Show II THE DOCTORS DOCTOR'S STORY By JOHN JOH CHAMBERS i by W. W o O. O Chapman i 7 R R- RELI ELI SAN SANBORN ORN the neu- neu DR I 1 was as usual the center cen- cen l J X ter of ot the conversation at the club He lIe seldom put in an appearance for though he lIe had partly partly partly part part- ly retired from practice his work was still heavy hemy There h had cl been a discus- discus f son slop between him and und Ellsworth the scientist upon the Immortality of the soul BOUl You wont won't find the soul In matter t Sanborn was saying Doctor the soul is matter an an- Ellsworth Read Head your our Hoeckel Haeckel A generation behind th the times responded responded responded re re- the old doctor Science itsel Itself It- It sel self gelf Is turning toward the soul today What function do you suppose the soul sool plays In life lite then H asked Ellsworth Ells Ells- worth orth You know a soul must do something even in life lite unless it Is ina in ina a 8 chrysalis condition I 1 should say Its function was to sustain life replied Sanborn- Sanborn Son bom Som Some people call It the guardian angel you ou know When a man stagers trig ers across a n crowded street without tt t sustaining Injury when a child pl ply s cs flowers on I Ithe j the e edge ge of ot a ell cliff IT I should say tilt Is Iser er very active arthe Ill give you a concrete Instance he continued I 1 practiced when hen n a ayoung young man in one of those little old old- fashioned villages village's along ulong the Massa Massa- Massachusetts ch coast where eer everybody Is related related re rl and knows his neighbors neighbor's his- his dry back for three or four genera tons Lions Those places contain some of tl they the finest and sweetest characters iu lu lutie tie he world Miss l Prudence was one of these D Dont Don't nt laugh at the old fashioned mime name ir e Ellsworth because she was areal a areal areal real person person may may be he toda today for tor all I know She was one of the loveliest women omen both In soul and body In I used to to wonder what would uld happen to her her if some r real al tragedy tragedy trag trag- edy dy came into her life rould Would she b bo be rushed Crushed d b by Jt it or would her eyes eyes be I C opened opened- to tov to the evil In to the world and her r toward life be subtly altered thereby It didn't seem possible pos sible to me that any evil could touch her ber She was wis engaged at about the age of ot twenty five to a worthless dashing scamp of a a fellow named Roach lIe He was Just the kind of man that wins the heart o of a girl like Miss Prudence er E Everybody knew new the shady things that he lIe had done done or or rather was capable of ot because at that time he hadn't been Wed tried out in n the lire furnace of life and found wanting He lIe got a position position tion a ag as assistant purser purser on one of the b boats ats that ran Iau then between Boston oston anti and n New York The They had been eng engaged en en- g ged d year ear or more and Roach Hoach had har no Int Intention of marrying Miss Pru- Pru ii dence nce Whatever his Intentions may been beep In the beginning Miss 1 Prudence Pru Pru- f dence was ras the dominant partner Her sweetness s her confidence so far fur from rendering gendering her a victim to him completely completely com com- disarmed himI him I believe he had tried to break oil off with her once or twice but he couldn't do lo o It You see when a woman be be- Neves Implicit In a man he has a mighty hard task before him when he wants to play false with her that her that thatis is Is If it he lie has any decency In him at all And Roach was not altogether bad J lIe He was looking for Cor his chance and It Jt it came ame The Sea Eagle was wrecked o off the cape About three-fourths three of or her passengers were saved amon among them Roach Hoach who as a matter of f fact ct had Jumped Into a boat full of t p gers gels There was a good deal of ot con can confusion rt fusion fusion slon attending the getting away and frione none of the people In Roach's Hoach's boat knew who he was He lie was posted as missing he was supposed to have g gone ne down n with the ship H liss Prudence shut herself herselt up In her room when she received recel the news and mid nd for tor two days saw nobody When she he reap reappeared she was quite com com- Posed posed She put on black for Cor the fellow fellow tel fel fel- fel low nv and antI her Intimate friends knew how jiow Ul the blow had almost unhinged d 1 her er reason but she never displayed her grief In public I 1 I There was a n young man named l Morton Horton orton who had been Miss Prudence's f best Second best beau benu In the old days We Wo bad hoped that Horton and she would l lilt It off but that scamp Roach noach came with his dashing ways and at hed Miss Prudence owa away from trow Ke he other man Horton was slow slow slow-a a aIne ne Ine fellow and doing well In the em- em of ot the local bank but slow nd d simple though as straight as al a n aie ie Te- Te l e. e After a year ear had passed and Prudence laid her mourning side Horton wanted her to marr marry im i n. n She turned him down She said ge Ue he esteemed him more than any man m o 1 earth but could newer never marr marry Her lIer thole life Ute would be devoted dc to the emory of ot Roach Hoach IA A itA month or two uro after utter that time Ume lorton orton was sent to New York upon ome ome me business his hIli connected with ink He tie was strolling through one f r the tho parks there and saw w Roach Hoach on b looking shabby and dejected M nt lit still unmistakable When he the got gotor v or ver r the thc shock thock he I F spoke oke to him Roach Hoach s was too much surprised to eny ny y his identity And AntI And so he et ev a tied lie He had wanted tc to leave leav et where he hr hid no relatives r f Property property- He bad hated hate the Idea Idell marriage So h hI he had d taken ad ad- of ot the lie r. r wreck lo to lose hIs bis Iden Iden- and start u a rew lIfe In New Ne York e 0 wj Pleaded that it was the o only war i to save Miss Prudence's feelings No doubt she would marry somebody else he said sold He Ile begged Horton notto not notto notto to betray him Horton was slow and simple duple He had given Ilven his promise before he realized rent real lied what It would Involve It meant that he must let Miss buss Prudence live live the rest of her life under the belle belief that Roach was dead Then he wanted wanted wanted want want- ed to thrash Roach but he was torn between the conflicting Ideas of duty ditty and meanwhile Roach slipped quietly away rind aud was gone one Horton went back to his village H He ne e decided that he could not break the girls girl's heart b by letting her know I I For Far three years he laid siege to her but uselessly Now Ellsworth I claim that the soul of ot Miss bliss Prudence knew perfectly well what was happening and loved loyed Horton and was tr trying Ing ts hardest to I obliterate the false Image linage of Roach without letting Miss bliss Prudence know i Ellsworth smiled Incredulously I Proceed he said Miss 1 Prudence had to go to Boston Boston Boston Bos Bos- BosI I ton on business She had never left the village tillage before Horton or on was to escort escort escort es es- es- es t cort hei het there lucre and back on the same day dup By this time the two were like Uke brother brothel and sister Ister They Ibey reached Boston and had I lunch together transacted the bust bus busness business t ness Hess and started homeward taking t the elevated to fife tiie the North station i M Miss iss Prudence wanted the papers I They went to the paper and magazine booth and there behind th the counter I stood Roach Honch I The supreme moment had come I I Horton torten did not know what to do He stared at Roach who had turned the color of chalk chall and md both were waiting f for or or Miss bliss Prud Prudence Lice to 0 look up at poach loach She picked up one or two pa pa- p pel's ers and a magazine got her purse open and stared full Into Roach's Miss l Prudence Roach Boach burst out and stopped flopped again for Miss Prudence's Prudence's Pru Pru- dences dence's hand was lying placidly upon tIe file counter and she was staring right nto Into i Roach's Hoach's e eyes es and never saw or heard him It queer she said to Horton that they leave all these papers and magazines around without anyone to sell them She put down the money and walked away Roach of course thought It was vas an elaborately staged cut He c couldn't have hav understood Miss Pru Pru- d dence ence But ut Horton did He knew that for her Ier Roach had be been n non eviden There was no possibility of her playing a trick It was not l in her and there here was was' no quaver in do her a shake of the hand as she sat down besIde Horton in the train Your theory Is s very ingenious said Ellsworth when the doctor had ended but those cases are well known cnown to science When one sustains sus sus- talus a n deep psychic wound the pers personality per per- s naUty sometimes sometimes' sloughs a part of i Itself away We have those classic cases of double personality for example exam example exam exam- p le in which the patient is absolutely unable to recognize those whom he helas has las known before fo e anC and sometimes to see them even Wait a minute said the the doctor On the way h home me Horton who vho was greatly distressed sed renewed his suit l de ie couldn't restrain himself he was terrified too and wanted to have the right to take care of ot the girl He lie a asked her to marry marry him Why I have loved you all my l life ife dear she answered There wasn't the smallest hesitation on her part about accepting him She remembered Roach Reach but she never remembered that she had been engaged t to him And Andt It t Is my my op opinion that she would never i eve even have seen him had he stood up I In front of ot her at any later date Fortunately she was not put to the test Roach died in a hospital a year i or two afterward 1 I I IN Well Vell Ellsworth said Raid the doctor I rising that Is how Miss Prudence met evil and Its It's no use your telling me there wasn't something that protected protected protected pro pro- her lieI from knowledge of ot evil from madness perhaps Good |