The Black Mask — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

The Face that Stared Back at Blaisdell pe HESE are the facts in Blaisdell’s queer case, taken from a com- munication addressed to his best friend, Dr. Maynard Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton vouchsafes no explana- tion, nor do I. Indeed, there are phe- nomena in this old world that cannot be explained, as Hamlet pointed out to Horatio in a much-quoted speech. The statements given here were contained in a carefully written paper in Blaisdell’s handwriting, that was found in Blais- _. dell’s desk by Dr. Hamilton several days after the man’s death. From this paper he has pieced together the extraordinary narrative that follows: R BvaIsDELx thinks it must have been shortly after midnight that he fell asleep. Horrible nightmares racked him as he tossed upon his bed and one of them was so frightful that he woke up with a scream—or thought he did. At any rate, he suddenly found himself in the centre of his bedchamber, dressing with feverish haste. And here is the queer part of the narrative: for he affirms that, while he was dressing, another man lay in his bed—an exact counter- part of himself. This other ego lay quietly asleep, his head on his arm. Blaisdell studied him carefully and said he felt as a locust must feel when he looks at his outworn shell. All the time he was dressing, Blais- dell says he seemed to be impelled to hasie by queer promptings that were as By Edwin Carty Ranck insistent as if some person were at his elbow saying “Hurry! Hurry!” He finished his dressing in mad excitement and then hurried out of the room, cast- ing a backward glance over his shoulder at his sleeping counterpart. Once outside his apartment house in Gramercy Park, Blaisdell hurried along, his persistent mentor seeming to walk at his elbow. A puzzling feature of this nocturnal prowl was that he felt a sense of familiarity, a feeling that he was on his way to keep an appointment that could not be postponed. The streets were deserted except for an occasional prowler or a patrolman who made the - night echo with sharp blows from his club as he struck a metal post occasion- ally to remind the unlawful that the Jaw was abroad. On, on, hurried Blaisdell! By this time he had lost all sense of location, but he was aware that he was in a down- town séction of New York—a section that he had never visited during his waking moments. But, although he knew that he had never been in this neighborhood during his conscious mo- ments, he felt that he was on familiar territory. Finally he paused in front of an old, three-story, brownstone front residence in Washington Square—paused. with the air of one who has reached his destination. He walked up the steps - and let himself into the house with a _ pass-key. | Nor did it seem strange to him that he had a pass-key for a house that he had never visited during his 45