The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-06-10


family pays it back by check"
Il did not know that he was so
weak" said Kelvin, shocked. II have
been aware that the condition was
growing upon him, but had no idea
that he had gone so far with his &C.
centricities."
"Eccentricitiesw snorted the doctor.
Hes crazy-crazy as a loon. You're
all crazy, the whole crowd of you, VIC
tins of the American craving for
what you call success. Breed is mad
for money; Mrs. Rensselaer, is mad
for social position; her nephew is mad
for military conquest; Blagg is mad
for notoriety. You are the maddest
Of them all-mad with the thirst for
power. 1t is going to end in a crash.
with all your institutions. all your
ideals. all your ends and aims and am
billions Gathering down about your
ears, the most thoroughly shattered
and crumbled wreck and ruin of a So
cial structure in the history of the
world. AS nations have risen, so have
they fallen. Those that have been the
have been the most rapid in disinte-
grafton. Already your pro rata birth
rate is decreasing, and century will
see America as sterile as France"
Kelvin nodded his head with an en-
phatic jerk. "That is precisely why
there must be an utter change in our
entire social system. But l did not
know that you had devoted so much
thought to these things"
"Bahw exploded the doctor, snap
ping the fingers Of both hands. II
don't talk all think. have talked
too much now. but in my desk I have
manuscripts so thick" and with his
hands he indicated pile nearly a foot
high. cit is my great book on national
neuroticism. I came to America to
study it. Do you suppose that would
have taken the position Of house ply
sician to Mr.. Breed if had not found
clustered about him exactly the mate
rial wished for my book on alienism?
No! I have spent lifetime on neural
deterioration considered from racial
standpoint. I spent a year and half
in China, one in Japan, one in Russia,
three In France. two in England and
five years scattered about in other
parts of Europe and Asia. Now l am
nearly four years in America. shall
wait till Henry Breed dies. He will
die in a year or possibly two. Then 1
shall go back to Switzerland to pub
fish my great work. 1 shall die my
self soon after that. l. too. have a
fatal nervous disease. but it cannot
kill me before five years. and cannot
live beyond seven. But my book will
live. That will be the valuable part Of
Dr. Zelphan. Immortality Of the soul?
No. Immortality Of the body? No
Immortality of the brain? Yes. For
ever"
Possibly" agreed Phillip dryly.
mo doubt, doctor, your work will be
accepted as standard. Five years
afterward some other savant will
write another four volume work upset.
ting all your theories. and five years
after that somebody will mention your
name to noted alienist or student of
neurotics and he will say: Zelphan-
DR.. Zelphan? Um-m- m-m-the name
seems a tritie familiar Didn't he dis
cover one Of those exploded serum
treatments or something's
BAIL" snapped the doctor. and his
beard, now beginning to streak with
gray, seemed to turn redder from the
redness of his face behind it, "Bah"
he repeated, but this time the exclama-
ton was weaker, and Phillip as he
went downstairs felt a prick of COM
junction at having hit the doctor such
a vital blow.
Phillip found the library deserted
and sat down with his back to the
door to examine a volume on numis-
matics that lay open upon the table.
Soft hands were suddenly clasped
over his eyes, and Lillian Breed press
ed her lips warmly to his. At the
touch he crushed her in his arms and
returned her kiss with something akin
| to fierceness. Then he thrust her away
from him almost roughly.
"You are most indscreet." he pro-
tested, looking at the wide open door.
"Why not?" she demanded, laughing.
"If somebody stepped in upon us we
should only have to make an an
| nouncement."
He WINGED involuntarily at that, and
she saw it. There had been that be-
| tween them which makes a woman
fonder and a man more careless. For
| a moment she laid her hands upon
her breast. but she was surprised to
find that there came no hot retort,
usually so ready upon her lips. With
out effort, without exerting himself to
do SO, Kelvin had for the time being
tanned the wild panther within her,
and her only impulse she found to be
one Of Cancellation. She smiled up at
him, her swift wit settling upon the
quick change of topic that might in
terest him in her mental qualities, but
prompt as she was there came an in
terruption in the person Of DR.. Eel
phan, who called Phillip peremptorily.
| L.