A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

te Pal Mah Sal ’ * oe re ee rede « —_ of RAV AER, Rs * yey es ’ a d : . , ¥ . i pt The c] -k struck six. There was a ring on the telephone. It was long distance. The man to whom I had dictated the tele- gram spoke: “Miss de Keradel got the message O.K. Here’s one from her. It reads: ‘Souvenir withdrawn but returna- ble.” You know what it means?” I answered: “Sure.” If he had ex- pected me to go into details, he was disap- pointed. I hung up the phone. ~ I went over to Bill. He was sleeping more quietly. I sat watching him. In half an hour he was breathing peacefully, his face untroubled. I gave him another hour and then awakened him. “Time to get up, Bill.” He sat up and looked at me blankly. He looked around the room, and went over to the window. He stood there a minute or two, then turned to me. “God, Alan! The shadow’s gone!” CHAPTER 12 The Vanishing Paupers ELL, I'd expected results, but not ' quite so soon ‘nor so complete. It gave me a fresh and disconcerting realization of Dahut’s powers—whether of remote control by suggestion, or witch- craft. Such centrol would in itself savor of witchcraft. But certainly something had happened as the result of my message ; and by the relief Bill was showing I knew how much he had understated the burden of the shadow upon him. He looked at me, suspiciously. He _ asked: ‘“‘What did you do to me while I was asleep?” ; “Not a thing,”’ I said. “What did you want with de Keradel’s address?” “Oh, just curiosity.” He said: “You're a liar, Alan. If I’d been myself, I’d have asked that before I gave it to you. You've been up to some- thing. Now what was it?” “Bill,” I said, “‘you’re goofy. We've both been goofy over this shadow stuff. You don’t even know you—had one.”’ He studied me for a moment. “You never were good at lying, Alan,”’ he said. I laughed. I said: “Bill, I'll tell you the truth. While you were asleep I tried counter-suggestion. Sent you deeper and a - ‘625 A. MERRITT’S FANTASY _and sorry. A little after nine McCa mn deeper down until I got to the shadow— ~ and wiped it out. Convinced your subcon- | scious mind you'd never see it again. And © you won't.” “4 He said, slowly: “You forget I tried © that one on Dick, and it didn’t work.” “T don’t give a damn about that,”’ I said. ~ “Tt worked on you.” F. I hoped he’d believe me. It would help — build up his resistance if the Demoiselle — tried any more of her tricks on him. Not ~ that I was any too hopeful. Bill was a 4 psychiatrist of sort, knew far more about — the quirks and aberrations of the human — mind than I did, and if he hadn’t been : able to convince himself of the hallucina- — tory aspect of the shadows how could I — expect to? | Bill sat quietly for a minute or two, then | sighed and shook his head. “That's all — you're going to tell me, Alan ?”’ “That’s all I can tell you, Bill. It’s all : there is to tell.” : He sighed again, then looked at his watch. “Good Lord, it’s seven o’clock!” I said: “How about staying here for — dinner? Or are yor? busy tonight?” Bill brightened. “I’m not. But I'll have’ to call up Lowell. “4 I said: ‘‘Wait a minute. Did you tell. Lowell about my little party with» the Demoiselle ee He said: “Yes. You don’t mind, do you? | thought it might help.”’ I said: “I’m glad you did. = did yous 3 tell Helen?” | He hesitated: “‘Well—not svecy tee I said cheerfully: ‘‘Fine. She knows | what you left out. And it saves me the. time.. Go ahead and phone.” 4 § I went downstairs to order dinner. 14 thought both of us were entitled to some- — thing extra. When I came back to the — room Bill was quite excited. He said: r ‘McCann is coming tonight to repo 4 He’s found out something. He'll be at Lowell's about nine o’clock.”’ xa I said: “We'll get dinner and go up. W want to meet McCann.” a We had dinner. At nine o’clock we were at Lowell’s. Helen wasn’t thera She hadn’t known I was coming, nor had Lowell told her about McCann. She had gone to the theater. I was glad of that, SP TS Meee Ct. bili came in,