Effie W. Fifield

“ Neither could I tell whether that wife had been separated from me by death, or divorce.
It was plain that I was not Jack Walsh; then who was I? And what was my little game? And where was Jack? I looked like Jack, they said, but that proved nothing. Many men had a double. Jane and Liz had never heard him mention a brother; but Jane said something to the effect that Jack was devilish enough to have a penitentiary full of relatives, and nothing could be worse than she had all along suspected. ”

“ Can you not say from experience that it is possible for the human tabernacle to harbor different personalities at different times? Can you not warn your pupils of the dangers of astralization? My friend, if you will you can do much to make this world a much more interesting dwelling place than it has ever been, because your experience gives a foundation for a serious belief in a life quite independent of physical limitation. Besides," he added, "you will find that I am pointing out the only way whereby you can ever again be interesting to Angeline." ”

“ Do you know, I have since reached the conclusion that there are many idle people who would be willing to make themselves useful, if they were not afraid of soiling their precious bodies, or of making them crooked, or otherwise unpresentable. I had always hesitated about doing anything that would harden my hands or make them rough, but I did not care a penny for Jack Walsh's hands. ”

“ My jailers would simply try to restore me to consciousness—hang me if successful, and bury me if unsuccessful. The prospect was gloomy enough, whatever way one looked at it.
Finally, I was left alone in my cell, and, without loss of time, I stretched Jack's tired body on the iron pallet, and escaped, speeding my way home to Angeline. I had not gone half the distance when I met Jack Walsh.
"Hello!" he exclaimed, quite fraternally. "Want your old body back?" ”

“ I protested. "I loathe the taste of liquor—just as I always have. I persuaded my jailers to tempt me—they will tell you I never touched a drop of the best Scotch procurable, although it remained in my cell for forty-eight hours."
"He really seems to have reformed," ventured my attorney.
"Reform nothing!" I retorted with very natural indignation. "I tell you, I never did drink. I never swore. I never struck my wife—"
"May I ask who did strike her?" inquired Angeline's attorney, in a tone that rasped like a file. ”

“ Jack Walsh, Liz and Jane, and the sordid place they called home. There was confession from Jack Walsh, and attention was called to the fact that he was hung on the "Friday before this paper goes to press." Jack told with convincing detail many episodes of his life with Angeline; and how, after swearing at her the first time he returned to the room intending to kiss and make up; but he found her face daubed with mud, which made him so infernally mad that he hit her with a boot jack instead of kissing her, "and by thunder," he added, "wouldn't any red-blooded man have did that same?" ”

“ Hicks Carew left only a few moments ago.
IT is queer what a hold occultism can get on a man once he begins to explore its mysteries. I should not advise anyone—unless, possibly, an enemy—ever to begin.
I am thinking of Angeline, not as the late Mrs. Scranton, but as the girl I knew before we were united in the holy bonds of matrimony. She was most alluring. Our courtship was delightful. She was very proud of me.
Yes, it is a fact that I have always loved Angeline. I believe I can win her again. ”

“ But there still remained Hicks Carew, and Tod Storrs who had introduced me to him, and Angeline and her father, and Colonel Saunders and Helen—and my brain teemed with schemes whereby each could be made to pay the penalty before I was caught—And I wouldn't be caught, because I could so easily leave my body and never return to it!
While these thoughts were chasing one another through my fevered brain, my door opened, as easily as if it had not been locked. It closed softly and locked itself. Hicks Carew stood before me.
"Why despair?" he asked, genially. "You won her love, once ”

“ You'll get it good and plenty, and 'twill serve you jolly well right—whatever you get."
"Sir!" I exclaimed. "Explain yourself."
"I've got drunk—and I've knocked my old woman round a bit; but I never ran away with any other woman. I'm pretty rotten, all right, all right—but compared to you I'm a lily-white angel." ”