Show if lit 1 1111 it ks Z he heark ja ran 0 ft ir louis joseph vance athor catlie cf the false faces L the lone wolf etc illustrated by RZ A IRIVIN MYERS ilk I 1 4 I 1 fill its I 1 right 1320 1920 by the author i CHAPTER EIGHT iab 1 ill it 01 the day of grace az li 1 I temptation 15 41 bead cad she he ls Is dead litora ora Is dead be e words vor ds barely audible hardly athan it than molins moans breathed fromi from the bof tile die oman lying in hypnosis lalick lf rick lick sitting by her side on the biot T tile lie couch heading bending over her jed j ia e her face intently the long aies were ti ere fluttering tears cited celled p under lowered this lids the lips with grief ati site she moaned again of pal I 1 litra note of woe pass speech and shuddered in her i ice e her two wrists as her 2 S twit twitched elim up tip groping as arx orx ones s io bo walks in darkness them gently in the kaip of one of ills his own the other dressed again upon lier her forehead lie called in an even but n t voice come out of it I 1 for 5 ayour our vision see nothing al 3 oui ou hear met me abe he anguish of the face of the sleep sheep ingred krew 4 transiently more acute then lad sad I 1 as he be repeated the unanswered do you hear me this teethe teg the girl responded dully yes you u understand bat I 1 am aiu say nj eyes ies philip dibou a are to see nothing more you see anything now 1 here ere was a slight light pause then the T per er stated without emot emotion lon 1 I nothing now lwood cad now you will sleep will iff quietly without dreaming tor for I 1 aty it y minutes then aou ou will wake rested ested refreshed calm rational arkyou on understand yes philip repeat idt lia t sou are going to do tta toneless voice priscilla Irl scilla red 1 I am ping going to steel sleep quietly 4 di earning for thirty minutes susn jn I 1 a am hi going to aate up rested re hed bed calm rational po 0 so fosdick commanded gitil la BrieSs ii e ss glie t made no response cespon e mure than a 4 found und sigh the stamp of sorrow z nt hose exquisite features had ae aby Y been modified their expression fal 0 grew placid the agitated gusty J thing passe passed dinto into the steady slow deep sep respiration of natural slum ilum 10 it sighed in relief but ills his cenance te nance continued craic graie with the brows knotted the lips corned coined the eyes harboring a took louk of b lat at was his duty was as in ills power to renew in ilia ila the condition of hypnotic sus fifty long enough to erase by eston nil all waking waiting memory of her ill it by so doing he might spare touch uch suffering much distress the A and horror of that lonely death the mystery of it it would not prey i her sensitive antl and susceptible na and believing leonora still to ing happily with the man loan mario husband Pit pirscilla scilla might in tit time me I 1 r reconciled school herself to re aaion forget and ultimately reater life upon tile alie foundation of ncr er surer love it it if priscilla prescilla were ivere permitted to 6 back to herself with tull full knol of what nhat she had seen in her 0 pc e believing leonora dead what id d the effect be upon her life 6 would be sad site she would mourn wild be long before her lays days d be by shadows of jeand jd d and distrust mir she he would not dream there yd d be no more inora jour journeys heys of the yit through the hollowness hol hollia loness cess of nf night ait pace in futile search tor for that nt af ay iy which had gone out of life this the consideration 4 areu id that no longer needing to ton ii with hie file claims clairus of otTA laonora Lb onora ua would less readily dasero aisem ass ss li ersela front the tolls of an ne e and impossible infatuation fib marlo mario tree free no renson reason existed ahe should scruple to give ive him er love red ired one risk perpetuation of that lon ilon f 11 II THE LINK slick ick pressed a call button on ills his and put the telephone receiver to car ills assistant responded attly aly fosdick asked fc there anybody walting waiting to see I 1 r andrews I 1 told him you jant t see him today ne he J led ed watt titi till tile the cawi cows came adick instructed send aos ans in wil D andrew camo lo in a folding fm shut off the couch and its mccu to pant from the rest of the room fosdick was behind ills his desk ant amiable lable keen composed well andrews Andrew sr doe doc just blew in from up lip state dutchess county he announced the party youre interested in Mot 11 other lier yeah ashes up there in a for the aged nought bought her way in bout ten years ago seems she gets an annuity from some insurance company enough to pay for her board and keep must be it a sick insurance company the old dames n hunner datt eighty if ashes a day and aint so much as th chinkin Inkin of kickin out did you see her to talk to sir mr andrews corrected gravely gra i vely 1 I seen her to talk to her but as fars I 1 got Is her mind clear I 1 mean do you think slie site remembers remembers members Ko say that old lady remembers moren you anol anil mell ever forgot forget her minds as dears clears con summy soup in a french table de note hote wont slie she talk why cussedness sir mr andrews opined opened or else ashes been paid to keep her trap shut I 1 got a hunch she bought that annuity with hush money will anything make her talk do you think jack might jack who vilio no not jack anybody just jack coin aunno unno money 11 oh Fos dicks smile sw faded into a look of thoughtfulness presume id better see her myself would if I 1 was she got of no use for me atall spots me for a detective at sight and spits like a mad cat every time I 1 opens me mouth where do you say she is place near raming pauling theres the address add ress mr Ati andrews dreNs gave fosdick a slip lip of paper visitors hours every afternoon three to five ill see her tomorrow fosdick fosdeck said meanwhile Mille you can be working on another lead theres reason to believe hi girl im looking for tills this leonora is or has been for several days living up lip in the ilic catskills in a camp probably rented somewhere back of kingston her carne came down to tj new york io t oday according to my information and belief and Is returning tonight ill run up lip there tonight be on the jub job first thin thing tomorrow III AFTERMATH mr andrews took hi himself myself off fosdick 1 d ck glanced at his watch turned to the screen folded and set it aside priscilla had not dot yet moved but by every sign the subconscious monitor was reminding her that the half hour had elapsed her breathing bie athing tithing was less regular the silken lashes were were restless upon her cheeks while fosdick watched they lifted disclosing confuted eyes recognizing him she smiled uncertainly fosdick uttered her name in a reassuring voice took her ter hands and helped her aier to a sitting position how do iou feel now lie he asked iier her 1 I dont know she i he said in a low puzzled tone all right I 1 guess but you you hypnotized me philip yes cilla cilia 11 was it difficult on the contrary you proved one of the most willing subjects ive ever had went off like a shot practically at tile the first suggestion ile he filled filed a glass of water from the S sliver liver pitcher on its ills desk but when lie took it to her she was on her feet iier her eyes desperate PhIl philip lit she cried gustily she is dead leonora 1 I know that Is I 1 know you think so you told me slie she did not an answer siver she was heedless of the meaning of lit his words but as if 1 instinctively feeling it intolerable that an others eyes eves should pry into her grief brushed aside tile glass of water and with a stricken face stumbled past him into a wide and deeply recessed window for several minutes she stood there lor ler back to condick Cos dick looking out blindly I 1 y slender shoulders shaken with silent sobs a hand with a handkerchief dabbing at her eyes A wise physician fosdick offered no f false comfort that the storm of her emotions spent itself swiftly that it was not long iong she was able to talk calmly was no do revelation of heartlessness but largely the work of the suggestion implanted in her while she was in hypnosis the pity of it she s sald n id after a little time oil oh philip t alie I 1 i e pity of it I 1 aslie he was so happy and now she Is dead dd peril aps priscilla Iri scilla swung sharply round why do you say that I 1 know I 1 saw her ber I 1 saw her lying drowned la in aa a pool 1 I know you told me hut but how flow could I 1 slid sho was startled aled out of of her sorrow 1 I had bad time ive only just remembered you told me while in ill tile the hypnotic trance I 1 questioned you on and you told in rue sill 01 ou knew everything every tiling you experienced perien ced you were talking almost continuously until I 1 threw you into normal sleep so I 1 heard about your vision 4 stratigo Stra tige she said in a stare of worder wonder strange I 1 should recall nothing of that I 1 not so strange st ranse your speech was soi soine lhing purely automatic once started it went on just as your heart went on beating and your lungs inhaling and exhaling air while your attention was absorbed in other matters matter 9 its like thal a it torn abic writing that people produce bel bellesine lesIng them themselves selve s under the influence of dl disembodied spirits not necessarily even under the hypnotic lin fluence their attention Is elsewhere they may he talking or reading ou oil utterly immaterial subjects while their hand vilt without hout their knowl know ede edge writes oil annl goes on writing just so vou aix oix went on oil talking 1 I dont understand its it t its incomprehensible coni not kot that hint I 1 doubt what you say I 1 must muil have told sou ou what I 1 saw there in the forest her ces filled filed again tears ran down her cheeks checks she averted her face oil oh the pity of it she repeated just when hen life seemed about to compensate her ter for all she bad had never had dont let go like this cilla cilen lie ile member nothing Is certain no you a re wrong I 1 saw lier her 1 know you think so why to do you persist in saying that ila ilae have e my dreams ever proved groundless we dont know yet perhaps some of them were ere but this one of what aou ou call your dreams it was a vision possibly a hallucination in hypnotic trance it may have hane been a true phenomenon of communication assuming that leonora was really dead your spirit may have found some means by some extraordinary effort to surmount the obstacles whose very nature Is unknown to us that stand between the living and the dead prohibiting communication but we dont know lie ile argued earnestly with ith intention seeing lie he had already engaged tier her interest to such extent that she was as forgetting to grieve on the other hand we do know its easy to fool ourselves remember you have gone about all day fretted by a feeling that something was wrong with leonora some soine danger threatened her happiness you passed into the hypnotic trance already prepared to see the worst you saw it but the qu question etlou remains unanswered and for the time being unanswerable did you see truly or did you see a fantasy conjured conjure up by your own imagination influenced by fear if I 1 could only think that philip why not try but lie he was arguing against ills his own conviction ills his argument lacked con pl I 1 I 1 J 0 1 I 1 if thought perhaps you mind giving mea mca me a lift 1 vic diction tion juer her drooping licad head described a movement of rejection no ko she said the trouble Is I 1 kaow but tile the mystery and the horror of such an end philip who could have killed her if she ts is dead as you think need we accuse anybody an body of murder it might have been suicide P oil oh no she interrupted almost sc scornfully orn fully never why should she do such a thing slie she was so happy she loved loed diario he loved her devotedly vot edly or an accident perhaps she seemed to try to adopt tills this theory she pondered it at length but in ID the end could not accept it no she declared it was neither suicide nor accident it was what she had been afraid of all along death by N violence IV DEFIANCE late in the evening the telephone interrupted the supervision of her packing with which priscilla was endeavoring deavo ring to divert her weary thoughts and with no great success ter her maid being busy at the moi moment nent Iii Ilis Silla eilla answered in person and suffered a slight shock when she heard UK the studied stu iod accent of mr harry cbill avri v rs so completely had she forgotten the man clr chilvers chirped Us b isaly oh ob helo noral koral tills this la is harry what happened to you this afternoon forget our date dale tor for tea or did some chug get ln your way quite evidently sir mr Cli chilvers livers adl wa prepared to be it good fellow and overlook that slight light but priscilla replied with an apathy nothing nol liing short of cynical miss maine Is home an oath oa ali of resentful incredulity was cut in two voi as she clicked the receiver deceiver into its hook but tile the picture suggested of the nut raging tit at a mute and unemotional telephone lione failed to men even the ghori of her smile the death of leonora had the man mail of oil all claim upon her consideration rendering him hopelessly I 0 aitt for harm haria ile he had find become becoulet nothing to lie less than nothing the incident t served merely inertly to remind litt her that she had neglected to tell fosdick about the fellow fits effrontery the insolence of lis ills ill III veiled threats now the lie hit bitterest terest melancholy oppressed her let a desolation indescribable tile the vision of tile the pool vias vaa constant in iier her imagination obscuring bieu material objects that passed under her regard tile the sense of 0 loss a living anguish front from which there was no escape only in sleep did aid she find surcease then there was oblivion of a sort in a sleep beavy and hot and thick in villah slie site lay inert like ilke something d a it a tepid black viscous fluid bioni which she emerged with throbbing head all and sluggish pulses seB ted despondent fosdick called up lip about edid idid morn ing and hearing her report on the deflect of the drug told iier her to discontinue it promising to bring a substitute ahen lie called in the evening she promised to bt home to him alone later her maid summoned her to the telephone a second ume lime sir mr chillers anas aa on oil the wire tell him ive left town tor for the summer priscilla said too depressed to feel annoyed by liis ills persistence but when hen she was leaving althans Alt mans in the afternoon after all ait hour or two of perfunctory shopping sir mr chilvers waylaid her in tile carriage entrance ile ha saluted with nith a wide vilde flourish of his beaming topper and a smirk of poisonous amiability saw your car up the street ile he announced cheerfully thought perhaps you mind givin me a lift she stopped reading darkly his shrewd narrow rat like ilke face reading the threat find and triumph in those small black close set eyes surmising that without a public scene there could be no escaping the interview he demanded she shrugged and in silence led on out to the sidewalk her car was waiting across the way seeing her the chauffeur pulled round to the curb mr chilvers slipped a gallant liand hand under her ter arm to help her 1 in n but before ile he could follow priscilla pulled the door to immediately his manner anner in changed scarlet with ang anger er lie laid a hand on oil the ledge of the window the lit big ideal idea he demanded you ought to know better than to think you can gyp me vilt without bout a struggle le 11 there will be no struggle priscilla priscilia replied quietly talking from tile tha you see for reasons of my own day before xester yesterday day I 1 chow to let you think me somebody who I 1 am not these |