The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-12-19

E|OR an instant Bessie Lonsdale E-s thought she was going to faint. A And then, moved by the force of an emotion which seemed to take possession of her from the outside, an emotion which she could not rec osnize, but which was irresistible and which, as the silence had pro pelled her q moment ago, took her backward now, step by step, noise lessly out of that room caused her to close the door after her, and, still moving backward without a sound, to come to a stop in the middle Of the little sitting rOOm- For now that strange fear, premOnitiOn-she knew not what-which seemed to have been travelling toward her from a great distance, seemed suddenly to concentrate itself into a single name. "Peggy!" Confused, swirlinS, the carnations that accompanied the name took possession of her mind, of her body, of her will. Peggy was threatened Through this thing that had happened Peggy's happi- ness might be destroyed! In flash she saw the story-the cold facts printed in q newspaper - as they would undoubtedly be-or told by
  She. Peggy's mother-and Richard Aylines together at a country inn the sudden and sensational discovery of Ayling's death. She could see the stern face of Lady McCrae- the accusing blue eyes of Andrew McCrea and Peggy's stricken face.
 She tried to pull herself together to think: her thoughts were not req soning thoughts, but unrelated, float saS. detached.
 Suddenly, by some strange alchemy of her mind, three things stood out like the three facts of simple syl- logisrn,
 There was nothing she could 10 for Richard AyIing now. NO one knew she was here A train for London passed Iiomebury St. Mary a little after noon.
 All the years of Bessie Lonsdale's motherhood commanded her to act Her muscles alone seemed to hear and obey. She was like a person bvDnotiZed, who had been ordered with great detail and precision what to do.
 SoUndlessIy she went from room 10 room ana uON Il lilC ACA47 NA- corridor. In her own room she threw scattered garments into bag swept in the things from the dresser glanced into the mirror, and was as tonished to see that she had on her coat and hat Then out through the door that led into the garden, sharp turn to the right, and she was of. walking swiftly, with no sensa- rion of touching the earth A train -yyfistfed in the distance, came into sight. he raced with it, reached the station just as it drew alongside aI''i came to stop The guard t"-'N Fer bag. and she swung onto the step- It did not seem strange to her that she had reached the station al pre- cise.Iv the same time as the train- It seemed only nataural m accordance with the plan
 At seventeen minutes past three o'clock Bessie LOnsdale hurried int" a telephone booth in Victoria Sta tion, called up q friend and asked her to tea Then she took a taxi within a block Of the flat, where she dismissed the taxi, went into a pastry shop, bought some cakes, and i've minutes later she vas taking oil her hat and coat in her own bedroom.
 < he worked quickly, autoIna ucaliy, ~ithout any sense of exertion, still sss fl she but Obeyed hypnotsts 1omnand. At four o'clock a Ieaping fire in the drawing room Srate flick cred cheerily against silver tea things. against the sheen Of newly dusted mahogany; books lay here and there carelessIy, late illus trated review open as if some one and dressed In q soft gown of blue crepe Bessie I,onsd,tle received her guest. She was not an intimate friend but casual one whom she cid not often see. A Mrs Downey, who loved to talk of herself and of her own af- fairs Bessie Lonsdale did not know why she had chosen her Her brain had seemed to work without direc- ton, independent of her will. she could never have directed 1t so well
 Even now, as she brought her in and heard herself saying easy, friendly, commonplace things, she had so sense O. willing herself to say them consciously. They said them selves. She heard nothing that Mrs. Downey said. yet she answered her Later, while she was pouring Mrs Downey's tea, she had heard Mrs DOwTev say. Two, and no cream. She put in the two humps. and was startled to hear her guest eNclalnl, My dear, what 2 memory!" she did not know whether Mrs. Downey told her one or many things that afternoon. Only certain words, parts of sentences, gestures, i'm printed themselves upon her mind, never to be erased. he seemed di- vided into two separate selves, neither of them complete-one. the intenser of the two. was at Home bury St Mary, looking down upon Ayliug's still, dead face: and that self was filed with pity, with re- morse. with tenderness that hurt. The other self was here. in gown of blue crepe. drinking tea, and pos sessed of q voice which she could hear vaguely making the conversa- ton one makes when nothing nas happened, when one has been lonely and little bored.
 All at once something was going on in the room. a clangor that seemed to waken Bessie Lonsdale out of the unreality of Q dream It summoned her will to come back to its control.
 Mrs. Downey was smiling and say Ming in an ordinary tone, Your tele-