Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1920-03-04
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today. He used the telephone booth in
the directors room to make the ap-
pointment; and he laughed feebly at
himself, and wondered what the group
of men in that mahogany apartment
would think if they knew what he was
doing. Mrs. Horner had changed her
address, but he found the new one,
and somebody purporting to be q niece
Of hers talked to him and made an ap- |
po&ntment for a %"sitting" at five o'clock.
Mrs. Homer appeared in the door
way, a wan and u~nenterprising look
ing woman in brown, with thin hair
arti1cially waved-but not recently
and parted in the middle over a blush
forehead. Her eyes were small and
seemed weak, but she recognized the
visitor.
"Oh, you been here BEFORE" she said,
In a thin voice, not unmusical. II rec
ollect you. Quite a time ago, want
it,"
"Yes, quite a long time"
II recollect because I recollect you"
was disappointed. Anyway, you was
kind of cross" She laughed family.
I'm sorry If I seemed So" Eugene
said. "Shall we"
Call right" she %assented, dropped
into the leather chair, with her back to
the shaded window. "You better set
down, too, I reckon. I hope you'll get
something this time so you won't feel
cross, but I dunno. I can't never tell
what they'll do. Well"
She sighed, closed her eyes, and was
silent, while Eugene, seated in the stiff
chair across the table from her,
watched her profile, thought himself
an idiot, and called himself that and
other anne And as the silence con-
tinued, and the impassive woma in
the easy-chair remained impressive, he
began to wonder what had led him to
be such a fool. What had brought him
back to this absurd place and caused
an taking a nap in a chair? In brief:
What the devil did he mean by it? He
had not the slightest interest in Mrs.
Horner's naps-or in her teeth, which
were being slightly revealed by the I'm
conscious parting of her lips, as her
breathing became heavier.
How long was he going to sit here
presiding owe this unknown woman's
slumbers? 1t struck him that to make
the picture complete he ought to be
shooing flies away from her with a
palm-leaf fan.
Mrs. Horner's parted lips closed
again abruptly. and became COM
pressed; her shoulders moved a little,
then jerked repeatedly; her small
chest heaved; she gasped, and the
compressed lips relaxed to a slight
contortion, then began to move, whis-
! perng and bringing forth indistin-
guishable mutterings.
Suddenly she spoke in a loud, husky
voice:
'Lopa is here!"
eyes," Eugene said dryly. "Thnt's
what you said last time. l remember
! 'Lopa.' She's your control l think
you said"
/. I'm Lopa." said the husky voice.
Pm Lopa herself"
"You mean Pm to suppose you're
not Mrs. Horner now?"
"Never was Mrs. Horner!" the voice
declared, speaking %undeniably from
Mrs. Horner's lips-but with such con-
viction that Eugene, in spite of every
thing, began to- feel himself in the
presence of a third party, who was
non the less an individual. even
though h might be another edition
of the apparently somnambulistic Mrs.
Homer. "Never was Mrs. Horner Or
anybody but just Lopa. Guide
"You mean you're Mrs. Horner's
guide?" he asked.
"Your guide now" said the voice
with emphasis. to which was incon-
gruously added Il low laugh. you
came here nee before. Lopa remem-
bers."
"Yes-so did Mrs. Horner."
Lopa overlooked his implication, and
continued quickly: "You build. Build
things that go. You came here once
and old gentleman on this side, he
spoke to you: Same old gentleman
here now He tell Lopa he's your
grandfather-no, he says father He's
your father"
"What's his appearance?'
"How?'
what does he look like?"
"Very fine! White beard, but not
long beard. He says some one else
wants to speak to you. See here.
Lady. Not his wife. though. No.
Very fine lady! Fine lady. fine lady,"
us it my sister," Eugene asked.
"Sistcr? No. She is shaking her
head. She has pretty brown hair. She
Is fond of YOU. She Is some II who
knows you very well, but she is not
your sister. Sh" Is very anxious to
say something TO you-vcry anxious,
Very fond Of you: very anxious to talk
4" You, Very glad YOU came h"r"-oh,
very Gind!'
"Whut Is her mmr?"
,iNun,,p tI,. ,.,t., . .,I