Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-02-24
III. AFTERMATH.

Pr1Sc1lla had net yet moved, but
by every sign the subconscious monitor
was reminding her that the half hour
had elapsed. Her breathing was less
regular, the silken lashes were rest
less upon her cheeks. While Fosdick
watched they lifted, disclosing con-
fused eyes.
Recognizing him, she smiled uncer-
tainly. Fosdick uttered her name in a
reassuring voice, took her hands and
helped her to a sitting position.
"How do you feel now?i he asked
her.
II don't know" she said in a low,
puzzled tone. All right, guess, but
-. You-you hypnotized me, Philip"
."Yes, ella"
"Was it difficult?''
"On the contrary, you proved one Of
the most willing subjects I've ever had
went off like shot, practically at
the first suggestion"
He filed a glass of water from the
silver pitcher on his desk; but when
he took it to her she was on her feet,
her eyes desperate.
'Philip" she cried gustily-"she is
dead-Leonora-w
II know; that is, I know you think
SO; you told me-"
She did not answer, she was heed
less Of the meaning of his words; but
as If instinctively feeling it intolerable
that another's eyes should pry into her
grief, brushed aside the glass of wa
ter, and with stricken face stumbled
past him into a wide and deeply re-
cessed window.
For several minutes she stood there,
her back to Fosdiek, looking out blind
ly, slender shoulders shaken with ST.
lent sobs, hand with a handkerchief
dabbing at her eyes.
A wise physician, Fosdick offered no
phrases of false comfort.
That the storm of her emotions
spent itself swiftly, that it was not
long before she was able to talk calm
ly, wasen revelation of heartlessness,
but largely the work of the suggestion
implanted In her while she was in hyp-
nosis.
"The pity of it," she said after a
little time: "oh, PhilipI the pity of it !
She was so happy-and now she is
dead"
Perhaps"
Priscilla swung sharply round.
"Why do you say that? 1 know-I saw
her--I saw her lying drowned in a
pool"
II know. you told me-"
"But how could IT. She was star
tied out of her sorrow. 81 haven't had
time, I'VE only just remembered"
"You told me while in the hypnotic
trance. 1 questioned you and you told
me all you knew, everything you ex-
perienced. You were talking almost
continuously until l threw you into
normal sleep. So heard about your
vision"
stranger" she said in a stare of
wonder-"strange l should recall moth
ing of that"
mot so strange; your speech was
something purely automatic; once
started, it went on, just as your heart
went on beating and your lungs inhal-
ing and exhaling air, while your atten-
tion was absorbed In other matters.
It's like the automatic writing that
people produce, believing themselves
under the influence of disembodied
spirits. Not necessarily even under
the hypnotic influence; their attention
is elsewhere, they may be talking or
reading on utterly immaterial subjects,
while their hand, without their knowl-
edge, writes and goes on writing-just
so you went on talking"
al don't understand. It's-it's in
comprehensive. Not that l doubt
what you say. I must have told you
what l saw, there in the forest. :"
Her eyes filled again, tears ran down
her cheeks She averted her face.
"Oh, the pity of itw she repeated.
"Just when life seemed about to COM
pensate her for all she had never
had :. :"
"Don't let go like this, ella. Re
member, nothing is certain"
'No-yOu are wrong. saw her,
know"
"You think So"
"Why do you persist in saying that
Have my dreams ever proved ground
| less?"
ave don't know, yet; perhaps some
of them were. But this wasn't one of
what you call your dreams; 1t was a
vision, possibly hallucination, in hyp-
motto trance. 1t may have been a true
phenomenon Of telesthetic communi-
cation; assuming that Leonora was
really dead, your spirit may have
found some means, by some extraor-
binary effort, to surmount the obsta-
cles, whose very nature is unknown
to us, that stand between the living
and the dead, prohibiting communica-
ton :. But we don't know"
He argued earnestly, with intention,
seeing he had already engaged her
interest to such extent that she was
forgetting to grieve.
ION the other hand, we do know
It's easy to fool ourselves. Remember,
you have gone about all day fretted
by a feeling that something was wrong
with Leonora, some danger threatened
her happiness You passed into the
hypnotic trance already prepared to
see the worst. You saw it. But the
question remains unanswered, and for
the time being unanswerable: Did you
see truly, or did you see a fantasy
conjured up by your own Imagination
influenced by fear?"
IF l could only think that, Phillip
"Why not try?"
But he was arguing against his own
conviction; his argument lacked con-
viction. Her dropping head described
movement of rejection.
NO." she said, "the trouble is
| know -. But the mystery an6S the