Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-06-29

seemed ike neaVy nquld, QlZZlly
aware that Maclean had followed me
step or two and that the group
around the table looked after me in
surprise. Somehow, I found the door
handle. While CROPPED for my. hat in
the hallway, I heard the querulous,
1erky voices speaking again inside the
room. And the next moment was
standing on the sun-baked sidewalk,
blinking my eyes against the glare,
breathing in deep gulps. A flower-ven-
dor called on the corner, above the
distant drone of a hand organ. Horses
dumped heavily past. And a sparrow
sat for second upon the green top OF
q hvdrant then fluttered away, chat
tsring.
CHAPTER XVIII.
For block or so still felt little
queer and giddy; but air and move
ment soon set all to rights; and after
a walk back to the club and COM
Portable bath, L felt as well as ever,
and rather wondered at my sudden up
set. Evidently 1t had been only the
heat and the nervous excitement OF
the day; and had been foolish to
take Scotch with my luncheon IN
such weather. remembered that l
, had been out of gear bit since the
morning; Maclean's revelation, must
have shaken me more than l had adj
mitted to myself; and 1t only wanted
the startling coincidence Of Esprit"
called Miriam to cap the climax. Be-
sides, II you sit for two hours In
dark. and stuffy room waiting for
something strange to happen, some
- l11,V a a I
interesting experience. For a moment
1t occurred to me that the episode
might have been pre.arranged by
Mac, with the idea Of conveying to
me in that way something which ne
did not wish to tell; but that was
not like him, and was absurdly FAR.
fetched besides. II the name
had been taken somehow from
my own thoughts, it was a
remarkable case OF telepathy;
but no. 1t had been the professor, not
the medium, who had named the
voice: and by his tone, this had been
familiar one often heard before. II the
name had any other than a chance
connection with my affair, could not
fathom 1t.
There must be in all OF us an In
stinct for the occult, an affinity for
illicit shortcuts through difficulty that
comes OF mental and moral incidence
the instinct that causes the school
boy to look up the answer to his prob
lem in the back OF the book and sends
ignorance running, to the soothsayer.
Here was I, an educated man with
what l hoped was not less than ordi-
nary intelligence, in the grip OF
crushing question: and instead OF seek
ing certainty through rational search,
| was mulling over q mummery which
purported to be communication from
another world. was no better tnan
kitchen maid at her dream book and
fortune teller Carucci had said that
Lady was Reds wife-or rather that
he had gone through false form OF
marriage with her, having already a
wife or an ENHANCEMENT abroad. 1t
was too horrible and too rutnous to all
that most hoped for to be true; 1t
was not like the people concerned;
but it was unbearably like all that !
knew them to have said and done. !
must know what the truth was; and
the more shrank from knowing the
more the need for me to understand
fully and at once To sit still and won
der was mere cowardice. was here
to watch Carucci on Mr.. Tabor's ac-
count: before he should leave the
country, l would make 1t my business
to question him on my own.
BY the time had shaken myself
into SO much common sense, the after
noon was far gone; and after a very
early meal, set out again for the
East Side with the strained calmness
OF man who walks into the paws of
crisis to escape the devils that dance
with their shadows behind him. There
was mockery of evening freshness in
the air, though the heat still poured
upward relentlessly from the sun.
baked uncleanliness underfoot. The
streets were 80 crowded with the
weary turmoil Of released workers,
that made my way against the
stream with some difficulty; and as /
neared my destination the difficulty
increased. An eddying mass Of human
ity filled the narrow sidewalks and
oyerf1owed into the street among
rumbling drays and trampling, scram-
bling horses: gangs Of workmen with
their tools. nervous and preoccupied
business men, pallid clerks and stenog