The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-11-14
=. My =.
Other Self
By ESTHER VANDEVEER

nifty years old, tall for woman and
with grizzly gray hair. l wear glasses.
and as have trouble with one eye the
glass before that eye is colored light
amber.
These details are necessary to an un-
derstanding of an incident am about |
to relate.
One afternoon-or rather evening.
for the day was fadingI went home |
after shopping, opened the front door |
with my iatchkey and went upstairs to
my room. The door was open, andNe
woman was standing before the miT.
ror Of the bureau powdering her face.
l saw her reflection In the glass. and
what was my astonishment to see my
self. II had any doubt the woman
was l. It was dispelled by seeing that
one Of pair Of glasses she wore was
colored and was amber.
While was gazing at her she sud.
denly caught sight Of me. and her face
took on the same expression as mine.
She was apparently as much aston
ished at seeing me as l was at seeing
her Indeed. she caught at the bureau
for support. felt very much like
catching at something for support my
self, but 1t occurred to me that | had
better keep grip on myself and re-
tain my faculties that might find out
what this strange occurrence meant.
Nevertheless l will admit that was
obliged to make great effort to do so.
who are you?" stammered.
who are you?" asked the other,
looking ready to faint.
Il am Wilhelmina Buntling."
mo. no, nor gasped the woman.
You cannot be. am Wilhelmina Bunt-
ling. Go away! Do. please. 60 awayw
l strained my eyes to discover some
want Of resemblance between the wO-
man and myself. 1t was shortly before
the time for lighting the lamps, and
Of course could not distinguish mi
NOR parts as well as II had seen her
at MONDAY. but she was my height and
build. had the same grizzly gray hair
as l. with two short curls on each tenn
pie. But more convincipg than all else
was the amber colored glass before her
left eye. And yet doubt II this was
more staggering than the fact that the
woman seemed to be even more appall-
ed at seeing me than l was ut seeing
her
The first explanation that occurred to
me was that had been stricken with
some brain trouble. But l had been
feeling as well up to the very moment
l saw this strange reflection OF myself
as had ever felt in my life. And not
withstanding Its appearance now felt
myself to be in a perfectly norma!
condition. | was conscious also that
this woman was not shade, but , per-
son Of flesh and blood. Perhaps It was
this consciousness that enabled me to
get my first grip on myself. began to
throw of the idea that had brain
trouble or disordered vision or any
thing Of physical nature that would
cause me to see double me. The we
mans actions in that case should be an
exact duplicate of mine. They were
not. Her motions were not In unison
with mine, though they were similar to
mine.
Next came suspicion that my dou-
BILE was playing me. As soon as ! got
control of my faculties began to see
that her actions were not altogether
spontaneous There was something
forced In them. In other words, real
lied that she was acting a part. At
least | suspected she was. I had no
theory as to what would induce her to
do this. 1t simply seemed to me that
she did it.
By this time | was in a condition to
ask questions.
when did you come here?" asked.
II came in about half an hour ago"
Where from?'
~ had been-shopping."
She hesitated before speaking the
last word 1t seemed to me that she
was celebrating what answer to make
to my question. But had been Shop
ping myself. and the reply tended to
disconcert me. However,. by this time
the woman had recovered some Of her
eauanimity and seemed to me to be
bracing herself for an examination. 1t
suddenly flashed upon me that her ap-
pearance In my house was for pur-
pose. Quickly withdrawing, l stepped
back into the hall and. pulling the door
after me, locked 1t.
Whatever had been the woman's OBJ
ject-if indeed she were q real woman
and had an ohject-she Was prisoner.
for there was but one door to my bed
room. and there was no means for her
escape. | staggered to the telephone
and. calling friend. told my story.
somewhat incoherently. 1t Is true, but
managed to make her understand me.
She came right over and after satisfy,
ing herself that was OF sound body
and mind advised me to send Tor the
police.
Well, the upshot of the matter was
that the woman had seen me buying
tewelry. Of which | am fond. though ]
seldom decorate myself with 1t. and. no
ticing our similar personal appearance.