Show a D y 0 S jos avance author alth r of the ble false faces facca tho lone wolf etc illustrated by ar irwin myel s copy copyright 9 ia by the autho 11 R resignation E S I 1 G N AT 10 N C continued 0 n u e d 12 slie she shook lier ber head 1 I cant tell you but I 1 do it was just before noon I 1 was in my room alone wondering trying to think things out some nay lay and suddenly theres no explaining I 1 knew it had happened it was nothing like a dream I 1 the remotest idea how or where they were married I 1 only know they were lie ile studied tier her closely detecting no trace of hysteria in tier hor iii manner anner there were melancholy shadows beneath her eyes but the eyes were ivere calm clear arid and direct tell me as nearly as you can she overcame a reluctance 1 I slept Y yell veil ell enough after 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 it if subconsciously waiting for something to happen it got worse as the morning wore nore on though I 1 fought it as hard bard as I 1 knew how and I 1 had a feeling of suppressed excitement too and then as I 1 say about noon the tension snapped without the least warning it was gone there was nothing left just emptiness you know desolation aud and after a little time of that pence peace of a sort the feeling one has when something terribly important been a long time hanging fire Is at last settled even if its settled disappointingly so I 1 knew L new the least of a tremor crept crent into tier her voice it was wa s over and done with they were married the thing was finished Wei ent you glad in a way yes I 1 had a sense of happiness but it mine it rise in me it was her ber happiness I 1 wal sharing then even een that left me nothing remained only the forlorn est loneliness philip as if id lost something I 1 could never regain mcg in I 1 presume I 1 have ive got a notion I 1 shall never lee leonora again even la in my dreams do you think its po possible sible ill never dream again that way 1 I hope so cilla cilia with all my b hearl ea in I 1 she sat very still for a time gaze downcast to the hands that held her teacup 1 I suppose I 1 hope so too she said faintly III MOTHER ive got news fosdick of okereda ered P looked up sharply under knitting brows though I 1 imagine from what youve told me it will seem less news than confirmation lu a way ile he was quick to satisfy her movement of impatience theres every reason to believe leonora spent last night after tile the fire at the walpole and marlo mario called for tier her there this morning about ten with a motorcar he had bad a japanese chauffeur and another woman with him presumably a mald maid apparently the man has means of ills own lie ile has I 1 think but how do you know all this 1 I had bad a man a private detective make the rounds of the hotels first thing tills this morning on the off cliance chance that marlo had acted on his sugg suggestion if you remembered it correctly of putting leonora up for the night at the best and quietest place in town you employed a detective philip Phil itil after your promise hold on cilia 1 I 1 promised I 1 go near police headquarters or 0 r let the truth leak out about what happened at and I 1 was better than my illy word to in the beginning I 1 sleuthed sleuth ed for you all on my own spent the better part of three days snooping around the lower east side in a sult suit unshaven my nails in mourning till I 1 got that I 1 was after established tu disputablY the tact fact that your dreams were nvere true tel aesthetic visions q clairvoyant whatever you care to call them anything but hallucinations ci of a disordered mind more afore than that I 1 proved that leonora was vas as real a creature as you are not a sort of secondary personality been projecting more or less involuntarily into phases of life utterly outside your comprehension and experience 11 1 I know philip she leaned tor for ward to touch his hand band in gratitude dont think me unappreciative it if you ovay ony knew what bat it means to have my heart lightened of that tear fear I 1 then I 1 dont think you ought aught to complain com plan it if I 1 turn over routine investigation ti gation work to a private detective a man of absolute discretion who Is not in the police department who even heard your name who nho thinks im interested in this leonora for reasons purely personal to myself 1 I dont complain philip I 1 was surprised and at first under understand you see 1 I presume im too much leonora or ashes too much me but I 1 cant somehow help sharing ler ier feelings she was wretchedly afraid the police might send red to the electric chair on information got through her hel never do that now philip interrupted carnahan Carn ehan Is dead the girl uttered a little cry something between pity and thanksgiving lind and sank back staring yes ills his body wal avas found in the ruins of the tenement house this morning Bi Bl elinsky who anbo was arrested the flames identified the remains so that fear passes cilla cilia she rested her head wearily against the back of the chair and shut her eyes so that feir fear passes she repeated in a whisper A little shiver rin ran over her aldy 1 I cant think its wrong of me to be glad it its only human but a death so frightful dont think about that think how good it Is that you that leonora need no longer fear death at every turning do you suppose she knows its in nil 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 cut but the presumption is they went avent either to jersey or connecticut to get married as people do when the they want to avoid publicity I 1 fancy they do that to leave no clue for carneyhan Carn Car ehan not knowing there was no more tie necessity ces cos sity then nothing stands between her and her happiness V almost imperceptibly the muscles round mouth and eyes tightened in pain so did her hands tighten convulsively on the arms of tile the chair then with a start the girl sat up smiling a smile of uncertain apology shaking tier her head bead vigorously us as if to rid it of a tormenting swann of thoughts there cant be any mistake I 1 suppose youre sure it was leonora who stopped at the walpole el not sure but satisfied she answered the description and though she registered under what sounds like an assumed name nora yes priscilla interrupted quickly shed be likely to use that name why because why because I 1 dont quite know she laughed a little littie at herself and sobered into momentary thoughtfulness her eyes clouding with mental effort then they cleared of course coursed was the name of the old woman leonora 11 lied ed AN with ith as a child mother the neighbors called her rd id forgotten till you jogged bogged my memory mother alother 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 la Is old enough think somebody in that part ot of town would remember an elderly woman who fortune telling with cards no doubt a of a neighborhood character called mother if we can find out what became of her or even where and how she lived when alive 11 1 I suppose till all that and more that we want to know Is burled buried in my I 1 dont you think it might be worth while to try to stimulate my latent memories by hypnotism perhaps fosdick stubbornly opposed that only as a last resort im frankly distrustful of the psychic effect on you it if we ave excite your subliminal consciousness ness by too much da nagging gank far better lot let your subconscious slumber far better you should hould f forget rather thain remember too Ys yes she assented uncertainly and nodded with wistful eyes 1 I want to forget if I 1 can as quickly as I 1 can you must you must try it would be a good tiling thing it if you never dreamed again of leonora but one cant control 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 yowl yon 1 I suppose so she was put pui aled intent but what to dot do its a matter of will power simply you can do it if you will but you must want avant to heart nud aud soul her fler face vias aas at once dark with thought and flushed inith nope beyond all telling sweet but I 1 do phillp philip I 1 want so much to forget more then than you know I 1 want so much to think there nothing strange about me any more im just a normal human being like iny other girl I 1 avant never to think again 1 she caught herself up in coa fusion and did not complete comp loie lele the thought though more alore ed blia bhe continued 1 I pro nilso faithfully to do all I 1 call whatever you think best well as I 1 isay 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 arid and forget and disregard everything else nc not matter how insistently it may claim attention keep yourself constantly occupied constantly doing and gong keep every minute filled paint every day till youre tired out but it daut tit stop then when youve worked till you feel rendy ready to deop play till you cant think and then as you drift off to sleep fix your thoughts steadfastly on something like your work on no account permit yourself to drowse off wondering about leonora my work will help she agreed im so glad you want avant me to keep on oil then you think theres no moru more dauger danger in the studio associations not since this afternoon lie he said smiling the portrait Is n longer there my aly portrait gone distress vibrated in her voice what has ja conff of it harkness has it fosdick fosdeck 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 barkness nar kness to see the portrait alt and he was so enthusiastic its really fine work you know he be insisted on carting it off with him then and there Y I 1 1 I 1 like your impudence inasmuch as that was precisely what I 1 wanted I 1 let him have hare ills his way its no use cilla cilia T had to get that ahng out of your way and if I 1 had waited for your permission it might have meant weeks of delay now that the portraits disposed of you may use the studio as ad 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 I 1 we strive to please divided between anger and mirth she he compromised by giving free rein to both so that resentment wits was swiftly swept away in laughter philip you are incorrigible 1 I 1 have to be to get my own way IV AFFINITY the girl suffered atrociously at first cut but nobody knew or philip fosdick alone suspected of what she was going through he could not know all tor 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 lie he was sick with sympathy for her and so in some measure quick with intuition ue ile helped her more than she knew indeed for ho be contrived to devote to her wore more time ilme than a physician had any right to with so many patients leaning heavily on him for comfort and though he be refused to experiment with obvious forms of hypnotism such as mesmeric gestures and the induced trance he worked insidiously upon her by suggestion not so much at the expense of her spiritual independence pen dence as to its re establishment and invigoration it was waa never you must for it Is my will but always you can it if you will wall though tat far more subtly thus gradually self confidence was wag built up in her anew she 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 will that not even the mortal ortal rin ache of longing can withstand it so vaguely ly she began to apprehend a coming time when instead of flying from her sorrow it might be to a state more unhappy yet she would be able to face lt it even to outface it unafraid its master and her own however that was only ta toward oward the end meanwhile she was faithful to her word faithfully regulated her life in dance with the scheme suggested by fosdick she started a portrait of ada moyer and worked at it steadily every morning and in amazingly few sittings managed to make the painted canvas body forth the impish charm ot of that lady tier her irresistible gay impudence this in spite of the fact that ada posed poorly and pervaded the studio with an atmosphere of infectious irresponsibility that was most demoralizing to a serious minded artist and did priscilla prescilla no end of good in the afternoon she labored more soberly but no less successfully up upon a n a composition employing two prof professional models a mother and daughter painting famously well anell with a decision new in tier her work with a dashing technique whose secrets she had newly surprised and whose manipulation proved an abiding joy in between there were luncheons at avignon dels the ritz with the women of her world and others with professional workers like herself in dingy amusing little holes of restaurants with avith which that tbt part of greenwich village immediately adjacent to tier her studio was riddled and after the light failed there were teas motoring and bridge parties dinner the theater dances alike to work and to play she gave herself without reserve entering with avith unwonted animation though nobody thought it feverish into whatever diversion the hour offered and if at times there was an ot of sadness in her laughter shadowed alst falness in her eyes weariness in 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 to in that ilia t too brief lull but she seemed altogether unaware of them save as friends and moved sedately eda tely among them adorably pretty tantalizingly desirable exasperatingly detached in those days she liked till all mena iid loved none none but one not philip fosdick with herself she was honest and unpretending if marlo mario was waa never for her she was for no one else she was patient in confidence of ultimate emancipation already she had gained much the question of her sanity no longer harassed her more afore she had ceased to dream ot of leonora or rather she no longer remembered what site she dreamed she wakened Avak ened every morning from a night whose dream content was blank it if she had dr dreamed at all she was far from satisfied however that she had ceased to dream it seemed to her that she had ceased merely to remember for in spite of the cessation cess atlon ot of her dreaming the sense of the liaison persisted never had she felt more near to leonora more intimately a sharer in her psychic life now and again there would come without warning without any enczur 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 do sooner granted than snatched away of a life halt half known half foreign like a stir of shadow shapes in the depths of the dark mirror of tier her unconscious mind TO BE CONTINUED |