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The Tracer of Egos Chronicles of Dr. Phileas Immanuel. Soul Specialist Bg VICTOR ROUSSEAU THE AMULET OF MARDUK 1 REMEMBER vividly the conversa tion in Doctor Immanuel's library, because that evening was the be ginning of my association with him, and the conversation was, so to suy, the starting point of my own in vestigations. There were five of us there. Dr. Pbileas Immanuel, Doctor Maine, Paul Tarrant, the millionaire whose price less art collections passed to the na tion recently under the terms of his will, and another man whose name I have forgotten. We had been discuss ing the case of Helen Blythe, Mr. Tar rant's governess, who had been dis missed for stealing, after the court had passed a suspended sentence upon her by grace of a defense of kleptoma nla - "You say," said Doctor Maine, the eminent neurologist, "that you believe in reincarnation upon the analogy of the plant—the lilac plant, you used for an example. The lilac, as I understand you to say, flowers during some two weeks in the year and, having faded, reviews its earthly experiences in some paradise of dreamy somnolence until, in due season, the soul of the flower incarnates itself in another cluster of petals. So, you say, man comes to birth again after he has passed through the gates of death. That's not a bad simile, Immanuel, but that's not biology. How do you justify your belief biologically—or, let us say, by any laws of inductive rea soning?' "You are, of course, acquainted with the researches of Freud?" asked the Greek doctor of Maine. "Well, I should say so," the other responded. "A big man—one of the biggest in his line of today." "How would you sum up his discov eries?" asked Doctor Immanuel. Doctor Maine did not hesitate for an | instant. "Freud's great work," he ; said, "has been the proof that our sub conscious or dream life is continuous, that every dream accurately corre sponds to some ungratifled physical or mental need and is, one may say, Its fulfilment For instance, take the man who has always wanted, but never owned, a motor car. His dreams will show a more or less continuous experi ence—not of motoring, for they will be veiled under some symbol, but of fly ing, or aeroplaning, or holding the throttle of an engine. He may even he a fly on a wheel, or a swimmer clinging to an upturned boat in a whirlpool; but in some manner the dream life will reflect the waking wish." "Precisely," answered Doctor Im manuel. "Well, now, let us carry the Bimlle further. The condition after death represents to the full this dream life, magnified to the nth power. There, in that paradise of bliss, every ungratifled wish that was ever experi enced in life comes true—generally. But suppose that the Impulse to re birth cuts short the experiences of heaven prematurely. What then?" He paused and, looking round at us, raised j his hand impressively. "Then, gentle men, you have a soul reborn on earth which, instead of holding these past memories securely tucked away in the innermost recesses of its being, flow ering as gifts of character and natural ability, is built upon shifting sands. The submerged consciousness of these unsatisfied needs of its past life haunts it and drives it to unlawful I. deeda All our criminals, for example, ; are merely persons who failed to ful fill their destinies ; and, in proof of my contention, are not all criminals— criminals by instinct, of course I mean, not the starving beggar who snatches a loaf—are they not all physically un stable, mentally unbalanced, and easy subjects for the hypnotist? Yes, my dear Maine, and I believe that when hypnotised they can be made to yield up these past memories." The subject was changed soon af terward by Doctor Maine. Like many medicos of the old school, he held opin ions rooted in the barren sands of ma terialism. Such theories as Immanu el's savored to him of the charlatan. But for the eminence of the Greek a in physician he would, I am sure, have j broken forth in angry protest. He took ; his leave soon after, and Tarrant and the fifth man also departed, leaving Paul Tarrant, the doctor and myself alone. "Now take the case of Helen Blythe," said Mr. Tarrant, when we had settled ourselves in our chairs again. "Do you suppose that you could rove your contention in her case?" "I didn't read the account," answered ctor Immanuel. "All reports of me distress me exceedingly. When think how futile it is to put these happy creatures in prison, instead treating Umw medially, I become raged at the world and disgusted h my own . inability to convince otogiste of their mistake.^ Bufc.tell about her." elen Blythe,' said Mr. Tarrant, well-bred, good-looking, modest g woman of, I should say, seven ht and twenty. She came to me excellent recommendations, to be zry governess for our children. if aa 1 Mrs. Tarrant took a great fancy to her and trusted her fully. Needless to say, j neither of us was aware that Miss { Blythe had been dismissed from a for to : mer situation for theft. As we discov ! ered afterwards, she had stolen four ; valuable rings, which, in spite of the threat of prosecution, were never re covered. The girl claimed that she had forgotten where she had hidden them, but fully acknowledged her of fense and repaid the value of them out I of her savings. In spite of careful in vestigation of all the pawnshops in the city, however, the rings were never found. "A few weeks after we had engaged ' Miss Blythe my wife began to miss valuables of hers. Rings seemed to be the young woman's penchant. An i opal, a diamond and sapphire, and a j magnificent emerald in a fifteenth century setting disappeared successive jy. We changed our servants without result. At last, by force of a con stantly dwindling number of hypoth eses, the suspicion came to rest upon Miss Blythe's shoulders. "However, as Mrs. Tarrant locked away her valuables, nothing more was taken, and we should probably have kept the young woman in our employ ment but for what happened. The gov erness was a great student of antiqui ties; in fact, she had a knowledge of Hittite and Babylonian archaeology which astonished me and was a pri mary factor in the securing of her posi tion. She had a half day's leave everj week, and invariably spent it at the museum. She became a well-known figure there, for she always haunted the Assyrian room, in which, as you may know, are a number of engraved gems, of immeasurable value, brought from Babylonia by the expedition which I sent there for the purpose of | excavating the mounds of Nineveh, ; Some ten days ago the watchman, who had somehow become suspicious of the young woman, discovered her with the half of a sacred amulet in her hand— a ring supposed to have been worn by the high priest of Marduk. As you may know, that half amulet is one of the most cherished possessions of the As syrian department. The watchman ar rested her and summoned the curator. When he came it was discovered that the half amulet still reposed in its place inside the case. The half which Helen Blythe held in her hand was mine—the other half, and willed by me to the museum. The young woman made no resistance, but suffered her self to be led away, as if in a comatose state. She was brought to my house, I identified the half of the charm, and the girl was placed under arrest, to be released under a suspended sentence yesterday." "Where is the girl?" asked Doctor Immanuel. "Why, doctor," said Mr. Tarrant, flushing, "I am ashamed to say that 1 have taken her back." "Good!" ejaculated the doctor, puff 'But she ing vigorously at his cigar, j will steal again." Indeed, no," answered the million aire with conviction. "We had a very serious talk with her, Mrs. Tarrant and I. We told her that we felt, under the circumstances, which we had not fully understood, that we ought not to turn her adrift into the world. We thought that by the force of example, perhaps, we might cure her of her unfortunate propensity. And so she was re-engaged —not, of course, as governees, but as a sort of aid to my wife. "And she was penitent?" "Entirely so. She protested that she would conquer her weakness; she vowed never to touch Jewelry again, or to look at it. She pleaded earnestly for our confidence, said it was only rings which she felt an irrestible temp tation to take, and—" "And she will steal again," said Doc tor Immanuel. "Well, doctor, you have a poor faith in human nature, considering your hu manitarian profession," said the mil lionaire. '1 tell you, Mr. Tarrant, she will steal again," persisted the doctor. You cannot eradicate the instincts de rived from a former incarnation with kindness only. Doubtless sne was a wealthy gem collector in Rome or Athens—or Alexandria, more likely— about the year 100 A. D." Paul Tarrant smiled skeptically. "Will you tell me how you arrive at your date so exactly, doctor?" he asked. "By the analogy of the lilac tree," replied Doctor Immanuel. "The lilac blooms for two weeks in every fifty two—Is that not so? Then we may say its sleeping life is twenty-six times as long as its life in physical form. Now, if we take vl^ normal human life to be seventy years, each human item will reappear after an interval of about 1,820 years—shorter or longer accord ing to the individual idiosyncrasy, but more or less upon time. Hannibal, for Instance, whose discarnate life must have been peculiarly rich In memories, and therefore prolonged, was reborn aa Napoleon after a little more than 2,000 years. Cicero reappeared as Gladstone after some 1,860 rears; the fabulous Queen Semlramfs after 2,000 years as Cleopatra, and 1,750 more as Catherine II. of Russia, These mighty figures appear and re appear through history with the regu larity of comets, and, like them, are recurrent phenomena which flash •s through a wondering world. Well, then, some 1,820 years ago your Helen Blythe was a gem collector or lapidary or something similar in the classic world, and it is the ungratified desire for jewels which has made her a klep tomaniac today." "Perhaps you would like to see her, doctor?" the millionaire suggested tol erantly. "I confess I am not con vinced as to the truth of your theo ries, but I should immeasurably like to know just how the ancient Romans set their rings." Doctor Immanuel accepted this seri ously, and before we parted it was ar ranged that we two should visit Mr. Tarrant at his house after dinner on the following evening. So we sep arated, upon terms of the utmost good will, and both Mr. Tarrant and myself, I am sure, politely skeptical as to Doc tor Immanuel's claims. Doctor Immanuel was staying at my house at this time. He had been sent to America, where he had been edu cated, by the Greek government, as her most distinguished medical repre sentative and publicist, to attend the International Congress of Penologists at Boston. But the first few days' sit tings had so disheartened the doctor, convincing him that his own theories would never gain him a hearing, and would, in fact, seriously prejudice his country, that he had withdrawn from the congress and was making my home his headquarters during the period oc cupied by some special researches, about whose nature he had not enlight ened me. On the following morning we re ceived two letters from Mr. Tarrant, in which he apologized for his inabil ity to ask us to dinner on account of the death of a near relative of Mrs. i Tarrant, and reiterated his desire that we visit him that evening. According- ! ly, about eight o'clock we found our- j selves in his library and received a cordial greeting. 'Before we see Miss Blythe," said j j opened obediently. With a cry • «ft« P "OPEN YOUR HANDS!" YELLED TARRANT r "WHAT HAVE YOU GOT THERE? OPEN THEM,! SAY!" Mr. Tarrant, "perhaps you gentlemen would care to inspect my antiquities?" We knew that such an invitation could not be refused without the pos sibility of seriously affronting the mil lionaire; furthermore we were both in terested, in a limited way, in such mat ters. We did anticipate a lengthy and somewhat tedious round of the mu seum, hut such proved not to be the cat 3 . Mr. Tarrant's collection consist ed mainly of works of art of the middle ages; the Assyrian room was quite a small chamber at the back of the house, enclosed by concrete walls and approachable only by the door leading out of Mr. Tarrant's library. We en tered, he switched on the electric lights, and we found ourselves looking up into the faces of btil 1-headed kings with wings, broken-faced goddesses, and colossi of black marble and gran ite. At one end of the room were a number of packing cases, forming a barrier across one-third of its length; down the center were the customary glass cases filled with gems, stones of all sorts, fragments of clay inscrip tions, etc. We made the round slowly, Mr. Tarrant expatiating upon his tro phies. "And now," he said, "I must show you the gem of my collection in its lit eral sense—I mean the half amulet whose other part is In the museum. I don't keep it here," he added, smiling. "It is far too valuable, and pay one ex perience of losing it has made me re solved to run no more risks. It is—" he paused and continued in a stage whisper which certainly carried as far as his natural voice—"under the Per sian rug behind my desk, in a tiny piece of false parquet work in the floor. Simple, isn't It? Yet I am sore f it is safer there than in any steel safe. re- "First, let me tell you something about this treasure," he continued, are waxing enthusiastic. •"The amulet iß supposed to have been made for the , - -—- * * high priest of Marduk, at Babylon. According to the cuneiform inscription, it was kept by the priestess of Ishtar pending the completion of Marduk's colossal temple, and it is believed since it was discovered in the ruins of the temple of Ishtar, that for some cause the priestess never delivered it. Perhaps it was hidden, perhaps the ! city was destroyed before the transfer to ar on as could be made. At any rate, it was a most sacred object and, from the fact that it was made in two halves, it is certain that the highest value was placed upon it. But I am wearying you, gentlemen. Come into the library, and I will show it to you." We passed into the library. Mr. Tar rant switched off the lights in the mu seum and, carefully closing and lock ing the door, switched on the library lights. As the room became illumina ted we heard the door at the other end close softly. There was the swishing of skirts. I was not prepared for what fol lowed. With a yell the millionaire leaped across the room, burst open the door and reappeared, dragging with him the figure of a woman. Of course it was Miss Blythe. She stood staring at him, looking like a sleep walker. Her hands were tightly closed. Open your hands!" yelled Mr. Tar rant. "What have you got there? Open them, I say!" But the frail woman seemed to have the strength of an athlete, for Mr. Tar rant, powerful man though he waB, could not open her hands. All the while she stood and stared at him, and she seemed to be utterly unconscious of our presence. Doctor Immanuel walked over to her; he placed one hand on either i shoulder and looked into her unwink ing êyes. ! j a "Helen," he said quietly, "open your hands!" There was a moment of uncertainty, then the hard eyes closed and the j hands opened obediently. With a cry a i I of exultation, Mr. Tarrant pounced upon an. object held In one of them—a massive ring containing an enormous engraved stone which looked like a sardonyx. "Here it is!" he shouted. "Now, then, will on« of you gentlemen go for an of ficer?" Doctor Immanuel turned round and held up a finger In warning. "She doesn't hear you." he said qui etly. "She Is hypnotized." "Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr. Tarrant, angrily. "How could you hypnotize her in that minute. "She bas hypnotized herself." an swered Doctor Immanuel. "She came to you in a hypnotic condition, and in her normal condition would he totally ignorant of what she has dene. Helen," be added, softly, "you are in the hands of your friends. Go over and sit down on that sofa and sleep until 1 waken you." The girl crossed the room obedient ly, walking just as a normal person would have done. She found the sofa and sat down; but all the while her eyes were closed. Mr. Tarrant stood by, still fuming. "Have I your permission to pro ceed ?" asked Doctor Immanuel. "I be lieve you invited us here for this very purpose, Mr. Tarrant." "Oh, yes, by all means," Tarrant an swered. "But you'll have to convince me before I allow her to leave this house except under police supervi sion." "I hope to," answered the doctor. "But first let me assure you that this young woman could never be convicted of theft in any court Ignorant as our police magistrates are, the understand iß the I that there is such a thing as al * äää "■! äs sktt-ää" of it. the a fact is was mu end fol Of to tose condition." "Yes—yes." "The fact is, Mr. Tarrant, that Miss Blythe the governess is not in the least the same personality as Miss Blythe the kleptomaniac, and has no knowl edge of her. She doubtless realizes that, when these periods of forgetful ness come on, she commits actions of which she has no waking knowledge, and it is the impossibility of explain ing this to an incredulous world that has led her to suffer in silence rather than attempt to vindicate her reputa tion. Now, with your permission, I shall proceed." Tarrant and I sat down. All this while Miss Blythe had not moved a muscle. "Give me the amulet, please," said Doctor Immanuel, and Mr. Tarrant handed it to him with obvious reluc tance. Had the situation been less dramatic it would have been amusing to see the intense gaze which the mil lionaire kept upon the gem. "Helen," said Doctor Immanuel, holding up the gem before her, "can you read the inscription on this?" "No." she answered in a voice which seemed disappointingly natural, "It is in Assyrian cuneiform, is it not?" "Oh, yes, you can read it," said the doctor coaxingly. "You are not half asleep yet. Go to sleep completely, now." He stroked her forehead caressingly, and when ire held up the amulet and asked the question again, it was a to tally different voice that answered him —a woman's voice, but harsh and na sal and strident. "Why should I read it?" It asked protestingly. "Read it!" said Doctor Immanuel. "No, read it in English"—for the voice had begun to talk in a sort of gibber ish totally unlike any language that I had ever heard spoken, and bearing a distant resemblance to what I imagine Chinese must be. "To the high priest of Marduk in Babylon," whined the voice. "Made for and donated by Asshur—Tiglath—Pi leser, king in Nineveh—" Paul Tarrant leaped out of his chair. "That solves it," he shouted, and sank down again and stared round him like a man thoroughly bewildered. "Solves what?'' asked Doctor Im manuel quietly. "That word Nineveh, doctor. The translations read 'King of Bel's slave,' and were utterly meaningless. If that is correct—it must be, but the stone was so rubbed none of us could de cipher it—why, it places the date back to the thirty-fifth century, B. C., In stead of the twenty-seventh. And that explains why the old cuneiform was used by the engraver." "Who has this stone?'' asked Doctor Immanuel, and we all gripped our seats more tightly at the snarling monosyllable "I!" Why did you not deliver it to the high priest of Marduk?" the doctor asked. "I did. He would not receive it," shrilled the woman on the sofa. "In stead, he sent soldiers to arrest me. It is his. He does not know. He—" Her voice ceased, her eyes were open, and she was clinging desperately round Doctor Immanuel's neck and deathly pale. She shuddered and quailed as though in intolerable fear; and she would have screamed but that she could not find her voice again. Then she collapsed, a dead weight, in the doctor's arms, and he placed her in a supine posture upon the sofa. "Call your housekeeper and we will help carry her to her room," said Doc tor Immanuel. "Noi"—for Mr. Tarrant was protesting—"it will be all right now. The strain was too intense for her; the awakening too sadden, but she will sleep peacefully and, but for a lit tle nausea tomorrow, she will be quite herself again. And she will have no recollection of whait has occurred." "I don't want to let the housekeeper know," Mr. Thrrant answered. "Help me, doctor, and we will take her up stairs. I'm glad my wife is not at home tonight,." ho added, grimly. "She mightn't approve of this." But Mr. Tarrant took good care to secure and pocket the amulet before he took Misa Blythe's head and shoul ders into his. arms and led the way out of the library. I sat there for three or four minutee, wondering. I could, not quite understand just what had oc curred. The two men came back arguing: vio lently. Doctor Immanuel's voice rose high and shrill above that of his friend. "She told you the Inscription on the stone amd set you right some six centu ries," he cried. "What other proof do you want, Tarrant?" "Oh, well, It's all rubbish, you know," answered the millionaire. "Of course, now that I have the amulet, I don't want to have the girl sent to jail. But I can't keei a thief in my bouse—now can I, doctor?' "She need not be a thief," Doctor Im manuel -answered. "It all depends up on you." "How so? Didn't you yourself tell me that she would steal again?" "Yes. As long as she was looking for the opportunity to restore the lost amulet to the high priest." "Well, I guess she'll have to go on looking for him," said Mr. Tarrant. "What do you want me to do—take her to Babylon and look for the incarna tion of the old fellow among the desert Bedouin?" "Why, my dear Tarrant, you don't suppose you'll find him there, do you?" the doctor asked quizzically. [ 'More probably in thin city. Do you a in so of al- f nppose a man of that Miss least of that I this a said less mil "can it the half and to him na I a in for Horans old Genoa and Pisa and die ages. "Now look here, Tarraat,"^ .. ued. as they sat down, "herijgjJ 1 " 11 ' uation as I size it up. not, as you please—it or Your Helen Blythe w*» priestess of Ishtar. It vi*t~ tion that called for any it was a semi-servile ' and the priestess was for her appearance and hirtlW suppose that in her former^ had merited her good erous deeds, but, once the rung ^ been enjoyed, she sank grade of governess again— aient in the ancient world. »I hid the care of this amulet Shi «u bound under the most sa cr oi mt 4 oaths to deliver It to the pritg g Marduk. Fbr some cause she to fulfil her task, and the ominka M profoundly affected her that it lay Iks an incubus on her soul during her not incarnation. She stole rings, obwneg solely by the desire to disco»« the lost amulet again. At last shetnmd it. She took it to the museum—fill in her entranced condition—and wu the point of placing it with the oth« half when she was arrested, or. as ùa rather confusedly interpreted the oc currence when on the borderline be tween sleep and waking, 'the king sent soldiers to arrest her'—probably the police and watchmen at the museum. Now, Tarrant, send the half amulet te the museum and you will find it per fectly safe to keep Miss Blythe in your house henceforward." "Well, said Mr. Tarrant, "to be frank, I have intended to present it to the museum shortly, and after my ex periences of the past few days I'll fol low your advice. But *as for keeping her in my employment—'' "Try it, Tarrant," pleaded Doctor Immanuel. "Suppose she steals—" "She won't steal any more, when once the amulet is in safekeeping." Mr. Tarrant drummed his hands on his knees. "Oh, all right, have your way," he said shortly. "But, by the way, Im manuel, do you mean to insinuate that Doctor Faust, our curator, is a reincar nation of the high priest of Marduk? He would be horrified to hear you say that. Why, he is a director of two Sunday schools and contributes liber ally to foreign missions in^-" He paused. "Yes, where?" asked Doetor Im manuel "In Assyria and Mesopotamia," an swered Mr. Tarrant sheepishly. ' And Doctor Immanuel forebore to press his advantage home. "But look here," said Mr. Tarrant, presently, "how does your 1820 year period work out, doctor? The amulet, according to our revised estimate, was made in the thirty-fifth century before Christ." Doctor Immanuel began to estimate. "Our period takes us back to the year 100, does it not?" he asked. 'The birth before that, then, would have been about 1750 B. C., probably in Egypt. Add 1820 years and we have the year 3570. Yes, there you are, Tar rant. And if you can discover the pre else age of the amulet you will be able to estimate the exact age of your gov erness." "It must have been a mighty strong influence to last over three incarna tions, doctor," said the millionaire, ir reverently. "Where do you suppose she spent the last two—and how?" "Expiating her crime," Doctor Im manuel answered. "Doubtless as a thief and outcast—faugh, don't let us pursue that matter, Tarrant. She's won through all of that, poor girl. You're going to keep and help her, Tar rant, aren't you?" And Tarrant promised. (Copyright, by W. G. Chapman.) DISEASE CURED BY MACHINE Apparatus for the Treatment of Cardi ospasm Is Invented by Emi nent 8urgeon. An eminent surgeon, connected with a world-renowned clinic, has devel oped an apparatus for treating per sons afflicted with cardiospasm, which effects a cure so suddenly that to the layman It appears little short of mlrac ulons. Cardiospasm is a disease in which a contraction occurs at the point where the esophagus, joins the stomach, says Popular Mechanics Magazine. Normally when, food enters the bower portion of the esophagus a muscular ring, previously closed, relaxes asd allows the food to enter the stomach. In this disease It does not open up normally, and the food is retained above the ring. In some cases a huge pouch Is formed by the accumulation of food, while the patient sloirly starves to death. The device which treats the disease so successfully Is an expanding dila tor, which, after being inserted to the contracted point, is distended with water to a point where it paralyzes the muscle. A single treatment or, in rare instances, a few treatments, com pletely relieves the condition. No pain accompanies the use of the dilator and no anesthetic is given. A Real Geniua. "Is Professor Diggs a learned man?" 'He seems to have all the earmarks of a savant." "Yes?" 'He has located the sites of several buried cities in ancient Assyria, but In variably gets lost when he goes dowa town to pay m 8 water bllL"