The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1915-08-18

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clay.
Educated to her finger tips in the
languages of this world. she had never
had a master. In dreams she had
been taught, without knowing that she
was learning, all that great and un
scrupulous dreamer had thought best
for her to know.
And as she leaned to the work OF
cooking. her lovely face, red with the
heat of the fire, that very dreamer
was watching her, from a neighbor-
ing thicket, with almost as much adj
miration as he felt for himself. And
why not7 He felt that what she was,
what she was going to be. was all the
work Of his own mind.
He arose from his hiding place and
stepped cautiously toward her. 1t
was his intention to hynotize her and
get her away from that place quickly
and quietly so that Tommy should not
have an opportunity to make further
trouble. It needed no more now than
glimpse of that sphere of rock crys-
tai which Professor Stilliter carried al
ways with him to reduce Celestia to
that condition of mind in which she
, spoke and acted upon impulse, that
did not rise within herself. But
though he flashed the crystal suddenly
in her face and exclaimed in a tone
Of sharp command: Sleep, Celestia,"
either she was too startled and Devil
dered to see the crystal at all or for
once something was lacking In the
process, for she sprang to her feet
with a cry of fear and ran from him,
calling upon Tommy by name at the
top of her lungs.
So she ran after Tommy, and Still
tier ran after her, and the two guides
and old man Smellsgood came out Of
hiding and followed after him. And
in this order they came to the shore
of the island, toward which Tommy,
alarmed by Celestia's cries, was strug
Cling in a welter of foam.
But when he actually saw Celestia,
Tommy's enthusiasm for being Of
service to her seemed suddenly to
cool. He let his feet drop to the bot
tom and stood with just his head out
of water. So standing, he saw Still
ter seize Celestia by the wrist and at
tempt to force her back toward the
camp. He saw her shake herself free
with an astonishing show of energy,
and 1t was as If her eyes no less than
her hand went out to him In an ap-
peal for help.
The veins stood out on Tommy's
forehead.
Don't let him take me away, Tom
my" she cried.
you leave her alone!" shouted
Tommy. "If you touch her I'll knock
your head on"
But Stilliter by now appreciated
Tommy's predicament and smiled
dryly.
Come and do It," he said.
You know l can't come and do It
now, you dog" said Tommy furious
ly, but you just wait"
Cant" Stilliter I'm great hurry.
Come, Celestial You'll be better OF
with me. You can see for yourself
that the young man has no intention
of risking himself against four of US"
Celestia meanwhile drew herself up,
tall proud and cold; she looked at
Tommy, just once more, and she
looked as If she had never seen him
before. Then she turned to Stilliter.
Il will go with you" she said.
Two plans had presented them
selves to Tommy He could have told
Celestia to shut her eyes until he told
her to open them; then he could have
come out of the water and fought for
her; but he discarded that first plan
because he liked the second better
In this he would come out of the wa
ter when she had gone, slip into some
of his clothes and follow her.
Celestia, Stilliter, the two guides
and last of all old man Smellsgood
vanished in the thick OF the woods
Tommy gave them two minutes head
start, and then beautiful as a Greek
God, he rushed out Of the water to the
trees where he had hung his clothes.
They were gone.
Tommy having failed her, 1t was OBJ
Yious to Professor Stilliter that Celes-
tia no longer even wished to escape.
The heart had been taken out Of her.
There was no need to throw her into
a hypnotic trance. She would do as
she was told.
Since her emergence from that inn
aginary heaven, which nothing could
persuade her was imaginary, Celestia
had proved less manageable than he
had expected. He thanked his stars
that she had taken a sudden fancy to
running away with Tommy rather
than with some other young man. He
disliked Tommy for three good rea-
sons. Tommy disliked him, and twice
Tommy had gotten the better of him.
Twice Tommy had knocked his glasses
on and rendered him blind and help
less But he knew all about Tommy
and couldn't help respecting him in
some ways. Another young man
might have taken advantage Of Ce-
lestia's ignorance and innocence.