The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1920-12-31
v. CONFESSION.

v. CONf ESSION.
Philip FOsdick had q way of ex-
| orcising cOnstraint and implanting
| confidence even In those who had no
| special liking for him. And Priscilla
| was genuinely attached to him, more
| so than she knew. And when she saw
how well he looked, how very much
| alive and fundamentally and physi-
cally Philip always seemed at concert
pitch and never to know let-dOwn-
hesitation and doubts were swept
| away like leaves before an autumnal
| wind.
II suspected it." he announced, nod
| ding sagely: you're a fraud-and
thank God for that Now give me tea,
please, and tell me ALL"
She made a little move of petu-
lance. 81 knew you'd laugh at me~
81 hoped I would"
Philip Topped boyishly into his ia
vorite chair, helped himself to Gig
aret, and watched Priscilla narrow
ly while she sugared his cup with the
traditional two Jumps, added the slice
of lemon, and drowned Doth in tea.
Never had she seemed more beautiful
or more perfectly poised. Impossible.
he told himself, there could be any.
thing amiss with creature of such
radiancei Some girlish notion, moth
ing more serious :.
'How long have you known me,
Philip" 49,,
LET me see To the best of
my recollection, since you were about
q year old; / remember coming into
the nursery unexpectedly and finding
you"
"Never mind! Have you ever OBJ
served anything In me that led you to
believe was abnormal in any way?"
He contemplated a frivolous reply,
but seeing the gravity in her eyes re-
Trained.
"Neverw said Philip solemnly.
"Well, there Is something :.
Philip: I have dreams. The strangest
dreams Let me tell you. And
please don't laugh, Philip. 1t isn't
| any laughing matter"
He drew the soberest face of SYM
pathy imaginable. go on"
"As far back as I can remember.
I've every now and then had special
sort of dream that seemed very real
to me. Even as a little girl-though
then, think, they weren't so definite
| But when began to grow into
| long dresses, the dreams took on
certain form they've kept ever since"
"Such ass"
"What / fancy slums must be like.
The self / see in dreams belongs there
dresses, acts, talks precisely like a
girl who's never had any advantages
| to speak Of, much education or con-
tact with the pleasant side of life. All
the same she is myself much
| as if 1 put on some disguise so COM
plete it disguised even my speech and
habits of thoughts, even my senti-
ments and impulses. This girl does
and says things 1 never could and,
awake, have never thought of. But to
her they seem quite right, the natural
and right things to do and say. The
truth is, most of the time she's rather
self-satisfed and pleased with every
thing-the life she leads. the people
she knows, the fun she has-every-
| thing"
81 understand" Now unfeignedIy
intrigued, Philip had abandoned all
pretense of treating the matter light
ly, and was sitting forward. cigaret
smolderlng between his fingers, his
eyes intently searching Priscilla's
face. ''Tell me something about the
content of these dreams. Go back as
| far as you can
my first memories are very vague"
Priscilla told him. 'They were child
ish and simple impressions of another
little girl who was rather unhappy
| most of the time. / think she lived
| with an old woman-a wretched old
witch of a woman who was cruel to
| her, seemed to hate her and enjoy
beating her-in a mean little fiat
somewhere The old woman used 10
| tell fortunes with cards In the front
room. But all that's very vague now.
don't remember much more, except
that the little girl used to play great
deal in the streets"