The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1916-11-02

udSG5.
week later I was able to sit up.
ana then the nurse told me that | had
peell STRUCK over the head with a wine
bottle in gambling room. and not run
down In the street as | Imagined
Ihls was what she told me. but my
scattered wits refused to grasp the
situation. Struck with wine bottle
IN gambling hall Why, it was pre-
posterous. ! scarcely ever take any
thlng, and then only in moderation.
ana as for gambling why. never
"asered cent in my life. But that
was all she could tell ME, and | wor.
RED through another week at a loss
10 Know what to make Of it,
AT the end of the week was able
10 leaYe-cured, they told me. | stop.
pea IN at the Office to get my little eff
lects and my certificate and there
suffered the greatest shock of all.
AS stood at the desk a moment
chatting with the superintendent nv
eyes CHANGED to wonder ABOUT tho
room and settled ON the calendar above
nus mead. Great Scott! looked again.
fupoed my eyes and stared. There.
confronting me in great black figures.
stood tho date-March 1, 1906"
lie leaned eNcitedly across the table
ana tapped me on the chest impress.
sively, as he went on after a pause
ne afternoon of the accident was
June 10, 1901" he said in q low. clear
voice.
He fell back. give years" he
breathed musingly. Five wears
Would that the good God would LET
me Know where and what have been.
You as a gentleman can imagine INV
leeiings, my fears. my agonies when
thought of my wife and children
rive years-as we'll as eternity as TO
leave them alone, unprotected. all that
lihe. Five years-gone, wasted lost
ON. the mockery of it.
Il think | was insane for lust a lit.
.le While when saw those figures.
begged implored the officials TO tell
me the truth, but they knew notbins,
mad been brought to them a few
weeks before. unconscious. suffering
from a blow on the head. The a,,b,,,
rance report was all they had. And
'heh another fact came out. / was NO.
IN Chicago, This was New York. Each
moment the CHASTITY mockery of the
thing increased. The past vawnod
dark and foreboding behind me--gri,n
He paused and, drawing out case
tossed single engraved bit of paste |
ooard upon the table before me. IT
read; 'Myles Fordyce.' He smiled
more calmly now, though the sweat
stood in beads on his forehead, testifv-
ing to the great physical and menta,
strain his tale involved.
Yes. there it is. The one cline the
one Tie which links me to those
five lost years. Tomorrow I
am going back to New York to try 10
trace out my past from that. But YOU
want my story. Oh, yes, | had forgot.
len that, and he drummed absent)y ON
The polished tabletop.
Wen, he took up the thread again
fortunately my other self, whoever he
was aud Whatever his other failines
possessed some means, as | found q.
ouisy bank-roll among my effects rc-
.urhed by the good superintendent.
laoe all haste and arrived here threa
rays ago | went Immediately to NV
I'D address. Strangers greeted mo
hey could tell me nothing The JAM,
or remembered vaguely:
'Pearce2 he said oh. yes. seem To
the name. Why, wasn't he
he TELLER who killed himself five wears
40 Woman married again. heard.
es. they been gone these three wear.
Nhere2 Couldn't say
Married again. in despair came
way a thought struck me the real
state man who owned the building. 5
vent to him. Yes, he remembered.
lrs, Pearce had left three years ago
husband drowned himself. Pitiful
ase Yes, she'd married again. ADJ
Fess? He referred 10 his books Yes
ere it is kimhark avenue, wav ont :
n the South Side ,
He turned to me suspiciously. /
But am Pearce, the man himself !
1alrly shouted, catching his look. He s
tared at me as if / were insane. and Il
hurried away.
The address he had given me T a
0und- The dear little woman came ia \
he door heard the noisy romp of :,
hlldren in an inner room. And She y
ne met me with a blank stare. She
idn't know me. I'd forgotten that :
We years had changed me. She could l
OF believe it was at first. but as
ilked frightened look crepl into her
yes. And yet the old love was gone /,
She told me the whole story. On
lat dreadful day had not come home
ays passed with no word from mo !
hen a body was recovered from tho
Yer. 1t had been identified through S
lie clothes as my own 1t was set s
own as that of a suicide. and | had {
zen quietly buried She had mourned >
70 years and then remarked He was v
good man; she loved him, and the :,
lldren needed a father. There was :,
lother child now. All this she told !,
e brokenly, and more.
In spite of my awful experience and b
y rightful claims we could never 90 d
lck to the old life. She believed NV o
~ hut I,.px