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Show b I ONE OF TW E-y Clifford Raymond! 1 SS fa SYNOPSIS. Tie Brcnynlnaa. Richard and Hope, axe entertain- nr In their own charmlnr manner on Cnrlatmas or Hope leave the room for a moment and reenters (, vlih tcmblo bruise on her throat, announcing ft ma-keJ man difKvcred at her JeTrel ca atru-k her cruelly Richard and Phi Up Kline iearch the (rounds. The aerTfcDta arc questioned, and Illchnrd decides thir must all be tilacharred. and plana to take Hopo outh. Sarah Parr, who Urea In the Tlllsjre and baa j. iinnwn ITop always, appears to know more than be rarei to tHl about the happening Philip and Dr. Arthur spend the nlrbt at the Parra'. returning- to k cjuituck the next morninf. Sarah tells them about lintlirr Browninr, Richard's mother, ol her love for children and all young- tender thins. Richard takes Jlopc south alter 'hrintmas, and there Hopo has an-bj. an-bj. other terrifyinr experience. A Nerro U hanged aa a mspect. Sho and Richard fro to New York, and Dr. q- Arthur sees a, horrified look In her crea one eTeninc K i - whltr they are dlnlnt; Jokper Lord. Richard's uncle, returflt Irom a voyage, bringing- with him Hopa'a brother. Gerald. Dr. Arthur think Gerald Is ra-pponMble ra-pponMble lor the marks at Hope's throat, and alta tip all nlcht at the Brownlnjrs' to guard her from fi.irm Re has a peculiar sensation of being watched, I 1 Philip Kline learns tbot Jasper Lord ant a hupe. J k ape to Quoturk yeara before. One sultry night. d during ao electric storm, a man servant at tho IJrownlnga' l frlghtenod by some animal which ho gays clutched hla throat Again Dr. Arthur and Philip Kline remain awake to wateh. and la tho dark Arthar encounters something not human. Hope'a brother is going away, and tboy all feel his departure will rcmovo a dark ehadow from Quatuck. Simon M ud Snrah. with the two younger men, attend a dr-cua dr-cua near by, and Philip recognizes one of the performers per-formers as Gerald Later, when he seeks hltn out. Gerald Is gone, together with a large opa from the circus They find Hopo unconscious in the wood, where ahe had been gathering hajtel nuts. Dr. Arthur Ar-thur and Philip manage to get hor home. Richard does not return until evening, and they dread telling him about the now horror. A poMe of neighborhood Jarmere capture Gerald and hill the ape. Richard la incoherent with fury. The posse briny Gerald back to Quatuck. Richard attempting to ehoot him. la B Mopped by Hopo. who make the alarming statement 11 that H was her husband who struck her down. Sarah, tells them Richard ha been mad ever since he was born. Hope, because Esther Browning arlshtd her to, married him. I i THIRTEENTH INSTALLMENT. TRYING TO SAVE RICHARD. RUTH cam downstairs for a moment to tell Arthur that Hop was alarming her by the rigidity in which ahe held her body and by the unseeing intensity with which she kept her sight directed at one spot, a place on the wall where there was nothing to see except a blank wall space. I , "I have tried not to annoy her," Ruth ' eaid she was admirable In the control of her own shaken nerves " but I have talked to her when I thought it could possibly do any -y good. If sho could only speak or move or close her eyes! I think she is living a lifetime life-time in a minute. I'm afraid she will go mad." v ; The control which spiritually disciplined people have over their emotions la proof of the durability of the race. Arthur's distraction distrac-tion his spiritual and moral disturbance must have been just then the most paralyzing par-alyzing emotion he ever had known but he was self-contained, as if ho were a country practitioner called in by a patient whose dis tress was merely that of a patient. r "I don't want to drug her more than I must, Ruth," he said. " You might do something some-thing with massage. It will suggest relaxation relaxa-tion to her and promote It. I'll telephone to town for a massousc to come out in the morning. morn-ing. Try It yourself Just now. Don't exhaust ex-haust yourself, but see If she will not submit to what you can do, and if she does not relax more I'll stupefy her with drugs." Ruth went back to Hope. "Women have such a wonderful reserve of serviceability, kindness, benevolence, love a reservoir of J fundamental kindness, of self-effacement, of Important service when most needed that all the petty little egotistic expressions, scruples, scru-ples, ambitions, jealousies, and small mean-i mean-i nesses of their nature disappear in the great crucible which reveals, aa Its product, pure gold. Ruth was wonderful In her service. She went upstairs to do as well as she could what Arthur had told her to do. The driver who had gone to Appleton for our friends came back with George Renwick and Frank Dor-eey, Dor-eey, the only two who were home. The driver had told them what he knew, which was, with 6ome inaccuracies, virtually everything ex cc-pt what Sarah had told us. George and Frank came with thut look of consternation, I solicitude, and sympathy which people bring ,. to a house suddenly struck by calamity. It Is a look which is a declaration of earnest willingness to be of service and also a confession con-fession of futility. Arthur, who was emotionally outraged as none of the others possibly could be, no matter mat-ter how much pain and sorrow, was nevertheless neverthe-less the one who kept the situation unstressed by emotion. " I'm glad it's you two," he said, " and Just you two. We sent for everybody, but it 1 i would have been a mistake If they had come. Ruth Is with Hope, George. Frank, you can stay all night?" j " Certainly, If I am needed." I "You and George ?an go to Richard and the two farmers can be relieved. They ought to go home to their work, and, besides, thore'a too much of a suggestion of custody In their presence to be good for Richard." "I don't know how to act towards him," said Frank. "He is suffering. If I am not mistaken he is 60 morally detestable to himself that he has a horror of himself. He Is out of hla seizure, but ho knows ho has been disclosed. He had a great deal of cunning In his seizures seiz-ures and what he did in them. "We cannot very well blame him. He was struggling to) maintain his life. Now a sense of moral guilt has come with disclosure. We could not be so unnatural as to pretend to him that nothing monstrous has happened. We can assume that he is very sick that as a very elck man he will receive every attention from the people who have been his friends. That, for the present Is, I think, all we can do." " I would rather It was his corpse I was coming to see," said George. "Of course," said Arthur. "This la much worse than his corpse." "How long has he been mad?" Frank isked. m " Sarah Parr has been telling ue. Early in childhood and now again Just recently, or, so far as we know, no further back than last Christmas eve." Arthur took tho two friends to Richard's room and brought Roblson and Furth back with him. He said that Richard was lying still with his eyes fixed In a horrified look of unchanging direction. Roblson said that he had been perfectly still, but all the time had the terrible look of a person fighting actjve horrors. George, even more, I think, than Frank, had been fond of Richard. He almost broke down when he saw his friend. In an impulse of the slncerest affection and sympathy he took ono of Richard's hands in both of his, j but Richard did not move. Arthur thanked Roblson and Furth. " I've been very much worried about our part In this, doctor," said Roblson. " We may have done some very bad things in trying try-ing to do what was right I'm afraid every one would have been bettor off if we had not done nnj thing. We couldn't have these thingB happening around here to any one as well liked- as Mrs. Browning and not do something some-thing about it, but I guess it was a mistake." mis-take." ' Some of the men are always going to think that It was a mistake to wait to bring the brother here," said Furth. "If you hadn't waited I don't know what would have happened to Mrs. Browning," said Arthur, " but it would have been something some-thing so dreadful that I don't want to think about it. She already had all she could stand. I know we are all very grateful to you and I think it is better to be out in tho clear. No matter what trouble we are in now it is better to havo ft the way it Is. Mrs. Erownlng was helplees until we discovered the truth, and she never would havo told if she had not been forced to in Just the way 6he was. There Is a great deal of trouble ahead of us and I cannot say that I clearly see the way out, but I do know that it's be3t to have things this way." "I hope that's so," said Furth. "It will help our feelings a lot If wo can think that we didn't blunder In like a lot of fools and bring all this trouble about." "You didn't," eaid Arthur. "I'm glad it's Just as It Is now and not as It was twenty-four hours ago." He shook hands with both men. "We're going because you say you don't need us," said Roblson. " If you llnd you do, send for us any time of day or night." "Thank you," eaid Arthur. "You know I eULM They said good night. I had been standing with Arthur and the four of us had been in the hall, As we closed the door on tho two farmers and went back Into the living room, where Sarah and Simon were sitting. I thought of the extraordinary excitement which mu6t be in the homes for miles around this night the women and even the children hearing from their men what had taken place during tho day ending with the disclosure dis-closure of Richard, tho maniac, by Hope, his wife. " I'll have another pipeful, Arthur," paid Sarah. " I don't know where you put tho can of tobacco." Arthur got it for her and she filled the long stemmed clay pipe affectionately, as a real pipe smoker does, tamping down the to bacco gently so that it should hold the fire just right bo as nearly perfect as possible for combustion and for the drawing of the smoke. There was a newspaper on the table near her. " Is this an old paper? " she asked. " I'm sure everybody's through with it whether its old or not," said Arthur. "Why, Sarah?" " Sho wants to mako a spill." " I'll take a back page," said Sarah. She tore off a piece and rolled it. " Here's a match, Sarah," said Arthur. " That's a sinful waste," said Sarah. "But it's lighted," said Arthur, striking It. " That's your doings, not mine," said Sarah, going to the flreplaco with the long paper spill. Arthur held the match close to her, but she would not use it. She lighted her spill at the fire and she lighted her pipe from tho spill. " Waste not, want not," she said, " and I used a match the other time. .It's wicked, tgff r A ' - .''-' m&2ffi& WA ! when there's a paper no ono wants and a firo right at hand." " Sarah," said Simon, " is a most terrible prodigal at times. I think she's going to put us In the poor house yet." " The Lord didn't mean things to bo wasted," wast-ed," said Sarah. The two old people wero Imperturbable. The others of us, less capable in dealing with the clernentals and fundamentals of life less willing to restrict pleasures and endure pain wero having difficulty not to reveal our distraction. For the two old folks just another thing of life bad happened. Life was not easy In their conception of It. It was hard. They wero acceptive. A man going mad was a man going mad. One dead was ono dead. If things happened, they happened. hap-pened. "Has it been your idea, Sarah," Arthur asked, " that Richard has been normal, clear headed, from the time he came back from Europe the time Esther Browning eang until recently? " "That would bo my guess. Esther Browning Brown-ing had the sunken garden cleared out. She didn't keep those heathen birds and she didn't know what to do with that big monkey when Jasper Lord sent It to her. So I reckon Richard was all right and didn't mako noises and Esther Browning maybe thought he was cured." " You don't think this ape they killed had anything to do with this? " Arthur asked. " You don't think he was the one that Jasper Lord sent? " " I don't know anything about monkeys or apes," said Sarah. " but I do know that that poor savago boast has been dead a long time. He got away and died somewhere or was killed. Nobody had anything to do with this but E3ther Browning's boy." "You knew that last Christmas wheriwe told you what had happened? " " I didn't have any right to say anything then." " I always thought of you, Snrnh " I couldn't help saying it " an wnltlng for something to run nut of a hole." Sarah knocked the heel tap out of her pipe. " I'm obliged to you, Arthur," she said, putting put-ting the pipe on the table. " It wasn't your fault that I don't like a new clay pipe. I did 0 like the tobacco." Then Bhe turned to me. " Well, if I was watching tho hole, I didn't get what came out of it but I would have." " We're going home," said Simon. " It's all hours of night and wc can't do any good all. About that I don't know." "I know, Simon," said Arthur. "You and Sarah have used more good common sense than any other people In the world could have used." " I w onder If I ought not to drive back with Sarah and Simon?" I suggested. "What for9" Sarah asked. "You can't, Philip. " said Simon. "There i?n't room in the buggy unless you sit on Sarah's lap and that would be the death of her." " I think you'ro more needed here, Phil," said Arthur. Wc went out and helped the two old pcoplo into their buggy. "That minister that brought me over," said S;u-ah, as Simon got the old mare on her w ay, " I suppose he's still running around In circles." Wc- saw that they got away and then went back into the house. For the first time Arthur Ar-thur showed real signs of tiro, of great physical physi-cal and mental weariness, of spiritual weariness. weari-ness. Wo both sat down for a moment by the fire. Arthur seemed to relax for that moment. p y ' But Richard did not move. Presently he said. " I've got to make thoso two people sleep tonight mostly for their sake but partly for our?. I'll telephone to town tomorrow for two nurses a man for Richard and a woman experienced In massage for Hope. I'll glvo Hopo some bro-mtdo bro-mtdo and try to get her to sleep." "And then what?" I asked. " Weil Just try to get over the night," ho said. " You know, don't you, that Hopo will fight this through to the end? You know that oven now she is planning planning to take Richard away where people will not know him or his history to efface this and save him if she can and she can't save him. She can't save him. Possibly I can." " How can you? " I asked. " I am not an alienist. So I don't know. It may bo possible. I'll go and 6eo how everything l.s upstairs." As I sat alone by the fire the outrageous details of all that had happened gained vividness viv-idness in retrospeoL Events had come aa blows and as blows they had a benumbing power. They dulled the comprehension. Each ono had required that somothing definite defi-nite be done instantly and nothing which thus was required to bo dono had any broad npi'Mcation to the whole situation. Thus there were a number of acts demanded, de-manded, all of them peremptoyy and none of them more than palliatives. When we had done everything that could bo done we had dono virtually nothing. All of It had to be dealt with over again and dealt with fundamentally funda-mentally and not superficially. My perception of Arthur's dilemma was this: For an instant Hope stood almost within touch of Arthur's Imagination if It acted as Imagination will. She had been always so close to his affections, always so far from his prospocts and suddenly walls wero broken down and there was Hope not beyend his horizon but at the end of his ou'.atretched arms. Something , w hich ho, in his delicacy of emotion., would not have permitted within tho compass of his thought or expectation had happened. Richard was destroyed. Within the term of years Jacob served for Rachel there was the possibility of Hopo, restored to herself, freed from the condition which, whether she had accepted It lovingly, adoringly, or self- effacing)?, was tcnibio. k There was releaee undoubtedly with sorrow sor-row for her possibly with hope for him but release release and the prospects of a new life opening no matter how distantly. Then there came to him the knowledge that he of all tho friends of Hope and Richard was the one who might be a,ble to preserve them for each other. His advice might save Richard. As I sat there I seemed to hear him saying say-ing again: " She can't save hln. Possibly I can." That was his decision. For him there could not have been any other. But even for him there could have been a dilemma one of emotional turmoil, with deslro straining strain-ing In ono direction and with his obligations straining In another. 4 There may have been a moment or an hour when Arthur regarded himself as a strange monster, astounded by the thoughts and expectations ex-pectations he found starting so tumultuously within him, so feverishly and domlnatlngly. Sarah, whose prescience always toirhed me with a sense of dread of her, said Wter-wards: Wter-wards: " I am glad Arthur didn't get her that way." Arthur came down from upstairs and said that Hope had gono to sleep exhaustion and the drugs had given her release for tho time being. A tray of food had been taken to Ruth, who had made herself comfortable in a dressing gown and who would spend the night reading or dozing on tho couch near Hope's bed. George and Frank had taken a guest room opposite Richard's. Richard had relaxed and closed his eyes. They thought he slept. ' That ought to be as satisfactory a solution solu-tion for tho night as we could make," said Arthur " I didn't want the bos to take all of the watch, but they insisted that with what I had during the day they would lake- the responsibility for the night. They Will be where they can watch Richard's room and yet not Impose their presence on him if that disquiets him." One of tho servants came in " Do you suppose." he said. " that there is anything wo could do for Mr and Mrs. Ren-wick Ren-wick and Mr. Dorsey or " he hesitated Just a little; "for Mr. and Mrs. Browning? We have taken a tray to Mrs. Renwick. The gentlemen gen-tlemen say they do not care for anything to eat" " Thanks," said Arthur. " I know that if j ou took a bottle of Scotch, some ice, and charged water to Mr. Renwick and Mr. Dorsey Dor-sey they'd be glad to have it and we wouldn't mind If we had tho decanter of bourbon bour-bon and come water." It must have been a trying time for the servants even If th? exclfcamcrt or terror of It had interested them The men seemed glad of something to do for us. " There'll be nothing else for any one to do," said Arthur when the man brought our whisky. " Everything Is arranged for the night. Please tell everybody that we are obliged for their attentiveness and consideration, considera-tion, that Mr. and Mrs. Browning are asleep, and that we think eery thing will be all light." " We all hope so," said the man. "You don't mind spending the night here, do you? " Arthur asked after we were alone nnl each had poured a drink of bourbon. "Weil be within call and can get some sleep. I don't think anything will happen, but wo don't know." " I haven't had a chance to talk to you," I said. " I don't understand how this could be. We're sitting here In this room. We've known Richard In this room for years. His cordiality always fascinated me A few hours ago wo heard him moaning and shrieking." shriek-ing." " Richard Is a multiple personality," said Arthur. "I had begun to suspect It, but I couldn't believe It. One of his personalities was purely animal." " You mean that some of tho noises wo heard " " Yes and the hairy thing I touched in the night the hairy thing which sprang at Abner the thing that terrified the horses that was Richard. I know enough now about it to know that when he became animalistic ani-malistic he wanted to feel the touch of hair about him as if It were growing on him. He had the shaggy wool sweaters and possibly some other skins we'll find. He had to got out and shriek. He wanted to prowl about the house at night. He wanted to attack people." " You sat up here one night alone with him wanting to attack you?" " Geruld, I'm sure, was trying to steal any valuable he could lay his hands on that first night and Richard was stalking him. They both saw me and Gerald was scared back to his room before Richard had exhausted the pleasure of creeping after him. "Richard, I think, was subconsciously cautious all the time. One personality may be submerged and another in the ascendancy, and at the same time the submerged personality per-sonality may exercise a definite restraint on the dominating one. Richard saw me and what was then hie submerged personality person-ality had enough Influence with the animal to send him back to his room. " Tho next night, with you hero, tho same thing was repeated except, I think, that Gerald, trying again to steal something silver sil-ver or money or Jewels became aware that some strange possibly terrlbl? animal was close to him. Then we Intervened and in tnat electrical disturbance Gerald bolted into his room and Richard, his submerged self again guiding the animal, got by us but I touched him I think he threw that shaggy sheepskin off as he went. " It Is sometimes the case with a multiple personality .lust as, I imagine, has happened hap-pened with Richard that there will be pe riods of control. Evidently In his infancy tho animal control was predominant. That was why Esther Browning had the sunken garden, as Sarah said. Then it lessened and the cordial, gracious man we knew began to emerge." " That wan when Esther Browning sang," I said. " I thought that affected you." said Ar thur. " Then there may bo reversal of tho predominating influence. I imagine Richard had been free from these seizures for a number of years, freo from the animal control. con-trol. Other multiples of his character may have showed slightly. I do not know how many they were or how vividly at any time they may havo been expressed. " But the animal began to come back It was getting more and more into ths ascendancy." , 11 Eut why always attack Hope? " I asked " Because the partly rational personality that had a llttlo control always over the animal ani-mal in the direction of caution and self-preservation self-preservation always suggested that it was safe to attack Hope. She would protect him. He wanted to hurt to rend, strangle some thing. In his caution he selected Hope. Soon he would have got out of this control as he grew more vicious then no one would have been safe." "Hope was liing in this terror." v -f ' r jm thur. " She will keep her promise. She must have recognized sigae of the imminence of one of tho seizures and been terrified lest it take Puchard in public. I think that when I saw the terror in her eyes in the New York restaurant she had seen in Richard pre. monitory symptoms, and for an instant sh6 thought that he would betray himself." " Isn't there any way out that she will endure9 " I cried in despair. " It msy be forced on her," said Arthur, but there may be hope I am not an alienist. alien-ist. I have been talking of mysteries of which I know very little, but lovely Esther Browning, whose only Idea was to pray for her son and protect him: may have been a very foolish as well as a very fond mother. An operation on Richard's brain might save him." y But, I wondered, how easy had the decision been made! Arthur did have Hope within his prospects not his near prospects but It was possible for such a devoted friend to think that in the years which were to come there might come a time when he would be free to go to Hope with all the things he had to say to her. mU The Intervention was this animalistic mar. our friend, but now unrecognizable as such. He was passing out by his own disorders. Hope's wonderful devotion to him could not 6ave him. She might try, but she could not save him. But Arthur might save him. He might restore Richard to a normality of mind which would give the Browning family a prospect of benevolence In life, which would release Hope from her terrors, which would give her placidity, which would cast him out forever. That was the decision he had made. I do not see how he could have made another one, md et I can see how hard It was to make this one. Arthur, I knew, had his moment of tempta tion, ni3 Iliouieiiu iraon namcu laio uittumv, the multiple personality. Richard, to go in the way in which he was headed and to clear the. prospect. Then, knowing his charaoter, I knew how he had brushed this aside and how he had decided that if there were I thing he could do to restore Richard to Hops he would restore him. i, V We sat together in the living room by the live embers of the logs In the fireplace, and Arthur was utterly commonplace. He had gone through the test by fire and was, in appearance, as if no test had been near him. There were no sounds from upstairs " The best possible thing has happened," said Arthur. " You mean they are all quiet?" I said. " No, it has all come out." he said. " It is fine that they are all quiet, but that will last only during the night If that long. But what a relief to havo the matter to deal with in the open!" " You are the only one who knows how to deal with it." I said. "I don't know at all," ho said; "but anything any-thing better than what we did have!" Whatever Arthur's dilemma had been, it had come to a quick decision. " I think I'm going to doze a while," said Arthur. " I don't know any reason why you shouldn't." I said. "Feel like staying awake yourself?" be asked. " I think I can." "It really Isn't necessary," he eala. "Ths boys are up there. You've had as bad a day as I've had. I'm Just tired." " Go to sleep," I said. " I'll stay awake." I did for a time. Arthur, tired, as every droop of his body revealed, fell asleep in his chair. I tried to keep awake. Slowly I found that I was drifting away Into the pleasant unconsciousness .of trouble behind the curtain. We were awakened several hours later. George and Frank, with panic vividly expressed, ex-pressed, aroused us. " Richard Is gone," said George. ,; What?" Arthur asked, coming abruptlj to consciousness. " He's gono," said George. " He's rue away lie's escaped from his room " To be concluded Copyright: 1919: By Clifford Raymond. |
