A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, October 1950 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

THE ELIXIR OF HATE 57 ebbed and flowed, swaying the smoke of his cigar into fantastic forms almost like those of the vicious Brazilian ghoul where- of the French text told him. Far away, far helow, a low, rolling thunder, rising, falling, yet never still, spoke of the hungry surf under the cliff. A nightingale was singing somewhere in the groves ; its melting raptures of melody fell on deaf ears as Dennison, fascinated by this other fhan’s experiences of stran- gling fear, read on and on and on, eagerly turning the pages toward the inevitable catastrophe at the end. ENNISON’S book lay on a reading- stand, which he had adjusted so that he might lean back easily in the long chair and get 4 perfect light on the page. His right hand held the cigar. His left hung carelessly over the arm of the chair, al- most touching the floor, which, like all the flooring in that old-fashioned house, was of red octagonal tiling. All at once, as he stopped for a moment to rest from the strain of the horrible narrative and to ponder the dread con- sequences of the Horla’s parasitism, a little clink attracted his attention. Something small and hard rolled on the floor, spiralled, and came to rest—a thin little wavering band of gold, it seemed. He sat up, suddenly, for some strange reason instinctively seized him with a new and strange alarm. His heart began to pound unnaturally. Eagerly he strained his ears, listening whether or not that sound would come again. No, nothing. “What the deuce?” he ejaculated with some heat, as though to banish the im- pending evil which he realized subjective- ly was about to smite him. A long minute he waited, peering round with wide eyes. His nerves were suddenly drawn taut. Up he brought his left hand—up, up, into the range of vision. He flung it out before his eyes. His face went gray. He understood. It typified the end. Over he flung the reading-stand, book and all. Down on both knees he fell, and there on the tiles began scrabbling round for the little circlet. He found it presently. Quickly he put it on again. He turned it round and round, massaged the flesh of his finger, held his hand out before him, tried the ring again, and in every possible way sought to convince himself his hand had not decreased in size since the previous day. In vain! He could not compass it. He knew at last the truth, proved to him now by the unimpeachable evidence of cold metal. He knew! He understood! He had already passed the meridian of life; now he was shrinking back toward youth again | “Merciful Heaven!” he choked, bowed with horror and with a sick revulsion of all his hopes, his dreams. ‘‘Where will all this end? Where—” “AR! That, my friend, is now the vital, the truly crucial point at issue!” sounded a deep, resonant voice. “If we knew that, we should hold the key to all!” Despite his anguish, his distress, the American looked up with startled, haggard eyes. There in the doorway, tall and stern and JAYMES P-W tablets ATLL PIN-WORMS (You may have them and not know it) Fidgeting, nose-picking and a tor- j menting rectal itch are often tell- tale signs of Pin-Worms... ugly parasites that medical experts say infest one out of every three persons examined. Entire families may be victims and not know it. To get rid of Pin- Worms, these pests must not only be killed, but killed in the large intestine where they live and multiply. That’s exactly *X l ED ea “et “wl “wl “ai “wep “ep (“et “~wid “wih (“Uh “~ia ~~ what Jayne’s P-W tablets do... and here’s how they do it: First—a scientific coating carries the tablets into the bowels before they dissolve. Then — Jayne’s modern, medically-approved in- gredient goes right to work—kille Pin-Worms quickly and easily. Don’t take chances with this dangerous, high- ly contagious condition. At the first sign of Pin- Worms, ask your druggist for genuine Jayne's P-W Vermifuge ... the niall pte pga tablets perfected by famous Dr. Jayne & Son, spe- cialists in worm remedies ee over 100 years. JSAYME'S Pn. Py pin -WORMS q | | a Cs) Das) Gs) a G8) Cia) Sa) Cia a ad) Gad ww ape ao ae (C(O) nn) (C 6)(0)©) Ss (C(O)