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’ i 1:
AMES MORTIMER lay stliland looked about him curiously. ‘ He was a
J practical man.‘ Any man who has acquired a fortune of ten millions or’
more in something less than twenty years of business life is apt to be practical,
and Mortimer had done this. He was no visionary. Consequently, the fact
that he was lying in a comb did not seem to him to prove that he was dead;
it merely gave him food for some rather extraordinary thoughts. That he was
really in n coifiin, the evidence of his senses proved beyond question. liis posture >
-flat upon his back with his hands crossed over his stomach-the small hard
pillow under his head, the close confinement of his entire person, the dim light
and the profound silence, formed a mass of evidence impossible to controvert,
and. after the first shock of Surprise, he accepted it quietly.
But dead-no; on the contrary, he was very much alive; he even felt
hungry and a little cold. By the dim light which emanated from a hezwliy
shaded lump he could see that he lay in his own chamber on the second floor
of the house he had built some years ago. With the exception of the coiiin and
3 slightly unusual arrangement of the furniture, all the objects that met" his
gaze were familiar ones; there was nothing, really, to cause him the slightest
feeling of apprehension. Therefore. he simply lay still and turned his mind to
those events which had immediately preceded his present awakening.
He had been ill. he ren:iembered,'sudering from stomach trouble of some
kind,'and for a Week he had been conilned to his bed. ,'i‘ho last date ot which
he had any recolletztionyuis the min of the month’; 3 glance at the calendar
over his dresingestand showed him instantly that its leaves had been turned
forward to the 18th, and. reasoning-from this, he concluded that he must have
been unconscious for ut least" one full‘ day and night.
“C336 of suspended animation, or something like that, I suppose,” he
thought. "Newman (Dr. Newman was his physician), that fool Newman has
pronounced me.dead, evidently. Dead!" lie grinned to himself. “I’il show
him how dead I am. It'll be some shock pixel: I walk out upon ‘em. Il'ni!
Must be careful, tho. lilona is not the nervous sort, but a thing like that might
scare any one half to death; As it is, I suppose she's pretty badly upset, poor
child." . ' '
lie lapsed into n reverie for a moment, thinking of the beautiful young
wife he had married only :1 couple of years ago, the wife who was now. so far
.:is she herself knew at least, his widow, and his face grew tender. ‘‘No,'' he
decidedp,"1 mustn't frighten herevI'n1ust find some way to break the news
gently. It's very late. almost midnight. I'd better yvait till morning. In the
meantime I'll just get out of this confounded box and go to bed."
' . He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the-coflln. Barring a slight
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feeling of gi-idiness, which soon wore
on‘. he found himself feeling supris<
ingiy iit-hisrecent illness seemed to
have disappeared completely. With
the exception of a ravenous appetite
and a. strong craving for tobacco, he
was not uncomfortable-but the cold!
time. very scantily clad‘, evidently the
ilnal preparations for his burial had
not been completed, and his iirst act
after gaining his i‘ect‘u'ss to enter a
closet and wrap himself up in a warm
bathrobc. Then he crossed ihe room
to the cabinet in uhich he kept his
smoking materials, selected and
lighted a cigarette, and sat down he-
yond tho rahge of the draft room from
an open window, uhich, since, the
I e ' night was mild. he did nutlmtlivr to
close. Ills present thoughts were for too deep for trlvialitics.
uaadyv he chuckled to himself. "what a pinkie! Wonder if anything Just
like it eyer happened to :1, man before? Dead, on! l’ll show '--Iu how dead I am.
Thank God, I came to life before they got me under ground. Ne-winan, the fool!
Highest priced medical man in town. too. Ought to know his business. Idiot!"
lie stretched himself and yawncd luxuriously.
"Funny tl1ln’g I should feel slcrpy," he niutznrcd, "nil:-r lilo rest I must
1-.::.ve had. But I do-wry. sleepy and hungry. Gmll nu hungry as a wolf.
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lie was, he now rcalized for the iirst .
(r
Then, why not Ont? It‘s lave-they're nil asleep.+l know my pay to then
kitchen. I'll do it, by George! Must be careful. tho. if auy,of those damfool
servants should happen to bo up and spot ms trailing thru the halls they‘d go
into hysterics, sure." - .
Chugkiing at the mental picture his thoughts called up, the millionaire
thrust his feet into a pair of slippers and softly opened the door of the room.
The hall outside was dark, but he knew his way perfectly, and, without switch-‘
ing on the lights, he started for the stairs. On the soft rugs his slippered feet.
made no noise and he reached the head of the stairway as silently as the ghost
he would most surely be taken for should any one chance to see him.
lie was in the act of descending, when he noticed that the door of Mrs. .
Mortimer‘s houdoir was aiar and that the room itself was lighted up; at almost
the same instant he heard a low murmur of voices. Still mindful of the fact
that he must not be seen ununnounced. but a little puzzled that hiswife should -
receive a visitor at so late an hour, Mortimer shrank back against the wall
andysidled into the deeper gloom caused by the shadow of is projecting par-
“Deldp ‘kn I'll Show ‘IIIII How Deli! I Ami” ' - ‘
,tition. From this vantage point, as he had expected, he could see thru the
partly open door, and when he beheld the occupants of the boudoir he caught
his breath in one great gulp. .
ISTINCTLY Visible tliru the narrow aperture, 3 man and a woman were
seated facing each other on :4. low disan, One was Dr. Alonzo Newman,
1iiortimer's physician and friend of some years standing; the other was Mons.
Mortimer. his wile. Thus far the sight, lino-especially if one considered the
hour-enot exactly conventional might have been explained; the thing that
caused Mortimer to stagger Ina agriinst tho wall and his face to turn a chalky
white was that Dr. Newman was holding Mrs. Mortirncr's hands. In fact. at
the precise moment in uhiuh the husband looked in upon them. the two people
were engaged in :5. very intimate a:onveI’sa.tlon indeed; their heads were un-
'sa.rily close together, and they were talking in subdued tones. ' v
, I-‘or perhaps a minute. Mortimer did not more a. muscle, he simply stared.
while his heart within him slowly turned to ice. ‘Then his features settled into
a stern. grim mask, and he lvnnnil forward to listen. -
“You must go now. Lon," said Mrs. MOl'llt1lef, drawing aflittlo aw ay irom
the physician. “Just think what the world nould sz1y'if your visit here at such an
hour-especially just now-wore known. My reputation would be ruined."
"Ruined," I)r. N(‘“'DlLilJV laughed softly. onesexwl. Mona. l'ou‘re too
beautiful-mun-n tno beautiful. llnrcn't you lcurnexl yet that a. woman as beau-
tiful as you are may do anything with impunity?"
"l‘9Fh3l75; but I prefer not io make the test," she rclolnenl, looking at him
lazily. “Besides, I'm tired. ii:-ally, you know, you shouldn't have mine‘ here at
all like this,‘Lnn.. It's-it's hardly decent so soon after’ Jim's death. Just
think how he'd feel if he could 4'-ue Izs. Ila-‘-(X11911 for rm, and he was good to
me; too good, I‘m afraid. ilo deserves better of mo thau<-than this."
I“.
