Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1920 — Page 7

SATURDAY, JUNE Ift 1920.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T HIMSELF

By ROBERT AMES BENNET

\\ w.G.cffAPMAH.

SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I.—Alighting rrom a train at Denver a well-dressed traveler Ui familiarly accosted by a man about his own age. The traveler ignores the advance. A few minutes later he is greeted as ‘'Will” by an elderly lady and gentleman, who stop their auto to speak. He imagines it a case of mistaken Identity and announces himself as “Richard Clinton," on his way to the coast. The couple appear greatly surprised, and learning he is to be in town until midnight, the lady, introducing herself as Mrs. Kirkland, and her husband as Doctor Kirkland, invites him to dinner, explaining the action by his truly remarkable resemblance to a friend of theirs. He accepts. At the Kirkland home he meets a young lady who Eeets him as her fiance. She is Ellen irkland, and plainly is greatly hurt by his assertion that he is "Richard Clinton." CHAPTER 11. —At dinner "Clinton” learns that his host is a medical specialist and that he is believed to be Will Lowrie, a young man who had been suffering from a nervous breakdown and had gone east for medical treatment. Lowrie had had in his possession bonds of the value of >IOO,OOO, belonging to the bank where he was employed, which have disappeared and of which he has no recollection. With Dr. Kirkland "Clinton" goes to the Lowrie home, the doctor befog satisfied that Amy Lowrie, Will’s sister, will convince "Clinton” he is really Lowrie, suffering from loss of memory. CHAPTER 111. Welcome Home. The playing ceased. Doctor Kirkland rose and advanced upon the group at the piano. “One moment, Ellen,” he said. “Two young men at a time is one too many. I am going to run off with Mr. Clinton.” “Papa!” “If he will take a little spin with tne.” “But why take away—take him away now?” “He will be interested to meet Amy.” “Of course. How stupid of me! But If you're hurried, papa, Charlie can take us down in his car.” “To be sure,” agreed Bemm. “If Mr. Clinton has no objections, I prefer to take him myself, at once.*' “May I ask —” began that young * man. “Certainly, certainly. I shall ex- ► plain on the way down. Come. The ladles will soon follow us in Charlie’s ■car.” “At once!” exclaimed Ellen. “NO,” ordered her father, glancing at his watch. “Not before half an hour at least. Come, Mr. Clinton.” The guest stiffened at the peremptory tone of his host. “Does it not strike you, sir, that this proceeding is rather odd?” he asked. “It must indeed seem so to you, Mr. Clinton,” replied Mrs. Kirkland. “But my husband will explain on your way ■down.” “I see,” he rejoined, and he stared at the physician, his blue eyes bright with angry suspicion. “You are all tinder a delusion that I am daft Insane. You have spoken of a sanitarium. I have heard of supposedly Insane persons being decoyed into institutions.” “Decoyed! You think I —” gasped the physician. He choked between Indignation and mirth, and waggled bls plump hand at his wife. “T-tell film—what —why 1” She smiled at the guest with unmistakable candor in her look. “We should &ave explained the situation to you at once,” she said. “It is true we still ■doubt your identity. My husband considers that the quickest way to settle the matter Is to take you home to your sister.” “Home? Sister?” “You still — Very well, then —to see Miss Amy Lowrie. Your —pardon me—his mother is away, as I believe we told you at the depot. But even ■though she Is not there Amy will be ■certain to know you.” “She will know me for what I am — an absolute stranger to you all,” he qualified. 4 ‘oh, Will, please!” implored Ellen. “We shall see, my dear,” soothed tier mother. “The moment he and Amy see each other there will no longer be any doubt of the truth.” “Then I shall be glad to go at once,” said Clinton. “This misunderstanding is as embarrassing to me as I fear it Is distressing to Miss Kirkland. The sooner It is settled the better.” “Do not follow for at least half an hour," Doctor Kirkland ordered the others as he went out with his guest. At the cnrb he sprang into the front of his car and motioned to Clinton to seat himself in the tonneau. The moment they were aboard the car shot out into the street and whirred away mdcl) faster than the city speed limit. V A light high up against the starry, blue-black sky, outlined the dome of the capital. Doctor Kirkland ran on within a block of the capital grounds and drew up before an old brick mansion. “Here we are,” he said, and he started tn across the sidewalk without Making about at his passenger. “Good evening, Tillie,” said Doctor Kirkland, opening the screen door. . “I guessed it was your ring, doctor.”

said the woman with the familiarity of an old servant “Come right in—and the other gentleman, too. Miss Amy is just—my lands! if It ain’t Mr. Will. Well, I never! Looking flner’n silk, too! Well, I am glad to see you home again, Mr. Will 1 I'll run at once and tell Miss Amy. She’ll be 'most tickled to death!" She left the visitors and hurried back along the narrow hallway, calling breathlessly: “Miss Amy 1 Miss Amy! Where are you? Lord bless us! Here’s Mr. Will home again! Where are you? Here’s Mr. Will! Where —■” “Will? Will! Oh! Then he has come! Oh!” came a girlish shriek of delight in the hall above. Clinton had stepped inside, after Doctor Kirkland. Looking up at the turn of the stairs, he caught sight of two little slippered feet twinkling on the steps of the top flight. In a moment their owner swung around the turn and flew down the long, straight lower flight as IF winged. The young man had a swift vision of a graceful, animated little form with outflung arms, of a charming little dimpled face, of a pair of starlike brown eyes. Then the vision was at the foot of the stairs.

He drew back with What seemed to be instinctive reserve. Doctor Kirkland frowned and shot a glance from him to the girl. She had not paused. If in her excitement she perceived the young man’s attempt to avoid her she disregarded it. From the foot of the stairs she darted past the physician to his companion. Clinton continued to draw back. He put out his hands as if to keep her away from him. “Wait, wait!” he protested. “I must —” But she had slipped between his hands and flung her arms around him. Her little bosom pressed so close against his coat that he could feel the beat of her joyously leaping heart; the crown of her fragrant, glossy brown hair touched his chin. From between his lapel and tie came a- muffled cry of ecstatic delight: “Dear, dear Will!” “I—l say, I—” he stammered, his face flushing crimson. He started to grasp the girl’s shoulders, hesitated, and looked appealingly at Doctor Kirkland. “Good heavens! This —she does not realize! You must at once—l beg you!” The girl flung back her head to beam up into his perturbed face. “Oh, Will!” she exclaimed. “So that’s It! You’ve an English accent, and you’ve learned horrid English manners at the same time. You’re ashamed to hug me before Tillie and Doctor. You old silly!” She released her embrace, but it was only to clasp her arms around his neck and hold him fast while she reached up on tiptoe to kiss him. At the touch of her lips his flush deepened and he sought to thrust her away from him. His expression was a peculiar mixture of pleasure and shame. “Doctor Kirk.and,” he begged, see that unless I use force— You know I am not her brother!” “Not Will!” cried the girl, and she burst Into a merry laugh. “Just listen to that, Tillie. He says he’s not Will. I’ll show him.” ■ A'gain she stood on tiptoe and kissed him with joyous tenderness. “There, sir, take that! Now do you dare say you’re not my brother?” He had not tried Very hard to avoid the caress, but a moment after it he

He Drew Her Arms From About His Neck.

drew her .arms from about his neck

THE TWICE-A-WEEK DEMOCRAT

and pushed her away with sudden determination. “I do not know what Mrs. Kirkland told you,” he said. “The truth is that I am not your brother, and I —” “Will!” “Just try to imagine what it means to me coming here, an absolute stranger —” “Oh, dear! Then it’s true. You’re not yourself. You’ve completely forgotten us all—even me!” “I have forgotten nobody whom I know. I am Richard Clinton, and I must say this mess —” He stopped, gazed into Amy’s eyes, and changed his tone: “However, if you wish me to stay, I believe I will." The girl smiled with quickly recovered confidence. "You will stay? Then of course it’s all right." “I told Miss Kirkland I would wt stay. But’ now—” . “Ellen,” she corrected. “Say Ellen.” “Can you not understand. Miss Lowrie?" he said. “1 have only become acquainted with Miss Kirkland this evening. I am not your brother. I am —” “Oa-ah!” she reproached. “I am Richard Clinton. So you see how wrong it would be to let you behave as If—that is, to allow you to—act as if I were your brother.” She peaked her eyebrows at the closely observant physician. "Isn t it horrid of him?” she pouted. “How long will it take to cure him?” A telephone bell rang somewhere back of the hall. Doctor Kirkland watched Tillie go out to answer the call before he replied to the question : “How long will it take? He probably can bring on his proofs in a few days.” “Proofs? But that’s no answer. I asked—” “Yes, yes, sweetheart, I know. You see until he—h’m —I wonder if we could not agree on a compromise. Suppose we have an understanding that until Mr. Clinton—” “Clinton!” “ —Mr. Clinton produces his proofs we are all 'to act as if he really is your brother.” “I could not do it, either in justice to this young lady or to you and your family, sir.” 'Of all the obstinate pigs!” cried Amy. “You ought to know you’re yourself, and yet you won’t even pretend!” “Is that quite fair. Miss Lowrie?” he asked. “How can I pretend to be your brother, when I know I am not? “How can w r e pretend you're not, when we know you are?” she rejoined. Tillie poked her head In past the rear hall door. “Doctor,” she called, “Missus Kirkland says to tell you you’re wanted at once at the sanl, and shall they come on down now?” “Yes, yes,” said the physician. As the woman disappeared, he stepped to the front door. “Must go at once, Amy. Be back again. Meantime, they’re coming.” “Doctor—wait 1 I—” exclaimed Clinton. But the physician rushed off unheeding ; and the young man could not very well run after him with a determined young lady clinging to the tall of his coat. The captive ..paused in the doorway and looked over his shoulder at the girl. She took a fresh grip on his coat and braced one little slippered foot against the door casing. “Shall I have to call Tillie to help?” she inquired. “No,” he answered. She led him unresisting Into the simply furnished room that opened off the hall. He smiled quizzically and seated himself In the big leathern chair to which she led him. “You see, all you need Is gentle persuasion,” she remarked as she cuddled down before him with her arm on his knee. “Now we’re comfy, and you look quite yourself.” “Do I?” “Yes. So 1 want to ask your brotherly advice —not that I expect to take it. Charlie is coming tonight, and he is coming to the point—ls I let him. Shall I?”

“What?” queried the young man who persisted in calling himself Richard Clinton. “Oh, Will I” exclaimed the girl. “You do remember! You remember that you did not want me to encourage him.” “No, I do not remember. I cannot even pretend—”. He stopped and sat gazing fixedly at her animated face. “Cannot what?” she asked. “Pretend to remeinber, when I am no t —» Suddenly his face became resolute. “Just the same, I do not wish you to encourage that fellow.” “Meanle! Isn’t he the best dressed man about town?” He frowned. “You insist that I must speak as a brother?” “Of course.” “Very well, then. I should say that he Is too much of a—” Clinton hesitated. “Really, Miss —Amy, I canpot say anything. It would not be honorable, when you would be taking my opinion as that of your brother.” “Botheration! Even if you don’t remember you’re Will, I want you to make believe you do.” A bell rang in the rear of the house. The young man looked toward the hall with an expression of relief not unmlxed with regret. । “Is that a caller?” he asked. “Had you not better take a chair?" ‘‘Not unless you promise to be yourself.” “I promise,” he readily responded. She sprang up and danced around his chair with the gleefulness of a child. Tillie thrust her gray head in at the hall doorway and announced austerely: "Here’s Missus Kirkland an’ Miss. Ellen an’ Mister Bemm.” Aa the callers entered, their anl-

mated faces belied the sedateness of their movements. “Amy, my dear!” Mrs. Kirkland called out “You’re dancing!— he looks so at home 1 Can it be possible that he—?" “Yes, yes! He’s promised to be himself! Isn’t it grand?” cried the girl. She whirled about to grasp Clinton’s arm as he rose. “Hurry out into the hall with Ellen and tell her — hurry I” Ellen clasped her hands. “Will!" she murmured. “Do you really remember? Have you come to yourself?” “Ah, yes, that’s the question," added Bemm. “Ont with it, old man. Own up, now; you’ve been ragging us all along.” “Pretending? Will pretending?” protested Ellen. “I cannot believe it" Clinton straightened. “I wish to inform Mr. Bemm that throughout this peculiar affair of mistaken identity I have Insisted that T am myself, Richard Clinton. All of you think lam Mr. Lowrie. I know that I am not. If I stay here w’hlle you are under such a misapprehension, you will have the right to consider me an impostor when you learn the truth. I shall go to some hotel and remain there until I have sent on and received the proofs of my identity.” “Go to a hotel?” remonstrated Amy. “Why, you dear old silly, you’re known everywhere. If you register under this stage name, they’ll send for the insane asylum doctors.” “They might, indeed,” confirmed Mrs. Kirkland. “Is the whole town a pack of lunatics?” exclaimed Clinton, his blue eyes flashing. “I shall not go to a hotel. I will take my train tonight as I intended, and— ’’ “Oh, no, no!" Implored Ellen. "Surely you’ll not desert us I” “I will go on to California," he insisted. “There I shall send for proofs of my identity, and when I have finished my visit to the coast, I shall return here to convince you of your mistake.”

“You sha’n’t go!” declared Amy. “I must,” he replied. “If I stay here, you and Miss Kirkland will persist in this delusion. Probably you'll soon hear that your brother is in the East or abroad. Imagine your anger at me when you learn that I am not he." “Mr.—Clinton," said Mrs. Kirkland, “do you not realize that it will cause us much apprehension—anguish —If you go away while we still believe you to be Will?” “It would be dishonorable of me to stay," he rejoined, and he started toward the door. “I shall go and not return until I have the positive proofs of my identity to show you.” “Proofs of what you think you are? Oh! that means you’ll never come back I” cried Ellen. Amy slipped away and glided out into the room behind the parlor as Clinton took another step toward the hall door. Bemm set himself directly in the way. “Hold on, old man,” he advised. “As your friend, y’know, I really can’t let you go.” Clinton put out his hand to push him away. Bemm caught hint! by the wrist in a viselike grasp. Clinton’s face went white; his eyes shone like sunlit ice. He spoke in a very low and quiet tone: “You fool. There are ladies present. Let go.” “Not unless you give me your word to stay and clear up about those bonds,” replied Bemm. Clinton made an attempt to wrest himself free. Bemm held him fast with unexpected strength. But he made the mistake of permitting a shade of irony to appear in his suave smile. The look in his prisoner’s eyes warned him to guard himself. He flung up his right arm with the quickness of an expert boxer. Clinton was

Clinton Was a Fraction of a Second Quicker.

a fraction of a second quicker. His clenched left hand drove in over the upswinging arm and encoijptered Bemm’s chin. Stunned by the blow, Bemm swayed backward and would have fallen heavily had not Clinton eased him to the floor. Ellen uttered a stifled shriek. Clinton straightened up from beside the white-faced inert interferer and looked apologetically at the girl and her equally startled mother. “Pray pardon me!” he said. "Do

not be alarmed. He’ll be all right In a few momenta. . , I could not stand for his laying hands on me." “To think that you could have so forgotten yourselfl" reproved Mrs. Kirkland. “Was I to endure being treated as a thief?” he broke In. “I regret that he forced It upon me before yourself and your daughter. However, I shall now relieve you of my ungentlemanly presence.” “Oh, Will! No, no 1 Do not leave me!" implored Ellen. Before he could reach the hall doorway Amy popped into it from the other side and outspread her arms to bar the way. “You dear old silly,” she bantered. “That's all the good it did you, knocking down poor Charlie boy. You can’t run away. I’ve locked the front door, and I’ve hidden the key and your hat" “Miss Lowrie,” he sternly replied, “I will not permit even you to—” “Growly bear! Orowly bear!” she mocked. He stepped toward her with the evident purpose of pushing past into the hall. She darted to meet him, and, before he could evade her, flung her arms about his neck. He grasped her wrists, but her fingers were locked fast. To have freed himself he must have resorted to oiftrlght violence. “I—l —Miss Lowrie," he stammered, “really this is—is most —” “Promise I” she demanded, clinging tighter. He looked down into her upturned face. The starllke brown eyes were soft with tender affection and bright with merry triumph. To gaze Into them and remain stern was an impossibility. “But I—’’ “You must —else I’ll never, riever let go. You’ll have to carry me around with you all the time, everywhere.” The embarrassment that had succeeded his sternness gave place in turn to a whimsical’look. “I’ve a mind to take you at your word.” “You mean—?”

"Take you with me." She released one hand to stroke his forehead. “Your poor head!” she soothed. “There! There 1” With a sudden return of Irritation, he sought to draw himself free from her. She clung to him and again locked her fingers together. "No, you don't,’” she exulted. "It’s no use trying to escape. You’ve got to promise.” "I say, Miss Amy," murmured Bemm, eagerly sitting up, “if I should try to run off, would you—" “I promise to remain until Doctor Kirkland comes,” broke in Clinton. “Oh, you will? And Charlie's not hurt!" exclaimed Ellen. “That’s a dear old brotherkins I” approved Amy In the same breath, and she rose on tiptoe with her smiling lips upturned for his brotherly salute. Bemm sighed enviously. At the sigh Clinton bent over the temptation. His lips came so near to the girl’s that his mustache grazed the tip of her saucy nose. But Instead of kissing her on the mouth, he put up his hand to lift her backflung head, nnd pressed his lips reverently to her broad white forehead. “I say, now,” remarked Bemm, “if that’s not proof you’re her brother—! Miss Amy has only to say the word, and I shall be charmed to illustrate how one who Is not a brother —” The girl faced the others, leaning affectionately on Clinton's shoulder. "Ellen dear, call Tillie to fetch a bucket of ice water. Poor Charlie Bemm is still off his “I’m not,” denied Bemm, rising a trifle unsteadily. “On the contrary, it was my head that came near being off me.” Mrs. Kirkland looked earnestly at Clinton. "May I suggest that an apology —” she began. “From me!” flashed Bemm, with a heartiness that forestalled Clinton’s frovyn. “Though I meant it as a friend, f should not have—er—resorted to physical persuasion.” "That is generous of you, Mr. Bemm,” said Clinton. “Welt; you see, you persuaded me, Instead,” rallied Bemm. “You presented a deucedly effective argument.” “Oh. if Charlie takes it that way, Will,” remarked Mrs. Kirkland. “Indeed, yes,” added Ellen, regarding Amy’s sisterly cuddling with a wistful look. “But you’ll never do such a shocking thing again, will you?” “That depends,” answered Clinton, a trifle dryly. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

“The man who whispers down a well About the goods he has to sell, Won't reap the golden, gleaming dollars — Like one who climbs a tree and hollers.” — Well, I am hollerin'. I have a carload of Buggies to •©!!*—C. A. ROBERTS. ..m . -«

Mil I'll DBAUiM IM Lime Hili IM ill JM IMtUll, 111.

MINER’S SEARCH ENDS IN SUCCESS

Wakely Had Given Up Hope og Ever Being Well, He States —Tanlac Proves Merit "Tanlac Is the only medicine that ever did me a particle of good and I am now feeling as well as I ever did in my life,,’ said Thomas Wakely, West Terre Haute, Ind., recently. "I was born and brought up In the coal regions around Terre Haute,” he continued, "and have been a coal miner all my life. I had always been able to stand my work until about five years ago, when my back began giving me trouble and ’ I noticed myself getting In a run-down condition. My arms and legs would give out and my back hurt like it was breaking in two. My stomach got in bad condition and I had so little appetite I couldn’t even eat half the lunch in my dinner bucket. • Sometimes I got so weak I felt like I was going to faint and had to come out of the mine to rest myself or go home. Why, I got In such bad shape 1 could hardly use my pick and vat so tired and worn out when I got home at night I had to go right to bed. I worried about my health all the time and was very nervous. I had about given up hope of ever being well, for I had tried everything In the way of medicines I ever heard of and spent all the money I made trying to get well, but just kept on going down hill. I fell off so much in weight my neighbors and friends said if I didn’t get something to help me I couldn’t live long. “One day I read In the paper how an Illinois man said Tanlac had got him out of the same kind of troubles, so I got a bottle right away. I felt better as soon as I finished the second bottle, my • strength picked up and my appetite is now so big I have to carry twice as much In my dinner pail and I eat every bite of It. I feel as strong as a mule now and can dig as much coal as any man in the mine and I have not lost a day’s work since I started taking Tanlac. I am no longer tired at night and get up In the mornings feeling fine. I wish I had started on Tanlac a year ago, for it has certainly made a new man of me and I want everybody to . know it.” Tanlac is sold in Rensselaer by Lursh & Hopkins, and in Remington by Frank L. Peck; in Wheatfield by Simon Fendlg.—Advt.

LIGHTNING ROD PROTECTION For over a century the sclentttn world generally has advocated the need of the protection of houses, barns and other property against lightning, and experience has now proved conclusively that when the equipment to secure this protection Is carefully and intelligently selected and Installed the protection afforded Is almost complete. In view of this experience many insurance companies make lower rates for protected buildings, which some companies will not insure an unprotected building at all. The U. EL weather bureau recommends the protection of all Important farm buildings where thunderstorms arn. frequent, particularly when human or valuable animal life Is involved. The loss of a farm building will almost surely cause inconvenience and - generally an actual money loss, even when the building is insured. With many years’ experience in the lightning rod business I am • prepared to rod your buildings in a scientific manner and at the lowest possible price.—F. A. BICKNELL, Rensselaer, Ind., phone 568. "ft

NOTICE OF COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENTS, MAY DITCH J Notice is hereby given by the undersigned, that Edgar D. Nesbitt, commissioner in charge of the construction of the Claude W. May et al ditch, being Cause No. 137 of the Jasper f Circuit Court, has certified the assessments and apportionment thereof, of th© respective “ tracts and parcels of lands benefited by the construction of said ditch, to the Board of Commissioners of Jae* per county, Indiana, and said Boari. having approved the same, has fixed upon Monday, October 25, 1920. as the day on or before which said assessments may be paid In cast * and said lands relieved of the lien and liability of said assessments. 5 Notice is therefore hereby given, that said assessment sheet has been prepared and placed in the hands of the county treasurer of Jasper county, Indiana, for collection aud that said assessments may be paid in cash on or before Monday, October 25, 1920; and that all peisons and corporations affected thereby may pay said assessments ,in cash on or before. said date and thereby discharge their said lands from all liability to puch assessments. SCHUYLER C. ROBINSON, Auditor of Jasper County, Indiana. June 192 Q j-12-19 Ah armload of old papers for 5a at The Democrat office.

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