Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-02-11
CONFESSIONS |
~ OF A
B R I'd E.
Fail to See Bob in MY vision as

1 Gaze at the Cards.
"They will not come tonightr' / kept
saying to myself all evening. We played
bridge in the cabin just to be doing
something together. My worries spoiled
my game. Daddy never would have en-
dured my bad plays in silence had he
not been preoccupied as l, had he not
played so badly. We were no match
whatever for Travers and Archer.
My abstraction had to do chiefly with
weird vision and a strange flashing of
words before my eyes. They came be-
tween me and the cards In my hand:
"Wait Waitr was the command which
confronted me.
More than once / shut my eyes tightly
and breathed deeply and threw my chin
high as If to deny the value Of the com
mand which persisted in my subconscious
mind.
More than once, when I closed my
eyes, / saw on the lids a vague but
startling picture! l saw two shadowy
fgures-a man and a woman-close to-
gether on a strip of beach 1 saw Chrys
and Jordan Spence, looking weary as
refugees from the earthquakes. But /
never saw Bob / let the vision come
and come again. hoping that l would
perceive my husband somewhere on the
edge of the beach. And being quite I'M
able to get him into the picture, | came
close to scattering my cards with my
tears.
At midnight the yachts motorboat
came back from the wharf according to
orders. We heard the sailors exchang-
ing remarks, but not one Of us made a
motion to go on deck. We knew that
our precious three had not arrived. We
played our hands out with magnificent
delibeTation. Then l rose from the table
l could no longer endure that pressure
from the unseen world. l wanted to es-
cape from the persistent vision of Chrys
and Spence crouching en- a deserted
shore.
Daddy! wait just another day
W"
drew him aside and explained my
mysterious bunch. ] might as well
have explained to a statue.
"All Imagination, dear child. Go to
bed-go to SLEEP. All apparltions can be
accounted for by natural causes. My
dear, a whole village over in France was
lately packed with visitors-all come to
gaze on a ghostly angell 1t turned out
to be nothing but the shadow Of two
trees ~
Maybe the words which I saw were
made on my cards by the shadow OF
my own hairr l spoke sarcastically
En- pam II any way YOU IlhSs-but p4eAse
stay here until tomorrow noon"
begged.
Little girl. the captain will sail when
he gets ready. At dawn, 7 fancy. Go
to bed"
| pressed a dutiful kiss on Daddy's
forehead and went to my own wee state
room. [ sat by an open portfolio and
looked up at the stars At last ( real
lied that / was thinking myself into
state of insomnia so I wrapped and
hooded myself well and went on deck
to walk myself into drowsiness
The sailors had gone below Even the
watch had slipped down for the hot mid
night supper. And wouldn't he catch
it IL Capt. Twombley knew" I thought.
At the prov of the lone lighted cigar
betrayed q smoker. 1t was Travers I
knew. Daddy never smoked aftef o In
the evening and Archer was too III to
be on deck. | didn't want to talk to
Travers. / was obsessed and harassed
by my mysterious vision. why did
see Chrys and Spence waiting so help
lessly at the edge of the sea? And what
had happened to my husband?
And why had the power boat not
been hoisted into its davitsI 1t was tied