puzzled lock passed over the stran-
gers face Then hearose aud, going to
the areside. fell into the same dreamy
condition as before Ceeiie. beekening
her mother to follow her. left the
roon
Il wonder If he Is III or"- the girl
began.
'13e is either mental imbeclle or is
shamming in order to secure food and
lodging. He may stay till morning,
but no longer We are too poor to
take care Of mental wrecks
"ae is no impostor, mamma. / am
sure Of that. Nor was he born men
tally weak We must keep him till we
can find out who he is and can turn
him over to bis friends"
During the evening the mother sat
by table knitting, the stranger on
one side Of the fire. Cecile on the
other. Now and again be would turn
his glance from the flames and look
st Ceeiie, who. by the way. was very
comeiy. AT o'clock Nine. Tourget
asked him If be would like to 60 to
bed mot yet" was bis reply. "Pm |
thinking and haven't got through
Cecile gave her mother a glance that
she would lock after the poor man.
and Nine. Tourget went TO bed. The /
stranger sat for an hour peering into
the fire, occasionally stirring the 1
Goals with poker. Then suddenly be
seemed to return to a normal con
dition. cecile noticed the change and /
expected an explanation. Turning to
her, he said:
you're nice girl. Would you like
to marry meg
Up to this time Ceclle had hoped |
that after all the stranger might be Of 4
healthy mental condition. Now she
gave that up. BE must certainly Be
insane She realized the necessity Of /
getting him to bed quietly. To humor
him she said:
II will consider your proposition and 7
give you an answer In the morning
that is. il you Will 10 to bed.
She arose. the stranger followed her.
and she conducted him to his room
The next morning ceclle. looking
from her bedroom window. saw the
stranger walking in the yard. His
abstraction seemed to have left him.
At least it was not so pronounced.
At breakfast be was 4 new man.
though his memory was evidently
badly impaired He remembered to
have started from B. the morning
before on horseback, but could not re-
call what had become Of his horse
Ceeile, with a palpitating heart won
dered II be would remember having
proposed to her. Since his remarka bic
recovery she secretly hoped that be
would. He manifested no disposition
to proceed on his journey and during
the morning sat BY the fireplace with
something Of bis previous abstraction.
but now BE speRt part Of his time
ii making drawings in pencil on the
backs OF old letters be took from his
pocket. Cecile spied upon them. but
could make nothing out Of them. They
were neither figures nor landscapes
In the afternoon while he was thus
engaged a horseman rode up to the
house in a hurry and asked II they
had seen anything Of man who was
10 have passed there the day before.
describing the stranger When taken
to where ne was sitting the new ar
rival seemed much relieved.
eve thought be must have met with
foul play on the road" be said
"Has he escaped from an asylum
asked Nine. Tourget
can asylum! No. He IS great
electrical genius He has doubtless
been solving a problem When thus
engaged be is lost TO everything else"
Inst before the two men departed