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'!-S'c5 &< Jr I I I •I: "JV- -•?.i a ••$• I •V-' I •i: 1': y"! -7- v. r- I I 'c. J- I: ihid'ifiI remember this conversation almost verbatim, because it was so appro priate to the incident which fol lowed it. First, I will recount the conversation, which the visitor inter rupted. Although he was not admitted to practice medicine in America—for money, at least—Dr. Phileas Im manuel, the famous neurologist who had come from Greece to attend some conference or other, was frequently called upon to give his services gratis to tlvose who knew of his special1 skill in cases of obscure nervous diseases. It had come to be understood that he could be consulted most evenings dur ing the remainder of his stay, and on this evening he was expecting a visit from a gentleman who had sent him a rather urgent letter, making an ap pointment. Consequently Paul Tar rant and I ought not to have lingered. But the Doctor's conversation was always fascinating, and neither of us could tear himself away. Dr. Im manuel, posted before the fire in his consulting room, his hands beneath his coat tails, was haranguing us, and we were listening. "You mean," interrupted Tarrant, "that if only the theory of reincarna tion were admitted into the pharma copeia, physicians would have a com plete method of treating these cases of aphasia, amnesia, and secondary personality that you have been illus trating?" "Not secondary personality, Tar rant," returned the Doctor irritably. "There is no such thing. Say rather •incomplete personality' or 'lumber room personality,' but not 'secondary personality.' "Put it this way," he resumed. "It is a favorite illustration of mine, but it is the best I know. Suppose that Mr. Lewis Waller, whose impersona tion of Henry V. has made him a universal favorite, should be cast in the role of Hamlet. Well, now, per haps he has eaten too much or too little, perhaps he has a bad cold or some mental' trouble which tempor arily upsets the co-ordinative faculties of his mind. Well, instead of begin ning his famous soliloquy he begins the speech before the battle of Agin court, in a moment of absentminded ness. Is that 'secondary personality,' Tarrant? Not at all. He has simply pulled Henry V. out of the lumber room of his memory in place of Ham let. "So it is in these cases that I have mentioned. These people who forget who they are, or imagine they are others—they are really one and the same individuality, but instead of playing the parts assigned to them in this incarnation, they pull out some old part which they played fif teen hundred or three thousand years ago. We live"—I remember these words of the Doctor's vividly in the light of what followed them—"we live, my dear Tarrant, a very much deeper and bigger life than you or I have any idea of. It's the deeper life that counts, not this surface life with its conglomeration of chances and accidents. We live at once the whole life and the part life. The trouble with us is that we center our per sonalities in the superficial top layer." Then followed an agitated ring at the bell, and a minute later the at tendant was showing the patient in. Dr. Immanuel, like most big men, did not keep his patients waiting in order to magnify his own importance. The man who entered was a well dressed, handsome, aristocratic look ing young fellow ot about eight and twenty. 1 started to make my adieux, but Tarrant, instead of accompanying me, went up to the visitor and greeted him cordially. "Why, i.rorton, I haven't seen you for ages," he said. "Nothing serious, I hope, with you or Miss Digby, that brings you to our friend Immanuel?" "You know each other?" asked the Doctor in surprise. Tarrant smiled. "Jim Morton and I have lived on the same block for years," he answered. "I own most of it now, but there will always be space for Jim's house." Then I was introduced and we start ed to go. But Morton detained us. "You'd better stay, Tarrant—and your friend, too," he said. "The news will be all over town tomorrow or the next day, and upon my soul I'd rather it leaked out piecemeal than have the revelation strike everybody at once. Please sit down—both of you." We obeyed, and a couple of "minutes later Morton was pouring out his troubles to Dr. Immanuel. "I don't think you know my fiancee, Miss Katherine Digby," he said. "Of course you don't, seeing that you have never met me before. I suppose I forgot for the moment, meeting Tar rant here, that you aren't one of our aet. You see," he said apologetically, "everyone in the neighborhood has known us for a good many years." Immanuel checked him gently. "I am to understand from your letter that Miss Digby suffers from some nervous trouble?" he asked. "I don't know," exclaimed the other, starting out of his chair and sitting down again. "1 hope so. Indeed 1 do. But if it is true, what she told A'.. ?.i Hv-7 v-i TheTracerofEoos Chronicles of Di. Phlleas Immanuel, Soul Specialist Bb VICTOR ROUSSEAU THE WIFE OF IRA HOPKINS me—that 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 she was married seven years ago—" Tarrant gasped and checked himself upon the verge of an exclamation. I saw his lips form the word "impossi ble," and he began shaking his head. "If it is true," cried Morton, "I don't know whether to be more sorry for myself or her." "Now, my dear fellow, let us get at the story systematically," said the Doctor. "When did she tell you this?" "Yesterday afternoon, when I was calling on her. We have been en gaged three months and expected to bu married in about six weeks' time. Miss Digby has never shown any signs of abnormality except that she is given to what is called 'day-dream in''.' Frequently she falls into a brown study which lasts a couple of min utes, and during that period she is entirely oblivious to what is taking place around her. But that is of no significance." "Pardon me it is of the greatest significance," replied the Doctor. "It is a true trance condition, of a limit ed kind. It is a process of auto hypnosis—self-hypnotism, that is to say—which may reveal a great deal to the specialist. But proceed!" "I had grown accustomed to these states, which do not occur with great frequency," continued Morton, "but yesterday I was a little piqued that one should occur at a time when she had given me reason to believe that —well, that she thought a good deal of me. And so I shook her gently, to bring her out of it." "My dear Mr. Morton! You might have done serious harm. And then she made that astonishing statement to you?" "She turned around and, without the slightest expression of shame or guilt, informed me that she was mar ried, seven years ago, in the Harmony Hall, a low sort of dance hall across the Avenue, to a man called Ira Hop kins." "What, Hopkins, the corner gro cer?" shouted Tarrant, leaping out of his seat "Yes," answered Morton, overcome with emotion. "Of course, it was fan tastic. An instant later she came out of her reflections and gravely told me that she loved me with her whole heart. I made some excuse, hurried out of the room, went home, and wrote that letter to you." "And you have not seen her since?" "No. I have written saying that I was called out of town on urgent business. What can I do, Doctor? I feel that I shall go mad." "Have you spoken to this man Hop kins?" asked Tarrant. "Of course not, you idiot!" answered Morton angrily. "Why, confound you, he has a wife and three children." "Have you examined the marriage records?" asked Immanuel. James Morton scratched his head in perplexity. "I never thought of that," he muttered shamefacedly. "It is common, among hysterical persons, for them to accuse them selves of all kinds of things," contin ued the Doctor kindly. "Now don't you rush off to the marriage bureau. Go out of town at once, as you have said, and stay away for a week. At the end of that time come back ami you shall know the truth." "A week!" cried Morton. "I can't wait a day. Why, you can find out in an hour." "Hardly that," answered Immanuel quietly. "The old records are at Al bany, you know." "Three days, then." "I said a week," replied the doc tor inflexibly. "If you cannot accept my proposal—" "You promise to have the whole problem settled when I come back, then?" "One week from tonight," replied the Doctor. And after a rather pain ful scene Tarrant and I got the poor fellow out of the room and took him to his home. I heard nothing more for I think five days, except that Tarrant called me on the telephone the following morning and told me that he had stayed the night at Morton's house and had seen him off to the country early the next morning. On the eve ning of the fifth day, however, I re ceived a telephone message from Im manuel, saying that Tarrant had been dining with him and asking if I could join them that evening. I found them talking earnestly together in the con sulting room. But when 1 spoke of the case Immanuel seemed slightly embarrassed. "The fact is," he admitted, "all de pends upon the result of this eve ning's work that is why 1 asked you to come in as a witnsss. 1 have had the marriage records examined and there is certainly none of such a pre posterous union as is supposed to have occurred. But, as you may know, some of the records were destroyed in the Capitol fire, and it is possible that this was among them. I have made the acquaintance of Hopkins He is a nervous little man with a placid wife and three lively cnildren, and betrayed no embarrassment at the casual mention ot MiBS Digby'a TO SLEEP." THE HOPE PIONEER name. Then, too, I took the liberty of visiting Miss Digby, representing that I was her fiance's physician, and I think I have discovered the secret. The story of the marriage was totally false—but it is, In a sense, true. Lit erally it is false. Morally it is true. Legally she is not Hopkins' wife. Actually, she is. Her personality, as it appears in its present incarnation, repudiates all knowledge of the little grocer. But the wider personality, the real Miss' Digby, is married to him." "You mean that she was his wife in her last incarnation?" I asked, startled. "Heaven forbid!" answered the Doctor fervently, and Tarrant replied "Amen!" "No, this is the solution," explained Immanuel. "Seven years ago, when she was a girl of sixteen, Miss Digby went, with a girl friend of hers, to Harmony Hall, to hear an itinerant hypnotist—a veritable charlatan, one of those men who travel round the country, exhibiting the very ordinary phenomena of hypnotism to a gaping, ignorant public. The man invited Miss Digby to become one of his sub jects, and, like a silly child, she was persuaded. He easily placed her un der hypnosis, and then, having made her perform foolish antics, for the amusement of the spectators, and having possession of the name of Ira Hopkins—to obtain local data is part of these people's business—he as sured her that she was his wife. That is all. Hopkins, if he was ever told, speedily forgot the circumstance, as did Miss Katherine. But you know what Scripture says about marriage. Miss Katherine, in her deeper per sonality, is the wife of Hopkins. Those fits of abstraction, common to many persons of temperament, repre sent a momentary lifting of the veil, an usurping of the wider personality into the shallower one which we SUDDENLY MELTON WENT UP TO HER, PLANTED HIMSELF BE FORE HER, AND PUTTING ONE HAND ON EITHER OF HER SHOULDERS, SAID IN A LOUD VOICE: "SIT DOWN AND GO know. And it was in one of those that Morton surprised her into be traying the secret. Once her normal self again, Miss Katherine knew noth ing of the -confession. But in her heart, her soul, though she has no feeling whatever toward the little man, she is Mrs. Ira Hopkins." "Hew horrible!" I exclaimed. "What are you going to do this evening, then?" "By a streak of rare good fortune I have discovered the man Melton, who hypnotised the young lady," answered Im'manuel. "I explained the circum stances, and by dint of a mixture of threats and a promise of a couple of hundred dollars, he has been induced to meet her here this evening, hypno tize her again, and solemnly declare her to be divorced." "It sounds fantastic," said Tarrant, "but—good Lord, Morton is one of my oldest friends—and Miss Kather ine, too." A double peal at the door bell was followed by the appearance, almost simultaneously, of the two visitors. The servant, who had been instructed to admit anyone that called, ushered them both into the room together. It was an embarrassing moment. I could see that Melton knew who the girl was at once, but Miss Katherine had not the slightest recollection of the fellow, who, with his sharp, rov ing black eyes and long, greasy ring lets, looked like the typical quack he was. We were all standing there togeth er and the situation grew more ri diculous each moment, for Miss Dig by, wholly ignorant of the purpose of her visit, and finding three men pres ent besides the Doctor, was looking uneasy and coloring under the quack's scrutiny. She was a handsome, live ly girl, without the slightest appear ance of neurasthenia, and I expected her to turn round and go home. Suddenly Melton went up to her, planted himself before her, and, put ting one hand on either of her shoul ders, said in a loud voice: "Sit down and go to Bleep!" A box on the ear ought to have rewarded this speech. Tarrant start ed forward indignantly but before he could reach the spot, to my unuttera ble astonishment I saw Miss Digby sink into an arm-chair and close her eyes. Melton turned to the Doctor with a grin. "They never forget," he said im pudently. "Once you hypnotize them it's as easy as pie next time. I guess that helped you out some, eh, Doc?" "Suppose, now that you have as sumed charge of this case, that you do what you are paid to do," said the little Greek, curtly. "I haven't been paid yet," answered Melton, grinning. "Now, Miss, sleep easy. Nobody's going to hurt you. You sit still and keep them eyes closed." Immanuel counted out two hundred dollars and Melton counted the money again, then pocketed it. "You can't make it two hundred and fifty?" he asked regretfully. "Two hundred," replied Immanuel. "I stand by my bargains, sir." "Well," answered Melton, "that's right. But remember, I only engaged to tell her she was divorced. I don't guarantee that it'll work." "Why not?" asked the other, and I could see that he was worried by a sudden thought that occurred to him. "I'll tell you afterwards," answered the quack. "Are you ready for me to begin?" Immanuel nodded, and Melton stepped up to the girl and sat down on another chair which he drew up in front of her. He took her hand in his. "Who is your husband?" he demand ed, leering at us as he spoke. "Ira Hopkins," replied Miss Digby mechanically. "What is his business?" "He has a corner grocery." "Do you love him?" asked Melton, putting his tongue into his cheek. "O, yes, I love him, of course," she answered. "And how long have you been mar ried?" "Seven years, two months, and nine days," she said, without any apparent effort of calculation. "Well, you ain't married any long er. You are divorced now. Do you understand?" "Yes," she responded in the same listless manner. "Then what is your name now?" "Katherine Hopkins." "Are you married?" "Yes, to Ira Hopkins." We looked on in amazement Tar rant, I think, was contemplating at tacking the impudent fellow, and he, sensing it, looked up at him in some sort of fear. "I'm doing the best I can," he said. "I can't make her be lieve me, can I?" "Try again," said Immanuel grimly, and the fellow turned to the girl once more. "What is your name?" he asked again. "Katherine Hopkins." "Your husband is Ira Hopkins, own er of a corner grocery, is he not?" "Yes." "How long have you been married?" he continued, and the same answer was returned as previously. "Well, listen to me," shouted Mel ton in the girl's ear. "You ain't mar ried any longer. Ira Hopkins has got a divorce and married again. Do you understand that?" "Yes, 1 understand," said Miss Katherine. "And what is your name now?" "Katherine Hopkins." Melton looked round hopelessly. Terrant looked as though he were going to spring at him. But Immanuel went up to the man and said simply: "You have done what you contract ed to do." There was a long silence. Then the Doctor turned to us. "You see, gentlemen," be said, "marrying is easier than divorcing. In fact, it 1B almost impossible—" "Quite impossible," interposed Mel ton brusquely. Divorce don't go in the place she's in now. That's Gos pel, ain't it? I warned you, and I know, for I've been on my job for the past ten years and more, and if you'd seen as much of human nature as I have, instead of follering your book theories, you'd never have been fool enough to hand over that two hun dred." "Well, gentlemen," said the Greek, "that is all. I was afraid of it. The mischief is done and there seems no remedy." "Unless," said Tarrant, "Morton is taken into your, confidence and told just what the circumstances are. Surely, Doctor, no normal man would mind marrying a woman who be lieved she was another man's wife when she was hypnotized." "That," answered Immanuel slow ly, "is none of my business. If Mor ton chooses to marry Miss Digby un der these circumstances, he must do so. But in my opinion the marriage would be no marriage at all—nothing but a legal agreement to live to gether." "Good Lor'', Immanuel, what ought to be done, then?" "There seems to be no remedy," the 'Doctor answered. "If Hopkins were not married the only thing to do—if one wanted to be ethically cor rect—would be for her to go through the form of marriage with him and then separate from him. Now don't get excited, my dear Paul. I am giving you my opinion, and as a phy sician I cannot tamper with the truth. Personally, as a man, I think I should advise the couple to marry Only—" "Yes?" cricd Tarrant eagerly. "There is this to be said," con tinued Immanuel. "Marriage is much more than a mere legal' agreement. You, as a member of your particular faith, do not consider it as a sac rament I, as a Greek Catholic, do. But whatever our creeds may teach, the fact remains that marriage is something extending deep down under the surface layer of consciousness. It is something that intimately binds the larger, deeper, hidden self of the contracting parties. It is not only that this young lady is married to Ira Hopkins, Hopkins is also married to her. And though to the ptysical per sonality of Hopkins Miss Katherine is merely one of bis customers, the deeper Hopkins knows." "But how can she be morally mar ried by the mere saying so of this— this gentleman?" protested Tarrant. "Because," answered the Doctor, "the soul receives its impressions from the external personality, as the plant root through its leaves. It knows nothing of falsehood. Every suggestion made to it is accepted as true and must be transmitted into truth. You see now the consequences of tampering with truth, and the pro found spiritual significance of our earthly actions." "Good evening, gentlemen," said Melton, briskly. He had beard this dialogue, with manifest uneasiness, and now, picking up his hat he moved toward the door. Then Paul Tarrant started forward. "Will you wait twenty minutes by that clock and then try again,, for a hundred dollars?" he asked. "I will," replied the quack. "But I warn you it won't go. You can't go against the Gospels, and there ain't no divorce recognized there—least ways, not for the mere saying it's so." "Where are you going, Paul?" in quired Immanuel as Tarrant started for the door. "I'll tell you when I come back," he answered. He paused, his hand on the door knob. "This fellow Hopkins lives over his store, doesn't he?" he asked. "Yes. Apartment 8 in the block of which the store forms a part But why are you going? You won't be rash, Paul? Remember, he knows nothing." "Keep cool, Immanuel! I'm not go ing to harm him," replied Tarrant, and with that he was gone, and we three sat there together in silence, looking now at each other and now at the hypnotized girl. "It ain't no good," vouchsafed the quack, "but I'm willing to earn a hun dred. Who wouldn't? By Jiminy, if I'd known what was going to happen that night seven years ago in Har mony Hall! But I was newer at the game then, gentlemen, and I hadn't had the experience." "You fellows ought to be prohibited by law," said the Doctor sternly. "You play with forces whose very meaning you are ignorant of." "Hold on there, friend," said Mel ton. "I go to the facts, you go to the books. What's the odds? They write the books from the facts, don't they? Now I say, if a poor feller's got a bad toothache and I can tell him he's well, and his pain stops, I consider I'm a public benefactor." "Exactly," answered Immanuel. "And what do you do? You destroy his consciousness of pain, which would have warned him of an ulcerated tooth, and instead of going to a doc tor he lets the ulcer eat down into the bone. That's your way you cure the effects and ignore the causes. 1 wonder what Tarrant's doing?" he continued, looking at me uneasily. It was now fifteen minutes since he had gone. Only five remained, but I knew that Melton would not stir be cause he had not received his money. Just as I was wondering whether I ought not to go after Tarrant the door bell rang, and a minute later he came hurrying in. His face was radi ant "May 1 speak to Mr. Melton pri vately?" he asked. "1 don't want to keep anything from you, gentlemen, but this is—well, it'B the limit. And you'll see whether it's going to work J^iYfc£ cm not when he speaks to the girl." We excused him willingly, and he drew Melton into a corner. I saw him count out a hundred dollars and saw Ihe quack count them again and pocket them, as before. Then Tar rant began whispering, and Melton started back and stared at him, and suddenly broke into a broad grin. All the while Miss Katherine sat perfectly immobile upon the chair. Melton came back. "Well, gentle men," he said, "what Mr. Terrant tells me puts another light on the subject altogether. If he hadn't thought of it and found out—good Lord! I'm sailing for Australia next month and you might never have found me again. And remember. Doc tor, although you say you are the hypnotist at the hospital in Athens, neither you nor nobody could ever get that out of her mind—nobody but me, once I put it in. There's where I've got the whip hand over you, Doc for Immanuel. Think of all the wis est hypnotisers in the world trying and trying to rub out that stain, and only the one that put it there can take it out again. Am I right or wrong?" "Unfortunately you are right, sir?" Immanuel answered. "And I ain't holding you up for another penny. Now, Doctor, confess that we professionals ain't all as bad as you paint us." He seemed really concerned about the reputation of his trade, this quack. I have known others just as sensi tive. By this time we were all in a fever of expectancy. Melton kept us wait ing no longer. He drew up his chair again and, sitting down before the girl, took her hand in his. "What is your name?" he asked. "Katherine Hopkins," she replied quietly. "When were you married?" "Seven years, two months, and ten days ago," she answered, and Melton looked round at us. "You see, gentlemen, another day has just come to an end," he said. "It was about this time I hypnotized her in Harmony Hall." He turned to the girl again. "Your marriage wasn't any mar riage at all," he said. "The man Hop kins, who you think is your husband, had already been married nearly two years at the time I married you to him. So it wasn't any marriage. Do you understand?" "Yes." "What is your name?" "Katherine Digby." "You will wake up in three min utes." "Good evening, gentlemen," said Melton, and he went out. (Copyright, 1914, by W. G. Chapman.) (Copyright, by G. W. Chapman.) SPARROWS ARE BIRD PIRATES Troublesome Pests Are Accused of Ap propriating Nests of Songsters for Their Own Use. Sparrows build their nests in the eave troughs, causing the gutters to overflow, the water gouging out val leys in the lawn. They also build their nests behind window blinds and generally muss up the house and grounds. These troublesome pests can be somewhat subdued witli sparrow traps. While man's complaint is severe gainst the sparrow, song birds are said to have a more serious one to make. The sparrows are uceused of throwing the eggs of other birds out of the nests, also the young, and pre empting the nests of other birds for themselves. Sparrows make good potpies. This may not sound good, but a party with appetites that result from a day's tramping through woodland streams for trout sat down to a bird pie for dinner. No one knew the kind of birds the pie contained and various game birds were suggested. Some "old sports" were positive they could not be deceived. The landlord was noncom mittal. Many weeks afterward another party of guests learned the truth. It was sparrow pie that the first party had so greatly liked and they enjoyed the joke at their friends' expense, but were careful to make no comment and to ask no questions regarding the meals they enjoyed. Cats Hard to Train. It is a remarkable thing that al though the cat is as much a domestic animal as the dog, it is not capable of being trained, except to a very lim ited extent. Almost any dog, no mat ter how poor the breed, can be taught a number of tricks in fact, the breed seems to make no difference but fine breeding has no effect on the cunning of cats. They are not stupid at all, but they seem determined not to learn. It will weary the most patient boy to try to teach a cat to sit up, which a mongrel dog will learn to do in a half dozen lessons and such tricks as walking on two legs, fetching and car rying, and so forth, are quite beyond the average cat. This seems more strange, since we know that the cat, both savage and domestic, is noted for its native cunning, and not lacking in bravery. Indeed, there are few ani mals that will tackle a cat in a corner. Tit for Tat. Mrs. Blank—We must have the Biggsbys to dinner. We owe them one. Blank—Of course. We passed a wretchedly dull evening there and it's nothing more than right that they should pass one here. Too Precious to Loan. Norah—The lady next door wants to horry a bit of coal, mum. Mrs. Blank—Tell her we are already borrowing our coal from the people on the other siae of us.