Gilpin observer., 1915-04-22
By H. M. EGBERT
(Copyright.)

Il can make you love me, Aida!"
The girl lowered her eyes and
turned away with a hopeless gesture
The persistence of her suitor always
unnerved her. A dozen times, at
least, she had refused him, and he
vas never content. She dlsliked Doc
tor Beldon, and feared him still more
than she disliked him.
you think" said Beldon quietly,
that you are in love with Robert
Dyer. Well-you are not. You are in
love with me. Do you understand?
Look at me, Aida! You are in love
with mel"
Slowly, and actuated by an ungov-
ernable impulse, the girl raised her
eyes to his. Quickly Beldon thrust
forward his hand, in which was some
thing that spun furiously, little disk,
or whirligig. The glitter of the NOV
ing toy attracted Aida's glance.
Sleep and think it over!" she heard
Beldon saying.
She felt her eyes closing. She tried
to struggle against the spell, but 1t
was hopeless. The next thing that
she knew, she was seated in the chair
In Beldon's office and he was standing
at her side.
Doctor Beldon!" she gasped,,
springing to her feet. II went to
sleep"
my dear Miss Aida, l owe you
thousand apologies. l was showing
you my new disk, and it threw you
into slight condition of hypnosis.
/ sincerely regret it: those things are
dangerous toys, and an INSCRIPTIONS
man can acquire a power over anyone
who trusts herself to him, by means
OF them. Now. it is all right Don't
be alarmed"
But cannot marry you!" cried the
girl Historically.
my dear Miss Aida, 1 quite under
stand that" Beldon returned. II am
sorry to have plagued you with my
hopeless suit, but If you understood
the depth Of my love. How
ever, must not speak of that. l as
sure you shall never trouble you
again, now that your father and are
to part company"
But you told me-you told me"
What had Doctor Beldon told her?
For the life of her Aida could not
recall, and yet she had feeling that
his calmness was feigned, that he
had in no whit relinquished his hopes,
and that he had, in some mysterious
way, obtained a power not only over
her mind but over her SOUL
She stumbled family out Of his Of
fice and into her own room.
Beldon and Dale, Aida's father, were
medical partners, specialists in ner-
vous diseases, as was Robert Dyer.
Aida's sweetheart. 1t was not until
six months before that the growing
beauty Of the girl had gone to Bel
don's head. Since then he had never
ceased to poster her, to implore her
to become his wife.
At first she had marfaged to put him
of, but later he had discovered that
Dyer and Aida were in love with each
other. Beldon. INSCRIPTIONS and
keen, determined to supplant his rival.
Unable to influence the girls mind.
he had directed his efforts, with the
assistance of his hypnotic knowledge,
to mastering the girls soul He knew
that the mind is but the child of the
soul, and that the latter, amenable
to suggestion while the subject is in
the hypnotic state, reacts upon the
mind afterward against the patients
knowledge.
Doctor Dale, Aida's father, abb
sorbed in his work, was no sort Of
confidant for motherless child. He
did not even know OF the rivalry be-
tween Beldon and Dyer for his daugh-
ter's hand. On the following day he
was to take up his residence, with
Aida, at certain observatory, In or
der to work out certain Investigations
which he had been conducting into the
influence Of the stars upon the mind.
It was a subject which promised to
revolutionize psychiatrical knowl-
edge, but it was one requiring the
most careful study. Aida knew that,
in the lonely mountain region which
WAS to be their home. she would be
practically alone. But there would
be Roberts letters-and there would
be no Beldon.
On the next day they started west
ward. Beldon carried Aida's suit
case, he was solicitous for her until
the very last moment, when the train
had already begun to move Then,
before he sprang to the platform, he
bent forward and whispered in the
girls ear:
Beginning at midnight-every hour
you will not be able to forget what
have told you!"
Aida shuddered as she looked after
his departing figure. Then. resolutely
dismissing him from her mind, she
turned her attention to her fathers
comfort.
At midnight she awoke with start.
An ungovernable fear had taken pos.
session of her, for she fancied she