Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-02-17

as ndtuFdi as Sleep-eVen more nat
ural, if what believe of it is true"
Pm not in the least afraid"
With readiness and docility which
he thought touching, she suffered Fos-
dick to make her comfortable upon
the couch. He was insistent upon an
attitude of complete relaxation,
supine, the head barely elevated by a
thin down pillow, the ankles together
but not crossed, the hands open at
either side. Further, he bade her
loosen her locked teeth, so that they
no longer touched. And drawing a
chair close to the head Of the couch,
he sat down and with his own hands
SmoOthed out the strained, contracted
muscles round her eyes and mouth
and brOws.
lis touch, his tone, his presence,
were all soothing. Already she was
pleasantly aware of slackenhg nerv-
Gus tension. In her eyes a vague
smile formed.
''Drowsy?"
Her lips framed but did not utter
the word mo" She was not in the
least sleepy, but deliciously at ease.
The weight of his hand on her fore
head was like an imponderable force
of obliterating influence. Conscious
ness was slowly retreating into q
boundless space of inertia. She had
no desire to restrain it
She did not know that her eyes had
closed of their own accord, and spent
moment in idle speculation concern
ing the singular disappearance of
Philips face.
He had not moved, she knew; his
hand still rested on her forehead. But
his voice sounded far away:
"Sleep
She wondered that he should bid
her sleep or wish her to. Perhaps it
was because he thought it would bet
ter prepare her for the ordeal of the
hypnotic trance-if it were any ordeal.
"Sleep :"
Iteration of that monosyllable ex-
cited no more interest. She had be-
come completely engrossed with the
phenomenon of respiration, her own
breathing, its tempered, constant ebb
and flow, upon which her being
swung like leaf in a tideway {.
"Sleep
She had no desire to sleep, felt no
need of it. Never had she known
such absolute command of all her fac
ulties. The sensation of being acute
| ly alive was extraordinary, without
precedent. Divorced from that COM
plexity of cares and interests of daily
| life which ordinarily distracted and
| diverted the full stream of its powers
into an hundred channels, the ego
| turned back to the ego and in that in
| version achieved an isolation with a
self-compieteness and containment
and independence passing anything
known in waking life.
In this Nirvana, an unawed initiate
Of the arcana of existence, the soul
| dwelt in exalted abstraction, in a
phase of sublime selr- suf1iciency. free
dom and peace But not for
long; how long, there could be no
computing; consciousness of meas
ured time had been abolished by con-
tact with eternal verities. Neverthe-
less the period Of that detachment
was not unlimited, it had an end, there
was at length a necessity imposed
upon the soul, a summons, a calling to
| it from out the vast which it could
by no means ignore.
The call was from Leonora; it was
the soul of LeonOra, voicelesS and in
articulate, calling TO its own, calling
without rest through the void from a
far and unknown bourne.
And the spirit to which it's sound
less call was tuned answered and
Jared forth, seeking, forever seek
| ing
Time beyond reckoning was con-
sumed, yet tie search had no end, the
soul adventured fruitlessly, its yearn-
ing was denied.
At last it returned, weary and frus-
trate and spent it came back to its
own place, to the tenement of its ref
uge, and there rested upon and with
| in itself, demanding the consolation
of its integrity yet knowing no COM
| fort of it when found, tormented by
knowledge of it's failure, haunted by
the call
Then that which it had sought and
| found not, sought it in turn, and it
was found, the that was Leonora was
Joined to the that was Priscilla, and
the twain were as one, and there was
solace in this apprehension of one
ness.
| But there was likewise sorrow and
dread that had neither of them any
form, so that there was not any sort
of rest. But as if the very face of
their reunion forbade them rest, the
one that was two stirred and rose up
again and once more committed itself
to the toll and fatigue of search,
whipped on and on by the lash of a
necessity that had no name but was
none the less ineXorable and pitt
less
But this time the search found an
There was in a forest a pool a
dark, still pool in a forest dark and
still Huge boughs of ancient trees,
weighed down with their burden of
interviewer foliage, overhung the wa
ter, darkening its face to blackness, a
half-light of limpid green.
The air of this place was sluggish,
dank and warm and without move
ment, it was heavy with the cloying
sweet breath of mold. Neither was
there any movement in the pool,
though it's still black plaque was
broken by a white. cold. wet face up
turned, the face of drowned woman
whose clothed body was vaguely re-
vealed by the stained element in
which it was suspended.
To the smitten spirit of Priscilla it
was as if she gazed at her own face,
still and calm in sleep, counterfeited
in the depths of a wide dark mirror.