A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

up to me and asked, tonelessly, in French: “The Sieur de Caranac?” I answered, impatiently; “Dr. Cara- nac.”” And took my place in the stern. | He turned to the two: “The Sieur de _ Caranac. Go.” _ We shot through a school of small fry and headed for a slim gray yacht. I asked: “The Brittis?” The helmsman ‘nodded. She was a sweet craft, about a hundred and fifty feet over all, schooner rigged and built for speed. I doubted McCann’s esti- mate of her ocean-going capabilities. The Demoiselle was standing at the head of the ladder. Considering the man- ner of my last parting from her, there were obvious elements of embarrassment in this meeting. I had given them con- siderable thought and had decided to ig- nore them, or pass them over lightly—if she would let me. It was no picture of a romantic hero I had made sliding down . from her tower, and I was still somewhat Sensitive as to its undignified = hoped her arts, infernal or otherwise, hadn't enabled her to reconstruct that spectacle. So when I had climbed the lad- der, I simply said with cheerful idiocy: | BE Dahut. You’re looking—beau- tiful.” And so she was. Nothing at all like the Dahut of ancient Ys; nothing at all like a shadow queen; nothing at all like a witch. She had on a snappy white sport suit, and there was no aureole, evil or otherwise, about her pale gold hair. Instead there was a tricky little green knit hat. Her great violet eyes were clear and ingenu- ous with not a trace of the orchid hell sparks. In fact, to outward appearance only an extraordinarily beautiful woman with no more high explosive about her ___ than any beautiful woman would naturally fy Rg he Foo et 0 alan i a ag A Pen Canta ye! rer tee She Te r 4, See ot, a4 #) ae ie 3 6 yer . ty ete = Pu = “3 - ‘ : taf? v2 . : i — a _ whispered to me to be doubly on my guard. _ __ She laughed, and held out her hand. _ “Welcome, Alain.” _ She glanced at my two bags with a ‘Small enigmatic smile, and led me down toa luxurious little cabin. She said, mat- _ ter-of-factly: “I'll wait for you on deck. _ Don’t be long. Lunch is ready.” And she __was gone. ___ The yacht was already under way. I tad CREEP, SHADOW! But I knew differently, and something . | x1" looked out of the port and was surprised to see how far we were from the Club The Brittis was speedier than I had sur- missed. In a few minutes I went up On deck and joined the Demoiselle. She was Ss talking to the captain, whom she intro- a duced to me by the good old Breton name of Braz; and me to him as the “Sieur de <« Caranac.” The captain was of stockier | build than the others I had seen, but with the same stolid expression and the same abnormally dilated eyes. I saw the pupils == of his eyes suddenly contract, like a cat’s, and a curiously speculative gleam come into them . . . almost as though it were recognition. I knew then that what I had taken for stolidity was not that at all. It was—with- =e drawal. This man’s consciousness lived SS in a world of its own, his actions and re- a sponses to the outer world instinctive only, For some reason that consciousness ae had looked out from its inner world into = this under the spur of the ancient name. From its own world... or from another’s —. into which it had been sent? SS And were the other men upon this boat = under that same strange duress? —— I said: “But, Captain Braz, I prefer to == be called Dr. Caranac—not the Sieur de ~~ Caranac.” ars I watched him closely. He did not re-— : spond, his face impassive, his eyes wide and blank. 3 = The Demoiselle said: “The Lord of Se Caranac will make many voyages with =e He bent and kissed my hand; he an- swered, tonelessly as had the boatman: “The Lord of Caranac does me great = honor.”’ — He bent to the Demoiselle and walked = away. I watched him, and felt a creep along my spine. It was exactly as though an automaton had spoken; an automaton of flesh and blood who had seen me not as = I was but as some one else had bidden =< him. Ae CHAPTER 15 = Behind de Keradel’s Wall a HE Demoiselle was regarding me = with frank amusement. I said, in- = differently: “You have perfect dis- cipline, Dahut.” oO = comicbooks.com — “>"-s..