The Green Forest tribune., 1917-02-02
MARYROTHWAYS MEMORY


drlac But she has done so She has given OFarrell his conge-and he's bearing it like man. Only it has up set his customary equanimity."
 Poor fellow. I don't wonder at that" said Doctor Immanuel. But perhaps she may change her mind"
 Impossible, Immanuel. You don't know Mary Rothway," said Paul Tar rant.
 And she never sees him now?"
 No. They haven't seen each other for three weeks. And in a few days the captain accompanies his regiment to Guantanamo, Cuba. I'm afraid it's all off, doctor"
 We'll, show me your statue of MaXimius, said the Greek doctor, ab- ruptly.
 We rose and Tarrant led us out of his library and through his Assyrian room into gallery hung with pictures by the famous Italian and Dutch paint CTS. Here and there, too, could see a Greuze or Watteau, a Corot, a Gains borough. l could have fingered here for hours, ignoring the millionaire's Valueless replicas of ancient statuary which stood ranged along the middle Of the floor, but I had to follow Tar, rant, and he led us past the Venus of Milo, whose upturned face dispassion- ately regarded plaster Laocoon, past whole line of Roman emperors. from Augustus Caesar to Marcus Aurelius. until we stopped before life-size fig ure of MaXimius. Then both Doctor Immanuel and I were struck by the as ton1shing resemblance of the plaster face to the flesh and blood face of 0Farrell. If the captain could have been attired in armor, with a crested helmet and a sword, he might have posed as the original.
 Its very like him, isn't it?" said Tarrant
 Tt might be be-" answered the doc tor. Although that does not neces- sarily count for much"
 You mean that we don't take on the slmilitude of our past physical frame work?' asked the millionaire.
 God pity the hunchbacks if that were so," Immanuel said. No. The thoughts, the wishes, the will the soul of the living man fashion the body of his next life. One may be entirely diff ferent. Still, there are certain natures so well developed along their natural lines that, especially when their bodies perfectly express their souls, they do not change. For instance, those fat Dutch women and phlegmatic burgo- masters in your Rembrandts must have looked very similar when they were the stolid Boeotian boors of the days of Aristophanes; and we all know the unchanging physical type of the young warrior, the Alexander who may have met his Nemesis as Charles XII of Sweden. But to come back to my subject, O'Farrell may have been Max imius, but was not necessarily so. That is what We have to find out.''
 T hardly think OFarrell will give you much of an opportunity, doctor" said Paul Tarrant But who was this Maximius?"
 .MaXimius," said Doctor Immanuel, was Roman knight and lived in the time of Tiberius. He fought in several border campaigns and covered himself with wounds and honors. Wken he came back to Rome he committed a grave indiscretion-he fell in love-"
 "Oh, come, doctor, not so very grave" said Tarrant jestingly.
 Grave enough for you, poor fellow" lmmanuel answered, nodding toward the statue. He fell in love with a vestal virgin named Horatia. The yes tals, as of course you know, were the holy maidens of Rome. They were ac- corded the greatest honors, but woe to any of them who looked kindly on any man before she had finished her thirty years period of service. Although the ancient faith had by the time of ri berius degenerated into a mere ritual, the force of tradition still held with all it's old severity in the case of the vestals, who guarded the city's sacred relics in their magnificent temple. Only very few cases of unfaithful- ness on their part have come down to us. But MaXimius saw and loved Ho- ratia, and Horatia-loved Maximius They planned to flee together. They were caught and brought before the pontifex. What happened to him his- tory does not record, although I sus- peet that his life was forfeited. Ho- ratia perished in the prescribed man. ner. An ancient vault was unwalled beneath the Palatine; she was led into it, with a candle and loaf of bRead; the vault was sealed again Another vestal was chosen"
 They buried her alive!" exclaimed Tarrant in horror Thank heaven we don't live in those blood-thirsty times. doctor"
 The doctor smiled significantly and seemed about to answer, but changed his mind.
 Well then, if O'Farrell was Maximi- us, Mary Rothway must be Horatia," I interjected.
 Right! Quite right" replied the doctor.
 Do you propose to hgpnotize O'Far- rell in order to dig down to his sub conscious self and ask 1t questions?" inquired Tarrant with bland sarcasm
 Tt wouldn't know" answered I'm manuel gravely. Please remember. Tarrant, it is only in the case of un- stable personalities that we can sepa- rate the strands of that complex weave called consciousness. No; even if the thing were feasible we should find nothing there. The soul of Maximius If, indeed he was Maximius-worked out its spiritual fate in paradise, en- joyed all the fruits of it's singularly