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■mei
Wells Smith,
Ui ' ■
It w<.» uurtng a Damrosch engage
ment in Chicago that I happened to go
to the theatre one evening. I was
alone, as my wife had not been going
out since the death of a relative. The
audience was a music-loving one, and
during the third act as I strolled into
the foyer I found it quite deserted, a
most unusual occurrence.
Wagner grows noisy to an unculti
vated ear after listening an hour or
so, and the strains that came through
the heavy, closed doors were more
agreeable to mine. I was about to re
turn to my seat, however, when I no
ticed a remarkably handsome woman
emerge from the curtained door that
led into the lower boxes.
She was unusually beautiful, of that
flashing combination of dark eyes and
golden hair that is so rare.
She was fashionably dressed, and
under her opera cloak I saw the glim
mer of jewels. I expected her to sweep
out to her carriage, instead of which
she stopped in front of me and be
gan to look anxiously toward the out
side door. Then she stepped back
into the curtain, but almost immedi
ately returned, and began to pace up
and down more anxiously than before.
She was evidently looking for some
one whose delay caused unusual alarm.
Once I thought she started toward
me as if she was going to speak. I
thought I noticed this movement again
when I involuntarily approached her.
“Can I be of any service to you,
madam?” I asked in a most defer
ential tone, ■which her bearing seemed
to demand.
She paused doubtfully a half sec
ond, then graciously explained:
Her father had left her at the
theatre, expecting to return immedi
ately; he had failed to do so and she
was extremely alarmed on his ac
count, and was also embarrassed at
finding herself alone in a strange city
at midnight. In fact there was noth
ing else for me to do but to offer to
see her home. It was all arranged in
a few seconds, and under the charm
of a woman who was of no ordinary
type. She gave the directions to the
driver. I had ordered a carriage and
after about an hour’s drive we stopped
in a part of the city that was not al
together familiar to me, though 1
could see by the street lamps that itj
THE GLASS FELL FROM MY TREMBLING FINGERS!
r
was a fashionable if somewhat remote
neighborhood.
My companion had been too much
agitated to engage in conversation dur
ing the drive, except to wonder over
her father’s am accountable delay.
When the carriage stopped she hast
ened to the steps of a stately resi
dence in the middle of the square. A
man in livery opened the door.
“Is my father in?” she asked in a
tone in which I noticed some of the
agitation had subsided.
“Ah! Hortense my dear, forgive me!
I fell asleep and completely forgot
you? How did you get home?”
This voice came from within and
was followed by an elderly man of
foreign appearance who came forward
and extended his hand affectionately to
his daughter as she answered by ex
plaining my presence. I turned to go,
but with lavish expressions of grati
tude usual to a foreigner, he fairly
dragged me into the house.
The outside appearance would hard
ly have suggested the magnificent
apartments in which I found myself.
Rich hangings, rare works of art and
a general luxuriousness implied the
most cultivated taste. While the
daughter swept into an adjoining
room and brought refreshments with
her own hand, the father engaged me
in conversation on the topics of the
day, upon which he showed more than
ordinary intelligence.
I refused anything but a glass of
wine which she poured from a decanter
of rare workmanship—a rich cordial
rather —filling one also for her father
and another for herself. They were
delightful conversationalists. I be
came unusually talkative myself. Th.
conversation drifted Into personal ex
periences. I related one I had never
repeated to mortal ears before.
I do not know whether It was the
srine or the adorable smile of the
- woman that was leading me on. She
> had thrown aside her opera cloak and
i reclined on a divan, her golden hair
; gleaming against the crimson drapery,
s her dark eyes holding two points of
l fire in their expanded pupils, like some
> Eastern enchantress under whose spell
l I was completely enthralled. I felt
my blood course through my veins
• w T ith a sense of exhilaration I had ney
• er before experienced. I could have
[ knelt at her feet She seemed a crea
■ ture to be worshipped, who could in
• turn wield an influence strangely
■ powerful. I thought of the historical
women of fascination who have led
, men to do awful deeds. She seemed
to recall the pictures in my'mind’s
eye of such women, as she reclined
there her eyes flashing darker under
the masses of hair that surrounded
her fair face like a crown of gold. 1
gazed at her In a dazed steadfastness.
Involuntarily I raised my glass; it was
filled. Again: The third time as I
would have guided it to my lips it fell
from my trembling fingers and shiv
ered at my feet!
I staggered and fell senseless!
* * *
When I awoke to consciousness I
found myself at my own front door.
From the numb conditions of my limbs
I knew I had been there at least an
hour. I fumbled at the door with my
latch key; my fingers were all thumbs.
At last, however, it was opened. I
thanked my lucky star that my wife
was fast asleep; and I succeeded in
getting to bed without disturbing her.
Os course I could not go to sleep.
The effects of the. drugging had passed
off—l knew now I had been drugged,
for what damnable purpose I could
not c 'njecture, no more than I could
account for the other mysterious
events of this most remarkable even
ing I had ever experienced —leaving
me in a most nervous state. If it had
been a case of robbery the mystery
would have been cleared up to my
mind immediately; but the fact that
a handsome diamond that I wore on
my small finger was not missing, and
also quite a large amount of money
that I happened to have had in my
pocket was still there made it more
inexplicable. The more I tried to un
ravel it, the more unfathomable the
J whole affair became. It was a deeply
laid plot of which I was the victim,!
though for what purpose I could at
tribute not the slightest motive.
For days I could think of nothing
else. I said nothing to my wife ajjout j
it. While I could justify my actions j
iu the affair to my own mind, I was j
not quite sure I could do so to hers.
In fact my wife had been in an ex-1
tremely nervous condition for a long
time, and of late I noticed she had be
come more depressed than ever.
I do not know what raised the sus
picion in my mind, hut I took a sud
den fancy that my wife’s late depres
sion was in some way connected with
my mvsterious adventure. A ques
tion she asked me completely con
firmed this suspicion and filled me
with added alarm.
It was a question relating to an ex
perience of my past life, of which I
had never spoken except in the pres
ence of the father and daughter the
night of my strange visit and through
which source I felt sure she could only
gain a possible knowledge of the same.
I determined at all hazards to investi
gate at least what connection my wife
: could have in the chain of mystery
1 that was surrounding me.
An opportunity offered itself the
very next day. I happened to be in
. Marshall Field’s great store dolm?
> some purchasing for myself, when I
l spied my wlf® coming out of one of
the doors leading upon the main street
t as I was about to pass out of another,
r I started to attract her attention when
1 I noticed her signal for a cab. This
r circumstance aroused my suspicion, as
; it was an unusual thing for my wife
► to do. I Immediately hailed another
s and followed her. I could not help
:- feeling guilty in this new role of all
r our married life, as spy upon my wife’s
actlona. Not that I suspected her of
e anything wrong at the time. I was
e [following her more as a protector,
and at the same time determined to
investigate the diabolical agencies at
work to destroy the happiness of uiy
home and family.
I told the driver to follow my wife's
cab, and at the end of its destination
to stop about a square behind. He
followed these instructions and after
a long, noisy ride over the rough
cobbles, halted abruptly and opened
the cab door for me to alight. I
paid him and dismissed the cab, and as
I saw my wife’s dress disappear in
a doorway down about the middle of
the next square, made for that di
rection.
My heart gave a bound as I hur
ried up the steps to the door I had
seen her enter. By some lucky chance
it was unlatched, and I walked into
the house. Great Heavens! The same
rich hangings, the divan with its crim
son drapery, the paintings—all re
vealed themselves in the glare of broad
daylight. I heard the murmur of
voices somewhere in the house and
paused to catch the direction of the
sound. I could not seem to make out.
Every minute was as an hour. I stood
in breathless expectation a while long
er, then passed noiselessly over the
velvet carpet into the adjoining room.
A heavy portiere at the rear led into
still another, and from thence the
voices proceeded., I recognized my
wife’s in the most excited tone. I
glided closer to the curtain and dis
tinctly heard these words:
“What you havo already told me I
cannot help believe and while I would
know more, I am afraid Ohl I
can not! not now I ”
“Madam ” some one interrupted
in the unmistakable voice of my even
ing’s enchantress, “I am simply about
to present my impression of your
husband as ho appears to me in (hat
astral personality which, he is most
probably unconscious of possessing.”
Tliero was a deathlike stillness for a
few minutes; suddenly broken by my
wifo’s voice in the most agitated tone
accompanied with a low sobbing:
“Oh my God! I cannot look! It is
my husband and yet so strangely dif
ferent!” I could hold back no longer;
I drew aside the curtain and through
the folding doors which were opened
wide enough for the purpose, passed
in. I found myself in total darkness.
There were a few seconds of suspense
and then—at first indistinctly, then
clearer and clearer out of the dark
ness—a face appeared; finally stand
ing in startling bas-relief against a
fiery nimbus that surrounded it. In
the wide open staring eyes, the com
pressed lips and sunken cheeks, ' r rec
ognized my own phyloguomy!
“Sylvia!”
It was my wife’s name I had ut
tered before I was conscious what I
had done. There was a distinct, scream
from each woman; one of them fell!
I groped my way in the darkness and
found it was my wife. I picked her up
in my arms and got out of the room
and house I know not how. I havo a
vague memory of hailing a cab and
placing my wife in it and then driv
ing home. All that night she was too
ill to move; but the next morning she
had recovered enough for me to report
at police head-quarters.
The detective to whom I told my
story smiled.
“You have been in the hands of a
couple of notorious adventurers,” ho
explained, “for whose arrest the au
thorities of some large cities in this
country and abroad are on the alert.
The woman is a clairvoyant, and pro
fesses to make a specialty of the sci
ence of double personality; practicing
this humbuggery by the desperate
means you describe by which she has
gathered a large clientele in this city.
The experiment in your case Is one
of the most daring. The apparition of
your face is a reproduction of a photo
graph taken in your s/cnseloßs state
that evening in their house, for which
purpose you were decoyed there and
drugged. This by a clever stereopti
con effect was used to present the
startling revelation of your second
personality for your.wife’s benefit, who
happens to be a patron of theirs, and
for whom the trick was contrived.
They were arrested las f night.”
FEEDING TUE HIIWIES.
Made Friends by Hanging Fat Meat
Out for Them in Winter.
Bird Lore, in its notes on winter
feeding of wild birds gives a number
of methods for such feeding that may
be easily employed hy any kindly per
son with the greatest satisfaction. At
this time of year birds, like domestic
fowls, appreciate fat food. Soup bones,
after they have served their purpose
in the kettle, may he hung in a tree
or elsewhere so that cats may not get
at the feathered visitors. Here the
birds will pick away every bit of meat
I and gristle. Suet may be put in the
trees this way or the carcass of a
\ fowl, and blue jays, nuthatches, wood
] peckers and chicadees, not to mention
J the English sparrows, will visit this
luncheon with delight.
A correspondent writing from Jack
sonville, 111., says: “Ever since I be
gan bird study, six years ago, I have
kept a winter bird table; and it has
been a never-failing source of pleasure
and instruction to me as well as a
help to my bird guests during the bad
weather. We have an acre of ground
around our home, and fine trees, but
there are streets on all but the north
side, so I chose that side for the bird
table, as It. is the most sheltered and
at the same time affords us the best
ehance to watch the birds from the
house. I began by tying lumps of suet
up in small trees near the windows
and very soon my guests began to
arrive. Later I devised a plan for
bringing the suet eaters within closer
range. I fastened a rough stick, two
or three in'- 1 "s in diameter, to the
window shutters, aeross the window a
little helow the middle sash and upon
this stick I tied my lump of suet.
"From that time we have had the
' pleasure all winter long of watching
our bird neb-’'-' at their luncheon
. while sitting at our own dining table
i I also fastened a wooden tray to the
i sill into which we put cracked nuts
i and chopped suet. The most constsn*
> visitors were the chickadees and wood
r seekers; then bluetays, titmice, show
) birds and e’-‘ v otebes. with once in a
1 while a cardinal. Os t.he«e the cbtk
? adees and downy woodpeckers are the
f tamest. When the spring migrant'
s return we find black-birds and cat
birds patronizing the suet. Almost al
j the winter birds are fond of both nut
t mid suet. No one nosd ever waste old
1 or rancid nuts. The birds will be
glad to get them.
s Another Illinois correspondent says:
l "Last fall 1 hung a hirdfood 3helf at
£ our south window and early each morn
r ing put cracked nuts, suet and bird
i seed on it. Several tufted titmice
1 visited it the first morning. In a day
I or two snow-birds and chickadees came
s in flocks. 'White-breasted nuthatches,
a downy and hairy woodpeckers, a wliite
f crowned sparrow and a red bellied
i- woodpecker were constant visitors all
winter, often coming several times n
’- day. A mocking bird cam© until the
t middle of Pecemher, making In nil
’ nine kinds of birds. These birds nil
} enjoyed the fresh fat pork I nailed to
3 a nearby tree.”
I ITo* Royal Red Cross.
f The coveted Royal Red Cross of
* England lias been conferred upon Mrs.
Violet Clay, ns an expression of merit
1 for her services during and after. the
- terrible Indian earthquake which recent
' ly occured at Dhartnsala. Mrs. Clay is
MRS. VIOLET CLAY.
the youngest daughter of Sir Henry
Nightingale and the wife of Major C. 11.
Clay of the 7th Gurkha Rides, who was
seriously injured, during the earthquake
while saving the life of his little son.
The Adorable Patti.
The famous Adelina Patti, always
young, despite her years, first appeared
in 1851), at tho New York Academy ot
Music. Blio was brought forward under
tho direction of her kinsman and mas
ter, Maurice Strakoseli, in the title rolo
of “Lucl di Lainmermoor." Sho was
then only 1G years old, but had already
learned to manage her voice, u flute-like
flexible soprano, with extraordinary
skill and taste, and capamo critics at
once recognized in tho debutante one
of those rare singers Who appear at
long Intervals on tho musical horizon
to revive not only the hopes of man
agers, but the enthusiasm of the public,
This prediction had quick fulfilment.
After a short Initial engagement In
Philadelphia, Mile. Patti, piloted hy
Strakoßoh, embarked on a concert tour
which ended at New Orleans, whence
sho snlled for London where sho may
be said to have fairly begun a career,
which, llko her art, must remain long
unique In lyric annals. Thereafter for
upward of 40 years, she held first place,
and during the greater part of that
time, she was not only a sweeter, but
a better singer than any other woman
in the world. Her name lends a gold
en ending to nny record of tho early
days of opera in America.
____ A ■»
Adulterated Dresden.
Public attention is being directed
to the wholesale manner in which the
materials that keep us warm during
the day, and the blankets which cover
us at night, are adulterated.
The silk dress of tho lady of a hun
dred years ago rustled as sho moved,
ou account of the genuineness of the
fabric; now it rustics with 3G per cent
of salts of tin used to commercialize it.
The lady ot the period in her silk dress
is, indeed, a sort of “woman In armor.”
Epsom salts, instead of being used
or medicinal purposes, as formerly, are
now employed, it would appear, for
loading flannel. Tho so-called table
linen of today is not pure linen, such
as delighted the hearts of the house-
J wives of olden times but Is made
| largely of cotton, filled with china
clay and starch. So. too, collars are
often of cotton merely faced with linen.
In a word, nearly every kind of fabric
sold, Is adulterated in some form or
other, and the public, in blissful Ignor
ance of the truth, finding how poorly
tho things wear, lays the blame upon
the laundryman, tho dyer or the
cleaner, instead of upon the real cul
prit, the manufacturer.
It Is believed that there Is some dan
ger of the skin being attacked by
disease as a result of the really poison
ous substances which are set free hy
. the action of perspiration upon the me
tallic compounds contained la appar
, ently Innocent wearing apparel.
*
A GDI With Each Ticket.
George Adams, the manager ot tho
l Crystal Theatre of Denver, is operating
: his play-house upon unique lines. For
i .some time he has given away souvenirs
i to all his patrons, some of them of
I considerable value. He has now stocked
t a large store with about everything
i that is needed in housekeeping, and is
t issuing a trading stamp or coupon with
i every ticket to the theater. Tho value
> ot each coupon Is ten cents and these
r trading coupons can he exchanged at
r the store for articles ranging from teD
5 cents to twenty-five dollars.
Mr. Adams has Just Imported a car
1 load of dishes from Germany, and be
I ; states that he has, during the winter,
already given away, to Crystal Theater
r " goers, nqpre than three car loads of
- | articles.
: 45c DISH PAN SAVED
* — V v Jofm’nTln W»n'!*ran4
f ¥ a Hat/’h. fJon’t pmy Ui«* tlnwnilth 16
|- c cent* time yon a little
dSW Wnk In your pan*, pot*,
r * uy WZ » mc. It yonnalf In half a
minute. #*r»d 100cHh#r mend* for 14
** \ * * — Ni ot-, ,t. •r)*-rui H+nAyfnr ln*U/»t
f. j UM'. Men all hoi**, from the
*lz* of a i»tn point to !-? Inchin
6 * rtturneter. UrruUin hou*ch/ Id convenh-w* tjwr Invent*/!.
« j Write to-day for Hi John’* Tin »**Tif*pro
> aid • par Gozen. $1.46. prepaid. Bonanza for atfeuta.
E. N. COHNEAU &. CO.,
II 1 oe»t. U Hirer Bint*. 1 CHICAGO
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