A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

The B Breton stopped laughing, abruptly ; : aoe he said: “So?” and again, slowly: “So! But they are not theories, Dr. Bennett. Ss = They are discoveries. Or, rather, re-dis- coveries of, let us say—unorthodox = E > The veins in his forehead were : _ twitching ; he added, with an indefinable ee Ser cies hope to magi your conver- ese sion complete.” : ~The Demoiselle was laughing ; laughter = ‘that was more like the ee of little = the subtle menace in her Peeing ~ inhuman, as though the little waves were = Meghing at the dead men who lay under De KERADEL spoke rapidly, in a = Ei tongue that I felt I ought to recognize, Bago = put did not. The Demoiselle became de- ___mure. She said, sweetly: “Your pardon, Mademoiselle Helen. It was not at you that I laughed. It was that suddenly I oie = MT. reminded of something infinitely amus- ing. Some day I shall tell you—and. you 3 _ too will laugh—” - De Keradel interrupted her, urbane as a. “And I ask your pardon, Dr. 2s = PE Rermet: You must excuse the rudeness - = of an enthusiast. And also his persistency. as Because I now ask if you could, without 3 too great violation of confidence between _— Physician and patient, inform me as to the eeypptoms of Mr. Ralston. The behavior - of this—this shadow, if you will call it So. al am greatly eUTIOUs=-prptessionAleS Bill said, “There’s nothing I'd like a if oF fy iN") iM wise tA ay iy ery Wr ; ; ine Hs M, eam = = jeter You, with your unique experience, sa _ may recognize some point of significance = that I have missed. To satisfy professional Poe = ethics, let us call it a consultation, even ae <a it is a post-mortem one.’ _____T had the fleeting thought that Bill was ee te pleased ; that he had scored some point to- -__ward which he-had been maneuvering. I - pushed’ my chair back. a tittle so that I a could see both the Demoiselle and her father. Bill said: *~— “fll start from the beginning. If there _ _is anything you want me to amplify, don’t hesitate to interrupt. Ralston called me up and said he wanted me to look him ~ over. I had neither seen nor heard from him for a couple of months; had thought, Soe A. MERRITT’S FANTASY indeed, that he was on one of his trips abroad. He began, abruptly, ‘Something’s wrong with me, Bill. I see a shadow.’ I laughed, but he didn’t. He repeated, ‘I see 1 shadow, Bill. And I’m afraid!’ I said, still laughing, ‘If you couldn’t see a shadow you certainly would have some- thing wrong with you.’ “He answered like a frightened child: ““But, Bill—there’s nothing to make this shadow!” “T told him that the notion was non- sense; that in all probability some little thing was wrong with his eyes or his liver. He said, ‘But this shadow—whispers!’ “T said, “You need a drink,’ and I gave him a stiff one. I said, ‘Tell me exactly what it is you think you see, and, if you can, precisely geo you first thought you saw it.’ “He answered, - our nights ago. I was in the library, writing—’ Let me explain, ~ Dr. de Keradel, that he lived in the old Ralston house on Seventy-eighth Street ; alone, except for Simpson, that butler, who was a heritage from his father, and half a dozen servants. He went on, ‘I thought I saw some one or something slip along the wall into the curtains that cover the window. The window was at my back, and I was intent upon my letter, but the impression was so vivid that I jumped up and went over to the curtains. There was nothing there. I returned to my desk— but I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that some one or something was in the room.’ He said: ‘I was so disturbed that I made a note of the time.’ ” **A mental echo of the visual ba tictaa: tion,” said de Keradel. “An obvious con- comitant.” Bill said, ‘Perhaps. At any rate, a little later he had the same experience, only this time the movement was from right to left, the reverse of the first. In the next ~ half hour it was repeated six times, al- ways in the opposite direction—I!I mean from left to right, then right to left, and so on. He laid emphasis upon this, as though he thought it in some way signifi- cant. He said, ‘It was as though it were weaving.’ I asked what ‘it’ was like. He said, ‘It had no shape. It was just—move- ment. No, it had no shape—then.’ eae feeling of not being alone in the room in- ~ creased to such an uncomfortable nitch — comicbooks.com.- ee a —_ i —-"