Charlevoix county herald., 1920-10-15

10 F1dIIuCtndttoUE mCs
you're your real self-all- Is real !" -
The physicians lips were moving In
rapid count of the bonds. His voice
became audible: seven, eight, nine,
ten-tenl everyone for ten
thousand" His voice doomed JOY
ously: Zone hundred thousand All
there! the full amount not one lost !"
'Thank Heaven!" cried the young
man. "That saves me! All
those months, those dreary awful
months-worry, worry, worry; crop
Ing, trying to remember. Yet 1t was
there, the memory, down under. l
knew It was there. It was that which
compelled me to keep trying to escape
from them-time after time. And
when at last / did, it led me In that
half-blind daze all the way home-Sit
led me to the pit"
"The pitt" questioned Mrs. Kirk
land.
"In the abandoned brickyard beyond
City Park. The moment l
came to, and looked around, I rec
ognized the place. went straight to
the hole where / had hidden the
bonds"
"You hid them out there?" exclaim-
ed Ellen.
"Yes. All flashed back into my
mind-all about that day when BENIN
brought me down from PueblO-the
fear that drove me half insane when
he flippantly suggested that we might
get away with the bonds by smashing
and setting fire to the car and pre-
tending the bonds were burned up In
the wreck"
"He did that? Charlie did thatT
cried Amy. "But he is a detective"
Eyes, found that out afterwards,
Toodlums. l suppose he was trying
to test my integrity. ! can't believe
worse of him. But / was then In a
bad way, and what he suggested COM
pletely unbalanced me. l was certain
he meant to steal the bonds from me.
/ must have been half insane. To
save them from him, rented a safe
deposit box and pretended to him that
/ had put them in 1t; but instead /
want out past City Park and wandered
about until l found the hiding place
In the clay pit"
$50 that was It," remarked Amy.
He did not reply. He was engrossed
In gazing into Ellen's tender gray eyes.
The fond parents beamed upon the
bllssful couple. Amy sighed and stole
out Of the room, unheeded by the
others.
Ellen Struggled closer to her lover.
"You fell into the pit" she recalled
the mshap. "Your poor dear head !"
"Only a little cut" he treasured
her. II wiped the blood off my face,
and hurried home with the bonds to
see Momsey and Amy before rushing
down to the bank. did not wish to
see you until could tell you / had
restored the bonds. There was no one
In the front Of the house; so l went
direct to the bathroom. / washed my
head and started in to my room-Who
is the man visiting here?"
Visiting here?" repeated Mrs. Kirk
land. "What made you think that?
There has been no man staying here
except yourself, WILL"
mo one!" he cried. FYou say no
one? Then Pm not cured lit was an
hallucination J"
"Here, here, keep quiet This won't
do" ordered Doctor Kirkland. "What
was It? Explain"
The young man sought to repress his
shuddering. "I-when I-when l open
ed the passage door there was IA
something across at the mirror-It-
it"
"Poohl" ridiculed the physician.
"Your own reflection"
"Then why-why was it's back to
met"
Its back?" quavered Ellen. "Oh,
WIFI"
Pooh! pooh Nothing to 1t, my
boy" insisted the physician. Merely
freak OF vision. Think no more
about It. Amy-Whatl Where is
AmyT
Indeed, where-2 murmured Mrs.
Kirkland, gazing about the room. "She
has gone out. Perhaps she
has gone to call Title. Would 1t not
be well to telephone the good news
that VIII is safe homer
"Yes, yes, to be sure-police, bank,
sanltarlum-alll" shouted her hus-
band, and he rushed out to the tele-
phone.
They'll come here, dearest" whis-
pered Ellen. you shall not leave me !"
How could II" he rapturously re-
piled.
Mrs. Kirkland sank into a chair to
dab her fearful eyes and smile upon
the lovers.