OCR Text |
Show r S THE MAN WHO fl ! i DID THINGS TWICE I By DON MARK LEMON i j i (Copyright, liy Hhorntory Pub. Co.) I! Of commanding figure and soldierly bearing, with deep-set eyes, hollow, ca- ! davcrous cheeks, nml mustacho and i linlr nn Intense blue black, tils singu lar personality nloiio hod anywhere nnd nt all times attracted special attention atten-tion to tho man; but coupled with this distinguished personality, and singling sin-gling him out as remarkable In tho highest degree, was the fact that ho I lived In duplicate Thus If on Monday ho aroso early, I broakfastod on coffee, toast and eggs, Ei afterwards retired to hlB rooms to I occupy himself until noon nt his desk; j then, after partaking of lunch, quit his ! looms to rnmblo about the city, giving I alms to tho old blind organ woman, I going up nnd down particular stroets ' nnd through particular quartora, thence ' back to his hotol, to his dinner, to his 1' desk after dlnnor, nnd finally to bed h rj on Tuesday ho would go through precisely Iho samo reglino, U' On Wednoadny lm perhaps would Br spend tho day quite differently, arising IBB lato, going out on horseback for tho entire day, nttondlng tho thcator at night, and to bed at midnight or Inter; but howsoovcr ho spont Wodnosday, Thursday or tho day following was tiuro to bo n repetition down to tho smallest detail. Friday would see commenced n new series of action for Saturday to duplicate. dupli-cate. Ho was the echo as It wero of himself, and a consummatn echo at that, for tlmo and tlmo ngaln hu had been watched to seo whether ho would not make somo mistake or fall In his series of duplication, but whenever It was possible for an act to bo duplicated dupli-cated ho never bad been known to fall in Its duplication; and, indeed, ho ,. had grown so shrewd in tho matter that bo never did on ono day what 1 could not reasonably bo duplicated r upon thehoxt If that succeeding day L " was to U) a duplication of tho pro-t pro-t ceding ono, nnd not the beginning of a I .. now serlce of action. f Living his own life In his own ro- t " served way, cultured and Btudlous, troubling no one. offending none; , -doubly llboral In his expenditures and ' . never pressed for moans, steadfast In his chosen eccentricity If such It wero and in his face nnd manner no questioning ques-tioning doubt of himself, perhaps In ' time Henry Hobart had been accepted r t like any other man, the curious had ceased to bo curious, nnd his mysterious mysteri-ous character, without any further or 1 1- deeper scrutiny, had becomo ono of tho mysteries of human life, had not tho tr -v , . man been suddenly struck down as by . fin Invisible hand and tho appalling mystery of his doath heightened ton-fold ton-fold the mystery of his llfo. On a Tuosday morning, nt IE mln- The man hastened to obey tho sum mnns, not noticing that thu hands of tho hnll clock pointed to 15 minus's of ten, nor delaying lo rcrnllcct whnt guost occupied room 03. Tho tragedy of tho ' preceding day had been tho ovent of his life, and ho hod not as yet descended to the trifles of his daljy routine. As he tapped briskly at tho door of room 03 and put his hnnd upon the knob to enter, it suddenly camo over - him that ho had dono precisely such a thing before That nt nbout thnt time of somo other morning ho had been summonod by tho call-bell to room G3 had knocked, turned tho knob, entered and a loud cry, a shout thick with 'horror, broke from tho man's Hps, and ho reeled back Into tho hallway. Thcro boforo him, In tho center of tho fateful room, half-dressed, battling with tho lnvlsblo air, with bluo lips and protruding eyes, stood Tho Man Who Did Things Twice Tho ominous, ghostly hush that followed fol-lowed tho frlghtcnod attendant's cry was quickly broken by the hurry of mnny feet, and soon again tho he '.el wns aroused and ngaln Dr. Thiol bent over tho prostrate nnd dying Henry Hobart. Outsldo nnd distinctly could bo hoard tho clang of tho flro-bolls, but in the room of death all was sudden silenco, nil wero hushed by tho frightful, ghost-ly ghost-ly thought that tho scone beforo them had heon enacted befbro tho dying man with his discolored faco nnd struggling hands, tho physician bending bend-ing ovor him, tho nlarmed, pitying faces of tho gathered guests, and tho frightened servants huddled In tho background. And tho man must die dlo as ho had died I They looked on, and wnltod. Then tho end camo, and Dr. Thlel, arising, said: "Ho is dead!" Ho had uttered those words onco beforo and under llko conditions. And tho gtiosto and tho servants spoke togothor In horrified horri-fied whispers, as they had dono before; be-fore; tlton tho assembly broko up and the hall way was cleared as boforol Thoro was something Immeasurably painful about It all, to live a thing over In that frightful way, to bo, as it wero, mora puppets at n show, and one day to bo to another day as a reflection in a mirror. For a timo thoso who had witnessed wit-nessed both tragcdlos secmod to llvo In a kind of trance, and moved about and whlsporod togothor like bolngs In n dream; but finally tho natural reasserted re-asserted Itsolf, and then curiosity soiled them. What was tho meaning of It? Honry Hobart had died and his body had been mutllntcd by the Burgoon's knlfo. How There In the Middle of the Ro'om Wai the Man Who Did Things Twice. then, had ho died a second timo and his body shown no marks of the knlfo! Had they been deceived by a ghost 1 No; thoro in room 63 lay tho dead man flesh nnd blood and sovon blocks nway, resting on a morblo slab, with the water dripping continually on It, lay the other body of Henry Hobart The Man Who Did Things Twice. A suddeu doubt camo Into tho mind of Dr. Thlel, a misgiving that frightened fright-ened him. Wns that othor body that autopsy-marred body still rusting quietly on its slab nt tho morgue? Or Hastily quitting tho hotol, ho hurried hur-ried towards tho morgue and suddenly sud-denly enmo up against nn Insurmountable Insurmount-able blank wall of mystery. Tho morgue was a heap of charred ruin nnd smoldering, steaming ashos, and If tho uutnimymnrrfcd body of Honry Hobart had been lying on its slab dur Ing tho period of tho flro, then it had been totally consumed, nnd that other body up at tho hotol was that of n second sec-ond Henry Hobart; hut, if tho nutop. sy-marrcd body of Jlonry Hobart had not boon lying quietly on Its slab during dur-ing tho raging of tho lire then, In God's nnmo, who and )vhnt was ho who morning? |