The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-01-29

Drlef moment she diSabused me-
1T Is not he, at ALL" she declared.
with emphasis. There Is a resemb-
lance, yes. But the man you found
In the street is not Robert Cameron:
l am sure OF that"
The idea that / had brought there,
not my friend, but my friends double,
seemed TO me too preposterous for
moments entertainment fear sus-
pected, just then. that Evelyn's reason
had been warped a trifie by the rack
Ing scene OF which we had been wit
nesses.
'T would to God, my dear child" I
said, sympathetically. that you were
right But there can be no question
as to the identity Of the sick man.
Every one who has seen him recog-
nized him at once-Checkabeedy, LOU
is, Stephen, DR.. Massey. No, no, Evelyn,
you must not be misled by his raw.
ings." And at this point there oc-
Cured to me tentative explanation
one In which did not in the least be-
lieve, but which, at all events, was
worth trying; one which. indeed. I
prayed would serve
Cameron. you must remember. has
been with his Chinese captors for four
weeks. In that time he must have
picked up something Of their language.
1t Is only natural that he should. So.
you see, to hear him use a few words
or pidgin-English In his insane gibber-
ish is not so remarkable, after all. And
as for that spirited denial just before
he dropped of to sleep. it is very evi-
dent that they accused him Of some
thing with which he had no connec-
tion, though quite cognizant Of the
facts"
But the girl would have none OF Il.
Tolerantly she listened, and tolerantly
she smiled when had finished.
mo, no. Philip" she insisted, 'T see
1t all quite clearly. Whatever crime
was committed, the creature lying
there committed 1t. But he Is not my
uncle. Others mistook the resemblance
for identity, just as you did. only the
situation was reversed. Those who
abducted Uncle Robert thought they
were abducting that villain we are
now housing"
II was an ingenious notion, but Of
course It was not possible. However,
saw that it would be idle to continue
to dispute with her.
What would you suggest, then?
Shall we send our invalid to a hos
pital?" / asked, IN pretended serious
ness.
But very sagely she shook her head.
"Oh, no." she returned 1--WE must
keep him. He is very valuable to us.
Perhaps we can do as contending
armies do-arrange an exchange Of
prisoners"
II spite OF my wretchedness, I sup
pressed smile. 1t was all very anus
Ing; and yet the fear that she was suf-
fering alteration due to hysteria, tern-
pered pitifully the humor of 1t.
When, later In the afternoon, DR..
Massey called, told him everything,
including this hallucination OF Eve
lyn's. -.-.~..... ...
"You did perfectly right" he said, in
tone OF cordial approval. The malady
with which Cameron is afflicted has a
tendency to distort certain lineaments.
Especially at times OF excitement his
face changes, so that Miss Grayson is
justified In fancying that this Is not
the Robert Cameron she knew.
have noticed the dissimilarity myself,
but II Is due, of course, entirely to dis.
torted expression. In couple Of days,
at most, he will be fully restored. and
then he himself will be the best one to
rectify her error. Meanwhile, IL I were
you, would not dispute her. She has
gone through a great deal, and gone
through II bravely; indeed with a cour-
age that Is quite phenomenal, and she
Is entitled to any little consolatory be.
liefs that she chooses to entertain"
And then, as II such advice were not
wholly superfluous, he added: "Be
kiad to her, Clyde! be good to her.
She Is wonderful young woman"
Whereat / grasped his hand, and
promised him, lifting him a notch in
my estimation because of his perspi.
cacity. And all the while a lump kept
rising In my throat and threatening
my tear ducts.
On the following day l heard moth
Ing from Miss Clement, which some
what surprised me. though she had
told me that her prospective inform
ants were likely to take their own
time. Early, on the second morning,
however, l had a note from her, the
enigmatic character Of which imnellad
me to speculation.
Dear Mr.. Clyde" she wrote, 81 hope
you can make 1t convenient to visit me
this evening. at the Mission. l want
to talk with Ling Fo. an exceptionally
welleducated young Chinaman, who
tells me that his people are much mys-
tilted over a recent event; and, IL