A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 35: what you’re looking at

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

Dwhile he was laughing. He said: ‘All Tight, Bill. I’m convinced. But the thing : fe me to do is not to run away from it. ‘The thing for men to do is meet it and Sa! knock it out.’ I said: ‘If you feel you can, _ that's the one thing to do. It’s only an . eee sheer imagination. Try it to- Se pt, anyway. If it gets a bit too thick, _ tall me up on the phone. I’ll be right here. _ And take plenty of good liquor.’ When BS of ie left me he was quite his old self. : oS “He didn’t call me up until next after- _foon, and then I asked what kind of a hight he had had. He laughed, and said: very interesting one, Bill. Oh, very. I followed your advice and drank plenty of a. His voice was quite normal, even cheerful. I was relieved, yet felt a vague uneasiness. I asked: ‘How about your : | Shadow: ?’ “And plenty of shadow,’ he said. . told you, didn’t I, that I thought it a _Woman’s shadow? Well, it. 18.": A -weads 4 You are better, Was your woman shadow fice to you?’ He said: ‘Scandalously so, and promises to be even scandalouser. That’s what made the night so interesting.’ He laughed again. And abruptly hung up, a roca: “Well, if Dick can joke like that about something that had him terror- “ized to the liver a day ago, he’s getting oO ver it.’ That, I said to myself, was good advice I gave him. g “Still, I felt that vague uneasiness. It grew. A little later I rang him: up, but Simpson said he had gone out to play golf. The seemed normal enough. Yes—the whole trouble had been only a queer eva- “nhescent quirk that was righting itself. Yes " —my advice had been good. What— SE ill. broke out suddenly— “What damned ‘. . ools we doctors can be.” s@ CREEP, SHADOW! I stole a look at the Demoiselle. Her great eyes were wide and tender, but deep within them something mocked. Bill said: “The next day I had more reports, all equally good. I called Dick up and told him so.I forgot to say I had also in- structed him to go to Buchanan. Buchanan,” Bill turned to de Keradel, “is the best eye man in New York. He had found nothing wrong, and that eliminated many possibilities of cause for the hallu- cination—if it was that. I told Dick. He said, cheerfully : ‘Medicine is a grand sci- ~ ence of elimination, isn’t it, Bill? But if after all the elimination you get down to something you don’t know anything about —then what do you do about it, Bill?’ “That was a queer remark. I said: “What do you mean?’ He said: ‘I am only a thirsty seeker of knowledge.’ I asked, suspiciously: ‘Did you drink much last night?’ He said: ‘Not too much.’ I asked “How about the shadow ?’ He said: ‘Even more interesting.’ I said : ‘Dick, I want you to come right down and let me see you.’ He promised, but he didn’t come. I had a case that kept me late at the hospital. I got in about midnight and called him up. Simpson answered, saying Dick had gone to bed early and had given orders not to be disturbed. I asked Simpson how he seemed. He answered that Mr. Dick fiad seemed quite all right, unusually cheerful, in fact. Nevertheless, I could not rid my- self of the unexplicable uneasiness. I told Simpson to tell Mr. Ralston that if he didn’t come in to see me by five o’clock next day I would come after him. “At exactly five o’clock he arrived. I felt a sharp increase of. my doubt. His face had thinned, his eyes were curiously HATE TO SHAVE YOUR UPPER LIP? Try a Star Blade on those tough stubble patches —those spots where whiskers are wiry and tender. Feel the smoother, better shave you get. - Sturdier Star Blades are precision-made to take and hold a sharper edge. Try better shaving at a real saving. SINGLE OR DOUBLE EDGE BLADES 10¢ and 25¢ Pkgss. Eomichook 35. = -