The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-09-28
Into the
Reality
s~ >>~>>~~~~~~
BY EDWARD LEVINE
Co. Isaa. Western Newspaper Union.)

| = W. As<s' WESTERN NeWspAper Ohiohsl
A ND the doctor says I've got to
undergo an operation"
Hester looked lovingly at her hus-
band. But II will be all right, dear
est" she said. "You will soon get over
It."
| "Well, 1t isn't so very serious, Hes
ter" answered John Marchant, but,
of course, at my age" And as he
spoke and looked at her and wondered
how she could have kept her youthful
bloom so long, for, though they had
been married for years. she was still
like girl in her early twenties.
"But you're young man, john"
said Hester land always will be-"
''But we all age, my dear"
"Not we," said Hester fondly.
How much they loved each other !!
1t was very happy mating. Long,
long before, so long that 1t lay only
like shadow on Marchant's mind,
there had been another woman. Poor
Dorothy! Well, what was the use Of
/, thinking about her? All that lay buried
| in the past.
The day of the operation came. All
the week before Marchant had been
possessed by fears, In spite Of his
wifes assurances that everything
would be well.
1t was not the pain he feared. 1t
was the possibility of death, of losing
her, as he thought, forever. John Mar
chant was materialist, and had no
faith in life beyond the grave.
But as he lay on the operating table
he remembered Hester's last words to
him:
"John, am convinced that the future
life is the one reality. We are blinded
by our doubts. Oh, John, if you only
believed you would see things so much
more clearly"
"Don't see things clearly?" asked
John Marchant, who had always prided
himself on being q level-headed man.
"Not-not spiritual things, John"
she answered. "And there is so much
that could explain to you if only you
would let me-"
'But wish you would, Hester" an
swered John, though inwardly he
smiled at her faith.
But Hester saw that smile and
smiled, too, the pitiful Smile of one
who knows so much more than can be
communicated.
Under the ether cone those buried
memories of the past surged back into
Narchant's mind. He saw himself with
Dorothy again, in those years so dis.
tant that they seemed almost like an.
other incarnation. He lived that life
of pickering again, all through.
But there was this difference
Whereas in the past he had been bitter
in his condemnation of her, now he
saw her side of the case, too. He saw
how, mismated just as he was, she had
suffered as much as he had. Perhaps
more, for she, too, had wanted love.
Slowly, very slowly that hideous
dream faded from him as he passed
under. And his last thought was OF
wonder whether he would wake-wake
to Hester's arms.
Ages passed, during which conscious
ness was so yelled that he was aware
of nothing save that somewhere, In the
depths of space, he had existence. And
very slowly, as II dark globe were
turning into the light, he came back tc
consciousness.
Consciousness-and adjustment He
saw now that his life with Dorothy had
been a necessary step of training In the
| rnhn % 10 10 hnd 1t1nf tod ont
Of that school-and for a reward he
had been given Hester, the one love
Of his life.
With that he remembered that he
had undergone the Operation, he knew
that he had survived 1t, and he had 4
prescience now of Immortality which
he had never had before.
And he opened his eyes to see Hes
ter bending over him.
"You are awake now, dear, and un
derstand," she said with a wistful
smile.
"Yes, dear. All is over. Now-we
shall have each other"
"As we have always had," she an.
swered +,
Suddenly conviction flashed through
Marchant's brain. Hester, IL am
dead. And you"
Listen, dear. You died under that
operation fifteen years ago, when you
were Dorothy's husband. This opera.
tion was-illuslon. We have had each
other fifteen years, as mortals reckon
time. Only, because you couldn't be-
liere, you had to have your lesson over
again. We are In eternity. Comet"
And then John Marchant came into
the truth.