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

has in the climaxes OF actual
life that they can not be quite
real because the setting is not
strange enough. The monotonous
sound and the close air made me
drowsy, thinking with the hurried
vividness of doze. 1t was unnatural
for mysteries to happen in drawing
room; but then, mysteries were them
selves unnatural, and must happen II
at all in the world Of there and then.
Though 1t seemed somehow that a
ghost should appear only upon the
storied battlements Of Elsinore to peo-
pie in archaic dress, yet to Hamlet
himself those surroundings were the
scene of ordinary days; and the per-
sons OF all the wonder stories had
been In their own sight contemporary
citizens. Macbeth saw Banquo at the
dinner table, and 1t was the people In
the street who crowded to look upon
the miracles
The eventless waiting drew out In.
terminably. There were long silences,
then the humming Of some other tune;
and 1t was an episode when some one
coughed or stirred. Yet the smonotony.
despite boredom and drowsiness, did
not relax the nervous tension. | still
felt that something was going to hap
pen the next minute; the air grew
closer and closer and the odd sense
Of crowded human intimacy was more
oppressive than at first; and the rigid
regularity Of Maclean's audible breath
ing was enough to tell me that even
his skepticism was not proof. against
the same influence. The circle about
the table were swaying their heads q
little in time with their singing, while
the old gentleman in the corner
fidgeted uneasily. Surely, thought,
Of all people ought to understand that
incongruous look of strange things
happening in actual life: my own had
been for weeks a nightmare and ro'
nance; and even now was cropping
mentally in the maze OF revelation
that had the lurid logic OF melo.
drama, flawlessly plausible and incred-
ible only because I was unwilling to
believe. Caruccfs story was fabrica-
ton. because tangled marriages and
family mysteries, happen in books and
newspapers, among printed people, not
among those we know; yet melo-
drama itself builds with the material
of actually, and had been living
amid family mysteries. Such things do
Happen to some one; and that one
must be TOTO others-the reality that
Lady was to me-
started violently, and sat bolt up
right, my hair tingling and every
muscle frightened. A dull rapping, like
the sound of hammer upon wood
covered with cloth, came from the
table. The. circle were silent. leaning
back in their seats, their hands Joined
before them. The medium had sunk
down in her chair, her arms extended
along the arms Of it. SO that those
next her had to reach out to keep
hold of her hands. And above the
group saw, or imagined that saw.
the vaguest conceivable cloudiness in
mid air. like mist on foggy night
or the glimmer seen inside closed eye
lids after looking at brightly lighted
window. The more tried to make
sure that saw it, the more doubted
whether it we're not merely imagina-
ton. II you hold your spread
hand before a dark background,
you will seem to see a cloudy
blur outlining the fingers. it
was like that. The rapping
was repeated more loudly, and through
the throbbing in my ears and the al.
most suffocating oppression, caught
myself remembering the scene of the
knocking at the gate in Macbeth. Then
voice seemed to speak: a querulous.
throaty contralto that came in jerks
and pauses.
"Here you are again" it said; II
don want to talk-to any of you'll
feel trouble somewhere. Where's
mother?"
That's Miriam" said Professor
Shelburgh, in the tone Of casual recog.
milton.
do not know whether it was the
shock Of the co-incident name, or only
that the heat and the excitement of
the day had reached their natural eli
max. But grew suddenly hot and cold
In waves: my skin crawled, and felt
at once strangling hurry of heart
beats and a hollow nausea. For an in.
slant. / set my teeth and tried to
master it; but is was no use | must
get out into the open light and air,
or l should make an exhibition of my
self. rose and tiptoed hurridly across
the rcoxN through an atmosphere that