Show to A Louis jos vance jy author A of the do false faces 1 tho the lone wolf etc illustrated by Irwin Myers copyright 1920 by the author it II resignation continued 12 she shook her head 1 I cant tell you but I 1 do it was just before noon I 1 was in my room alone won biering trying to think things out some way and suddenly theres no explaining I 1 knew it had happened it was nothing like a dream i I 1 the remotest idea how or where they were married I 1 only know they were no do studied her closely detecting no nc trace of hysteria in tier her manner there ther were melancholy shadows beneath her hei eyes but the eyes themselves were calm clear and direct tell me as nearly as you can she overcame P reluctance 1 I slept well enough aate you left last night heavily but without dreams that I 1 remember but I 1 woke up with a sense of strain a tension of nerves as if 11 subconsciously waiting for something to happen it got worse as the morning wore on though I 1 fought it as hard bard as I 1 knew how and I 1 had bad a fe ieng of suppressed excitement too and then as I 1 say about noon tho tension snapped without the least warning it was gone there was nothing lefts left just emptiness you know desolation and after a little time of that peace of a sort the feeling one has when something terribly important been a long time hanging banging fire Is at last settled even if its settled disappointingly so I 1 knew the least suspicion of a tremor crept into her voice it hiis was over and done with they were married the thing was finished you glad in a way yes I 1 had a sense of happiness but it mine it rise in me it was her happiness I 1 was ii tearing baring then even that left me nothing remained only the forlorn est loneliness philip as it if id lost something I 1 r auld uld never regain I 1 presume I 1 have somehow ive got a notion I 1 shall never see leonora again even in my dreams do you think its possible ill never neier dream again that way 1 I hope so clila cilia with all my heart beart she ant very still for a time gaze downcast to the hands bands that held her teacup 1 I suppose I 1 hope ap a too she said faintly ril lit MOTHER tre got news fosdick offered priscilla llla looked up sharply under knitting brows brous though I 1 imagine from what youve told me it will seem less news than confirmation in a way ige he was vias quick to satisfy her movement of impatience theres every reason to believe leonora spent last night after the fire at the walpole and marlo mario called caled for her there this morning bout about ten with a motorcar lie he had bad a japanese chauffeur and an V fe S I 1 14 I 1 thefil never do that now philip interrupted carnahan Carn ehan Is dead other woman with him presumably a maid aid apparently the man has means ft t his own ile he has I 1 think but how bow do you know ml all this 1 I had bad a man a private detective make the rounds of the hotels first thing this mornin morning ou on the off ebancu that marlo mario had bad acted on his bis suggestion it if you remembered it correctly of f putting leonora I conora up for the night at the best and quietest place in town you ton employed a detective philip after your promise 1 hold on cilia 1 I 1 promised I 1 woo lilot go near police headquarters or let the leak out about what LoPp ened at and I 1 was better than toy my word in tile beginning I 1 1 for you all on my own spent the heller part nf af three days snooping 61 6 mn 1 ii 11 file lover buet side ald la in a stop slop shop suit stilt unshaven roy my nails in mourn mourning log till I 1 got what I 1 was after established indisputably the fact that your dreams were true visions clairvoyant whatever you care to call them anything but hallucinations ci of a disordered mind more than that I 1 proved that leonora was as real a creature as you are not a sort of secondary personality been projecting more or less involuntarily into phases of life utter utterly outside your comprehension and experience 1 I know philip she leaned forward to touch his hand band in gratitude dont think me unappreciative if you only knew what A hat it means to have my heart lightened of that fear I 1 then I 1 dont think you ought to complain if I 1 turn over routine investigation ti work to a private detective a man of absolute discretion who Is not in the police department who even heard beard your name who thinks im interested in this leonora for reasons purely personal to myself 1 I dont complain philip I 1 was surp ased and at first understand you see I 1 presume im too much le leonora or ashes too much me but I 1 cant somehow help sharing her feelings slie she was wretchedly afraid the police might send red to the electric chair on information got through her never do that now philip interrupted Carn carnohan ehan Is dead the girl uttered a little cry something between pity and thanksgiving and sank back staring yes his body was found in the ruins of the tenement house this morning Bl elinsky who was arrested fleeing the flames identified the remains so that tear fear passes cilla cilia she rested her bead wearily against the back of the chair and shut her eyes so that fear passes she repeated in a whisper A little shiver ran over her body 1 I cant think its wrong of me to be glad it its only human but a death so frightful III 1 dont think about that think how good it Is that you that leonora need no longer fear death at every turning 11 I 1 do you suppose she knows its in all the evening papers she must learn of it sooner or later wherever she Is then then your man find out where they went from the walpole no but the presumption Is they went either to jersey or connecticut to get married as people do when they want to avoid publicity I 1 fancy do that to leave no clue for Carne carnelian hau not knowing there was no more necessity ces sity 11 then nothing stands between her and her happiness almost imperceptibly the muscles round mouth and eyes tightened in pain so did her lands bands tighten convulsively on the arms of the chair then with N ith a start the girl sat up smiling a smile of uncertain apology shaking her head bead vigorously as if to rid it of a tormenting swarm of thoughts there cant be any mistake I 1 suppose youre sure it was leonora who stopped at the walpole I 1 not sure but satisfied she answered the description and though she registered under what sounds like an assumed name nora O more yes priscilla interrupted quickly shed be likely to use that name why because why because I 1 dont quite know she laughed a lit little at herself and aad sobered into momentary thoughtfulness her eyes clouding with mental effort then they cleared of course I 1 was the name of the old woman leonora lived with ich as a child mother the neighbors called her id forgotten till you jogged bogged my memory mother fosdick repeated possibly a clue if youve no objection ill set andrews my detective to work on it it cant be so long ago neither you nor leonora Is old enough think somebody in that part of town would remember an elderly woman who fortune telling with cards no doubt a bit of a neighborhood character called mother it if we can find out what became of her or even where and how bow she lived when alive 1 I suppose all that and more that we want to know Is burled to in ray my dont you think it ml might bt be worth while to try to stimulate my latent memories by hypnotism perhaps Lr drosdick stubbornly opposed that only as a last resort im frankly distrustful of the psychic effect on you it if we excite your subliminal consciousness selous ness by too much nagging far better let your subconscious slumber far better you should forget rather than remember too yes she assented uncertainly and nodded with wistful eyes 1 I want to forget tr it I 1 eat can as quickly as I 1 can you you must try it would be a good thing thin if you never dreamed again of leonora but one cant cor irol ones dreams I 1 im not so sure I 1 believe it might be done I 1 can help a little I 1 think but really it all rests with you 1 I suppose so she was puzzled intent but what to to do its a matter of will power simply you can do it if you will but you must want to heart slid and soul tier her face was at once dark with thought and flushed with hope bope beyond all ali telling sweet but I 1 do philip I 1 want so much to forget more than you know I 1 want so BO much to think theres nothing strange about me any more im just a normal human being like ny iny other girl 1 I want never to think again 11 she caught herself up in confusion and did not complete the thought more subdued she continued 1 I promise faithfully to do all I 1 can whatever you think best well vell as I 1 say its all up to you youve got to make yourself mistress of your own mind make it think what you want it to think and forget and disregard everything else no matter how insistently it may claim attention keep yourself constantly occupied constantly doing and going keep every minute fillod filled paint every day till youre tired out but dont stop then when youve worked till you feel ready to drop play till you cant think and then as you drift off to steep sleep fix your thoughts steadfastly on something like your work on no account permit yourself to drowse off wondering won derr about leonora my work will nill help she agreed im so glad you want me to keep beep on ys I 1 I 1 1 I like your impudence then you think theres no more danger in the stud studio lo 10 assoil associations a tion s not since this afternoon he be said smiling the portrait Is no longer there my portrait gonel distress vibrated in her voice what has bamme of it barkness nar Illar kness has it fosdick laughed pleased by her bewilderment and at the same time apprehensive of the effect of his confession you see you left the studio key on your dressing table last night I 1 saw it there and borrowed it this afternoon I 1 took Ilar darkness kness to see the portrait and he be was wag so enthusiastic its really fine work you know he insisted on carting it off with him then and there inasmuch as that was precisely what I 1 wanted I 1 let him have his way its no use cilla cilia I 1 had to get that tiling thing out of your your way and if I 1 had waited tor for your permission it might have meant weeks of delay now that the portraits disposed of you may use the studio as freely as you like which reminds me heres the key she took it from him brusquely at once annoyed and gratified her face slightly flushed with the one emotion her eyes luminous with the other 1 I like your impudence we strive to please divided between anger and mirth she compromised by alln giving free rein to both so that resentment was swiftly crept away in laughter philip you are incorrigible 1 I have to be to get ray my own way IV AFFINITY the girl suffered atrociously at first but nobody knew or philip fosdick alone suspected something of what hat she was going through Us lie could not know all for even to him she said little littie or nothing and went sweetly through her days with a high head and eyes of lying calm but he was sick with sympathy for tier her and so to in some measure quick with intuition tie he helped tier her more than she knew indeed for tie he contrived to devote to her more time than a physician had any right to with so many patients leaning heavily on him tor for comfort and though lie he refused to ment with obvious forms of hypnotism such as mesmeric gestures and the induced trance he worked insidiously upon her by suggestion not so BO much at the expense of her spiritual independence pen peu dence as to its re establishment aud and invigoration it was never you must tor for it Is my will bu always you can it if you will aill though tar far more subtly thus gradually self confidence was built up in her anew fhe lie began to perceive the truth like a light dim at the far end of a tunnel that nothing mundane transcends the power of the informed self regulated and applied t will that not wn even the mortal abbe ad of longing cart can withstand it so go vaguely she began to apprehend a coming time when instead of flying from tier her sorrow it might be to a state more unhappy yet she would be a ale me to face ace it eyen even to outpace outface it unafraid its master and her own however tha only toward tho th end meanwhile she was faithful to her word faithfully regulated tier her life irk in accordance wn with the scheme suggested by fosdick she started a portrait of ada alkyer and worked at it steadily every morning and in amazingly few sittings managed to make the painted canvas body forth the impish charm of that lady indy her irresistible gay impudence this in spite of the fact that ada posed poorly and pervaded the studio with an atmo atmosphere phere of infectious irresponsibility that was most demoralizing to a serious minded artist and did priscilla no end of good in the afternoon she labored more soberly but no less successfully upon a composition employing two professional models a mother and dauz daughter bilter painting famously well witti with alte cislon new in her work with ith a dash tog ing technique whose secrets she had bad newly surprised and dhove manipulation proved an abiding joy in between there were luncheons at avignon dels the ritz nitz with the women of her world and others with professional workers like herself in dingy amusing little holes of restaurants with which that part of greenwich village immediately adjacent to her studio was riddled and after the light failed there were tens teas motoring and bridge parties dinner the theater dances alike to work and to play she gave herself without reserve entering with unwonted animation though nobody thought it feverish into whatever diversion the hour offered and if at times there was an of sadness in tier her laughter shadowed wistfulness in her eyes weariness in tier her gesture she was the first to notice and swift to dissemble so that none remarked any change in her more than an access of loveliness and charm at once elusive and insistent and she was more than ever sought after importuned importuner courted wooed A dozen conquests were added to her score in that too brief lull but she seemed altogether unaware of 0 them save as friends and moved sedately among them adorably pretty tantalizingly desirable exasperatingly detached in those days she liked all men and aved none cone none but one not philip fosdick with herself she vans was honest and unpretending it if mario was never tor for her she was for no one else she was patient in confidence of ultimate emancipation already she had bad gained much the question of her sanity no longer harassed her more she bad ceased to dream of leonora or rather she no longer remembered what she dreamed she wakened every morning from a night dream was blank it she had dreamed at all she was far from satisfied however that she had bad ceased to dream it seemed to her that she had ceased merely to remember for in spite of 0 the cep ot of her dreaming the sense 0 the liaison persisted never had bad she felt more near to leonora more intimately a sharer in her psychic life now and again there would come without warning without any encouragement of conscious wish or thought a feeling of identity with that other of understanding of personal participation in leondras Leo noras happiness that brought a strange exaltation of spirit paradoxically akin to that happiness which life refused her and at such times she would experience indefinite teasing glimpses into leondras Leo noras present circumstances glimpses no sooner granted than snatched away of a life half L known noun halt half foreign like a stir of shadow shapes I 1 in the depths of the dark mirror of tier her unconscious mind TO BE CONTINUED |