Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 1 — page 99: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MIRRORS. “ Hello, there,” said Roper cheerily, seeking to make himself agreeable by cod- dling the children. He stepped toward them, but they shrank into the corner. As he continued to move toward them, they ran to their mother and clung to her skirts. “They don’t see much of strangers,” the father explained, “ and I reckon they’re a bit skeery.” “Say ‘howdy-do’ to the man,” the mother urged the little ones, but still they kept aloof. Roper took two pennies from his wallet and sought to make friends by bribery, but still the children clung to their mother—and he could not coax a smile from them. “They don’t see many pennies, neither,” said the father, ‘‘ and I reckon they don’t know what they be.” And the fugitive abandoned his attempts to make friends of ‘the children. He followed the settler outside and washed his hands and face in a basin on a bench. The man asked him neither whence he came nor where he was going. Roper volunteered the information that he was bound for Atlas, and the settler told him it was forty miles away through the woods. “ But you can go to Goodale,” he added. “That’s only twenty-five miles from here, and it’s on the railroad. You can ride the last fifteen ‘miles if you get tuckered.”’ That’s exactly where Roper was going—to Goodale, but he said: ‘“‘ I might as well hoof it clear to Atlas, I guess—’cross country.” The lamp sat on the table at which Roper ate—and he was in the full glare of it. The woman stood by the stove and the man sat ina chair. The children stood one upon each side of the mother—close beside her. All were facing him as he ate and talked. He studied, guardedly, the eyes of the woman first. Occasionally he saw her gaze curiously on a line with his forehead. He ate nervously—and did not look into the eyes of the woman again. Yet he knew she was watching him. But he did see the man also gazing curiously on a line with his forehead—and he saw the children staring at his brow! He hastened through the meal, keeping his head bowed over the plate now. As quickly as he could, he pulled his hat on flung a dollar upon the table and, with pack slung up, made cff toward the grouped houses of the settlement. He came to the little store nd bought a stock of provisions, which the storekeeper helped him put away in his pack. On the porch of the store was a group of loungers, but it was dark there. Only the trades- man was inside with Roper. When he was ready to depart, the fugitive, with an effort at carelessness pulled off his hat and looked squarely into the face of the storekeeper. The man was giving him directions. Roper saw his eyes gazing into his own. Then he noticed that the man’s words came slow- er—a slight stammer in his voice—as in surprise. Then he saw that the man’s gaze was fastened upon his forehead. There was a moment of confusion be- tween both men. Roper paid his bill and hastened away. As he plunged again into the forest, he fell to wondering if he had not been crazy—if he were not still crazy. For a few minutes he wandered this way and that. Then a craving for the word of a friend came over him. He had a friend at Hackett, on the railroad off to the south —only twenty miles away, where the track bent up toward Goodale and Atlas. He knew this man would shelter him against | all danger. But what he craved above all things else was a friend to whom he could talk about the damnable stain on his forehead. He still doubted there was any stain there—he assured himself that he had only imagined the people in the settlement had gazed at his brow curiously. He still laid it all to a bad case of nerves, but he wanted the word of a friend. ‘“There’s nothing the matter with your forehead, Dan,” he wanted to hear the friend say. ‘‘ There’s nothing the matter— it’s as smooth as mine. You're all un- strung, and need a rest.” That’s what he wanted—the word of a friend. If he had that, the stain would fade from his imagination and he would be content. He craved counsel and cheer. So, in the night, he set off toward Hackett. He miscalculated, and came to the rail- road five miles above Hackett. All night cComiclboooks 89 C@