The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-02-12

he wrote Of her to Lucy from his hotel
the next night:
81 saw an account of the accident
of George Minafer. I'm sorry, though
the paper states that 1t was plainly
his own fault. I suppose 1t may have
been as a result Of my attention fall
ing upon the item that thought of his
mother a great deal on the way here.
It seemed to me that had never seen
her more distinctly or so constantly,
but, as you know, thinking Of his moth
er Is not very apt to make me admire
him! OF course, however, he has my
best wishes for his recovery"
He posted the letter, and by the
mornings mail received one from LUCY
written few hours after his depar-
ture from home. She inclosed the item
he had read on the train and wrote:
II thought you might not see 1t.
81 have seen Miss Fanny and she
has got him put into room by him
self Oh, poor es-Down-Everything
I have been thinking so constantly of
his mother and it seemed to me that
have never seen her more distinctly.
How lovely she was-and bow she
loved himr'
If Lucy had not written this letter
Eugene might not have done the odd
thing he did that day. He was an ad-
venturer; If he had lived in the six
teenth century he would have sailed
the unknown new seas, but having
been born in the latter part Of the
nineteenth, when geography was
fairly well-settled matter, he had be-
come an explorer In mechanics. But
the fact that he was "hard-headed
business man" as well as an adven-
turer did not keep him from having a
queer spot in his brain, because hard
headed business men are as suscep-
tible to such spots as Adventures are.
Two weeks after Isabel's death, Eu-
gene was in New York on urgent bust.
ness and found that the delayed ar
Iifdl VI u cttdultI gave liilu q udy Win
nothing to do. His room at the hotel
had become intolerable; outdoors was
intolerable; everything was intolera-
BILE. 1t seemed to him that he must
see Isabel once more, hear her voice
once more; that he must find some
way to her, or lose his mind. Under
this pressure he had gone, with COM
plete scepticism, to a "trance-medium"
Of whom he had heard wild accounts
from the wife Of business acQuaint-
ance.
The experience had been grotesque,
and he came away with an encourag-
ing message from his father, who had
failed to identify himself satisfactor-
lily, but declared that everything was
ION higher plane" in his present
state Of being, and that all life was
continuous and progressive" Mrs.
Horner spoke Of herself as
"psychic;" but otherwise she seemed
oddly unpretentious and matter-of-
fact; and Eugene had no doubt at all
Of her sincerity. He went to Mrs.
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 niece
of hers talked to him and made an ap-
polntment for Sitting" at five o'clock.
Mrs. Horner appeared in the door
way, wan and unenterprising look
ing woman In brown, with thin hair
artificially 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 thin voice, not unmusical. II rec
Object you. Quite a time ago, want
it?"
"Yes, quite long time"
II recollect because 1 recollect you
was disappointed. Anyway, you was
kind of cross" She laughed family.
I'm sorry If seemed so," Eugene
said. "Shall we"
"All right" she assented, dropped
into the leather chair, with her back to
the shaded window. "You better set
down, too, reckon. hope you'll get
something this time SO you won't feel
cross, but l dunno. / 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