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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1007343 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50561 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50561) diff --git a/old/50561-h.zip b/old/50561-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index dea0c91..0000000 --- a/old/50561-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/50561-h/50561-h.htm b/old/50561-h/50561-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 48a84b2..0000000 --- a/old/50561-h/50561-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7874 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dark Other, by Stanley G. 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Weinbaum - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Dark Other - -Author: Stanley G. Weinbaum - -Release Date: November 27, 2015 [EBook #50561] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DARK OTHER *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="366" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE DARK OTHER</h1> - -<p>By Stanley G. Weinbaum</p> - -<p><i>Fantasy Publishing Co., Inc.</i><br /> -LOS ANGELES 1950</p> - -<p>Copyright 1950 by Fantasy Publishing Co., Inc.</p> - -<p>Manufactured in U. S. A.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any<br /> -evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -<p><i>Other Books by Stanley G. Weinbaum</i></p> - -<p>DAWN OF FLAME<br /> -THE NEW ADAM<br /> -THE BLACK FLAME<br /> -A MARTIAN ODYSSEY</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -</div> - -<p class="ph3">CONTENTS</p> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C1">1.</a></td><td align="left"> PURE HORROR</td><td align="right">9</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C2">2.</a></td><td align="left"> SCIENCE OF MIND</td><td align="right">17</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C3">3.</a></td><td align="left"> PSYCHIATRICS OF GENIUS</td><td align="right">25</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C4">4.</a></td><td align="left"> THE TRANSFIGURATION</td><td align="right">33</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C5">5.</a></td><td align="left"> A FANTASY OF FEAR</td><td align="right">42</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C6">6.</a></td><td align="left">A QUESTION OF SCIENCE</td><td align="right">50</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C7">7.</a></td><td align="left"> THE RED EYES RETURN</td><td align="right">58</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C8">8.</a></td><td align="left"> GATEWAY TO EVIL</td><td align="right">65</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C9">9.</a></td><td align="left"> DESCENT INTO AVERNUS</td><td align="right">73</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C10">10.</a></td><td align="left">RESCUE FROM ABADDON</td><td align="right">81</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C11">11.</a></td><td align="left">WRECKAGE</td><td align="right">89</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C12">12.</a></td><td align="left">LETTER FROM LUCIFER</td><td align="right">96</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C13">13.</a></td><td align="left">INDECISION</td><td align="right">104</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C14">14.</a></td><td align="left">TOO BIZARRE</td><td align="right">112</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C15">15.</a></td><td align="left">A MODERN MR. HYDE</td><td align="right">119</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C16">16.</a></td><td align="left">POSSESSED</td><td align="right">127</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C17">17.</a></td><td align="left">WITCH-DOCTOR</td><td align="right">135</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C18">18.</a></td><td align="left">VANISHED</td><td align="right">142</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C19">19.</a></td><td align="left">MAN OR MONSTER?</td><td align="right">149</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C20">20.</a></td><td align="left">THE ASSIGNATION</td><td align="right">156</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C21">21.</a></td><td align="left">A QUESTION OF SYNAPSES</td><td align="right">164</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C22">22.</a></td><td align="left">DOCTOR AND DEVIL</td><td align="right">172</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C23">23.</a></td><td align="left">WEREWOLF</td><td align="right">180</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C24">24.</a></td><td align="left">THE DARK OTHER</td><td align="right">186</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C25">25.</a></td><td align="left">THE DEMON LOVER</td><td align="right">194</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C26">26.</a></td><td align="left">THE DEPTHS</td><td align="right">201</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C27">27.</a></td><td align="left">TWO IN HELL</td><td align="right">209</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C28">28.</a></td><td align="left">LUNAR OMEN</td><td align="right">217</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C29">29.</a></td><td align="left">SCOPOLAMINE FOR SATAN</td><td align="right">225</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C30">30.</a></td><td align="left">THE DEMON FREE</td><td align="right">233</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C31">31.</a></td><td align="left">"NOT HUMANLY POSSIBLE"</td><td align="right">242</td></tr> -<tr><td align="left"><a href="#C32">32.</a></td><td align="left">REVELATION</td><td align="right">250</td></tr> -</table></div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h1>The Dark Other</h1> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C1" id="C1">1</a><br /> -<small>Pure Horror</small></h2> - - -<p>"That isn't what I mean," said Nicholas Devine, turning his eyes on his -companion. "I mean pure horror in the sense of horror detached from -experience, apart from reality. Not just a formless fear, which implies -either fear of something that <i>might</i> happen, or fear of unknown -dangers. Do you see what I mean?"</p> - -<p>"Of course," said Pat, letting her eyes wander over the black expanse -of night-dark Lake Michigan. "Certainly I see what you mean but I don't -quite understand how you'd do it. It sounds—well, difficult."</p> - -<p>She gazed at his lean profile, clear-cut against the distant light. -He had turned, staring thoughtfully over the lake, idly fingering the -levers on the steering wheel before him. The girl wondered a little at -her feeling of contentment; she, Patricia Lane, satisfied to spend an -evening in nothing more exciting than conversation! And they must have -parked here a full two hours now. There was something about Nick—she -didn't understand exactly what; sensitivity, charm, personality. Those -were meaningless cliches, handles to hold the unexplainable nuances of -character.</p> - -<p>"It <i>is</i> difficult," resumed Nick. "Baudelaire tried it, Poe tried it. -And in painting, Hogarth, Goya, Dore. Poe came closest, I think; he -caught the essence of horror in an occasional poem or story. Don't you -think so?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," said Pat. "I've forgotten most of my Poe."</p> - -<p>"Remember that story of his—'The Black Cat'?"</p> - -<p>"Dimly. The man murdered his wife."</p> - -<p>"Yes. That isn't the part I mean. I mean the cat itself—the second -cat. You know a cat, used rightly, can be a symbol of horror."</p> - -<p>"Indeed yes!" The girl shuddered. "I don't like the treacherous beasts!"</p> - -<p>"And this cat of Poe's," continued Nick, warming to his subject. "Just -think of it—in the first place, it's black; element of horror. Then, -it's gigantic, unnaturally, abnormally large. And then it's not all -black—that would be inartistically perfect—but has a formless white -mark on its breast, a mark that little by little assumes a fantastic -form—do you remember what?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"The form of a gallows!"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said the girl. "Ugh!"</p> - -<p>"And then—climax of genius—the eyes! Blind in one eye, the other a -baleful yellow orb! Do you feel it? A black cat, an enormous black cat -marked with a gallows, and lacking one eye, to make the other even -more terrible! Literary tricks, of course, but they work, and <i>that's</i> -genius! Isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Genius! Yes, if you call it that. The perverse genius of the Devil!"</p> - -<p>"That's what I want to write—what I will write some day." He watched -the play of lights on the restless surface of the waters. "Pure horror, -the epitome of the horrible. It could be written, but it hasn't been -yet; not even by Poe."</p> - -<p>"That little analysis of yours was bad enough, Nick! Why should you -want to improve on his treatment of the theme?"</p> - -<p>"Because I like to write, and because I'm interested in the horrible. -Two good reasons."</p> - -<p>"Two excuses, you mean. Of course, even if you'd succeed, you couldn't -force anyone to read it."</p> - -<p>"If I succeed, there'd be no need to force people. Success would mean -that the thing would be great literature, and even today, in these -times, there are still people to read that. And besides—" He paused.</p> - -<p>"Besides what?"</p> - -<p>"Everybody's interested in the horrible. Even you are, whether or not -you deny it."</p> - -<p>"I certainly do deny it!"</p> - -<p>"But you are, Pat. It's natural to be."</p> - -<p>"It isn't!"</p> - -<p>"Then what is?"</p> - -<p>"Interest in people, and life, and gay times, and pretty things, -and—and one's self and one's own feelings. And the feelings of the -people one loves."</p> - -<p>"Yes. It comes to exactly the point I've been stressing. People are -sordid, life is hopeless, gay times are stupid, beauty is sensual, -one's own feelings are selfish. And love is carnal. That's the array of -horrors that holds your interest!"</p> - -<p>The girl laughed in exasperation. "Nick, you could out-argue your -name-sake, the Devil himself! Do you really believe that indictment of -the normal viewpoint?"</p> - -<p>"I do—often!"</p> - -<p>"Now?"</p> - -<p>"Now," he said, turning his gaze on Pat, "I have no feeling of it at -all. Now, right now, I don't believe it."</p> - -<p>"Why not?" she queried, smiling ingenuously at him.</p> - -<p>"You, obviously."</p> - -<p>"Gracious! I had no idea my logic was as convincing as that."</p> - -<p>"Your logic isn't. The rest of you is."</p> - -<p>"That sounds like a compliment," observed Pat. "If it is," she -continued in a bantering tone, "it's the only one I can recall -obtaining from you."</p> - -<p>"That's because I seldom call attention to the obvious."</p> - -<p>"And that's another," laughed the girl. "I'll have to mark this date in -red on my calendar. It's entirely unique in our—let's see—nearly a -month's acquaintance."</p> - -<p>"Is it really so short a time? I know you so well that it must have -taken years. Every detail!" He closed his eyes. "Hair like black silk, -and oddly dark blue eyes—if I were writing a poem at the moment, I'd -call them violet. Tiny lips, the sort the Elizabethan called bee-stung. -Straight nose, and a figure that is a sort of vest-pocket copy of -Diana. Right?" He opened his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Nice, but exaggerated. And even if you were correct, that isn't Pat -Lane, the real Pat Lane. A camera could do better on a tenth of a -second's acquaintance!"</p> - -<p>"Check!" He closed his eyes again. "Personality, piquant. Character, -loyal, naturally happy, intelligent, but not serious. An intellectual -butterfly; a dilettante. Poised, cool, self-possessed, yet inherently -affectionate. A being untouched by reality, as yet, living in Chicago -and in a make-believe world at the same time." He paused, "How old are -you, Pat?"</p> - -<p>"Twenty-two. Why?"</p> - -<p>"I wondered how long one could manage to stay in the world of -make-believe. I'm twenty-six, and I'm long exiled."</p> - -<p>"I don't think you know what you mean by a make-believe world. I'm sure -I don't."</p> - -<p>"Of course you don't. You can't know and still remain there. It's like -being happy; once you realize it, it's no longer perfect."</p> - -<p>"Then don't explain!"</p> - -<p>"Wouldn't make any difference if I did, Pat. It's a queer world, like -the Sardoodledom of Sardou and the afternoon-tea school of playwrights. -All stage-settings and pretense, but it looks real while you're -watching, especially if you're one of the characters."</p> - -<p>The girl laughed. "You're a deliciously solemn sort, Nick. How would -you like to hear my analysis of you?"</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't!"</p> - -<p>"You inflicted yours on me, and I'm entitled to revenge. And so—you're -intelligent, lazy, dreamy, and with a fine perception of artistic -values. You're very alert to impressions of the senses—I mean you're -sensuous without being sensual. You're delightfully serious without -being somber, except sometimes. Sometimes I feel a hint, just a -thrilling hint, in your character, of something dangerously darker—"</p> - -<p>"Don't!" said Nick sharply.</p> - -<p>Pat shot him a quick glance. "And you're frightened to death of -falling in love," she concluded imperturbably.</p> - -<p>"Oh! Do you think so?"</p> - -<p>"I do."</p> - -<p>"Then you're wrong! I can't be afraid of it, since I've known for the -better part of a month that I've been in love."</p> - -<p>"With me," said the girl.</p> - -<p>"Yes, with you!"</p> - -<p>"Well!" said Pat. "It never before took me a month to extract that -admission from a man. Is twenty-two getting old?"</p> - -<p>"You're a tantalizing imp!"</p> - -<p>"And so?" She pursed her lips, assuming an air of disappointment. "What -am I to do about it—scream for help? You haven't given me anything to -scream about."</p> - -<p>The kiss, Pat admitted to herself, was quite satisfactory. She yielded -herself to the pleasure of it; it was decidedly the best kiss she had, -in her somewhat limited experience, encountered. She pushed herself -away finally, with a little gasp, gazing bright-eyed at her companion. -He was staring down at her with serious eyes; there was a tense twist -to his mouth, and a curiously unexpected attitude of unhappiness.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she murmured. "Was it as bad as all that?"</p> - -<p>"Bad! Pat, does it mean you—care for me? A little, anyway?"</p> - -<p>"A little," she admitted. "Maybe more. Is that what makes you look so -forlorn?"</p> - -<p>He drew her closer to him. "How could I look forlorn, Honey, when -something like this has happened to me? That was just my way of looking -happy."</p> - -<p>She nestled as closely as the steering wheel permitted, drawing his arm -about her shoulders. "I hope you mean that, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Then <i>you</i> mean it? You really do?"</p> - -<p>"I really do."</p> - -<p>"I'm glad," he said huskily. The girl thought she detected a strange -dubious note in his voice. She glanced at his face; his eyes were -gazing into the dim remoteness of the night horizon.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said, "why were you so—well, so reluctant about admitting -this? You must have known I—like you. I showed you that deliberately -in so many ways."</p> - -<p>"I—I wasn't quite sure."</p> - -<p>"You were! That isn't it, Nick. I had to practically browbeat you into -confessing you cared for me. Why?"</p> - -<p>He stepped on the starter; the motor ground into sudden life. The car -backed into the road, turning toward Chicago, that glared like a false -dawn in the southern sky.</p> - -<p>"I hope you never find out," he said.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C2" id="C2">2</a><br /> -<small>Science of Mind</small></h2> - - -<p>"She's out," said Pat as the massive form of Dr. Carl Horker loomed in -the doorway. "Your treatments must be successful; Mother's out playing -bridge."</p> - -<p>The Doctor gave his deep, rumbling chuckle. "So much the better, Pat. -I don't feel professional anyway." He moved into the living room, -depositing his bulk on a groaning davenport. "And how's yourself?"</p> - -<p>"Too well to be a patient of yours," retorted the girl. "Psychiatry! -The new religion! Just between friends, it's all applesauce, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"If I weren't trying to act in place of your father, I'd resent that, -young lady," said the Doctor placidly. "Psychiatry is a definite -science, and a pretty important one. Applied psychology, the science of -the human mind."</p> - -<p>"If said mind exists," added the girl, swinging her slim legs over the -arm of a chair.</p> - -<p>"Correct," agreed the Doctor. "In my practice I find occasional -evidence that it does. Or did; your generation seems to have found -substitutes."</p> - -<p>"Which appears to work just as well!" laughed Pat. "All our troubles -are more or less inherited from your generation."</p> - -<p>"Touche!" admitted Dr. Horker. "But my generation also bequeathed you -some solid values which you don't know how to use."</p> - -<p>"They've been weighed and found wanting," said Pat airily. "We're busy -replacing them with our own values."</p> - -<p>"Which are certainly no better."</p> - -<p>"Maybe not, Doc, but at least they're ours."</p> - -<p>"Yours and Tom Paine's. I can't see that you young moderns have brought -any new ideas to the social scheme."</p> - -<p>"New or not, we're the first ones to give 'em a try-out. Your crowd -took it out in talk."</p> - -<p>"That's an insult," observed the Doctor cheerfully. "If I weren't -acting <i>in loco parentis</i>—"</p> - -<p>"I know! You'd give me a few licks in the spot popularly supposed to -do the most good! Well, that's part of a parent's privilege, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"You've grown beyond the spanking age, my dear. Physically, if not -mentally—though I don't say the process would hurt me as much as you. -I'd doubtless enjoy it."</p> - -<p>"Then you might try sending me to bed without my dinner," the girl -laughed.</p> - -<p>"That's a doctor's prerogative, Pat. I've even done that to your -Mother."</p> - -<p>"In other words, you're a complete flop as a parent. All the -responsibilities, and none of the privileges."</p> - -<p>"That expresses it."</p> - -<p>"Well, you elected yourself, Doc. It's not my fault you happened to -live next door."</p> - -<p>"No. It's my misfortune."</p> - -<p>"And I notice," remarked Pat wickedly, "that you're not too thoroughly -<i>in loco</i> to neglect sending Mother a bill for services rendered!"</p> - -<p>"My dear girl, that's part of the treatment!"</p> - -<p>"So? And how?"</p> - -<p>"I furnish a bill just steep enough to keep your mother from indulging -too frequently in medical services. Without that little practical check -on her inclinations, she'd be a confirmed neurotic. One of those sweet, -resigned, professional invalids, you know."</p> - -<p>"Then why not send her a bill tall enough to cure her altogether?"</p> - -<p>"She might change to psychoanalysis or New Thought," chuckled the -Doctor. "Besides, your father wanted me to look after her, and besides -that, I like having the run of the house."</p> - -<p>"Well, I'm sure I don't mind," observed Pat. "We've a dog and a canary -bird, too."</p> - -<p>"You're in fine fettle this afternoon!" laughed her companion. "Must've -been a successful date last night."</p> - -<p>"It was." Her eyes turned suddenly dreamy.</p> - -<p>"You're in love again, Pat!" he accused.</p> - -<p>"Again? Why the 'again'?"</p> - -<p>"Well, there was Billy, and that Paul—"</p> - -<p>"Oh, those!" Her tone was contemptuous. "Merely passing fancies, Doc. -Just whims, dreams of the moment—in other words, puppy love."</p> - -<p>"And this? I suppose this is different—a grand passion?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," she said, frowning abruptly. "He's nice, but—odd. -Attractive as—well, as the devil."</p> - -<p>"Odd? How?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, he's one of those minds you think we moderns lack."</p> - -<p>"Intellectual, eh? New variety for you; out of the usual run of your -dancing collegiates. I've often suspected that you picked your swains -by the length and lowness of their cars."</p> - -<p>"Maybe I did. That was one of the chief differences between them."</p> - -<p>"How'd you meet this mental paragon?"</p> - -<p>"Billy Fields dragged him around to one of those literary evenings he -affects—where they read Oscar Wilde and Eugene O'Neil aloud. Bill met -him at the library."</p> - -<p>"And he out-shone all the local lights, I perceive."</p> - -<p>"He surely did!" retorted Pat. "And he hardly said a word the whole -evening."</p> - -<p>"He wouldn't have to, if they're all like Billy! What's this prodigy's -specialty?"</p> - -<p>"He writes. I think—laugh if you want to!—I think perhaps he's a -genius."</p> - -<p>"Well," said Doctor Horker, "even that's possible. It's been known to -occur, but rarely, to my knowledge, in your generation."</p> - -<p>"Oh, we're just dimmed by the glare of brilliance from yours." She -swung her legs to the floor, facing the Doctor. "Do you psychiatrists -actually <i>know</i> anything about love?" she queried.</p> - -<p>"We're supposed to."</p> - -<p>"What is it, then?"</p> - -<p>"Just a device of Nature's for perpetuating the species. Some organisms -manage without it, and do pretty well."</p> - -<p>"Yes. I've heard references to the poor fish!"</p> - -<p>"Then they're inaccurate; fish have primitive symptoms of eroticism. -But below the vertebrates, notably in the amoeba, I don't recall any -amorous habits."</p> - -<p>"Then your definition doesn't explain a thing, does it?"</p> - -<p>"Not to one of the victims, perhaps."</p> - -<p>"Anyway," said Pat decisively, "I've heard of the old biological urge -before your kind analysis. It doesn't begin to explain why one should -be attracted to this person and repelled by that one. Does it?"</p> - -<p>"No, but Freud does. The famous Oedipus Complex."</p> - -<p>"That's the love of son for mother, or daughter for father, isn't it? -And I don't see how that clears up anything; for example, I can just -barely remember my father."</p> - -<p>"That's plenty. It could be some little trait in these swains of yours, -some unimportant mannerism that recalls that memory. Or there's that -portrait of him in the hall—the one under the mellow red light. It -might happen that you'd see one of these chaps under a similar light -in some attitude that brings the picture to mind—or a hundred other -possibilities."</p> - -<p>"Doesn't sound entirely convincing," objected Pat with a thoughtful -frown.</p> - -<p>"Well, submit to the proper treatments, and I'll tell you exactly what -caused each and every one of your little passing fancies. You can't -expect me to hit it first guess."</p> - -<p>"Thanks, no! That's one of these courses where you tell the doctor all -your secrets, and I prefer to keep what few I have."</p> - -<p>"Good judgment, Pat. By the way, you said this chap was odd. Does that -mean merely that he writes? I've known perfectly normal people who -wrote."</p> - -<p>"No," she said, "it isn't that. It's—he's so sweet and gentle and -manageable most of the time, but sometimes he has such a thrilling -spark of mastery that it almost scares me. It's puzzling but -fascinating, if you grasp my import."</p> - -<p>"Huh! He's probably a naturally selfish fellow who's putting on a good -show of gentleness for your benefit. Those flashes of tyranny are -probably his real character in moment of forgetfulness."</p> - -<p>"You doctors can explain anything, can't you?"</p> - -<p>"That's our business. It's what we're paid for."</p> - -<p>"Well, you're wrong this time. I know Nick well enough to know if he's -acting. His personality is just what I said—gentle, sensitive, and -yet—It's perplexing, and that's a good part of his charm."</p> - -<p>"Then it's not such a serious case you've got," mocked the doctor. -"When you're cool enough to analyze your own feelings, and dissect the -elements of the chap's attraction, you're not in any danger."</p> - -<p>"Danger! I can look out for myself, thanks. That's one thing we -mindless moderns learn young, and don't let me catch you puttering -around in my romances! <i>In loco parentis</i> or just plain loco, you'll -get the licking instead of me!"</p> - -<p>"Believe me, Pat, if I wanted to experiment with affairs of the heart, -I'd not pick a spit-fire like you as the subject."</p> - -<p>"Well, Doctor Carl, you're warned!"</p> - -<p>"This Nick," observed the Doctor, "must be quite a fellow to get the -princess of the North Side so het up. What's the rest of his cognomen?"</p> - -<p>"Nicholas Devine. Romantic, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Devine," muttered Horker. "I don't know any Devines. Who are his -people?"</p> - -<p>"Hasn't any."</p> - -<p>"How does he live? By his writing?"</p> - -<p>"Don't know. I gathered that he lives on some income left by his -parents. What's the difference, anyway?"</p> - -<p>"None. None at all." The other wrinkled his brows thoughtfully. "There -was a colleague of mine, a Dr. Devine; died a good many years ago. -Reputation wasn't anything to brag about; was a little off balance -mentally."</p> - -<p>"Well, Nick isn't!" snapped Pat with some asperity.</p> - -<p>"I'd like to meet him."</p> - -<p>"He's coming over tonight."</p> - -<p>"So'm I. I want to see your mother." He rose ponderously. "If she's not -playing bridge again!"</p> - -<p>"Well, look him over," retorted Pat. "And I think your knowledge -of love is a decided flop. I think you're woefully ignorant on the -subject."</p> - -<p>"Why's that?"</p> - -<p>"If you'd known anything about it, you could have married mother some -time during the last seventeen years. Lord knows you've tried, and -all you've attained is the state of <i>in loco parentis</i> instead of -<i>parens</i>."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C3" id="C3">3</a><br /> -<small>Psychiatrics of Genius</small></h2> - - -<p>"How do you charge—by the hour?" asked Pat, as Doctor Horker returned -from the hall. The sound of her mother's departing footsteps pattered -on the porch.</p> - -<p>"Of course, Young One; like a plumber."</p> - -<p>"Then your rates per minute must be colossal! The only time you ever -see Mother is a moment or so between bridge games."</p> - -<p>"I add on the time I waste with you, my dear. Such as now, waiting to -look over that odd swain of yours. Didn't you say he'd be over this -evening?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, but it's not worth your rates to have him psychoanalyzed. I can -do as well myself."</p> - -<p>"All right, Pat. I'll give you a sample analysis free," chuckled the -Doctor, distributing his bulk comfortably on the davenport.</p> - -<p>"I don't like free trials," she retorted. "I sent for a beauty-culture -book once, on free trial. I was twelve years only, and returned it in -seven days, but I'm still getting sales letters in the mails. I must be -on every sucker list in the country."</p> - -<p>"So that's the secret of your charm."</p> - -<p>"What is?"</p> - -<p>"You must have read the book, I mean. If you remember the title, I -might try it myself. Think it'd help?"</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl," laughed the girl, "you don't need a book on beauty -culture—you need one on bridge! It's that atrocious game you play -that's bothering Mother."</p> - -<p>"Indeed? I shouldn't be surprised if you were right; I've suspected -that."</p> - -<p>"Save your surprise for when I'm wrong, Doc. You'll suffer much less -from shock."</p> - -<p>"Confident little brat! You're apt to get that knocked out of you some -day, though I hope you never do."</p> - -<p>"I can take it," grinned Pat.</p> - -<p>"No doubt you can, but you're an adept at handing it out. Where's this -chap of yours?"</p> - -<p>"He'll be along. No one's ever stood me up on a date yet."</p> - -<p>"I can understand that, you imp! Is that the famous Nick?" he queried -as a car purred to a stop beyond the windows.</p> - -<p>"No one else!" said the girl, glancing out. "The Big Thrill in person."</p> - -<p>She darted to the door. Horker turned casually to watch her as she -opened it, surveying Nicholas Devine with professional nonchalance. -He entered, tall, slender, with his thin sensitive features sharply -outlined in the light of the hall. He cast a quick glance toward the -Doctor; the latter noted the curious amber-green eyes of the lad, set -wide in the lean face, deep, speculative, the eyes of a dreamer.</p> - -<p>"Evening, Nick," Pat was bubbling. The newcomer gave her a hasty -smile, with another glance at the Doctor. "Don't mind Dr. Carl," she -continued. "Aren't you going to kiss me? It irks the medico, and I -never miss a chance."</p> - -<p>Nicholas flushed in embarrassment; he gestured hesitantly, then placed -a hasty peck of a kiss on the girl's forehead. He reddened again at the -Doctor's rumble of "Young imp of Satan!"</p> - -<p>"Not very good," said Pat reflectively, obviously enjoying the -situation. "I've known you to do better." She pulled him toward the -arch of the living room. "Come meet Dr. Horker. Dr. Carl, this is the -aforesaid Nicholas Devine."</p> - -<p>"Dr. Horker," repeated the lad, smiling diffidently. "You're the -psychiatrist and brain specialist, aren't you, Sir?"</p> - -<p>"So my patients believe," rumbled the massive Doctor, rising at the -introduction, and grasping the youth's hand. "And you're the genius -Patricia has been raving about. I'm glad to have the chance of looking -you over."</p> - -<p>Nick gave the girl a harassed glance, shifting uncomfortably, and -patently at a loss for a reply. She grinned mischievously.</p> - -<p>"Sit down, both of you," she suggested helpfully. She seized his hat -from the reluctant hands of Nick, sailing it carelessly to a chair.</p> - -<p>"So!" boomed the Doctor, lowering his great bulk again to the -davenport. He eyed the youth sitting nervously before him. "Devine, did -you say?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir."</p> - -<p>"I knew a Devine once. Colleague of mine."</p> - -<p>"A doctor? My father was a doctor."</p> - -<p>"Dr. Stuart Devine?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir." He paused. "Did you say you knew him, Dr. Horker?"</p> - -<p>"Slightly," rumbled the other. "Only slightly."</p> - -<p>"I don't remember him at all, of course, I was very young when he—and -my mother too—died."</p> - -<p>"You must have been. Patricia claims you write."</p> - -<p>"I try."</p> - -<p>"What sort of material?"</p> - -<p>"Why—any sort. Prose or poetry; what I feel like writing."</p> - -<p>"Whatever inspires you, I suppose?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir." The lad flushed again.</p> - -<p>"Ever have anything published?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir. In <i>Nation's Poetry</i>."</p> - -<p>"Never heard of it."</p> - -<p>"It has a large circulation," said Nick apologetically.</p> - -<p>"Humph! Well, that's something. Whom do you like?"</p> - -<p>"Whom do I like?" The youth's tone was puzzled.</p> - -<p>"What authors—writers?"</p> - -<p>"Oh." He cast another uncomfortable glance at Pat. "Why—I like -Baudelaire, and Poe, and Swinburne, and Villon, and—"</p> - -<p>"Decadents, all of them!" sniffed the Doctor. "What prose writers?"</p> - -<p>"Well—" He hesitated—"Poe again, and Stern, and Rabelais—"</p> - -<p>"Rabelais!" Horker's voice boomed. "Well! Your taste can't be as bad as -I thought, then. There's one we agree on, anyway. And I notice you name -no moderns, which is another good point."</p> - -<p>"I haven't read many moderns, sir."</p> - -<p>"That's in your favor."</p> - -<p>"Cut it!" put in Pat with assumed sharpness. "You've taken enough -whacks at my generation for one day."</p> - -<p>"I'm glad to find one of your generation who agrees with me," chuckled -the Doctor. "At least to the extent of not reading its works."</p> - -<p>"I'll teach him," grinned Pat. "I'll have him writing vess libre, and -maybe even dadaism, in a week."</p> - -<p>"Maybe it won't be much loss," grunted Horker. "I haven't seen any of -his work yet."</p> - -<p>"We'll bring some around sooner or later. We will, won't we, Nick?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, if you want to. But—"</p> - -<p>"He's going to say something modest," interrupted the girl. "He's in -the retiring mood now, but he's apt to change any moment, and snap your -surly head off."</p> - -<p>"Humph! I'd like to see it."</p> - -<p>"So'd I," retorted Pat. "You've had it coming all day; maybe I'll do it -myself."</p> - -<p>"You have, my dear, innumerable times. But I'm like the Hydra, except -that I grow only one head to replace the one you snap off." He turned -again to Nicholas. "Do you work?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir. At my writing."</p> - -<p>"I mean how do you live?"</p> - -<p>"Why," said the youth, reddening again in embarrassment, "my parents—"</p> - -<p>"Listen!" said Pat. "That's enough of Dr. Carl's cross examination. -You'd think he was a Victorian father who had just been approached for -his daughter's hand. We haven't whispered any news of an engagement to -you, have we, Doc?"</p> - -<p>"No, but I'm acting—"</p> - -<p>"Sure. <i>In loco parentis.</i> We know that."</p> - -<p>"You're incorrigible, Pat! I wash my hands of you. Run along, if you're -going out."</p> - -<p>"You'll be telling me never to darken my own door again in the next -breath!" She stretched forth a diminutive foot at the extremity of -a superlatively attractive ankle, caught Nick's hat on her toe, and -kicked it expertly to his lap. "Come on, Nick. There's a moon."</p> - -<p>"There is not!" objected the Doctor huffily. "It rises at four, as you -ought to know. You didn't see it last night, did you?"</p> - -<p>"I didn't notice," said the girl. "Come on, Nick, and we'll watch -it rise tonight. We'll check up on the Doctor's astronomy, or is it -chronology?"</p> - -<p>"You do and I'll know it! I can hear you come home, you imp!"</p> - -<p>"Nice neighbor," observed Pat airily, as she stepped to the door. "I'll -bet you peek out of the window, too."</p> - -<p>She ignored the Doctor's irritated rumble as she passed into the hall, -where Nick, after a diffident murmur of farewell to Horker, followed. -She caught up a light cape, which he draped about her shoulders.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said, "suppose you run out to the car and wait. I think -I've stepped too hard on Dr. Carl's corns, and I want to give him a -little cheering up. Will you?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, Pat."</p> - -<p>She darted back into the living room, perching on the arm of the -davenport beside the Doctor.</p> - -<p>"Well?" she said, running her hand through his grizzled hair. "What's -the verdict?"</p> - -<p>"Seems like a nice kid," grumbled Horker reluctantly. "Nice enough, -but introverted, repressed, and I shouldn't be surprised to find him -anti-social. Doesn't adjust easily to his environment; takes refuge in -a dream world of his own."</p> - -<p>"That's what he accuses me of doing," grinned Pat. "That all you've got -against him?"</p> - -<p>"That's all, but where's that streak of mastery you mentioned? You lead -him around on a leash!"</p> - -<p>"It didn't show up tonight. That's the thrill—the unexpectedness of -it."</p> - -<p>"Bah! You must've dreamed it. There's no more aggressiveness in that -lad than in KoKo, your canary."</p> - -<p>"Don't you believe it, Dr. Carl! The trouble is that he's a genius, and -that's where your psychology falls flat."</p> - -<p>"Genius," said the Doctor oracularly, "is a sublimation of qualities—"</p> - -<p>"I'll tell you tomorrow how sublime the qualities are," called Pat as -she skipped out of the door.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C4" id="C4">4</a><br /> -<small>The Transfiguration</small></h2> - - -<p>The car slid smoothly along a straight white road that stretched ahead -into the darkness like an earth-bound Milky Way. In the dim distance -before them, red as Antares, glowed the tail-light of some automobile; -except for this lone evidence of humanity, reflected Pat, they might -have been flashing through the cosmic depths of interstellar space, -instead of following a highway in the very shadow of Chicago. The -colossal city of the lake-shore was invisible behind them, and the -clustering suburbs with it.</p> - -<p>"Queer, isn't it?" said Pat, after a silence, "how contented we can -be with none of the purchased amusement people crave—shows, movies, -dancing, and all that."</p> - -<p>"It doesn't seem queer to me," answered Nick. "Not when I look at you -here beside me."</p> - -<p>"Nice of you!" retorted Pat. "But it's never happened to me before." -She paused, then continued, "How do you like the Doctor?"</p> - -<p>"How does he like me? That's considerably more to the point, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"He thinks you're nice, but—let's see—introverted, repressed, and -ill-adjusted to your environment. I think those were the points."</p> - -<p>"Well, <i>I</i> liked <i>him</i>, in spite of your manoeuvers, and in spite of -his being a doctor."</p> - -<p>"What's wrong with being a doctor?"</p> - -<p>"Did you ever read 'Tristram Shandy'?" was Nick's irrelevant response.</p> - -<p>"No, but I read the newspapers!"</p> - -<p>"What's the connection, Pat?"</p> - -<p>"Just as much connection as there is between the evils of being a -doctor and reading 'Tristram Shandy'. I know that much about the book, -at least."</p> - -<p>"You're nearly right," laughed Nick. "I was just referring to one of -Tristram's remarks on doctors and lawyers. It fits my attitude."</p> - -<p>"What's the remark?"</p> - -<p>"Well, he had the choice of professions, and it occurred to him that -medicine and law were the vulture professions, since lawyers live -by men's quarrels and doctors by men's misfortunes. So—he became a -writer."</p> - -<p>"And what do writers live by?" queried Pat mischievously. "By men's -stupidity!"</p> - -<p>"You're precious, Pat!" Nick chuckled delightedly. "If I'd created you -to order, I couldn't have planned you more to taste—pepper, tabasco -sauce, vinegar, spice, and honey!"</p> - -<p>"And to be taken with a grain of salt," retorted the girl, puckering -her piquant, impish features. She edged closer to him, locking her arm -through his where it rested on the steering wheel.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said, her tones suddenly gentle, "I think I'm pretty crazy -about you. Heaven knows why I should be, but it's a fact."</p> - -<p>"Pat, dear!"</p> - -<p>"I'm crazy about you in this meek, sensitive pose of yours, and I'm -fascinated by those masterful moments you flash occasionally. Really, -Nick, I almost wish you flamed out oftener."</p> - -<p>"Don't!" he said sharply.</p> - -<p>"Why not?"</p> - -<p>"Let's not talk about me, Pat. It—embarrasses me."</p> - -<p>"All right, Mr. Modesty! Let's talk about me, then. I'll promise we -won't succeed in embarrassing me."</p> - -<p>"And it's quite the most interesting subject in the world, Pat."</p> - -<p>"Well, then?"</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"Why don't you start talking? The topic is all attention."</p> - -<p>He chuckled. "How many men have told you you were beautiful, Pat?"</p> - -<p>"I never kept account."</p> - -<p>"And in many different ways?"</p> - -<p>"Why? Have you, perchance, discovered a new way, Nick?"</p> - -<p>"Not at all. The oldest way of any, the way of Sappho and Pindar."</p> - -<p>"O-ooh!" She clapped her hands in mock delight. "Poetry!"</p> - -<p>"The only medium that could possibly express how lovely you are," said -Nick.</p> - -<p>"Nicholas, have you gone and composed a poem to me?"</p> - -<p>"Composed? No. It isn't necessary, with you here beside me."</p> - -<p>"What's that? Some very subtle compliment?"</p> - -<p>"Not subtle, Pat. You're the poem yourself; all I need do is look at -you, listen to you, and translate."</p> - -<p>"Neat!" applauded the girl. "Do I hear the translation?"</p> - -<p>"You certainly do." He turned his odd amber-green eyes on her, then -bent forward to the road. He began to speak in a low voice.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"In no far country's silent ways</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall I forget one little thing—</div> - <div class="verse">The soft intentness of your gaze,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sweetness of your murmuring</div> - <div class="verse">Your generously tender praise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The words just hinted by a breath—</div> - <div class="verse">In no far country's silent way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unless that country's name be Death—"</div> -</div></div> - -<p>He paused abruptly, and drove silently onward.</p> - -<p>"Oh," breathed Pat. "Why don't you go on, Nick? Please."</p> - -<p>"No. It isn't the mood for this night, Dear. Not this night, alone with -you."</p> - -<p>"What is, then?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing sentimental. Something lighter, something—oh, Elizabethan. -That's it."</p> - -<p>"And what's stopping you?"</p> - -<p>"Lack of an available idea. Or—wait. Listen a moment." He began, this -time in a tone of banter.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"When mornings, you attire yourself</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For riding in the city,</div> - <div class="verse">You're such a lovely little elf,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Extravagantly pretty!</div> - <div class="verse">And when at noon you deign to wear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The habit of the town,</div> - <div class="verse">I cannot call to mind as fair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A symphony in brown.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"Then evenings, you blithely don</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A daintiness of white,</div> - <div class="verse">To flash a very paragon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of lightsomeness—and light!</div> - <div class="verse">But when the rounds of pleasure cease,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And you retire at night,</div> - <div class="verse">The Godling on your mantelpiece</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Must know a fairer sight!"</div> -</div></div> - -<p>"Sweet!" laughed Pat. "But personal. And anyway, how do you know I've a -godling on my mantel? Don't you credit me with any modesty?"</p> - -<p>"If you haven't, you should have! The vision I mentioned ought to -enliven even a statue."</p> - -<p>"Well," said the girl, "I have one—a jade Buddha, and with all the -charms I flash before him nightly, he's never batted an eyelash. -Explain that!"</p> - -<p>"Easily. He's green with envy, and frozen with admiration, and struck -dumb by wonder."</p> - -<p>"Heavens! I suppose I ought to be thankful you didn't say he was -petrified with fright!" Pat laughed. "Oh Nick," she continued, in a -voice gone suddenly dreamy, "this <i>is</i> marvelous, isn't it? I mean our -enjoying ourselves so completely, and our being satisfied to be so -alone. Why, we've never even danced together."</p> - -<p>"So we haven't. That's a subterfuge we haven't needed, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"It is," replied the girl, dropping her glossy gleaming black head -against his shoulder. "And besides, it's much more satisfactory to be -held in your arms in private, instead of in the midst of a crowd, and -sitting down, instead of standing up. But I should like to dance with -you, Nick," she concluded.</p> - -<p>"We'll go dancing, then, whenever you like."</p> - -<p>"You're delightfully complaisant, Nick. But—you're puzzling." She -glanced up at him. "You're so—so reluctant. Here we've been driving an -hour, and you haven't tried to kiss me a single time, and yet I'm quite -positive you care for me."</p> - -<p>"Lord, Pat!" he muttered. "You never need doubt that."</p> - -<p>"Then what is it? Are you so spiritual and ethereal, or is my -attraction for you just sort of intellectual? Or—are you afraid?" As -he made no reply, she continued, "Or are those poems you spout about my -physical charms just—poetic license?"</p> - -<p>"They're not, and you know it!" he snapped. "You've a mirror, haven't -you? And other fellows than I have taken you around, haven't they?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I've been taken around! That's what perplexes me about you, Nick. -I'd think you were actually afraid of kissing me if it weren't—" Her -voice trailed into silence, and she stared speculatively ahead at the -ribbon of road that rolled steadily into the headlights' glare.</p> - -<p>She broke the interval of wordlessness. "What is it, Nick?" she -resumed almost pleadingly. "You've hinted at something now and then. -Please—you don't have to hesitate to tell me; I'm modern enough to -forgive things past, entanglements, affairs, disgraces, or anything -like that. Don't you think I should know?"</p> - -<p>"You'd know," he said huskily, "if I could tell you."</p> - -<p>"Then there is something, Nick!" She pressed his arm against her. "Tell -me, isn't there?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know." There was the suggestion of a groan in his voice.</p> - -<p>"You don't know! I can't understand."</p> - -<p>"I can't either. Please, Pat, let's not spoil tonight; if I could tell -you, I would. Why, Pat, I love you—I'm terribly, deeply, solemnly in -love with you."</p> - -<p>"And I with you, Nick." She gazed ahead, where the road rose over the -arch of a narrow bridge. The speeding car lifted to the rise like a -zooming plane.</p> - -<p>And suddenly, squarely in the center of the road, another car, until -now concealed by the arch of the bridge, appeared almost upon them. -There was a heart-stopping moment when a collision seemed inevitable, -and Pat felt the arm against her tighten convulsively into a bar of -steel. She heard her own sobbing gasp, and then, somehow, they had -slipped unscathed between the other car and the rail of the bridge.</p> - -<p>"Oh!" she gasped faintly, then with a return of breath, "That was nice, -Nick!"</p> - -<p>Beyond the bridge, the road widened once more; she felt the car -slowing, edging toward the broad shoulder of the road.</p> - -<p>"There was danger," said her companion in tones as emotionless as the -rasping of metal. "I came to save it."</p> - -<p>"Save what?" queried Pat as the car slid to a halt on the turf.</p> - -<p>"Your body." The tones were still cold, like grinding wheels. "The -beauty of your body!"</p> - -<p>He reached a thin hand toward her, suddenly seized her skirt and -snatched it above the silken roundness of her knees. "There," he -rasped. "That is what I mean."</p> - -<p>"Nick!" Pat half-screamed in appalled astonishment. "How—" She paused, -shocked into abrupt silence, for the face turned toward her was but a -remote, evil caricature of Nicholas Devine's. It leered at her out of -blood-shot eyes, as if behind the mask of Nick's face peered a red-eyed -demon.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C5" id="C5">5</a><br /> -<small>A Fantasy of Fear</small></h2> - - -<p>The satyr beside pat was leaning toward her; the arm about her was -tightening with a brutal ruthlessness, and while still staring in -fascination at the incredible eyes, she realized that another arm and -a white hand was moving relentlessly, exploratively, toward her body. -It was the cold touch of this hand as it slipped over her silk-sheathed -legs that broke the chilling spell of her fascination.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she screamed. "Nick!" She had a curious sensation of calling -him back from far distances, the while she strove with both hands and -all her strength to press him back from her. But the ruthless force of -his arms was overcoming her resistance; she saw the red eyes a hand's -breadth from her own.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she sobbed in terror.</p> - -<p>There was a change. Abruptly, she was looking into Nick's eyes, -blood-shot, frightened, puzzled, but indubitably Nick's eyes. The -flaming orbs of the demon were no more; it was as if they had receded -into Nick's head. The arm about her body relaxed, and they were staring -at each other in a medley of consternation, amazement and unbelief. The -youth drew back, huddled in his corner of the car, and Pat, breathing -in sobs, smoothed out her rumpled apparel with a convulsive movement.</p> - -<p>"Pat!" he gasped. "Oh, my God! He couldn't have—" He paused abruptly. -The girl gazed at him without reply.</p> - -<p>"Pat, Dear," he spoke in a low, tense murmur, "I'm—sorry. I don't -know—I don't understand how—"</p> - -<p>"Never mind," she said, regaining a vestige of her customary composure. -"It's—all right, Nick."</p> - -<p>"But—oh, Pat—!"</p> - -<p>"It was that near accident," she said. "That upset you—both of us, I -mean."</p> - -<p>"Yes!" he said eagerly. "That's what it was, Pat. It must have been -that, but Dear, can you forgive? Do you want to forgive me?"</p> - -<p>"It's all right," she repeated. "After all, you just complimented my -legs, and I guess I can stand that. It's happened before, only not -quite so—convincingly!"</p> - -<p>"You're sweet, Pat!"</p> - -<p>"No; I just love you Nick." She felt a sudden pity for the misery in -his face. "Kiss me, Nick—only gently."</p> - -<p>He pressed his lips to hers, very lightly, almost timidly. She lay back -against the seat for a moment, her eyes closed.</p> - -<p>"That's you again," she murmured. "This other—wasn't."</p> - -<p>"Please, Pat! Don't refer to it,—not ever."</p> - -<p>"But it wasn't you, Nick. It was just the strain of that narrow escape. -I don't hold it against you."</p> - -<p>"You're—Lord, Pat, I don't deserve you. But you know that I—I -myself—could never touch you except in tenderness, even in reverence. -You're too dainty, too lovely, too spirited, to be hurt, or to be held -roughly, against your will. You know I feel that way about you, don't -you?"</p> - -<p>"Of course. It was nothing, Nick. Forget it."</p> - -<p>"If I can," he said somberly. He switched on the engine, backed out -upon the pavement, and turned the car toward the glow that marked -Chicago. Neither of them spoke as the machine hummed over the arching -bridge and down the slope, where, so few minutes before, the threat of -accident had thrust itself at them.</p> - -<p>"We won't see a moon tonight," said Pat in a small voice, after an -interval. "We'll never check up on Dr. Carl's astronomy."</p> - -<p>"You don't want to tonight, Pat, do you?"</p> - -<p>"I guess perhaps we'd better not," she replied. "We're both upset, and -there'll be other nights."</p> - -<p>Again they were silent. Pat felt strained, shaken; there was something -uncanny about the occurrence that puzzled her. The red eyes that had -glared out of Nick's face perplexed her, and the curious rasping voice -he had used still sounded inhumanly in her memory. Out of recollection -rose still another mystery.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said, "what did you mean—then—when you said there was -danger and you came to save me?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing," he said sharply.</p> - -<p>"And then, afterwards, you started to say something about 'He couldn't -have—'. Who's 'he'?"</p> - -<p>"It meant nothing, I tell you. I was frantic to think you might have -been hurt. That's all."</p> - -<p>"I believe you, Honey," she said, wondering whether she really did. The -thing was beginning to grow hazy; already it was assuming merely the -proportions of an upheaval of youthful fervor. Such occurrences were -not unheard of, though never before had it happened to Patricia Lane! -Still, even that was conceivable, far more conceivable than the dark, -unformed, inchoate suspicions she had been harboring. They hadn't even -been definite enough to be called suspicions; indefinite apprehensions -came closer.</p> - -<p>And yet—that strange, wild face that had formed itself of Nick's fine -features, and the terrible red eyes! Were they elements in a picture -conjured out of her own imagination? They must be, of course. She had -been frightened by that hairbreadth escape, and had seen things that -didn't exist. And the rest of it—well, that might be natural enough. -Still, there was something—she knew that; Nick had admitted it.</p> - -<p>Horker's words concerning Nick's father rose in her mind. Suspected -of being crazy! Was that it? Was that the cause of Nick's curious -reluctance where she was concerned? Was the face that had glared -at her the visage of a maniac? It couldn't be. It couldn't be, she -told herself fiercely. Not her fine, tender, sensitive Nick! And -besides, that face, if she hadn't imagined it, had been the face, not -of a lunatic, but of a devil. She shook her head, as if to deny her -thoughts, and placed her hand impulsively on Nick's.</p> - -<p>"I don't care," she said. "I love you, Nick."</p> - -<p>"And I you," he murmured. "Pat, I'm sorry about spoiling this evening. -I'm sorry and ashamed."</p> - -<p>"Never mind, Honey. There'll be others."</p> - -<p>"Tomorrow?"</p> - -<p>"No," she said. "Mother and I are going out to dinner. And Friday we're -having company."</p> - -<p>"Really, Pat? You're not just trying to turn me off gently."</p> - -<p>"Really, Nick. Try asking me for Saturday evening and see!"</p> - -<p>"You're asked, then."</p> - -<p>"And it's a date." Then, with a return of her usual insouciance, she -added. "If you're on good behavior."</p> - -<p>"I will be. I promise."</p> - -<p>"I hope so," said Pat. An inexplicable sense of foreboding had come -over her; despite her self-given assurances, something unnameable -troubled her. She gave a mental shrug, and deliberately relegated the -unpleasant cogitations to oblivion.</p> - -<p>The car turned into Dempster Road; the lights of the teeming -roadhouses, dance halls, road-side hamburger and barbecue stands -flashed by. There were many cars here; there was no longer any -impression of solitude now, in the overflow from the vast city in -whose shadow they moved. The incessant flow of traffic gave the girl -a feeling of security; these were tangible things about her, and once -more the memory of that disturbing occurrence became dim and dreamlike. -This was Nick beside her, gentle, intelligent, kind; had he ever been -otherwise? It seemed highly unreasonable, a fantasy of fear and the -hysteria of the moment.</p> - -<p>"Hungry?" asked Nick unexpectedly.</p> - -<p>"I could use a barbecue, I guess. Beef."</p> - -<p>The car veered to the graveled area before a brightly lit stand. Nick -gave the order to an attendant. He chuckled as Pat, with the digestive -disregard of youth attacked the greasy combination.</p> - -<p>"That's like a humming bird eating hay!" he said. "Or better, like a -leprechaun eating that horse-meat they can for dogs."</p> - -<p>"You might as well discover that I don't live on honey and -rose-petals," said Pat. "Not even on caviar and terrapin—at least, not -exclusively. I leave the dainty palate for Mother to indulge."</p> - -<p>"Which is just as well. Hamburger and barbecue are more easily -budgeted."</p> - -<p>"Nicholas," said the girl, tossing the paper napkin out of the car -window, "is that an indirect and very evasive proposal of marriage?"</p> - -<p>"You know it could be, if you wished it!"</p> - -<p>"And do I?" she said, assuming a pensive air. "I wonder. Suppose we say -I'll let you know later."</p> - -<p>"And meanwhile?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, meanwhile we can be sort of engaged. Just the way we've been."</p> - -<p>"You're sweet, Pat," he murmured, as the car edged into the line of -traffic. "I don't know just how to convey my appreciation, but it's -there!"</p> - -<p>The buildings drew more closely together; the road was suddenly a -lighted street, and then, almost without realizing it, they were before -Pat's home. Nick walked beside her to the door; he stood facing her -hesitantly.</p> - -<p>"Good night, Pat," he said huskily. He leaned down, kissing her very -gently, turned, and departed.</p> - -<p>The girl watched him from the open doorway, following the lights of -his car until they vanished down the street. Dear, sweet Nick! Then -the disturbing memory of that occurrence of the evening returned; she -frowned in perplexity as the thought rose. That was all of a piece with -the puzzling character of him, and the curious veiled references he'd -made. References to what? She didn't know, couldn't imagine. Nick had -said he didn't know either, which added still another quirk to the maze.</p> - -<p>She thought of Dr. Horker's words. With the thought, she glanced at his -house, adjacent to her own home. A light gleamed in the library; he -was still awake. She closed the door behind her, and darted across the -narrow strip of lawn to his porch. She rang the bell.</p> - -<p>"Good evening, Dr. Carl," she said as the massive form of Horker -appeared. She puckered her lips impudently at him as she slipped by him -into the house.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C6" id="C6">6</a><br /> -<small>A Question of Science</small></h2> - - -<p>"Not that I'm displeased at this visit, Pat," rumbled the Doctor, -seating himself in one of the great chairs by the fireplace, "but I'm -curious. I thought you were dating your ideal tonight, yet here you -are, back alone a little after eleven. How come?"</p> - -<p>"Oh," said the girl nonchalantly, dropping crosswise in the other -chair, "we decided we needed our beauty sleep."</p> - -<p>"Then why are you here, you young imp?"</p> - -<p>"Thought you might be lonesome."</p> - -<p>"I'll bet you did! But seriously, Pat, what is it? Any trouble?"</p> - -<p>"No-o," she said dubiously. "No trouble. I just wanted to ask you a few -hypothetical questions. About science."</p> - -<p>"Go to it, then, and quickly. I was ready to turn in."</p> - -<p>"Well," said Pat, "about Nick's father. He was a doctor, you said, and -supposed to be cracked. Was he really?"</p> - -<p>"Humph! That's curious. I just looked up a brochure of his tonight in -the American Medical Journal, after our conversation of this afternoon. -Why do you ask that?"</p> - -<p>"Because I'm interested, of course."</p> - -<p>"Well, here's what I remember about him, Pat. He was an M.D., all -right, but I see by his paper there—the one I was reading—that he was -on the staff of Northern U. He did some work at the Cook County Asylum, -some research work, and there was a bit of talk about his maltreating -the patients. Then, on top of that, he published a paper that medical -men considered crazy, and that started talk of his sanity. That's all I -know."</p> - -<p>"Then Nick—."</p> - -<p>"I thought so! So it's come to the point where you're investigating his -antecedents, eh? With an eye to marriage, or what?"</p> - -<p>"Or what!" snapped Pat. "I was curious to know, naturally."</p> - -<p>"Naturally." The Doctor gave her a keen glance from his shrewd eyes. -"Did you think you detected incipient dementia in your ideal?"</p> - -<p>"No," said the girl thoughtfully. "Dr. Carl, is there any sort -of craziness that could take an ordinarily shy person and make a -passionate devil of him? I don't mean passionate, either," she added. -"Rather cold, ruthless, domineering."</p> - -<p>"None that I know of," said Horker, watching her closely. "Did this -Nick of yours have one of his masterful moments?"</p> - -<p>"Worse than that," admitted Pat reluctantly. "We had a near accident, -and it startled both of us, and then suddenly, he was looking at me -like a devil, and then—" She paused. "It frightened me a little."</p> - -<p>"What'd he do?" demanded Horker sharply.</p> - -<p>"Nothing." She lied with no hesitation.</p> - -<p>"Were there any signs of Satyromania?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. I never heard of that."</p> - -<p>"I mean, in plain Americanese, did he make a pass at you?"</p> - -<p>"He—no, he didn't."</p> - -<p>"Well, what <i>did</i> he do?"</p> - -<p>"He just looked at me." Somehow a feeling of disloyalty was rising in -her; she felt a reluctance to betray Nick further.</p> - -<p>"What did he say, then? And don't lie this time."</p> - -<p>"He just said—He just looked at my legs and said something about their -being beautiful, and that was all. After that, the look on his face -faded into the old Nick."</p> - -<p>"Old Nick is right—the impudent scoundrel!" Horker's voice rumbled -angrily.</p> - -<p>"Well, they're nice legs," said Pat defiantly, swinging them as -evidence. "You've said it yourself. Why shouldn't <i>he</i> say it? What's -to keep him from it?"</p> - -<p>"The code of a gentleman, for one thing!"</p> - -<p>"Oh, who cares for your Victorian codes! Anyway, I came here for -information, not to be cross-examined. I want to ask the questions -myself."</p> - -<p>"Pat, you're a reckless little spit-fire, and you're going to get -burned some day, and deserve it," the Doctor rumbled ominously. "Ask -your fool questions, and then I'll ask mine."</p> - -<p>"All right," said the girl, still defiant. "I don't guarantee to answer -yours, however."</p> - -<p>"Well, ask yours, you imp!"</p> - -<p>"First, then—Is that Satyro-stuff you mentioned intermittent or -continuous?"</p> - -<p>"It's necessarily intermittent, you numb-skull! The male organism can't -function continuously!"</p> - -<p>"I mean, does the mania lie dormant for weeks or months, and then flare -up?"</p> - -<p>"Not at all. It's a permanent mania, like any other psychopathic sex -condition."</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Pat thoughtfully, with a sense of relief.</p> - -<p>"Well, go on. What next?"</p> - -<p>"What are these dual personalities you read about in the papers?"</p> - -<p>"They're aphasias. An individual forgets his name, and he picks, or is -given, another, if he happens to wander among strangers. He forgets -much of his past experience; the second personality is merely what's -left of the first—sort of a vestige of his normal character. There -isn't any such thing as a dual personality in the sense of two distinct -characters living in one body."</p> - -<p>"Isn't there?" queried the girl musingly. "Could the second personality -have qualities that the first one lacked?"</p> - -<p>"Not any more than it could have an extra finger! The second is merely -a split off the first, a forgetfulness, a loss of memory. It couldn't -have <i>more</i> qualities than the whole, or normal, character; it <i>must</i> -have fewer."</p> - -<p>"Isn't that just too interesting!" said Pat in a bantering tone. "All -right, Dr. Carl. It's your turn."</p> - -<p>"Then what's the reason for all this curiosity about perversions and -aphasias? What's happened to your genius now?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'm thinking of taking up the study of psychiatry," replied the -girl cheerfully.</p> - -<p>"Aren't you going to answer me seriously?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Then what's the use of my asking questions?"</p> - -<p>"I know the right answer to that one. None!"</p> - -<p>"Pat," said Horker in a low voice, "you're an impudent little hoyden, -and too clever for your own good, but you and your mother are very -precious to me. You know that."</p> - -<p>"Of course I do, Dr. Carl," said the girl, relenting. "You're a dear, -and I'm crazy about you, and you know that, too."</p> - -<p>"What I'm trying to say," proceeded the other, "is simply that I'm -trying to help you. I want to help you, if you need help. Do you?"</p> - -<p>"I guess I don't, Dr. Carl, but you're sweet."</p> - -<p>"Are you in love with this Nicholas Devine?"</p> - -<p>"I think perhaps I am," she admitted softly.</p> - -<p>"And is he in love with you?"</p> - -<p>"Frankly, could he help being?"</p> - -<p>"Then there's something about him that worries you. That's it, isn't -it?"</p> - -<p>"I thought there was, Dr. Carl. I was a little startled by the change -in him right after we had that narrow escape, but I'm sure it was -nothing—just imagination. Honestly, that's all that troubled me."</p> - -<p>"I believe you, Pat," said the Doctor, his eyes fixed on hers. "But -guard yourself, my dear. Be sure he's what you think he is; be sure you -know him rightly."</p> - -<p>"He's clean and fine," murmured the girl. "I <i>am</i> sure."</p> - -<p>"But this puzzling yourself about his character, Pat—I don't like it. -Make doubly sure before you permit your feelings to become too deeply -involved. That's only common sense, child, not psychiatry or magic."</p> - -<p>"I'm sure," repeated Pat. "I'm not puzzled or troubled any more. And -thanks, Dr. Carl. You run along to bed and I'll do likewise."</p> - -<p>He rose, accompanying her to the door, his face unusually grave.</p> - -<p>"Patricia," he said, "I want you to think over what I've said. Be -sure, be doubly sure, before you expose yourself to the possibility of -suffering. Remember that, won't you?"</p> - -<p>"I'll try to. Don't fret yourself about it, Dr. Carl; I'm a hard-boiled -young modern, and it takes a diamond to even scratch me."</p> - -<p>"I hope so," he said soberly. "Run along; I'll watch until you're -inside."</p> - -<p>Pat darted across the strip of grass, turned at her door to blow a -goodnight kiss to the Doctor, and slipped in. She tiptoed quietly to -her room, slipped off her dress, and surveyed her long, slim legs in -the mirror.</p> - -<p>"Why shouldn't he say they were beautiful?" she queried of the image. -"I can't see any reason to get excited over a simple compliment like -that."</p> - -<p>She made a face over her shoulder at the green Buddha above the -fireplace.</p> - -<p>"And as for you, fat boy," she murmured, "I expect to see you wink at -me tonight. And every night hereafter!"</p> - -<p>She prepared herself for slumber, slipped into the great bed. She had -hardly closed her lids before the image of a leering face with terrible -bloody eyes flamed out of memory and set her trembling and shuddering.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C7" id="C7">7</a><br /> -<small>The Red Eyes Return</small></h2> - - -<p>"I suppose I really ought to meet your friends, Patricia," said Mrs. -Lane, peering out of the window, "but they all seem to call when I'm -not at home."</p> - -<p>"I'll have some of them call in February," said Pat. "You're not out as -often in February."</p> - -<p>"Why do you say I'm not out as often in February?" demanded her mother. -"I don't see what earthly difference the month makes."</p> - -<p>"There are fewer days in February," retorted Pat airily.</p> - -<p>"Facetious brat!"</p> - -<p>"So I've been told. You needn't worry, though, Mother; I'm sober, -steady, and reliable, and if I weren't, Dr. Carl would see to it that -my associates were."</p> - -<p>"Yes; Carl is a gem," observed her mother. "By the way, who's this -Nicholas you're so enthusiastic about?"</p> - -<p>"He's a boy I met."</p> - -<p>"What's he like?"</p> - -<p>"Well, he speaks English and wears a hat."</p> - -<p>"Imp! Is he nice?"</p> - -<p>"That means is his family acceptable, doesn't it? He hasn't any family."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Lane shrugged her attractive shoulders. "You're a self-reliant -sort, Patricia, and cool as iced lettuce, like your father. I don't -doubt that you can manage your own affairs, and here comes Claude with -the car." She gave the girl a hasty kiss. "Good-bye, and have a good -time, as I'm sure I shan't with Bret Cutter in the game."</p> - -<p>Pat watched her mother's trim, amazingly youthful figure as she entered -the car. More like a companion than a parent, she mused; she liked the -independence her mother's attitude permitted her.</p> - -<p>"Better than being watched like a prize-winning puppy," she thought. -"Maybe Dr. Carl as a father would have a detriment or two along with -the advantages. He's a dear, and I'm mad about him, but he does lean to -the nineteenth century as far as parental duties are concerned."</p> - -<p>She saw Nick's car draw to the curb; as he emerged she waved from the -window and skipped into the hall. She caught up her wrap and bounded -out to meet him just ascending the steps.</p> - -<p>"Let's go!" she greeted him. She cast an apprehensive glance at his -features, but there was nothing disturbing about him. He gave her a -diffident smile, the shy, gentle smile that had taken her in that first -moment of meeting. This was certainly no one but her own Nick, with no -trace of the unsettling personality of their last encounter.</p> - -<p>He helped her into the car, seating himself at her side. He leaned over -her, kissing her very tenderly; suddenly she was clinging to him, her -face against the thrilling warmth of his cheek.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she murmured. "Nick! You're just safely you, aren't you? I've -been imagining things that I knew couldn't be so!"</p> - -<p>He slipped his arm caressingly about her, and the pressure of it was -like the security of encircling battlements. The world was outside -the circle of his arms; she was within, safe, inviolable. It was some -moments before she stirred, lifting her pert face with tear-bright eyes -from the obscurity of his shoulder.</p> - -<p>"So!" she exclaimed, patting the black glow of her hair into composure. -"I feel better, Nick, and I hope you didn't mind."</p> - -<p>"Mind!" he ejaculated. "If you mean that as a joke, Honey, it's far too -subtle for me."</p> - -<p>"Well, I didn't think you'd mind," said Pat demurely, settling herself -beside him. "Let's be moving, then; Dr. Carl is nearly popping his eyes -out in the window there."</p> - -<p>The car hummed into motion; she waved a derisive arm at the Doctor's -window by way of indicating her knowledge of his surveillance. "Ought -to teach him a lesson some time," she thought. "One of these fine -evenings I'll give him a real shock."</p> - -<p>"Where'll we go?" queried Nick, veering skilfully into the swift -traffic of Sheridan Road.</p> - -<p>"Anywhere!" she said blithely. "Who cares as long as we go together?"</p> - -<p>"Dancing?"</p> - -<p>"Why not? Know a good place?"</p> - -<p>"No." He frowned in thought. "I haven't indulged much."</p> - -<p>"The Picador?" she suggested. "The music's good, and it's not too -expensive. But it's 'most across town, and besides, Saturday nights -we'd be sure to run into some of the crowd."</p> - -<p>"What of it?"</p> - -<p>"I want to dance with you, Nick—all evening. I want to be without -distractions."</p> - -<p>"Pat, dear! I could kiss you for that."</p> - -<p>"You will," she murmured softly.</p> - -<p>They moved aimlessly south with the traffic, pausing momentarily at the -light-controlled intersections, then whirring again to rapid motion. -The girl leaned against his arm silently, contentedly; block after -block dropped behind.</p> - -<p>"Why so pensive, Honey?" he asked after an interval. "I've never known -you so quiet before."</p> - -<p>"I'm enjoying my happiness, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Aren't you usually happy?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, only these last two or three days, ever since our last -date, I've been making myself miserable. I've been telling myself -foolish things, impossible things, and it's only now that I've thrown -off the blues. I'm happy, Dear!"</p> - -<p>"I'm glad you are," he said. His voice was strangely husky, and he -stared fixedly at the street rushing toward them. "I'm glad you are," -he repeated, a curious tensity in his tones.</p> - -<p>"So'm I."</p> - -<p>"I'll never do anything to make you unhappy, Pat—never. Not—if I can -help it."</p> - -<p>"You can help it, Nick. You're the one making me happy; please keep -doing it."</p> - -<p>"I—hope to." There was a queer catch in his voice. It was almost as if -he feared something.</p> - -<p>"Selah!" said Pat conclusively. She was thinking, "Wrong of me to refer -to that accident. After all it was harmless; just a natural burst of -passion. Might happen to anyone."</p> - -<p>"Where'll we go?" asked Nick as they swung into the tree-shadowed road -of Lincoln Park. "We haven't decided that."</p> - -<p>"Anywhere," said the girl dreamily. "Just drive; we'll find a place."</p> - -<p>"You must know lots of them."</p> - -<p>"We'll find a new place; we'll discover it for ourselves. It'll mean -more, doing that, than if we just go to one of the old places where -I've been with every boy that ever dated me. You don't want me dancing -with a crowd of memories, do you?"</p> - -<p>"I shouldn't mind as long as they stayed merely memories."</p> - -<p>"Well, I should! This evening's to be ours—exclusively ours."</p> - -<p>"As if it could ever be otherwise!"</p> - -<p>"Indeed?" said Pat. "And how do you know what memories I might choose -to carry along? Are you capable of inspecting my mental baggage?"</p> - -<p>"We'll check it at the door. You're traveling light tonight, aren't -you?"</p> - -<p>"Pest!" she said, giving his cheek an impudent vicious pinch. "Nice, -pleasurable pest!"</p> - -<p>He made no answer. The car was idling rather slowly along Michigan -Boulevard; half a block ahead glowed the green of a traffic light. -Faster traffic flowed around them, passing them like water eddying -about a slow floating branch.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the car lurched forward. The amber flame of the warning light -had flared out; they flashed across the intersection a split second -before the metallic click of the red light, and a scant few feet before -the converging lines of traffic from the side street swept in with -protesting horns.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" the girl gasped. "You'll rate yourself a traffic ticket! Why'd -you cut the light like that?"</p> - -<p>"To lose your guardian angel," he muttered in tones so low she barely -understood his words.</p> - -<p>Pat glanced back; the lights of a dozen cars showed beyond the barrier -of the red signal.</p> - -<p>"Do you mean one of those cars was following us? What on earth makes -you think that, and why should it, anyway?"</p> - -<p>The other made no answer; he swerved the car abruptly off the avenue, -into one of the nondescript side streets. He drove swiftly to the -corner, turned south again, and turned again on some street Pat failed -to identify—South Superior or Grand, she thought. They were scarcely -a block from the magnificence of Michigan Avenue and its skyscrapers, -its brilliant lights, and its teeming night traffic, yet here they -moved down a deserted dark thoroughfare, a street lined with ramshackle -wooden houses intermingled with mean little shops.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" Pat exclaimed. "Where are we going?"</p> - -<p>The low voice sounded. "Dancing," he said.</p> - -<p>He brought the car to the curb; in the silence as the motor died, the -faint strains of a mechanical piano sounded. He opened the car door, -stepped around to the sidewalk.</p> - -<p>"We're here," he said.</p> - -<p>Something metallic in his tone drew Pat's eyes to his face. The eyes -that returned her stare were the bloody orbs of the demon of last -Wednesday night!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C8" id="C8">8</a><br /> -<small>Gateway to Evil</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat stared curiously at the apparition but made no move to alight from -the vehicle. She was conscious of no fear, only a sense of wonder -and perplexity. After all, this was merely Nick, her own harmless, -adoring Nick, in some sort of mysterious masquerade, and she felt full -confidence in her ability to handle him under any circumstances.</p> - -<p>"Where's here?" she said, remaining motionless in her place.</p> - -<p>"A place to dance," came the toneless reply.</p> - -<p>Pat eyed him; a street car rumbled past, and the brief glow from its -lighted windows swept over his face. Suddenly the visage was that -of Nick; the crimson glare of the eyes was imperceptible, and the -features were the well-known appurtenances of Nicholas Devine, but -queerly tensed and strained.</p> - -<p>"A trick of the light," she thought, as the street car lumbered away, -and again a faint gleam of crimson appeared. She gazed curiously at the -youth, who stood impassively returning her survey as he held the door -of the car. But the face was the face of Nick, she perceived, probably -in one of his grim moods.</p> - -<p>She transferred her glance to the building opposite which they had -stopped. The strains of the mechanical piano had ceased; blank, -shaded windows faced them, around whose edges glowed a subdued light -from within. A drab, battered, paintless shack, she thought, dismal -and unpleasant; while she gazed, the sound of the discordant music -recommenced, adding, it seemed, the last unprepossessing item.</p> - -<p>"It doesn't look very attractive, Nick," she observed dubiously.</p> - -<p>"I find it so, however."</p> - -<p>"Then you've been here?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"But I thought you said you didn't know any place to go."</p> - -<p>"This one hadn't occurred to me—then."</p> - -<p>"Well," she said crisply, "I could have done as well as this with my -eyes closed. It doesn't appeal to me at all, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Nevertheless, here's where we'll go. You're apt to find -it—interesting."</p> - -<p>"Look here, Nicholas Devine!" Pat snapped, "What makes you think you -can bully me? No one has ever succeeded yet!"</p> - -<p>"I said you'd find it interesting." His voice was unchanged; she stared -at him in complete bafflement.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Nick!" she exclaimed in suddenly softer tones. "What difference -does it make? Didn't I say anywhere would do, so we went together?" She -smiled at him. "This will do if you wish, though really, Honey, I'd -prefer not."</p> - -<p>"I do wish it," the other said.</p> - -<p>"All right, Honey," said Pat the faintest trace of reluctance in her -voice as she slipped from the car. "I stick to my bargains."</p> - -<p>She winced at the intensity of his grip as he took her arm to assist -her. His fingers were like taunt wires biting into her flesh.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she cried. "You're hurting me! You're bruising my arm!"</p> - -<p>He released her; she rubbed the spot ruefully, then followed him to the -door of the mysterious establishment. The unharmonious jangle of the -piano dinned abruptly louder as he swung the door open. Pat entered and -glanced around her at the room revealed.</p> - -<p>Dull, smoky, dismal—not the least exciting or interesting as yet, -she thought. A short bar paralleled one wall, behind which lounged a -little, thin, nondescript individual with a small mustache. Half a -dozen tables filled the remainder of the room; four or five occupied -by the clientele of the place, as unsavory a group as the girl could -recall having encountered on the hither side of the motion picture -screen. Two women tittered as Nick entered; then with one accord, the -eyes of the entire group fixed on Pat, where she stood drawing her wrap -more closely about her, standing uncomfortably behind her escort. And -the piano tinkled its discords in the far corner.</p> - -<p>"Same place," said Nick shortly to the bartender, ignoring the glances -of the others. Pat followed him across the room to a door, into a hall, -thence into a smaller room furnished merely with a table and four -chairs. The nondescript man stood waiting in the doorway as Nick took -her wrap and seated her in one of the chairs.</p> - -<p>"Quart," he said laconically, and the bartender disappeared.</p> - -<p>Pat stared intently, studiously, into the face of her companion. Nick's -face, certainly; here in full light there was no trace of the red-eyed -horror she had fancied out there in the semi-darkness of the street. Or -was there? Now—when he turned, when the light struck his eyes at an -angle, was that a glint of crimson? Still, the features were Nick's, -only a certain grim intensity foreign to him lurked about the set of -his mouth, the narrowed eye-lids.</p> - -<p>"Well!" she said. "So this is Paris! What are you trying to do—teach -me capital L—life? And where do we dance?"</p> - -<p>"In here."</p> - -<p>"And what kind of quart was that you ordered? You know how little I -drink, and I'm darned particular about even that little."</p> - -<p>"You'll like this."</p> - -<p>"I doubt it."</p> - -<p>"I said you'll like it," he reiterated in flat tones.</p> - -<p>"I heard you say it." She regarded him with a puzzled frown. "Nick," -she said suddenly, "I've decided I like you better in your gentle pose; -this masterful attitude isn't becoming, and you can forget what I said -about wishing you'd display it oftener."</p> - -<p>"You'll like that, too."</p> - -<p>"Again I doubt it. Nick, dear, don't spoil another evening like that -last one!"</p> - -<p>"This one won't be like the last one!"</p> - -<p>"But Honey—" she paused at the entrance of the bartender bearing a -tray, an opened bottle of ginger ale, two glasses of ice, and a flask -of oily amber liquid. He deposited the assortment on the red-checked -table cloth.</p> - -<p>"Two dollars," he said, pocketed the money and silently retired.</p> - -<p>"Nicholas," said the girl tartly, "there's enough of that poison for a -regiment."</p> - -<p>"I don't think so."</p> - -<p>"Well, I won't drink it, and I won't let you drink it! So now what?"</p> - -<p>"I think you'll do both."</p> - -<p>"I don't!" she snapped. "And I don't like this, Nick—the place, or the -liquor, or your attitude, or anything. We're going to leave!"</p> - -<p>Instead of answering, he pulled the cork from the bottle, pouring a -quantity of the amber fluid into each of the tumblers. To one he added -an equal quantity of ginger ale, and set it deliberately squarely in -front of Pat. She frowned at it distastefully, and shook her head.</p> - -<p>"No," she said. "Not I. I'm leaving."</p> - -<p>She made no move, however; her eyes met those of her companion, gazing -at her with a cold intentness in their curious amber depths. And -again—was that a flash of red? Impulsively she reached out her hand, -touched his.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Nick!" she said in soft, almost pleading tones. "Please, Honey—I -don't understand you. Don't you know I love you, Nick? You can hear me -say it: I love you. Don't you believe that?"</p> - -<p>He continued his cold, intense stare; the grim set of his mouth was as -unrelaxing as marble. Pat felt a shiver of apprehension run through -her, and an almost hypnotic desire to yield herself to the demands of -the inexplicable eyes. She tore her glance away, looking down at the -red checks of the table cloth.</p> - -<p>"Nick, dear," she said. "I can't understand this. Will you tell me what -you—will you tell me why we're here?"</p> - -<p>"It is out of your grasp."</p> - -<p>"But—I know it has something to do with Wednesday night, something -to do with that reluctance of yours, the thing you said you didn't -understand. Hasn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Do you think so?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said. "I do! And Nick, Honey—didn't I tell you I could -forgive you anything? I don't care what's happened in the past; all I -care for is now, now and the future. Don't you understand me? I've told -you I loved you, Honey! Don't you love me?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said the other, staring at her with no change in the fixity of -his gaze.</p> - -<p>"Then how can you—act like this to me?"</p> - -<p>"This is my conception of love."</p> - -<p>"I don't understand!" the girl said helplessly. "I'm completely -puzzled—it's all topsy-turvy."</p> - -<p>"Yes," he said in impassive agreement.</p> - -<p>"But what is this, Nick? Please, please—what is this? Are you mad?" -She had almost added, "Like your father."</p> - -<p>"No," he said, still in those cold tones. "This is an experiment."</p> - -<p>"An experiment!"</p> - -<p>"Yes. An experiment in evil."</p> - -<p>"I don't understand," she repeated.</p> - -<p>"I said you wouldn't."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean," she asked, struck by a sudden thought, "that discussion -of ours about pure horror? What you said that night last week?"</p> - -<p>"That!" His voice was icy and contemptuous. "That was the drivel of a -weakling. No; I mean evil, not horror—the living evil that can be so -beautiful that one walks deliberately, with open eyes, into Hell only -to prevent its loss. That is the experiment."</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Pat, her own voice suddenly cool. "Is that what you wish to -do—experiment on me?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"And what am I supposed to do?"</p> - -<p>"First you are to drink with me."</p> - -<p>"I see," she said slowly. "I see—dimly. I am a subject, a reagent, -a guinea pig, to provide you material for your writing. You propose -to use me in this experiment of yours—this experiment in evil. All -right!" She picked up the tumbler; impulsively she drained it. The -liquor, diluted as it was, was raw and strong enough to bring tears -smarting to her eyes. Or <i>was</i> it the liquor?</p> - -<p>"All right!" she cried. "I'll drink it all—the whole bottle!" She -seized the flask, filling her tumbler to the brim, while her companion -watched her with impassive gaze. "You'll have your experiment! And -then, Nicholas Devine, we're through! Do you hear me? Through!"</p> - -<p>She caught up the tumbler, raised it to her lips, and drained the -searing liquid until she could see her companion's cold eyes regarding -her through the glass of its bottom.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C9" id="C9">9</a><br /> -<small>Descent into Avernus</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat slammed the empty tumbler down on the checked table cloth and -buried her face in her hands, choking and gasping from the effects -of the fiery liquor. Her throat burned, her mouth was parched by the -acrid taste, and a conflagration seemed to be raging somewhere within -her. Then she steadied, raised her eyes, and stared straight into the -strange eyes of Nicholas Devine.</p> - -<p>"Well?" she said fiercely. "Is that enough?"</p> - -<p>He was watching her coldly as an image or a painting; the intensity of -his gaze was more cat-like than human. She moved her head aside; his -eyes, without apparent shift, were still on hers, like the eyes of a -pictured face. A resurgence of anger shook her at his immobility; his -aloofness seemed to imply that nothing she could do would disturb him.</p> - -<p>"Wasn't it enough?" she screamed. "Wasn't it? Then look!"</p> - -<p>She seized the bottle, poured another stream of the oily liquid -into her glass, and raised it to her lips. Again the burning fluid -excoriated her tongue and throat, and then suddenly, the tumbler was -struck from her hand, spilling the rest of its contents on the table.</p> - -<p>"That is enough," said the icy voice of her companion.</p> - -<p>"Oh, it is? We'll see!" She snatched at the bottle, still more than -half full. The thin hand of Nicholas Devine wrenched it violently away.</p> - -<p>"Give me that!" she cried. "You wanted what you're getting!" The warmth -within her had reached the surface now; she felt flushed, excited, -reckless, and desperately angry.</p> - -<p>The other set the bottle deliberately on the floor; he rose, circled -the table, and stood glaring down at her with that same inexplicable -expression. Suddenly he raised his hand; twisting her black hair in -his fist, he dealt her a stinging blow across the lips half-opened to -scream, then flung her away so violently that she nearly sprawled from -her chair.</p> - -<p>The scream died in her throat; dazed by the blow, she dropped her head -to the table, while sobs of pain and fear shook her. Coherent thought -had departed, and she knew only that her lips stung, that her clear, -active little mind was caught in a mesh of befuddlement. She couldn't -think; she could only sob in the haze of dizziness that encompassed -her. After a long interval, she raised her head, opened her eyes upon -a swaying, unsteady world, and faced her companion, who had silently -resumed his seat.</p> - -<p>"Nicholas Devine," she said slowly, speaking as if each word were an -effort, "I hate you!"</p> - -<p>"Ah!" he said and was again silent.</p> - -<p>She forced her eyes to focus on his face, while his features danced -vaguely as if smoke flowed between the two of them. It was as if there -were smoke in her mind as well; she made a great effort to rise above -the clouds that bemused her thoughts.</p> - -<p>"Take me home," she said. "Nicholas, I want to go home."</p> - -<p>"Why should I?" he asked impassively. "The experiment is hardly begun."</p> - -<p>"Experiment?" she echoed dully. "Oh, yes—experiment. I'm an -experiment."</p> - -<p>"An experiment in evil," he said.</p> - -<p>"Yes—in evil. And I hate you! That's evil enough, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>He reached down, lifted the bottle to the table, and methodically -poured himself a drink of the liquor. He raised it, watching the oily -swirls in the light, then tipped the fluid to his lips while the girl -gazed at him with a sullen set to her own lips. A tiny crimson spot -had appeared in the corner of her mouth; at its sting, she raised her -hand and brushed it away. She stared as if in unbelief at the small red -smear it left on her fingers.</p> - -<p>"Nicholas," she said pleadingly, "won't you take me home? Please, -Nicholas, I want to leave here."</p> - -<p>"Do you hate me?" he asked, a queer twisting smile appearing on his -lips.</p> - -<p>"If you'll take me home I won't," said Pat, snatching through the -rising clouds of dizziness at a straw of logic. "You're going to take -me home, aren't you?"</p> - -<p>"Let me hear you say you hate me!" he demanded, rising again. The girl -cringed away with a little whimper as he approached. "You hate me, -don't you?"</p> - -<p>He twisted his hand again in her ebony hair, drawing her face back so -that he stared down at it.</p> - -<p>"There's blood on your lips," he said as if gloating. "Blood on your -lips!"</p> - -<p>He clutched her hair more tightly; abruptly he bent over her, pressing -his mouth to hers. Her bruised lips burned with pain at the fierce -pressure of his; she felt a sharp anguish at the impingement of his -teeth. Yet the cloudy pall of dizziness about her was unbroken; she was -too frightened and bewildered for resistance.</p> - -<p>"Blood on your lips!" he repeated exultingly. "Now is the beauty of -evil!"</p> - -<p>"Nicholas," she said wearily, clinging desperately to a remnant of -logic, "what do you want of me? Tell me what you want and then let me -go home."</p> - -<p>"I want to show you the face of evil," he said. "I want you to know the -glory of evil, the loveliness of supreme evil!"</p> - -<p>He dragged his chair around the table, placing it beside her. Seated, -he drew her into his arms, where she lay passive, too limp and -befuddled to resist. With a sudden movement, he turned her so that her -back rested across his knees, her face gazing up into his. He stared -intently down at her, and the light, shining at an angle into his eyes, -suddenly struck out the red glow that lingered in them.</p> - -<p>"I want you to know the power of evil," he murmured. "The irresistible, -incomprehensible fascination of it, and the unspeakable pleasures of -indulgence in it."</p> - -<p>Pat scarcely heard him; she was struggling now in vain against the -overwhelming fumes of the alcohol she had consumed. The room was -wavering around her, and behind her despair and terror, a curious -elation was thrusting itself into her consciousness.</p> - -<p>"Evil," she echoed vaguely.</p> - -<p>"Blood on your lips!" he muttered, peering down at her. "Taste the -unutterable pleasure of kisses on bloody lips; drain the sweet anguish -of pain, the fierce delight of suffering!"</p> - -<p>He bent down; again his lips pressed upon hers, but this time she felt -herself responding. Some still sane portion of her brain rebelled, -but the intoxication of sense and alcohol was dominant. Suddenly she -was clinging to him, returning his kisses, glorying in the pain of her -lacerated lips. A red mist suffused her; she had no consciousness of -anything save the exquisite pain of the kiss, that somehow contrived -to transform itself into an ecstacy of delight. She lay gasping as the -other withdrew his lips.</p> - -<p>"You see!" he gloated. "You understand! Evil is open to us, and all the -unutterable pleasures of the damned, who cry out in transports of joy -at the bite of the flames of Hell. Do you see?"</p> - -<p>The girl made no answer, sobbing in a chaotic mingling of pain and -excruciating pleasure. She was incapable of speech or connected -thought; the alcohol beat against her brain with a persistence that -defied resistance. After a moment, she stirred, struggling erect to a -sitting posture.</p> - -<p>"Evil!" she said dizzily. "Evil and good—what's difference? All in a -lifetime!"</p> - -<p>She felt a surge of tipsy elation, and then the muffled music of the -mechanical piano, drifting through the closed door, penetrated her -befuddled consciousness.</p> - -<p>"I want to dance!" she cried. "I'm drunk and I want to dance! Am I -drunk?" she appealed to her companion.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he said.</p> - -<p>"I am not! I just want to dance, only it's hot in here. Dance with me, -Nicholas—show me an evil dance! I want to dance with the Devil, and -I will! You're the Devil, name and all! I want to dance with Old Nick -himself!"</p> - -<p>She rose unsteadily from her chair; instantly the room reeled crazily -about her and she fell sprawling. She felt the grasp of arms beneath -her shoulders, raising her erect; she leaned against the wall and heard -herself laughing wildly.</p> - -<p>"Funny room!" she said. "Evil room—on pivots!"</p> - -<p>"You're still to learn," came the toneless voice of Nicholas Devine. -"Do you want to see the face of evil?"</p> - -<p>"Sure!" she said. "Got a good memory for faces!"</p> - -<p>She realized that he was fumbling with the catch of her dress on her -left shoulder; again some remnant, some vestige of sanity deep in her -brain warned her.</p> - -<p>"Mustn't," she said vaguely.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly the catch was open; the dress dropped away around her, -crumpling to a shapeless blob of cloth about her diminutive feet. She -covered her face with her hands, fighting to hold that last, vanishing -vestige of sobriety, while she stood swaying drunkenly against the wall.</p> - -<p>Then Nicholas Devine's arms were about her again; she felt the sharp -sting of his kisses on her throat. He swung her about, bent her -backwards across the low table; she was conscious of a bewildered -sensation of helplessness and of little else.</p> - -<p>"Now the supreme glory of evil!" he was muttering in her ear. She felt -his hands on her bare shoulders as he pressed her backward.</p> - -<p>Then, abruptly, he paused, releasing her. She sat dizzily erect, -following the direction of his gaze. In the half open door stood the -nondescript bartender leering in at them.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C10" id="C10">10</a><br /> -<small>Rescue from Abaddon</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat slid dizzily from her perch on the table and sank heavily to -a chair. The interruption of the mustached keeper of this den -of contradictions struck her as extremely humorous; she giggled -hysterically as her wavering gaze perceived the consternation in his -sharp little face. Some forlorn shred of modesty asserted itself, and -she dragged a corner of the red-checked table cloth across her knees.</p> - -<p>"Get out!" said Nicholas Devine in that voice of rasping metal. "Get -out!" he repeated in unchanging tones.</p> - -<p>The other made no move to leave. "Yeah?" he said. "Listen, Bud—this -place is respectable, see? You want to pull something like this, you go -upstairs, see? And pay for your room."</p> - -<p>"Get out!" There was no variation in the voice.</p> - -<p>"<i>You</i> get out! The both of you, see?"</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine stepped slowly toward him; his back, as he advanced -upon the bartender, was toward Pat, yet through the haze of -intoxication, she had an impression of evil red eyes in a chill, -impassive face. "Get out!"</p> - -<p>The other had no stomach for such an adversary. He backed out of the -door, closing it as he vanished. His voice floated in from the hall.</p> - -<p>"I'm telling you!" he called. "Clear out!"</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine turned back toward the girl. He surveyed her sitting in -her chair; she had dropped her chin to her hand to steady the whirling -of her head.</p> - -<p>"We'll go," he said. "Come on."</p> - -<p>"I just want to sit here," she said. "Just let me sit here. I'm tired."</p> - -<p>"Come on," he repeated.</p> - -<p>"Why?" she muttered petulantly. "I'm tired."</p> - -<p>"I want no interruptions. We'll go elsewhere."</p> - -<p>"Must dress!" she murmured dazedly, "can't go on street without dress."</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine swept her frock from its place in the corner, gathered -her wrap from the chair, and flung them over his arm. He grasped her -wrist, tugging her to an unsteady standing position.</p> - -<p>"Come on," he said.</p> - -<p>"Dress!"</p> - -<p>He snatched the red checked table cloth from its place, precipitating -bottles, ash-tray, and glasses into an indiscriminate pile, and threw -the stained and odorous fabric across her shoulders. She gathered it -about her like a toga; it hung at most points barely below her waist, -but it satisfied the urge of her muddled mind for a covering of some -sort.</p> - -<p>"We'll go through the rear," her companion said. "Into the alley. I -want no trouble with that rat in the bar—yet!"</p> - -<p>He still held Pat's wrist; she stumbled after him as he dragged her -into the darkness of the hall. They moved through it blindly to a door -at the far end; Nicholas swung it open upon a dim corridor flanked by -buildings on either side, with a strip of star-sprinkled sky above.</p> - -<p>Pat's legs were somehow incapable of their usual lithe grace; she -failed to negotiate the single step, and crashed heavily to the -concrete paving. The shock and the cooler air of the open steadied her -momentarily; she felt no pain from her bruised knees, but a temporary -rift in the fog that bound her mind. She gathered the red-checked cloth -more closely about her shoulders as her companion, still clutching her -wrist, jerked her violently to her feet.</p> - -<p>They moved into the gulch of the alley, and here she found difficulty -in following. Her tiny high-heeled pumps slipped at every step on -the uneven cobbles of the paving, and the unsteady footing made her -lurch and stumble until the dusty stretch of the alley was a writhing -panorama of shadows and lighted windows and stars. Nicholas Devine -turned an impatient glare on her, and here in the semi-darkness, his -face was again the face of the red-eyed demon. She dragged him to a -halt, laughing strangely.</p> - -<p>"There it is!" she cried, pointing at him with her free hand. He turned -again, staring at her with grim features.</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"There! Your face—the face of evil!" Again she laughed hysterically.</p> - -<p>The other stepped to her side; the disturbing eyes were inches from -her own. He raised his hand as she laughed, slapped her sharply, so -that her head reeled. He seized her shoulders, shaking her until the -checkered cloth billowed like a flag in a wind.</p> - -<p>"Now come!" he muttered.</p> - -<p>But the girl, laughing no longer, leaned pale and weak against a -low board fence. Her limbs seemed paralyzed, and movement was quite -impossible. She was conscious of neither the blow nor the shaking, but -only of a devastating nausea and an all-encompassing weakness. She bent -over the fence; she was violently ill.</p> - -<p>Then the nausea had vanished, and a weariness, a strange lassitude, was -all that remained. Nicholas Devine stood over her; suddenly he pressed -her body to him in a convulsive embrace, so that her head dropped back, -and his face loomed above her, obliterating the stars.</p> - -<p>"Ah!" he said. He seemed about to kiss her when a -sound—voices—filtered out of somewhere in the maze of dark courts -and littered yards along the alley. He released her, seized her wrist, -and once more she was stumbling wretchedly behind him over the uneven -surface of the cobblestones.</p> - -<p>A numbness had come over her; consciousness burned very low as she -wavered doggedly along through the darkness. She perceived dimly that -they were approaching the end of the alley; the brighter glow of the -street loomed before them, and a passing motor car cut momentary -parallel shafts of luminescence across the opening.</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine slowed his pace, still clutching her wrist in a cold -grip; he paused, moving cautiously toward the corner of the building. -He peered around the edge of the structure, surveying the now deserted -street, while Pat stood dully behind him, incapable alike of thought or -voluntary movement, clutching desperately at the dirty cloth that hung -about her shoulders.</p> - -<p>Her companion finished his survey; apparently satisfied that progress -was safe, he dragged her after him, turning toward the corner beyond -which his car was parked. The girl staggered behind him with -diminishing vigor; consciousness was very nearly at the point of -disappearance, and her steps were wavering unsteadily, and doggedly -slow. She dragged heavily on his arm; he gave a gesture of impatience -at her weakness.</p> - -<p>"Come on!" he growled. "We're just going to the corner." His voice rose -slightly in pitch, still sounding harsh as rasping metals. "There still -remains the ultimate evil!" he said. "There is still a depth of beauty -unplumbed, a pain whose exquisite pleasure is yet to find!"</p> - -<p>They approached the corner; abruptly Nicholas Devine drew back as two -figures came unexpectedly into view from beyond it. He turned back -toward the alley-way, dragging the girl in a dizzy circle. He took a -few rapid steps.</p> - -<p>But Pat was through, exhausted. At his first step she stumbled and -sprawled, dragging prone behind him. He released her hand and turned -defiantly to face the approaching men, while the girl lying on the -pavement struggled to a sitting posture with her back against the wall. -She turned dull, indifferent eyes on the scene, then was roused to a -somewhat higher pitch of interest by the sound of a familiar voice.</p> - -<p>"There he is! I told you it was his car."</p> - -<p>Dr. Horker! She struggled for clarity of thought; she realized dimly -that she ought to feel relief, happiness—but all she could summon -was a faint quickening of interest, or rather, a diminution of the -lassitude that held her. She drew the rag of a table cloth about her -and huddled against the wall, watching. The Doctor and some strange -man, burly and massive in the darkness, dashed upon them, while -Nicholas Devine waited, his red-orbed face a demoniac picture of cold -contempt. Then the Doctor glanced at her huddled, bedraggled figure; -she saw his face aghast, incredulous, as he perceived the condition of -her clothing.</p> - -<p>"Pat! My God, girl! What's happened? Where've you been?"</p> - -<p>She found a hidden reserve somewhere within her. Her voice rose, shrill -and hysterical.</p> - -<p>"We've been in Hell!" she said. "You came to take me back, didn't you? -Orpheus and Eurydice!" She laughed. "Dr. Orpheus Horker!"</p> - -<p>The Doctor flashed her another incredulous glance and a grim and very -terrible expression flamed in his face. He turned toward Nicholas -Devine, his hands clenching, his mouth twisting without utterance, -with no sound save a half-audible snarl. Then he spoke, a low, grating -phrase flung at his thick-set companion.</p> - -<p>"Bring the car," was all he said. The man lumbered away toward the -corner, and he turned again toward Nicholas Devine, who faced him -impassively. Suddenly his fist shot out; he struck the youth or demon -squarely between the red eyes, sending him reeling back against the -building. Then the Doctor turned, bending over Pat; she felt the -pressure of his arms beneath knees and shoulders. He was carrying her -toward a car that drew up at the curb; he was placing her gently in the -back seat. Then, without a glance at the figure still leaning against -the building, he swept from the sidewalk the dark mass that was Pat's -dress and her wrap, and re-entered the car beside her.</p> - -<p>"Shall I turn him in?" asked the man in the front seat.</p> - -<p>"We can't afford the publicity," said the Doctor, adding grimly, "I'll -settle with him later."</p> - -<p>Pat's head lurched as the car started; she was losing consciousness, -and realized it vaguely, but she retained one impression as the vehicle -swung into motion. She perceived that the face of the lone figure -leaning against the building, a face staring at her with horror and -unbelief, was no longer the visage of the demon of the evening, but -that of her own Nick.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C11" id="C11">11</a><br /> -<small>Wreckage</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat opened her eyes reluctantly, with the impression that something -unpleasant awaited her return to full consciousness. Something, as yet -she could not recall just what, had happened to her; she was not even -sure where she was awakening.</p> - -<p>However, her eyes surveyed her own familiar room; there opposite the -bed grinned the jade Buddha on his stand on the mantel—the one that -Nick had—Nick! A mass of troubled, terrible recollections thrust -themselves suddenly into consciousness. She visioned a medley of -disturbing pictures, as yet disconnected, unassorted, but waiting only -the return of complete wakefulness. And she realized abruptly that her -head ached miserably, that her mouth was parched, that twinges of pain -were making themselves evident in various portions of her anatomy. She -turned her head and caught a glimpse of a figure at the bed-side; her -startled glance revealed Dr. Horker, sitting quietly watching her.</p> - -<p>"Hello, Doctor," she said, wincing as her smile brought a sharp pain -from her lips. "Or should I say, Good morning, Judge?"</p> - -<p>"Pat!" he rumbled, his growling tones oddly gentle. "Little Pat! How do -you feel, child?"</p> - -<p>"Fair," she said. "Just fair. Dr. Carl, what happened to me last night? -I can't seem to remember—Oh!"</p> - -<p>A flash of recollection pierced the obscure muddle. She remembered -now—not all of the events of that ghastly evening, but enough. Too -much!</p> - -<p>"Oh!" she murmured faintly. "Oh, Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>"Yes," he nodded. "'Oh!'—and would you mind very much telling me what -that 'Oh' of yours implies?"</p> - -<p>"Why—". She paused shuddering, as one by one the events of that -sequence of horrors reassembled themselves. "Yes, I'd mind very -much," she continued. "It was nothing—" She turned to him abruptly. -"Oh, it was, though, Dr. Carl! It was horrible, unspeakable, -incomprehensible!—But I can't talk about it! I can't!"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps you're right," said the Doctor mildly. "Don't you really want -to discuss it?"</p> - -<p>"I do want to," admitted the girl after a moment's reflection. "I want -to—but I can't. I'm afraid to think of all of it."</p> - -<p>"But what in Heaven's name did you do?"</p> - -<p>"We just started out to go dancing," she said hesitatingly. "Then, on -the way to town, Nick—changed. He said someone was following us."</p> - -<p>"Some one was," said Horker. "<i>I</i> was, with Mueller. That Nick of yours -has the Devil's own cleverness!"</p> - -<p>"Yes," the girl echoed soberly. "The Devil's own!—Who's Mueller, Dr. -Carl?"</p> - -<p>"He's a plain-clothes man, friend of mine. I treated him once. What do -you mean by changed?"</p> - -<p>"His eyes," she said. "And his mouth. His eyes got reddish and -terrible, and his mouth got straight and grim. And his voice turned -sort of—harsh."</p> - -<p>"Ever happen before, that you know of?"</p> - -<p>"Once. When—" She paused.</p> - -<p>"Yes. Last Wednesday night, when you came over to ask those questions -about pure science. What happened then?"</p> - -<p>"We went to a place to dance."</p> - -<p>"And that's the reason, I suppose," rumbled the Doctor sardonically, -"that I found you wandering about the streets in a table cloth, -step-ins, and a pair of hose! That's why I found you on the verge of -passing out from rotten liquor, and looking like the loser of a battle -with an airplane propellor! What happened to your face?"</p> - -<p>"My face? What's wrong with it?"</p> - -<p>The Doctor rose from his chair and seized the hand-mirror from her -dressing table.</p> - -<p>"Look at it!" he commanded, passing her the glass.</p> - -<p>Pat gazed incredulously at the reflection the surface presented; a dark -bruise colored her cheek, her lips were swollen and discolored, and her -chin bore a jagged scratch. She stared at the injuries in horror.</p> - -<p>"Your knees are skinned, too," said Horker. "Both of them."</p> - -<p>Pat slipped one pajamaed limb from the covers, drawing the pants-leg up -for inspection. She gasped in startled fright at the great red stain on -her knee.</p> - -<p>"That's mercurochrome," said the Doctor. "I put it there."</p> - -<p>"<i>You</i> put it there. How did I get home last night, Dr. Carl? How did I -get to bed?"</p> - -<p>"I'm responsible for that, too. I put you to bed." He leaned forward. -"Listen, child—your mother knows nothing about this as yet. She wasn't -home when I brought you in, and she's not awake yet this morning. -We'll tell her you had an automobile accident; explain away those -bruises.—And now, how did you get them?"</p> - -<p>"I fell, I guess. Two or three times."</p> - -<p>"That bruise on your cheek isn't from falling."</p> - -<p>The girl shuddered. Now in the calm light of morning, the events of -last night seemed doubly horrible; she doubted her ability to believe -them, so incredible did they seem. She was at a loss to explain even -her own actions, and those of Nicholas Devine were simply beyond -comprehension, a chapter from some dark and blasphemous book of ancient -times—the Kabbala or the Necronomicon.</p> - -<p>"What happened, Pat?" queried the Doctor gently. "Tell me," he urged -her.</p> - -<p>"I—can't explain it," she said doubtfully. "He took me to that place, -but drinking the liquor was my own fault. I did it out of spite because -I saw he didn't—care for me. And then—" She fell silent.</p> - -<p>"Yes? And then?"</p> - -<p>"Well—he began to talk about the beauty of evil, the delights of evil, -and his eyes glared at me, and—I don't understand it at all, Dr. Carl, -but all of a sudden I was—yielding. Do you see?"</p> - -<p>"I see," he said gently, soberly.</p> - -<p>"Suddenly I seemed to comprehend what he meant—all that about the -supreme pleasure of evil. And I was sort of—swept away. The dress—was -his fault, but I—somehow I'd lost the power to resist. I guess I was -drunk."</p> - -<p>"And the bruises? And your cut lips?" queried the Doctor grimly.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said in a low voice. "He—struck me. After a while I didn't -care. He could have—would have done other things, only we were -interrupted, and had to leave. And that's all, Dr. Carl."</p> - -<p>"Isn't that enough?" he groaned. "Pat, I should have killed the fiend -there!"</p> - -<p>"I'm glad you didn't."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean to say you'd care?"</p> - -<p>"I—don't know."</p> - -<p>"Are you intimating that you still love him?"</p> - -<p>"No," she said thoughtfully. "No, I don't love him, but—Dr. Carl, -there's something inexplicable about this. There's something I don't -understand, but I'm certain of one thing!"</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"That it wasn't Nick—not <i>my</i> Nick—who did those things to me last -night. It wasn't, Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>"Pat, you're being a fool!"</p> - -<p>"I know it. But I'm sure of it, Dr. Carl. I <i>know</i> Nick; I loved him, -and I know he couldn't have done—that. Not the same gentle Nick that I -had to beg to kiss me!"</p> - -<p>"Pat," said the Doctor gently, "I'm a psychiatrist; it's my business -to know all the rottenness that can hide in a human being. My office -is the scene of a parade of misfits, failures, potential criminals, -lunatics, and mental incompetents. It's a nasty, bitter side I see of -life, but I know that side—and I tell you this fellow is dangerous!"</p> - -<p>"Do you understand this, Dr. Carl?"</p> - -<p>He reached over, taking her hand in his great palm with its long, -curious delicate fingers. "I have my theory, Pat. The man's a sadist, -a lover of cruelty, and there's enough masochism in any woman to make -him terribly dangerous. I want your promise."</p> - -<p>"About what?"</p> - -<p>"I want you to promise never to see him again."</p> - -<p>The girl turned serious eyes on his face; he noted with a shock of -sympathy that they were filled with tears.</p> - -<p>"You warned me I'd get burned playing with fire," she said. "You did, -didn't you?"</p> - -<p>"I'm an old fool, Honey. If I'd believed my own advice, I'd have seen -that this never happened to you." He patted her hand. "Have I your -promise?"</p> - -<p>She averted her eyes. "Yes," she murmured. He winced as he perceived -that the tears were on her cheeks.</p> - -<p>"So!" he said, rising. "The patient can get out of bed when she feels -like it—and don't forget that little fib we've arranged for your -mother's peace of mind."</p> - -<p>She stared up at him, still clinging to his hand.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl," she said, "are you sure—quite sure—you're right about -him? Couldn't there be a chance that you're mistaken—that it's -something your psychiatry has overlooked or never heard of?"</p> - -<p>"Small chance, Pat dear."</p> - -<p>"But a chance?"</p> - -<p>"Well, neither I nor any reputable medic claims to know everything, and -the human mind's a subtle sort of thing."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C12" id="C12">12</a><br /> -<small>Letter from Lucifer</small></h2> - - -<p>"I'm glad!" Pat told herself. "I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad I -promised Dr. Carl—I guess I was mighty close to the brink of disaster -that time."</p> - -<p>She examined the injuries on her face, carefully powdered to conceal -the worst effects from her mother. The trick had worked, too; Mrs. -Lane had delivered herself of an excited lecture on the dangers of -the gasoline age, and then thanked Heaven it was no worse. Well, Pat -reflected, she had good old Dr. Carl to thank for the success of the -subterfuge; he had broken the news very skillfully, set the stage for -her appearance, and calmed her mother's apprehensions of scars. And -Pat, surveying her image in the glass above her dressing-table, could -see for herself the minor nature of the hurts.</p> - -<p>"Scars—pooh!" she observed. "A bruised cheek, a split lip, a skinned -chin. All I need is a black eye, and I guess I'd have had that in five -minutes more, and perhaps a cauliflower ear into the bargain."</p> - -<p>But her mood was anything but flippant; she was fighting off the time -when her thoughts had of necessity to face the unpleasant, disturbing -facts of the affair. She didn't want to think of the thing at all; -she wanted to laugh it off and forget it, yet she knew that for an -impossibility. The very desire to forget she recognized as a coward's -wish, and she resented the idea that she was cowardly.</p> - -<p>"Forget the wise-cracks," she advised her image. "Face the thing and -argue it out; that's the only way to be satisfied."</p> - -<p>She rose with a little grimace of pain at the twinge from her bruised -knees, and crossed to the chaise lounge beside the far window. She -settled herself in it and resumed her cogitations. She was feeling more -or less herself again; the headache of the morning had nearly vanished, -and aside from the various aches and a listless fagged-out sensation, -she approximated her normal self. Physically, that is; the shadow of -that other catastrophe, the one she hesitated to face, was another -matter.</p> - -<p>"I'm lucky to get off this easily," she assured herself, "after going -on a bust like that one, like a lumberjack with his pay in his pocket." -She shook her head in mournful amazement. "And I'm Patricia Lane, the -girl whom Billy dubbed 'Pat the Impeccable'! Impeccable! Wandering -through alleys in step-ins and a table cloth—getting beaten up in a -drunken brawl—passing out on rot-gut liquor—being carried home and -put to bed! Not impeccable; incapable's the word! I belong to Dr. -Carl's parade of incompetents."</p> - -<p>She continued her rueful reflections. "Well, item one is, I don't love -Nick any more. I couldn't now!" she flung at the smiling green buddha -on the mantel. "That's over; I've promised."</p> - -<p>Somehow there was not satisfaction in the memory of that promise. It -was logical, of course; there wasn't anything else to do now, but -still—</p> - -<p>"That <i>wasn't</i> Nick!" she told herself. "That wasn't <i>my</i> Nick. I guess -Dr. Carl is right, and he's a depressed what-ever-it-was; but if he's -crazy, so am I! He had me convinced last night; I understood what he -meant, and I felt what he wanted me to feel. If he's crazy, I am too; a -fine couple we are!"</p> - -<p>She continued. "But it wasn't Nick! I saw his face when we drove off, -and it had changed again, and that was Nick's face, not the other. And -he was sorry; I could see he was sorry, and the other could never have -regretted it—not ever! The other isn't—quite human, but Nick is."</p> - -<p>She paused, considering the idea. "Of course," she resumed, "I might -have imagined that change at the end. I was hazy and quavery, and it's -the last thing I <i>do</i> remember; that must have been just before I -passed out."</p> - -<p>And then, replying to her own objection, "But I <i>didn't</i> imagine it! I -saw it happen once before, that other night when—Well, what difference -does it make, anyway? It's over, and I've given my promise."</p> - -<p>But she was unable to dismiss the matter as easily as that. There -was some uncanny, elusive element in it that fascinated her. Cruel, -terrible, demoniac, he might have been; he had also been kind, lovable, -and gentle. Yet Dr. Carl had told her that split personalities could -contain no characteristics that were not present in the original, -normal character. Was cruelty, then, a part of kindness? Was cruelty -merely the lack of kindness, or, cynical thought, was kindness but the -lack of cruelty? Which qualities were positive in the antagonistic -phases of Nicholas Devine's individuality, and which negative? Was the -gentle, lovable, but indubitably weaker character the split, and the -demon of last evening his normal self? Or vice-versa? Or were both of -these fragmentary entities, portions of some greater personality as yet -unapparent to her?</p> - -<p>The whole matter was a mystery; she shrugged in helpless perplexity.</p> - -<p>"I don't think Dr. Carl knows as much about it as he says," she mused. -"I don't think psychiatry or any other science knows that much about -the human soul. Dr. Carl doesn't even believe in a soul; how could he -know anything about it, then?" She frowned in puzzlement and gave up -the attempt to solve the mystery.</p> - -<p>The hours she had spent in her room, at her mother's insistence, began -to pall; she didn't feel particularly ill—it was more of a languor, a -depressed, worn-out feeling. Her mother, of course, was out somewhere; -she felt a desire for human companionship, and wondered if the Doctor -might by some chance drop in. It seemed improbable; he had his regular -Sunday afternoon routine of golf at the Club, and it took a real -catastrophe to keep him away from that. She sighed, stretched her legs, -rose from her position on the chaise lounge, and wandered toward the -kitchen where Magda was doubtless to be found.</p> - -<p>It was in the dusk of the rear hall that the first sense of her loss -came over her. Heretofore her renunciation of Nicholas Devine was a -rational thing, a promise given but not felt; but now it was suddenly a -poignant reality. Nick was gone, she realized; he was out of her world, -irrevocably sundered from her. She paused at the top of the rear flight -of stairs, considering the matter.</p> - -<p>"He's gone! I won't see him ever again." The thought was appalling; she -felt already a premonition of loneliness to come, of an emptiness in -her world, a lack that nothing could replace.</p> - -<p>"I shouldn't have promised Dr. Carl," she mused, knowing that even -without that promise her course must still have been the same. "I -shouldn't have, not until I'd talked to Nick—my own Nick."</p> - -<p>And still, she reflected forlornly, what difference did it make? She -had to give him up; she couldn't continue to see him not knowing at -what instant that terrible caricature of him might appear to torment -her. But he might have explained, she argued miserably, answering -her own objection at once—he's said he couldn't explain, didn't -understand. The thing was at an impasse.</p> - -<p>She shook her shining black head despondently, and descended the dusky -well of the stairs to the kitchen. Magda was there clattering among her -pots and pans; Pat entered quietly and perched on the high stool by the -long table. Old Magda, who had warmed her babyhood milk and measured -out her formula, gave her a single glance and continued her work.</p> - -<p>"Sorry about the accident, I was," she said without looking up.</p> - -<p>"Thanks," responded the girl. "I'm all right again."</p> - -<p>"You don't look it."</p> - -<p>"I feel all right."</p> - -<p>She watched the mysterious, alchemistic mixing of a pastry, and thought -of the vast array of them that had come from Magda's hands. As far back -as she could remember she had perched on this stool observing the same -mystic culinary rites.</p> - -<p>Suddenly another memory rose out of the grave of forgetfulness and -went gibbering across her world. She remembered the stories Magda used -to tell her, frightening stories of witchcraft and the evil eye, tales -out of an older region and a more credulous age.</p> - -<p>"Magda," she asked, "did you ever see a devil?"</p> - -<p>"Not I, but I've talked with them that had."</p> - -<p>"Didn't you ever see one?"</p> - -<p>"No." The woman slid a pan into the oven. "I saw a man once, when I was -a tot, possessed by a devil."</p> - -<p>"You did? How did he look?"</p> - -<p>"He screamed terrible, then he said queer things. Then he fell down and -foam came out of his mouth."</p> - -<p>"Like a fit?"</p> - -<p>"The Priest, he said it was a devil. He came and prayed over him, and -after a while he was real quiet, and then he was all right."</p> - -<p>"Possessed by a devil," said Pat thoughtfully. "What happened to him?"</p> - -<p>"Dunno."</p> - -<p>"What queer things did he say?"</p> - -<p>"Wicked things, the Priest said. I couldn't tell! I was a tot."</p> - -<p>"Possessed by a devil!" Pat repeated musingly. She sat immersed in -thoughts on the high stool while Magda clattered busily about. The -woman paused finally, turning her face to the girl.</p> - -<p>"What you so quiet about, Miss Pat?"</p> - -<p>"I was just thinking."</p> - -<p>"You get your letter?"</p> - -<p>"Letter? What letter? Today's Sunday."</p> - -<p>"Special delivery. The girl, she put it in the hall."</p> - -<p>"I didn't know anything about it. Who'd write me a special?"</p> - -<p>She slipped off the high stool and proceeded to the front hall. The -letter was there, solitary on the salver that always held the mail. She -picked it up, examining the envelope in sudden startled amazement and -more than a trace of illogical exultation.</p> - -<p>For the letter, post-marked that same morning, was addressed in the -irregular script of Nicholas Devine!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C13" id="C13">13</a><br /> -<small>Indecision</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat turned the envelope dubiously in her hands, while a maze of chaotic -thoughts assailed her. She felt almost a sensation of guilt as if -she were in some manner violating the promise given to Dr. Horker; -she felt a tinge of indignation that Nicholas Devine should dare -communicate with her at all, and she felt too that queer exultation, -an inexplicable pleasure, a feeling of secret triumph. She slipped the -letter in the pocket of her robe and padded quietly up the stairs to -her own room.</p> - -<p>Strangely, her loneliness had vanished. The great house, empty now -save for herself and Magda in the distant kitchen, was no longer a -place of solitude; the discovery of the letter, whatever its contents, -had changed the deserted rooms into chambers teeming with her own -excitements, trepidations, doubts, and hopes. Even hopes, she admitted -to herself, though hopes of what nature she was quite unable to say. -What <i>could</i> Nick write that had the power to change things? Apologies? -Pleas? Promises? None of these could alter the naked, horrible facts of -the predicament.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, she was almost a-tremble with expectation as she skipped -hastily into her own room, carefully closed the door, and settled -herself by the west windows. She drew the letter from her pocket, and -then, with a tightening of her throat, tore open the envelope, slipping -out the several pages of scrawled paper. Avidly she began to read.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"I don't know whether you'll ever see this"—the missive began -without salutation—"and I'll not blame you, Pat dear, if you do return -it unopened. There's nothing you can do that wouldn't be justified, nor -can you think worse of me than I do of myself. And that's a statement -so meaningless that even as I wrote it, I could anticipate its effect -on you.</p> - -<p>"Pat—How am I going to convince you that I'm sincere? Will you believe -me when I write that I love you? Can you believe that I love you -tenderly, worshipfully—reverently?</p> - -<p>"You can't; I know you can't after that catastrophe of last night. But -it's true, Pat, though the logic of a Spinoza might fail to convince -you of it.</p> - -<p>"I don't know how to write you this. I don't know whether you want -to hear what I could say, but I know that I must try to say it. Not -apologies, Pat—I shouldn't dare approach you for so poor a reason as -that—but a sort of explanation. You more than any one in the world are -entitled to that explanation, if you want to hear it.</p> - -<p>"I can't write it to you, Pat; it's something I can only make you -believe by telling you—something dark and rather terrible. But please, -Dear, believe that I mean you no harm, and that I plan no subterfuge, -when I suggest that you see me. It will be, I think, for the last time.</p> - -<p>"Tonight, and tomorrow night, and as many nights to follow as I can, -I'll sit on a bench in the park near the place where I kissed you that -first time. There will be people passing there, and cars driving by; -you need fear nothing from me. I choose the place to bridle my own -actions, Pat; nothing can happen while we sit there in the view of the -world.</p> - -<p>"To write you more than this is futile. If you come, I'll be there; if -you don't, I'll understand.</p> - -<p>"I love you."</p></blockquote> - -<p>The letter was signed merely "Nick." She stared at the signature with -feelings so confused that she forebore any attempt to analyze them.</p> - -<p>"But I can't go," she mused soberly. "I've promised Dr. Carl. Or at -least, I can't go without telling him."</p> - -<p>That last thought, she realized, was a concession. Heretofore she -hadn't let herself consider the possibility of seeing Nicholas Devine -again, and now suddenly she was weakening, arguing with herself about -the ethics of seeing him. She shook her head decisively.</p> - -<p>"Won't do, Patricia Lane!" she told herself. "Next thing, you'll be -slipping away without a word to anybody, and coming home with two black -eyes and a broken nose. Won't do at all!"</p> - -<p>She dropped her eyes to the letter. "Explanations," she reflected. "I -guess Dr. Carl would give up a hole-in-one to hear that explanation. -And I'd give more than that." She shook her head regretfully. "Nothing -to do about it, though. I promised."</p> - -<p>The sun was slanting through the west windows; she sat watching the -shadows lengthen in the room, and tried to turn her thoughts into more -profitable channels. This was the first Sunday in many months that -she had spent alone in the house; it was a custom for herself and her -mother to spend the afternoon at the club. The evening too, as a rule; -there was invariably bridge for Mrs. Lane, and Pat was always the -center of a circle of the younger members. She wondered dreamily what -the crowd thought of her non-appearance, reflecting that her mother -had doubtless enlarged on Dr. Carl's story of an accident. Dr. Carl -wouldn't say much, simply that he'd ordered her to stay at home. But -sooner or later, Nick would hear the accident story; she wondered what -he'd think of it.</p> - -<p>She caught herself up sharply. "My ideas wander in circles," she -thought petulantly. "No matter where I start, they curve around back to -Nick. It won't do; I've got to stop it."</p> - -<p>Nearly time for the evening meal, she mused, watching the sun as it -dropped behind Dr. Horker's house. She didn't feel much like eating; -there was still a remnant of the exhausted, dragged-out sensation, -though the headache that had accompanied her awakening this morning had -disappeared.</p> - -<p>"I know what the morning after feels like, anyway," she reflected with -a wry little smile. "Everybody ought to experience it once, I suppose. -I wonder how Nick—"</p> - -<p>She broke off abruptly, with a shrug of disgust. She slipped the letter -back into its envelope, rose and deposited it in the drawer of the -night-table. She glanced at the clock ticking on its shiny top.</p> - -<p>"Six o'clock," she murmured. Nick would be sitting in the park in -another two hours or so. She had a twinge of sympathy at the thought of -his lone vigil; she could visualize the harried expression on his face -when the hours passed without her arrival.</p> - -<p>"Can't be helped," she told herself. "He's no right to ask for -anything of me after last night. He knows that; he said so in his -letter."</p> - -<p>She suppressed an impulse to re-read that letter, and trotted -deliberately out of the room and down the stairs. Magda had set the -table in the breakfast room; it was far cozier than the great dining -room, especially without her mother's company. And the maid was away; -the breakfast room simplified serving, as well.</p> - -<p>She tried valorously to eat what Magda supplied, but the food failed -to tempt her. It wasn't so much her physical condition, either; it -was—She clenched her jaws firmly; was the memory of Nicholas Devine to -haunt her forever?</p> - -<p>"Pat Lane," she said in admonition, "you're a crack-brained fool! Just -because a man kicks you all over the place is no reason to let him -become an obsession."</p> - -<p>She drank her coffee, feeling the sting of its heat on her injured -lips. She left the table, tramped firmly to her room, and began -defiantly to read. The effort was useless; half a dozen times she -forced her attention to the page only to find herself staring vaguely -into space a moment or two later. She closed the book finally with an -irritable bang, and vented her restlessness in pacing back and forth.</p> - -<p>"This house is unbearable!" she snapped. "I'm not going to stay shut up -here like a jail-bird in solitary confinement. A walk in the open is -what I need, and that's what I'll have."</p> - -<p>She glanced at the clock; seven-thirty. She tore off her robe -pettishly, flung out of her pajamas, and began to dress with angry -determination. She refused to think of a lonely figure that might even -now be sitting disconsolately on a bench in the near-by park.</p> - -<p>She disguised her bruised cheek as best she could, dabbed a little -powder on the abrasion on her chin, and tramped militantly down the -stairs. She caught up her wrap, still lying where the Doctor had -tossed it last night, and moved toward the door, opening it and nearly -colliding with the massive figure of Dr. Horker!</p> - -<p>"Well!" boomed the Doctor as she started back in surprise. "You're -pretty spry for a patient. Think you were going out?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Pat defiantly.</p> - -<p>"Not tonight, child! I left the Club early to take a look at you."</p> - -<p>"I am perfectly all right. I want to go for a walk."</p> - -<p>"No walk. Doctor's orders."</p> - -<p>"I'm of legal age!" she snapped. "I want to go for a walk. Do I go?"</p> - -<p>"You do not." The Doctor placed his great form squarely in the doorway. -"Not unless you can lick me, my girl, and I'm pretty tough. I put you -to bed last night, and I can do as much tonight. Shall I?"</p> - -<p>Pat backed into the hall. "You don't have to," she said sullenly. "I'm -going there myself." She flung her wrap angrily to a chair and stalked -up the stairs.</p> - -<p>"Good night, spit-fire," he called after her. "I'll read down here -until your mother comes home."</p> - -<p>The girl stormed into her room in anger that she knew to be illogical.</p> - -<p>"I won't be watched like a problem child!" she told herself viciously. -"I know damn well what he thought—and I wasn't going to meet Nick! I -wasn't at all!"</p> - -<p>She calmed suddenly, sat on the edge of her bed and kicked off her -pumps. It had occurred to her that Nick had written his intention to -wait for her in the park tomorrow night as well, and Dr. Horker's -interference had confirmed her in a determination to meet him.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C14" id="C14">14</a><br /> -<small>Bizarre Explanation</small></h2> - - -<p>"I won't be bullied!" Pat told herself, examining her features in the -mirror. The two day interval had faded the discoloration of her cheek -to negligible proportions, and all that remained as evidence of the -violence of Saturday night was the diminishing mark on her chin. Of -course, her knees—but they were covered; most of the time, at least. -She gave herself a final inspection, and somewhere below a clock boomed.</p> - -<p>"Eight o'clock," she remarked to her image; "Time to be leaving, and it -serves Dr. Carl right for his high-handed actions last night. I won't -be bullied by anybody." She checked herself as her mind had almost -added, "Except Nick." True or not, she didn't relish the thought; the -recent recollections it roused were too disturbing.</p> - -<p>She tossed a stray wisp of black hair from her forehead and turned to -the door. She heard her mother's voice as she descended the stairs.</p> - -<p>"Are you going out, Patricia? Do you think it wise?"</p> - -<p>"I am perfectly all right. I want to go for a walk."</p> - -<p>"I know, Dear; it was largely your appearance I meant." She surveyed -the girl with a critical eye. "Nice enough, except for that little spot -on your chin, and will you never learn to keep your hair away from that -side of your forehead? One can never do a bob right; why don't you let -it grow out like the other girls?"</p> - -<p>"Makes me individual," replied Pat, moving toward the outer door. "I -won't be late at all," she added.</p> - -<p>On the porch she cast a cautious glance at Dr. Horker's windows, but -his great figure was nowhere evident. Only a light burning in the -library evinced his presence. She gave a sigh of relief, and tiptoed -down the steps to the sidewalk, and moved hastily away from the range -of his watchful eyes.</p> - -<p>No sooner had she sighted the park than doubts began to torment her. -Suppose this were some trick of Nicholas Devine's, to trap her into -some such situation as that of Saturday night. Even suppose that she -found him the sweet personality that she had loved, might that also -be a trick? Mightn't he be trusting to his ability to win her over, to -the charm she had confessed to him that he held for her? Couldn't he -be putting his faith in his own amorous skill, planning some specious -explanation to win her forgiveness only to use her once more as the -material for some horrible experiment? And if he were, would she be -able to prevent herself from yielding?</p> - -<p>"Forewarned is fore-armed," she told herself. "I'll not put up such a -feeble resistance this time, knowing what I now know. And it's only -fair of me to listen to his explanation, if he really has one."</p> - -<p>She was reassured by the sight of the crowded park; groups strolled -along the walks, and an endless procession of car-headlights marked the -course of the roadway. Nothing could happen in such an environment; -they'd be fortunate even to have an opportunity for confidential -talk. She waited for the traffic lights, straining her eyes to locate -Nicholas Devine; at the click of the signal she darted across the -street.</p> - -<p>She moved toward the lake; here was the spot, she was sure. She glanced -about with eagerness unexpected even to herself, peering through the -shadow-shot dusk. He wasn't there, she concluded, with a curious sense -of disappointment; her failure to appear last night had disheartened -him; he had abandoned his attempt.</p> - -<p>Then she saw him. He sat on a bench isolated from the rest in a -treeless area overlooking the lake. She saw his disconsolate figure, -his chin on his hand, staring moodily over the waters. A tremor ran -through her, she halted deliberately, waiting until every trace of -emotion had vanished, then she advanced, standing coolly beside him.</p> - -<p>For a moment he was unaware of her presence; he sat maintaining his -dejected attitude without glancing at her. Suddenly some slight -movement, the flutter of her skirt, drew his attention; he turned -sharply, gazing directly into her face.</p> - -<p>"Pat!" He sprang to his feet. "Pat! is it you—truly you? Or are you -one of these visions that have been plaguing me for hours?"</p> - -<p>"I'm real," she said, returning his gaze with a studied coolness in her -face. She made no other move; her cold composure disconcerted him, and -he winced, flushed, and moved nervously aside as she seated herself. He -dropped beside her; he made no attempt to touch her, but sat watching -her in silence for so long a time that she felt her composure ebbing. -There was a hungry, defeated look about him; there was a wistfulness, -a frustration, in his eyes that seemed about to tug tears from her own -eyes. Abruptly she dropped her gaze from his face.</p> - -<p>"Well?" she said finally in a small voice, and as he made no reply, -"I'm here."</p> - -<p>"Are you really, Pat? Are you truly here?" he murmured, still watching -her avidly. "I—I still don't believe it. I waited here for hours and -hours last night, and I'd given up hope for tonight, or any night. But -I would have come again and again."</p> - -<p>She started as he bent suddenly toward her, but he was merely examining -her face. She saw the gleam of horror in his expression as his eyes -surveyed the faintly visible bruise on her cheek, the red mark on her -chin.</p> - -<p>"Oh my God, Pat!" His words were barely audible. "Oh my God!" he -repeated, drawing away from her and resuming the attitude of desolation -in which her arrival had found him. "I've hoped it wasn't true!"</p> - -<p>"What wasn't?" She was keeping her voice carefully casual; this -miserable contrition of Nick's was tugging at her rather too powerfully -for complete safety.</p> - -<p>"What I remembered. What I saw just now."</p> - -<p>"You hoped it wasn't true?" she queried in surprise. "But you did it."</p> - -<p>"<i>I</i> did it, Pat? Do you think <i>I</i> could have done it?"</p> - -<p>"But you did!" Her voice had taken on a chill inflection; the memory of -those indignities came to steel her against him.</p> - -<p>"Pat, do you think I could assault your daintiness, or maltreat the -beauty I worship? Didn't anything occur to you? Didn't anything seem -queer about—about that ghastly evening?"</p> - -<p>"Queer!" she echoed. "That's certainly a mild word to use, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"But I mean—hadn't you any idea of what had happened? Didn't you -think anything of it except that I had suddenly gone mad? Or that I'd -grown to hate you?"</p> - -<p>"What was I to think?" she countered, trying to control the tremor that -had crept into her voice.</p> - -<p>"But did you think that?"</p> - -<p>"No," the girl confessed after a pause. "At first, when you started -with that drink, I thought you were looking for material for your work. -That's what you said—an experiment. Didn't you?"</p> - -<p>"I guess so," he groaned.</p> - -<p>"But after that, after I'd swallowed that horrible stuff, but before -everything went hazy, I—thought differently."</p> - -<p>"But what, Pat? What did you think?"</p> - -<p>"Why, then I realized that it wasn't you—not the real you. I could -feel the—well, the presence of the person I knew; this presence -that was tormenting me was another person, a terrible, cold, inhuman -stranger."</p> - -<p>"Pat!" There was a note almost of relief in his voice. "Did you really -feel that?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Does it help matters, my sensing that? I can't see how."</p> - -<p>His eyes, which had been fixed on hers, dropped suddenly. "No," he -muttered, all the relief gone out of his tones, "no, it doesn't help, -does it? Except that it's a meager consolation to me to know that you -felt it."</p> - -<p>Pat struggled to suppress an impulse to reach out her hand, to stroke -his hair. She caught herself sharply; this was the very danger against -which she had warned herself—this was the very attitude she had -anticipated in Nicholas Devine, the lure which might bait a trap. Yet -he looked so forlorn, so wistful! It was an effort to forbear from -touching him; her fingers fairly ached to brush his cheek.</p> - -<p>"Only a fool walks twice into the same trap," she told herself. Aloud -she said, "You promised me an explanation. If you've any excuse, I'd -like to hear it." Her voice had resumed its coolness.</p> - -<p>"I haven't any excuse," he responded gloomily, "and the explanation is -perhaps too bizarre, too fantastic for belief. <i>I</i> don't believe it -entirely; I suppose <i>you</i> couldn't believe it at all."</p> - -<p>"You promised," she repeated. The carefully assumed composure of her -voice threatened to crack; this wistfulness of his was a powerful -weapon against her defense.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I'll give you the explanation," he said miserably. "I just wanted -to warn you you'd not believe me." He gave her a despondent glance. -"Pat, as I love you I swear that what I tell you is the truth. Do you -think you can believe me?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," she murmured. The tremor had reappeared in her voice despite her -efforts.</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine turned his eyes toward the lake and began to speak.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C15" id="C15">15</a><br /> -<small>A Modern Mr. Hyde</small></h2> - - -<p>"I don't remember when I first noticed it," began Nick in a low voice, -"but I'm two people. I'm me, the person who's talking to you now, and -I'm—another."</p> - -<p>Pat, looking very pale and serious in the dusky light, said nothing at -all. She simply gazed at him silently, without the slightest trace of -surprise in her wide dark eyes.</p> - -<p>"This is the real me," proceeded Nick miserably. "The other is an -outsider, that has somehow contrived to grow into me. He is different; -cold, cruel, utterly selfish, and not exactly—human. Do you -understand?"</p> - -<p>"Y—Yes," said the girl, fighting to control her voice. "Sort of."</p> - -<p>"This is a struggle that has continued for a long time," he pursued. -"There were times in childhood when I remember punishments for offenses -I never committed, for nasty little meannesses <i>he</i> perpetrated. My -mother, and after her death, my tutoress, thought I was lying when I -tried to explain; they thought I was trying to evade responsibility. -After a while I learned not to explain; I learned to accept my -punishments doggedly, and to fight this other when he sought dominance."</p> - -<p>"And could you?" asked Pat, her voice frankly quavery. "Could you fight -him?"</p> - -<p>"I was the stronger; I could win—usually. He slipped into -consciousness as wilful, mean little impulses, nasty moods, unreasoning -hates and such unpleasant things. But I was always the stronger: I -learned to drive him into the background."</p> - -<p>"You said you <i>were</i> the stronger," she mused. "What does that mean, -Nick?"</p> - -<p>"I've always been the stronger; I am now. But recently, Pat—I think -it's since I fell in love with you—the struggle has been on evener -terms. I've weakened or he's gained. I have to guard against him -constantly; in any moment of weakness he may slip in, as on our ride -last week, when we had that near accident. And again Saturday." He -turned appealing eyes on the girl. "Pat, do you believe me?"</p> - -<p>"I guess I'll have to," she said unhappily. "It—makes things rather -hopeless, doesn't it?"</p> - -<p>He nodded dejectedly. "Yes. I've always felt that sooner or later I'd -win, and drive him away permanently. I've felt on the verge of complete -victory more than once, but now—" He shook his head doubtfully. "He -had never dominated me so entirely until Saturday night—Pat, you -don't know what Hell is like until you're forced as I was to watch -the violation of the being you worship, to stand helpless while a -desecration is committed. I'd rather die than suffer it again!"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said the girl faintly. She was thinking of the sorry picture she -must have presented as she reeled half-clothed through the alley. "Can -you see what—<i>he</i> sees?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, and think his thoughts. But only when he's dominant. I -don't know what evil he's planning now, else I could forestall him, I -would have warned you if I could have known."</p> - -<p>"Where is he now?"</p> - -<p>"Here," said Nick somberly. "Here listening to us, knowing what I'm -thinking and feeling, laughing at my unhappiness."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" gasped Pat again. She watched her companion doubtfully. Then the -memory of Dr. Horker's diagnosis came to her, and set her wondering. -Was this story the figment of an unsettled mind? Was this irrational -tale of a fiendish intruder merely evidence that the Doctor was right -in his opinion? She was in a maze of uncertainty.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said, "did you ever try medical help? Did you ever go to a -doctor about it?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, Pat! Two years ago I went to a famous psychiatrist in -New York—you'd know the name if I mentioned it—and told him about -the—the case. And he studied me, and he treated me, and psychoanalyzed -me, and the net result was just nothing. And finally he dismissed -me with the opinion that 'the whole thing is just a fixed delusion, -fortunately harmless!' Harmless! Bah! But it wasn't I that did those -things, Pat; I had to stand by in horror and watch. It was enough to -<i>drive</i> me crazy, but it didn't—quite."</p> - -<p>"But—Oh, Nick, what is it? What is this—this outsider? Can't we fight -it somehow?"</p> - -<p>"How can anyone except me fight it?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I don't know!" she wailed miserably. "There must be a way. Doctors -claim to know pretty nearly everything; there must be <i>something</i> to -do."</p> - -<p>"But there isn't," he retorted gloomily. "I don't know any more than -you what that thing is, but it's beyond your doctors. I've got to fight -it out alone."</p> - -<p>"Nick—" Her voice was suddenly tense. "Are you sure it isn't some -kind of madness? Something tangible like that could perhaps be treated."</p> - -<p>"It's no kind your doctors can treat, Pat. Did you ever hear of a -madman who stood aside and rationally watched the working of his own -insanity? And that's what I'm forced to do. And yet—this other isn't -insane either. Were its actions insane?"</p> - -<p>Pat shuddered. "I—don't know," she said in low tones. "I guess not."</p> - -<p>"No. Horrible, cruel, bestial, devilishly cunning, evil—but not -insane. I don't know what it is, Pat. I know that the fight has to be -made by me alone. There's nothing, nobody in the world, that can help."</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she wailed.</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Pat dear. You understand now why I was so reluctant to fall -in love with you. I was afraid to love you; now I know I was right."</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she cried, then paused hopelessly. After a moment she -continued, "Yesterday I was determined to forget you, and now—now I -don't care if this whole tale of yours is a mesh of fantastic lies, I -love you! I'd love you even if your real self were that—that other -creature, and even if I knew that this was just a trap. I'd love you -anyway."</p> - -<p>"Pat," he said seriously, "don't you believe me? Why should I offer to -give you up if this were—what you said? Wouldn't I be pleading for -another chance, making promises, finding excuses?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I believe you, Nick! It isn't that; I was just thinking how -strange it is that I could hate you so two nights past and love you so -tonight."</p> - -<p>"Oh God, Pat! Even you can't know how much I love you; and to win you -and then be forced to give you up—" He groaned.</p> - -<p>The girl reached out her hand and covered his; it was the first time -during the evening that she had touched him, and the feel of his flesh -sent a tingle through her. She was miserably distraught.</p> - -<p>"Honey," she murmured brokenly. "Nick, Honey."</p> - -<p>He looked at her. "Do you suppose there's a chance to beat the thing?" -he asked. "I'd not ask you to wait, Pat, but if I only glimpsed a -chance—"</p> - -<p>"I'll wait. I don't think I could do anything else but wait for you."</p> - -<p>"If I only knew what I had to fight!" he whispered. "If I only knew -that!"</p> - -<p>A sudden memory leaped into Pat's mind. "Nick," she said huskily, "I -think I know."</p> - -<p>"What do you mean, Pat?"</p> - -<p>"It's something Magda—the cook—said to me. It's foolish, -superstitious, but Nick, what else can it be?"</p> - -<p>"Tell me!"</p> - -<p>"Well, she was talking to me yesterday, and she said that when she -was a child in the old country, she had seen a man once—" she -hesitated—"a man who was possessed by a devil. Nick, I think you're -possessed by a devil!"</p> - -<p>He stared at her. "Pat," he said hoarsely, "that's—an impossibility!"</p> - -<p>"I know, but what else can it be?"</p> - -<p>"Out of the Dark Ages," he muttered. "An echo of the Black Mass and -witchcraft, but—"</p> - -<p>"What did they do," asked the girl, "to people they thought were -possessed?"</p> - -<p>"Exorcism!" he whispered.</p> - -<p>"And how did they—exorcise?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," he said in a low voice. "Pat, that's an impossible -idea, but—I don't know!" he ended.</p> - -<p>"We'll try," she murmured, still covering his hand with her own. "What -else can we do, Nick?"</p> - -<p>"What's done I'll do alone, Pat."</p> - -<p>"But I want to help!"</p> - -<p>"I'll not let you, Dear. I won't have you exposed to a repetition of -those indignities, or perhaps worse!"</p> - -<p>"I'm not afraid."</p> - -<p>"Then I am, Pat! I won't have it!"</p> - -<p>"But what'll you do?"</p> - -<p>"I'll go away. I'll battle the thing through once for all, and I'll -either come back free of it or—" He paused and the girl did not -question him further, but sat staring at him with troubled eyes.</p> - -<p>"I won't write you, Pat," he continued. "If you should receive a letter -from me, burn it—don't read it. It might be from—the other, a trap or -a lure of some sort. Promise me! You'll promise that, won't you?"</p> - -<p>She nodded; there was a glint of tears in her eyes.</p> - -<p>"And I don't want you to wait, Pat," he proceeded. "I don't want you to -feel that you have any obligations to me—God knows you've nothing to -thank me for! When—If I come back and you haven't changed, then we'll -try again."</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said in a small voice, "how do you know the—the other -won't come back here? How can you promise for—it?"</p> - -<p>"I'm still master!" he said grimly. "I won't be dominated long enough -at any time for that to happen. I'll fight it down."</p> - -<p>"Then—it's good-bye?"</p> - -<p>He nodded. "But not for always—I hope."</p> - -<p>"Nick," she murmured, "will you kiss me?" She felt a tear on her cheek. -"I'll stand losing you a little better if I can have a—last kiss—to -remember." Her voice was faltering.</p> - -<p>His arms were about her. She yielded herself completely to his caress; -the park, the crowd passing a few yards away, the people on near-by -benches, were all forgotten, and once more she felt herself alone with -Nicholas Devine in a vast empty cosmos.</p> - -<p>An insistent voice penetrated her consciousness; she realized that it -had been calling her name for some seconds.</p> - -<p>"Miss Lane," she heard, and again, "Miss Lane." A hand tapped her -shoulder; with a sudden start, she tore her lips away, and looked up -into a face unrecognized for a moment. Then she placed it. It was the -visage of Mueller, Dr. Horker's companion on that disastrous Saturday -night.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C16" id="C16">16</a><br /> -<small>Possessed</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat stared at the intruder in a mingling of embarrassment, perplexity, -and indignation. She felt her cheeks reddening as the latter emotion -gained the dominance of her mood.</p> - -<p>"Well!" she snapped. "What do you want?"</p> - -<p>"I thought I'd walk home with you," Mueller said amiably.</p> - -<p>"Walk home with me! Please explain that!" She grasped the arm of -Nicholas Devine, who had risen angrily at the interruption. "Sit down, -Nick, I know the fellow."</p> - -<p>"So should he," said Mueller. "Sure; I'll explain. I'm on a job for Dr. -Horker."</p> - -<p>"Spying on me for him, I suppose!" taunted the girl.</p> - -<p>"No. Not on you."</p> - -<p>"He means on me," said Nick soberly. "You can't blame him, Pat. And -perhaps you had better go home; we've finished here. There's nothing -more we can do or say."</p> - -<p>"Very well," she said, her voice suddenly softer. "In a moment, Nick." -She turned to Mueller. "Would you mind telling me why you waited until -now to interfere? We've been here two hours, you know."</p> - -<p>"Sure I'll tell you. I got no orders to interfere, that's why."</p> - -<p>"Then why did you?" queried Pat tartly.</p> - -<p>"I didn't until I saw him there"—he nodded at Nick—"put his arms -around you. Then I figured, having no orders, it was time to use my own -judgment."</p> - -<p>"If any!" sniffed the girl. She turned again to Nick; her face -softened, became very tender. "Honey," she murmured huskily, "I guess -it's good-bye now. I'll be fighting with you; you know that."</p> - -<p>"I know that," he echoed, looking down into her eyes. "I'm almost -happy, Pat."</p> - -<p>"When'll you go?" she whispered in tones inaudible to Mueller.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," he answered, his voice unchanged. "I'll have to make -some sort of preparations—and I don't want you to know."</p> - -<p>She nodded. She gazed at him a moment longer with tear-bright eyes. -"Good-bye, Nick," she whispered. She rose on tiptoe, and kissed him -very lightly on his lips, then turned and walked quickly away, with -Mueller following behind.</p> - -<p>She walked on, ignoring him until he halted beside her at the crossing -of the Drive. Then she gave him a cold glance.</p> - -<p>"Why is Dr. Carl having him watched?" she asked.</p> - -<p>Mueller shrugged. "The ins and outs of this case are too much for me," -he said. "I do what I'm paid to do."</p> - -<p>"You're not watching him now."</p> - -<p>"Nope. Seemed like the Doctor would think it was more important to get -you home."</p> - -<p>"You're wasting your time," she said irritably as the lights changed -and they stepped into the street. "I was going home anyway."</p> - -<p>"Well, now you got company all the way." Mueller's voice was placid.</p> - -<p>The girl sniffed contemptuously, and strode silently along. The other's -presence irritated her; she wanted time and solitude to consider the -amazing story Nicholas Devine had given her. She wanted to analyze her -own feelings, and most of all she wanted just a place of privacy to -cry out her misery. For now the loss of Nicholas Devine had changed -from a fortunate escape to a tragedy, and liar, madman, or devil, she -wanted him terribly, with all the power of her tense little heart. So -she moved as swiftly as she could, ignoring the silent companionship of -Mueller.</p> - -<p>They reached her home; the light in the living room window was evidence -that the bridge game was still in progress. She mounted the steps, -Mueller watching her silently from the walk; she fumbled for her key.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she snapped her hand-bag shut; she couldn't face her mother -and the two spinster Brocks and elderly, inquisitive Carter Henderson. -They'd suggest that she cut into the game, and they'd argue if -she refused, and she couldn't play bridge now! She glanced at the -impassive Mueller, turned and crossed the strip of lawn to Dr. Horker's -residence, where the light still glowed in the library, and rang the -bell. She saw the figure on the sidewalk move away as the shadow of the -Doctor appeared on the lighted square of the door.</p> - -<p>"Hello," boomed the Doctor amiably. "Come in."</p> - -<p>Pat stalked into the library and threw herself angrily into Dr. -Horker's particular chair. The other grinned, and chose another place.</p> - -<p>"Well," he said, "What touched off the fuse this time?"</p> - -<p>"Why are you spying on my friends?" snapped the girl. "By what right?"</p> - -<p>"So he's spotted Mueller, eh? That lad's diabolically clever, Pat—and -I mean diabolic."</p> - -<p>"That's no answer!"</p> - -<p>"So it isn't," agreed the Doctor. "Say it's because I'm acting <i>in loco -parentis</i>."</p> - -<p>"And <i>in loco</i> is as far as you'll get, Dr. Carl, if you're going to -spy on me!"</p> - -<p>"On you?" he said mildly. "Who's spying on you?"</p> - -<p>"On us, then!"</p> - -<p>"Or on us?" queried the Doctor. "I set Mueller to watch the Devine lad. -Have you by some mischance broken your promise to me?"</p> - -<p>Pat flushed. She had forgotten that broken promise; the recollection of -it suddenly took the wind from her sails, placed her on the defensive.</p> - -<p>"All right," she said defiantly. "I did; I admit it. Does that excuse -you?"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps it helps to explain my actions, Pat. Don't you understand that -I'm trying to protect you? Do you think I hired Mueller out of morbid -curiosity, or professional interest in the case? Times aren't so good -that I can throw money away on such whims."</p> - -<p>"I don't need any protection. I can take care of myself!"</p> - -<p>"So I noticed," said the Doctor dryly. "You gave convincing evidence of -it night before last."</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said the girl in exasperation. "You would say that!"</p> - -<p>"It's true, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Suppose it is! I don't have to learn the same lesson twice."</p> - -<p>"Well, apparently once wasn't enough," observed the other amiably. "You -walked into the same danger tonight."</p> - -<p>"I wasn't in any danger tonight!" Suddenly her mood changed as she -recalled the circumstances of her parting with Nicholas Devine. "Dr. -Carl," she said, her voice dropping, "I'm terribly unhappy."</p> - -<p>"Lord!" he exclaimed staring at her. "Pat, your moods are as changeable -as my golf game! You're as mercurial as your Devine lad! A moment ago -you were snapping at me, and now I'm suddenly acceptable again." He -perceived the misery in her face. "All right, child; I'm listening."</p> - -<p>"He's going away," she said mournfully.</p> - -<p>"Don't you think that's best for everybody concerned? I commend his -judgment."</p> - -<p>"But I don't want him to!"</p> - -<p>"You do, Pat. You can't continue seeing him, and his absence will make -it easier for you."</p> - -<p>"It'll never be easier for me, Dr. Carl." She felt her eyes fill. "I -guess I'm—just a fool about him."</p> - -<p>"You still feel that way, after the experience you went through?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Yes, I do."</p> - -<p>"Then you <i>are</i> a fool about him, Pat. He's not worth such devotion."</p> - -<p>"How do you know what he's worth? I'm the only one to judge that."</p> - -<p>"I have eyes," said the Doctor. "What happened tonight to change your -attitude so suddenly? You were amenable to reason yesterday."</p> - -<p>"I didn't know yesterday what I know now."</p> - -<p>"So he told a story, eh?" The Doctor watched her serious, troubled -features. "Would you mind telling me, Honey? I'm interested in the -defense mechanisms these psychopathic cases erect to explain their own -impulses to themselves."</p> - -<p>"No, I won't tell you!" snapped Pat indignantly. "Psychopathic cases! -We're all just cases to you. I'm a case and he's another, and all you -want is our symptoms!"</p> - -<p>Doctor Horker smiled placatingly into her face. "Pat dear," he said -earnestly, "don't you see I'd give my eyes to help you? Don't take -my flippancies too seriously, Honey; look once in a while at the -intentions behind them." He continued his earnest gaze.</p> - -<p>The girl returned his look; her face softened. "I'm sorry," she said -contritely. "I never doubted it, Dr. Carl—it's only that I'm so—so -torn to pieces by all this that I get snappy and irritable." She -paused. "Of course I'll tell you."</p> - -<p>"I'd like to hear it."</p> - -<p>"Well," she began hesitantly, "he said he was two personalities—one -the character I knew, and one the character that we saw Saturday night. -And the first one is—well, dominant, and fights the other one. He says -the other has been growing stronger; until lately he could suppress -it. And he says—Oh, it sounds ridiculous, the way I tell it, but it's -true! I'm sure it's true!" She leaned toward the Doctor. "Did you ever -hear of anything like it? Did you, Dr. Carl?"</p> - -<p>"No." He shook his head, still watching her seriously. "Not exactly -like that, Honey. Don't you think he might possibly have lied to you, -Pat? To excuse himself for the responsibility of Saturday night, for -instance?"</p> - -<p>"No, I don't," she said defiantly.</p> - -<p>"Then you have an idea yourself what the trouble is? I judge you have."</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said in low tones. "I have an idea."</p> - -<p>"What is it?"</p> - -<p>"I think he's possessed by a devil!" said the girl flatly.</p> - -<p>A quizzical expression came into the Doctor's face. "Well, of all the -queer ideas that harum-scarum mind of yours has <i>ever</i> produced, that's -the queerest!" He broke into a chuckle.</p> - -<p>"Queer, is it?" flared Pat. "I don't think you and your mind-doctors -know as much as a Swahili medicine-man with a mask!"</p> - -<p>She leaped angrily to her feet, stamped viciously into the hall.</p> - -<p>"Devil and all," she repeated, "I love him!"</p> - -<p>"Pat!" called the Doctor anxiously. "Pat! Where are you going, child?"</p> - -<p>"Where do devils live?" Her voice floated tauntingly back from the -front door. "Hell, of course!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C17" id="C17">17</a><br /> -<small>Witch-Doctor</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat had no intentions, however, of following the famous highway that -evening. She stamped angrily down the Doctor's steps, swished her way -through the break in the hedge with small regard to the safety of her -sheer hose, and mounted to her own porch. She found her key, opened the -door and entered.</p> - -<p>As she ascended the stairs, her fit of temper at the Doctor passed, and -she felt lonely, weary, and unutterably miserable. She sank to a seat -on the topmost step and gave herself over to bitter reflections.</p> - -<p>Nick was gone! The realization came poignantly at last; there would be -no more evening rides, no more conversations whose range was limited -only by the scope of the universe, no more breath-taking kisses, the -sweeter for his reluctance. She sat mournfully silent, and considered -the miserable situation in which she found herself.</p> - -<p>In love with a madman! Or worse—in love with a demon! With a being -half of whose nature worshiped her while the other half was bent on her -destruction! Was any one, she asked herself—was any one, anywhere, -ever in a more hopeless predicament?</p> - -<p>What could she do? Nothing, she realized, save sit helplessly aside -while Nick battled the thing to a finish. Or possibly—the only -alternative—take him as he was, chance the vicissitudes of his -unstable nature, lay herself open to the horrors she had glimpsed so -recently, and pray for her fortunes to point the way of salvation. And -in the mood in which she now found herself, that seemed infinitely the -preferable solution. Yet rationally she knew it was impossible; she -shook her head despondently, and leaned against the wall in abject -misery.</p> - -<p>Then, thin and sharp sounded the shrill summons of the door bell, and -a moment later, the patter of the maid's footsteps in the hall below. -She listened idly to distract herself from the chain of despondency -that was her thoughts, and was mildly startled to recognize the booming -drums of Dr. Horker's voice. She heard his greeting and the muffled -reply from the group, and then a phrase understandable because of his -sonorous tones.</p> - -<p>"Where's Pat?" The words drifted up the well of the stairs, followed -by a scarcely audible reply from her mother. Heavy footfalls on the -carpeted steps, and then his figure bulked on the landing below her. -She cupped her chin on her hands, and stared down at him while he -ascended to her side, sprawling his great figure beside her.</p> - -<p>"Pat, Honey," he rumbled, "you're beginning to get me worried!"</p> - -<p>"Am I?" Her voice was weary, dull. "I've had myself like that for a -long time."</p> - -<p>"Poor kid! Are you really so miserable over this Nick problem of yours?"</p> - -<p>"I love him."</p> - -<p>"Yes." He looked at her with sympathy and calculation mingling in his -expression. "I believe you do. I'm sorry, Honey; I didn't realize until -now what he means to you."</p> - -<p>"You don't realize now," she murmured, still with the weary intonation.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps not, Pat, but I'm learning. If you're in this thing as deeply -at all that, I'm in too—to the finish. Want me?"</p> - -<p>She reached out her hand, plucking at his coatsleeve. Abruptly she -leaned toward him, burying her face against the rough tweed of his -suit; she sobbed a little, while he patted her gently with his great, -delicately fingered hand. "I'm sorry, Honey," he rumbled. "I'm sorry."</p> - -<p>The girl drew herself erect and leaned back against the wall, shaking -her head to drive the tears from her eyes. She gave the Doctor a wan -little smile.</p> - -<p>"Well?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"I'll return your compliment of the other night," said Horker briskly. -"I'll ask a few questions—purely professional, of course."</p> - -<p>"Fire away, Dr. Carl."</p> - -<p>"Good. Now, when our friend has one of these—uh—attacks, is he -rational? Do his utterances seem to follow a logical thought sequence?"</p> - -<p>"I—think so."</p> - -<p>"In what way does he differ from his normal self?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, every way," she said with a tremor. "Nick's kind and gentle and -sensitive and—and naive, and this—other—is cruel, harsh, gross, -crafty, and horrible. You can't imagine a greater difference."</p> - -<p>"Um. Is the difference recognizable instantly? Could you ever be in -doubt as to which phase you were encountering?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no! I can—well, sort of dominate Nick, but the other—Lord!" She -shuddered again. "I felt like a terrified child in the presence of some -powerful, evil god."</p> - -<p>"Humph! Perhaps the god's name was Priapus. Well, we'll discount your -feelings, Pat, because you weren't exactly in the best condition -for—let's say <i>sober</i> judgment. Now about this story of his. What -happens to his own personality when this other phase is dominant? Did -he say?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. He said his own self was compelled to sort of stand by while -the—the intruder used his voice and body. He knew the thoughts of the -other, but only when it was dominant. The rest of the time he couldn't -tell its thoughts."</p> - -<p>"And how long has he suffered from these—intrusions?"</p> - -<p>"As long as he can remember. As a child he was blamed for the other's -mischief, and when he tried to explain, people thought he was lying to -escape punishment."</p> - -<p>"Well," observed the Doctor, "I can see how they might think that."</p> - -<p>"Don't you believe it?"</p> - -<p>"I don't exactly disbelieve it, Honey. The human mind plays queer -tricks sometimes, and this may be one of its little jokes. It's a -psychiatrist's business to investigate such things, and to painlessly -remove the point of the joke."</p> - -<p>"Oh, if you only can, Dr. Carl! If you only can!"</p> - -<p>"We'll see." He patted her hand comfortingly.</p> - -<p>"Now, you say the kind, gentle, and all that, phase is the normal one. -Is that usually dominant?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Nick can master the other, or could until recently. He says this -last—attack—is the worst he's ever had; the other has been gaining -strength."</p> - -<p>"Strange!" mused the Doctor. "Well," he said with a smile of -encouragement, "I'll have a look at him."</p> - -<p>"Do you think you can help?" Pat asked anxiously. "Have you any idea -what it is?"</p> - -<p>"It isn't a devil, at any rate," he smiled.</p> - -<p>"But have you any idea?"</p> - -<p>"Naturally I have, but I can't diagnose at second hand. I'll have to -talk to him."</p> - -<p>"But what do you think it is?" she persisted.</p> - -<p>"I think it's a fixation of an idea gained in childhood, Honey. I had -a patient once—" He smiled at the reminiscence—"who had a fixed -delusion of that sort. He was perfectly rational on every point -save one—he believed that a pig with a pink ribbon was following -him everywhere! Down town, into elevators and offices, home to -bed—everywhere he went this pink-ribboned prize porker pursued him!"</p> - -<p>"And did you cure him?"</p> - -<p>"Well, he recovered," said the Doctor non-committally. "We got rid of -the pig. And it might be something of that nature that's troubling your -boy friend. Your description doesn't sound like a praecox or a manic -depressive, as I thought originally."</p> - -<p>"Oh," said Pat abruptly. "I forgot. He went to a doctor in New York, a -very great doctor."</p> - -<p>"Muenster?"</p> - -<p>"He didn't say whom. But this doctor studied him a long time, and -finally came out with this fixed idea theory of yours. Only he couldn't -cure him."</p> - -<p>"Um." Horker grunted thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"Do fixed ideas do things like that to people?" queried the girl. -"Things like the pig and what happened to Nick?"</p> - -<p>"They might."</p> - -<p>"Then they're devils!" she announced with an air of finality. "They're -just your scientific jargon for exactly what Magda means when she says -a person's possessed by a devil. So I'm right anyway!"</p> - -<p>"That's good orthodox theology, Pat," chuckled the Doctor. "We'll try a -little exorcism on your devil, then." He rose to his feet. "Bring your -boy friend around, will you?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, Dr. Carl!" she cried. "He's leaving! I'll have to call him -tonight!"</p> - -<p>"Not tonight, Honey. Mueller would let me know if anything of that sort -were happening. Tomorrow's time enough."</p> - -<p>The girl stood erect, mounting to the top step to bring her head level -with the Doctor's. She threw her arms about him, burying her face in -his massive shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl," she murmured, "I'm a nasty, ill-tempered, vicious little -shrew, and I'm sorry, and I apologize. You know I'm crazy about you, -and," she whispered in his ear, "so's Mother!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C18" id="C18">18</a><br /> -<small>Vanished</small></h2> - - -<p>"He doesn't answer! I'm too late," thought Pat disconsolately as she -replaced the telephone. The cheerfulness with which she had awakened -vanished like a patch of April sunshine. Now, with the failure of her -third attempt in as many hours to communicate with Nicholas Devine, -she was ready to confess defeat. She had waited too long. Despite Dr. -Horker's confidence in Mueller, she should have called last night—at -once.</p> - -<p>"He's gone!" she murmured distractedly. She realized now the -impossibility of finding him. His solitary habits, his dearth of -friends, his lonely existence, left her without the least idea of how -to commence a search. She knew, actually, so little about him—not -even the source of the apparently sufficient income on which he -subsisted. She felt herself completely at a loss, puzzled, lonesome, -and disheartened. The futile buzzing of the telephone signal symbolized -her frustration.</p> - -<p>Perhaps, she thought, Dr. Horker might suggest something to do; -perhaps, even, Mueller had reported Nick's whereabouts. She seized -the hope eagerly. A glance at her wrist-watch revealed the time as -ten-thirty; squarely in the midst of the Doctor's morning office hours, -but no matter. If he were busy she could wait. She rose, bounding -hastily down the stairs.</p> - -<p>She glimpsed her mother opening mail in the library, and paused -momentarily at the door. Mrs. Lane glanced up as she appeared.</p> - -<p>"Hello," said the mother. "You've been on the telephone all morning, -and what did Carl want of you last night?"</p> - -<p>"Argument," responded Pat briefly.</p> - -<p>"Carl's a gem! He's been of inestimable assistance in developing you -into a very charming and clever daughter, and Heaven knows what I'd -have raised without him!"</p> - -<p>"Cain, probably," suggested Pat. She passed into the hall and out the -door, blinking in the brilliant August sunshine. She crossed the strip -of turf, picked her way through the break in the hedge, and approached -the Doctor's door. It was open; it often was in summer time, especially -during his brief office hours. She entered and went into the chamber -used as waiting room.</p> - -<p>His office door was closed; the faint hum of his voice sounded. She sat -impatiently in a chair and forced herself to wait.</p> - -<p>Fortunately, the delay was nominal; it was but a few minutes when the -door opened and an opulent, middle-aged lady swept past her and away. -Pat recognized her as Mrs. Lowry, some sort of cousin of the Brock pair.</p> - -<p>"Good morning!" boomed the Doctor. "Professional call, I take it, since -you're here during office hours." He settled his great form in a chair -beside her.</p> - -<p>"He's gone!" said Pat plaintively. "I can't reach him."</p> - -<p>"Humph!" grunted Horker helpfully.</p> - -<p>"I've tried all morning—he's always home in the morning."</p> - -<p>"Listen, you little scatter-brain!" rumbled the Doctor. "Why didn't you -tell me Mueller brought you home last night? I thought he was on the -job."</p> - -<p>"I didn't think of it," she wailed. "Nick said he'd have to make some -preparations, and I never dreamed he'd skip away like this."</p> - -<p>"He must have gone home directly after you left him, and skipped out -immediately," said the Doctor ruminatively. "Mueller never caught up -with him."</p> - -<p>"But what'll we do?" she cried desperately.</p> - -<p>"He can't have gone far with no more preparation than this," soothed -Horker. "He'll write you in a day or two."</p> - -<p>"He won't! He said he wouldn't. He doesn't want me to know where he -is!" She was on the verge of tears.</p> - -<p>"Now, now," said the Doctor still in his soothing tones. "It isn't as -bad as all that."</p> - -<p>"Take off your bed-side manner!" she snapped, blinking to keep back the -tears. "It's worse! What ever can we do? Dr. Carl," she changed to a -pleading tone, "can't you think of something?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, Pat! I can think of several things to do if you'll quiet -down for a moment or so."</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Dr. Carl—but what <i>can</i> we do?"</p> - -<p>"First, perhaps Mueller can trace him. That's his business, you know."</p> - -<p>"But suppose he can't—what then?"</p> - -<p>"Well, I'd suggest you write him a letter."</p> - -<p>"But I don't know where to write!" she wailed. "I don't know his -address!"</p> - -<p>"Be still a moment, scatter-brain! Address it to his last residence; -you know that, don't you? Of course you do. Now, don't you suppose -he'll leave a forwarding address? He must receive some sort of mail -about his income, or estate, or whatever he lives on. Your letter'll -find him, Honey; don't you doubt it."</p> - -<p>"Oh, do you think so?" she asked, suddenly hopeful. "Do you really -think so?"</p> - -<p>"I really think so. You would too if you didn't fly into a panic every -time some little difficulty confronts you. Sometimes even my psychiatry -is puzzled to explain how you can be so clever and so stupid, so -self-reliant and so dependent, so capable and so helpless—all at one -and the same time. Your Nick can't be as much of a paradox as you are!"</p> - -<p>"I wonder if a letter <i>will</i> reach him," she said eagerly, ignoring the -Doctor's remarks. "I'll try. I'll try immediately."</p> - -<p>"I sort of had a feeling you would," said Horker amiably. "I hope you -succeed; and not only for your sake, Pat, because God knows how this -thing will work out. But I'm anxious to examine this youngster of yours -on my own account; he must be a remarkable specimen to account for all -the perturbation he's managed to cause you. And this Jekyll-and-Hyde -angle sounds interesting, too."</p> - -<p>"Jekyll and Hyde!" echoed Pat. "Dr. Carl, is that possible?"</p> - -<p>"Not literally," chuckled the other, "though in a sense, Stevenson -anticipated Freud in his thesis that liberating the evil serves also to -release the good."</p> - -<p>"But—It was a drug that caused that change in the story, wasn't it?"</p> - -<p>"Well? Do you suspect your friend of being addicted to some mysterious -drug? Is that the latest hypothesis?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Is</i> there such a drug? One that could change a person's character?"</p> - -<p>"<i>All</i> alkaloids do that, Honey. Some of them stimulate, some depress, -some breed frenzies, and some give visions of delight—but all of -them influence one's mental and emotional organization, which you call -character. So for that matter, does a square meal, or a cup of coffee, -or even a rainy day."</p> - -<p>"But isn't there a drug that can separate good qualities from evil, -like the story?"</p> - -<p>"Emphatically not, Pat! That's not the trouble with this pesky boy -friend of yours."</p> - -<p>"Well," said the girl doubtfully, "I only wish I had as much faith in -your psychologies as you have. If you brain-doctors know it all, why do -you switch theories every year?"</p> - -<p>"We <i>don't</i> know it all. On the other hand, there are a few things to -be said in our favor."</p> - -<p>"What are they?"</p> - -<p>"For one," replied the Doctor, "we do cure people occasionally. You'll -admit that."</p> - -<p>"Sure," said Pat. "So did the Salem witches—occasionally." She -gave him a suddenly worried look. "Oh, Dr. Carl, don't think I'm -not grateful! You know how much I'm hoping from your help, but I'm -miserably anxious over all this."</p> - -<p>"Never mind, Honey. You're not the first one to point out the -shortcomings of the medical profession. That's a game played by plenty -of physicians too." He paused at the sound of footsteps on the porch, -followed by the buzz of the doorbell. "Run along and write your letter, -dear—here comes that Tuesday hypochondriac of mine, and he's rich -enough for my careful attention."</p> - -<p>Pat flashed him a quick smile of farewell and slipped quietly into the -hall. At the door she passed the Doctor's patient—a lean, elderly -gentleman of woe-begone visage—and returned to her own home.</p> - -<p>Her spirits, mercurial to a degree, had risen again. She was suddenly -positive that the Doctor's scheme would bring results, and she darted -into the house almost buoyantly. Her mother had abandoned the desk, -and she ensconced herself before it, finding paper and pen, and staring -thoughtfully at the blank sheet.</p> - -<p>Finally she wrote.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"Dear Nick—</p> - -<p>"Something has happened, favorable, I think, to us. I believe I have -found the help we need.</p> - -<p>"Will you come if you can, or if that's not possible, break that -self-given promise of yours, and communicate with me?</p> - -<p>"I love you."</p></blockquote> - -<p>She signed it simply "Pat", placed it in an envelope, addressed it -hastily, and hurried out to post it. On her return she spied the -Doctor's hypochondriac in the act of leaving. He walked past her with -his lean, worry-smitten face like a study of Hogarth, and she heard him -mumbling to himself. The elation went out of her; she mounted the steps -very soberly, and went miserably inside.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C19" id="C19">19</a><br /> -<small>Man or Monster?</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat suffered Wednesday through somehow, knowing that any such early -response to her letter was impossible. Still, that impossibility did -not deter her from starting at the sound of the telephone, and sorting -through the mail with an eagerness that drew a casual attention from -her mother.</p> - -<p>"Good Heavens, Patricia! You're like a child watching for an answer to -his note to Santa Claus!"</p> - -<p>"That's what I am, I guess," responded the girl ruefully. "Maybe I -expect too much from Santa Claus."</p> - -<p>Late in the afternoon she drifted over to Dr. Horker's residence, to -be informed that he was out. For distraction, she went in anyway, and -spent a while browsing among the books in the library. She blundered -into Kraft-Ebing, and read a few pages in growing indignation.</p> - -<p>"I'm ashamed to be human!" she muttered disgustedly to herself, -slamming shut the <i>Psychopathia Sexualis</i>. "I wouldn't be a doctor, or -have a child of mine become one, if I were positively certain he'd turn -into Lord Lister himself! Nick was right when he said doctors live on -people's troubles."</p> - -<p>She wondered how Dr. Horker could remain so human, so kindly and -understanding, when as he said himself his world was a parade of -misfits, incompetents, and all the nastiness of mortals. <i>He</i> was nice; -she felt no embarrassment in confiding in him even when she might -hesitate to bare her feelings to her own mother. Or was it simply the -natural thing to do to tell one's troubles to a doctor?</p> - -<p>Not, of course, that the situation reflected any discredit on her -mother. Mrs. Lane was a very precious sort of parent, she mused, -young as Pat in spirit, appreciative and enthusiastically fond of her -daughter. That she trusted Pat, that she permitted her to do entirely -as she pleased, was exactly as the girl would have it; it argued no -lack of affection that each of them had their separate interests, and -if the girl occasionally found herself in unpleasantness such as this, -that too was her own fault.</p> - -<p>And yet, she reflected, it was a bitter thing to have no one to whom to -turn. If it weren't for Dr. Carl and his jovial willingness to commit -any sin up to malpractice to help her, she might have felt differently. -But there always <i>was</i> Dr. Carl, and that, she concluded, was that.</p> - -<p>She wandered back to her own side of the hedge, missing for the first -time in many weeks the companionship of the old crowd. There hadn't -been many idle afternoons heretofore during the summer; there'd always -been some of the collegiate vacationing in town, and Pat had never -needed other lure than her own piquant vivacity to assure herself -of ample attention. Now, of course, it was different; she had so -definitely tagged herself with the same Nicholas Devine that even the -most ardent of the group had taken the warning.</p> - -<p>"And I don't regret it either!" she told herself as she entered the -house. "Trouble, mystery, suffering and all—I don't regret it! I've -had my compensations too."</p> - -<p>She sighed and trudged upstairs to prepare for dinner.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Morning found Pat in a fair frenzy of trepidation. She kept repeating -to herself that two days wasn't enough, that more time might be -required, that even had Nicholas Devine received her letter, he might -not have answered at once. Yet she was quivering as she darted into -the hall to examine the mail.</p> - -<p>It was there! She spied a fragment of the irregular handwriting and -seized the envelope from beneath a clutter of notes, bills, and -advertisements. She glanced at the post-mark. Chicago! He hadn't left -the city, trusting perhaps to the anonymity conferred by its colossal -swarm of humanity. Indeed, she thought as she stared at the missive, -he might have moved around the corner, and save for the chance of a -fortuitous meeting she'd never know it.</p> - -<p>She tore open the envelope and scanned the several scrawled lines.</p> - -<p>No heading, no salutation, not even a signature. Just, "Thursday -evening at our place in the park." No more; she studied the few words -intently, as if she could read into their bald phrasing the moods and -hidden emotions of the writer.</p> - -<p>A single phrase, but sufficient. The day was suddenly brighter, and -the hope which had glowed so dimly yesterday was abruptly almost more -than a hope—a certainty. All her doubts of Dr. Horker's abilities were -forgotten; already the solution of this uncanny mystery seemed assured, -and the restoration of romance imminent. She carried the letter to her -own room and tucked it carefully by the other in the drawer of the -night-table.</p> - -<p>Thursday evening—this evening! Many hours intervened between now and a -reasonable time for the meeting, but they loomed no longer drab, dull, -and hopeless. She lay on her bed and dreamed.</p> - -<p>She could meet Nick as early as possible; perhaps at eight-thirty, and -bring him directly to the Doctor's residence. No use wasting a moment, -she mused; the sooner some light could be thrown on the affliction, -the sooner they could lay the devil—exorcise it. Demon, fixed idea, -mental aberration, or whatever Dr. Carl chose to call it, it had to be -met and vanquished once and forever. And it <i>could</i> be vanquished; in -her present mood she didn't doubt it. Then—after that—there was the -prospect of her own Nick regained, and the sweet vistas opened by that -reflection.</p> - -<p>She lunched in an abstracted manner. In the afternoon, when the phone -rang, she jumped in a startled manner, then relaxed with a shrug.</p> - -<p>But this time it <i>was</i> for her. She darted into the hall to take the -call on the lower phone; she was hardly surprised but thoroughly -excited to recognize the voice of Nicholas Devine.</p> - -<p>"Pat?"</p> - -<p>"Nick! Oh, Nick, Honey! What is it?"</p> - -<p>"My note to you." Even across the wire she sensed the strain in his -tense tones. "You've read it?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, Nick! I'll be there."</p> - -<p>"No." His voice was trembling. "You won't come, Pat. Promise you won't!"</p> - -<p>"But why? Why not, Nick? Oh, it's terribly important that I see you!"</p> - -<p>"You're not to come, Pat!"</p> - -<p>"But—" An idea was struggling to her consciousness. "Nick, was it—?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. You know now."</p> - -<p>"But, Honey, what difference does it make? <i>You</i> come. You must, Nick!"</p> - -<p>"I won't meet you, I tell you!" She could hear his voice rising -excitedly in pitch, she could feel the intensity of the struggle across -unknown miles of lifeless copper wire.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said, "I'm going to be there, and you're going to meet me."</p> - -<p>There was silence at the other end.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she cried anxiously. "Do you hear me? I'll be there. Will you?"</p> - -<p>His voice sounded again, now flat and toneless.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he said. "I'll be there."</p> - -<p>The receiver clicked at the far end of the wire; there was only a -futile buzzing in Pat's ears. She replaced the instrument and sat -staring dubiously at it.</p> - -<p>Had that been Nick, really her Nick, or—? Suppose she went to that -meeting and found—the other? Was she willing to face another evening -of indignities and terrors like those still fresh in her memory?</p> - -<p>Still, she argued, what harm could come to her on that bench, exposed -as it was to the gaze of thousands who wandered through the park on -summer evenings? Suppose it <i>were</i> the other who met her; there was no -way to force her into a situation such as that of Saturday night. Nick -himself had chosen that very spot for their other meeting, and for that -very reason.</p> - -<p>"There's no risk in it," she told herself, "Nothing can possibly -happen. I'll simply go there and bring Nick back to Dr. Carl's, along a -lighted, busy street, the whole two blocks. What's there to be afraid -of?"</p> - -<p>Nothing at all, she answered herself. But suppose—She shuddered and -deliberately abandoned her chain of thought as she rose and rejoined -her mother.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C20" id="C20">20</a><br /> -<small>The Assignation</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat was by no means as buoyant as she had been in the morning. She -approached the appointed meeting place with a feeling of trepidation -that all her arguments could not subdue.</p> - -<p>She surveyed the crowded walks of the park with relief; she felt -confirmed in her assumption that nothing unpleasant could occur with -so many on-lookers. So she approached the bench with somewhat greater -self-assurance than when she had left the house.</p> - -<p>She saw the seat with its lone occupant, and hastened her steps. -Nicholas Devine was sitting exactly as he had on that other occasion, -chin cupped on his hands, eyes turned moodily toward the vast lake -that coruscated now with the reflection of stars and many lights. As -before, she moved close to his side before he looked up, but here the -similarity of the two occasions vanished. Her fears were realized; she -was looking into the red-gleaming eyes and expressionless features of -his other self—the demon of Saturday evening!</p> - -<p>"Sit down!" he said as a sardonic half-smile twisted his lips. "Aren't -you pleased? Aren't you thrilled to the very core of your being?"</p> - -<p>Pat stood irresolute; she controlled an impulse to break into sudden, -abandoned flight. The imminence of the crowded walks again reassured -her, and she seated herself gingerly on the extreme edge of the bench, -staring at her companion with coolly inimical eyes. He returned her -gaze with features as immobile as carven stone; only his red eyes gave -evidence of the obscene, uncanny life behind the mask.</p> - -<p>"Well?" said Pat in as frigid a voice as she could muster.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said the other surveying her. "You are quite as I recalled you. -Very pretty, almost beautiful, save for a certain irregularity in your -features. Not unpleasant, however." His eyes traveled over her body; -automatically she drew back, shrinking away from him. "You have a -seductive body," he continued. "A most seductive body; I regret that -circumstances prevented our full enjoyment of it. But that will come. -Yes, that will come!"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said Pat faintly. It took all her determination to remain seated -by the side of the horror.</p> - -<p>"You were extremely attractive as I attired you Saturday," the other -proceeded. His lips took on a curious sensual leer. "I could have -done better with more time; I would have stripped you somewhat more -completely. Everything, I think, except your legs; I am pleased by -the sight of long, straight, silk-clad legs, and should perhaps have -received some pleasure by running these hands along them—scratching -at proper intervals for the aesthetic effect of blood. But that too -will come."</p> - -<p>The girl sprang erect, gasping and speechless in outraged anger. She -turned abruptly; nothing remained of her determination now. She felt -only an urge to escape from the sneering tormentor who had lost in her -mind all connection with her own Nicholas Devine. She took a sudden -step.</p> - -<p>"Sit down!" She heard the tones of the entity behind her, flat, -unchanged. "Sit down, else I'll drag you here!"</p> - -<p>She paused in sheer surprise, turning a startled face on the other.</p> - -<p>"You wouldn't dare!" she said, amazed at the bald effrontery of the -threat. "You don't dare touch me here!"</p> - -<p>The other laughed. "Don't I? What have I to risk? <i>He</i>'ll suffer for -any deed of mine! You'll call for aid against me and only loose the -hounds on <i>him</i>."</p> - -<p>Pat stared blankly at the evil face. She had no answer; for once her -ready tongue found no retort.</p> - -<p>"Sit down!" reiterated the other, and she dropped dazedly to her -position on the bench. She turned dark questioning eyes on him.</p> - -<p>"Do you see," he sneered, "how weakening an influence is this love of -yours? To protect him you are obeying me; this is my authority over -you—this body I share with him!"</p> - -<p>She made no reply; she was making a desperate effort to lash her mind -into activity, to formulate some means of combating the being who -tortured her.</p> - -<p>"It has weakened him, too," the other proceeded. "This disturbed -love of his has taken away the mastery which birth gave him, and his -enfeeblement has given that mastery to me. He knows now the reason for -his weakness; I tell it to him too late to harm me."</p> - -<p>Pat struggled for composure. The very presence of the cold demon tore -at the roots of her self-control, and she suppressed a fierce desire to -break into hysterical laughter. Ridiculous, hopeless, incomprehensible -situation! She forced her quivering throat to husky speech.</p> - -<p>"What—what are you?" she stammered.</p> - -<p>"Synapse! I'm a question of synapses," jeered the other. "Simple! Very -simple! Ask your friend the Doctor!"</p> - -<p>"I think," said the girl, a measure of control returning to her voice, -"that you're a devil. You're some sort of a fiend that has managed to -attach itself to Nick, and you're not human. That's what I think!"</p> - -<p>"Think what you please," said the other. "We're wasting time here," he -said abruptly. "Come."</p> - -<p>"Where?" Pat was startled; she felt a recurrence of fright.</p> - -<p>"No matter where. Come."</p> - -<p>"I won't! Why do you want me?"</p> - -<p>"To complete the business of Saturday night," he said. "Your lips have -healed; they bleed no longer, but that is easy to remedy. Come."</p> - -<p>"I won't!" exclaimed the girl in sudden panic. "I won't!" She moved as -if to rise.</p> - -<p>"You forget," intoned the being beside her. "You forget the authority -vested in me by virtue of this love of yours. Let me convince you." He -stretched forth a thin hand. "Move and you condemn your sweetheart to -the punishment you threaten me."</p> - -<p>He seized her arm, pinching the flesh brutally, his nails breaking the -smooth skin. Pat felt her face turn ashy pale; she closed her eyes -and bit her nearly-healed lips at the excruciating pain, but she made -not the slightest sound nor the faintest movement. She simply sat and -suffered.</p> - -<p>"You see!" sneered the other, releasing her. "Thank my kindly nature -that I marked your arm instead of your face. Shall we go?"</p> - -<p>A scarcely audible whimper of pain came from the girl's lips. She sat -palled and unmoving, with her eyes still closed.</p> - -<p>"No," she murmured faintly at last. "No. I won't go with you."</p> - -<p>"Shall I drag you?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Drag me if you dare."</p> - -<p>His hand closed on her wrist; she felt herself jerked violently to her -feet, so roughly that it wrenched her shoulder. A startled, frightened -little cry broke from her lips, and then she closed them firmly at the -sight of several by-passers turning curious eyes on them.</p> - -<p>"I'll come," she murmured. The glimmering of an idea had risen in her -chaotic mind.</p> - -<p>She followed him in grim, bitter silence across the clipped turf to the -limit of the park. She recognized Nick's modest automobile standing -in the line of cars along the street; her companion, or captor, moved -directly towards it, opened the door and clambered in without a single -backward glance. He turned about and watched her as she paused with -one diminutive foot on the running board, and rubbed her hand over her -aching arm.</p> - -<p>"Get in!" he ordered coldly.</p> - -<p>She made no move. "I want to know where you intend to take me."</p> - -<p>"It doesn't matter. To a place where we can complete that unfinished -experiment of ours. Aren't you happy at the prospect?"</p> - -<p>"Do you think," she said unsteadily, "that I'd consent to that even to -save Nick from disgrace and punishment? Do you think I'm fool enough -for that?"</p> - -<p>"We'll soon see." He extended his hand. "Scream—fight—struggle!" he -jeered. "Call them down on your sweetheart!"</p> - -<p>He had closed his hand on her wrist; she jerked it convulsively from -his grasp.</p> - -<p>"I'll bargain with you!" she gasped. She needed a moment's respite to -clarify a thought that had been growing in her mind.</p> - -<p>"Bargain? What have you to offer?"</p> - -<p>"As much as you!"</p> - -<p>"Ah, but I have a threat—the threat to your sweetheart! And I'm -offering too the lure of that evil whose face so charmed you recently. -Have you forgotten how nearly I won you to the worship of that -principle? Have you forgotten the ecstasy of that pain?"</p> - -<p>His terrible, blood-shot eyes were approaching her face; and strangely, -the girl felt a curious recurrence of that illogical desire to yield -that had swept over her on that disastrous night of Saturday. There -<i>had</i> been an ecstasy; there <i>had</i> been a wild, ungodly, unhallowed -pleasure in his blows, in the searing pain of his kisses on her -lacerated lips. She realized vaguely that she was staring blankly, -dazedly, into the red eyes, and that somewhere within her, some insane -brain-cells were urging her to clamber to the seat beside him.</p> - -<p>She tore her eyes away. She rubbed her bruised shoulder, and the pain -of her own touch restored her vanishing logical faculties. She returned -her gaze to the face of the other, meeting his gaze now coolly.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she said earnestly, as if calling him from a distance. "Nick!"</p> - -<p>There was, she fancied, the faintest gleam of concern apparent in the -features opposite her. She continued.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she repeated. "You can hear me, Honey. Come to the house as -soon as you are able. Come tonight, or any time; I'll wait until you -do. You'll come, Honey; you must!"</p> - -<p>She backed away from the car; the other made no move to halt her. She -circled the vehicle and dashed recklessly across the street. From the -safety of the opposite walk she glanced back; the red-eyed visage was -regarding her steadily through the glass of the window.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C21" id="C21">21</a><br /> -<small>A Question of Synapses</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat almost ran the few blocks to her home. She hastened along in a near -panic, regardless of the glances of pedestrians she chanced to pass. -With the disappearance of the immediate urge, the composure for which -she had struggled had deserted her, and she felt shaken, terrified, -and weak. Her arm ached miserably, and her wrenched shoulder pained at -each movement. It was not until she attained her own door-step that she -paused, panting and quivering, to consider the events of the evening.</p> - -<p>"I can't stand any more of this!" she muttered wretchedly to herself. -"I'll just have to give up, I guess; I can't pit myself another time -against—that thing."</p> - -<p>She leaned wearily against the railing of the porch, rubbing her -injured arm.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl was right," she thought. "Nick was right; it's dangerous. -There was a moment there at the end when he—or it—almost had me. I'm -frightened," she admitted. "Lord only knows what might have happened -had I been a little weaker. If the Lord <i>does</i> know," she added.</p> - -<p>She found her latch-key and entered the house. Only a dim light burned -in the hall; her mother, of course, was at the Club, and the maid and -Magda were far away in their chambers on the third floor. She tossed -her wrap on a chair, switched on a brighter light, and examined the -painful spot on her arm, a red mark already beginning to turn a nasty -blue, with two tiny specks of drying blood. She shuddered, and trudged -wearily up the stairs to her room.</p> - -<p>The empty silence of the house oppressed her. She wanted human -companionship—safe, trustworthy, friendly company, anyone to distract -her thoughts from the eerie, disturbing direction they were taking. -She was still in somewhat of a panic, and suppressed with difficulty a -desire to peep fearfully under the bed.</p> - -<p>"Coward!" she chided herself. "You knew what to expect."</p> - -<p>Suddenly the recollection of her parting words recurred to her. She -had told Nick—if Nick had indeed heard—to come to the house, to come -at once, tonight, if he could. A tremor of apprehension ran through -her. Suppose he came; suppose he came as her own Nick, and she admitted -him, and then—or suppose that other came, and managed by some trick to -enter, or suppose that unholy fascination of his prevailed on her—she -shivered, and brushed her hand distractedly across her eyes.</p> - -<p>"I can't stand it!" she moaned. "I'll have to give up, even if it means -never seeing Nick again. I'll have to!" She shook her head miserably as -if to deny the picture that had risen in her mind of herself and that -horror alone in the house.</p> - -<p>"I won't stay here!" she decided. She peeped out of the west windows at -the Doctor's residence, and felt a surge of relief at the sight of his -iron-gray hair framed in the library window below. He was reading; she -could see the book on his knees. There was her refuge; she ran hastily -down the stairs and out of the door.</p> - -<p>With an apprehensive glance along the street she crossed to his door -and rang the bell. She waited nervously for his coming, and, with -a sudden impulse, pulled her vanity-case from her bag and dabbed a -film of powder over the mark on her arm. Then his ponderous footsteps -sounded and the door opened.</p> - -<p>"Hello," he said genially. "These late evening visits of yours are -becoming quite customary—and see if I care!"</p> - -<p>"May I come in a while?" asked Pat meekly.</p> - -<p>"Have I ever turned you away?" He followed her into the library, pushed -a chair forward for her, and dropped quickly into his own with an air -of having snatched it from her just in time.</p> - -<p>"I didn't want your old arm-chair," she remarked, occupying the other.</p> - -<p>"And what's the trouble tonight?" he queried.</p> - -<p>"I—well, I was just nervous. I didn't want to stay in the house alone."</p> - -<p>"You?" His tone was skeptical. "You were nervous? That hardly sounds -reasonable, coming from an independent little spit-fire like you."</p> - -<p>"I was, though. I was scared."</p> - -<p>"And of what—or whom?"</p> - -<p>"Of haunts and devils."</p> - -<p>"Oh." He nodded. "I see you've had results from your letter-writing."</p> - -<p>"Well, sort of."</p> - -<p>"I'm used to your circumlocutions, Pat. Suppose you come directly to -the point for once. What happened?"</p> - -<p>"Why, I wrote Nick to get in touch with me, and I got a reply. He said -to meet him in the park at a place we knew. This evening."</p> - -<p>"And you did, of course."</p> - -<p>"Yes, but before that, this afternoon, he called up and told me not to, -but I insisted and we did."</p> - -<p>"Told you not to, eh? And was his warning justified?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Oh, yes! When I came to the place, it was—the other."</p> - -<p>"So! Well, he could hardly manhandle you in a public park."</p> - -<p>Pat thought of her wrenched shoulder and bruised arm. She shuddered.</p> - -<p>"He's horrible!" she said. "Inhuman! He kept referring to Saturday -night, and he threatened that if I moved or made a disturbance he'd let -Nick suffer the consequences. So I kept still while he insulted me."</p> - -<p>"You nit-wit!" There was more than a trace of anger in the Doctor's -voice. "I want to see that pup of yours! We'll soon find out what this -thing is—a mania or simply lack of a good licking!"</p> - -<p>"What it is?" echoed Pat. "Oh—it told me! Dr. Carl, what's a synopsis?"</p> - -<p>"A synopsis! You know perfectly well."</p> - -<p>"I mean applied to physiology or psychology or something. It—he told -me he was a question of synopsis."</p> - -<p>"This devil of yours said that?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Hum!" The Doctor's voice was musing. He frowned perplexedly, then -looked up abruptly. "Was it—did he by any chance say synapses? Not -synopsis—synapses?"</p> - -<p>"That's it!" exclaimed the girl. "He said he was a question of -synapses. Does that explain him? Do you know what he is?"</p> - -<p>"Doesn't explain a damn thing!" snapped Horker. "A synapse is a -juncture, or the meeting of two nerves. It's why you can develop -automatic motions and habits, like playing piano, or dancing. When you -form a habit, the synapses of the nerves involved are sort of worn -thin, so the nerves themselves are, in a sense, short-circuited. You go -through motions without the need of your brain intervening, which is -all a habit amounts to. Understand?"</p> - -<p>"Not very well," confessed Pat.</p> - -<p>"Humph! It doesn't matter anyway. I can't see that it helps to analyze -your devil."</p> - -<p>"I don't care if it's never analyzed," said Pat with a return of -despondency. "Dr. Carl, I can't face that evil thing again. I can't do -it, not even if it means never seeing Nick!"</p> - -<p>"Sensible," said the Doctor approvingly. "I'd like to have a chance at -him, but not enough to keep you in this state of jitters. Although," he -added, "a lot of this mystery is the product of your own harum-scarum -mind. You can be sure of that, Honey."</p> - -<p>"You <i>would</i> say so," responded the girl wearily. "You've never seen -that—change. If it's my imagination, then I'm the one that needs your -treatments, not Nick."</p> - -<p>"It isn't <i>all</i> imagination, most likely," said Horker defensively. "I -know these introverted types with their hysterias, megalomanias, and -defense mechanisms! They've paraded through my office there for a good -many years, Pat; they've provided the lion's share of my practice. But -this young psychopathic of yours seems to have it bad—abnormally so, -and that's why I'm so interested, apart from helping you, of course."</p> - -<p>"I don't care," said Pat apathetically, repressing a desire to rub her -injured arm. "I'm through. I'm scared out of the affair. Another week -like this last one and I <i>would</i> be one of your patients."</p> - -<p>"Best drop it, then," said Horker, eyeing her seriously. "Nothing's -worth upsetting yourself like this, Pat."</p> - -<p>"Nick's worth it," she murmured. "He's worth it—only I just haven't -the strength. I haven't the courage. I can't do it!"</p> - -<p>"Never mind, Honey," the Doctor muttered, regarding her with an -expression of concern. "You're probably well out of the mess. I know -damn well you haven't told me everything about this affair—notably, -how you acquired that ugly mark on your arm that's so carefully -powdered over. So, all in all, I guess you're well out of it."</p> - -<p>"I suppose I am." Her voice was still weary. Suddenly the glare of -headlights drew her attention to the window; a car was stopping before -her home. "There's Mother," she said. "I'll go on back now, Dr. Carl, -and thanks for entertaining a lonesome and depressed lady."</p> - -<p>She rose with a casual glance through the window, then halted in frozen -astonishment and a trace of terror.</p> - -<p>"Oh!" she gasped. The car was the modest coupe of Nicholas Devine.</p> - -<p>She peered through the window; the Doctor rose and stared over her -shoulder. "I told him to come," she whispered. "I told him to come when -he was able. He heard me, he or—the other."</p> - -<p>A figure alighted from the vehicle. Even in the dusk she could perceive -the exhaustion, the weariness in its movements. She pressed her face -to the pane, surveying the form with fascinated intentness. It turned, -supporting itself against the car and gazing steadily at her own door. -With the movement the radiance of a street-light illuminated its -features.</p> - -<p>"It's Nick!" she cried with such eagerness that the Doctor was -startled. "It's <i>my</i> Nick!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C22" id="C22">22</a><br /> -<small>Doctor and Devil</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat rushed to the door, out upon the porch, and down to the street. -Dr. Horker followed her to the entrance and stood watching her as she -darted toward the dejected figure beside the car.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she cried. "I'm here, Honey. You heard me, didn't you?"</p> - -<p>She flung herself into his arms; he held her eagerly, pressing a hasty, -tender kiss on her lips.</p> - -<p>"You heard me!" she murmured.</p> - -<p>"Yes." His voice was husky, strained. "What is it, Pat? Tell me -quickly—God knows how much time we have!"</p> - -<p>"It's Dr. Carl. He'll help us, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Help us! No one can help us, dear. No one!"</p> - -<p>"He'll try. It can't do any harm, Honey. Come in with me. Now!"</p> - -<p>"It's useless, I tell you!"</p> - -<p>"But come," she pleaded. "Come anyway!"</p> - -<p>"Pat, I tell you this battle has to be fought out by me alone. I'm the -only one who can do anything at all and," he lowered his voice, "Pat, -I'm losing!"</p> - -<p>"Nick!"</p> - -<p>"That's why I came tonight. I was too cowardly to make our last -meeting—Monday evening in the park—a definite farewell. I wanted to, -but I weakened. So tonight, Pat, it's a final good-bye, and you thank -Heaven for it!"</p> - -<p>"Oh, Nick dear!"</p> - -<p>"It was touch and go whether I came at all tonight. It was a struggle, -Pat; <i>he</i> is as strong as I am now. Or stronger."</p> - -<p>The girl gazed searchingly into his worn, weary face. He looked -miserably ill, she thought; he seemed as exhausted as one who had been -engaged in a physical battle.</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said insistently, "I don't care what you say, you're coming -in with me. Only for a little while."</p> - -<p>She tugged at his hand, dragging him reluctantly after her. He followed -her to the porch where the open door still framed the great figure of -the Doctor.</p> - -<p>"You know Dr. Carl," she said.</p> - -<p>"Come inside," growled Horker. Pat noticed the gruffness of his voice, -his lack of any cordiality, but she said nothing as she pulled her -reluctant companion through the door and into the library.</p> - -<p>The Doctor drew up another chair, and Pat, more accustomed to his -devices, observed that he placed it in such position that the lamp cast -a stream of radiance on Nick's face. She sank into her own chair and -waited silently for developments.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Horker, turning his shrewd old eyes on Nick's countenance, -"let's get down to cases. Pat's told me what she knows; we can take -that much for granted. Is there anything more you might want to tell?"</p> - -<p>"No, sir," responded the youth wearily. "I've told Pat all I know."</p> - -<p>"Humph! Maybe I can ask some leading questions, then. Will you answer -them?"</p> - -<p>"Of course, any that I can."</p> - -<p>"All right. Now," the Doctor's voice took on a cool professional edge, -"you've had these—uh—attacks as long as you can remember. Is that -right?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"But they've been more severe of late?"</p> - -<p>"Much worse, sir!"</p> - -<p>"Since when?"</p> - -<p>"Since—about as long as I've known Pat. Four or five weeks."</p> - -<p>"M—m," droned the Doctor. "You've no idea of the cause for this -increase in the malignancy of the attacks?"</p> - -<p>"No sir," said Nick, after a barely perceptible hesitation.</p> - -<p>"You don't think the cause could be in any way connected with, let us -say, the emotional disturbances attending your acquaintance with Pat -here?"</p> - -<p>"No, sir," said the youth flatly.</p> - -<p>"All right," said Horker. "Let that angle go for the present. Are there -any after effects from these spells?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. There's always a splitting headache." He closed his eyes. "I have -one of them now."</p> - -<p>"Localized?"</p> - -<p>"Sir?"</p> - -<p>"Is the pain in any particular region? Forehead, temples, eyes, or so -forth?"</p> - -<p>"No. Just a nasty headache."</p> - -<p>"But no other after-effects?"</p> - -<p>"I can't think of any others. Except, perhaps, a feeling of exhaustion -after I've gone through what I've just finished." He closed his eyes as -if to shut out the recollection.</p> - -<p>"Well," mused the Doctor, "we'll forget the physical symptoms. What -happens to your individuality, your own consciousness, while you're -suffering an attack?"</p> - -<p>"Nothing happens to it," said Nick with a suppressed shudder. "I -watch and hear, but what <i>he</i> does is beyond my control. It's -terrifying—horrible!" he burst out suddenly.</p> - -<p>"Doubtless," responded Horker smoothly. "What about the other? Does -that one stand by while you're in the saddle?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know," muttered Nick dully. "Of course he does!" he added -abruptly. "I can feel his presence at all times—even now. He's always -lurking, waiting to spring forth, as soon as I relax!"</p> - -<p>"Humph!" ejaculated the Doctor. "How do you manage to sleep?"</p> - -<p>"By waiting for exhaustion," said Nick wearily. "By waiting until I can -stay awake no longer."</p> - -<p>"And can you bring this other personality into dominance? Can you -change controls, so to speak, at will?"</p> - -<p>"Why—yes," the youth answered, hesitating as if puzzled. "Yes, I -suppose I could."</p> - -<p>"Let's see you, then."</p> - -<p>"But—" Horror was in his voice.</p> - -<p>"No, Dr. Carl!" Pat interjected in fright. "I won't let him!"</p> - -<p>"I thought you declared yourself out of this," said Horker with a -shrewd glance at the girl.</p> - -<p>"Then I'm back in it! I won't let him do what you want—anyway, not -that!"</p> - -<p>"Pat," said the Doctor with an air of patience, "you want me to treat -this affliction, don't you? Isn't that what both of you want?"</p> - -<p>The girl murmured a scarcely audible assent.</p> - -<p>"Very well, then," he proceeded. "Do you expect me to treat the thing -blindly—in the dark? Do you think I can guess at the cause without -observing the effect?"</p> - -<p>"No," said Pat faintly.</p> - -<p>"So! Now then," he turned to Nick, "Let's see this transformation."</p> - -<p>"Must I?" asked the youth reluctantly.</p> - -<p>"If you want my help."</p> - -<p>"All right," he agreed with another tremor. He sat passively staring -at the Doctor; a moment passed. Horker heard Pat's nervous breathing; -other than that, the room was in silence. Nicholas Devine closed his -eyes, brushed his hand across his forehead. A moment more and he opened -them to gaze perplexedly at the Doctor.</p> - -<p>"He won't!" he muttered in astonishment. "He won't do it!"</p> - -<p>"Humph!" snapped Horker, ignoring Pat's murmur of relief. "Finicky -devil, isn't he? Likes to pick company he can bully!"</p> - -<p>"I don't understand it!" Nick's face was blank. "He's been tormenting -me until just now!" He looked at the Doctor. "You don't think I'm lying -about it, do you, Dr. Horker?"</p> - -<p>"Not consciously," replied the other coolly. "If I thought you were -responsible for a few of the indignities perpetrated on Pat here, I'd -waste no time in questions, young man. I'd be relieving myself of -certain violent impulses instead."</p> - -<p>"I <i>couldn't</i> harm Pat!"</p> - -<p>"You gave a passable imitation of it, then! However, that's beside the -point; as I say, I don't hold you responsible for aberrations which I -believe are beyond your control. The main thing is a diagnosis."</p> - -<p>"Do you know what it is?" cut in Pat eagerly.</p> - -<p>"Not yet—at least, not for certain. There's only one real method -available; these questions will get us nowhere. We'll have to -psychoanalyze you, young man."</p> - -<p>"I don't care what you do, if you can offer any hope!" he declared -vehemently. "Let's get it over!"</p> - -<p>"Not as easy as all that!" rumbled Horker. "It takes time; and besides, -it can't be successful with the subject in a hectic mood such as -yours." He glanced at his watch. "Moreover, it's after midnight."</p> - -<p>He turned to Nicholas Devine. "We'll make it Saturday evening," -he said. "Meanwhile, young man, you're not to see Pat. Not at -all—understand? You can see her here when you come."</p> - -<p>"That's infinitely more than I'd planned for myself," said the youth in -a low voice. "I'd abandoned the hope of seeing her."</p> - -<p>He rose and moved toward the door, and the others followed. At the -entrance he paused; he leaned down to plant a brief, tender kiss on -the girl's lips, and moved wordlessly out of the door. Pat watched -him enter his car, and followed the vehicle with her eyes until it -disappeared. Then she turned to Horker.</p> - -<p>"Do you really know anything about it?" she queried. "Have you any -theory at all?"</p> - -<p>"He's not lying," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "I watched him closely; -he believes he's telling the truth."</p> - -<p>"He is. I know what I saw!"</p> - -<p>"He hasn't the signs of praecox or depressive," mused the Doctor. "It's -puzzling; it's one of those functional aberrations, or a fixed delusion -of some kind. We'll find out just what it is."</p> - -<p>"It's the devil," declared Pat positively. "I don't care what sort of -scientific tag you give it—that's what it is. You doctors can hide a -lot of ignorance under a long name."</p> - -<p>Horker paid no attention to her remarks. "We'll see what the -psychoanalysis brings out," he said. "I shouldn't be surprised if the -whole thing were the result of a defense mechanism erected by a timid -child in an effort to evade responsibility. That's what it sounds like."</p> - -<p>"It's a devil!" reiterated Pat.</p> - -<p>"Well," said the Doctor, "if it is, it has one thing in common with -every spook or devil I ever heard of."</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"It refuses to appear under any conditions where one has a chance to -examine it. It's like one of these temperamental mediums trying to -perform under a spot-light."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C23" id="C23">23</a><br /> -<small>Werewolf</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat awoke in rather better spirits. Somehow, the actual entrance of Dr. -Horker into the case gave her a feeling of security, and her natural -optimistic nature rode the pendulum back from despair to hope. Even the -painful black-and-blue mark on her arm, as she examined it ruefully, -failed to shake her buoyant mood.</p> - -<p>Her mood held most of the day; it was only at evening that a recurrence -of doubt assailed her. She sat in the dim living room waiting the -arrival of her mother's guests, and wondered whether, after all, the -predicament was as easily solvable as she had assumed. She watched -the play of lights and shadows across the ceiling, patterns cast -through the windows by moving headlights in the street, and wondered -anew whether her faith in Dr. Carl's abilities was justified. Science! -She had the faith of her generation in its omnipotence, but here in -the dusk, the outworn superstitions of childhood became appalling -realities, and some of Magda's stories, forgotten now for years, rose -out of their graves and went squeaking and maundering like sheeted -ghosts in a ghastly parade across the universe of her mind. The -meaningless taunts she habitually flung at Dr. Carl's science became -suddenly pregnant with truth; his patient, hard-learned science seemed -in fact no more than the frenzies of a witch-doctor dancing in the -heart of a Rhodesian swamp.</p> - -<p>What was it worth—this array of medical facts—if it failed to -cure? Was medicine falling into the state of Chinese science—a vast -collection of good rules for which the reasons were either unknown or -long forgotten? She sighed; it was with a feeling of profound relief -that she heard the voices of the Brocks outside; she played miserable -bridge the whole evening, but it was less of an affliction than the -solitude of her own thoughts.</p> - -<p>Saturday morning, cloudy and threatening though it was, found the -pendulum once more at the other end of the arc. She found herself, if -not buoyantly cheerful, at least no longer prey to the inchoate doubts -and fears of the preceding evening. She couldn't even recall their -nature; they had been apart from the cool, day-time logic that preached -a common-sense reliance on accepted practices. They had been, she -concluded, no more than childish nightmares induced by darkness and the -play of shadows.</p> - -<p>She dressed and ate a late breakfast; her mother was already en route -to the Club for her bridge-luncheon. Thereafter, she wandered into the -kitchen for the company of Magda, whom she found with massive arms -immersed in dish water. Pat perched on her particular stool beside the -kitchen table and watched her at her work.</p> - -<p>"Magda," she said finally.</p> - -<p>"I'm listening, Miss Pat."</p> - -<p>"Do you remember a story you told me a long time ago? Oh, years -and years ago, about a man in your town who could change into -something—some fierce animal. A wolf, or something like that."</p> - -<p>"Oh, him!" said Magda, knitting her heavy brows. "You mean the -werewolf."</p> - -<p>"That's it! The werewolf. I remember it now—how frightened I was after -I went to bed. I wasn't more than eight years old, was I?"</p> - -<p>"I couldn't remember. It was years ago, though, for sure."</p> - -<p>"What was the story?" queried Pat. "Do you remember that?"</p> - -<p>"Why, it was the time the sheep were being missed," said the woman, -punctuating her words with the clatter of dishes on the drainboard. -"Then there was a child gone, and another, and then tales of this great -wolf about the country. I didn't see him; us little ones stayed under -roof by darkness after that."</p> - -<p>"That wasn't all of it," said Pat. "You told me more than that."</p> - -<p>"Well," continued Magda, "there was my uncle, who was best hand with -a rifle in the village. He and others went after the creature, and my -uncle, he came back telling how he'd seen it plain against the sky, and -how he'd fired at it. He couldn't miss, he was that close, but the wolf -gave him a look and ran away."</p> - -<p>"And then what?"</p> - -<p>"Then the Priest came, and he said it wasn't a natural wolf. He melted -up a silver coin and cast a bullet, and he gave it to my uncle, he -being the best shot in the village. And the next night he went out once -more."</p> - -<p>"Did he get it?" asked Pat. "I don't remember."</p> - -<p>"He did. He came upon it by the pasture, and he aimed his gun. The -creature looked straight at him with its evil red eyes, and he shot it. -When he came to it, there wasn't a wolf at all, but this man—his name -I forget—with a hole in his head. And then the Priest, he said he was -a werewolf, and only a silver bullet could kill him. But my uncle, <i>he</i> -said those evil red eyes kept staring at him for many nights."</p> - -<p>"Evil red eyes!" said Pat suddenly. "Magda," she asked in a faint -voice, "could he change any time he wanted to?"</p> - -<p>"Only by night, the Priest said. By sunrise he had to be back."</p> - -<p>"Only by night!" mused the girl. Another idea was forming in her active -little mind, another conception, disturbing, impossible to phrase. "Is -that worse than being possessed by a devil, Magda?"</p> - -<p>"Sure it's worse! The Priest, he could cast out the devil, but I never -heard no cure for being a werewolf."</p> - -<p>Pat said nothing further, but slid from her high perch to the floor and -went soberly out of the kitchen. The fears of last night had come to -life again, and now the over-cast skies outside seemed a fitting symbol -to her mood. She stared thoughtfully out of the living room windows, -and the sudden splash of raindrops against the pane lent a final touch -to the whole desolate ensemble.</p> - -<p>"I'm just a superstitious little idiot!" she told herself. "I laugh -at Mother because she always likes to play North and South, and here -I'm letting myself worry over superstitions that were discarded before -there was any such thing as a game called contract bridge."</p> - -<p>But her arguments failed to carry conviction. The memory of the -terrible eyes of that <i>other</i> had clicked too aptly to Magda's phrase. -She couldn't subdue the picture that haunted her, and she couldn't cast -off the apprehensiveness of her mood. She recalled gloomily that Dr. -Horker was at the Club—wouldn't be home before evening, else she'd -have gladly availed herself of his solid, matter-of-fact company.</p> - -<p>She thought of Nick's appointment with the Doctor for that evening. -Suppose his psychoanalysis brought to light some such horror as these -fears of hers—that would forever destroy any possibility of happiness -for her and Nick. Even though the Doctor refused to recognize it, -called it by some polysyllabic scientific name, the thing would be -there to sever them.</p> - -<p>She wandered restlessly into the hall. The morning mail, unexamined, -lay in its brazen receptacle, she moved over, fingering it idly. -Abruptly she paused in astonishment—a letter in familiar script -had flashed at her. She pulled it out; it was! It was a letter from -Nicholas Devine!</p> - -<p>She tore it open nervously, wondering whether he had reverted to his -original refusal of Dr. Horker's aid, whether he was unable to come, -whether <i>that</i> had happened. But only a single unfolded sheet slipped -from the envelope, inscribed with a few brief lines of poetry.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"The grief that is too faint for tears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scarcely breathes of pain,</div> - <div class="verse">May linger on a hundred years</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere it creep forth again.</div> - <div class="verse">But I, who love you now too well</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To suffer your disdain,</div> - <div class="verse">Must try tonight that love to quell—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And try in vain!"</div> -</div></div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C24" id="C24">24</a><br /> -<small>The Dark Other</small></h2> - - -<p>It was early in the evening, not yet eight o'clock, when Pat saw the -car of Nicholas Devine draw up before the house. She had already been -watching half an hour, sitting cross-legged in the deep window seat, -like her jade Buddha. That equivocal poem of his had disturbed her, -lent an added strength to the moods and doubts already implanted by -Magda's mystical tale, and it was with a feeling of trepidation that -she watched him emerge wearily from his vehicle and stare in indecision -first at her window and then at the Horker residence. The waning -daylight was still sufficient to delineate his worn features; she -could see them, pale, harried, but indubitably the mild features of her -own Nick.</p> - -<p>While he hesitated, she darted to the door and out upon the porch. He -gave her a wan smile of greeting, advanced to the foot of the steps, -and halted there.</p> - -<p>"The Doctor's not home yet," she called to him. He stood motionless -below her.</p> - -<p>"Come up on the porch," she invited, as he made no move. She uttered -the words with a curious feeling of apprehension; for even as she ached -for his presence, the uncertain state of affairs was frightening. She -thought fearfully that what had happened before might happen again. -Still, there on the open porch, in practically full daylight, and for -so brief a time—Dr. Carl would be coming very shortly, she reasoned.</p> - -<p>"I can't," said Nick, staring wistfully at her. "You know I can't."</p> - -<p>"Why not?"</p> - -<p>"I promised. You remember—I promised Dr. Horker I'd not see you except -in his presence."</p> - -<p>"So you did," said Pat doubtfully. The promise offered escape from -a distressing situation, she thought, and yet—somehow, seeing Nick -standing pathetically there, she couldn't imagine anything harmful -emanating from him. There had been many and many evenings in his -company that had passed delightfully, enjoyably, safely. She felt a -wave of pity for him; after all, the affliction was his, most of the -suffering was his.</p> - -<p>"We needn't take it so literally," she said almost reluctantly. "He'll -be home very soon now."</p> - -<p>"I know," said Nick soberly, "but it was a promise, and besides, I'm -afraid."</p> - -<p>"Never mind, Honey," she said, after a momentary hesitation. "Come up -and sit here on the steps, then—here beside me. We can talk just as -well as there on the settee."</p> - -<p>He climbed the steps and seated himself, watching Pat with longing -eyes. He made no move to touch her, nor did she suggest a kiss.</p> - -<p>"I read your poem, Honey," she said finally. "It worried me."</p> - -<p>"I'm sorry, Pat. I couldn't sleep. I kept wandering around the house, -and at last I wrote it and took it out and mailed it. It was a vent, a -relief from the things I'd been thinking."</p> - -<p>"What things, Honey?"</p> - -<p>"A way, mostly," he answered gloomily, "of removing myself from your -life. A permanent way."</p> - -<p>"Nick!"</p> - -<p>"I didn't, as you see, Pat. I was too cowardly, I suppose. Or perhaps -it was because of this forlorn hope of ours. There's always hope, Pat; -even the condemned man with his foot on the step to the gallows feels -it."</p> - -<p>"Nick dear!" she cried, her voice quavering in pity. "Nick, you mustn't -think of those things! It might weaken you—make it easier for <i>him</i>!"</p> - -<p>"It can't. If it frightens <i>him</i>, I'm glad."</p> - -<p>"Honey," she said soothingly, "we'll give Dr. Carl a chance. Promise me -you'll let him try, won't you?"</p> - -<p>"Of course I will. Is there anything I'd refuse to promise you, Pat? -Even," he added bitterly, "when reason tells me it's a futile promise."</p> - -<p>"Don't say it!" she urged fiercely. "We've got to help him. We've got -to believe—There he comes!" she finished with sudden relief.</p> - -<p>The Doctor's car turned up the driveway beyond his residence. Pat saw -his face regarding them as he disappeared behind the building.</p> - -<p>"Come on, Honey," she said. "Let's get at the business."</p> - -<p>They moved slowly over to the Doctor's door, waiting there until his -ponderous footsteps sounded. A light flashed in the hall, and his broad -shadow filled the door for a moment before it opened.</p> - -<p>"Come in," he rumbled jovially. "Fine evening we're spoiling, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"It could be," said Pat as they followed him into the library, "only -it'll probably rain some more."</p> - -<p>"Hah!" snorted the Doctor, frowning at the mention of rain. "The course -was soft. Couldn't get any distance, and it added six strokes to my -score. At least six!"</p> - -<p>Pat chuckled commiseratingly. "You ought to lay out a course in -Greenland," she suggested. "They say anyone can drive a ball a quarter -of a mile on smooth ice."</p> - -<p>"Humph!" The Doctor waved toward a great, low chair. "Suppose you sit -over there, young man, and we'll get about our business. And don't look -so woe-begone about it."</p> - -<p>Nick settled himself nervously in the designated chair; the Doctor -seated himself at a little distance to the side, and Pat sat tensely in -her usual place beside the hearth. She waited in strained impatience -for the black magic of psychoanalysis to commence.</p> - -<p>"Now," said Horker, "I want you to keep quiet, Pat—if possible. And -you, young man, are to relax, compose yourself, get yourself into as -passive a state as possible. Do you understand?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," The youth leaned back in the great chair, closing his eyes.</p> - -<p>"So! Now, think back to your childhood, your earliest memories. Let -your thoughts wander at random, and speak whatever comes to your mind."</p> - -<p>Nick sat a moment in silence. "That's hard to do, sir," he said finally.</p> - -<p>"Yes. It will take practice, weeks of it, perhaps. You'll have to -acquire the knack of it, but to do that, we'll have to start."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir." He sat with closed eyes. "My mother," he murmured, "was -kind. I remember her a little, just a little. She was very gentle, not -apt to blame me. She could understand. Made excuses to my father. He -was hard, not cruel—strict. Couldn't understand. Blamed me when I -wasn't to blame. Other did it. I wasn't mischievous, but got the blame. -Couldn't explain, he wouldn't believe me." He paused uncertainly.</p> - -<p>"Go on," said Horker quietly, while Pat strained her ears to listen.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Stevens," he continued. "Governess after Mother died. Strict like -Father, got punished when I wasn't to blame. Just as bad after Father -died. Always blamed. Couldn't explain, nobody believed me. Other threw -cat in window, I had to go to bed. Put salt in bird seed, broke leg of -chair to make it fall. Punished—I couldn't explain." His voice droned -into silence; he opened his eyes. "That all," he said nervously.</p> - -<p>"Good enough for the first time," said the Doctor briskly. "Wait a few -weeks; we'll have your life's history out of you. It takes practice."</p> - -<p>"Is that all?" queried Pat in astonishment.</p> - -<p>"All for the first time. Later we'll let him talk half an hour at a -stretch, but it takes practice, as I've mentioned. You run along home -now," he said to Nick.</p> - -<p>"But it's early!" objected Pat.</p> - -<p>"Early or not," said the Doctor, "I'm tired, and you two aren't to see -each other except here. You remember that."</p> - -<p>Nick rose from his seat in the depths of the great chair. "Thank you, -sir," he said. "I don't know why, but I feel easier in your presence. -The—the struggle disappears while I'm here."</p> - -<p>"Well," said Horker with a smile, "I like patients with confidence in -me. Good night."</p> - -<p>At the door Nick paused, turning wistful eyes on Pat. "Good night," he -said, leaning to give her a light kiss. A rush of some emotion twisted -his features; he stared strangely at the girl. "I'd better go," he said -abruptly, and vanished through the door.</p> - -<p>"Well?" said Pat questioningly, turning to the Doctor. "Did you learn -anything from that?"</p> - -<p>"Not much," the other admitted, yawning. "However, the results bear out -my theory."</p> - -<p>"How?"</p> - -<p>"Did you notice how he harped on the undeserved punishment theme? He -was punished for another's mischief?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. What of that?"</p> - -<p>"Well, picture him as a timid, sensitive child, rather afraid of being -punished. Afraid, say, of being locked up in a dark closet. Now, when -he inadvertently commits a mischief, as all children do, he tries -desperately to divert the blame from himself. But there's no one else -to blame! So what does he do?"</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"He invents this <i>other</i>, the mischievous one, and blames him. And -now the other has grown to the proportions of a delusion, haunting -him, driving him to commit acts apart from his normal inclinations. -Understand? Because I'm off to bed whether you do or not."</p> - -<p>"I understand all right," murmured Pat uncertainly as she moved to the -door. "But somehow, it doesn't sound reasonable."</p> - -<p>"It will," said the Doctor. "Good night."</p> - -<p>Pat wandered slowly down the steps and through the break in the hedge, -musing over Doctor Horker's expression of opinion. Then, according -to him, the devil was nothing more than an invention of Nick's mind, -the trick of a cowardly child to evade just punishment. She shook her -head; it didn't sound like Nick at all. For all his gentleness and -sensitivity, he wasn't the one to hide behind a fabrication. He wasn't -a coward; she was certain of that. And she was as sure as she could -ever be that he hated, feared, loathed this personality that afflicted -him; he <i>couldn't</i> have created it.</p> - -<p>She sighed, mounted the steps, and fumbled for her key. The sound -of a movement behind her brought a faint gasp of astonishment. She -turned to see a figure materializing from the shadows of the porch. -The light from the hall fell across its features, and she drew back as -she recognized Nicholas Devine—not the being she had just kissed good -night, but in the guise of her tormentor, the red-eyed demon!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C25" id="C25">25</a><br /> -<small>The Demon Lover</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat drew back, leaning against the door, and her key tinkled on the -concrete of the porch. She was startled, shocked, but not as completely -terrified as she might have expected. After all, she thought rapidly, -they were standing in full view of a public street, and Dr. Carl's -residence was but a few feet distant. She could summon his help by -screaming.</p> - -<p>"Well!" she exclaimed, eyeing the figure inimically. "Your appearances -and disappearances are beginning to remind me of the Cheshire Cat."</p> - -<p>"Except for the grin," said the other in his cold tones.</p> - -<p>"What do you want?" snapped Pat.</p> - -<p>"You know what I want."</p> - -<p>"You'll not get it," said the girl angrily. "You—you're doomed to -extinction, anyway! Go away!"</p> - -<p>"Suppose," said the other with a strange, cold, twisted smile, "it were -<i>he</i> that's doomed to extinction—what then?"</p> - -<p>"It isn't!" cried Pat. "It isn't!" she repeated, while a quiver of -uncertainty shook her. "He's the stronger," she said defiantly.</p> - -<p>"Then where is he now?"</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl will help us!"</p> - -<p>"Doctor!" sneered the other. "He and his clever theory! Am I an -illusion?" he queried sardonically, thrusting his red-glinting eyes -toward her. "Am I the product of his puerile, vacillating nature? Bah! -I gave you the clue, and your Doctor hasn't the intelligence to follow -it!"</p> - -<p>"Go away!" murmured Pat faintly. The approach of his face had unnerved -her, and she felt terror beginning to stir within her. "Go away!" she -said again. "Why do you have to torment me? Any one would serve your -purpose—any woman!"</p> - -<p>"You have an aesthetic appeal, as I've told you before," replied the -other in that toneless voice of his. "There is a pleasure in the -defacement of black hair and pale skin, and your body is seductive, -most seductive. Another might afford me less enjoyment, and besides, -you hate me. Don't you hate me?" He peered evilly at her.</p> - -<p>"Oh, God—yes!" The girl was shuddering.</p> - -<p>"Say it, then! Say you hate me!"</p> - -<p>"I hate you!" the girl cried vehemently. "Will you go away now?"</p> - -<p>"With you!"</p> - -<p>"I'll scream if you come any closer. You don't dare touch me; I'll call -Dr. Horker."</p> - -<p>"You'll only damage <i>him</i>—your lover."</p> - -<p>"Then I'll do it! He'll understand."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said the other reflectively. "He's fool enough to forgive you. -He'll forgive you anything—the weakling!"</p> - -<p>"Go away! Get away from here!"</p> - -<p>The other stared at her out of blood-shot eyes. "Very well," he said in -his flat tones. "This time the victory is yours."</p> - -<p>He backed slowly toward the steps. Pat watched him as he moved, feeling -a surge of profound relief. As his shadow shifted, her key gleamed -silver at her feet, and she stooped to retrieve it.</p> - -<p>There was a rush of motion as her eyes left the form of her antagonist. -A hand was clamped violently over her mouth, an arm passed with -steel-like rigidity about her body. Nicholas Devine was dragging her -toward the steps; she was half-way down before she recovered her wits -enough to struggle.</p> - -<p>She writhed and twisted in his grasp. She drove her elbow into his -body with all her power, and kicked with the strength of desperation -at his legs. She bit into the palm across her mouth—and suddenly, -with a subdued grunt of pain, he released her so abruptly that her own -struggles sent her spinning blindly into the bushes of the hedge.</p> - -<p>She turned gasping, unable for the moment to summon sufficient breath -to scream. The other stood facing her with his eyes gleaming terribly -into her own; then they ranged slowly from her diminutive feet to the -rumpled ebony of her hair that she was brushing back with her hands -from her pallid, frightened face.</p> - -<p>"Obstinate," he observed, rubbing his injured palm.</p> - -<p>"Obstinate and unbroken—but worth the trouble. Well worth it!" He -reached out a swift hand, seizing her wrist as she backed against the -bushes.</p> - -<p>Pat twisted around, gazing frantically at Doctor Horker's house, where -a light had only now flashed on in the upper windows. Her breath flowed -back into her lungs with a strengthening rush.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl!" she screamed. "Dr. Carl! Help me!"</p> - -<p>The other spun her violently about. She had a momentary glimpse of -a horribly evil countenance, then he drew back his arm and shot a -clenched fist to her chin.</p> - -<p>The world reeled into a blaze of spinning lights that faded quickly to -darkness. She felt her knees buckling beneath her, and realized that -she was crumpling forward toward the figure before her. Then for a -moment she was aware of nothing.</p> - -<p>She didn't quite lose consciousness, or at least for no more than a -moment. She was suddenly aware that she was gazing down at a moving -pavement, at her own arms dangling helplessly toward it. She perceived -that she was lying limply across Nicholas Devine's shoulder with his -arms clenched about her knees. And then, still unable to make the -slightest resistance, she was bundled roughly into the seat of his -coupe; he was beside her, and the car was purring into motion.</p> - -<p>She summoned what remained of her strength. She drew herself erect, -fumbling at the handle of the door with a frantic idea of casting -herself out of the car to the street. The creature beside her jerked -her violently back; as she reeled into the seat, he struck her again -with the side of his fist. It was a random blow, delivered with -scarcely a glance at her; it caught her on the forehead, snapping her -head with an audible thump against the wall of the vehicle. She swayed -for a moment with closing eyes, then collapsed limply against him, this -time in complete unconsciousness.</p> - -<p>That lapse too must have been brief. She opened dazed eyes on a vista -of moving street lights; they were still in the car, passing now along -some unrecognized thoroughfare lined with dark old homes. She lay -for some moments uncomprehending; she was completely unaware of her -situation.</p> - -<p>It dawned on her slowly. She moaned, struggled away from the shoulder -against which she had been leaning, and huddled miserably in the far -corner of the seat. Nicholas Devine gave her a single glance with his -unpleasant eyes, and turned them again on the street.</p> - -<p>The girl was helpless, unable to put forth the strength even for -another attempt to open the door. She was still only half aware of her -position, and realized only that something appalling was occurring to -her. She lay in passive misery against the cushions of the seat as the -other turned suddenly up a dark driveway and into the open door of a -small garage. He snapped off the engine, extinguished the headlights, -and left them in a horrible, smothering, silent darkness.</p> - -<p>She heard him open the door on his side; after an apparently -interminable interval, she heard the creak of the hinges on her own -side. She huddled terrified, voiceless, and immobile.</p> - -<p>He reached in, fumbling against her in the darkness. He found her arm, -and dragged her from the car. Again, as on that other occasion, she -found herself reeling helplessly behind him through the dark as he -tugged at her wrist. He paused at a door in the building adjacent to -the garage, searching in his pocket with his free hand.</p> - -<p>"I won't go in there!" she muttered dazedly. The other made no reply, -but inserted a key in the lock, turned it, and swung open the door.</p> - -<p>He stepped through it, dragging her after him. With a sudden access of -desperate strength, she caught the frame of the door, jerked violently -on her prisoned wrist, and was unexpectedly free. She reeled away, -turned toward the street, and took a few faltering steps down the -driveway.</p> - -<p>Almost instantly her tormentor was upon her, and his hand closed again -on her arm. Pat had no further strength; she sank to the pavement and -crouched there, disregarding the insistent tugging on her arm.</p> - -<p>"Come on," he growled. "You only delay the inevitable. Must I drag you?"</p> - -<p>She made no reply. He tugged violently at her wrist, dragging her a few -inches along the pavement. Then he stooped over her, raised her in his -arms, and bore her toward the dark opening of the door. He crowded her -roughly through it, disregarding the painful bumping of her shoulders -and knees. She heard the slam of the door as he kicked it closed, -and she realized that they were mounting a flight of stairs, moving -somewhere into the oppressive threatening darkness.</p> - -<p>Then they were moving along a level floor, and her arm was bruised -against another door. There was a moment of stillness, and then she was -released, dropped indifferently to the surface of a bed or couch. A -moment later a light flashed on.</p> - -<p>The girl was conscious at first only of the gaze of the red eyes. They -held her own in a fascinating, unbreakable, trance-like spell. Then, in -a wave of dizziness, she closed her own eyes.</p> - -<p>"Where are we?" she murmured. "In Hell?"</p> - -<p>"You should call it Heaven," came the sardonic voice. "It's the home of -your sweetheart. His home—and mine!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C26" id="C26">26</a><br /> -<small>The Depths</small></h2> - - -<p>"Heaven and Hell always were the same place," said Nicholas Devine, his -red eyes glaring down at the girl. "We'll demonstrate the fact."</p> - -<p>Pat shifted wearily, and sat erect, passing her hand dazedly across her -face. She brushed the tangled strands of black hair from before her -eyes, and stared dully at the room in which she found herself.</p> - -<p>It had some of the aspects of a study, and some of a laboratory, or -perhaps a doctor's office. There was a case of dusty books on the wall -opposite, and another crystal-fronted cabinet containing glassware, -bottles, little round boxes suggestive of drugs or pharmaceuticals. -There was a paper-littered table too; she gave a convulsive shudder at -the sight of a bald, varnished death's head, its lower jar articulated, -that reposed on a pile of papers and grinned at her.</p> - -<p>"Where—" she began faintly.</p> - -<p>"This was the room of your sweetheart's father," said the other. "His -and my mutual father. He was an experimenter, a researcher, and so, in -another sense, am I!" He leered evilly at her. "He used this chamber -to further his experiments, and I for mine—the carrying on of a noble -family tradition!"</p> - -<p>The girl scarcely heard his words; the expressionless tone carried no -meaning to the chaos which was her mind. She felt only an inchoate -horror and a vague but all-encompassing fear, and her head was aching -from the blows he had dealt her.</p> - -<p>"What do you want?" she asked dully.</p> - -<p>"Why, there is an unfinished experiment. You must remember our -interrupted proceedings of a week ago! Have you already forgotten the -early steps of our experiment in evil?"</p> - -<p>Pat cringed at the cold, sardonic tones of the other. "Let me go," she -whimpered. "Please!" she appealed. "Let me go!"</p> - -<p>"In due time," he responded. "You lack gratitude," he continued. "Last -time, out of the kindness that is my soul, I permitted you to dull your -senses with alcohol, but you failed, apparently, to appreciate my -indulgence. But this time"—His eyes lit up queerly—"this time you -approach the consummation of our experiment with undimmed mind!"</p> - -<p>He approached her. She drew her knees up, huddling back on the couch, -and summoned the final vestiges of her strength.</p> - -<p>"I'll kick you!" she muttered desperately. "Keep back from me!"</p> - -<p>He paused just beyond her reach. "I had hoped," he said ironically, "if -not for your cooperation, at least for no further active resistance. -It's quite useless; I told you days ago that this time would come."</p> - -<p>He advanced cautiously; Pat thrust out her foot, driving it with all -her power. Instantly he drew back, catching her ankle in his hand. He -jerked her leg sharply upwards, and she was precipitated violently to -the couch. Again he advanced.</p> - -<p>The girl writhed away from him. She slipped from the foot of the couch -and darted in a circle around him, turning in an attempt to gain the -room's single exit—the door by which they had entered. He moved -quickly to intercept her; he closed the door as she backed despairingly -away, retreating to the far end of the room. Once more he faced her, -his malicious eyes gleaming, and moved deliberately toward her.</p> - -<p>She drew back until the table halted her; she pressed herself against -it as if to force her way still further. The other moved at unaltered -pace. Suddenly her hand pressed over some smooth, round, hard object; -she grasped it and flung the grinning skull at the more terrible -face that approached her. He dodged; there was a crash of glass as -the gruesome missile shattered the pane of the cabinet of drugs. And -inexorably, Nicholas Devine approached once more.</p> - -<p>She moved along the edge of the table, squeezed herself between it and -the wall. Behind her was one of the room's two windows, curtainless, -with drawn shades. She found the cord, jerked it, and let the blind -coil upward with an abrupt snap.</p> - -<p>"I'll throw myself through the window!" she announced with a sort of -desperate calm. "Don't dare move a step closer!"</p> - -<p>The demon paused once more in his deliberate advance. "You will, of -course," he said as if considering. "Given the opportunity. Your body -torn and broken, spotted with blood—that might be a pleasure second -only to that I plan."</p> - -<p>"You'll suffer for it!" said the girl hysterically. "I'll be glad to do -it, knowing you'll suffer!"</p> - -<p>"Not I—your sweetheart."</p> - -<p>"I don't care! I can't stand it!"</p> - -<p>The other smiled his demoniac smile, and resumed his advance. She -watched him in terror that had now reached the ultimate degree; her -mind could bear no more. She turned suddenly, raised her arm, and beat -her fist against the pane of the window.</p> - -<p>With the surprising resistance glass sometimes displays, it shook at -her blow but did not shatter. She drew back for a second attempt, -and her upraised arm was caught in a rigid grip, and she was dragged -backward to the center of the room, thrown heavily to the floor. She -sat dazedly looking up at the form standing over her.</p> - -<p>"Must I render you helpless again?" queried the flat voice of the -other. "Are you not yet broken, convinced of the uselessness of this -struggle?"</p> - -<p>She made no answer, staring dully at his immobile features.</p> - -<p>"Are you going to fight me further?" As she was still silent, he -repeated, "Are you?"</p> - -<p>She shook her head vaguely. "No," she muttered. She had reached the -point of utter indifference; nothing at all was important enough now to -struggle for.</p> - -<p>"Stand up!" ordered the being above her.</p> - -<p>She pulled herself wearily to her feet, leaning against the wall. She -closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them dully as the other moved.</p> - -<p>"What—are you—are you going to do?" she murmured.</p> - -<p>"First," said the demon coldly, "I shall disrobe you somewhat more -completely than on our other occasion. Thereafter we will proceed to -the consummation of our experiment."</p> - -<p>She watched him indifferently, uncomprehendingly, as he crooked a thin -finger in the neck of her frock. She felt the pressure as he pulled, -heard the rip of the fabric, and the pop of buttons, but she was -conscious of no particular sensation as the garment cascaded into a -black and red pool at her feet. She stood passive as he hooked his -finger in the strap of her vest, and that too joined the little mound -of cloth. She shivered slightly as she stood bared to the waist, but -gave no other sign.</p> - -<p>Again the thin hand moved toward her; from somewhere in her tormented -spirit a final shred of resistance arose, and she pushed the questing -member feebly to one side. She heard a low, sardonic laugh from her -oppressor.</p> - -<p>"Look at me!" he commanded.</p> - -<p>She raised her eyes wearily; she drew her arm about her in a forlorn -gesture of concealment. Her eyes met the strange orbs of the other, and -a faint thrill of horror stirred; other than this, she felt nothing. -Then his eyes were approaching her; she was conscious of the illusion -that they were expanding, filling all the space in front of her. Their -weird glow filled the world, dominated everything.</p> - -<p>"Will you yield?" he queried.</p> - -<p>The eyes commanded. "Yes," she said dully.</p> - -<p>She felt his hands icy cold on her bare shoulders. They traveled like a -shudder about her body, and suddenly she was pressed close to him.</p> - -<p>"Are you mine?" he demanded. For the first time there was a tinge of -expression in the toneless voice, a trace of eagerness. She made no -answer; her eyes, held by his, stared like the eyes of a person in a -trance, unwinking, fascinated.</p> - -<p>"Are you mine?" he repeated, his breath hissing on her cheek.</p> - -<p>"Yes." She heard her own voice in automatic reply to his question.</p> - -<p>"Mine—for the delights of evil?"</p> - -<p>"Yours!" she murmured. The eyes had blotted out everything.</p> - -<p>"And do you hate me?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>The arms about her tightened into crushing bands. The pressure -stopped her breath; her very bones seemed to give under their fierce -compression.</p> - -<p>"Do you hate me?" he muttered.</p> - -<p>"Yes!" she gasped. "Yes! I hate you!"</p> - -<p>"Ah!" He twisted his hand in her black hair, wrenching it roughly back. -"Are you ready now for the consummation? To look upon the face of evil?"</p> - -<p>She made no reply. Her eyes, as glassy as those of a sleep-walker, -stared into his.</p> - -<p>"Are you ready?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said.</p> - -<p>He pressed his mouth to hers. The fierceness of the kiss bruised her -lips, the pull of his hand in her hair was a searing pain, the pressure -of his arm about her body was a suffocation. Yet—somehow—there was -again the dawning of that unholy pleasure—the same degraded delight -that had risen in her on that other occasion, in the room of the -red-checked table cloth. Through some hellish alchemy, the leaden pain -was transmuting itself into the garish gold of a horrible, abnormal -pleasure. She found her crushed lips attempting a feeble, painful -response.</p> - -<p>At her movement, she felt herself swung abruptly from her feet. With -his lips still crushing hers, he raised her in his arms; she felt -herself borne across the room. He paused; there was a sudden release, -and she crashed to the hard surface of the couch, whose rough covering -scratched the bare flesh of her back. Nicholas Devine bent over her; -she saw his hand stretch toward her single remaining garment. And -again, from somewhere in her harassed soul, a spark of resistance -flashed.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she moaned. "Oh, Nick! Help me!"</p> - -<p>"Call him!" said the other, a sneer on his face. "Call him! He hears; -it adds to his torment!"</p> - -<p>She covered her eyes with her hands. She felt his hand slip coldly -between her skin and the elastic about her waist.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she moaned again. "Nick! Oh, my God! Nick!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C27" id="C27">27</a><br /> -<small>Two in Hell</small></h2> - - -<p>The cold hand against Pat was still; she felt it rigid and stiff on -her flesh. She lay passive with closed eyes; having voiced her final -appeal, she was through. The words torn from her misery represented -the final iota of spirit remaining to her; and her bruised body and -battered mind had nothing further to give.</p> - -<p>The hand quivered and withdrew. For a moment more she lay motionless -with her arms clutched about her, then she opened her eyes, gazing -dully, hopelessly at the demon standing over her. He was watching her -with a curious abstracted frown; as she stirred, the scowl intensified, -and he drew back a step.</p> - -<p>His face contorted suddenly in a spasm of some unguessable emotion. -His fists clenched; a low unintelligible mutter broke from his lips. -"Strange!" she heard him say, and after a moment, "I'm still master -here!"</p> - -<p>He <i>was</i> master; in a moment the emotion vanished, and he was again -standing over her, his face the same impassive demoniac mask. She -watched him in a dull stupor of despair that was too deep for even a -whimper of pain as he wrenched at the elastic about her waist, and it -cut into her flesh and parted. He tore the garment away, and the red -eyes bored down with a wild elation in their depths.</p> - -<p>"Mine!" the being muttered, a new hoarseness in his voice. "Are you -mine?"</p> - -<p>Pat made no answer; his voice croaked in more insistent tones. "Are you -mine?"</p> - -<p>She could not reply. She felt his fingers bite into the flesh of her -shoulder. She was shaken roughly, violently, and the question came -again, fiercely. The eyes flamed in command, and she felt through -her languor and weakness, the stirring of that strange and unholy -fascination that he held over her.</p> - -<p>"Answer!" he croaked. "Are you mine?"</p> - -<p>The torture of his searing grip on her shoulder wrung an answer from -her.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she murmured faintly. "Yours."</p> - -<p>She closed her eyes again in helpless resignation. She felt the -hand withdrawn, and she lay passive, waiting, on the verge of -unconsciousness, numb, spirit-broken, and beaten.</p> - -<p>Nothing happened. After a long interval she opened her eyes, and saw -the other standing again with clenched fists and contorted countenance. -His features were writhing in the intensity of his struggle; a strange -low snarl came from his lips. He backed away from her, step by step; he -leaned against the book-shelves, and beads of perspiration formed on -his scowling face.</p> - -<p>He was no longer master! She saw the change; imperceptibly the evil -vanished from his features, and suddenly they were no longer his, -but the weary, horror-stricken visage of her Nick! The red eyes were -no longer Satanic, but only the blood-shot, troubled, gentle eyes of -her sweetheart, and the lips had lost their grimness, and gasped and -quivered and trembled. He reeled against the wall, staggered to the -chair at the table, and sank weakly into it.</p> - -<p>Pat was far too exhausted, far too dazed, to feel anything but the -faintest sensation of relief. She realized only dimly that tears were -welling from her eyes, and that sharp sobs were shaking her. She was -for the moment unable to stir, and it was not long until the being at -the table turned stricken eyes on her that she moved. Then she drew -her knees up before her, as if to hide her body behind their slim, -chiffon-clad grace.</p> - -<p>Nick rose from the table, approaching her with weary, hesitant tread. -He seized a cover of some sort that was folded over the foot of the -couch, shook it out and cast it over her. She clutched it about her -body, sat erect and leaned back against the wall in utter exhaustion. -Many minutes passed with no word from either of the occupants of the -unholy chamber. It was Nick who broke the long silence.</p> - -<p>"Pat," he murmured in low tones. "Pat—Dear. Are you—all right?"</p> - -<p>She stared at him dazedly without answer.</p> - -<p>"Honey!" he said. "Honey! Tell me you're all right!"</p> - -<p>"All right?" she repeated uncomprehendingly. "Yes. I guess I'm all -right."</p> - -<p>"Then go, Pat! Get away from here before he—before anything happens! -Put your clothes on and hurry away!"</p> - -<p>"I can't!" she said, faintly. "I—can't!"</p> - -<p>"You must, Honey!"</p> - -<p>"I'm just—not able to. I will soon, Nick—honest. When I—when I get -my breath back."</p> - -<p>"Pat!" There was anguish in the cry. "Oh, God—Pat! We mustn't ever be -together again—not ever!"</p> - -<p>"No," she said. A bit of sanity was returning to her; comprehension of -her position sent a shudder through her. "No, we mustn't."</p> - -<p>"I couldn't bear another night like this—watching! I'd go mad!"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" she choked, tears starting. "If you hadn't come back, Nick!"</p> - -<p>"I conquered him," he said. "I don't think I could do it again. It was -your call that gave me the strength, Pat." He shook his head as if -bewildered. "He thought it was being in love with you that weakened me, -but in the end it was that which gave me the strength to subdue him."</p> - -<p>"I'm scared!" said the girl suddenly. "Oh, Nick! I'm frightened!"</p> - -<p>"You'd better go. You'd better dress and leave at once, Honey. Here." -He gathered her clothes from the floor, depositing them beside her on -the couch. "There are pins in the tray on the table, Pat. Fix yourself -up as well as you can, dear—and hurry out of here!"</p> - -<p>He turned toward the door as if to leave, and a shock of terror shook -her.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she cried. "Don't go away! I'm more afraid when I can't see -you—afraid that <i>he</i>—" She broke off sobbing.</p> - -<p>"All right, Honey. I'll turn my back."</p> - -<p>She slipped out from under the blanket, found the pins, and repaired -her ruined costume. The frock was torn, crushed and bedraggled; she -pinned it together at the throat, though her trembling fingers made the -task difficult. She pulled it on and took a tentative step toward the -door.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she called as a wave of dizziness sent her swaying against the -wall.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter, Honey?" He turned anxiously at her cry.</p> - -<p>"I'm dizzy," she moaned. "My head aches, and—I'm scared!"</p> - -<p>"Pat, darling! You can't go out alone like this—and," he added -miserably, "I can't take you!" He slipped his arm around her tenderly, -supporting her to the couch. "Honey, what'll we do?"</p> - -<p>"I'll be—all right," she murmured. "I'll go in a moment." The -dizziness was leaving her; strength was returning.</p> - -<p>"You must!" he said dolefully. "What a parting, Pat! Never to see you -again, and then having this to remember as farewell!"</p> - -<p>"I know, Nick. You see, I love you too." She turned her dark, troubled -eyes on him. "Honey, kiss me good-bye! We'll have that to remember, -anyway!" Tears were again on her cheeks.</p> - -<p>"Do I dare?" he asked despondently. "After the things these lips of -mine have said, and what these arms have done to you?"</p> - -<p>"But you didn't, Nick! Could I blame you for—that <i>other</i>?"</p> - -<p>"God! You're kind, Pat! Honey, if ever I win out in this battle, if -ever I know I'm the final victor, I'll—No," he said his tones dropping -abruptly. "I'll never come back to you, Pat. It's far too dangerous, -and—can I ever be certain? Can I?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Nick. Can you?"</p> - -<p>"I can't be, Pat! I'll never be sure that <i>he</i> isn't just dormant, as -he was before, waiting for my weakness to betray me! I'll never be -certain, Honey! It <i>has</i> to be good-bye!"</p> - -<p>"Then kiss me!"</p> - -<p>She clung to him; the room that had been so recently a chamber of -horrors was transformed. As she held him, as her lips were pressed to -his, she thought suddenly of the words of the demon, that Heaven and -Hell were always the same place. They had taken on a new meaning, those -words; she drew away from Nick and turned her tear-bright eyes tenderly -on his.</p> - -<p>"Honey," she murmured, "I don't want you to leave me. I don't want you -to go!"</p> - -<p>"Nor do I want to, Pat! But I must."</p> - -<p>"You mustn't! You're to stay, and we'll fight it out together—be -married, or any way that permits us to fight it through together."</p> - -<p>"Pat! Do you think I'd consent to that?"</p> - -<p>"Nick," she said. "Nick darling—It's worth it to me! I'm realizing it -now; I thought it wasn't—but it is! I can't lose you, Nick—anything, -even that <i>other</i>, is better than losing you."</p> - -<p>"You're sweet, Pat! You know I'd trade my very soul for that, but—No. -I can't do it! And don't Honey, torture me by suggesting it again."</p> - -<p>"But I will, Nick!" She was speaking softly, earnestly. "You're worth -anything to me! If <i>he</i> should kill me, you'd still be worth it!" She -gazed tenderly at him. "I'd want to die anyway without you!"</p> - -<p>"No more than I without you," he muttered brokenly. "But I won't do it, -Pat! I won't do that to you!"</p> - -<p>"I love you, Nick!" she said in a low voice. "I don't want to live -without you. Do you understand me, dear? I don't want to live without -you!"</p> - -<p>He stared at her somberly. "I've thought of that too," he said. -"Pat—if I only believed that we'd be together after, together -<i>anywhere</i>, I'd say yes. If only I believed there <i>were</i> an afterwards!"</p> - -<p>"Doesn't he prove that by his very existence?"</p> - -<p>"Your Doctor would deny that."</p> - -<p>"Doctor Carl never saw <i>him</i>, Nick. And anyway, even oblivion together -would be better than being separated, and far better than this!"</p> - -<p>He gazed at her silently. She spoke again. "That doesn't frighten me, -Nick. It's only losing you that frightens me, especially the fear of -losing you to <i>him</i>."</p> - -<p>He continued his silent gaze. Suddenly he drew her close to him, held -her in a tight, tender embrace.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C28" id="C28">28</a><br /> -<small>Lunar Omen</small></h2> - - -<p>After a considerable interval, during which Nick held the girl tightly -and silently in his arms, he released her, sat with his head resting -on his cupped palms in an attitude of deep study. Pat, beside him, -fell mechanically to repinning the throat of her frock, which had -opened during the moments of the embrace. He rose to his feet, pacing -nervously before her.</p> - -<p>"It isn't a thing to do on the impulse of a moment, Pat," he muttered, -pausing at her side. "You must see that."</p> - -<p>"It isn't the impulse of a moment."</p> - -<p>"But one doesn't abandon everything, the whole world, so easily, -Honey. One doesn't cast away a last hope, however forlorn a hope it may -be!"</p> - -<p>"Is there a hope, Nick?" she asked gently. "Is there a chance left to -us?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know!" His voice held an increasing tenseness. "Before -God—I—don't know!"</p> - -<p>"If there's a chance, the very slightest shadow of the specter of a -chance, we'll take it, won't we? Because the other way is always open -to us, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Yes. It's always open."</p> - -<p>"But we won't take that chance," she continued defiantly, "if it -involves my losing you, Honey. I meant what I said, Nick: I don't want -to live without you!"</p> - -<p>"What chance have we?" he queried somberly. "Those are our -alternatives—life apart, death together."</p> - -<p>"Then you know my choice!" she cried desperately. "Nick, Honey—don't -let's draw it out in futile talking! I can't stand it!"</p> - -<p>He moved his hand in a gesture of bewilderment and frustration, and -turned away, striding nervously toward the window whose blind she had -raised. He leaned his hands on the table, peering dejectedly out upon -the street below.</p> - -<p>"What time," he asked irrelevantly in a queer voice, "did the Doctor -say the moon rose? Do you remember?"</p> - -<p>"No," she said tensely. "Oh, Honey! Please—don't stand there with your -back to me now, when I'm half crazy!"</p> - -<p>"I'm thinking," he responded. "It rises a little earlier each night—or -is it later? No matter; come here, Pat."</p> - -<p>She rose wearily and joined him; he slipped his arm about her, and drew -her against him.</p> - -<p>"Look there," he said, indicating the night-dark vista beyond the -window.</p> - -<p>She looked out upon a dim-lit street or court, at the blind end of -which the house was apparently situated. Far off at the open end, -across a distant highway where even at this hour passed a constant -stream of traffic, flashed a narrow strip of lake; and above it, rising -gigantic from the coruscating moon-path, lifted the satellite. She -watched the remote flickering of the waves as they tossed back the -broken bits of the light strewn along the path. Then she turned puzzled -eyes on her companion.</p> - -<p>"That's Heaven," he said pointing a finger at the great flowing lunar -disk. "There's a world that never caught the planet-cancer called Life, -or if it ever suffered, it's cured. It's clean—burned clean by the -sun and scoured clean by the airless zero of space. A dead world, and -therefore not an unhappy one."</p> - -<p>The girl stared at him without comprehension. She murmured, "I don't -understand, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Don't you, Pat?" He pointed again at the moon. "That's Heaven, the -dead world, and this is Hell, the living one. Heaven and Hell swinging -forever about their common center!" He gestured toward the sparkling -moon-path on the water. "Look, Pat! The dead world strews flowers on -the grave of the living one!"</p> - -<p>Some of his bitter ecstasy caught the girl; she felt his somber mood of -exaltation.</p> - -<p>"I love you, Nick!" she whispered, pressing closely to him.</p> - -<p>"What difference does it make—our actions?" he queried. "There's the -omen, that lifeless globe in the sky. Where we go, all humanity now -living will follow before a century, and in a million years, the human -race as well! What if we go a year or a million years before the rest? -Will it make any difference in the end?" He looked down at her. "All -we've been valuing here is hope. To the devil with hope! Let's have -peace instead!"</p> - -<p>"I'm not afraid, Nick."</p> - -<p>"Nor I. And if we go, <i>he</i> goes, and he's mortally afraid of death!"</p> - -<p>"Can he—prevent you?"</p> - -<p>"Not now! I'm the stronger now. For this time, I'm master."</p> - -<p>He turned again to stare at the glowing satellite as it rose -imperceptibly from the horizon. "There's nothing to regret," he -murmured, "except one thing—the loss of beauty. Beauty like that—and -like you, Pat. That's bitterly hard to foreswear!" He leaned forward -toward the remote disk of the moon; he spoke as if addressing it, in -tones so low that the girl, pressed close to him, had to quiet the -sound of her own breath to listen. He said:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"Long miles above cloud-bank and blast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And many miles above the sea,</div> - <div class="verse">I watch you rise majestically</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Feeling your chilly light at last—</div> - <div class="verse">Cold beauty in the way you cast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Split silver fragments on the waves,</div> - <div class="verse">As if this planet's life were past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all men peaceful in their graves."</div> -</div></div> - -<p>Pat was silent for a moment as he paused, then she murmured a low -phrase. "Oh, I love you, Nick!" she said.</p> - -<p>"And I you, dear," he responded. "Have we decided anything? Are -we—going through with it?"</p> - -<p>"I've not faltered," she said soberly. "I meant it, Nick. Without you, -life would be as empty as that airless void you speak of. I'm not -afraid. What's there to be afraid of?"</p> - -<p>"Only the transition, Pat. That and the unknown—but no situation could -possibly be more terrible than our present one. It <i>couldn't</i> be! -Oblivion, annihilation—they're preferable, aren't they?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes! Nothing I can imagine could be other than a change for the -better."</p> - -<p>"Then let's face it!" His voice took on a note of determination. "I've -thought to face it a dozen times before this, and each time I've -hesitated. The hesitation of a coward, Pat."</p> - -<p>"You're no coward, dear. It was that illusion of hope; that always -weakens one. No one's strong who hasn't given up hope."</p> - -<p>"Then," he repeated, "let's face it!"</p> - -<p>"How, Nick?"</p> - -<p>"My father has left us the means. There in the cabinet are a hundred -deaths—swift ones, lingering ones, painful, and easy! I don't know one -from the other; our choice must be blind." He strode over to the case, -sending slivers of glass from the shattered front glistening along -the floor. "I'd choose an easy one, Dear, if I knew, for your sake. -Euthanasia!"</p> - -<p>He stared hesitantly at the files of mysterious drugs with their -incomprehensible labels.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the scene appeared humorous to the girl, queerly funny, in -some unnatural horrible fashion. Her nerves, overstrained for hours, -were on the verge of breaking; without realization of it, she had come -to the border of hysteria.</p> - -<p>"Shopping for death!" she choked, trying to suppress the wild laughter -that beat in her throat. "Which one's most suitable? Which one's most -becoming? Which one"—an hysterical laughing sob shook her—"will wear -the longest?"</p> - -<p>He turned, gazing at her with an illogical concern in his face.</p> - -<p>"What's the difference?" she cried wildly. "I don't care—painful or -pleasant, it all ends in the same grave! Close your eyes and choose!"</p> - -<p>Suddenly he was holding her in his arms again, and she was sobbing, -clinging to him frantically. She was miserably unstrung; her body -shook under the impact of her gasping breath. Then gradually, she -quieted, and was silent against him.</p> - -<p>"We've been mad!" he murmured. "It's been an insane idea—for me to -inflict this on you, Pat. Do you think I could consider the destruction -of your beauty, Dear? I've been lying to myself, stifling my judgment -with poetic imagery, when all the while it was just that I'm afraid to -face the thing alone!"</p> - -<p>"No," she murmured, burying her face against his shoulder. "I'm the -coward, Nick. I'm the one that's frightened, and I'm the one that broke -down! It's just been—too much, this evening; I'm all right now."</p> - -<p>"But we'll not go through with <i>this</i>, Pat!"</p> - -<p>"But we will! It's better than life without you, Dear. We've argued and -argued, and at last forgotten the one truth, the one thing I'll never -retract: I can't face living without you, Nick! I can't!"</p> - -<p>He brushed his hand wearily before his eyes. "Back at the starting -point," he muttered. "All right, Honey. So be it!"</p> - -<p>He strode again to the cabinet. "Corrosive sublimate," he murmured. -"Cyanide of Potassium. They're both deadly, but I think the second is -rapid, and therefore less painful. Cyanide let it be!"</p> - -<p>He extracted two small beakers from the glassware on the shelf. He -filled them with water from a carafe on the table, and, while the girl -watched him with fascinated eyes, he deliberately tilted a spoonful or -so of white crystals into each of them. The mixture swirled a moment, -then settled clear and colorless, and the crystals began to shrink as -they passed swiftly into solution.</p> - -<p>"There it is," he announced grimly. "There's peace, oblivion, -forgetfulness, and annihilation for you, for me, and—for <i>him</i>! Beyond -all doubt, the logical course for us, isn't it? Do we take it?"</p> - -<p>"Please," she said faintly. "Kiss me first, Honey. Isn't that the -proper course for lovers in this situation?" She felt a faint touch of -astonishment at her own irony; the circumstances had ceased to have -any reality to her, and had become merely a dramatic sequence like the -happenings in a play.</p> - -<p>He gathered her again into his arms and pressed his lips to hers. It -was a long, tender, wistful kiss; when at last it ended, Pat found her -eyes again filled with tears, but not this time the tears of hysteria.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she murmured. "Nick, darling!"</p> - -<p>He gave her a deep, somber, but very tender smile, and reached for one -of the deadly beakers, "To another meeting!" he said as his fingers -closed on it.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, amazingly, the strident ring of a doorbell sounded, the more -surprising since they had all but forgotten the existence of a world -about them. Interruption! It meant only the going through once more of -all that they had just passed.</p> - -<p>"Drink it!" exclaimed Pat impulsively, seizing the remaining beaker.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C29" id="C29">29</a><br /> -<small>Scopolamine for Satan</small></h2> - - -<p>The glass was struck from Pat's hand, and the water-clear contents -streamed into pools and darkening blots over the table and its litter -of papers. She stared unseeingly at the mess, without realizing -that it was Nick who had dashed the draught from her very lips. She -felt neither anger nor relief, but only a numbness, and a sense of -anti-climax. Somewhere below the bell was ringing again, and a door was -resounding to violent blows, but she only continued her bewildered, -questioning gaze.</p> - -<p>"I can't let you, Pat!" he muttered, answering her unspoken query.</p> - -<p>"But Nick—why?"</p> - -<p>"There's somebody at the door, isn't there? Mustn't we find out who?"</p> - -<p>"What difference can it make?" she asked wearily.</p> - -<p>"I don't know. I want to find out."</p> - -<p>"It's that illusion of hope again," she murmured. "That's all it is, -Nick—and it means now that it's all to do over again! The whole thing, -from the beginning—and we were so near—the end!"</p> - -<p>"I know," he said miserably. "I know all that, but—" He paused as the -insistent racket below was redoubled. "I'm going to answer that bell," -he ended.</p> - -<p>He moved away from her, vanishing through the room's single door. She -watched his disappearance without moving, but no sooner had he passed -from sight than a curious feeling of fear oppressed her. She cast off -the numbness and languor, and darted after him into the darkness of the -hall.</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she called. Somewhere ahead a light flashed on; she saw the -well of a stair-case, and heard his footsteps descending. She followed -in frantic haste, gaining the top step just as the pounding below -ceased. She heard the click of the door, and paused suddenly at the -sound of a familiar voice.</p> - -<p>"Where's Pat?" The words drifted up in low, rumbling, ominous tones.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl!" she shrieked. She ran swiftly down the stairs to Nick's -side, where he stood facing the great figure of the Doctor. "Dr. Carl! -How'd you find me?"</p> - -<p>The newcomer gave her a long, narrow-eyed, speculative survey. "I -spent nearly the whole night doing it," he growled at last. "It took -me hours to locate Mueller and get this address from him." He stepped -forward, taking the girl's arm. "Come on!" he said gruffly, without a -glance at Nick standing silently beside her. "I'm taking you home!"</p> - -<p>She held back. "But why?"</p> - -<p>"Why? Because I don't like the company you keep. Is that reason enough?"</p> - -<p>She still resisted his insistent tug. "Nick hasn't done anything," she -said defiantly, with a side glance at the youth's flushed, unhappy -features.</p> - -<p>"He hasn't? Look at yourself, girl! Look at your clothes, and your -forehead! What's more, I saw enough from my window; I saw him bundle -you into that car!" His eyes were flashing angrily, and his grip on her -arm tightened, while his free hand clenched into an enormous fist.</p> - -<p>"That wasn't Nick!"</p> - -<p>"No. It was your devil, I suppose!" said Horker sarcastically. "Anyway, -Pat, you're coming with me before I do violence to what remains of your -devil!"</p> - -<p>Nick spoke for the first time since the Doctor's entrance. "Please do, -Pat," he said softly. "Please go with him."</p> - -<p>"I won't!" she snapped. The sudden shifts of situation during the long -hours of that terrible evening were irritating her. She had alternated -so rapidly between horror and hope and despair that her frayed nerves -had seized now at the same reality of anger.</p> - -<p>Her mind, so long overstrained, was now deliberately forgetting her -swing from the pit of terror to the verge of death. "You come up like a -hero to the rescue!" she taunted the doctor. "Hairbreadth Horker!"</p> - -<p>"You little fool!" growled the Doctor. "A fine reception, after -losing a night's sleep! I'll drag you home, if I have to!" He moved -ponderously toward the door; she gave a violent wrench and freed her -arm from his grasp.</p> - -<p>"If you can, you mean!" she jeered. She looked at his exasperated face, -and suddenly, with one of her abrupt changes of mood, she softened. -"Dr. Carl, Honey," she said in apologetic tones, "I'm sorry. You're -very sweet, and I'm really grateful, but I can't leave Nick now." Her -eyes turned troubled. "Not now."</p> - -<p>"Why, Pat?" Mollified by the change in her mien, his voice rumbled in -sympathetic notes.</p> - -<p>"I can't," she repeated. "It's—it's getting worse."</p> - -<p>"Bah!"</p> - -<p>"So it's 'Bah'!" she flared. "Well, if you're so contemptuous of the -thing, why don't you cure it? What good did your psychoanalysis do? You -don't even know what it is!"</p> - -<p>"What do you expect?" roared the Doctor. "Can I diagnose it by absent -treatment? I haven't had a chance to see the condition active yet!"</p> - -<p>"All right!" said Pat, her strained nerves driving her to impatience. -"You're here and Nick's here! Go on with your diagnosis; get it over -with, and let's see what you can do. <i>You</i> ought at least to be able -to name the condition—the outstanding authority in the Middle West on -neural and mental pathology!" Her tone was sardonic.</p> - -<p>"Listen, Pat," said Horker with exaggerated patience, in the manner of -one addressing a stupid child, "I've explained before that I can't get -at the root of a mental aberration when the subject's as unstrung as -your young man here seems to be. Psychoanalysis just won't work unless -the subject is calm, composed, and not in a nervous state. Can you -comprehend that?"</p> - -<p>"Just dimly!" she snapped. "You ought to know another way—you, the -outstanding authority—"</p> - -<p>"Be still!" he interrupted gruffly. "Of course I know another way, -if I wanted to drag all of us back to my office, where I have the -equipment!—which I won't do tonight," he finished grimly.</p> - -<p>"Then do it here."</p> - -<p>"I haven't what I need."</p> - -<p>"There's everything upstairs," said Pat. "It's all there, all Nick's -father's equipment."</p> - -<p>"Not tonight! That's final."</p> - -<p>The girl's manner changed again. She turned troubled, imploring eyes -on Horker. "Dr. Carl," she said plaintively, "I can't leave Nick now." -She seized the arm of the silent, dejected youth, who had been standing -passively by. "I can't leave him, really. I'd not be sure of seeing him -again, ever. Please, Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>"If these frenzies of yours," rumbled Horker, "are so violent and -malicious, you ought to be confined. Do you know that, young man?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," mumbled Nick wretchedly.</p> - -<p>"And I've thought of it," continued the Doctor. "I've thought of it!"</p> - -<p>"Please!" cried Pat imploringly. "Won't you try, Dr. Carl?"</p> - -<p>"The devil!" he growled. "All right, then."</p> - -<p>He followed the girl up the stairs, while Nick trailed disconsolately -behind. She led him back into the chamber they had quitted, where a -curious odor of peach pits seemed to scent the air. Horker sniffed -suspiciously, then seized the remaining beaker, raising it cautiously -to his nostrils.</p> - -<p>"Damnation!" he exploded. "Prussic acid—or cyanide! What in—" He -caught sight of Pat's tragic eyes, and suddenly replaced the container. -"Pat!" he groaned. "Pat, Honey!" He drew her into the circle of his -great arm. "I'll help you, dear! All I can, with all my heart, since -it means that much to you!" He groaned again under his breath. "Oh, my -God!"</p> - -<p>He held her a moment, patting her tousled black head with his massive, -delicate fingered hand. Then he released her, turning to Nick.</p> - -<p>"This the stuff?" he asked, brusquely, indicating the cabinet of -bottles, with its splintered front.</p> - -<p>Nick nodded. Pat sank to the chair beside the table and watched Horker -as he scanned the array of containers. He pulled out a tiny wooden case -and snapped it open to reveal a number of steel needles that glinted -brightly in the yellow light. He grunted in satisfaction and continued -his inspection.</p> - -<p>"Atropine," he muttered, reading the labeled boxes. "Cocaine, daturine, -hyoscine, hyoscyamine—won't do!"</p> - -<p>"What do you need?" the girl queried faintly.</p> - -<p>"A mild hypnotic," said the Doctor abstractedly, still searching. -"Pretty good substitutes for psychoanalysis—certain drugs. Dulls the -conscious mind, but not to complete unconsciousness. Good means of -getting at the subconscious. See?"</p> - -<p>"Sort of," said Pat. "If it only works!"</p> - -<p>"Oh, it'll work if we can find—ah!" He seized a tiny cardboard box. -"Scopolamine! This'll do the work."</p> - -<p>He extracted a tiny glassy something from one or other of the boxes he -held, and frowned down at it. He seized the carafe of water, plunged -something pointed and shiny into it.</p> - -<p>"Antiseptic," he muttered thoughtfully. He seized a brown bottle from -the case, held it toward the light, and shook it. "Peroxide's gone -flat," he growled. "Nothing but water."</p> - -<p>He pulled a silver cigar-lighter from his pocket and snapped a yellow -flame to it. He passed the point of the hypodermic rapidly back and -forth through the little spear of fire. Finally he turned to Nick.</p> - -<p>"Take off your coat," he ordered. "Roll up your shirt sleeve—the left -one. And sit over there." He indicated the couch along the wall.</p> - -<p>The youth obeyed without a word. The only indication of emotion was a -long, miserable, wistful look at Pat as he seated himself impassively -on the spot that the girl had so recently occupied.</p> - -<p>"Now!" said the Doctor briskly, approaching the youth. "This will make -you drowsy, sleepy. That's all it'll do. Don't fight the effect. Just -relax, let the thing take its course, and I'll see what I can get out -of you."</p> - -<p>Pat gasped and Nick winced as he drove the needle into the bared arm.</p> - -<p>"So!" he said. "Now relax. Lean back and close your eyes."</p> - -<p>He stepped to the door, dragged in a battered chair from the hall, -and occupied it. He sat beside Pat, watching the pale features of the -youth, who sat quietly with closed eyes, breathing slowly, heavily.</p> - -<p>"Long enough," muttered Horker. He raised his voice. "Can you hear me?" -he called to the motionless figure on the couch. There was no response, -but Pat fancied she saw a slight change in Nick's expression.</p> - -<p>"Can you hear me?" repeated Horker in louder tones.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I can hear you," came in icy tones from the figure on the couch. -Pat started violently as the voice sounded. The eyes opened, and she -saw in sudden terror the ruddy orbs of the demon!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C30" id="C30">30</a><br /> -<small>The Demon Free</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat emitted a small, startled shriek, and heard it echoed by a -surprised grunt from Dr. Horker.</p> - -<p>"Queer!" he muttered. "The stuff must be mislabeled. Scopolamine -doesn't act like this; it's a narcotic."</p> - -<p>"He's—the other!" gasped Pat, while the being on the couch grinned -sardonically.</p> - -<p>"Eh? An attack? Can't be!" The Doctor shook his head emphatically.</p> - -<p>"It's not Nick!" cried the girl in panic. "You're not, are you?" she -appealed to the grim entity.</p> - -<p>"Not your sweetheart?" queried the creature, still with his mocking -leer. "A few hours ago you were lying here all but naked, confessing -you were mine. Have you forgotten?"</p> - -<p>She shuddered at the reference, and shrank back in her chair. She heard -the Doctor's ominous, angry rumble, and the evil tittering chuckle of -the other.</p> - -<p>"Pathological or not," snapped Horker, "I can resent your remarks! I've -considered several times varying my treatment with another solid cut to -the jaw!" He rose from his chair, stamping viciously toward the other.</p> - -<p>"A moment," said Nicholas Devine. "Do you know what you've done? Have -you any idea what you've done?" He turned cool, mocking, red-glinting -eyes on the Doctor.</p> - -<p>"Huh?" Horker paused as if puzzled. "What <i>I've</i> done? What do you -mean?"</p> - -<p>"You don't know, then." The other gave a satyric smile. "You're stupid; -I gave you the clue, yet you hadn't the intelligence to follow it. -Do you know what I am?" He leaned forward, his eyes leering evilly -into the Doctor's. "I'll tell you. I'm a question of synapses. That's -all—merely a question of synapses!" He tittered again, horribly. "It -still means nothing to you, doesn't it, Doctor?"</p> - -<p>"I'll show you what it means!" Horker clenched a massive fist and -strode toward the figure, whose eyes stared, steadily, unwinkingly into -his own.</p> - -<p>"Back!" the being snapped as the great form bent over him. The Doctor -paused as if struck rigid, his arm and heavy fist drawn back like the -conventional fighting pose of a boxer. "Go back!" repeated the other, -rising. Pat whimpered in abject terror as she heard Horker's surprised -grunt, and saw him recede slowly, and finally sink into his chair. His -bewildered eyes were still fixed on those of Nicholas Devine.</p> - -<p>"I'll tell you what you've done!" said the strange being. "You've freed -me! There was nothing wrong with your scopolamine. It worked!" He -chuckled. "You drugged <i>him</i> and freed me!"</p> - -<p>Horker managed a questioning grunt.</p> - -<p>"I'm free!" exulted the other. "For the first time I haven't <i>him</i> to -fight! He's here, but helpless to oppose me—he's feeble—feeble!" He -gave again the horrible tittering chuckle. "See how weak the two of you -are against my unopposed powers!" he jeered. "Weaklings—food for my -pleasures!"</p> - -<p>He turned his eyes, luminous and avid, on Pat. "This time," he said, -"there'll be no interruptions. A witness to our experiment will add a -delicate touch of pleasure—"</p> - -<p>He broke off at the Doctor's sudden movement. Horker had snatched -a glistening blue revolver from his pocket, held it leveled at the -lust-filled eyes.</p> - -<p>"Huh!" growled the Doctor triumphantly. "Do you think I come trailing a -maniac without some protection? Especially a vicious one like you?"</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine turned his eyes on his opponent. He stared long and -intently.</p> - -<p>"Drop it!" he commanded at length. Pat felt a surge of chaotic terror -as the weapon clattered to the floor. She turned a frightened glance on -Horker's face, and her fright redoubled at the sight of his straining -jaw, the perspiration-beaded forehead, and his bewildered eyes. The -demon kicked the gun carelessly aside.</p> - -<p>"Puerile!" he said contemptuously. He backed away from them, re-seating -himself on the couch whence he had risen. He surveyed the pair in -sardonic mirth.</p> - -<p>"Pat!" muttered the Doctor huskily. "Get out of here, Honey! He's got -some hellish trick of fascination that's paralyzed me. Get out and get -help!"</p> - -<p>The girl moved as if to rise. Nicholas Devine shifted his eyes for the -barest instant to her face; she felt the strength drain out of her -body, and she sank weakly to her chair.</p> - -<p>"It's useless," she murmured hopelessly to the Doctor. "He's—he's just -what I told you—a devil!"</p> - -<p>"I guess you were right," mumbled Horker dazedly.</p> - -<p>There was a burst of demonic mirth from the being on the couch. "Merely -a matter of synapses," he rasped, chuckling. His face changed, took -on the familiar coldness, the stony expression Pat had observed there -before. "This palls!" he snapped. "I've better amusement—after we've -rendered your friend merely an interested on-looker." He narrowed his -red eyes as if in thought. "Take off a stocking," he ordered. "Tie his -hands to the back of the chair."</p> - -<p>"I won't!" said the girl. The eyes shifted to her face. "I won't!" she -repeated tremulously as she kicked off a diminutive pump. She shuddered -at the gleam in the evil eyes as she stripped the long silken sheath -from a white, rounded limb. She slipped a bare foot into the pump and -moved reluctantly behind the chair that held the groaning Horker. She -took one of the clenched, straining hands, and drew it back, fumbling -with shaking fingers as she twisted the strip of thin chiffon. The -demon moved closer, standing over her.</p> - -<p>"Loose knots!" he snarled abruptly. He knocked her violently away with -a stinging slap across her cheek, and seized the strip in his own -hands. He drew the binding tight, twisting it about the lowest rung of -the chair's ladder back. Horker was forced to lean awkwardly to the -rear; in this unbalanced position it was quite impossible to rise.</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine turned away from the straining, perspiring Doctor, and -advanced toward Pat, who cowered against the shattered cabinet.</p> - -<p>"Now!" he muttered. "The experiment!" He chuckled raspingly. "What -delicacy of degradation! Your lover and your guardian angel—both -helpless watchers! Excellent! Oh, very excellent!"</p> - -<p>He grasped her wrist, drawing her after him to the center of the room, -into the full view of the horrified, staring eyes of Horker.</p> - -<p>"Always before," continued her tormentor, "these hands have prepared -you for the rites—the ceremony that failed on two other occasions -to transpire. Would it add a poignancy to the torture if I made you -strip this body of yours with your own hands? Or will they suffer more -watching me? Which do you think?"</p> - -<p>Pat closed her eyes in helpless resignation to her fate. "Nick!" she -moaned. "Oh, Nick dearest!"</p> - -<p>"Not this time!" sneered the other. "Your friend and protector, the -Doctor, has thoughtfully eliminated your sweetheart as a factor. He -struggles too feebly for me to feel."</p> - -<p>"Nick!" she murmured again. "Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>But the Doctor, now pulling painfully at his bonds, could only groan in -distraction, and curse the unsuspected strength of sheer chiffon. He -writhed miserably at the chafing of his wrists; his strange paralysis -had departed, but he was quite helpless to assist Pat.</p> - -<p>"I think," said the cold tones of Nicholas Devine, "that the more -delicate torture lies in your willingness. Let us see."</p> - -<p>He drew her into his arms. He twisted a hand in her hair, jerked her -head violently backward, and pressed avid lips to hers. She struggled a -little, but hopelessly, automatically. At last she lay quite passive, -quite motionless, supported by his arms, and making not the slightest -response to his kiss.</p> - -<p>"Are you mine?" he queried fiercely, releasing her lips. "Are you mine -now?"</p> - -<p>She shook her head without opening her eyes. "No," she said dully. "Not -now, or ever."</p> - -<p>Again he crushed her, while the Doctor looked on in helpless, -bewildered, voiceless anger. This time his kiss was painful, burning, -searing. Again that unholy fascination and unnatural delight in her own -pain stirred her, and it took what little effort she was able to make -to keep from responding. After a long interval, his lips again withdrew.</p> - -<p>"Are you mine?" he repeated. She made no answer; she was gasping, -and tears glistened under her closed eye-lids, from the pain of her -crushed lips. Again he kissed her, and again the wild abandonment to -evil suffused her. She was suddenly responding to his agonizing caress; -she was clinging fiercely to his torturing lips, feeling an unholy -exaltation in the pain of his tearing fingers in the flesh of her back.</p> - -<p>"Yours!" she murmured in response to his query. She heard her voice -repeat madly, "Yours! Yours! Yours!"</p> - -<p>"Do you yield willingly?" came the icy tones of the demon.</p> - -<p>"Yes—yes—yes! Willingly!"</p> - -<p>"Take off your clothes!" sounded the terrible, overpowering voice. He -thrust her from him, so that she staggered dizzily backward. She stood -swaying; the voice repeated its command.</p> - -<p>The girl's eyes widened wildly; she had the appearance of one in an -ecstasy, a religious fervor. She raised her hand with a jerky impulsive -gesture to the neck of her frock, still pinned together in the -makeshift repairs of the evening.</p> - -<p>There came a strange interruption. The Doctor, helpless on-looker, -had at length evolved an idea out of the bewilderment in his mind. He -opened his mouth and emitted a tremendous, deep, ear-shattering bellow!</p> - -<p>Nicholas Devine sent the girl spinning to the floor with a vicious -shove, and turned his blazing eyes on Horker, who was drawing in his -breath for a repetition of his roar. "Quiet!" he rasped, his red orbs -boring down at the other. "Quiet, or I'll muffle you!" Closing his -eyes, the Doctor repeated his mighty shout.</p> - -<p>The demon snatched the blanket from the couch, tossing it over the -figure of the Doctor, where it became a billowing, writhing heap of -brown wool. He turned his gaze on Pat, who was just struggling to her -feet, and moved as if to advance toward her.</p> - -<p>He paused. She had retrieved the Doctor's revolver from the floor, and -now faced him with the madness gone out of her eyes, supporting the -weapon with both hands, the muzzle wavering toward his face.</p> - -<p>"Drop it!" he commanded. She felt a recurrence of fascination, and an -impulse to obey. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor's -head emerging from the blanket as he shook it off.</p> - -<p>"Drop it!" repeated Nicholas Devine.</p> - -<p>She closed her eyes, shutting out the vision of his dominant visage. -With a surge of terror, she squeezed the trigger, staggering back to -the couch at the roar and the recoil.</p> - -<p>She opened her eyes. Nicholas Devine lay in the center of the room on -his face; a crimson spot was matting the hair on the back of his head. -She saw the Doctor raise a free hand; he was working clear of his bonds.</p> - -<p>"Pat!" he said softly. He looked at her pale, sickened features. -"Honey," he said, "sit down till I get free. Sit down, Pat; you look -faint."</p> - -<p>"Never faint!" murmured the girl, and pitched backward to the couch, -with one clad and one bare leg hanging in curious limpness over the -edge.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="C31" id="C31">31</a><br /> -<small>"Not Humanly Possible"</small></h2> - - -<p>Pat opened weary eyes and gazed at a blank, uninformative ceiling. It -was some moments before she realized that she was lying on the couch in -the room of Nicholas Devine. Somebody had placed her there, presumably, -since she was quite unaware of the circumstances of her awakening. Then -recollection began to form—Dr. Carl, the <i>other</i>, the roar of a shot. -After that, nothing save a turmoil ending in blankness.</p> - -<p>A sound of movement beside her drew her attention. She turned her head -and perceived Dr. Horker kneeling over a form on the floor, fingering -a white bandage about the head of the figure. Her recollections took -instant form; she remembered the catastrophes of the evening—last -night, rather, since dawn glowed dully in the window. She had shot -Nick! She gave a little moan and pushed herself to a sitting position.</p> - -<p>The Doctor glanced at her with a sick, shaky smile. "Hello," he -said. "Come to, have you? Sorry I couldn't give you any attention." -He gave the bandage a final touch. "Here's a job I had no heart -for," he muttered. "Better for everyone to let things happen without -interference."</p> - -<p>The girl, returning to full awareness, noticed now that the bandage -consisted of strips of the Doctor's shirt. She glanced fearfully at the -still features of Nicholas Devine; she saw pale cheeks and closed eyes, -but indubitably not the grim mien of the demon.</p> - -<p>"Dr. Carl!" she whispered. "He isn't—he isn't—"</p> - -<p>"Not yet."</p> - -<p>"But will he—?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. That's a bad spot, a wound in the base of the brain. -You'd best know it now, Pat, but also realize that nothing can happen -to you. I'll see to that!"</p> - -<p>"To me!" she said dully. "What difference does that make? It's Nick I -want saved."</p> - -<p>"I'll do my best for you, Honey," said Horker with almost a hint of -reluctance. "I've phoned Briggs General for an ambulance. Your faint -lasted a full quarter hour," he added.</p> - -<p>"What can we tell them?" asked the girl. "What can we say?"</p> - -<p>"Don't you say anything, Pat. I'm not on the board for nothing." He -rose from his knees, glancing out of the window into the cool dawn. -"Queer neighborhood!" he said. "All that yelling and a shot, and still -no sign of interest from the neighbors. That's Chicago, though," he -mused. "Lucky for us, Pat; we can handle the thing quietly now."</p> - -<p>But the girl was staring dully at the still figure on the floor. "Oh -God!" she said huskily. "Help him, Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>"I'll do my best," responded Horker gloomily. "I was a good surgeon -before I specialized in psychiatry. Brain surgery, too; it led right -into my present field."</p> - -<p>Pat said nothing, but dropped her head on her hands and stared vacantly -before her.</p> - -<p>"Better for you, and for him too, if I fail," muttered the Doctor.</p> - -<p>His words brought a reply. "You won't fail," she said tensely. "You -won't!"</p> - -<p>"Not voluntarily, I'm afraid," he growled morosely. "I've still a -little respect for medical ethics, but if ever a case—" His voice -trailed into silence as from somewhere in the dawn sounded the wail of -a siren. "There's the ambulance," he finished.</p> - -<p>Pat sat unmoving as the sounds from outdoors detailed the stopping -of the vehicle before the house. She heard the Doctor descending the -steps, and the creak of the door. Though it took place before her eyes, -she scarcely saw the white-coated youths as they lifted the form of -Nicholas Devine and bore it from the room on a stretcher, treading -with carefully broken steps to prevent the swaying of the support. Dr. -Horker's order to follow made no impression on her; she sat dully on -the couch as the chamber emptied.</p> - -<p>Why, she wondered, had the thought of Nick's death disturbed her so? -Wasn't it but a short time since they had both contemplated it? What -had occurred to alter that determination? Nick was dying, she thought -mournfully; all that remained was for her to follow. There on the -floor lay the revolver, and on the table, glistening in the wan light, -reposed the untouched lethal draft. That was the preferable way, she -mused, staring fixedly at its glowing contour.</p> - -<p>But suppose Nick weren't to die—she'd have abandoned him to his -terrible doom, left him to face a situation far more ominous than any -unknown terrors beyond death. She shook her head distractedly, and -looked up to meet the eyes of Dr. Horker, who was watching her gravely -in the doorway.</p> - -<p>"Come on, Pat," he said gently.</p> - -<p>She rose, followed him down the stairs and out into the morning light. -The driver of the ambulance stared curiously at her dishevelled, -bedraggled figure, but she was so weary and forlorn that even the -effort of brushing away the black strands of hair that clouded her -smoke-dark eyes was beyond her. She slumped into the seat of the -Doctor's car and sighed in utter exhaustion.</p> - -<p>"Rush it!" Horker called to the driver ahead. "I'll follow you."</p> - -<p>The car swept into motion, and the swift cool morning air beating -against her face from the open window restored some clarity to her -mind. She fixed her eyes on the rear of the speeding vehicle they -followed.</p> - -<p>"Is there any hope at all?" she queried despondently.</p> - -<p>"I don't know, Pat. I can't tell yet. When you closed your eyes, he -half turned, dodged; the bullet entered his skull near the base, -near the cerebellum. If it had pierced the cerebellum, his heart and -breathing must have stopped instantly. They didn't, however, and that's -a mildly hopeful sign. Very mildly hopeful, though."</p> - -<p>"Do you know now what that devil—what the attack was?"</p> - -<p>"No, Pat," Horker admitted. "I don't. Call it a devil if you like; -I can't name it any better." His voice changed to a tone of wonder. -"Pat, I can't understand that paralyzing fascination the thing exerted. -I—any medical man—would say that mental dominance of that sort -doesn't exist."</p> - -<p>"Hypnotism," the girl suggested.</p> - -<p>"Bah! Every psychiatrist uses hypnotism in his business; it's part of -some treatments. There's nothing of fascination about it; no dominance -of one will over another, despite the popular view. That's natural -and understandable; this was like—well, like the exploded claims of -Mesmerism. I tell you, it's not humanly possible—and yet I felt it!"</p> - -<p>"Not <i>humanly</i> possible," murmured Pat. "That's the answer, then, Dr. -Carl. Maybe now you'll believe in my devil."</p> - -<p>"I'm tempted to."</p> - -<p>"You'll have to! Can't you see it, Dr. Carl? Even his name, -Nick—that's a colloquialism for the devil, isn't it?"</p> - -<p>"And Devine, I suppose," said Horker, "refers to his angelic ancestry. -Devils are only fallen angels, aren't they?"</p> - -<p>"All right," said Pat wearily. "Make fun of it. You'll see!"</p> - -<p>"I'm not making fun of your theory, Honey. I can't offer a better one -myself. I never saw nor heard of anything similar, and I'm not in -position to ridicule any theory."</p> - -<p>"But you don't believe me."</p> - -<p>"Of course I don't, Pat. You're weaving an intricate fairy tale about -a pathological condition and a fortuitous suggestiveness in names. -Whatever the condition is—and I confess I don't understand it—it's -something rational, and those things can be treated."</p> - -<p>"Treated by exorcism," said the girl. "That's the only way anyone ever -succeeded in casting out a devil."</p> - -<p>The Doctor made no answer. The wailing vehicle ahead of them swung -rapidly out of sight into an alley, and Horker halted his car before -the gray facade of Briggs General.</p> - -<p>"Come in here," he said, helping Pat to alight. "You'll want to wait, -won't you?"</p> - -<p>"How long," she queried listlessly, "before—before you'll know?"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps immediately. The only chance is to get that bullet out at -once—if there's still time for it."</p> - -<p>She followed him into the building, past a desk where a white-clad girl -regarded her curiously, and up an elevator. He led her into a small -office.</p> - -<p>"Sit here," he said gently, and disappeared.</p> - -<p>She sat dully in the chair he had indicated, and minutes passed. She -made no attempt to think; the long, cataclysmic night had exhausted her -powers. She simply sat and suffered; the deep scratches of fingernails -burned in the flesh of her back, her cheek pained from the violent -slap, and her head and jaw ached from that first blow, the one that had -knocked her unconscious last evening. But these twinges were minor; -they were merely physical, and the hurts of the demon had struck far -deeper than any physical injury. The damage to her spirit was by all -odds the more painful; it numbed her mind and dulled her thoughts, and -she simply sat idle and stared at the blank wall.</p> - -<p>She had no conception of the interval before Dr. Horker returned. He -entered quietly, and began rinsing his hands at a basin in the corner.</p> - -<p>"Is it over?" she asked listlessly.</p> - -<p>"Not even begun," he responded. "However, it isn't too late. He'll be -ready in a moment or so."</p> - -<p>"I wish it were over," she murmured. "One way or the other."</p> - -<p>"I too!" said the Doctor. "With all my heart, I wish it were over! If -there were anyone within call who could handle it, I'd turn it to him -gladly. But there isn't!"</p> - -<p>He moved again toward the door, leaning out and glancing down the hall.</p> - -<p>"You stay here," he admonished her. "Don't try to find us; I want no -interruptions, no matter what enters that mind of yours!"</p> - -<p>"You needn't worry," she said soberly. "I'm not fool enough for that." -She leaned wearily back in the chair, closing her eyes. A long interval -passed; she was vaguely surprised to see the Doctor still standing in -the doorway when she opened her eyes. She had fancied him already in -the midst of his labor.</p> - -<p>"What will you do?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"About what?"</p> - -<p>"I mean what sort of operation will it need? Probing or what?"</p> - -<p>"Oh," he said. "I'll have to trephine him. Must get that bullet."</p> - -<p>"What's that—trephine?"</p> - -<p>He glanced down the hall. "They're ready," he said, and turned to go. -At the door he paused. "Trephining is to open a little door in the -skull. If your devil is in his head, we'll have it out along with the -bullet."</p> - -<p>His footsteps receded down the hall.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2><a name="C32" id="C32">32</a><br /> -<small>Revelation</small></h2> - - -<p>"Is it over now?" queried Pat tremulously as the Doctor finally -reappeared. The interminable waiting had left her even more worn, and -her pallid features bore the marks of strain.</p> - -<p>"Twenty minutes ago," said Horker. His face too bore evidence of -tension; moreover, there was a puzzled, dubious expression in his eyes -that frightened Pat. She was too apprehensive to risk a question as to -the outcome, and simply stared at him with wide, fearful, questioning -eyes.</p> - -<p>"I called up your home," he said irrelevantly. "I told them you left -with me early this morning. Your mother's still in bed, although it's -after ten." He paused. "Slip in without anyone seeing you, will you, -Honey? And rumple up your bed."</p> - -<p>"If I haven't lost my key," she said, still with the question in her -eyes.</p> - -<p>"It's in the mail-box. Magda found it on the porch this morning. I -talked to her."</p> - -<p>She could bear the uncertainty no longer. "Tell me!" she demanded.</p> - -<p>"It's all right, I think."</p> - -<p>"You mean—he'll live?"</p> - -<p>The Doctor nodded. "I think so." He turned his puzzled eyes on her.</p> - -<p>"Oh!" breathed Pat. "Thank God!"</p> - -<p>"You wanted him back, Honey, didn't you?" Horker's tone was gentle.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes!"</p> - -<p>"Devil and all?"</p> - -<p>"Yes—devil and all!" she echoed. Suddenly she sensed something strange -in the other's manner. She perceived the uncertainty in his visage, and -felt a rising trepidation. "What's the matter?" she queried anxiously. -"You're not telling me everything! Tell me, Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>"There's something else," he said. "I'm not sure, Pat, but I think—I -hope—you've got him back without the devil!"</p> - -<p>"He's cured?" Her voice was incredulous; she did not dare accept the -Doctor's meaning.</p> - -<p>"I hope so. At least I located the cause."</p> - -<p>"What was it?" she demanded, an unexpected vigor livening her tired -body. "What was that devil? Tell me! I want to know, Dr. Carl!"</p> - -<p>"I think the best name for it is a tumor," he said slowly. "I told them -in there it was a tumor. I wish I knew myself."</p> - -<p>"A tumor! I don't understand!"</p> - -<p>"I don't either, Pat—not fully. It's something on or beyond the border -of medical knowledge. I don't think any living authority could classify -it definitely."</p> - -<p>"But tell me!" she cried fiercely. "Tell me!"</p> - -<p>"Well, Honey—I'll try." He paused thoughtfully. "Cancers and -tumors—sarcomas—are curious things, Dear. Doctors aren't at all -sure just what they are. And one of their peculiarities is that they -sometimes seem to be trying to develop into separate entities, trying -to become human by feeding like parasites on their hosts. Do you -understand?"</p> - -<p>"No," said the girl. "I'm sorry, Dr. Carl, but I don't."</p> - -<p>"I mean," he continued, "that sometimes these growths seem to be trying -to develop into—into organisms. I've seen them, for instance—every -surgeon has—with bones developing. I've seen one with a rather perfect -jaw-bone, and little teeth, and hair. As if," he added, "it were -making a sort of attempt to become human, in a primitive, disorganized -fashion. Now do you see what I mean?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said the girl, with a violent shudder. "Dr. Carl, that's -horrible!"</p> - -<p>"Life sometimes is," he agreed. "Well," he continued slowly, "I opened -up our patient's skull at the point where the fluoroscope indicated the -bullet. I trephined it, and there, pierced by the shot, was this—" He -hesitated, "—this tumor."</p> - -<p>"Did you—remove it?"</p> - -<p>"Of course. But it wasn't a natural sort of brain tumor, Honey. It was -a little cerebrum, apparently joined to a Y-shaped branch of the spinal -cord. A little brain, Pat—no larger than your small fist, but deeply -convoluted, and with the pre-Rolandic area highly developed."</p> - -<p>"What's pre-Rolandic, Dr. Carl?" asked Pat, shivering.</p> - -<p>"The seat of the motor nerves. The home, you might say, of the will. -This brain was practically all will—and I wonder," he said musingly, -"if that explains the ungodly, evil fascination the creature could -command. A brain that was nothing but pure will-power, relieved by -its parasitic nature of all the distractions of a directing body! I -wonder—" He fell silent.</p> - -<p>"Tell me the rest!" she said frantically.</p> - -<p>"That's all, Honey. I removed it, and I guess I'm the only surgeon in -the world who ever removed a brain from a human skull without killing -the patient! Luckily, he had two of them!"</p> - -<p>"Oh God!" murmured the girl faintly. She turned to Horker. "But he will -live?"</p> - -<p>"I think so. Your shot killed the devil, it seems." He frowned. "I said -it was a tumor; I told them it was a tumor, but I'm not sure. Perhaps, -just as some people are born with six fingers or toes on each member, -he was born with two brains. It's possible; one developed normally, -humanly, and the other—into that creature we faced last night. I don't -know!"</p> - -<p>"It's what I said," asserted Pat. "It's a devil, and what you've just -told me about tumors proves it. They're devils, that's all, and some -day some student is going to cut one loose and raise it to maturity -outside a human body, and you'll see what a devil is really like! And -go ahead and laugh!"</p> - -<p>"I'm not laughing, Pat. I'd be the last one to laugh at your theory, -after facing that thing last night. It had satanic powers, all -right—that paralyzing fascination! You felt it too; it wasn't just a -mental lapse on my part, was it?"</p> - -<p>"I felt it, Dr. Carl! I'd felt it before that; I was always helpless in -the presence of it."</p> - -<p>"Could it," he asked, "have imposed its will actively on yours? I mean, -could it have made you actually do what it asked there at the end, just -before I recovered enough sense to let out that bellow?"</p> - -<p>"To take off—my dress?" She shivered. "I don't know, Dr. Carl.—I'm -afraid so." She looked at him appealingly. "Why did I yield to it so?" -she cried. "What made me find such a fierce pleasure in its kisses—in -its blows and scratches, and the pain it inflicted on me? Why was that, -Dr. Carl?"</p> - -<p>"Why," he countered, "do gangsters' girls and apache women enjoy the -cruelties perpetrated on them by their men? There's a little masochism -in most women, and that—creature was sadistic, perverted, abnormal, -and somehow dominating. It took an unfair advantage of you, Pat; don't -blame yourself."</p> - -<p>"It was—utterly evil!" she muttered. "It was the ultimate in -everything unholy."</p> - -<p>"It was an aberrant brain," said Horker. "You can't judge it by human -standards, since it wasn't actually human. It was, I suppose, just -what you said—a devil. I didn't even keep it," he added grimly. "I -destroyed it."</p> - -<p>"Do you know what it meant by saying it was a question of synapses?" -she asked.</p> - -<p>"That was queer!" The Doctor's voice was puzzled. "That remark implies -that the thing itself knew what it was. How? It must have possessed -knowledge that the normal brain lacked."</p> - -<p>"Was it a question of synapses?"</p> - -<p>"In a sense it was. The nerves from the two rival brains must have met -in a synaptic juncture. The oftener the aberrant brain gained control, -the easier it became for it to repeat the process, as the synapse, so -to speak, wore thin. That's why the attacks intensified so horribly -toward the end; the habit was being formed."</p> - -<p>"Last night was the very worst!"</p> - -<p>"Of course. As the thing itself pointed out, I made the mistake of -drugging the normal brain and giving the other complete control of -the body. At other times, there'd always been the rivalry to weaken -whichever was dominant."</p> - -<p>"Does that mean," asked Pat anxiously, "that Nick's character will be -changed now?"</p> - -<p>"I think so. I think you'll find him less meek, less gentle, than -heretofore. More spirited, perhaps, since his energies won't be drained -so constantly by the struggle."</p> - -<p>"I don't care!" she said. "I'd like that, and anyway, it doesn't make a -bit of difference to me as long as he's just—<i>my</i> Nick."</p> - -<p>The Doctor gave her a tender smile. "Let's go home," he said, pinching -her cheek in his great hand.</p> - -<p>"Can you leave him?"</p> - -<p>"I'll run back after a while, Honey. I think he'll do." He took her -hand, drawing her after him. "Don't forget to slip in unseen, Pat, and -rumple up your bed."</p> - -<p>"Rumple it!" She gave him a weary smile. "I'll be <i>in</i> it!"</p> - -<p>"Good idea. You look a bit worn out, Honey, and we can't have you -getting sick now, or even pull a temporary faint like that one last -night."</p> - -<p>"I didn't faint!"</p> - -<p>"Maybe not," grinned Horker. "Perhaps the proceedings grew a little -boring, and you just lay down on the couch for a nap. It <i>was</i> a dull -evening."</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dark Other, by Stanley G. 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Weinbaum - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Dark Other - -Author: Stanley G. Weinbaum - -Release Date: November 27, 2015 [EBook #50561] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DARK OTHER *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE DARK OTHER - - By Stanley G. Weinbaum - - _Fantasy Publishing Co., Inc._ - LOS ANGELES 1950 - - Copyright 1950 by Fantasy Publishing Co., Inc. - - Manufactured in U. S. A. - - [Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any - evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - _Other Books by Stanley G. Weinbaum_ - - DAWN OF FLAME - THE NEW ADAM - THE BLACK FLAME - A MARTIAN ODYSSEY - - - - - CONTENTS - - - Chapter Page - - 1. PURE HORROR 9 - - 2. SCIENCE OF MIND 17 - - 3. PSYCHIATRICS OF GENIUS 25 - - 4. THE TRANSFIGURATION 33 - - 5. A FANTASY OF FEAR 42 - - 6. A QUESTION OF SCIENCE 50 - - 7. THE RED EYES RETURN 58 - - 8. GATEWAY TO EVIL 65 - - 9. DESCENT INTO AVERNUS 73 - - 10. RESCUE FROM ABADDON 81 - - 11. WRECKAGE 89 - - 12. LETTER FROM LUCIFER 96 - - 13. INDECISION 104 - - 14. TOO BIZARRE 112 - - 15. A MODERN MR. HYDE 119 - - 16. POSSESSED 127 - - 17. WITCH-DOCTOR 135 - - 18. VANISHED 142 - - 19. MAN OR MONSTER? 149 - - 20. THE ASSIGNATION 156 - - 21. A QUESTION OF SYNAPSES 164 - - 22. DOCTOR AND DEVIL 172 - - 23. WEREWOLF 180 - - 24. THE DARK OTHER 186 - - 25. THE DEMON LOVER 194 - - 26. THE DEPTHS 201 - - 27. TWO IN HELL 209 - - 28. LUNAR OMEN 217 - - 29. SCOPOLAMINE FOR SATAN 225 - - 30. THE DEMON FREE 233 - - 31. "NOT HUMANLY POSSIBLE" 242 - - 32. REVELATION 250 - - - - -The Dark Other - - - - -1 - -Pure Horror - - -"That isn't what I mean," said Nicholas Devine, turning his eyes on his -companion. "I mean pure horror in the sense of horror detached from -experience, apart from reality. Not just a formless fear, which implies -either fear of something that _might_ happen, or fear of unknown -dangers. Do you see what I mean?" - -"Of course," said Pat, letting her eyes wander over the black expanse -of night-dark Lake Michigan. "Certainly I see what you mean but I don't -quite understand how you'd do it. It sounds--well, difficult." - -She gazed at his lean profile, clear-cut against the distant light. -He had turned, staring thoughtfully over the lake, idly fingering the -levers on the steering wheel before him. The girl wondered a little at -her feeling of contentment; she, Patricia Lane, satisfied to spend an -evening in nothing more exciting than conversation! And they must have -parked here a full two hours now. There was something about Nick--she -didn't understand exactly what; sensitivity, charm, personality. Those -were meaningless cliches, handles to hold the unexplainable nuances of -character. - -"It _is_ difficult," resumed Nick. "Baudelaire tried it, Poe tried it. -And in painting, Hogarth, Goya, Dore. Poe came closest, I think; he -caught the essence of horror in an occasional poem or story. Don't you -think so?" - -"I don't know," said Pat. "I've forgotten most of my Poe." - -"Remember that story of his--'The Black Cat'?" - -"Dimly. The man murdered his wife." - -"Yes. That isn't the part I mean. I mean the cat itself--the second -cat. You know a cat, used rightly, can be a symbol of horror." - -"Indeed yes!" The girl shuddered. "I don't like the treacherous beasts!" - -"And this cat of Poe's," continued Nick, warming to his subject. "Just -think of it--in the first place, it's black; element of horror. Then, -it's gigantic, unnaturally, abnormally large. And then it's not all -black--that would be inartistically perfect--but has a formless white -mark on its breast, a mark that little by little assumes a fantastic -form--do you remember what?" - -"No." - -"The form of a gallows!" - -"Oh!" said the girl. "Ugh!" - -"And then--climax of genius--the eyes! Blind in one eye, the other a -baleful yellow orb! Do you feel it? A black cat, an enormous black cat -marked with a gallows, and lacking one eye, to make the other even -more terrible! Literary tricks, of course, but they work, and _that's_ -genius! Isn't it?" - -"Genius! Yes, if you call it that. The perverse genius of the Devil!" - -"That's what I want to write--what I will write some day." He watched -the play of lights on the restless surface of the waters. "Pure horror, -the epitome of the horrible. It could be written, but it hasn't been -yet; not even by Poe." - -"That little analysis of yours was bad enough, Nick! Why should you -want to improve on his treatment of the theme?" - -"Because I like to write, and because I'm interested in the horrible. -Two good reasons." - -"Two excuses, you mean. Of course, even if you'd succeed, you couldn't -force anyone to read it." - -"If I succeed, there'd be no need to force people. Success would mean -that the thing would be great literature, and even today, in these -times, there are still people to read that. And besides--" He paused. - -"Besides what?" - -"Everybody's interested in the horrible. Even you are, whether or not -you deny it." - -"I certainly do deny it!" - -"But you are, Pat. It's natural to be." - -"It isn't!" - -"Then what is?" - -"Interest in people, and life, and gay times, and pretty things, -and--and one's self and one's own feelings. And the feelings of the -people one loves." - -"Yes. It comes to exactly the point I've been stressing. People are -sordid, life is hopeless, gay times are stupid, beauty is sensual, -one's own feelings are selfish. And love is carnal. That's the array of -horrors that holds your interest!" - -The girl laughed in exasperation. "Nick, you could out-argue your -name-sake, the Devil himself! Do you really believe that indictment of -the normal viewpoint?" - -"I do--often!" - -"Now?" - -"Now," he said, turning his gaze on Pat, "I have no feeling of it at -all. Now, right now, I don't believe it." - -"Why not?" she queried, smiling ingenuously at him. - -"You, obviously." - -"Gracious! I had no idea my logic was as convincing as that." - -"Your logic isn't. The rest of you is." - -"That sounds like a compliment," observed Pat. "If it is," she -continued in a bantering tone, "it's the only one I can recall -obtaining from you." - -"That's because I seldom call attention to the obvious." - -"And that's another," laughed the girl. "I'll have to mark this date in -red on my calendar. It's entirely unique in our--let's see--nearly a -month's acquaintance." - -"Is it really so short a time? I know you so well that it must have -taken years. Every detail!" He closed his eyes. "Hair like black silk, -and oddly dark blue eyes--if I were writing a poem at the moment, I'd -call them violet. Tiny lips, the sort the Elizabethan called bee-stung. -Straight nose, and a figure that is a sort of vest-pocket copy of -Diana. Right?" He opened his eyes. - -"Nice, but exaggerated. And even if you were correct, that isn't Pat -Lane, the real Pat Lane. A camera could do better on a tenth of a -second's acquaintance!" - -"Check!" He closed his eyes again. "Personality, piquant. Character, -loyal, naturally happy, intelligent, but not serious. An intellectual -butterfly; a dilettante. Poised, cool, self-possessed, yet inherently -affectionate. A being untouched by reality, as yet, living in Chicago -and in a make-believe world at the same time." He paused, "How old are -you, Pat?" - -"Twenty-two. Why?" - -"I wondered how long one could manage to stay in the world of -make-believe. I'm twenty-six, and I'm long exiled." - -"I don't think you know what you mean by a make-believe world. I'm sure -I don't." - -"Of course you don't. You can't know and still remain there. It's like -being happy; once you realize it, it's no longer perfect." - -"Then don't explain!" - -"Wouldn't make any difference if I did, Pat. It's a queer world, like -the Sardoodledom of Sardou and the afternoon-tea school of playwrights. -All stage-settings and pretense, but it looks real while you're -watching, especially if you're one of the characters." - -The girl laughed. "You're a deliciously solemn sort, Nick. How would -you like to hear my analysis of you?" - -"I wouldn't!" - -"You inflicted yours on me, and I'm entitled to revenge. And so--you're -intelligent, lazy, dreamy, and with a fine perception of artistic -values. You're very alert to impressions of the senses--I mean you're -sensuous without being sensual. You're delightfully serious without -being somber, except sometimes. Sometimes I feel a hint, just a -thrilling hint, in your character, of something dangerously darker--" - -"Don't!" said Nick sharply. - -Pat shot him a quick glance. "And you're frightened to death of -falling in love," she concluded imperturbably. - -"Oh! Do you think so?" - -"I do." - -"Then you're wrong! I can't be afraid of it, since I've known for the -better part of a month that I've been in love." - -"With me," said the girl. - -"Yes, with you!" - -"Well!" said Pat. "It never before took me a month to extract that -admission from a man. Is twenty-two getting old?" - -"You're a tantalizing imp!" - -"And so?" She pursed her lips, assuming an air of disappointment. "What -am I to do about it--scream for help? You haven't given me anything to -scream about." - -The kiss, Pat admitted to herself, was quite satisfactory. She yielded -herself to the pleasure of it; it was decidedly the best kiss she had, -in her somewhat limited experience, encountered. She pushed herself -away finally, with a little gasp, gazing bright-eyed at her companion. -He was staring down at her with serious eyes; there was a tense twist -to his mouth, and a curiously unexpected attitude of unhappiness. - -"Nick!" she murmured. "Was it as bad as all that?" - -"Bad! Pat, does it mean you--care for me? A little, anyway?" - -"A little," she admitted. "Maybe more. Is that what makes you look so -forlorn?" - -He drew her closer to him. "How could I look forlorn, Honey, when -something like this has happened to me? That was just my way of looking -happy." - -She nestled as closely as the steering wheel permitted, drawing his arm -about her shoulders. "I hope you mean that, Nick." - -"Then _you_ mean it? You really do?" - -"I really do." - -"I'm glad," he said huskily. The girl thought she detected a strange -dubious note in his voice. She glanced at his face; his eyes were -gazing into the dim remoteness of the night horizon. - -"Nick," she said, "why were you so--well, so reluctant about admitting -this? You must have known I--like you. I showed you that deliberately -in so many ways." - -"I--I wasn't quite sure." - -"You were! That isn't it, Nick. I had to practically browbeat you into -confessing you cared for me. Why?" - -He stepped on the starter; the motor ground into sudden life. The car -backed into the road, turning toward Chicago, that glared like a false -dawn in the southern sky. - -"I hope you never find out," he said. - - - - -2 - -Science of Mind - - -"She's out," said Pat as the massive form of Dr. Carl Horker loomed in -the doorway. "Your treatments must be successful; Mother's out playing -bridge." - -The Doctor gave his deep, rumbling chuckle. "So much the better, Pat. -I don't feel professional anyway." He moved into the living room, -depositing his bulk on a groaning davenport. "And how's yourself?" - -"Too well to be a patient of yours," retorted the girl. "Psychiatry! -The new religion! Just between friends, it's all applesauce, isn't it?" - -"If I weren't trying to act in place of your father, I'd resent that, -young lady," said the Doctor placidly. "Psychiatry is a definite -science, and a pretty important one. Applied psychology, the science of -the human mind." - -"If said mind exists," added the girl, swinging her slim legs over the -arm of a chair. - -"Correct," agreed the Doctor. "In my practice I find occasional -evidence that it does. Or did; your generation seems to have found -substitutes." - -"Which appears to work just as well!" laughed Pat. "All our troubles -are more or less inherited from your generation." - -"Touche!" admitted Dr. Horker. "But my generation also bequeathed you -some solid values which you don't know how to use." - -"They've been weighed and found wanting," said Pat airily. "We're busy -replacing them with our own values." - -"Which are certainly no better." - -"Maybe not, Doc, but at least they're ours." - -"Yours and Tom Paine's. I can't see that you young moderns have brought -any new ideas to the social scheme." - -"New or not, we're the first ones to give 'em a try-out. Your crowd -took it out in talk." - -"That's an insult," observed the Doctor cheerfully. "If I weren't -acting _in loco parentis_--" - -"I know! You'd give me a few licks in the spot popularly supposed to -do the most good! Well, that's part of a parent's privilege, isn't it?" - -"You've grown beyond the spanking age, my dear. Physically, if not -mentally--though I don't say the process would hurt me as much as you. -I'd doubtless enjoy it." - -"Then you might try sending me to bed without my dinner," the girl -laughed. - -"That's a doctor's prerogative, Pat. I've even done that to your -Mother." - -"In other words, you're a complete flop as a parent. All the -responsibilities, and none of the privileges." - -"That expresses it." - -"Well, you elected yourself, Doc. It's not my fault you happened to -live next door." - -"No. It's my misfortune." - -"And I notice," remarked Pat wickedly, "that you're not too thoroughly -_in loco_ to neglect sending Mother a bill for services rendered!" - -"My dear girl, that's part of the treatment!" - -"So? And how?" - -"I furnish a bill just steep enough to keep your mother from indulging -too frequently in medical services. Without that little practical check -on her inclinations, she'd be a confirmed neurotic. One of those sweet, -resigned, professional invalids, you know." - -"Then why not send her a bill tall enough to cure her altogether?" - -"She might change to psychoanalysis or New Thought," chuckled the -Doctor. "Besides, your father wanted me to look after her, and besides -that, I like having the run of the house." - -"Well, I'm sure I don't mind," observed Pat. "We've a dog and a canary -bird, too." - -"You're in fine fettle this afternoon!" laughed her companion. "Must've -been a successful date last night." - -"It was." Her eyes turned suddenly dreamy. - -"You're in love again, Pat!" he accused. - -"Again? Why the 'again'?" - -"Well, there was Billy, and that Paul--" - -"Oh, those!" Her tone was contemptuous. "Merely passing fancies, Doc. -Just whims, dreams of the moment--in other words, puppy love." - -"And this? I suppose this is different--a grand passion?" - -"I don't know," she said, frowning abruptly. "He's nice, but--odd. -Attractive as--well, as the devil." - -"Odd? How?" - -"Oh, he's one of those minds you think we moderns lack." - -"Intellectual, eh? New variety for you; out of the usual run of your -dancing collegiates. I've often suspected that you picked your swains -by the length and lowness of their cars." - -"Maybe I did. That was one of the chief differences between them." - -"How'd you meet this mental paragon?" - -"Billy Fields dragged him around to one of those literary evenings he -affects--where they read Oscar Wilde and Eugene O'Neil aloud. Bill met -him at the library." - -"And he out-shone all the local lights, I perceive." - -"He surely did!" retorted Pat. "And he hardly said a word the whole -evening." - -"He wouldn't have to, if they're all like Billy! What's this prodigy's -specialty?" - -"He writes. I think--laugh if you want to!--I think perhaps he's a -genius." - -"Well," said Doctor Horker, "even that's possible. It's been known to -occur, but rarely, to my knowledge, in your generation." - -"Oh, we're just dimmed by the glare of brilliance from yours." She -swung her legs to the floor, facing the Doctor. "Do you psychiatrists -actually _know_ anything about love?" she queried. - -"We're supposed to." - -"What is it, then?" - -"Just a device of Nature's for perpetuating the species. Some organisms -manage without it, and do pretty well." - -"Yes. I've heard references to the poor fish!" - -"Then they're inaccurate; fish have primitive symptoms of eroticism. -But below the vertebrates, notably in the amoeba, I don't recall any -amorous habits." - -"Then your definition doesn't explain a thing, does it?" - -"Not to one of the victims, perhaps." - -"Anyway," said Pat decisively, "I've heard of the old biological urge -before your kind analysis. It doesn't begin to explain why one should -be attracted to this person and repelled by that one. Does it?" - -"No, but Freud does. The famous Oedipus Complex." - -"That's the love of son for mother, or daughter for father, isn't it? -And I don't see how that clears up anything; for example, I can just -barely remember my father." - -"That's plenty. It could be some little trait in these swains of yours, -some unimportant mannerism that recalls that memory. Or there's that -portrait of him in the hall--the one under the mellow red light. It -might happen that you'd see one of these chaps under a similar light -in some attitude that brings the picture to mind--or a hundred other -possibilities." - -"Doesn't sound entirely convincing," objected Pat with a thoughtful -frown. - -"Well, submit to the proper treatments, and I'll tell you exactly what -caused each and every one of your little passing fancies. You can't -expect me to hit it first guess." - -"Thanks, no! That's one of these courses where you tell the doctor all -your secrets, and I prefer to keep what few I have." - -"Good judgment, Pat. By the way, you said this chap was odd. Does that -mean merely that he writes? I've known perfectly normal people who -wrote." - -"No," she said, "it isn't that. It's--he's so sweet and gentle and -manageable most of the time, but sometimes he has such a thrilling -spark of mastery that it almost scares me. It's puzzling but -fascinating, if you grasp my import." - -"Huh! He's probably a naturally selfish fellow who's putting on a good -show of gentleness for your benefit. Those flashes of tyranny are -probably his real character in moment of forgetfulness." - -"You doctors can explain anything, can't you?" - -"That's our business. It's what we're paid for." - -"Well, you're wrong this time. I know Nick well enough to know if he's -acting. His personality is just what I said--gentle, sensitive, and -yet--It's perplexing, and that's a good part of his charm." - -"Then it's not such a serious case you've got," mocked the doctor. -"When you're cool enough to analyze your own feelings, and dissect the -elements of the chap's attraction, you're not in any danger." - -"Danger! I can look out for myself, thanks. That's one thing we -mindless moderns learn young, and don't let me catch you puttering -around in my romances! _In loco parentis_ or just plain loco, you'll -get the licking instead of me!" - -"Believe me, Pat, if I wanted to experiment with affairs of the heart, -I'd not pick a spit-fire like you as the subject." - -"Well, Doctor Carl, you're warned!" - -"This Nick," observed the Doctor, "must be quite a fellow to get the -princess of the North Side so het up. What's the rest of his cognomen?" - -"Nicholas Devine. Romantic, isn't it?" - -"Devine," muttered Horker. "I don't know any Devines. Who are his -people?" - -"Hasn't any." - -"How does he live? By his writing?" - -"Don't know. I gathered that he lives on some income left by his -parents. What's the difference, anyway?" - -"None. None at all." The other wrinkled his brows thoughtfully. "There -was a colleague of mine, a Dr. Devine; died a good many years ago. -Reputation wasn't anything to brag about; was a little off balance -mentally." - -"Well, Nick isn't!" snapped Pat with some asperity. - -"I'd like to meet him." - -"He's coming over tonight." - -"So'm I. I want to see your mother." He rose ponderously. "If she's not -playing bridge again!" - -"Well, look him over," retorted Pat. "And I think your knowledge -of love is a decided flop. I think you're woefully ignorant on the -subject." - -"Why's that?" - -"If you'd known anything about it, you could have married mother some -time during the last seventeen years. Lord knows you've tried, and -all you've attained is the state of _in loco parentis_ instead of -_parens_." - - - - -3 - -Psychiatrics of Genius - - -"How do you charge--by the hour?" asked Pat, as Doctor Horker returned -from the hall. The sound of her mother's departing footsteps pattered -on the porch. - -"Of course, Young One; like a plumber." - -"Then your rates per minute must be colossal! The only time you ever -see Mother is a moment or so between bridge games." - -"I add on the time I waste with you, my dear. Such as now, waiting to -look over that odd swain of yours. Didn't you say he'd be over this -evening?" - -"Yes, but it's not worth your rates to have him psychoanalyzed. I can -do as well myself." - -"All right, Pat. I'll give you a sample analysis free," chuckled the -Doctor, distributing his bulk comfortably on the davenport. - -"I don't like free trials," she retorted. "I sent for a beauty-culture -book once, on free trial. I was twelve years only, and returned it in -seven days, but I'm still getting sales letters in the mails. I must be -on every sucker list in the country." - -"So that's the secret of your charm." - -"What is?" - -"You must have read the book, I mean. If you remember the title, I -might try it myself. Think it'd help?" - -"Dr. Carl," laughed the girl, "you don't need a book on beauty -culture--you need one on bridge! It's that atrocious game you play -that's bothering Mother." - -"Indeed? I shouldn't be surprised if you were right; I've suspected -that." - -"Save your surprise for when I'm wrong, Doc. You'll suffer much less -from shock." - -"Confident little brat! You're apt to get that knocked out of you some -day, though I hope you never do." - -"I can take it," grinned Pat. - -"No doubt you can, but you're an adept at handing it out. Where's this -chap of yours?" - -"He'll be along. No one's ever stood me up on a date yet." - -"I can understand that, you imp! Is that the famous Nick?" he queried -as a car purred to a stop beyond the windows. - -"No one else!" said the girl, glancing out. "The Big Thrill in person." - -She darted to the door. Horker turned casually to watch her as she -opened it, surveying Nicholas Devine with professional nonchalance. -He entered, tall, slender, with his thin sensitive features sharply -outlined in the light of the hall. He cast a quick glance toward the -Doctor; the latter noted the curious amber-green eyes of the lad, set -wide in the lean face, deep, speculative, the eyes of a dreamer. - -"Evening, Nick," Pat was bubbling. The newcomer gave her a hasty -smile, with another glance at the Doctor. "Don't mind Dr. Carl," she -continued. "Aren't you going to kiss me? It irks the medico, and I -never miss a chance." - -Nicholas flushed in embarrassment; he gestured hesitantly, then placed -a hasty peck of a kiss on the girl's forehead. He reddened again at the -Doctor's rumble of "Young imp of Satan!" - -"Not very good," said Pat reflectively, obviously enjoying the -situation. "I've known you to do better." She pulled him toward the -arch of the living room. "Come meet Dr. Horker. Dr. Carl, this is the -aforesaid Nicholas Devine." - -"Dr. Horker," repeated the lad, smiling diffidently. "You're the -psychiatrist and brain specialist, aren't you, Sir?" - -"So my patients believe," rumbled the massive Doctor, rising at the -introduction, and grasping the youth's hand. "And you're the genius -Patricia has been raving about. I'm glad to have the chance of looking -you over." - -Nick gave the girl a harassed glance, shifting uncomfortably, and -patently at a loss for a reply. She grinned mischievously. - -"Sit down, both of you," she suggested helpfully. She seized his hat -from the reluctant hands of Nick, sailing it carelessly to a chair. - -"So!" boomed the Doctor, lowering his great bulk again to the -davenport. He eyed the youth sitting nervously before him. "Devine, did -you say?" - -"Yes, sir." - -"I knew a Devine once. Colleague of mine." - -"A doctor? My father was a doctor." - -"Dr. Stuart Devine?" - -"Yes, sir." He paused. "Did you say you knew him, Dr. Horker?" - -"Slightly," rumbled the other. "Only slightly." - -"I don't remember him at all, of course, I was very young when he--and -my mother too--died." - -"You must have been. Patricia claims you write." - -"I try." - -"What sort of material?" - -"Why--any sort. Prose or poetry; what I feel like writing." - -"Whatever inspires you, I suppose?" - -"Yes, sir." The lad flushed again. - -"Ever have anything published?" - -"Yes, sir. In _Nation's Poetry_." - -"Never heard of it." - -"It has a large circulation," said Nick apologetically. - -"Humph! Well, that's something. Whom do you like?" - -"Whom do I like?" The youth's tone was puzzled. - -"What authors--writers?" - -"Oh." He cast another uncomfortable glance at Pat. "Why--I like -Baudelaire, and Poe, and Swinburne, and Villon, and--" - -"Decadents, all of them!" sniffed the Doctor. "What prose writers?" - -"Well--" He hesitated--"Poe again, and Stern, and Rabelais--" - -"Rabelais!" Horker's voice boomed. "Well! Your taste can't be as bad as -I thought, then. There's one we agree on, anyway. And I notice you name -no moderns, which is another good point." - -"I haven't read many moderns, sir." - -"That's in your favor." - -"Cut it!" put in Pat with assumed sharpness. "You've taken enough -whacks at my generation for one day." - -"I'm glad to find one of your generation who agrees with me," chuckled -the Doctor. "At least to the extent of not reading its works." - -"I'll teach him," grinned Pat. "I'll have him writing vess libre, and -maybe even dadaism, in a week." - -"Maybe it won't be much loss," grunted Horker. "I haven't seen any of -his work yet." - -"We'll bring some around sooner or later. We will, won't we, Nick?" - -"Of course, if you want to. But--" - -"He's going to say something modest," interrupted the girl. "He's in -the retiring mood now, but he's apt to change any moment, and snap your -surly head off." - -"Humph! I'd like to see it." - -"So'd I," retorted Pat. "You've had it coming all day; maybe I'll do it -myself." - -"You have, my dear, innumerable times. But I'm like the Hydra, except -that I grow only one head to replace the one you snap off." He turned -again to Nicholas. "Do you work?" - -"Yes, sir. At my writing." - -"I mean how do you live?" - -"Why," said the youth, reddening again in embarrassment, "my parents--" - -"Listen!" said Pat. "That's enough of Dr. Carl's cross examination. -You'd think he was a Victorian father who had just been approached for -his daughter's hand. We haven't whispered any news of an engagement to -you, have we, Doc?" - -"No, but I'm acting--" - -"Sure. _In loco parentis._ We know that." - -"You're incorrigible, Pat! I wash my hands of you. Run along, if you're -going out." - -"You'll be telling me never to darken my own door again in the next -breath!" She stretched forth a diminutive foot at the extremity of -a superlatively attractive ankle, caught Nick's hat on her toe, and -kicked it expertly to his lap. "Come on, Nick. There's a moon." - -"There is not!" objected the Doctor huffily. "It rises at four, as you -ought to know. You didn't see it last night, did you?" - -"I didn't notice," said the girl. "Come on, Nick, and we'll watch -it rise tonight. We'll check up on the Doctor's astronomy, or is it -chronology?" - -"You do and I'll know it! I can hear you come home, you imp!" - -"Nice neighbor," observed Pat airily, as she stepped to the door. "I'll -bet you peek out of the window, too." - -She ignored the Doctor's irritated rumble as she passed into the hall, -where Nick, after a diffident murmur of farewell to Horker, followed. -She caught up a light cape, which he draped about her shoulders. - -"Nick," she said, "suppose you run out to the car and wait. I think -I've stepped too hard on Dr. Carl's corns, and I want to give him a -little cheering up. Will you?" - -"Of course, Pat." - -She darted back into the living room, perching on the arm of the -davenport beside the Doctor. - -"Well?" she said, running her hand through his grizzled hair. "What's -the verdict?" - -"Seems like a nice kid," grumbled Horker reluctantly. "Nice enough, -but introverted, repressed, and I shouldn't be surprised to find him -anti-social. Doesn't adjust easily to his environment; takes refuge in -a dream world of his own." - -"That's what he accuses me of doing," grinned Pat. "That all you've got -against him?" - -"That's all, but where's that streak of mastery you mentioned? You lead -him around on a leash!" - -"It didn't show up tonight. That's the thrill--the unexpectedness of -it." - -"Bah! You must've dreamed it. There's no more aggressiveness in that -lad than in KoKo, your canary." - -"Don't you believe it, Dr. Carl! The trouble is that he's a genius, and -that's where your psychology falls flat." - -"Genius," said the Doctor oracularly, "is a sublimation of qualities--" - -"I'll tell you tomorrow how sublime the qualities are," called Pat as -she skipped out of the door. - - - - -4 - -The Transfiguration - - -The car slid smoothly along a straight white road that stretched ahead -into the darkness like an earth-bound Milky Way. In the dim distance -before them, red as Antares, glowed the tail-light of some automobile; -except for this lone evidence of humanity, reflected Pat, they might -have been flashing through the cosmic depths of interstellar space, -instead of following a highway in the very shadow of Chicago. The -colossal city of the lake-shore was invisible behind them, and the -clustering suburbs with it. - -"Queer, isn't it?" said Pat, after a silence, "how contented we can -be with none of the purchased amusement people crave--shows, movies, -dancing, and all that." - -"It doesn't seem queer to me," answered Nick. "Not when I look at you -here beside me." - -"Nice of you!" retorted Pat. "But it's never happened to me before." -She paused, then continued, "How do you like the Doctor?" - -"How does he like me? That's considerably more to the point, isn't it?" - -"He thinks you're nice, but--let's see--introverted, repressed, and -ill-adjusted to your environment. I think those were the points." - -"Well, _I_ liked _him_, in spite of your manoeuvers, and in spite of -his being a doctor." - -"What's wrong with being a doctor?" - -"Did you ever read 'Tristram Shandy'?" was Nick's irrelevant response. - -"No, but I read the newspapers!" - -"What's the connection, Pat?" - -"Just as much connection as there is between the evils of being a -doctor and reading 'Tristram Shandy'. I know that much about the book, -at least." - -"You're nearly right," laughed Nick. "I was just referring to one of -Tristram's remarks on doctors and lawyers. It fits my attitude." - -"What's the remark?" - -"Well, he had the choice of professions, and it occurred to him that -medicine and law were the vulture professions, since lawyers live -by men's quarrels and doctors by men's misfortunes. So--he became a -writer." - -"And what do writers live by?" queried Pat mischievously. "By men's -stupidity!" - -"You're precious, Pat!" Nick chuckled delightedly. "If I'd created you -to order, I couldn't have planned you more to taste--pepper, tabasco -sauce, vinegar, spice, and honey!" - -"And to be taken with a grain of salt," retorted the girl, puckering -her piquant, impish features. She edged closer to him, locking her arm -through his where it rested on the steering wheel. - -"Nick," she said, her tones suddenly gentle, "I think I'm pretty crazy -about you. Heaven knows why I should be, but it's a fact." - -"Pat, dear!" - -"I'm crazy about you in this meek, sensitive pose of yours, and I'm -fascinated by those masterful moments you flash occasionally. Really, -Nick, I almost wish you flamed out oftener." - -"Don't!" he said sharply. - -"Why not?" - -"Let's not talk about me, Pat. It--embarrasses me." - -"All right, Mr. Modesty! Let's talk about me, then. I'll promise we -won't succeed in embarrassing me." - -"And it's quite the most interesting subject in the world, Pat." - -"Well, then?" - -"What?" - -"Why don't you start talking? The topic is all attention." - -He chuckled. "How many men have told you you were beautiful, Pat?" - -"I never kept account." - -"And in many different ways?" - -"Why? Have you, perchance, discovered a new way, Nick?" - -"Not at all. The oldest way of any, the way of Sappho and Pindar." - -"O-ooh!" She clapped her hands in mock delight. "Poetry!" - -"The only medium that could possibly express how lovely you are," said -Nick. - -"Nicholas, have you gone and composed a poem to me?" - -"Composed? No. It isn't necessary, with you here beside me." - -"What's that? Some very subtle compliment?" - -"Not subtle, Pat. You're the poem yourself; all I need do is look at -you, listen to you, and translate." - -"Neat!" applauded the girl. "Do I hear the translation?" - -"You certainly do." He turned his odd amber-green eyes on her, then -bent forward to the road. He began to speak in a low voice. - - "In no far country's silent ways - Shall I forget one little thing-- - The soft intentness of your gaze, - The sweetness of your murmuring - Your generously tender praise, - The words just hinted by a breath-- - In no far country's silent way, - Unless that country's name be Death--" - -He paused abruptly, and drove silently onward. - -"Oh," breathed Pat. "Why don't you go on, Nick? Please." - -"No. It isn't the mood for this night, Dear. Not this night, alone with -you." - -"What is, then?" - -"Nothing sentimental. Something lighter, something--oh, Elizabethan. -That's it." - -"And what's stopping you?" - -"Lack of an available idea. Or--wait. Listen a moment." He began, this -time in a tone of banter. - - "When mornings, you attire yourself - For riding in the city, - You're such a lovely little elf, - Extravagantly pretty! - And when at noon you deign to wear - The habit of the town, - I cannot call to mind as fair - A symphony in brown. - - "Then evenings, you blithely don - A daintiness of white, - To flash a very paragon - Of lightsomeness--and light! - But when the rounds of pleasure cease, - And you retire at night, - The Godling on your mantelpiece - Must know a fairer sight!" - -"Sweet!" laughed Pat. "But personal. And anyway, how do you know I've a -godling on my mantel? Don't you credit me with any modesty?" - -"If you haven't, you should have! The vision I mentioned ought to -enliven even a statue." - -"Well," said the girl, "I have one--a jade Buddha, and with all the -charms I flash before him nightly, he's never batted an eyelash. -Explain that!" - -"Easily. He's green with envy, and frozen with admiration, and struck -dumb by wonder." - -"Heavens! I suppose I ought to be thankful you didn't say he was -petrified with fright!" Pat laughed. "Oh Nick," she continued, in a -voice gone suddenly dreamy, "this _is_ marvelous, isn't it? I mean our -enjoying ourselves so completely, and our being satisfied to be so -alone. Why, we've never even danced together." - -"So we haven't. That's a subterfuge we haven't needed, isn't it?" - -"It is," replied the girl, dropping her glossy gleaming black head -against his shoulder. "And besides, it's much more satisfactory to be -held in your arms in private, instead of in the midst of a crowd, and -sitting down, instead of standing up. But I should like to dance with -you, Nick," she concluded. - -"We'll go dancing, then, whenever you like." - -"You're delightfully complaisant, Nick. But--you're puzzling." She -glanced up at him. "You're so--so reluctant. Here we've been driving an -hour, and you haven't tried to kiss me a single time, and yet I'm quite -positive you care for me." - -"Lord, Pat!" he muttered. "You never need doubt that." - -"Then what is it? Are you so spiritual and ethereal, or is my -attraction for you just sort of intellectual? Or--are you afraid?" As -he made no reply, she continued, "Or are those poems you spout about my -physical charms just--poetic license?" - -"They're not, and you know it!" he snapped. "You've a mirror, haven't -you? And other fellows than I have taken you around, haven't they?" - -"Oh, I've been taken around! That's what perplexes me about you, Nick. -I'd think you were actually afraid of kissing me if it weren't--" Her -voice trailed into silence, and she stared speculatively ahead at the -ribbon of road that rolled steadily into the headlights' glare. - -She broke the interval of wordlessness. "What is it, Nick?" she -resumed almost pleadingly. "You've hinted at something now and then. -Please--you don't have to hesitate to tell me; I'm modern enough to -forgive things past, entanglements, affairs, disgraces, or anything -like that. Don't you think I should know?" - -"You'd know," he said huskily, "if I could tell you." - -"Then there is something, Nick!" She pressed his arm against her. "Tell -me, isn't there?" - -"I don't know." There was the suggestion of a groan in his voice. - -"You don't know! I can't understand." - -"I can't either. Please, Pat, let's not spoil tonight; if I could tell -you, I would. Why, Pat, I love you--I'm terribly, deeply, solemnly in -love with you." - -"And I with you, Nick." She gazed ahead, where the road rose over the -arch of a narrow bridge. The speeding car lifted to the rise like a -zooming plane. - -And suddenly, squarely in the center of the road, another car, until -now concealed by the arch of the bridge, appeared almost upon them. -There was a heart-stopping moment when a collision seemed inevitable, -and Pat felt the arm against her tighten convulsively into a bar of -steel. She heard her own sobbing gasp, and then, somehow, they had -slipped unscathed between the other car and the rail of the bridge. - -"Oh!" she gasped faintly, then with a return of breath, "That was nice, -Nick!" - -Beyond the bridge, the road widened once more; she felt the car -slowing, edging toward the broad shoulder of the road. - -"There was danger," said her companion in tones as emotionless as the -rasping of metal. "I came to save it." - -"Save what?" queried Pat as the car slid to a halt on the turf. - -"Your body." The tones were still cold, like grinding wheels. "The -beauty of your body!" - -He reached a thin hand toward her, suddenly seized her skirt and -snatched it above the silken roundness of her knees. "There," he -rasped. "That is what I mean." - -"Nick!" Pat half-screamed in appalled astonishment. "How--" She paused, -shocked into abrupt silence, for the face turned toward her was but a -remote, evil caricature of Nicholas Devine's. It leered at her out of -blood-shot eyes, as if behind the mask of Nick's face peered a red-eyed -demon. - - - - -5 - -A Fantasy of Fear - - -The satyr beside pat was leaning toward her; the arm about her was -tightening with a brutal ruthlessness, and while still staring in -fascination at the incredible eyes, she realized that another arm and -a white hand was moving relentlessly, exploratively, toward her body. -It was the cold touch of this hand as it slipped over her silk-sheathed -legs that broke the chilling spell of her fascination. - -"Nick!" she screamed. "Nick!" She had a curious sensation of calling -him back from far distances, the while she strove with both hands and -all her strength to press him back from her. But the ruthless force of -his arms was overcoming her resistance; she saw the red eyes a hand's -breadth from her own. - -"Nick!" she sobbed in terror. - -There was a change. Abruptly, she was looking into Nick's eyes, -blood-shot, frightened, puzzled, but indubitably Nick's eyes. The -flaming orbs of the demon were no more; it was as if they had receded -into Nick's head. The arm about her body relaxed, and they were staring -at each other in a medley of consternation, amazement and unbelief. The -youth drew back, huddled in his corner of the car, and Pat, breathing -in sobs, smoothed out her rumpled apparel with a convulsive movement. - -"Pat!" he gasped. "Oh, my God! He couldn't have--" He paused abruptly. -The girl gazed at him without reply. - -"Pat, Dear," he spoke in a low, tense murmur, "I'm--sorry. I don't -know--I don't understand how--" - -"Never mind," she said, regaining a vestige of her customary composure. -"It's--all right, Nick." - -"But--oh, Pat--!" - -"It was that near accident," she said. "That upset you--both of us, I -mean." - -"Yes!" he said eagerly. "That's what it was, Pat. It must have been -that, but Dear, can you forgive? Do you want to forgive me?" - -"It's all right," she repeated. "After all, you just complimented my -legs, and I guess I can stand that. It's happened before, only not -quite so--convincingly!" - -"You're sweet, Pat!" - -"No; I just love you Nick." She felt a sudden pity for the misery in -his face. "Kiss me, Nick--only gently." - -He pressed his lips to hers, very lightly, almost timidly. She lay back -against the seat for a moment, her eyes closed. - -"That's you again," she murmured. "This other--wasn't." - -"Please, Pat! Don't refer to it,--not ever." - -"But it wasn't you, Nick. It was just the strain of that narrow escape. -I don't hold it against you." - -"You're--Lord, Pat, I don't deserve you. But you know that I--I -myself--could never touch you except in tenderness, even in reverence. -You're too dainty, too lovely, too spirited, to be hurt, or to be held -roughly, against your will. You know I feel that way about you, don't -you?" - -"Of course. It was nothing, Nick. Forget it." - -"If I can," he said somberly. He switched on the engine, backed out -upon the pavement, and turned the car toward the glow that marked -Chicago. Neither of them spoke as the machine hummed over the arching -bridge and down the slope, where, so few minutes before, the threat of -accident had thrust itself at them. - -"We won't see a moon tonight," said Pat in a small voice, after an -interval. "We'll never check up on Dr. Carl's astronomy." - -"You don't want to tonight, Pat, do you?" - -"I guess perhaps we'd better not," she replied. "We're both upset, and -there'll be other nights." - -Again they were silent. Pat felt strained, shaken; there was something -uncanny about the occurrence that puzzled her. The red eyes that had -glared out of Nick's face perplexed her, and the curious rasping voice -he had used still sounded inhumanly in her memory. Out of recollection -rose still another mystery. - -"Nick," she said, "what did you mean--then--when you said there was -danger and you came to save me?" - -"Nothing," he said sharply. - -"And then, afterwards, you started to say something about 'He couldn't -have--'. Who's 'he'?" - -"It meant nothing, I tell you. I was frantic to think you might have -been hurt. That's all." - -"I believe you, Honey," she said, wondering whether she really did. The -thing was beginning to grow hazy; already it was assuming merely the -proportions of an upheaval of youthful fervor. Such occurrences were -not unheard of, though never before had it happened to Patricia Lane! -Still, even that was conceivable, far more conceivable than the dark, -unformed, inchoate suspicions she had been harboring. They hadn't even -been definite enough to be called suspicions; indefinite apprehensions -came closer. - -And yet--that strange, wild face that had formed itself of Nick's fine -features, and the terrible red eyes! Were they elements in a picture -conjured out of her own imagination? They must be, of course. She had -been frightened by that hairbreadth escape, and had seen things that -didn't exist. And the rest of it--well, that might be natural enough. -Still, there was something--she knew that; Nick had admitted it. - -Horker's words concerning Nick's father rose in her mind. Suspected -of being crazy! Was that it? Was that the cause of Nick's curious -reluctance where she was concerned? Was the face that had glared -at her the visage of a maniac? It couldn't be. It couldn't be, she -told herself fiercely. Not her fine, tender, sensitive Nick! And -besides, that face, if she hadn't imagined it, had been the face, not -of a lunatic, but of a devil. She shook her head, as if to deny her -thoughts, and placed her hand impulsively on Nick's. - -"I don't care," she said. "I love you, Nick." - -"And I you," he murmured. "Pat, I'm sorry about spoiling this evening. -I'm sorry and ashamed." - -"Never mind, Honey. There'll be others." - -"Tomorrow?" - -"No," she said. "Mother and I are going out to dinner. And Friday we're -having company." - -"Really, Pat? You're not just trying to turn me off gently." - -"Really, Nick. Try asking me for Saturday evening and see!" - -"You're asked, then." - -"And it's a date." Then, with a return of her usual insouciance, she -added. "If you're on good behavior." - -"I will be. I promise." - -"I hope so," said Pat. An inexplicable sense of foreboding had come -over her; despite her self-given assurances, something unnameable -troubled her. She gave a mental shrug, and deliberately relegated the -unpleasant cogitations to oblivion. - -The car turned into Dempster Road; the lights of the teeming -roadhouses, dance halls, road-side hamburger and barbecue stands -flashed by. There were many cars here; there was no longer any -impression of solitude now, in the overflow from the vast city in -whose shadow they moved. The incessant flow of traffic gave the girl -a feeling of security; these were tangible things about her, and once -more the memory of that disturbing occurrence became dim and dreamlike. -This was Nick beside her, gentle, intelligent, kind; had he ever been -otherwise? It seemed highly unreasonable, a fantasy of fear and the -hysteria of the moment. - -"Hungry?" asked Nick unexpectedly. - -"I could use a barbecue, I guess. Beef." - -The car veered to the graveled area before a brightly lit stand. Nick -gave the order to an attendant. He chuckled as Pat, with the digestive -disregard of youth attacked the greasy combination. - -"That's like a humming bird eating hay!" he said. "Or better, like a -leprechaun eating that horse-meat they can for dogs." - -"You might as well discover that I don't live on honey and -rose-petals," said Pat. "Not even on caviar and terrapin--at least, not -exclusively. I leave the dainty palate for Mother to indulge." - -"Which is just as well. Hamburger and barbecue are more easily -budgeted." - -"Nicholas," said the girl, tossing the paper napkin out of the car -window, "is that an indirect and very evasive proposal of marriage?" - -"You know it could be, if you wished it!" - -"And do I?" she said, assuming a pensive air. "I wonder. Suppose we say -I'll let you know later." - -"And meanwhile?" - -"Oh, meanwhile we can be sort of engaged. Just the way we've been." - -"You're sweet, Pat," he murmured, as the car edged into the line of -traffic. "I don't know just how to convey my appreciation, but it's -there!" - -The buildings drew more closely together; the road was suddenly a -lighted street, and then, almost without realizing it, they were before -Pat's home. Nick walked beside her to the door; he stood facing her -hesitantly. - -"Good night, Pat," he said huskily. He leaned down, kissing her very -gently, turned, and departed. - -The girl watched him from the open doorway, following the lights of -his car until they vanished down the street. Dear, sweet Nick! Then -the disturbing memory of that occurrence of the evening returned; she -frowned in perplexity as the thought rose. That was all of a piece with -the puzzling character of him, and the curious veiled references he'd -made. References to what? She didn't know, couldn't imagine. Nick had -said he didn't know either, which added still another quirk to the maze. - -She thought of Dr. Horker's words. With the thought, she glanced at his -house, adjacent to her own home. A light gleamed in the library; he -was still awake. She closed the door behind her, and darted across the -narrow strip of lawn to his porch. She rang the bell. - -"Good evening, Dr. Carl," she said as the massive form of Horker -appeared. She puckered her lips impudently at him as she slipped by him -into the house. - - - - -6 - -A Question of Science - - -"Not that I'm displeased at this visit, Pat," rumbled the Doctor, -seating himself in one of the great chairs by the fireplace, "but I'm -curious. I thought you were dating your ideal tonight, yet here you -are, back alone a little after eleven. How come?" - -"Oh," said the girl nonchalantly, dropping crosswise in the other -chair, "we decided we needed our beauty sleep." - -"Then why are you here, you young imp?" - -"Thought you might be lonesome." - -"I'll bet you did! But seriously, Pat, what is it? Any trouble?" - -"No-o," she said dubiously. "No trouble. I just wanted to ask you a few -hypothetical questions. About science." - -"Go to it, then, and quickly. I was ready to turn in." - -"Well," said Pat, "about Nick's father. He was a doctor, you said, and -supposed to be cracked. Was he really?" - -"Humph! That's curious. I just looked up a brochure of his tonight in -the American Medical Journal, after our conversation of this afternoon. -Why do you ask that?" - -"Because I'm interested, of course." - -"Well, here's what I remember about him, Pat. He was an M.D., all -right, but I see by his paper there--the one I was reading--that he was -on the staff of Northern U. He did some work at the Cook County Asylum, -some research work, and there was a bit of talk about his maltreating -the patients. Then, on top of that, he published a paper that medical -men considered crazy, and that started talk of his sanity. That's all I -know." - -"Then Nick--." - -"I thought so! So it's come to the point where you're investigating his -antecedents, eh? With an eye to marriage, or what?" - -"Or what!" snapped Pat. "I was curious to know, naturally." - -"Naturally." The Doctor gave her a keen glance from his shrewd eyes. -"Did you think you detected incipient dementia in your ideal?" - -"No," said the girl thoughtfully. "Dr. Carl, is there any sort -of craziness that could take an ordinarily shy person and make a -passionate devil of him? I don't mean passionate, either," she added. -"Rather cold, ruthless, domineering." - -"None that I know of," said Horker, watching her closely. "Did this -Nick of yours have one of his masterful moments?" - -"Worse than that," admitted Pat reluctantly. "We had a near accident, -and it startled both of us, and then suddenly, he was looking at me -like a devil, and then--" She paused. "It frightened me a little." - -"What'd he do?" demanded Horker sharply. - -"Nothing." She lied with no hesitation. - -"Were there any signs of Satyromania?" - -"I don't know. I never heard of that." - -"I mean, in plain Americanese, did he make a pass at you?" - -"He--no, he didn't." - -"Well, what _did_ he do?" - -"He just looked at me." Somehow a feeling of disloyalty was rising in -her; she felt a reluctance to betray Nick further. - -"What did he say, then? And don't lie this time." - -"He just said--He just looked at my legs and said something about their -being beautiful, and that was all. After that, the look on his face -faded into the old Nick." - -"Old Nick is right--the impudent scoundrel!" Horker's voice rumbled -angrily. - -"Well, they're nice legs," said Pat defiantly, swinging them as -evidence. "You've said it yourself. Why shouldn't _he_ say it? What's -to keep him from it?" - -"The code of a gentleman, for one thing!" - -"Oh, who cares for your Victorian codes! Anyway, I came here for -information, not to be cross-examined. I want to ask the questions -myself." - -"Pat, you're a reckless little spit-fire, and you're going to get -burned some day, and deserve it," the Doctor rumbled ominously. "Ask -your fool questions, and then I'll ask mine." - -"All right," said the girl, still defiant. "I don't guarantee to answer -yours, however." - -"Well, ask yours, you imp!" - -"First, then--Is that Satyro-stuff you mentioned intermittent or -continuous?" - -"It's necessarily intermittent, you numb-skull! The male organism can't -function continuously!" - -"I mean, does the mania lie dormant for weeks or months, and then flare -up?" - -"Not at all. It's a permanent mania, like any other psychopathic sex -condition." - -"Oh," said Pat thoughtfully, with a sense of relief. - -"Well, go on. What next?" - -"What are these dual personalities you read about in the papers?" - -"They're aphasias. An individual forgets his name, and he picks, or is -given, another, if he happens to wander among strangers. He forgets -much of his past experience; the second personality is merely what's -left of the first--sort of a vestige of his normal character. There -isn't any such thing as a dual personality in the sense of two distinct -characters living in one body." - -"Isn't there?" queried the girl musingly. "Could the second personality -have qualities that the first one lacked?" - -"Not any more than it could have an extra finger! The second is merely -a split off the first, a forgetfulness, a loss of memory. It couldn't -have _more_ qualities than the whole, or normal, character; it _must_ -have fewer." - -"Isn't that just too interesting!" said Pat in a bantering tone. "All -right, Dr. Carl. It's your turn." - -"Then what's the reason for all this curiosity about perversions and -aphasias? What's happened to your genius now?" - -"Oh, I'm thinking of taking up the study of psychiatry," replied the -girl cheerfully. - -"Aren't you going to answer me seriously?" - -"No." - -"Then what's the use of my asking questions?" - -"I know the right answer to that one. None!" - -"Pat," said Horker in a low voice, "you're an impudent little hoyden, -and too clever for your own good, but you and your mother are very -precious to me. You know that." - -"Of course I do, Dr. Carl," said the girl, relenting. "You're a dear, -and I'm crazy about you, and you know that, too." - -"What I'm trying to say," proceeded the other, "is simply that I'm -trying to help you. I want to help you, if you need help. Do you?" - -"I guess I don't, Dr. Carl, but you're sweet." - -"Are you in love with this Nicholas Devine?" - -"I think perhaps I am," she admitted softly. - -"And is he in love with you?" - -"Frankly, could he help being?" - -"Then there's something about him that worries you. That's it, isn't -it?" - -"I thought there was, Dr. Carl. I was a little startled by the change -in him right after we had that narrow escape, but I'm sure it was -nothing--just imagination. Honestly, that's all that troubled me." - -"I believe you, Pat," said the Doctor, his eyes fixed on hers. "But -guard yourself, my dear. Be sure he's what you think he is; be sure you -know him rightly." - -"He's clean and fine," murmured the girl. "I _am_ sure." - -"But this puzzling yourself about his character, Pat--I don't like it. -Make doubly sure before you permit your feelings to become too deeply -involved. That's only common sense, child, not psychiatry or magic." - -"I'm sure," repeated Pat. "I'm not puzzled or troubled any more. And -thanks, Dr. Carl. You run along to bed and I'll do likewise." - -He rose, accompanying her to the door, his face unusually grave. - -"Patricia," he said, "I want you to think over what I've said. Be -sure, be doubly sure, before you expose yourself to the possibility of -suffering. Remember that, won't you?" - -"I'll try to. Don't fret yourself about it, Dr. Carl; I'm a hard-boiled -young modern, and it takes a diamond to even scratch me." - -"I hope so," he said soberly. "Run along; I'll watch until you're -inside." - -Pat darted across the strip of grass, turned at her door to blow a -goodnight kiss to the Doctor, and slipped in. She tiptoed quietly to -her room, slipped off her dress, and surveyed her long, slim legs in -the mirror. - -"Why shouldn't he say they were beautiful?" she queried of the image. -"I can't see any reason to get excited over a simple compliment like -that." - -She made a face over her shoulder at the green Buddha above the -fireplace. - -"And as for you, fat boy," she murmured, "I expect to see you wink at -me tonight. And every night hereafter!" - -She prepared herself for slumber, slipped into the great bed. She had -hardly closed her lids before the image of a leering face with terrible -bloody eyes flamed out of memory and set her trembling and shuddering. - - - - -7 - -The Red Eyes Return - - -"I suppose I really ought to meet your friends, Patricia," said Mrs. -Lane, peering out of the window, "but they all seem to call when I'm -not at home." - -"I'll have some of them call in February," said Pat. "You're not out as -often in February." - -"Why do you say I'm not out as often in February?" demanded her mother. -"I don't see what earthly difference the month makes." - -"There are fewer days in February," retorted Pat airily. - -"Facetious brat!" - -"So I've been told. You needn't worry, though, Mother; I'm sober, -steady, and reliable, and if I weren't, Dr. Carl would see to it that -my associates were." - -"Yes; Carl is a gem," observed her mother. "By the way, who's this -Nicholas you're so enthusiastic about?" - -"He's a boy I met." - -"What's he like?" - -"Well, he speaks English and wears a hat." - -"Imp! Is he nice?" - -"That means is his family acceptable, doesn't it? He hasn't any family." - -Mrs. Lane shrugged her attractive shoulders. "You're a self-reliant -sort, Patricia, and cool as iced lettuce, like your father. I don't -doubt that you can manage your own affairs, and here comes Claude with -the car." She gave the girl a hasty kiss. "Good-bye, and have a good -time, as I'm sure I shan't with Bret Cutter in the game." - -Pat watched her mother's trim, amazingly youthful figure as she entered -the car. More like a companion than a parent, she mused; she liked the -independence her mother's attitude permitted her. - -"Better than being watched like a prize-winning puppy," she thought. -"Maybe Dr. Carl as a father would have a detriment or two along with -the advantages. He's a dear, and I'm mad about him, but he does lean to -the nineteenth century as far as parental duties are concerned." - -She saw Nick's car draw to the curb; as he emerged she waved from the -window and skipped into the hall. She caught up her wrap and bounded -out to meet him just ascending the steps. - -"Let's go!" she greeted him. She cast an apprehensive glance at his -features, but there was nothing disturbing about him. He gave her a -diffident smile, the shy, gentle smile that had taken her in that first -moment of meeting. This was certainly no one but her own Nick, with no -trace of the unsettling personality of their last encounter. - -He helped her into the car, seating himself at her side. He leaned over -her, kissing her very tenderly; suddenly she was clinging to him, her -face against the thrilling warmth of his cheek. - -"Nick!" she murmured. "Nick! You're just safely you, aren't you? I've -been imagining things that I knew couldn't be so!" - -He slipped his arm caressingly about her, and the pressure of it was -like the security of encircling battlements. The world was outside -the circle of his arms; she was within, safe, inviolable. It was some -moments before she stirred, lifting her pert face with tear-bright eyes -from the obscurity of his shoulder. - -"So!" she exclaimed, patting the black glow of her hair into composure. -"I feel better, Nick, and I hope you didn't mind." - -"Mind!" he ejaculated. "If you mean that as a joke, Honey, it's far too -subtle for me." - -"Well, I didn't think you'd mind," said Pat demurely, settling herself -beside him. "Let's be moving, then; Dr. Carl is nearly popping his eyes -out in the window there." - -The car hummed into motion; she waved a derisive arm at the Doctor's -window by way of indicating her knowledge of his surveillance. "Ought -to teach him a lesson some time," she thought. "One of these fine -evenings I'll give him a real shock." - -"Where'll we go?" queried Nick, veering skilfully into the swift -traffic of Sheridan Road. - -"Anywhere!" she said blithely. "Who cares as long as we go together?" - -"Dancing?" - -"Why not? Know a good place?" - -"No." He frowned in thought. "I haven't indulged much." - -"The Picador?" she suggested. "The music's good, and it's not too -expensive. But it's 'most across town, and besides, Saturday nights -we'd be sure to run into some of the crowd." - -"What of it?" - -"I want to dance with you, Nick--all evening. I want to be without -distractions." - -"Pat, dear! I could kiss you for that." - -"You will," she murmured softly. - -They moved aimlessly south with the traffic, pausing momentarily at the -light-controlled intersections, then whirring again to rapid motion. -The girl leaned against his arm silently, contentedly; block after -block dropped behind. - -"Why so pensive, Honey?" he asked after an interval. "I've never known -you so quiet before." - -"I'm enjoying my happiness, Nick." - -"Aren't you usually happy?" - -"Of course, only these last two or three days, ever since our last -date, I've been making myself miserable. I've been telling myself -foolish things, impossible things, and it's only now that I've thrown -off the blues. I'm happy, Dear!" - -"I'm glad you are," he said. His voice was strangely husky, and he -stared fixedly at the street rushing toward them. "I'm glad you are," -he repeated, a curious tensity in his tones. - -"So'm I." - -"I'll never do anything to make you unhappy, Pat--never. Not--if I can -help it." - -"You can help it, Nick. You're the one making me happy; please keep -doing it." - -"I--hope to." There was a queer catch in his voice. It was almost as if -he feared something. - -"Selah!" said Pat conclusively. She was thinking, "Wrong of me to refer -to that accident. After all it was harmless; just a natural burst of -passion. Might happen to anyone." - -"Where'll we go?" asked Nick as they swung into the tree-shadowed road -of Lincoln Park. "We haven't decided that." - -"Anywhere," said the girl dreamily. "Just drive; we'll find a place." - -"You must know lots of them." - -"We'll find a new place; we'll discover it for ourselves. It'll mean -more, doing that, than if we just go to one of the old places where -I've been with every boy that ever dated me. You don't want me dancing -with a crowd of memories, do you?" - -"I shouldn't mind as long as they stayed merely memories." - -"Well, I should! This evening's to be ours--exclusively ours." - -"As if it could ever be otherwise!" - -"Indeed?" said Pat. "And how do you know what memories I might choose -to carry along? Are you capable of inspecting my mental baggage?" - -"We'll check it at the door. You're traveling light tonight, aren't -you?" - -"Pest!" she said, giving his cheek an impudent vicious pinch. "Nice, -pleasurable pest!" - -He made no answer. The car was idling rather slowly along Michigan -Boulevard; half a block ahead glowed the green of a traffic light. -Faster traffic flowed around them, passing them like water eddying -about a slow floating branch. - -Suddenly the car lurched forward. The amber flame of the warning light -had flared out; they flashed across the intersection a split second -before the metallic click of the red light, and a scant few feet before -the converging lines of traffic from the side street swept in with -protesting horns. - -"Nick!" the girl gasped. "You'll rate yourself a traffic ticket! Why'd -you cut the light like that?" - -"To lose your guardian angel," he muttered in tones so low she barely -understood his words. - -Pat glanced back; the lights of a dozen cars showed beyond the barrier -of the red signal. - -"Do you mean one of those cars was following us? What on earth makes -you think that, and why should it, anyway?" - -The other made no answer; he swerved the car abruptly off the avenue, -into one of the nondescript side streets. He drove swiftly to the -corner, turned south again, and turned again on some street Pat failed -to identify--South Superior or Grand, she thought. They were scarcely -a block from the magnificence of Michigan Avenue and its skyscrapers, -its brilliant lights, and its teeming night traffic, yet here they -moved down a deserted dark thoroughfare, a street lined with ramshackle -wooden houses intermingled with mean little shops. - -"Nick!" Pat exclaimed. "Where are we going?" - -The low voice sounded. "Dancing," he said. - -He brought the car to the curb; in the silence as the motor died, the -faint strains of a mechanical piano sounded. He opened the car door, -stepped around to the sidewalk. - -"We're here," he said. - -Something metallic in his tone drew Pat's eyes to his face. The eyes -that returned her stare were the bloody orbs of the demon of last -Wednesday night! - - - - -8 - -Gateway to Evil - - -Pat stared curiously at the apparition but made no move to alight from -the vehicle. She was conscious of no fear, only a sense of wonder -and perplexity. After all, this was merely Nick, her own harmless, -adoring Nick, in some sort of mysterious masquerade, and she felt full -confidence in her ability to handle him under any circumstances. - -"Where's here?" she said, remaining motionless in her place. - -"A place to dance," came the toneless reply. - -Pat eyed him; a street car rumbled past, and the brief glow from its -lighted windows swept over his face. Suddenly the visage was that -of Nick; the crimson glare of the eyes was imperceptible, and the -features were the well-known appurtenances of Nicholas Devine, but -queerly tensed and strained. - -"A trick of the light," she thought, as the street car lumbered away, -and again a faint gleam of crimson appeared. She gazed curiously at the -youth, who stood impassively returning her survey as he held the door -of the car. But the face was the face of Nick, she perceived, probably -in one of his grim moods. - -She transferred her glance to the building opposite which they had -stopped. The strains of the mechanical piano had ceased; blank, -shaded windows faced them, around whose edges glowed a subdued light -from within. A drab, battered, paintless shack, she thought, dismal -and unpleasant; while she gazed, the sound of the discordant music -recommenced, adding, it seemed, the last unprepossessing item. - -"It doesn't look very attractive, Nick," she observed dubiously. - -"I find it so, however." - -"Then you've been here?" - -"Yes." - -"But I thought you said you didn't know any place to go." - -"This one hadn't occurred to me--then." - -"Well," she said crisply, "I could have done as well as this with my -eyes closed. It doesn't appeal to me at all, Nick." - -"Nevertheless, here's where we'll go. You're apt to find -it--interesting." - -"Look here, Nicholas Devine!" Pat snapped, "What makes you think you -can bully me? No one has ever succeeded yet!" - -"I said you'd find it interesting." His voice was unchanged; she stared -at him in complete bafflement. - -"Oh, Nick!" she exclaimed in suddenly softer tones. "What difference -does it make? Didn't I say anywhere would do, so we went together?" She -smiled at him. "This will do if you wish, though really, Honey, I'd -prefer not." - -"I do wish it," the other said. - -"All right, Honey," said Pat the faintest trace of reluctance in her -voice as she slipped from the car. "I stick to my bargains." - -She winced at the intensity of his grip as he took her arm to assist -her. His fingers were like taunt wires biting into her flesh. - -"Nick!" she cried. "You're hurting me! You're bruising my arm!" - -He released her; she rubbed the spot ruefully, then followed him to the -door of the mysterious establishment. The unharmonious jangle of the -piano dinned abruptly louder as he swung the door open. Pat entered and -glanced around her at the room revealed. - -Dull, smoky, dismal--not the least exciting or interesting as yet, -she thought. A short bar paralleled one wall, behind which lounged a -little, thin, nondescript individual with a small mustache. Half a -dozen tables filled the remainder of the room; four or five occupied -by the clientele of the place, as unsavory a group as the girl could -recall having encountered on the hither side of the motion picture -screen. Two women tittered as Nick entered; then with one accord, the -eyes of the entire group fixed on Pat, where she stood drawing her wrap -more closely about her, standing uncomfortably behind her escort. And -the piano tinkled its discords in the far corner. - -"Same place," said Nick shortly to the bartender, ignoring the glances -of the others. Pat followed him across the room to a door, into a hall, -thence into a smaller room furnished merely with a table and four -chairs. The nondescript man stood waiting in the doorway as Nick took -her wrap and seated her in one of the chairs. - -"Quart," he said laconically, and the bartender disappeared. - -Pat stared intently, studiously, into the face of her companion. Nick's -face, certainly; here in full light there was no trace of the red-eyed -horror she had fancied out there in the semi-darkness of the street. Or -was there? Now--when he turned, when the light struck his eyes at an -angle, was that a glint of crimson? Still, the features were Nick's, -only a certain grim intensity foreign to him lurked about the set of -his mouth, the narrowed eye-lids. - -"Well!" she said. "So this is Paris! What are you trying to do--teach -me capital L--life? And where do we dance?" - -"In here." - -"And what kind of quart was that you ordered? You know how little I -drink, and I'm darned particular about even that little." - -"You'll like this." - -"I doubt it." - -"I said you'll like it," he reiterated in flat tones. - -"I heard you say it." She regarded him with a puzzled frown. "Nick," -she said suddenly, "I've decided I like you better in your gentle pose; -this masterful attitude isn't becoming, and you can forget what I said -about wishing you'd display it oftener." - -"You'll like that, too." - -"Again I doubt it. Nick, dear, don't spoil another evening like that -last one!" - -"This one won't be like the last one!" - -"But Honey--" she paused at the entrance of the bartender bearing a -tray, an opened bottle of ginger ale, two glasses of ice, and a flask -of oily amber liquid. He deposited the assortment on the red-checked -table cloth. - -"Two dollars," he said, pocketed the money and silently retired. - -"Nicholas," said the girl tartly, "there's enough of that poison for a -regiment." - -"I don't think so." - -"Well, I won't drink it, and I won't let you drink it! So now what?" - -"I think you'll do both." - -"I don't!" she snapped. "And I don't like this, Nick--the place, or the -liquor, or your attitude, or anything. We're going to leave!" - -Instead of answering, he pulled the cork from the bottle, pouring a -quantity of the amber fluid into each of the tumblers. To one he added -an equal quantity of ginger ale, and set it deliberately squarely in -front of Pat. She frowned at it distastefully, and shook her head. - -"No," she said. "Not I. I'm leaving." - -She made no move, however; her eyes met those of her companion, gazing -at her with a cold intentness in their curious amber depths. And -again--was that a flash of red? Impulsively she reached out her hand, -touched his. - -"Oh, Nick!" she said in soft, almost pleading tones. "Please, Honey--I -don't understand you. Don't you know I love you, Nick? You can hear me -say it: I love you. Don't you believe that?" - -He continued his cold, intense stare; the grim set of his mouth was as -unrelaxing as marble. Pat felt a shiver of apprehension run through -her, and an almost hypnotic desire to yield herself to the demands of -the inexplicable eyes. She tore her glance away, looking down at the -red checks of the table cloth. - -"Nick, dear," she said. "I can't understand this. Will you tell me what -you--will you tell me why we're here?" - -"It is out of your grasp." - -"But--I know it has something to do with Wednesday night, something -to do with that reluctance of yours, the thing you said you didn't -understand. Hasn't it?" - -"Do you think so?" - -"Yes," she said. "I do! And Nick, Honey--didn't I tell you I could -forgive you anything? I don't care what's happened in the past; all I -care for is now, now and the future. Don't you understand me? I've told -you I loved you, Honey! Don't you love me?" - -"Yes," said the other, staring at her with no change in the fixity of -his gaze. - -"Then how can you--act like this to me?" - -"This is my conception of love." - -"I don't understand!" the girl said helplessly. "I'm completely -puzzled--it's all topsy-turvy." - -"Yes," he said in impassive agreement. - -"But what is this, Nick? Please, please--what is this? Are you mad?" -She had almost added, "Like your father." - -"No," he said, still in those cold tones. "This is an experiment." - -"An experiment!" - -"Yes. An experiment in evil." - -"I don't understand," she repeated. - -"I said you wouldn't." - -"Do you mean," she asked, struck by a sudden thought, "that discussion -of ours about pure horror? What you said that night last week?" - -"That!" His voice was icy and contemptuous. "That was the drivel of a -weakling. No; I mean evil, not horror--the living evil that can be so -beautiful that one walks deliberately, with open eyes, into Hell only -to prevent its loss. That is the experiment." - -"Oh," said Pat, her own voice suddenly cool. "Is that what you wish to -do--experiment on me?" - -"Yes." - -"And what am I supposed to do?" - -"First you are to drink with me." - -"I see," she said slowly. "I see--dimly. I am a subject, a reagent, -a guinea pig, to provide you material for your writing. You propose -to use me in this experiment of yours--this experiment in evil. All -right!" She picked up the tumbler; impulsively she drained it. The -liquor, diluted as it was, was raw and strong enough to bring tears -smarting to her eyes. Or _was_ it the liquor? - -"All right!" she cried. "I'll drink it all--the whole bottle!" She -seized the flask, filling her tumbler to the brim, while her companion -watched her with impassive gaze. "You'll have your experiment! And -then, Nicholas Devine, we're through! Do you hear me? Through!" - -She caught up the tumbler, raised it to her lips, and drained the -searing liquid until she could see her companion's cold eyes regarding -her through the glass of its bottom. - - - - -9 - -Descent into Avernus - - -Pat slammed the empty tumbler down on the checked table cloth and -buried her face in her hands, choking and gasping from the effects -of the fiery liquor. Her throat burned, her mouth was parched by the -acrid taste, and a conflagration seemed to be raging somewhere within -her. Then she steadied, raised her eyes, and stared straight into the -strange eyes of Nicholas Devine. - -"Well?" she said fiercely. "Is that enough?" - -He was watching her coldly as an image or a painting; the intensity of -his gaze was more cat-like than human. She moved her head aside; his -eyes, without apparent shift, were still on hers, like the eyes of a -pictured face. A resurgence of anger shook her at his immobility; his -aloofness seemed to imply that nothing she could do would disturb him. - -"Wasn't it enough?" she screamed. "Wasn't it? Then look!" - -She seized the bottle, poured another stream of the oily liquid -into her glass, and raised it to her lips. Again the burning fluid -excoriated her tongue and throat, and then suddenly, the tumbler was -struck from her hand, spilling the rest of its contents on the table. - -"That is enough," said the icy voice of her companion. - -"Oh, it is? We'll see!" She snatched at the bottle, still more than -half full. The thin hand of Nicholas Devine wrenched it violently away. - -"Give me that!" she cried. "You wanted what you're getting!" The warmth -within her had reached the surface now; she felt flushed, excited, -reckless, and desperately angry. - -The other set the bottle deliberately on the floor; he rose, circled -the table, and stood glaring down at her with that same inexplicable -expression. Suddenly he raised his hand; twisting her black hair in -his fist, he dealt her a stinging blow across the lips half-opened to -scream, then flung her away so violently that she nearly sprawled from -her chair. - -The scream died in her throat; dazed by the blow, she dropped her head -to the table, while sobs of pain and fear shook her. Coherent thought -had departed, and she knew only that her lips stung, that her clear, -active little mind was caught in a mesh of befuddlement. She couldn't -think; she could only sob in the haze of dizziness that encompassed -her. After a long interval, she raised her head, opened her eyes upon -a swaying, unsteady world, and faced her companion, who had silently -resumed his seat. - -"Nicholas Devine," she said slowly, speaking as if each word were an -effort, "I hate you!" - -"Ah!" he said and was again silent. - -She forced her eyes to focus on his face, while his features danced -vaguely as if smoke flowed between the two of them. It was as if there -were smoke in her mind as well; she made a great effort to rise above -the clouds that bemused her thoughts. - -"Take me home," she said. "Nicholas, I want to go home." - -"Why should I?" he asked impassively. "The experiment is hardly begun." - -"Experiment?" she echoed dully. "Oh, yes--experiment. I'm an -experiment." - -"An experiment in evil," he said. - -"Yes--in evil. And I hate you! That's evil enough, isn't it?" - -He reached down, lifted the bottle to the table, and methodically -poured himself a drink of the liquor. He raised it, watching the oily -swirls in the light, then tipped the fluid to his lips while the girl -gazed at him with a sullen set to her own lips. A tiny crimson spot -had appeared in the corner of her mouth; at its sting, she raised her -hand and brushed it away. She stared as if in unbelief at the small red -smear it left on her fingers. - -"Nicholas," she said pleadingly, "won't you take me home? Please, -Nicholas, I want to leave here." - -"Do you hate me?" he asked, a queer twisting smile appearing on his -lips. - -"If you'll take me home I won't," said Pat, snatching through the -rising clouds of dizziness at a straw of logic. "You're going to take -me home, aren't you?" - -"Let me hear you say you hate me!" he demanded, rising again. The girl -cringed away with a little whimper as he approached. "You hate me, -don't you?" - -He twisted his hand again in her ebony hair, drawing her face back so -that he stared down at it. - -"There's blood on your lips," he said as if gloating. "Blood on your -lips!" - -He clutched her hair more tightly; abruptly he bent over her, pressing -his mouth to hers. Her bruised lips burned with pain at the fierce -pressure of his; she felt a sharp anguish at the impingement of his -teeth. Yet the cloudy pall of dizziness about her was unbroken; she was -too frightened and bewildered for resistance. - -"Blood on your lips!" he repeated exultingly. "Now is the beauty of -evil!" - -"Nicholas," she said wearily, clinging desperately to a remnant of -logic, "what do you want of me? Tell me what you want and then let me -go home." - -"I want to show you the face of evil," he said. "I want you to know the -glory of evil, the loveliness of supreme evil!" - -He dragged his chair around the table, placing it beside her. Seated, -he drew her into his arms, where she lay passive, too limp and -befuddled to resist. With a sudden movement, he turned her so that her -back rested across his knees, her face gazing up into his. He stared -intently down at her, and the light, shining at an angle into his eyes, -suddenly struck out the red glow that lingered in them. - -"I want you to know the power of evil," he murmured. "The irresistible, -incomprehensible fascination of it, and the unspeakable pleasures of -indulgence in it." - -Pat scarcely heard him; she was struggling now in vain against the -overwhelming fumes of the alcohol she had consumed. The room was -wavering around her, and behind her despair and terror, a curious -elation was thrusting itself into her consciousness. - -"Evil," she echoed vaguely. - -"Blood on your lips!" he muttered, peering down at her. "Taste the -unutterable pleasure of kisses on bloody lips; drain the sweet anguish -of pain, the fierce delight of suffering!" - -He bent down; again his lips pressed upon hers, but this time she felt -herself responding. Some still sane portion of her brain rebelled, -but the intoxication of sense and alcohol was dominant. Suddenly she -was clinging to him, returning his kisses, glorying in the pain of her -lacerated lips. A red mist suffused her; she had no consciousness of -anything save the exquisite pain of the kiss, that somehow contrived -to transform itself into an ecstacy of delight. She lay gasping as the -other withdrew his lips. - -"You see!" he gloated. "You understand! Evil is open to us, and all the -unutterable pleasures of the damned, who cry out in transports of joy -at the bite of the flames of Hell. Do you see?" - -The girl made no answer, sobbing in a chaotic mingling of pain and -excruciating pleasure. She was incapable of speech or connected -thought; the alcohol beat against her brain with a persistence that -defied resistance. After a moment, she stirred, struggling erect to a -sitting posture. - -"Evil!" she said dizzily. "Evil and good--what's difference? All in a -lifetime!" - -She felt a surge of tipsy elation, and then the muffled music of the -mechanical piano, drifting through the closed door, penetrated her -befuddled consciousness. - -"I want to dance!" she cried. "I'm drunk and I want to dance! Am I -drunk?" she appealed to her companion. - -"Yes," he said. - -"I am not! I just want to dance, only it's hot in here. Dance with me, -Nicholas--show me an evil dance! I want to dance with the Devil, and -I will! You're the Devil, name and all! I want to dance with Old Nick -himself!" - -She rose unsteadily from her chair; instantly the room reeled crazily -about her and she fell sprawling. She felt the grasp of arms beneath -her shoulders, raising her erect; she leaned against the wall and heard -herself laughing wildly. - -"Funny room!" she said. "Evil room--on pivots!" - -"You're still to learn," came the toneless voice of Nicholas Devine. -"Do you want to see the face of evil?" - -"Sure!" she said. "Got a good memory for faces!" - -She realized that he was fumbling with the catch of her dress on her -left shoulder; again some remnant, some vestige of sanity deep in her -brain warned her. - -"Mustn't," she said vaguely. - -Then suddenly the catch was open; the dress dropped away around her, -crumpling to a shapeless blob of cloth about her diminutive feet. She -covered her face with her hands, fighting to hold that last, vanishing -vestige of sobriety, while she stood swaying drunkenly against the wall. - -Then Nicholas Devine's arms were about her again; she felt the sharp -sting of his kisses on her throat. He swung her about, bent her -backwards across the low table; she was conscious of a bewildered -sensation of helplessness and of little else. - -"Now the supreme glory of evil!" he was muttering in her ear. She felt -his hands on her bare shoulders as he pressed her backward. - -Then, abruptly, he paused, releasing her. She sat dizzily erect, -following the direction of his gaze. In the half open door stood the -nondescript bartender leering in at them. - - - - -10 - -Rescue from Abaddon - - -Pat slid dizzily from her perch on the table and sank heavily to -a chair. The interruption of the mustached keeper of this den -of contradictions struck her as extremely humorous; she giggled -hysterically as her wavering gaze perceived the consternation in his -sharp little face. Some forlorn shred of modesty asserted itself, and -she dragged a corner of the red-checked table cloth across her knees. - -"Get out!" said Nicholas Devine in that voice of rasping metal. "Get -out!" he repeated in unchanging tones. - -The other made no move to leave. "Yeah?" he said. "Listen, Bud--this -place is respectable, see? You want to pull something like this, you go -upstairs, see? And pay for your room." - -"Get out!" There was no variation in the voice. - -"_You_ get out! The both of you, see?" - -Nicholas Devine stepped slowly toward him; his back, as he advanced -upon the bartender, was toward Pat, yet through the haze of -intoxication, she had an impression of evil red eyes in a chill, -impassive face. "Get out!" - -The other had no stomach for such an adversary. He backed out of the -door, closing it as he vanished. His voice floated in from the hall. - -"I'm telling you!" he called. "Clear out!" - -Nicholas Devine turned back toward the girl. He surveyed her sitting in -her chair; she had dropped her chin to her hand to steady the whirling -of her head. - -"We'll go," he said. "Come on." - -"I just want to sit here," she said. "Just let me sit here. I'm tired." - -"Come on," he repeated. - -"Why?" she muttered petulantly. "I'm tired." - -"I want no interruptions. We'll go elsewhere." - -"Must dress!" she murmured dazedly, "can't go on street without dress." - -Nicholas Devine swept her frock from its place in the corner, gathered -her wrap from the chair, and flung them over his arm. He grasped her -wrist, tugging her to an unsteady standing position. - -"Come on," he said. - -"Dress!" - -He snatched the red checked table cloth from its place, precipitating -bottles, ash-tray, and glasses into an indiscriminate pile, and threw -the stained and odorous fabric across her shoulders. She gathered it -about her like a toga; it hung at most points barely below her waist, -but it satisfied the urge of her muddled mind for a covering of some -sort. - -"We'll go through the rear," her companion said. "Into the alley. I -want no trouble with that rat in the bar--yet!" - -He still held Pat's wrist; she stumbled after him as he dragged her -into the darkness of the hall. They moved through it blindly to a door -at the far end; Nicholas swung it open upon a dim corridor flanked by -buildings on either side, with a strip of star-sprinkled sky above. - -Pat's legs were somehow incapable of their usual lithe grace; she -failed to negotiate the single step, and crashed heavily to the -concrete paving. The shock and the cooler air of the open steadied her -momentarily; she felt no pain from her bruised knees, but a temporary -rift in the fog that bound her mind. She gathered the red-checked cloth -more closely about her shoulders as her companion, still clutching her -wrist, jerked her violently to her feet. - -They moved into the gulch of the alley, and here she found difficulty -in following. Her tiny high-heeled pumps slipped at every step on -the uneven cobbles of the paving, and the unsteady footing made her -lurch and stumble until the dusty stretch of the alley was a writhing -panorama of shadows and lighted windows and stars. Nicholas Devine -turned an impatient glare on her, and here in the semi-darkness, his -face was again the face of the red-eyed demon. She dragged him to a -halt, laughing strangely. - -"There it is!" she cried, pointing at him with her free hand. He turned -again, staring at her with grim features. - -"What?" - -"There! Your face--the face of evil!" Again she laughed hysterically. - -The other stepped to her side; the disturbing eyes were inches from -her own. He raised his hand as she laughed, slapped her sharply, so -that her head reeled. He seized her shoulders, shaking her until the -checkered cloth billowed like a flag in a wind. - -"Now come!" he muttered. - -But the girl, laughing no longer, leaned pale and weak against a -low board fence. Her limbs seemed paralyzed, and movement was quite -impossible. She was conscious of neither the blow nor the shaking, but -only of a devastating nausea and an all-encompassing weakness. She bent -over the fence; she was violently ill. - -Then the nausea had vanished, and a weariness, a strange lassitude, was -all that remained. Nicholas Devine stood over her; suddenly he pressed -her body to him in a convulsive embrace, so that her head dropped back, -and his face loomed above her, obliterating the stars. - -"Ah!" he said. He seemed about to kiss her when a -sound--voices--filtered out of somewhere in the maze of dark courts -and littered yards along the alley. He released her, seized her wrist, -and once more she was stumbling wretchedly behind him over the uneven -surface of the cobblestones. - -A numbness had come over her; consciousness burned very low as she -wavered doggedly along through the darkness. She perceived dimly that -they were approaching the end of the alley; the brighter glow of the -street loomed before them, and a passing motor car cut momentary -parallel shafts of luminescence across the opening. - -Nicholas Devine slowed his pace, still clutching her wrist in a cold -grip; he paused, moving cautiously toward the corner of the building. -He peered around the edge of the structure, surveying the now deserted -street, while Pat stood dully behind him, incapable alike of thought or -voluntary movement, clutching desperately at the dirty cloth that hung -about her shoulders. - -Her companion finished his survey; apparently satisfied that progress -was safe, he dragged her after him, turning toward the corner beyond -which his car was parked. The girl staggered behind him with -diminishing vigor; consciousness was very nearly at the point of -disappearance, and her steps were wavering unsteadily, and doggedly -slow. She dragged heavily on his arm; he gave a gesture of impatience -at her weakness. - -"Come on!" he growled. "We're just going to the corner." His voice rose -slightly in pitch, still sounding harsh as rasping metals. "There still -remains the ultimate evil!" he said. "There is still a depth of beauty -unplumbed, a pain whose exquisite pleasure is yet to find!" - -They approached the corner; abruptly Nicholas Devine drew back as two -figures came unexpectedly into view from beyond it. He turned back -toward the alley-way, dragging the girl in a dizzy circle. He took a -few rapid steps. - -But Pat was through, exhausted. At his first step she stumbled and -sprawled, dragging prone behind him. He released her hand and turned -defiantly to face the approaching men, while the girl lying on the -pavement struggled to a sitting posture with her back against the wall. -She turned dull, indifferent eyes on the scene, then was roused to a -somewhat higher pitch of interest by the sound of a familiar voice. - -"There he is! I told you it was his car." - -Dr. Horker! She struggled for clarity of thought; she realized dimly -that she ought to feel relief, happiness--but all she could summon -was a faint quickening of interest, or rather, a diminution of the -lassitude that held her. She drew the rag of a table cloth about her -and huddled against the wall, watching. The Doctor and some strange -man, burly and massive in the darkness, dashed upon them, while -Nicholas Devine waited, his red-orbed face a demoniac picture of cold -contempt. Then the Doctor glanced at her huddled, bedraggled figure; -she saw his face aghast, incredulous, as he perceived the condition of -her clothing. - -"Pat! My God, girl! What's happened? Where've you been?" - -She found a hidden reserve somewhere within her. Her voice rose, shrill -and hysterical. - -"We've been in Hell!" she said. "You came to take me back, didn't you? -Orpheus and Eurydice!" She laughed. "Dr. Orpheus Horker!" - -The Doctor flashed her another incredulous glance and a grim and very -terrible expression flamed in his face. He turned toward Nicholas -Devine, his hands clenching, his mouth twisting without utterance, -with no sound save a half-audible snarl. Then he spoke, a low, grating -phrase flung at his thick-set companion. - -"Bring the car," was all he said. The man lumbered away toward the -corner, and he turned again toward Nicholas Devine, who faced him -impassively. Suddenly his fist shot out; he struck the youth or demon -squarely between the red eyes, sending him reeling back against the -building. Then the Doctor turned, bending over Pat; she felt the -pressure of his arms beneath knees and shoulders. He was carrying her -toward a car that drew up at the curb; he was placing her gently in the -back seat. Then, without a glance at the figure still leaning against -the building, he swept from the sidewalk the dark mass that was Pat's -dress and her wrap, and re-entered the car beside her. - -"Shall I turn him in?" asked the man in the front seat. - -"We can't afford the publicity," said the Doctor, adding grimly, "I'll -settle with him later." - -Pat's head lurched as the car started; she was losing consciousness, -and realized it vaguely, but she retained one impression as the vehicle -swung into motion. She perceived that the face of the lone figure -leaning against the building, a face staring at her with horror and -unbelief, was no longer the visage of the demon of the evening, but -that of her own Nick. - - - - -11 - -Wreckage - - -Pat opened her eyes reluctantly, with the impression that something -unpleasant awaited her return to full consciousness. Something, as yet -she could not recall just what, had happened to her; she was not even -sure where she was awakening. - -However, her eyes surveyed her own familiar room; there opposite the -bed grinned the jade Buddha on his stand on the mantel--the one that -Nick had--Nick! A mass of troubled, terrible recollections thrust -themselves suddenly into consciousness. She visioned a medley of -disturbing pictures, as yet disconnected, unassorted, but waiting only -the return of complete wakefulness. And she realized abruptly that her -head ached miserably, that her mouth was parched, that twinges of pain -were making themselves evident in various portions of her anatomy. She -turned her head and caught a glimpse of a figure at the bed-side; her -startled glance revealed Dr. Horker, sitting quietly watching her. - -"Hello, Doctor," she said, wincing as her smile brought a sharp pain -from her lips. "Or should I say, Good morning, Judge?" - -"Pat!" he rumbled, his growling tones oddly gentle. "Little Pat! How do -you feel, child?" - -"Fair," she said. "Just fair. Dr. Carl, what happened to me last night? -I can't seem to remember--Oh!" - -A flash of recollection pierced the obscure muddle. She remembered -now--not all of the events of that ghastly evening, but enough. Too -much! - -"Oh!" she murmured faintly. "Oh, Dr. Carl!" - -"Yes," he nodded. "'Oh!'--and would you mind very much telling me what -that 'Oh' of yours implies?" - -"Why--". She paused shuddering, as one by one the events of that -sequence of horrors reassembled themselves. "Yes, I'd mind very -much," she continued. "It was nothing--" She turned to him abruptly. -"Oh, it was, though, Dr. Carl! It was horrible, unspeakable, -incomprehensible!--But I can't talk about it! I can't!" - -"Perhaps you're right," said the Doctor mildly. "Don't you really want -to discuss it?" - -"I do want to," admitted the girl after a moment's reflection. "I want -to--but I can't. I'm afraid to think of all of it." - -"But what in Heaven's name did you do?" - -"We just started out to go dancing," she said hesitatingly. "Then, on -the way to town, Nick--changed. He said someone was following us." - -"Some one was," said Horker. "_I_ was, with Mueller. That Nick of yours -has the Devil's own cleverness!" - -"Yes," the girl echoed soberly. "The Devil's own!--Who's Mueller, Dr. -Carl?" - -"He's a plain-clothes man, friend of mine. I treated him once. What do -you mean by changed?" - -"His eyes," she said. "And his mouth. His eyes got reddish and -terrible, and his mouth got straight and grim. And his voice turned -sort of--harsh." - -"Ever happen before, that you know of?" - -"Once. When--" She paused. - -"Yes. Last Wednesday night, when you came over to ask those questions -about pure science. What happened then?" - -"We went to a place to dance." - -"And that's the reason, I suppose," rumbled the Doctor sardonically, -"that I found you wandering about the streets in a table cloth, -step-ins, and a pair of hose! That's why I found you on the verge of -passing out from rotten liquor, and looking like the loser of a battle -with an airplane propellor! What happened to your face?" - -"My face? What's wrong with it?" - -The Doctor rose from his chair and seized the hand-mirror from her -dressing table. - -"Look at it!" he commanded, passing her the glass. - -Pat gazed incredulously at the reflection the surface presented; a dark -bruise colored her cheek, her lips were swollen and discolored, and her -chin bore a jagged scratch. She stared at the injuries in horror. - -"Your knees are skinned, too," said Horker. "Both of them." - -Pat slipped one pajamaed limb from the covers, drawing the pants-leg up -for inspection. She gasped in startled fright at the great red stain on -her knee. - -"That's mercurochrome," said the Doctor. "I put it there." - -"_You_ put it there. How did I get home last night, Dr. Carl? How did I -get to bed?" - -"I'm responsible for that, too. I put you to bed." He leaned forward. -"Listen, child--your mother knows nothing about this as yet. She wasn't -home when I brought you in, and she's not awake yet this morning. -We'll tell her you had an automobile accident; explain away those -bruises.--And now, how did you get them?" - -"I fell, I guess. Two or three times." - -"That bruise on your cheek isn't from falling." - -The girl shuddered. Now in the calm light of morning, the events of -last night seemed doubly horrible; she doubted her ability to believe -them, so incredible did they seem. She was at a loss to explain even -her own actions, and those of Nicholas Devine were simply beyond -comprehension, a chapter from some dark and blasphemous book of ancient -times--the Kabbala or the Necronomicon. - -"What happened, Pat?" queried the Doctor gently. "Tell me," he urged -her. - -"I--can't explain it," she said doubtfully. "He took me to that place, -but drinking the liquor was my own fault. I did it out of spite because -I saw he didn't--care for me. And then--" She fell silent. - -"Yes? And then?" - -"Well--he began to talk about the beauty of evil, the delights of evil, -and his eyes glared at me, and--I don't understand it at all, Dr. Carl, -but all of a sudden I was--yielding. Do you see?" - -"I see," he said gently, soberly. - -"Suddenly I seemed to comprehend what he meant--all that about the -supreme pleasure of evil. And I was sort of--swept away. The dress--was -his fault, but I--somehow I'd lost the power to resist. I guess I was -drunk." - -"And the bruises? And your cut lips?" queried the Doctor grimly. - -"Yes," she said in a low voice. "He--struck me. After a while I didn't -care. He could have--would have done other things, only we were -interrupted, and had to leave. And that's all, Dr. Carl." - -"Isn't that enough?" he groaned. "Pat, I should have killed the fiend -there!" - -"I'm glad you didn't." - -"Do you mean to say you'd care?" - -"I--don't know." - -"Are you intimating that you still love him?" - -"No," she said thoughtfully. "No, I don't love him, but--Dr. Carl, -there's something inexplicable about this. There's something I don't -understand, but I'm certain of one thing!" - -"What's that?" - -"That it wasn't Nick--not _my_ Nick--who did those things to me last -night. It wasn't, Dr. Carl!" - -"Pat, you're being a fool!" - -"I know it. But I'm sure of it, Dr. Carl. I _know_ Nick; I loved him, -and I know he couldn't have done--that. Not the same gentle Nick that I -had to beg to kiss me!" - -"Pat," said the Doctor gently, "I'm a psychiatrist; it's my business -to know all the rottenness that can hide in a human being. My office -is the scene of a parade of misfits, failures, potential criminals, -lunatics, and mental incompetents. It's a nasty, bitter side I see of -life, but I know that side--and I tell you this fellow is dangerous!" - -"Do you understand this, Dr. Carl?" - -He reached over, taking her hand in his great palm with its long, -curious delicate fingers. "I have my theory, Pat. The man's a sadist, -a lover of cruelty, and there's enough masochism in any woman to make -him terribly dangerous. I want your promise." - -"About what?" - -"I want you to promise never to see him again." - -The girl turned serious eyes on his face; he noted with a shock of -sympathy that they were filled with tears. - -"You warned me I'd get burned playing with fire," she said. "You did, -didn't you?" - -"I'm an old fool, Honey. If I'd believed my own advice, I'd have seen -that this never happened to you." He patted her hand. "Have I your -promise?" - -She averted her eyes. "Yes," she murmured. He winced as he perceived -that the tears were on her cheeks. - -"So!" he said, rising. "The patient can get out of bed when she feels -like it--and don't forget that little fib we've arranged for your -mother's peace of mind." - -She stared up at him, still clinging to his hand. - -"Dr. Carl," she said, "are you sure--quite sure--you're right about -him? Couldn't there be a chance that you're mistaken--that it's -something your psychiatry has overlooked or never heard of?" - -"Small chance, Pat dear." - -"But a chance?" - -"Well, neither I nor any reputable medic claims to know everything, and -the human mind's a subtle sort of thing." - - - - -12 - -Letter from Lucifer - - -"I'm glad!" Pat told herself. "I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad I -promised Dr. Carl--I guess I was mighty close to the brink of disaster -that time." - -She examined the injuries on her face, carefully powdered to conceal -the worst effects from her mother. The trick had worked, too; Mrs. -Lane had delivered herself of an excited lecture on the dangers of -the gasoline age, and then thanked Heaven it was no worse. Well, Pat -reflected, she had good old Dr. Carl to thank for the success of the -subterfuge; he had broken the news very skillfully, set the stage for -her appearance, and calmed her mother's apprehensions of scars. And -Pat, surveying her image in the glass above her dressing-table, could -see for herself the minor nature of the hurts. - -"Scars--pooh!" she observed. "A bruised cheek, a split lip, a skinned -chin. All I need is a black eye, and I guess I'd have had that in five -minutes more, and perhaps a cauliflower ear into the bargain." - -But her mood was anything but flippant; she was fighting off the time -when her thoughts had of necessity to face the unpleasant, disturbing -facts of the affair. She didn't want to think of the thing at all; -she wanted to laugh it off and forget it, yet she knew that for an -impossibility. The very desire to forget she recognized as a coward's -wish, and she resented the idea that she was cowardly. - -"Forget the wise-cracks," she advised her image. "Face the thing and -argue it out; that's the only way to be satisfied." - -She rose with a little grimace of pain at the twinge from her bruised -knees, and crossed to the chaise lounge beside the far window. She -settled herself in it and resumed her cogitations. She was feeling more -or less herself again; the headache of the morning had nearly vanished, -and aside from the various aches and a listless fagged-out sensation, -she approximated her normal self. Physically, that is; the shadow of -that other catastrophe, the one she hesitated to face, was another -matter. - -"I'm lucky to get off this easily," she assured herself, "after going -on a bust like that one, like a lumberjack with his pay in his pocket." -She shook her head in mournful amazement. "And I'm Patricia Lane, the -girl whom Billy dubbed 'Pat the Impeccable'! Impeccable! Wandering -through alleys in step-ins and a table cloth--getting beaten up in a -drunken brawl--passing out on rot-gut liquor--being carried home and -put to bed! Not impeccable; incapable's the word! I belong to Dr. -Carl's parade of incompetents." - -She continued her rueful reflections. "Well, item one is, I don't love -Nick any more. I couldn't now!" she flung at the smiling green buddha -on the mantel. "That's over; I've promised." - -Somehow there was not satisfaction in the memory of that promise. It -was logical, of course; there wasn't anything else to do now, but -still-- - -"That _wasn't_ Nick!" she told herself. "That wasn't _my_ Nick. I guess -Dr. Carl is right, and he's a depressed what-ever-it-was; but if he's -crazy, so am I! He had me convinced last night; I understood what he -meant, and I felt what he wanted me to feel. If he's crazy, I am too; a -fine couple we are!" - -She continued. "But it wasn't Nick! I saw his face when we drove off, -and it had changed again, and that was Nick's face, not the other. And -he was sorry; I could see he was sorry, and the other could never have -regretted it--not ever! The other isn't--quite human, but Nick is." - -She paused, considering the idea. "Of course," she resumed, "I might -have imagined that change at the end. I was hazy and quavery, and it's -the last thing I _do_ remember; that must have been just before I -passed out." - -And then, replying to her own objection, "But I _didn't_ imagine it! I -saw it happen once before, that other night when--Well, what difference -does it make, anyway? It's over, and I've given my promise." - -But she was unable to dismiss the matter as easily as that. There -was some uncanny, elusive element in it that fascinated her. Cruel, -terrible, demoniac, he might have been; he had also been kind, lovable, -and gentle. Yet Dr. Carl had told her that split personalities could -contain no characteristics that were not present in the original, -normal character. Was cruelty, then, a part of kindness? Was cruelty -merely the lack of kindness, or, cynical thought, was kindness but the -lack of cruelty? Which qualities were positive in the antagonistic -phases of Nicholas Devine's individuality, and which negative? Was the -gentle, lovable, but indubitably weaker character the split, and the -demon of last evening his normal self? Or vice-versa? Or were both of -these fragmentary entities, portions of some greater personality as yet -unapparent to her? - -The whole matter was a mystery; she shrugged in helpless perplexity. - -"I don't think Dr. Carl knows as much about it as he says," she mused. -"I don't think psychiatry or any other science knows that much about -the human soul. Dr. Carl doesn't even believe in a soul; how could he -know anything about it, then?" She frowned in puzzlement and gave up -the attempt to solve the mystery. - -The hours she had spent in her room, at her mother's insistence, began -to pall; she didn't feel particularly ill--it was more of a languor, a -depressed, worn-out feeling. Her mother, of course, was out somewhere; -she felt a desire for human companionship, and wondered if the Doctor -might by some chance drop in. It seemed improbable; he had his regular -Sunday afternoon routine of golf at the Club, and it took a real -catastrophe to keep him away from that. She sighed, stretched her legs, -rose from her position on the chaise lounge, and wandered toward the -kitchen where Magda was doubtless to be found. - -It was in the dusk of the rear hall that the first sense of her loss -came over her. Heretofore her renunciation of Nicholas Devine was a -rational thing, a promise given but not felt; but now it was suddenly a -poignant reality. Nick was gone, she realized; he was out of her world, -irrevocably sundered from her. She paused at the top of the rear flight -of stairs, considering the matter. - -"He's gone! I won't see him ever again." The thought was appalling; she -felt already a premonition of loneliness to come, of an emptiness in -her world, a lack that nothing could replace. - -"I shouldn't have promised Dr. Carl," she mused, knowing that even -without that promise her course must still have been the same. "I -shouldn't have, not until I'd talked to Nick--my own Nick." - -And still, she reflected forlornly, what difference did it make? She -had to give him up; she couldn't continue to see him not knowing at -what instant that terrible caricature of him might appear to torment -her. But he might have explained, she argued miserably, answering -her own objection at once--he's said he couldn't explain, didn't -understand. The thing was at an impasse. - -She shook her shining black head despondently, and descended the dusky -well of the stairs to the kitchen. Magda was there clattering among her -pots and pans; Pat entered quietly and perched on the high stool by the -long table. Old Magda, who had warmed her babyhood milk and measured -out her formula, gave her a single glance and continued her work. - -"Sorry about the accident, I was," she said without looking up. - -"Thanks," responded the girl. "I'm all right again." - -"You don't look it." - -"I feel all right." - -She watched the mysterious, alchemistic mixing of a pastry, and thought -of the vast array of them that had come from Magda's hands. As far back -as she could remember she had perched on this stool observing the same -mystic culinary rites. - -Suddenly another memory rose out of the grave of forgetfulness and -went gibbering across her world. She remembered the stories Magda used -to tell her, frightening stories of witchcraft and the evil eye, tales -out of an older region and a more credulous age. - -"Magda," she asked, "did you ever see a devil?" - -"Not I, but I've talked with them that had." - -"Didn't you ever see one?" - -"No." The woman slid a pan into the oven. "I saw a man once, when I was -a tot, possessed by a devil." - -"You did? How did he look?" - -"He screamed terrible, then he said queer things. Then he fell down and -foam came out of his mouth." - -"Like a fit?" - -"The Priest, he said it was a devil. He came and prayed over him, and -after a while he was real quiet, and then he was all right." - -"Possessed by a devil," said Pat thoughtfully. "What happened to him?" - -"Dunno." - -"What queer things did he say?" - -"Wicked things, the Priest said. I couldn't tell! I was a tot." - -"Possessed by a devil!" Pat repeated musingly. She sat immersed in -thoughts on the high stool while Magda clattered busily about. The -woman paused finally, turning her face to the girl. - -"What you so quiet about, Miss Pat?" - -"I was just thinking." - -"You get your letter?" - -"Letter? What letter? Today's Sunday." - -"Special delivery. The girl, she put it in the hall." - -"I didn't know anything about it. Who'd write me a special?" - -She slipped off the high stool and proceeded to the front hall. The -letter was there, solitary on the salver that always held the mail. She -picked it up, examining the envelope in sudden startled amazement and -more than a trace of illogical exultation. - -For the letter, post-marked that same morning, was addressed in the -irregular script of Nicholas Devine! - - - - -13 - -Indecision - - -Pat turned the envelope dubiously in her hands, while a maze of chaotic -thoughts assailed her. She felt almost a sensation of guilt as if -she were in some manner violating the promise given to Dr. Horker; -she felt a tinge of indignation that Nicholas Devine should dare -communicate with her at all, and she felt too that queer exultation, -an inexplicable pleasure, a feeling of secret triumph. She slipped the -letter in the pocket of her robe and padded quietly up the stairs to -her own room. - -Strangely, her loneliness had vanished. The great house, empty now -save for herself and Magda in the distant kitchen, was no longer a -place of solitude; the discovery of the letter, whatever its contents, -had changed the deserted rooms into chambers teeming with her own -excitements, trepidations, doubts, and hopes. Even hopes, she admitted -to herself, though hopes of what nature she was quite unable to say. -What _could_ Nick write that had the power to change things? Apologies? -Pleas? Promises? None of these could alter the naked, horrible facts of -the predicament. - -Nevertheless, she was almost a-tremble with expectation as she skipped -hastily into her own room, carefully closed the door, and settled -herself by the west windows. She drew the letter from her pocket, and -then, with a tightening of her throat, tore open the envelope, slipping -out the several pages of scrawled paper. Avidly she began to read. - - "I don't know whether you'll ever see this"--the missive began - without salutation--"and I'll not blame you, Pat dear, if you do - return it unopened. There's nothing you can do that wouldn't be - justified, nor can you think worse of me than I do of myself. And - that's a statement so meaningless that even as I wrote it, I could - anticipate its effect on you. - - "Pat--How am I going to convince you that I'm sincere? Will you - believe me when I write that I love you? Can you believe that I - love you tenderly, worshipfully--reverently? - - "You can't; I know you can't after that catastrophe of last night. - But it's true, Pat, though the logic of a Spinoza might fail to - convince you of it. - - "I don't know how to write you this. I don't know whether you want - to hear what I could say, but I know that I must try to say it. - Not apologies, Pat--I shouldn't dare approach you for so poor a - reason as that--but a sort of explanation. You more than any one - in the world are entitled to that explanation, if you want to hear - it. - - "I can't write it to you, Pat; it's something I can only make you - believe by telling you--something dark and rather terrible. But - please, Dear, believe that I mean you no harm, and that I plan no - subterfuge, when I suggest that you see me. It will be, I think, - for the last time. - - "Tonight, and tomorrow night, and as many nights to follow as I - can, I'll sit on a bench in the park near the place where I kissed - you that first time. There will be people passing there, and cars - driving by; you need fear nothing from me. I choose the place to - bridle my own actions, Pat; nothing can happen while we sit there - in the view of the world. - - "To write you more than this is futile. If you come, I'll be - there; if you don't, I'll understand. - - "I love you." - -The letter was signed merely "Nick." She stared at the signature with -feelings so confused that she forebore any attempt to analyze them. - -"But I can't go," she mused soberly. "I've promised Dr. Carl. Or at -least, I can't go without telling him." - -That last thought, she realized, was a concession. Heretofore she -hadn't let herself consider the possibility of seeing Nicholas Devine -again, and now suddenly she was weakening, arguing with herself about -the ethics of seeing him. She shook her head decisively. - -"Won't do, Patricia Lane!" she told herself. "Next thing, you'll be -slipping away without a word to anybody, and coming home with two black -eyes and a broken nose. Won't do at all!" - -She dropped her eyes to the letter. "Explanations," she reflected. "I -guess Dr. Carl would give up a hole-in-one to hear that explanation. -And I'd give more than that." She shook her head regretfully. "Nothing -to do about it, though. I promised." - -The sun was slanting through the west windows; she sat watching the -shadows lengthen in the room, and tried to turn her thoughts into more -profitable channels. This was the first Sunday in many months that -she had spent alone in the house; it was a custom for herself and her -mother to spend the afternoon at the club. The evening too, as a rule; -there was invariably bridge for Mrs. Lane, and Pat was always the -center of a circle of the younger members. She wondered dreamily what -the crowd thought of her non-appearance, reflecting that her mother -had doubtless enlarged on Dr. Carl's story of an accident. Dr. Carl -wouldn't say much, simply that he'd ordered her to stay at home. But -sooner or later, Nick would hear the accident story; she wondered what -he'd think of it. - -She caught herself up sharply. "My ideas wander in circles," she -thought petulantly. "No matter where I start, they curve around back to -Nick. It won't do; I've got to stop it." - -Nearly time for the evening meal, she mused, watching the sun as it -dropped behind Dr. Horker's house. She didn't feel much like eating; -there was still a remnant of the exhausted, dragged-out sensation, -though the headache that had accompanied her awakening this morning had -disappeared. - -"I know what the morning after feels like, anyway," she reflected with -a wry little smile. "Everybody ought to experience it once, I suppose. -I wonder how Nick--" - -She broke off abruptly, with a shrug of disgust. She slipped the letter -back into its envelope, rose and deposited it in the drawer of the -night-table. She glanced at the clock ticking on its shiny top. - -"Six o'clock," she murmured. Nick would be sitting in the park in -another two hours or so. She had a twinge of sympathy at the thought of -his lone vigil; she could visualize the harried expression on his face -when the hours passed without her arrival. - -"Can't be helped," she told herself. "He's no right to ask for -anything of me after last night. He knows that; he said so in his -letter." - -She suppressed an impulse to re-read that letter, and trotted -deliberately out of the room and down the stairs. Magda had set the -table in the breakfast room; it was far cozier than the great dining -room, especially without her mother's company. And the maid was away; -the breakfast room simplified serving, as well. - -She tried valorously to eat what Magda supplied, but the food failed -to tempt her. It wasn't so much her physical condition, either; it -was--She clenched her jaws firmly; was the memory of Nicholas Devine to -haunt her forever? - -"Pat Lane," she said in admonition, "you're a crack-brained fool! Just -because a man kicks you all over the place is no reason to let him -become an obsession." - -She drank her coffee, feeling the sting of its heat on her injured -lips. She left the table, tramped firmly to her room, and began -defiantly to read. The effort was useless; half a dozen times she -forced her attention to the page only to find herself staring vaguely -into space a moment or two later. She closed the book finally with an -irritable bang, and vented her restlessness in pacing back and forth. - -"This house is unbearable!" she snapped. "I'm not going to stay shut up -here like a jail-bird in solitary confinement. A walk in the open is -what I need, and that's what I'll have." - -She glanced at the clock; seven-thirty. She tore off her robe -pettishly, flung out of her pajamas, and began to dress with angry -determination. She refused to think of a lonely figure that might even -now be sitting disconsolately on a bench in the near-by park. - -She disguised her bruised cheek as best she could, dabbed a little -powder on the abrasion on her chin, and tramped militantly down the -stairs. She caught up her wrap, still lying where the Doctor had -tossed it last night, and moved toward the door, opening it and nearly -colliding with the massive figure of Dr. Horker! - -"Well!" boomed the Doctor as she started back in surprise. "You're -pretty spry for a patient. Think you were going out?" - -"Yes," said Pat defiantly. - -"Not tonight, child! I left the Club early to take a look at you." - -"I am perfectly all right. I want to go for a walk." - -"No walk. Doctor's orders." - -"I'm of legal age!" she snapped. "I want to go for a walk. Do I go?" - -"You do not." The Doctor placed his great form squarely in the doorway. -"Not unless you can lick me, my girl, and I'm pretty tough. I put you -to bed last night, and I can do as much tonight. Shall I?" - -Pat backed into the hall. "You don't have to," she said sullenly. "I'm -going there myself." She flung her wrap angrily to a chair and stalked -up the stairs. - -"Good night, spit-fire," he called after her. "I'll read down here -until your mother comes home." - -The girl stormed into her room in anger that she knew to be illogical. - -"I won't be watched like a problem child!" she told herself viciously. -"I know damn well what he thought--and I wasn't going to meet Nick! I -wasn't at all!" - -She calmed suddenly, sat on the edge of her bed and kicked off her -pumps. It had occurred to her that Nick had written his intention to -wait for her in the park tomorrow night as well, and Dr. Horker's -interference had confirmed her in a determination to meet him. - - - - -14 - -Bizarre Explanation - - -"I won't be bullied!" Pat told herself, examining her features in the -mirror. The two day interval had faded the discoloration of her cheek -to negligible proportions, and all that remained as evidence of the -violence of Saturday night was the diminishing mark on her chin. Of -course, her knees--but they were covered; most of the time, at least. -She gave herself a final inspection, and somewhere below a clock boomed. - -"Eight o'clock," she remarked to her image; "Time to be leaving, and it -serves Dr. Carl right for his high-handed actions last night. I won't -be bullied by anybody." She checked herself as her mind had almost -added, "Except Nick." True or not, she didn't relish the thought; the -recent recollections it roused were too disturbing. - -She tossed a stray wisp of black hair from her forehead and turned to -the door. She heard her mother's voice as she descended the stairs. - -"Are you going out, Patricia? Do you think it wise?" - -"I am perfectly all right. I want to go for a walk." - -"I know, Dear; it was largely your appearance I meant." She surveyed -the girl with a critical eye. "Nice enough, except for that little spot -on your chin, and will you never learn to keep your hair away from that -side of your forehead? One can never do a bob right; why don't you let -it grow out like the other girls?" - -"Makes me individual," replied Pat, moving toward the outer door. "I -won't be late at all," she added. - -On the porch she cast a cautious glance at Dr. Horker's windows, but -his great figure was nowhere evident. Only a light burning in the -library evinced his presence. She gave a sigh of relief, and tiptoed -down the steps to the sidewalk, and moved hastily away from the range -of his watchful eyes. - -No sooner had she sighted the park than doubts began to torment her. -Suppose this were some trick of Nicholas Devine's, to trap her into -some such situation as that of Saturday night. Even suppose that she -found him the sweet personality that she had loved, might that also -be a trick? Mightn't he be trusting to his ability to win her over, to -the charm she had confessed to him that he held for her? Couldn't he -be putting his faith in his own amorous skill, planning some specious -explanation to win her forgiveness only to use her once more as the -material for some horrible experiment? And if he were, would she be -able to prevent herself from yielding? - -"Forewarned is fore-armed," she told herself. "I'll not put up such a -feeble resistance this time, knowing what I now know. And it's only -fair of me to listen to his explanation, if he really has one." - -She was reassured by the sight of the crowded park; groups strolled -along the walks, and an endless procession of car-headlights marked the -course of the roadway. Nothing could happen in such an environment; -they'd be fortunate even to have an opportunity for confidential -talk. She waited for the traffic lights, straining her eyes to locate -Nicholas Devine; at the click of the signal she darted across the -street. - -She moved toward the lake; here was the spot, she was sure. She glanced -about with eagerness unexpected even to herself, peering through the -shadow-shot dusk. He wasn't there, she concluded, with a curious sense -of disappointment; her failure to appear last night had disheartened -him; he had abandoned his attempt. - -Then she saw him. He sat on a bench isolated from the rest in a -treeless area overlooking the lake. She saw his disconsolate figure, -his chin on his hand, staring moodily over the waters. A tremor ran -through her, she halted deliberately, waiting until every trace of -emotion had vanished, then she advanced, standing coolly beside him. - -For a moment he was unaware of her presence; he sat maintaining his -dejected attitude without glancing at her. Suddenly some slight -movement, the flutter of her skirt, drew his attention; he turned -sharply, gazing directly into her face. - -"Pat!" He sprang to his feet. "Pat! is it you--truly you? Or are you -one of these visions that have been plaguing me for hours?" - -"I'm real," she said, returning his gaze with a studied coolness in her -face. She made no other move; her cold composure disconcerted him, and -he winced, flushed, and moved nervously aside as she seated herself. He -dropped beside her; he made no attempt to touch her, but sat watching -her in silence for so long a time that she felt her composure ebbing. -There was a hungry, defeated look about him; there was a wistfulness, -a frustration, in his eyes that seemed about to tug tears from her own -eyes. Abruptly she dropped her gaze from his face. - -"Well?" she said finally in a small voice, and as he made no reply, -"I'm here." - -"Are you really, Pat? Are you truly here?" he murmured, still watching -her avidly. "I--I still don't believe it. I waited here for hours and -hours last night, and I'd given up hope for tonight, or any night. But -I would have come again and again." - -She started as he bent suddenly toward her, but he was merely examining -her face. She saw the gleam of horror in his expression as his eyes -surveyed the faintly visible bruise on her cheek, the red mark on her -chin. - -"Oh my God, Pat!" His words were barely audible. "Oh my God!" he -repeated, drawing away from her and resuming the attitude of desolation -in which her arrival had found him. "I've hoped it wasn't true!" - -"What wasn't?" She was keeping her voice carefully casual; this -miserable contrition of Nick's was tugging at her rather too powerfully -for complete safety. - -"What I remembered. What I saw just now." - -"You hoped it wasn't true?" she queried in surprise. "But you did it." - -"_I_ did it, Pat? Do you think _I_ could have done it?" - -"But you did!" Her voice had taken on a chill inflection; the memory of -those indignities came to steel her against him. - -"Pat, do you think I could assault your daintiness, or maltreat the -beauty I worship? Didn't anything occur to you? Didn't anything seem -queer about--about that ghastly evening?" - -"Queer!" she echoed. "That's certainly a mild word to use, isn't it?" - -"But I mean--hadn't you any idea of what had happened? Didn't you -think anything of it except that I had suddenly gone mad? Or that I'd -grown to hate you?" - -"What was I to think?" she countered, trying to control the tremor that -had crept into her voice. - -"But did you think that?" - -"No," the girl confessed after a pause. "At first, when you started -with that drink, I thought you were looking for material for your work. -That's what you said--an experiment. Didn't you?" - -"I guess so," he groaned. - -"But after that, after I'd swallowed that horrible stuff, but before -everything went hazy, I--thought differently." - -"But what, Pat? What did you think?" - -"Why, then I realized that it wasn't you--not the real you. I could -feel the--well, the presence of the person I knew; this presence -that was tormenting me was another person, a terrible, cold, inhuman -stranger." - -"Pat!" There was a note almost of relief in his voice. "Did you really -feel that?" - -"Yes. Does it help matters, my sensing that? I can't see how." - -His eyes, which had been fixed on hers, dropped suddenly. "No," he -muttered, all the relief gone out of his tones, "no, it doesn't help, -does it? Except that it's a meager consolation to me to know that you -felt it." - -Pat struggled to suppress an impulse to reach out her hand, to stroke -his hair. She caught herself sharply; this was the very danger against -which she had warned herself--this was the very attitude she had -anticipated in Nicholas Devine, the lure which might bait a trap. Yet -he looked so forlorn, so wistful! It was an effort to forbear from -touching him; her fingers fairly ached to brush his cheek. - -"Only a fool walks twice into the same trap," she told herself. Aloud -she said, "You promised me an explanation. If you've any excuse, I'd -like to hear it." Her voice had resumed its coolness. - -"I haven't any excuse," he responded gloomily, "and the explanation is -perhaps too bizarre, too fantastic for belief. _I_ don't believe it -entirely; I suppose _you_ couldn't believe it at all." - -"You promised," she repeated. The carefully assumed composure of her -voice threatened to crack; this wistfulness of his was a powerful -weapon against her defense. - -"Oh, I'll give you the explanation," he said miserably. "I just wanted -to warn you you'd not believe me." He gave her a despondent glance. -"Pat, as I love you I swear that what I tell you is the truth. Do you -think you can believe me?" - -"Yes," she murmured. The tremor had reappeared in her voice despite her -efforts. - -Nicholas Devine turned his eyes toward the lake and began to speak. - - - - -15 - -A Modern Mr. Hyde - - -"I don't remember when I first noticed it," began Nick in a low voice, -"but I'm two people. I'm me, the person who's talking to you now, and -I'm--another." - -Pat, looking very pale and serious in the dusky light, said nothing at -all. She simply gazed at him silently, without the slightest trace of -surprise in her wide dark eyes. - -"This is the real me," proceeded Nick miserably. "The other is an -outsider, that has somehow contrived to grow into me. He is different; -cold, cruel, utterly selfish, and not exactly--human. Do you -understand?" - -"Y--Yes," said the girl, fighting to control her voice. "Sort of." - -"This is a struggle that has continued for a long time," he pursued. -"There were times in childhood when I remember punishments for offenses -I never committed, for nasty little meannesses _he_ perpetrated. My -mother, and after her death, my tutoress, thought I was lying when I -tried to explain; they thought I was trying to evade responsibility. -After a while I learned not to explain; I learned to accept my -punishments doggedly, and to fight this other when he sought dominance." - -"And could you?" asked Pat, her voice frankly quavery. "Could you fight -him?" - -"I was the stronger; I could win--usually. He slipped into -consciousness as wilful, mean little impulses, nasty moods, unreasoning -hates and such unpleasant things. But I was always the stronger: I -learned to drive him into the background." - -"You said you _were_ the stronger," she mused. "What does that mean, -Nick?" - -"I've always been the stronger; I am now. But recently, Pat--I think -it's since I fell in love with you--the struggle has been on evener -terms. I've weakened or he's gained. I have to guard against him -constantly; in any moment of weakness he may slip in, as on our ride -last week, when we had that near accident. And again Saturday." He -turned appealing eyes on the girl. "Pat, do you believe me?" - -"I guess I'll have to," she said unhappily. "It--makes things rather -hopeless, doesn't it?" - -He nodded dejectedly. "Yes. I've always felt that sooner or later I'd -win, and drive him away permanently. I've felt on the verge of complete -victory more than once, but now--" He shook his head doubtfully. "He -had never dominated me so entirely until Saturday night--Pat, you -don't know what Hell is like until you're forced as I was to watch -the violation of the being you worship, to stand helpless while a -desecration is committed. I'd rather die than suffer it again!" - -"Oh!" said the girl faintly. She was thinking of the sorry picture she -must have presented as she reeled half-clothed through the alley. "Can -you see what--_he_ sees?" - -"Of course, and think his thoughts. But only when he's dominant. I -don't know what evil he's planning now, else I could forestall him, I -would have warned you if I could have known." - -"Where is he now?" - -"Here," said Nick somberly. "Here listening to us, knowing what I'm -thinking and feeling, laughing at my unhappiness." - -"Oh!" gasped Pat again. She watched her companion doubtfully. Then the -memory of Dr. Horker's diagnosis came to her, and set her wondering. -Was this story the figment of an unsettled mind? Was this irrational -tale of a fiendish intruder merely evidence that the Doctor was right -in his opinion? She was in a maze of uncertainty. - -"Nick," she said, "did you ever try medical help? Did you ever go to a -doctor about it?" - -"Of course, Pat! Two years ago I went to a famous psychiatrist in -New York--you'd know the name if I mentioned it--and told him about -the--the case. And he studied me, and he treated me, and psychoanalyzed -me, and the net result was just nothing. And finally he dismissed -me with the opinion that 'the whole thing is just a fixed delusion, -fortunately harmless!' Harmless! Bah! But it wasn't I that did those -things, Pat; I had to stand by in horror and watch. It was enough to -_drive_ me crazy, but it didn't--quite." - -"But--Oh, Nick, what is it? What is this--this outsider? Can't we fight -it somehow?" - -"How can anyone except me fight it?" - -"Oh, I don't know!" she wailed miserably. "There must be a way. Doctors -claim to know pretty nearly everything; there must be _something_ to -do." - -"But there isn't," he retorted gloomily. "I don't know any more than -you what that thing is, but it's beyond your doctors. I've got to fight -it out alone." - -"Nick--" Her voice was suddenly tense. "Are you sure it isn't some -kind of madness? Something tangible like that could perhaps be treated." - -"It's no kind your doctors can treat, Pat. Did you ever hear of a -madman who stood aside and rationally watched the working of his own -insanity? And that's what I'm forced to do. And yet--this other isn't -insane either. Were its actions insane?" - -Pat shuddered. "I--don't know," she said in low tones. "I guess not." - -"No. Horrible, cruel, bestial, devilishly cunning, evil--but not -insane. I don't know what it is, Pat. I know that the fight has to be -made by me alone. There's nothing, nobody in the world, that can help." - -"Nick!" she wailed. - -"I'm sorry, Pat dear. You understand now why I was so reluctant to fall -in love with you. I was afraid to love you; now I know I was right." - -"Nick!" she cried, then paused hopelessly. After a moment she -continued, "Yesterday I was determined to forget you, and now--now I -don't care if this whole tale of yours is a mesh of fantastic lies, I -love you! I'd love you even if your real self were that--that other -creature, and even if I knew that this was just a trap. I'd love you -anyway." - -"Pat," he said seriously, "don't you believe me? Why should I offer to -give you up if this were--what you said? Wouldn't I be pleading for -another chance, making promises, finding excuses?" - -"Oh, I believe you, Nick! It isn't that; I was just thinking how -strange it is that I could hate you so two nights past and love you so -tonight." - -"Oh God, Pat! Even you can't know how much I love you; and to win you -and then be forced to give you up--" He groaned. - -The girl reached out her hand and covered his; it was the first time -during the evening that she had touched him, and the feel of his flesh -sent a tingle through her. She was miserably distraught. - -"Honey," she murmured brokenly. "Nick, Honey." - -He looked at her. "Do you suppose there's a chance to beat the thing?" -he asked. "I'd not ask you to wait, Pat, but if I only glimpsed a -chance--" - -"I'll wait. I don't think I could do anything else but wait for you." - -"If I only knew what I had to fight!" he whispered. "If I only knew -that!" - -A sudden memory leaped into Pat's mind. "Nick," she said huskily, "I -think I know." - -"What do you mean, Pat?" - -"It's something Magda--the cook--said to me. It's foolish, -superstitious, but Nick, what else can it be?" - -"Tell me!" - -"Well, she was talking to me yesterday, and she said that when she -was a child in the old country, she had seen a man once--" she -hesitated--"a man who was possessed by a devil. Nick, I think you're -possessed by a devil!" - -He stared at her. "Pat," he said hoarsely, "that's--an impossibility!" - -"I know, but what else can it be?" - -"Out of the Dark Ages," he muttered. "An echo of the Black Mass and -witchcraft, but--" - -"What did they do," asked the girl, "to people they thought were -possessed?" - -"Exorcism!" he whispered. - -"And how did they--exorcise?" - -"I don't know," he said in a low voice. "Pat, that's an impossible -idea, but--I don't know!" he ended. - -"We'll try," she murmured, still covering his hand with her own. "What -else can we do, Nick?" - -"What's done I'll do alone, Pat." - -"But I want to help!" - -"I'll not let you, Dear. I won't have you exposed to a repetition of -those indignities, or perhaps worse!" - -"I'm not afraid." - -"Then I am, Pat! I won't have it!" - -"But what'll you do?" - -"I'll go away. I'll battle the thing through once for all, and I'll -either come back free of it or--" He paused and the girl did not -question him further, but sat staring at him with troubled eyes. - -"I won't write you, Pat," he continued. "If you should receive a letter -from me, burn it--don't read it. It might be from--the other, a trap or -a lure of some sort. Promise me! You'll promise that, won't you?" - -She nodded; there was a glint of tears in her eyes. - -"And I don't want you to wait, Pat," he proceeded. "I don't want you to -feel that you have any obligations to me--God knows you've nothing to -thank me for! When--If I come back and you haven't changed, then we'll -try again." - -"Nick," she said in a small voice, "how do you know the--the other -won't come back here? How can you promise for--it?" - -"I'm still master!" he said grimly. "I won't be dominated long enough -at any time for that to happen. I'll fight it down." - -"Then--it's good-bye?" - -He nodded. "But not for always--I hope." - -"Nick," she murmured, "will you kiss me?" She felt a tear on her cheek. -"I'll stand losing you a little better if I can have a--last kiss--to -remember." Her voice was faltering. - -His arms were about her. She yielded herself completely to his caress; -the park, the crowd passing a few yards away, the people on near-by -benches, were all forgotten, and once more she felt herself alone with -Nicholas Devine in a vast empty cosmos. - -An insistent voice penetrated her consciousness; she realized that it -had been calling her name for some seconds. - -"Miss Lane," she heard, and again, "Miss Lane." A hand tapped her -shoulder; with a sudden start, she tore her lips away, and looked up -into a face unrecognized for a moment. Then she placed it. It was the -visage of Mueller, Dr. Horker's companion on that disastrous Saturday -night. - - - - -16 - -Possessed - - -Pat stared at the intruder in a mingling of embarrassment, perplexity, -and indignation. She felt her cheeks reddening as the latter emotion -gained the dominance of her mood. - -"Well!" she snapped. "What do you want?" - -"I thought I'd walk home with you," Mueller said amiably. - -"Walk home with me! Please explain that!" She grasped the arm of -Nicholas Devine, who had risen angrily at the interruption. "Sit down, -Nick, I know the fellow." - -"So should he," said Mueller. "Sure; I'll explain. I'm on a job for Dr. -Horker." - -"Spying on me for him, I suppose!" taunted the girl. - -"No. Not on you." - -"He means on me," said Nick soberly. "You can't blame him, Pat. And -perhaps you had better go home; we've finished here. There's nothing -more we can do or say." - -"Very well," she said, her voice suddenly softer. "In a moment, Nick." -She turned to Mueller. "Would you mind telling me why you waited until -now to interfere? We've been here two hours, you know." - -"Sure I'll tell you. I got no orders to interfere, that's why." - -"Then why did you?" queried Pat tartly. - -"I didn't until I saw him there"--he nodded at Nick--"put his arms -around you. Then I figured, having no orders, it was time to use my own -judgment." - -"If any!" sniffed the girl. She turned again to Nick; her face -softened, became very tender. "Honey," she murmured huskily, "I guess -it's good-bye now. I'll be fighting with you; you know that." - -"I know that," he echoed, looking down into her eyes. "I'm almost -happy, Pat." - -"When'll you go?" she whispered in tones inaudible to Mueller. - -"I don't know," he answered, his voice unchanged. "I'll have to make -some sort of preparations--and I don't want you to know." - -She nodded. She gazed at him a moment longer with tear-bright eyes. -"Good-bye, Nick," she whispered. She rose on tiptoe, and kissed him -very lightly on his lips, then turned and walked quickly away, with -Mueller following behind. - -She walked on, ignoring him until he halted beside her at the crossing -of the Drive. Then she gave him a cold glance. - -"Why is Dr. Carl having him watched?" she asked. - -Mueller shrugged. "The ins and outs of this case are too much for me," -he said. "I do what I'm paid to do." - -"You're not watching him now." - -"Nope. Seemed like the Doctor would think it was more important to get -you home." - -"You're wasting your time," she said irritably as the lights changed -and they stepped into the street. "I was going home anyway." - -"Well, now you got company all the way." Mueller's voice was placid. - -The girl sniffed contemptuously, and strode silently along. The other's -presence irritated her; she wanted time and solitude to consider the -amazing story Nicholas Devine had given her. She wanted to analyze her -own feelings, and most of all she wanted just a place of privacy to -cry out her misery. For now the loss of Nicholas Devine had changed -from a fortunate escape to a tragedy, and liar, madman, or devil, she -wanted him terribly, with all the power of her tense little heart. So -she moved as swiftly as she could, ignoring the silent companionship of -Mueller. - -They reached her home; the light in the living room window was evidence -that the bridge game was still in progress. She mounted the steps, -Mueller watching her silently from the walk; she fumbled for her key. - -Suddenly she snapped her hand-bag shut; she couldn't face her mother -and the two spinster Brocks and elderly, inquisitive Carter Henderson. -They'd suggest that she cut into the game, and they'd argue if -she refused, and she couldn't play bridge now! She glanced at the -impassive Mueller, turned and crossed the strip of lawn to Dr. Horker's -residence, where the light still glowed in the library, and rang the -bell. She saw the figure on the sidewalk move away as the shadow of the -Doctor appeared on the lighted square of the door. - -"Hello," boomed the Doctor amiably. "Come in." - -Pat stalked into the library and threw herself angrily into Dr. -Horker's particular chair. The other grinned, and chose another place. - -"Well," he said, "What touched off the fuse this time?" - -"Why are you spying on my friends?" snapped the girl. "By what right?" - -"So he's spotted Mueller, eh? That lad's diabolically clever, Pat--and -I mean diabolic." - -"That's no answer!" - -"So it isn't," agreed the Doctor. "Say it's because I'm acting _in loco -parentis_." - -"And _in loco_ is as far as you'll get, Dr. Carl, if you're going to -spy on me!" - -"On you?" he said mildly. "Who's spying on you?" - -"On us, then!" - -"Or on us?" queried the Doctor. "I set Mueller to watch the Devine lad. -Have you by some mischance broken your promise to me?" - -Pat flushed. She had forgotten that broken promise; the recollection of -it suddenly took the wind from her sails, placed her on the defensive. - -"All right," she said defiantly. "I did; I admit it. Does that excuse -you?" - -"Perhaps it helps to explain my actions, Pat. Don't you understand that -I'm trying to protect you? Do you think I hired Mueller out of morbid -curiosity, or professional interest in the case? Times aren't so good -that I can throw money away on such whims." - -"I don't need any protection. I can take care of myself!" - -"So I noticed," said the Doctor dryly. "You gave convincing evidence of -it night before last." - -"Oh!" said the girl in exasperation. "You would say that!" - -"It's true, isn't it?" - -"Suppose it is! I don't have to learn the same lesson twice." - -"Well, apparently once wasn't enough," observed the other amiably. "You -walked into the same danger tonight." - -"I wasn't in any danger tonight!" Suddenly her mood changed as she -recalled the circumstances of her parting with Nicholas Devine. "Dr. -Carl," she said, her voice dropping, "I'm terribly unhappy." - -"Lord!" he exclaimed staring at her. "Pat, your moods are as changeable -as my golf game! You're as mercurial as your Devine lad! A moment ago -you were snapping at me, and now I'm suddenly acceptable again." He -perceived the misery in her face. "All right, child; I'm listening." - -"He's going away," she said mournfully. - -"Don't you think that's best for everybody concerned? I commend his -judgment." - -"But I don't want him to!" - -"You do, Pat. You can't continue seeing him, and his absence will make -it easier for you." - -"It'll never be easier for me, Dr. Carl." She felt her eyes fill. "I -guess I'm--just a fool about him." - -"You still feel that way, after the experience you went through?" - -"Yes. Yes, I do." - -"Then you _are_ a fool about him, Pat. He's not worth such devotion." - -"How do you know what he's worth? I'm the only one to judge that." - -"I have eyes," said the Doctor. "What happened tonight to change your -attitude so suddenly? You were amenable to reason yesterday." - -"I didn't know yesterday what I know now." - -"So he told a story, eh?" The Doctor watched her serious, troubled -features. "Would you mind telling me, Honey? I'm interested in the -defense mechanisms these psychopathic cases erect to explain their own -impulses to themselves." - -"No, I won't tell you!" snapped Pat indignantly. "Psychopathic cases! -We're all just cases to you. I'm a case and he's another, and all you -want is our symptoms!" - -Doctor Horker smiled placatingly into her face. "Pat dear," he said -earnestly, "don't you see I'd give my eyes to help you? Don't take -my flippancies too seriously, Honey; look once in a while at the -intentions behind them." He continued his earnest gaze. - -The girl returned his look; her face softened. "I'm sorry," she said -contritely. "I never doubted it, Dr. Carl--it's only that I'm so--so -torn to pieces by all this that I get snappy and irritable." She -paused. "Of course I'll tell you." - -"I'd like to hear it." - -"Well," she began hesitantly, "he said he was two personalities--one -the character I knew, and one the character that we saw Saturday night. -And the first one is--well, dominant, and fights the other one. He says -the other has been growing stronger; until lately he could suppress -it. And he says--Oh, it sounds ridiculous, the way I tell it, but it's -true! I'm sure it's true!" She leaned toward the Doctor. "Did you ever -hear of anything like it? Did you, Dr. Carl?" - -"No." He shook his head, still watching her seriously. "Not exactly -like that, Honey. Don't you think he might possibly have lied to you, -Pat? To excuse himself for the responsibility of Saturday night, for -instance?" - -"No, I don't," she said defiantly. - -"Then you have an idea yourself what the trouble is? I judge you have." - -"Yes," she said in low tones. "I have an idea." - -"What is it?" - -"I think he's possessed by a devil!" said the girl flatly. - -A quizzical expression came into the Doctor's face. "Well, of all the -queer ideas that harum-scarum mind of yours has _ever_ produced, that's -the queerest!" He broke into a chuckle. - -"Queer, is it?" flared Pat. "I don't think you and your mind-doctors -know as much as a Swahili medicine-man with a mask!" - -She leaped angrily to her feet, stamped viciously into the hall. - -"Devil and all," she repeated, "I love him!" - -"Pat!" called the Doctor anxiously. "Pat! Where are you going, child?" - -"Where do devils live?" Her voice floated tauntingly back from the -front door. "Hell, of course!" - - - - -17 - -Witch-Doctor - - -Pat had no intentions, however, of following the famous highway that -evening. She stamped angrily down the Doctor's steps, swished her way -through the break in the hedge with small regard to the safety of her -sheer hose, and mounted to her own porch. She found her key, opened the -door and entered. - -As she ascended the stairs, her fit of temper at the Doctor passed, and -she felt lonely, weary, and unutterably miserable. She sank to a seat -on the topmost step and gave herself over to bitter reflections. - -Nick was gone! The realization came poignantly at last; there would be -no more evening rides, no more conversations whose range was limited -only by the scope of the universe, no more breath-taking kisses, the -sweeter for his reluctance. She sat mournfully silent, and considered -the miserable situation in which she found herself. - -In love with a madman! Or worse--in love with a demon! With a being -half of whose nature worshiped her while the other half was bent on her -destruction! Was any one, she asked herself--was any one, anywhere, -ever in a more hopeless predicament? - -What could she do? Nothing, she realized, save sit helplessly aside -while Nick battled the thing to a finish. Or possibly--the only -alternative--take him as he was, chance the vicissitudes of his -unstable nature, lay herself open to the horrors she had glimpsed so -recently, and pray for her fortunes to point the way of salvation. And -in the mood in which she now found herself, that seemed infinitely the -preferable solution. Yet rationally she knew it was impossible; she -shook her head despondently, and leaned against the wall in abject -misery. - -Then, thin and sharp sounded the shrill summons of the door bell, and -a moment later, the patter of the maid's footsteps in the hall below. -She listened idly to distract herself from the chain of despondency -that was her thoughts, and was mildly startled to recognize the booming -drums of Dr. Horker's voice. She heard his greeting and the muffled -reply from the group, and then a phrase understandable because of his -sonorous tones. - -"Where's Pat?" The words drifted up the well of the stairs, followed -by a scarcely audible reply from her mother. Heavy footfalls on the -carpeted steps, and then his figure bulked on the landing below her. -She cupped her chin on her hands, and stared down at him while he -ascended to her side, sprawling his great figure beside her. - -"Pat, Honey," he rumbled, "you're beginning to get me worried!" - -"Am I?" Her voice was weary, dull. "I've had myself like that for a -long time." - -"Poor kid! Are you really so miserable over this Nick problem of yours?" - -"I love him." - -"Yes." He looked at her with sympathy and calculation mingling in his -expression. "I believe you do. I'm sorry, Honey; I didn't realize until -now what he means to you." - -"You don't realize now," she murmured, still with the weary intonation. - -"Perhaps not, Pat, but I'm learning. If you're in this thing as deeply -at all that, I'm in too--to the finish. Want me?" - -She reached out her hand, plucking at his coatsleeve. Abruptly she -leaned toward him, burying her face against the rough tweed of his -suit; she sobbed a little, while he patted her gently with his great, -delicately fingered hand. "I'm sorry, Honey," he rumbled. "I'm sorry." - -The girl drew herself erect and leaned back against the wall, shaking -her head to drive the tears from her eyes. She gave the Doctor a wan -little smile. - -"Well?" she asked. - -"I'll return your compliment of the other night," said Horker briskly. -"I'll ask a few questions--purely professional, of course." - -"Fire away, Dr. Carl." - -"Good. Now, when our friend has one of these--uh--attacks, is he -rational? Do his utterances seem to follow a logical thought sequence?" - -"I--think so." - -"In what way does he differ from his normal self?" - -"Oh, every way," she said with a tremor. "Nick's kind and gentle and -sensitive and--and naive, and this--other--is cruel, harsh, gross, -crafty, and horrible. You can't imagine a greater difference." - -"Um. Is the difference recognizable instantly? Could you ever be in -doubt as to which phase you were encountering?" - -"Oh, no! I can--well, sort of dominate Nick, but the other--Lord!" She -shuddered again. "I felt like a terrified child in the presence of some -powerful, evil god." - -"Humph! Perhaps the god's name was Priapus. Well, we'll discount your -feelings, Pat, because you weren't exactly in the best condition -for--let's say _sober_ judgment. Now about this story of his. What -happens to his own personality when this other phase is dominant? Did -he say?" - -"Yes. He said his own self was compelled to sort of stand by while -the--the intruder used his voice and body. He knew the thoughts of the -other, but only when it was dominant. The rest of the time he couldn't -tell its thoughts." - -"And how long has he suffered from these--intrusions?" - -"As long as he can remember. As a child he was blamed for the other's -mischief, and when he tried to explain, people thought he was lying to -escape punishment." - -"Well," observed the Doctor, "I can see how they might think that." - -"Don't you believe it?" - -"I don't exactly disbelieve it, Honey. The human mind plays queer -tricks sometimes, and this may be one of its little jokes. It's a -psychiatrist's business to investigate such things, and to painlessly -remove the point of the joke." - -"Oh, if you only can, Dr. Carl! If you only can!" - -"We'll see." He patted her hand comfortingly. - -"Now, you say the kind, gentle, and all that, phase is the normal one. -Is that usually dominant?" - -"Yes. Nick can master the other, or could until recently. He says this -last--attack--is the worst he's ever had; the other has been gaining -strength." - -"Strange!" mused the Doctor. "Well," he said with a smile of -encouragement, "I'll have a look at him." - -"Do you think you can help?" Pat asked anxiously. "Have you any idea -what it is?" - -"It isn't a devil, at any rate," he smiled. - -"But have you any idea?" - -"Naturally I have, but I can't diagnose at second hand. I'll have to -talk to him." - -"But what do you think it is?" she persisted. - -"I think it's a fixation of an idea gained in childhood, Honey. I had -a patient once--" He smiled at the reminiscence--"who had a fixed -delusion of that sort. He was perfectly rational on every point -save one--he believed that a pig with a pink ribbon was following -him everywhere! Down town, into elevators and offices, home to -bed--everywhere he went this pink-ribboned prize porker pursued him!" - -"And did you cure him?" - -"Well, he recovered," said the Doctor non-committally. "We got rid of -the pig. And it might be something of that nature that's troubling your -boy friend. Your description doesn't sound like a praecox or a manic -depressive, as I thought originally." - -"Oh," said Pat abruptly. "I forgot. He went to a doctor in New York, a -very great doctor." - -"Muenster?" - -"He didn't say whom. But this doctor studied him a long time, and -finally came out with this fixed idea theory of yours. Only he couldn't -cure him." - -"Um." Horker grunted thoughtfully. - -"Do fixed ideas do things like that to people?" queried the girl. -"Things like the pig and what happened to Nick?" - -"They might." - -"Then they're devils!" she announced with an air of finality. "They're -just your scientific jargon for exactly what Magda means when she says -a person's possessed by a devil. So I'm right anyway!" - -"That's good orthodox theology, Pat," chuckled the Doctor. "We'll try a -little exorcism on your devil, then." He rose to his feet. "Bring your -boy friend around, will you?" - -"Oh, Dr. Carl!" she cried. "He's leaving! I'll have to call him -tonight!" - -"Not tonight, Honey. Mueller would let me know if anything of that sort -were happening. Tomorrow's time enough." - -The girl stood erect, mounting to the top step to bring her head level -with the Doctor's. She threw her arms about him, burying her face in -his massive shoulder. - -"Dr. Carl," she murmured, "I'm a nasty, ill-tempered, vicious little -shrew, and I'm sorry, and I apologize. You know I'm crazy about you, -and," she whispered in his ear, "so's Mother!" - - - - -18 - -Vanished - - -"He doesn't answer! I'm too late," thought Pat disconsolately as she -replaced the telephone. The cheerfulness with which she had awakened -vanished like a patch of April sunshine. Now, with the failure of her -third attempt in as many hours to communicate with Nicholas Devine, -she was ready to confess defeat. She had waited too long. Despite Dr. -Horker's confidence in Mueller, she should have called last night--at -once. - -"He's gone!" she murmured distractedly. She realized now the -impossibility of finding him. His solitary habits, his dearth of -friends, his lonely existence, left her without the least idea of how -to commence a search. She knew, actually, so little about him--not -even the source of the apparently sufficient income on which he -subsisted. She felt herself completely at a loss, puzzled, lonesome, -and disheartened. The futile buzzing of the telephone signal symbolized -her frustration. - -Perhaps, she thought, Dr. Horker might suggest something to do; -perhaps, even, Mueller had reported Nick's whereabouts. She seized -the hope eagerly. A glance at her wrist-watch revealed the time as -ten-thirty; squarely in the midst of the Doctor's morning office hours, -but no matter. If he were busy she could wait. She rose, bounding -hastily down the stairs. - -She glimpsed her mother opening mail in the library, and paused -momentarily at the door. Mrs. Lane glanced up as she appeared. - -"Hello," said the mother. "You've been on the telephone all morning, -and what did Carl want of you last night?" - -"Argument," responded Pat briefly. - -"Carl's a gem! He's been of inestimable assistance in developing you -into a very charming and clever daughter, and Heaven knows what I'd -have raised without him!" - -"Cain, probably," suggested Pat. She passed into the hall and out the -door, blinking in the brilliant August sunshine. She crossed the strip -of turf, picked her way through the break in the hedge, and approached -the Doctor's door. It was open; it often was in summer time, especially -during his brief office hours. She entered and went into the chamber -used as waiting room. - -His office door was closed; the faint hum of his voice sounded. She sat -impatiently in a chair and forced herself to wait. - -Fortunately, the delay was nominal; it was but a few minutes when the -door opened and an opulent, middle-aged lady swept past her and away. -Pat recognized her as Mrs. Lowry, some sort of cousin of the Brock pair. - -"Good morning!" boomed the Doctor. "Professional call, I take it, since -you're here during office hours." He settled his great form in a chair -beside her. - -"He's gone!" said Pat plaintively. "I can't reach him." - -"Humph!" grunted Horker helpfully. - -"I've tried all morning--he's always home in the morning." - -"Listen, you little scatter-brain!" rumbled the Doctor. "Why didn't you -tell me Mueller brought you home last night? I thought he was on the -job." - -"I didn't think of it," she wailed. "Nick said he'd have to make some -preparations, and I never dreamed he'd skip away like this." - -"He must have gone home directly after you left him, and skipped out -immediately," said the Doctor ruminatively. "Mueller never caught up -with him." - -"But what'll we do?" she cried desperately. - -"He can't have gone far with no more preparation than this," soothed -Horker. "He'll write you in a day or two." - -"He won't! He said he wouldn't. He doesn't want me to know where he -is!" She was on the verge of tears. - -"Now, now," said the Doctor still in his soothing tones. "It isn't as -bad as all that." - -"Take off your bed-side manner!" she snapped, blinking to keep back the -tears. "It's worse! What ever can we do? Dr. Carl," she changed to a -pleading tone, "can't you think of something?" - -"Of course, Pat! I can think of several things to do if you'll quiet -down for a moment or so." - -"I'm sorry, Dr. Carl--but what _can_ we do?" - -"First, perhaps Mueller can trace him. That's his business, you know." - -"But suppose he can't--what then?" - -"Well, I'd suggest you write him a letter." - -"But I don't know where to write!" she wailed. "I don't know his -address!" - -"Be still a moment, scatter-brain! Address it to his last residence; -you know that, don't you? Of course you do. Now, don't you suppose -he'll leave a forwarding address? He must receive some sort of mail -about his income, or estate, or whatever he lives on. Your letter'll -find him, Honey; don't you doubt it." - -"Oh, do you think so?" she asked, suddenly hopeful. "Do you really -think so?" - -"I really think so. You would too if you didn't fly into a panic every -time some little difficulty confronts you. Sometimes even my psychiatry -is puzzled to explain how you can be so clever and so stupid, so -self-reliant and so dependent, so capable and so helpless--all at one -and the same time. Your Nick can't be as much of a paradox as you are!" - -"I wonder if a letter _will_ reach him," she said eagerly, ignoring the -Doctor's remarks. "I'll try. I'll try immediately." - -"I sort of had a feeling you would," said Horker amiably. "I hope you -succeed; and not only for your sake, Pat, because God knows how this -thing will work out. But I'm anxious to examine this youngster of yours -on my own account; he must be a remarkable specimen to account for all -the perturbation he's managed to cause you. And this Jekyll-and-Hyde -angle sounds interesting, too." - -"Jekyll and Hyde!" echoed Pat. "Dr. Carl, is that possible?" - -"Not literally," chuckled the other, "though in a sense, Stevenson -anticipated Freud in his thesis that liberating the evil serves also to -release the good." - -"But--It was a drug that caused that change in the story, wasn't it?" - -"Well? Do you suspect your friend of being addicted to some mysterious -drug? Is that the latest hypothesis?" - -"_Is_ there such a drug? One that could change a person's character?" - -"_All_ alkaloids do that, Honey. Some of them stimulate, some depress, -some breed frenzies, and some give visions of delight--but all of -them influence one's mental and emotional organization, which you call -character. So for that matter, does a square meal, or a cup of coffee, -or even a rainy day." - -"But isn't there a drug that can separate good qualities from evil, -like the story?" - -"Emphatically not, Pat! That's not the trouble with this pesky boy -friend of yours." - -"Well," said the girl doubtfully, "I only wish I had as much faith in -your psychologies as you have. If you brain-doctors know it all, why do -you switch theories every year?" - -"We _don't_ know it all. On the other hand, there are a few things to -be said in our favor." - -"What are they?" - -"For one," replied the Doctor, "we do cure people occasionally. You'll -admit that." - -"Sure," said Pat. "So did the Salem witches--occasionally." She -gave him a suddenly worried look. "Oh, Dr. Carl, don't think I'm -not grateful! You know how much I'm hoping from your help, but I'm -miserably anxious over all this." - -"Never mind, Honey. You're not the first one to point out the -shortcomings of the medical profession. That's a game played by plenty -of physicians too." He paused at the sound of footsteps on the porch, -followed by the buzz of the doorbell. "Run along and write your letter, -dear--here comes that Tuesday hypochondriac of mine, and he's rich -enough for my careful attention." - -Pat flashed him a quick smile of farewell and slipped quietly into the -hall. At the door she passed the Doctor's patient--a lean, elderly -gentleman of woe-begone visage--and returned to her own home. - -Her spirits, mercurial to a degree, had risen again. She was suddenly -positive that the Doctor's scheme would bring results, and she darted -into the house almost buoyantly. Her mother had abandoned the desk, -and she ensconced herself before it, finding paper and pen, and staring -thoughtfully at the blank sheet. - -Finally she wrote. - - "Dear Nick-- - - "Something has happened, favorable, I think, to us. I believe I - have found the help we need. - - "Will you come if you can, or if that's not possible, break that - self-given promise of yours, and communicate with me? - - "I love you." - -She signed it simply "Pat", placed it in an envelope, addressed it -hastily, and hurried out to post it. On her return she spied the -Doctor's hypochondriac in the act of leaving. He walked past her with -his lean, worry-smitten face like a study of Hogarth, and she heard him -mumbling to himself. The elation went out of her; she mounted the steps -very soberly, and went miserably inside. - - - - -19 - -Man or Monster? - - -Pat suffered Wednesday through somehow, knowing that any such early -response to her letter was impossible. Still, that impossibility did -not deter her from starting at the sound of the telephone, and sorting -through the mail with an eagerness that drew a casual attention from -her mother. - -"Good Heavens, Patricia! You're like a child watching for an answer to -his note to Santa Claus!" - -"That's what I am, I guess," responded the girl ruefully. "Maybe I -expect too much from Santa Claus." - -Late in the afternoon she drifted over to Dr. Horker's residence, to -be informed that he was out. For distraction, she went in anyway, and -spent a while browsing among the books in the library. She blundered -into Kraft-Ebing, and read a few pages in growing indignation. - -"I'm ashamed to be human!" she muttered disgustedly to herself, -slamming shut the _Psychopathia Sexualis_. "I wouldn't be a doctor, or -have a child of mine become one, if I were positively certain he'd turn -into Lord Lister himself! Nick was right when he said doctors live on -people's troubles." - -She wondered how Dr. Horker could remain so human, so kindly and -understanding, when as he said himself his world was a parade of -misfits, incompetents, and all the nastiness of mortals. _He_ was nice; -she felt no embarrassment in confiding in him even when she might -hesitate to bare her feelings to her own mother. Or was it simply the -natural thing to do to tell one's troubles to a doctor? - -Not, of course, that the situation reflected any discredit on her -mother. Mrs. Lane was a very precious sort of parent, she mused, -young as Pat in spirit, appreciative and enthusiastically fond of her -daughter. That she trusted Pat, that she permitted her to do entirely -as she pleased, was exactly as the girl would have it; it argued no -lack of affection that each of them had their separate interests, and -if the girl occasionally found herself in unpleasantness such as this, -that too was her own fault. - -And yet, she reflected, it was a bitter thing to have no one to whom to -turn. If it weren't for Dr. Carl and his jovial willingness to commit -any sin up to malpractice to help her, she might have felt differently. -But there always _was_ Dr. Carl, and that, she concluded, was that. - -She wandered back to her own side of the hedge, missing for the first -time in many weeks the companionship of the old crowd. There hadn't -been many idle afternoons heretofore during the summer; there'd always -been some of the collegiate vacationing in town, and Pat had never -needed other lure than her own piquant vivacity to assure herself -of ample attention. Now, of course, it was different; she had so -definitely tagged herself with the same Nicholas Devine that even the -most ardent of the group had taken the warning. - -"And I don't regret it either!" she told herself as she entered the -house. "Trouble, mystery, suffering and all--I don't regret it! I've -had my compensations too." - -She sighed and trudged upstairs to prepare for dinner. - - * * * * * - -Morning found Pat in a fair frenzy of trepidation. She kept repeating -to herself that two days wasn't enough, that more time might be -required, that even had Nicholas Devine received her letter, he might -not have answered at once. Yet she was quivering as she darted into -the hall to examine the mail. - -It was there! She spied a fragment of the irregular handwriting and -seized the envelope from beneath a clutter of notes, bills, and -advertisements. She glanced at the post-mark. Chicago! He hadn't left -the city, trusting perhaps to the anonymity conferred by its colossal -swarm of humanity. Indeed, she thought as she stared at the missive, -he might have moved around the corner, and save for the chance of a -fortuitous meeting she'd never know it. - -She tore open the envelope and scanned the several scrawled lines. - -No heading, no salutation, not even a signature. Just, "Thursday -evening at our place in the park." No more; she studied the few words -intently, as if she could read into their bald phrasing the moods and -hidden emotions of the writer. - -A single phrase, but sufficient. The day was suddenly brighter, and -the hope which had glowed so dimly yesterday was abruptly almost more -than a hope--a certainty. All her doubts of Dr. Horker's abilities were -forgotten; already the solution of this uncanny mystery seemed assured, -and the restoration of romance imminent. She carried the letter to her -own room and tucked it carefully by the other in the drawer of the -night-table. - -Thursday evening--this evening! Many hours intervened between now and a -reasonable time for the meeting, but they loomed no longer drab, dull, -and hopeless. She lay on her bed and dreamed. - -She could meet Nick as early as possible; perhaps at eight-thirty, and -bring him directly to the Doctor's residence. No use wasting a moment, -she mused; the sooner some light could be thrown on the affliction, -the sooner they could lay the devil--exorcise it. Demon, fixed idea, -mental aberration, or whatever Dr. Carl chose to call it, it had to be -met and vanquished once and forever. And it _could_ be vanquished; in -her present mood she didn't doubt it. Then--after that--there was the -prospect of her own Nick regained, and the sweet vistas opened by that -reflection. - -She lunched in an abstracted manner. In the afternoon, when the phone -rang, she jumped in a startled manner, then relaxed with a shrug. - -But this time it _was_ for her. She darted into the hall to take the -call on the lower phone; she was hardly surprised but thoroughly -excited to recognize the voice of Nicholas Devine. - -"Pat?" - -"Nick! Oh, Nick, Honey! What is it?" - -"My note to you." Even across the wire she sensed the strain in his -tense tones. "You've read it?" - -"Of course, Nick! I'll be there." - -"No." His voice was trembling. "You won't come, Pat. Promise you won't!" - -"But why? Why not, Nick? Oh, it's terribly important that I see you!" - -"You're not to come, Pat!" - -"But--" An idea was struggling to her consciousness. "Nick, was it--?" - -"Yes. You know now." - -"But, Honey, what difference does it make? _You_ come. You must, Nick!" - -"I won't meet you, I tell you!" She could hear his voice rising -excitedly in pitch, she could feel the intensity of the struggle across -unknown miles of lifeless copper wire. - -"Nick," she said, "I'm going to be there, and you're going to meet me." - -There was silence at the other end. - -"Nick!" she cried anxiously. "Do you hear me? I'll be there. Will you?" - -His voice sounded again, now flat and toneless. - -"Yes," he said. "I'll be there." - -The receiver clicked at the far end of the wire; there was only a -futile buzzing in Pat's ears. She replaced the instrument and sat -staring dubiously at it. - -Had that been Nick, really her Nick, or--? Suppose she went to that -meeting and found--the other? Was she willing to face another evening -of indignities and terrors like those still fresh in her memory? - -Still, she argued, what harm could come to her on that bench, exposed -as it was to the gaze of thousands who wandered through the park on -summer evenings? Suppose it _were_ the other who met her; there was no -way to force her into a situation such as that of Saturday night. Nick -himself had chosen that very spot for their other meeting, and for that -very reason. - -"There's no risk in it," she told herself, "Nothing can possibly -happen. I'll simply go there and bring Nick back to Dr. Carl's, along a -lighted, busy street, the whole two blocks. What's there to be afraid -of?" - -Nothing at all, she answered herself. But suppose--She shuddered and -deliberately abandoned her chain of thought as she rose and rejoined -her mother. - - - - -20 - -The Assignation - - -Pat was by no means as buoyant as she had been in the morning. She -approached the appointed meeting place with a feeling of trepidation -that all her arguments could not subdue. - -She surveyed the crowded walks of the park with relief; she felt -confirmed in her assumption that nothing unpleasant could occur with -so many on-lookers. So she approached the bench with somewhat greater -self-assurance than when she had left the house. - -She saw the seat with its lone occupant, and hastened her steps. -Nicholas Devine was sitting exactly as he had on that other occasion, -chin cupped on his hands, eyes turned moodily toward the vast lake -that coruscated now with the reflection of stars and many lights. As -before, she moved close to his side before he looked up, but here the -similarity of the two occasions vanished. Her fears were realized; she -was looking into the red-gleaming eyes and expressionless features of -his other self--the demon of Saturday evening! - -"Sit down!" he said as a sardonic half-smile twisted his lips. "Aren't -you pleased? Aren't you thrilled to the very core of your being?" - -Pat stood irresolute; she controlled an impulse to break into sudden, -abandoned flight. The imminence of the crowded walks again reassured -her, and she seated herself gingerly on the extreme edge of the bench, -staring at her companion with coolly inimical eyes. He returned her -gaze with features as immobile as carven stone; only his red eyes gave -evidence of the obscene, uncanny life behind the mask. - -"Well?" said Pat in as frigid a voice as she could muster. - -"Yes," said the other surveying her. "You are quite as I recalled you. -Very pretty, almost beautiful, save for a certain irregularity in your -features. Not unpleasant, however." His eyes traveled over her body; -automatically she drew back, shrinking away from him. "You have a -seductive body," he continued. "A most seductive body; I regret that -circumstances prevented our full enjoyment of it. But that will come. -Yes, that will come!" - -"Oh!" said Pat faintly. It took all her determination to remain seated -by the side of the horror. - -"You were extremely attractive as I attired you Saturday," the other -proceeded. His lips took on a curious sensual leer. "I could have -done better with more time; I would have stripped you somewhat more -completely. Everything, I think, except your legs; I am pleased by -the sight of long, straight, silk-clad legs, and should perhaps have -received some pleasure by running these hands along them--scratching -at proper intervals for the aesthetic effect of blood. But that too -will come." - -The girl sprang erect, gasping and speechless in outraged anger. She -turned abruptly; nothing remained of her determination now. She felt -only an urge to escape from the sneering tormentor who had lost in her -mind all connection with her own Nicholas Devine. She took a sudden -step. - -"Sit down!" She heard the tones of the entity behind her, flat, -unchanged. "Sit down, else I'll drag you here!" - -She paused in sheer surprise, turning a startled face on the other. - -"You wouldn't dare!" she said, amazed at the bald effrontery of the -threat. "You don't dare touch me here!" - -The other laughed. "Don't I? What have I to risk? _He_'ll suffer for -any deed of mine! You'll call for aid against me and only loose the -hounds on _him_." - -Pat stared blankly at the evil face. She had no answer; for once her -ready tongue found no retort. - -"Sit down!" reiterated the other, and she dropped dazedly to her -position on the bench. She turned dark questioning eyes on him. - -"Do you see," he sneered, "how weakening an influence is this love of -yours? To protect him you are obeying me; this is my authority over -you--this body I share with him!" - -She made no reply; she was making a desperate effort to lash her mind -into activity, to formulate some means of combating the being who -tortured her. - -"It has weakened him, too," the other proceeded. "This disturbed -love of his has taken away the mastery which birth gave him, and his -enfeeblement has given that mastery to me. He knows now the reason for -his weakness; I tell it to him too late to harm me." - -Pat struggled for composure. The very presence of the cold demon tore -at the roots of her self-control, and she suppressed a fierce desire to -break into hysterical laughter. Ridiculous, hopeless, incomprehensible -situation! She forced her quivering throat to husky speech. - -"What--what are you?" she stammered. - -"Synapse! I'm a question of synapses," jeered the other. "Simple! Very -simple! Ask your friend the Doctor!" - -"I think," said the girl, a measure of control returning to her voice, -"that you're a devil. You're some sort of a fiend that has managed to -attach itself to Nick, and you're not human. That's what I think!" - -"Think what you please," said the other. "We're wasting time here," he -said abruptly. "Come." - -"Where?" Pat was startled; she felt a recurrence of fright. - -"No matter where. Come." - -"I won't! Why do you want me?" - -"To complete the business of Saturday night," he said. "Your lips have -healed; they bleed no longer, but that is easy to remedy. Come." - -"I won't!" exclaimed the girl in sudden panic. "I won't!" She moved as -if to rise. - -"You forget," intoned the being beside her. "You forget the authority -vested in me by virtue of this love of yours. Let me convince you." He -stretched forth a thin hand. "Move and you condemn your sweetheart to -the punishment you threaten me." - -He seized her arm, pinching the flesh brutally, his nails breaking the -smooth skin. Pat felt her face turn ashy pale; she closed her eyes -and bit her nearly-healed lips at the excruciating pain, but she made -not the slightest sound nor the faintest movement. She simply sat and -suffered. - -"You see!" sneered the other, releasing her. "Thank my kindly nature -that I marked your arm instead of your face. Shall we go?" - -A scarcely audible whimper of pain came from the girl's lips. She sat -palled and unmoving, with her eyes still closed. - -"No," she murmured faintly at last. "No. I won't go with you." - -"Shall I drag you?" - -"Yes. Drag me if you dare." - -His hand closed on her wrist; she felt herself jerked violently to her -feet, so roughly that it wrenched her shoulder. A startled, frightened -little cry broke from her lips, and then she closed them firmly at the -sight of several by-passers turning curious eyes on them. - -"I'll come," she murmured. The glimmering of an idea had risen in her -chaotic mind. - -She followed him in grim, bitter silence across the clipped turf to the -limit of the park. She recognized Nick's modest automobile standing -in the line of cars along the street; her companion, or captor, moved -directly towards it, opened the door and clambered in without a single -backward glance. He turned about and watched her as she paused with -one diminutive foot on the running board, and rubbed her hand over her -aching arm. - -"Get in!" he ordered coldly. - -She made no move. "I want to know where you intend to take me." - -"It doesn't matter. To a place where we can complete that unfinished -experiment of ours. Aren't you happy at the prospect?" - -"Do you think," she said unsteadily, "that I'd consent to that even to -save Nick from disgrace and punishment? Do you think I'm fool enough -for that?" - -"We'll soon see." He extended his hand. "Scream--fight--struggle!" he -jeered. "Call them down on your sweetheart!" - -He had closed his hand on her wrist; she jerked it convulsively from -his grasp. - -"I'll bargain with you!" she gasped. She needed a moment's respite to -clarify a thought that had been growing in her mind. - -"Bargain? What have you to offer?" - -"As much as you!" - -"Ah, but I have a threat--the threat to your sweetheart! And I'm -offering too the lure of that evil whose face so charmed you recently. -Have you forgotten how nearly I won you to the worship of that -principle? Have you forgotten the ecstasy of that pain?" - -His terrible, blood-shot eyes were approaching her face; and strangely, -the girl felt a curious recurrence of that illogical desire to yield -that had swept over her on that disastrous night of Saturday. There -_had_ been an ecstasy; there _had_ been a wild, ungodly, unhallowed -pleasure in his blows, in the searing pain of his kisses on her -lacerated lips. She realized vaguely that she was staring blankly, -dazedly, into the red eyes, and that somewhere within her, some insane -brain-cells were urging her to clamber to the seat beside him. - -She tore her eyes away. She rubbed her bruised shoulder, and the pain -of her own touch restored her vanishing logical faculties. She returned -her gaze to the face of the other, meeting his gaze now coolly. - -"Nick!" she said earnestly, as if calling him from a distance. "Nick!" - -There was, she fancied, the faintest gleam of concern apparent in the -features opposite her. She continued. - -"Nick!" she repeated. "You can hear me, Honey. Come to the house as -soon as you are able. Come tonight, or any time; I'll wait until you -do. You'll come, Honey; you must!" - -She backed away from the car; the other made no move to halt her. She -circled the vehicle and dashed recklessly across the street. From the -safety of the opposite walk she glanced back; the red-eyed visage was -regarding her steadily through the glass of the window. - - - - -21 - -A Question of Synapses - - -Pat almost ran the few blocks to her home. She hastened along in a near -panic, regardless of the glances of pedestrians she chanced to pass. -With the disappearance of the immediate urge, the composure for which -she had struggled had deserted her, and she felt shaken, terrified, -and weak. Her arm ached miserably, and her wrenched shoulder pained at -each movement. It was not until she attained her own door-step that she -paused, panting and quivering, to consider the events of the evening. - -"I can't stand any more of this!" she muttered wretchedly to herself. -"I'll just have to give up, I guess; I can't pit myself another time -against--that thing." - -She leaned wearily against the railing of the porch, rubbing her -injured arm. - -"Dr. Carl was right," she thought. "Nick was right; it's dangerous. -There was a moment there at the end when he--or it--almost had me. I'm -frightened," she admitted. "Lord only knows what might have happened -had I been a little weaker. If the Lord _does_ know," she added. - -She found her latch-key and entered the house. Only a dim light burned -in the hall; her mother, of course, was at the Club, and the maid and -Magda were far away in their chambers on the third floor. She tossed -her wrap on a chair, switched on a brighter light, and examined the -painful spot on her arm, a red mark already beginning to turn a nasty -blue, with two tiny specks of drying blood. She shuddered, and trudged -wearily up the stairs to her room. - -The empty silence of the house oppressed her. She wanted human -companionship--safe, trustworthy, friendly company, anyone to distract -her thoughts from the eerie, disturbing direction they were taking. -She was still in somewhat of a panic, and suppressed with difficulty a -desire to peep fearfully under the bed. - -"Coward!" she chided herself. "You knew what to expect." - -Suddenly the recollection of her parting words recurred to her. She -had told Nick--if Nick had indeed heard--to come to the house, to come -at once, tonight, if he could. A tremor of apprehension ran through -her. Suppose he came; suppose he came as her own Nick, and she admitted -him, and then--or suppose that other came, and managed by some trick to -enter, or suppose that unholy fascination of his prevailed on her--she -shivered, and brushed her hand distractedly across her eyes. - -"I can't stand it!" she moaned. "I'll have to give up, even if it means -never seeing Nick again. I'll have to!" She shook her head miserably as -if to deny the picture that had risen in her mind of herself and that -horror alone in the house. - -"I won't stay here!" she decided. She peeped out of the west windows at -the Doctor's residence, and felt a surge of relief at the sight of his -iron-gray hair framed in the library window below. He was reading; she -could see the book on his knees. There was her refuge; she ran hastily -down the stairs and out of the door. - -With an apprehensive glance along the street she crossed to his door -and rang the bell. She waited nervously for his coming, and, with -a sudden impulse, pulled her vanity-case from her bag and dabbed a -film of powder over the mark on her arm. Then his ponderous footsteps -sounded and the door opened. - -"Hello," he said genially. "These late evening visits of yours are -becoming quite customary--and see if I care!" - -"May I come in a while?" asked Pat meekly. - -"Have I ever turned you away?" He followed her into the library, pushed -a chair forward for her, and dropped quickly into his own with an air -of having snatched it from her just in time. - -"I didn't want your old arm-chair," she remarked, occupying the other. - -"And what's the trouble tonight?" he queried. - -"I--well, I was just nervous. I didn't want to stay in the house alone." - -"You?" His tone was skeptical. "You were nervous? That hardly sounds -reasonable, coming from an independent little spit-fire like you." - -"I was, though. I was scared." - -"And of what--or whom?" - -"Of haunts and devils." - -"Oh." He nodded. "I see you've had results from your letter-writing." - -"Well, sort of." - -"I'm used to your circumlocutions, Pat. Suppose you come directly to -the point for once. What happened?" - -"Why, I wrote Nick to get in touch with me, and I got a reply. He said -to meet him in the park at a place we knew. This evening." - -"And you did, of course." - -"Yes, but before that, this afternoon, he called up and told me not to, -but I insisted and we did." - -"Told you not to, eh? And was his warning justified?" - -"Yes. Oh, yes! When I came to the place, it was--the other." - -"So! Well, he could hardly manhandle you in a public park." - -Pat thought of her wrenched shoulder and bruised arm. She shuddered. - -"He's horrible!" she said. "Inhuman! He kept referring to Saturday -night, and he threatened that if I moved or made a disturbance he'd let -Nick suffer the consequences. So I kept still while he insulted me." - -"You nit-wit!" There was more than a trace of anger in the Doctor's -voice. "I want to see that pup of yours! We'll soon find out what this -thing is--a mania or simply lack of a good licking!" - -"What it is?" echoed Pat. "Oh--it told me! Dr. Carl, what's a synopsis?" - -"A synopsis! You know perfectly well." - -"I mean applied to physiology or psychology or something. It--he told -me he was a question of synopsis." - -"This devil of yours said that?" - -"Yes." - -"Hum!" The Doctor's voice was musing. He frowned perplexedly, then -looked up abruptly. "Was it--did he by any chance say synapses? Not -synopsis--synapses?" - -"That's it!" exclaimed the girl. "He said he was a question of -synapses. Does that explain him? Do you know what he is?" - -"Doesn't explain a damn thing!" snapped Horker. "A synapse is a -juncture, or the meeting of two nerves. It's why you can develop -automatic motions and habits, like playing piano, or dancing. When you -form a habit, the synapses of the nerves involved are sort of worn -thin, so the nerves themselves are, in a sense, short-circuited. You go -through motions without the need of your brain intervening, which is -all a habit amounts to. Understand?" - -"Not very well," confessed Pat. - -"Humph! It doesn't matter anyway. I can't see that it helps to analyze -your devil." - -"I don't care if it's never analyzed," said Pat with a return of -despondency. "Dr. Carl, I can't face that evil thing again. I can't do -it, not even if it means never seeing Nick!" - -"Sensible," said the Doctor approvingly. "I'd like to have a chance at -him, but not enough to keep you in this state of jitters. Although," he -added, "a lot of this mystery is the product of your own harum-scarum -mind. You can be sure of that, Honey." - -"You _would_ say so," responded the girl wearily. "You've never seen -that--change. If it's my imagination, then I'm the one that needs your -treatments, not Nick." - -"It isn't _all_ imagination, most likely," said Horker defensively. "I -know these introverted types with their hysterias, megalomanias, and -defense mechanisms! They've paraded through my office there for a good -many years, Pat; they've provided the lion's share of my practice. But -this young psychopathic of yours seems to have it bad--abnormally so, -and that's why I'm so interested, apart from helping you, of course." - -"I don't care," said Pat apathetically, repressing a desire to rub her -injured arm. "I'm through. I'm scared out of the affair. Another week -like this last one and I _would_ be one of your patients." - -"Best drop it, then," said Horker, eyeing her seriously. "Nothing's -worth upsetting yourself like this, Pat." - -"Nick's worth it," she murmured. "He's worth it--only I just haven't -the strength. I haven't the courage. I can't do it!" - -"Never mind, Honey," the Doctor muttered, regarding her with an -expression of concern. "You're probably well out of the mess. I know -damn well you haven't told me everything about this affair--notably, -how you acquired that ugly mark on your arm that's so carefully -powdered over. So, all in all, I guess you're well out of it." - -"I suppose I am." Her voice was still weary. Suddenly the glare of -headlights drew her attention to the window; a car was stopping before -her home. "There's Mother," she said. "I'll go on back now, Dr. Carl, -and thanks for entertaining a lonesome and depressed lady." - -She rose with a casual glance through the window, then halted in frozen -astonishment and a trace of terror. - -"Oh!" she gasped. The car was the modest coupe of Nicholas Devine. - -She peered through the window; the Doctor rose and stared over her -shoulder. "I told him to come," she whispered. "I told him to come when -he was able. He heard me, he or--the other." - -A figure alighted from the vehicle. Even in the dusk she could perceive -the exhaustion, the weariness in its movements. She pressed her face -to the pane, surveying the form with fascinated intentness. It turned, -supporting itself against the car and gazing steadily at her own door. -With the movement the radiance of a street-light illuminated its -features. - -"It's Nick!" she cried with such eagerness that the Doctor was -startled. "It's _my_ Nick!" - - - - -22 - -Doctor and Devil - - -Pat rushed to the door, out upon the porch, and down to the street. -Dr. Horker followed her to the entrance and stood watching her as she -darted toward the dejected figure beside the car. - -"Nick!" she cried. "I'm here, Honey. You heard me, didn't you?" - -She flung herself into his arms; he held her eagerly, pressing a hasty, -tender kiss on her lips. - -"You heard me!" she murmured. - -"Yes." His voice was husky, strained. "What is it, Pat? Tell me -quickly--God knows how much time we have!" - -"It's Dr. Carl. He'll help us, Nick." - -"Help us! No one can help us, dear. No one!" - -"He'll try. It can't do any harm, Honey. Come in with me. Now!" - -"It's useless, I tell you!" - -"But come," she pleaded. "Come anyway!" - -"Pat, I tell you this battle has to be fought out by me alone. I'm the -only one who can do anything at all and," he lowered his voice, "Pat, -I'm losing!" - -"Nick!" - -"That's why I came tonight. I was too cowardly to make our last -meeting--Monday evening in the park--a definite farewell. I wanted to, -but I weakened. So tonight, Pat, it's a final good-bye, and you thank -Heaven for it!" - -"Oh, Nick dear!" - -"It was touch and go whether I came at all tonight. It was a struggle, -Pat; _he_ is as strong as I am now. Or stronger." - -The girl gazed searchingly into his worn, weary face. He looked -miserably ill, she thought; he seemed as exhausted as one who had been -engaged in a physical battle. - -"Nick," she said insistently, "I don't care what you say, you're coming -in with me. Only for a little while." - -She tugged at his hand, dragging him reluctantly after her. He followed -her to the porch where the open door still framed the great figure of -the Doctor. - -"You know Dr. Carl," she said. - -"Come inside," growled Horker. Pat noticed the gruffness of his voice, -his lack of any cordiality, but she said nothing as she pulled her -reluctant companion through the door and into the library. - -The Doctor drew up another chair, and Pat, more accustomed to his -devices, observed that he placed it in such position that the lamp cast -a stream of radiance on Nick's face. She sank into her own chair and -waited silently for developments. - -"Well," said Horker, turning his shrewd old eyes on Nick's countenance, -"let's get down to cases. Pat's told me what she knows; we can take -that much for granted. Is there anything more you might want to tell?" - -"No, sir," responded the youth wearily. "I've told Pat all I know." - -"Humph! Maybe I can ask some leading questions, then. Will you answer -them?" - -"Of course, any that I can." - -"All right. Now," the Doctor's voice took on a cool professional edge, -"you've had these--uh--attacks as long as you can remember. Is that -right?" - -"Yes." - -"But they've been more severe of late?" - -"Much worse, sir!" - -"Since when?" - -"Since--about as long as I've known Pat. Four or five weeks." - -"M--m," droned the Doctor. "You've no idea of the cause for this -increase in the malignancy of the attacks?" - -"No sir," said Nick, after a barely perceptible hesitation. - -"You don't think the cause could be in any way connected with, let us -say, the emotional disturbances attending your acquaintance with Pat -here?" - -"No, sir," said the youth flatly. - -"All right," said Horker. "Let that angle go for the present. Are there -any after effects from these spells?" - -"Yes. There's always a splitting headache." He closed his eyes. "I have -one of them now." - -"Localized?" - -"Sir?" - -"Is the pain in any particular region? Forehead, temples, eyes, or so -forth?" - -"No. Just a nasty headache." - -"But no other after-effects?" - -"I can't think of any others. Except, perhaps, a feeling of exhaustion -after I've gone through what I've just finished." He closed his eyes as -if to shut out the recollection. - -"Well," mused the Doctor, "we'll forget the physical symptoms. What -happens to your individuality, your own consciousness, while you're -suffering an attack?" - -"Nothing happens to it," said Nick with a suppressed shudder. "I -watch and hear, but what _he_ does is beyond my control. It's -terrifying--horrible!" he burst out suddenly. - -"Doubtless," responded Horker smoothly. "What about the other? Does -that one stand by while you're in the saddle?" - -"I don't know," muttered Nick dully. "Of course he does!" he added -abruptly. "I can feel his presence at all times--even now. He's always -lurking, waiting to spring forth, as soon as I relax!" - -"Humph!" ejaculated the Doctor. "How do you manage to sleep?" - -"By waiting for exhaustion," said Nick wearily. "By waiting until I can -stay awake no longer." - -"And can you bring this other personality into dominance? Can you -change controls, so to speak, at will?" - -"Why--yes," the youth answered, hesitating as if puzzled. "Yes, I -suppose I could." - -"Let's see you, then." - -"But--" Horror was in his voice. - -"No, Dr. Carl!" Pat interjected in fright. "I won't let him!" - -"I thought you declared yourself out of this," said Horker with a -shrewd glance at the girl. - -"Then I'm back in it! I won't let him do what you want--anyway, not -that!" - -"Pat," said the Doctor with an air of patience, "you want me to treat -this affliction, don't you? Isn't that what both of you want?" - -The girl murmured a scarcely audible assent. - -"Very well, then," he proceeded. "Do you expect me to treat the thing -blindly--in the dark? Do you think I can guess at the cause without -observing the effect?" - -"No," said Pat faintly. - -"So! Now then," he turned to Nick, "Let's see this transformation." - -"Must I?" asked the youth reluctantly. - -"If you want my help." - -"All right," he agreed with another tremor. He sat passively staring -at the Doctor; a moment passed. Horker heard Pat's nervous breathing; -other than that, the room was in silence. Nicholas Devine closed his -eyes, brushed his hand across his forehead. A moment more and he opened -them to gaze perplexedly at the Doctor. - -"He won't!" he muttered in astonishment. "He won't do it!" - -"Humph!" snapped Horker, ignoring Pat's murmur of relief. "Finicky -devil, isn't he? Likes to pick company he can bully!" - -"I don't understand it!" Nick's face was blank. "He's been tormenting -me until just now!" He looked at the Doctor. "You don't think I'm lying -about it, do you, Dr. Horker?" - -"Not consciously," replied the other coolly. "If I thought you were -responsible for a few of the indignities perpetrated on Pat here, I'd -waste no time in questions, young man. I'd be relieving myself of -certain violent impulses instead." - -"I _couldn't_ harm Pat!" - -"You gave a passable imitation of it, then! However, that's beside the -point; as I say, I don't hold you responsible for aberrations which I -believe are beyond your control. The main thing is a diagnosis." - -"Do you know what it is?" cut in Pat eagerly. - -"Not yet--at least, not for certain. There's only one real method -available; these questions will get us nowhere. We'll have to -psychoanalyze you, young man." - -"I don't care what you do, if you can offer any hope!" he declared -vehemently. "Let's get it over!" - -"Not as easy as all that!" rumbled Horker. "It takes time; and besides, -it can't be successful with the subject in a hectic mood such as -yours." He glanced at his watch. "Moreover, it's after midnight." - -He turned to Nicholas Devine. "We'll make it Saturday evening," -he said. "Meanwhile, young man, you're not to see Pat. Not at -all--understand? You can see her here when you come." - -"That's infinitely more than I'd planned for myself," said the youth in -a low voice. "I'd abandoned the hope of seeing her." - -He rose and moved toward the door, and the others followed. At the -entrance he paused; he leaned down to plant a brief, tender kiss on -the girl's lips, and moved wordlessly out of the door. Pat watched -him enter his car, and followed the vehicle with her eyes until it -disappeared. Then she turned to Horker. - -"Do you really know anything about it?" she queried. "Have you any -theory at all?" - -"He's not lying," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "I watched him closely; -he believes he's telling the truth." - -"He is. I know what I saw!" - -"He hasn't the signs of praecox or depressive," mused the Doctor. "It's -puzzling; it's one of those functional aberrations, or a fixed delusion -of some kind. We'll find out just what it is." - -"It's the devil," declared Pat positively. "I don't care what sort of -scientific tag you give it--that's what it is. You doctors can hide a -lot of ignorance under a long name." - -Horker paid no attention to her remarks. "We'll see what the -psychoanalysis brings out," he said. "I shouldn't be surprised if the -whole thing were the result of a defense mechanism erected by a timid -child in an effort to evade responsibility. That's what it sounds like." - -"It's a devil!" reiterated Pat. - -"Well," said the Doctor, "if it is, it has one thing in common with -every spook or devil I ever heard of." - -"What's that?" - -"It refuses to appear under any conditions where one has a chance to -examine it. It's like one of these temperamental mediums trying to -perform under a spot-light." - - - - -23 - -Werewolf - - -Pat awoke in rather better spirits. Somehow, the actual entrance of Dr. -Horker into the case gave her a feeling of security, and her natural -optimistic nature rode the pendulum back from despair to hope. Even the -painful black-and-blue mark on her arm, as she examined it ruefully, -failed to shake her buoyant mood. - -Her mood held most of the day; it was only at evening that a recurrence -of doubt assailed her. She sat in the dim living room waiting the -arrival of her mother's guests, and wondered whether, after all, the -predicament was as easily solvable as she had assumed. She watched -the play of lights and shadows across the ceiling, patterns cast -through the windows by moving headlights in the street, and wondered -anew whether her faith in Dr. Carl's abilities was justified. Science! -She had the faith of her generation in its omnipotence, but here in -the dusk, the outworn superstitions of childhood became appalling -realities, and some of Magda's stories, forgotten now for years, rose -out of their graves and went squeaking and maundering like sheeted -ghosts in a ghastly parade across the universe of her mind. The -meaningless taunts she habitually flung at Dr. Carl's science became -suddenly pregnant with truth; his patient, hard-learned science seemed -in fact no more than the frenzies of a witch-doctor dancing in the -heart of a Rhodesian swamp. - -What was it worth--this array of medical facts--if it failed to -cure? Was medicine falling into the state of Chinese science--a vast -collection of good rules for which the reasons were either unknown or -long forgotten? She sighed; it was with a feeling of profound relief -that she heard the voices of the Brocks outside; she played miserable -bridge the whole evening, but it was less of an affliction than the -solitude of her own thoughts. - -Saturday morning, cloudy and threatening though it was, found the -pendulum once more at the other end of the arc. She found herself, if -not buoyantly cheerful, at least no longer prey to the inchoate doubts -and fears of the preceding evening. She couldn't even recall their -nature; they had been apart from the cool, day-time logic that preached -a common-sense reliance on accepted practices. They had been, she -concluded, no more than childish nightmares induced by darkness and the -play of shadows. - -She dressed and ate a late breakfast; her mother was already en route -to the Club for her bridge-luncheon. Thereafter, she wandered into the -kitchen for the company of Magda, whom she found with massive arms -immersed in dish water. Pat perched on her particular stool beside the -kitchen table and watched her at her work. - -"Magda," she said finally. - -"I'm listening, Miss Pat." - -"Do you remember a story you told me a long time ago? Oh, years -and years ago, about a man in your town who could change into -something--some fierce animal. A wolf, or something like that." - -"Oh, him!" said Magda, knitting her heavy brows. "You mean the -werewolf." - -"That's it! The werewolf. I remember it now--how frightened I was after -I went to bed. I wasn't more than eight years old, was I?" - -"I couldn't remember. It was years ago, though, for sure." - -"What was the story?" queried Pat. "Do you remember that?" - -"Why, it was the time the sheep were being missed," said the woman, -punctuating her words with the clatter of dishes on the drainboard. -"Then there was a child gone, and another, and then tales of this great -wolf about the country. I didn't see him; us little ones stayed under -roof by darkness after that." - -"That wasn't all of it," said Pat. "You told me more than that." - -"Well," continued Magda, "there was my uncle, who was best hand with -a rifle in the village. He and others went after the creature, and my -uncle, he came back telling how he'd seen it plain against the sky, and -how he'd fired at it. He couldn't miss, he was that close, but the wolf -gave him a look and ran away." - -"And then what?" - -"Then the Priest came, and he said it wasn't a natural wolf. He melted -up a silver coin and cast a bullet, and he gave it to my uncle, he -being the best shot in the village. And the next night he went out once -more." - -"Did he get it?" asked Pat. "I don't remember." - -"He did. He came upon it by the pasture, and he aimed his gun. The -creature looked straight at him with its evil red eyes, and he shot it. -When he came to it, there wasn't a wolf at all, but this man--his name -I forget--with a hole in his head. And then the Priest, he said he was -a werewolf, and only a silver bullet could kill him. But my uncle, _he_ -said those evil red eyes kept staring at him for many nights." - -"Evil red eyes!" said Pat suddenly. "Magda," she asked in a faint -voice, "could he change any time he wanted to?" - -"Only by night, the Priest said. By sunrise he had to be back." - -"Only by night!" mused the girl. Another idea was forming in her active -little mind, another conception, disturbing, impossible to phrase. "Is -that worse than being possessed by a devil, Magda?" - -"Sure it's worse! The Priest, he could cast out the devil, but I never -heard no cure for being a werewolf." - -Pat said nothing further, but slid from her high perch to the floor and -went soberly out of the kitchen. The fears of last night had come to -life again, and now the over-cast skies outside seemed a fitting symbol -to her mood. She stared thoughtfully out of the living room windows, -and the sudden splash of raindrops against the pane lent a final touch -to the whole desolate ensemble. - -"I'm just a superstitious little idiot!" she told herself. "I laugh -at Mother because she always likes to play North and South, and here -I'm letting myself worry over superstitions that were discarded before -there was any such thing as a game called contract bridge." - -But her arguments failed to carry conviction. The memory of the -terrible eyes of that _other_ had clicked too aptly to Magda's phrase. -She couldn't subdue the picture that haunted her, and she couldn't cast -off the apprehensiveness of her mood. She recalled gloomily that Dr. -Horker was at the Club--wouldn't be home before evening, else she'd -have gladly availed herself of his solid, matter-of-fact company. - -She thought of Nick's appointment with the Doctor for that evening. -Suppose his psychoanalysis brought to light some such horror as these -fears of hers--that would forever destroy any possibility of happiness -for her and Nick. Even though the Doctor refused to recognize it, -called it by some polysyllabic scientific name, the thing would be -there to sever them. - -She wandered restlessly into the hall. The morning mail, unexamined, -lay in its brazen receptacle, she moved over, fingering it idly. -Abruptly she paused in astonishment--a letter in familiar script -had flashed at her. She pulled it out; it was! It was a letter from -Nicholas Devine! - -She tore it open nervously, wondering whether he had reverted to his -original refusal of Dr. Horker's aid, whether he was unable to come, -whether _that_ had happened. But only a single unfolded sheet slipped -from the envelope, inscribed with a few brief lines of poetry. - - "The grief that is too faint for tears, - And scarcely breathes of pain, - May linger on a hundred years - Ere it creep forth again. - But I, who love you now too well - To suffer your disdain, - Must try tonight that love to quell-- - And try in vain!" - - - - -24 - -The Dark Other - - -It was early in the evening, not yet eight o'clock, when Pat saw the -car of Nicholas Devine draw up before the house. She had already been -watching half an hour, sitting cross-legged in the deep window seat, -like her jade Buddha. That equivocal poem of his had disturbed her, -lent an added strength to the moods and doubts already implanted by -Magda's mystical tale, and it was with a feeling of trepidation that -she watched him emerge wearily from his vehicle and stare in indecision -first at her window and then at the Horker residence. The waning -daylight was still sufficient to delineate his worn features; she -could see them, pale, harried, but indubitably the mild features of her -own Nick. - -While he hesitated, she darted to the door and out upon the porch. He -gave her a wan smile of greeting, advanced to the foot of the steps, -and halted there. - -"The Doctor's not home yet," she called to him. He stood motionless -below her. - -"Come up on the porch," she invited, as he made no move. She uttered -the words with a curious feeling of apprehension; for even as she ached -for his presence, the uncertain state of affairs was frightening. She -thought fearfully that what had happened before might happen again. -Still, there on the open porch, in practically full daylight, and for -so brief a time--Dr. Carl would be coming very shortly, she reasoned. - -"I can't," said Nick, staring wistfully at her. "You know I can't." - -"Why not?" - -"I promised. You remember--I promised Dr. Horker I'd not see you except -in his presence." - -"So you did," said Pat doubtfully. The promise offered escape from -a distressing situation, she thought, and yet--somehow, seeing Nick -standing pathetically there, she couldn't imagine anything harmful -emanating from him. There had been many and many evenings in his -company that had passed delightfully, enjoyably, safely. She felt a -wave of pity for him; after all, the affliction was his, most of the -suffering was his. - -"We needn't take it so literally," she said almost reluctantly. "He'll -be home very soon now." - -"I know," said Nick soberly, "but it was a promise, and besides, I'm -afraid." - -"Never mind, Honey," she said, after a momentary hesitation. "Come up -and sit here on the steps, then--here beside me. We can talk just as -well as there on the settee." - -He climbed the steps and seated himself, watching Pat with longing -eyes. He made no move to touch her, nor did she suggest a kiss. - -"I read your poem, Honey," she said finally. "It worried me." - -"I'm sorry, Pat. I couldn't sleep. I kept wandering around the house, -and at last I wrote it and took it out and mailed it. It was a vent, a -relief from the things I'd been thinking." - -"What things, Honey?" - -"A way, mostly," he answered gloomily, "of removing myself from your -life. A permanent way." - -"Nick!" - -"I didn't, as you see, Pat. I was too cowardly, I suppose. Or perhaps -it was because of this forlorn hope of ours. There's always hope, Pat; -even the condemned man with his foot on the step to the gallows feels -it." - -"Nick dear!" she cried, her voice quavering in pity. "Nick, you mustn't -think of those things! It might weaken you--make it easier for _him_!" - -"It can't. If it frightens _him_, I'm glad." - -"Honey," she said soothingly, "we'll give Dr. Carl a chance. Promise me -you'll let him try, won't you?" - -"Of course I will. Is there anything I'd refuse to promise you, Pat? -Even," he added bitterly, "when reason tells me it's a futile promise." - -"Don't say it!" she urged fiercely. "We've got to help him. We've got -to believe--There he comes!" she finished with sudden relief. - -The Doctor's car turned up the driveway beyond his residence. Pat saw -his face regarding them as he disappeared behind the building. - -"Come on, Honey," she said. "Let's get at the business." - -They moved slowly over to the Doctor's door, waiting there until his -ponderous footsteps sounded. A light flashed in the hall, and his broad -shadow filled the door for a moment before it opened. - -"Come in," he rumbled jovially. "Fine evening we're spoiling, isn't it?" - -"It could be," said Pat as they followed him into the library, "only -it'll probably rain some more." - -"Hah!" snorted the Doctor, frowning at the mention of rain. "The course -was soft. Couldn't get any distance, and it added six strokes to my -score. At least six!" - -Pat chuckled commiseratingly. "You ought to lay out a course in -Greenland," she suggested. "They say anyone can drive a ball a quarter -of a mile on smooth ice." - -"Humph!" The Doctor waved toward a great, low chair. "Suppose you sit -over there, young man, and we'll get about our business. And don't look -so woe-begone about it." - -Nick settled himself nervously in the designated chair; the Doctor -seated himself at a little distance to the side, and Pat sat tensely in -her usual place beside the hearth. She waited in strained impatience -for the black magic of psychoanalysis to commence. - -"Now," said Horker, "I want you to keep quiet, Pat--if possible. And -you, young man, are to relax, compose yourself, get yourself into as -passive a state as possible. Do you understand?" - -"Yes, sir," The youth leaned back in the great chair, closing his eyes. - -"So! Now, think back to your childhood, your earliest memories. Let -your thoughts wander at random, and speak whatever comes to your mind." - -Nick sat a moment in silence. "That's hard to do, sir," he said finally. - -"Yes. It will take practice, weeks of it, perhaps. You'll have to -acquire the knack of it, but to do that, we'll have to start." - -"Yes, sir." He sat with closed eyes. "My mother," he murmured, "was -kind. I remember her a little, just a little. She was very gentle, not -apt to blame me. She could understand. Made excuses to my father. He -was hard, not cruel--strict. Couldn't understand. Blamed me when I -wasn't to blame. Other did it. I wasn't mischievous, but got the blame. -Couldn't explain, he wouldn't believe me." He paused uncertainly. - -"Go on," said Horker quietly, while Pat strained her ears to listen. - -"Mrs. Stevens," he continued. "Governess after Mother died. Strict like -Father, got punished when I wasn't to blame. Just as bad after Father -died. Always blamed. Couldn't explain, nobody believed me. Other threw -cat in window, I had to go to bed. Put salt in bird seed, broke leg of -chair to make it fall. Punished--I couldn't explain." His voice droned -into silence; he opened his eyes. "That all," he said nervously. - -"Good enough for the first time," said the Doctor briskly. "Wait a few -weeks; we'll have your life's history out of you. It takes practice." - -"Is that all?" queried Pat in astonishment. - -"All for the first time. Later we'll let him talk half an hour at a -stretch, but it takes practice, as I've mentioned. You run along home -now," he said to Nick. - -"But it's early!" objected Pat. - -"Early or not," said the Doctor, "I'm tired, and you two aren't to see -each other except here. You remember that." - -Nick rose from his seat in the depths of the great chair. "Thank you, -sir," he said. "I don't know why, but I feel easier in your presence. -The--the struggle disappears while I'm here." - -"Well," said Horker with a smile, "I like patients with confidence in -me. Good night." - -At the door Nick paused, turning wistful eyes on Pat. "Good night," he -said, leaning to give her a light kiss. A rush of some emotion twisted -his features; he stared strangely at the girl. "I'd better go," he said -abruptly, and vanished through the door. - -"Well?" said Pat questioningly, turning to the Doctor. "Did you learn -anything from that?" - -"Not much," the other admitted, yawning. "However, the results bear out -my theory." - -"How?" - -"Did you notice how he harped on the undeserved punishment theme? He -was punished for another's mischief?" - -"Yes. What of that?" - -"Well, picture him as a timid, sensitive child, rather afraid of being -punished. Afraid, say, of being locked up in a dark closet. Now, when -he inadvertently commits a mischief, as all children do, he tries -desperately to divert the blame from himself. But there's no one else -to blame! So what does he do?" - -"What?" - -"He invents this _other_, the mischievous one, and blames him. And -now the other has grown to the proportions of a delusion, haunting -him, driving him to commit acts apart from his normal inclinations. -Understand? Because I'm off to bed whether you do or not." - -"I understand all right," murmured Pat uncertainly as she moved to the -door. "But somehow, it doesn't sound reasonable." - -"It will," said the Doctor. "Good night." - -Pat wandered slowly down the steps and through the break in the hedge, -musing over Doctor Horker's expression of opinion. Then, according -to him, the devil was nothing more than an invention of Nick's mind, -the trick of a cowardly child to evade just punishment. She shook her -head; it didn't sound like Nick at all. For all his gentleness and -sensitivity, he wasn't the one to hide behind a fabrication. He wasn't -a coward; she was certain of that. And she was as sure as she could -ever be that he hated, feared, loathed this personality that afflicted -him; he _couldn't_ have created it. - -She sighed, mounted the steps, and fumbled for her key. The sound -of a movement behind her brought a faint gasp of astonishment. She -turned to see a figure materializing from the shadows of the porch. -The light from the hall fell across its features, and she drew back as -she recognized Nicholas Devine--not the being she had just kissed good -night, but in the guise of her tormentor, the red-eyed demon! - - - - -25 - -The Demon Lover - - -Pat drew back, leaning against the door, and her key tinkled on the -concrete of the porch. She was startled, shocked, but not as completely -terrified as she might have expected. After all, she thought rapidly, -they were standing in full view of a public street, and Dr. Carl's -residence was but a few feet distant. She could summon his help by -screaming. - -"Well!" she exclaimed, eyeing the figure inimically. "Your appearances -and disappearances are beginning to remind me of the Cheshire Cat." - -"Except for the grin," said the other in his cold tones. - -"What do you want?" snapped Pat. - -"You know what I want." - -"You'll not get it," said the girl angrily. "You--you're doomed to -extinction, anyway! Go away!" - -"Suppose," said the other with a strange, cold, twisted smile, "it were -_he_ that's doomed to extinction--what then?" - -"It isn't!" cried Pat. "It isn't!" she repeated, while a quiver of -uncertainty shook her. "He's the stronger," she said defiantly. - -"Then where is he now?" - -"Dr. Carl will help us!" - -"Doctor!" sneered the other. "He and his clever theory! Am I an -illusion?" he queried sardonically, thrusting his red-glinting eyes -toward her. "Am I the product of his puerile, vacillating nature? Bah! -I gave you the clue, and your Doctor hasn't the intelligence to follow -it!" - -"Go away!" murmured Pat faintly. The approach of his face had unnerved -her, and she felt terror beginning to stir within her. "Go away!" she -said again. "Why do you have to torment me? Any one would serve your -purpose--any woman!" - -"You have an aesthetic appeal, as I've told you before," replied the -other in that toneless voice of his. "There is a pleasure in the -defacement of black hair and pale skin, and your body is seductive, -most seductive. Another might afford me less enjoyment, and besides, -you hate me. Don't you hate me?" He peered evilly at her. - -"Oh, God--yes!" The girl was shuddering. - -"Say it, then! Say you hate me!" - -"I hate you!" the girl cried vehemently. "Will you go away now?" - -"With you!" - -"I'll scream if you come any closer. You don't dare touch me; I'll call -Dr. Horker." - -"You'll only damage _him_--your lover." - -"Then I'll do it! He'll understand." - -"Yes," said the other reflectively. "He's fool enough to forgive you. -He'll forgive you anything--the weakling!" - -"Go away! Get away from here!" - -The other stared at her out of blood-shot eyes. "Very well," he said in -his flat tones. "This time the victory is yours." - -He backed slowly toward the steps. Pat watched him as he moved, feeling -a surge of profound relief. As his shadow shifted, her key gleamed -silver at her feet, and she stooped to retrieve it. - -There was a rush of motion as her eyes left the form of her antagonist. -A hand was clamped violently over her mouth, an arm passed with -steel-like rigidity about her body. Nicholas Devine was dragging her -toward the steps; she was half-way down before she recovered her wits -enough to struggle. - -She writhed and twisted in his grasp. She drove her elbow into his -body with all her power, and kicked with the strength of desperation -at his legs. She bit into the palm across her mouth--and suddenly, -with a subdued grunt of pain, he released her so abruptly that her own -struggles sent her spinning blindly into the bushes of the hedge. - -She turned gasping, unable for the moment to summon sufficient breath -to scream. The other stood facing her with his eyes gleaming terribly -into her own; then they ranged slowly from her diminutive feet to the -rumpled ebony of her hair that she was brushing back with her hands -from her pallid, frightened face. - -"Obstinate," he observed, rubbing his injured palm. - -"Obstinate and unbroken--but worth the trouble. Well worth it!" He -reached out a swift hand, seizing her wrist as she backed against the -bushes. - -Pat twisted around, gazing frantically at Doctor Horker's house, where -a light had only now flashed on in the upper windows. Her breath flowed -back into her lungs with a strengthening rush. - -"Dr. Carl!" she screamed. "Dr. Carl! Help me!" - -The other spun her violently about. She had a momentary glimpse of -a horribly evil countenance, then he drew back his arm and shot a -clenched fist to her chin. - -The world reeled into a blaze of spinning lights that faded quickly to -darkness. She felt her knees buckling beneath her, and realized that -she was crumpling forward toward the figure before her. Then for a -moment she was aware of nothing. - -She didn't quite lose consciousness, or at least for no more than a -moment. She was suddenly aware that she was gazing down at a moving -pavement, at her own arms dangling helplessly toward it. She perceived -that she was lying limply across Nicholas Devine's shoulder with his -arms clenched about her knees. And then, still unable to make the -slightest resistance, she was bundled roughly into the seat of his -coupe; he was beside her, and the car was purring into motion. - -She summoned what remained of her strength. She drew herself erect, -fumbling at the handle of the door with a frantic idea of casting -herself out of the car to the street. The creature beside her jerked -her violently back; as she reeled into the seat, he struck her again -with the side of his fist. It was a random blow, delivered with -scarcely a glance at her; it caught her on the forehead, snapping her -head with an audible thump against the wall of the vehicle. She swayed -for a moment with closing eyes, then collapsed limply against him, this -time in complete unconsciousness. - -That lapse too must have been brief. She opened dazed eyes on a vista -of moving street lights; they were still in the car, passing now along -some unrecognized thoroughfare lined with dark old homes. She lay -for some moments uncomprehending; she was completely unaware of her -situation. - -It dawned on her slowly. She moaned, struggled away from the shoulder -against which she had been leaning, and huddled miserably in the far -corner of the seat. Nicholas Devine gave her a single glance with his -unpleasant eyes, and turned them again on the street. - -The girl was helpless, unable to put forth the strength even for -another attempt to open the door. She was still only half aware of her -position, and realized only that something appalling was occurring to -her. She lay in passive misery against the cushions of the seat as the -other turned suddenly up a dark driveway and into the open door of a -small garage. He snapped off the engine, extinguished the headlights, -and left them in a horrible, smothering, silent darkness. - -She heard him open the door on his side; after an apparently -interminable interval, she heard the creak of the hinges on her own -side. She huddled terrified, voiceless, and immobile. - -He reached in, fumbling against her in the darkness. He found her arm, -and dragged her from the car. Again, as on that other occasion, she -found herself reeling helplessly behind him through the dark as he -tugged at her wrist. He paused at a door in the building adjacent to -the garage, searching in his pocket with his free hand. - -"I won't go in there!" she muttered dazedly. The other made no reply, -but inserted a key in the lock, turned it, and swung open the door. - -He stepped through it, dragging her after him. With a sudden access of -desperate strength, she caught the frame of the door, jerked violently -on her prisoned wrist, and was unexpectedly free. She reeled away, -turned toward the street, and took a few faltering steps down the -driveway. - -Almost instantly her tormentor was upon her, and his hand closed again -on her arm. Pat had no further strength; she sank to the pavement and -crouched there, disregarding the insistent tugging on her arm. - -"Come on," he growled. "You only delay the inevitable. Must I drag you?" - -She made no reply. He tugged violently at her wrist, dragging her a few -inches along the pavement. Then he stooped over her, raised her in his -arms, and bore her toward the dark opening of the door. He crowded her -roughly through it, disregarding the painful bumping of her shoulders -and knees. She heard the slam of the door as he kicked it closed, -and she realized that they were mounting a flight of stairs, moving -somewhere into the oppressive threatening darkness. - -Then they were moving along a level floor, and her arm was bruised -against another door. There was a moment of stillness, and then she was -released, dropped indifferently to the surface of a bed or couch. A -moment later a light flashed on. - -The girl was conscious at first only of the gaze of the red eyes. They -held her own in a fascinating, unbreakable, trance-like spell. Then, in -a wave of dizziness, she closed her own eyes. - -"Where are we?" she murmured. "In Hell?" - -"You should call it Heaven," came the sardonic voice. "It's the home of -your sweetheart. His home--and mine!" - - - - -26 - -The Depths - - -"Heaven and Hell always were the same place," said Nicholas Devine, his -red eyes glaring down at the girl. "We'll demonstrate the fact." - -Pat shifted wearily, and sat erect, passing her hand dazedly across her -face. She brushed the tangled strands of black hair from before her -eyes, and stared dully at the room in which she found herself. - -It had some of the aspects of a study, and some of a laboratory, or -perhaps a doctor's office. There was a case of dusty books on the wall -opposite, and another crystal-fronted cabinet containing glassware, -bottles, little round boxes suggestive of drugs or pharmaceuticals. -There was a paper-littered table too; she gave a convulsive shudder at -the sight of a bald, varnished death's head, its lower jar articulated, -that reposed on a pile of papers and grinned at her. - -"Where--" she began faintly. - -"This was the room of your sweetheart's father," said the other. "His -and my mutual father. He was an experimenter, a researcher, and so, in -another sense, am I!" He leered evilly at her. "He used this chamber -to further his experiments, and I for mine--the carrying on of a noble -family tradition!" - -The girl scarcely heard his words; the expressionless tone carried no -meaning to the chaos which was her mind. She felt only an inchoate -horror and a vague but all-encompassing fear, and her head was aching -from the blows he had dealt her. - -"What do you want?" she asked dully. - -"Why, there is an unfinished experiment. You must remember our -interrupted proceedings of a week ago! Have you already forgotten the -early steps of our experiment in evil?" - -Pat cringed at the cold, sardonic tones of the other. "Let me go," she -whimpered. "Please!" she appealed. "Let me go!" - -"In due time," he responded. "You lack gratitude," he continued. "Last -time, out of the kindness that is my soul, I permitted you to dull your -senses with alcohol, but you failed, apparently, to appreciate my -indulgence. But this time"--His eyes lit up queerly--"this time you -approach the consummation of our experiment with undimmed mind!" - -He approached her. She drew her knees up, huddling back on the couch, -and summoned the final vestiges of her strength. - -"I'll kick you!" she muttered desperately. "Keep back from me!" - -He paused just beyond her reach. "I had hoped," he said ironically, "if -not for your cooperation, at least for no further active resistance. -It's quite useless; I told you days ago that this time would come." - -He advanced cautiously; Pat thrust out her foot, driving it with all -her power. Instantly he drew back, catching her ankle in his hand. He -jerked her leg sharply upwards, and she was precipitated violently to -the couch. Again he advanced. - -The girl writhed away from him. She slipped from the foot of the couch -and darted in a circle around him, turning in an attempt to gain the -room's single exit--the door by which they had entered. He moved -quickly to intercept her; he closed the door as she backed despairingly -away, retreating to the far end of the room. Once more he faced her, -his malicious eyes gleaming, and moved deliberately toward her. - -She drew back until the table halted her; she pressed herself against -it as if to force her way still further. The other moved at unaltered -pace. Suddenly her hand pressed over some smooth, round, hard object; -she grasped it and flung the grinning skull at the more terrible -face that approached her. He dodged; there was a crash of glass as -the gruesome missile shattered the pane of the cabinet of drugs. And -inexorably, Nicholas Devine approached once more. - -She moved along the edge of the table, squeezed herself between it and -the wall. Behind her was one of the room's two windows, curtainless, -with drawn shades. She found the cord, jerked it, and let the blind -coil upward with an abrupt snap. - -"I'll throw myself through the window!" she announced with a sort of -desperate calm. "Don't dare move a step closer!" - -The demon paused once more in his deliberate advance. "You will, of -course," he said as if considering. "Given the opportunity. Your body -torn and broken, spotted with blood--that might be a pleasure second -only to that I plan." - -"You'll suffer for it!" said the girl hysterically. "I'll be glad to do -it, knowing you'll suffer!" - -"Not I--your sweetheart." - -"I don't care! I can't stand it!" - -The other smiled his demoniac smile, and resumed his advance. She -watched him in terror that had now reached the ultimate degree; her -mind could bear no more. She turned suddenly, raised her arm, and beat -her fist against the pane of the window. - -With the surprising resistance glass sometimes displays, it shook at -her blow but did not shatter. She drew back for a second attempt, -and her upraised arm was caught in a rigid grip, and she was dragged -backward to the center of the room, thrown heavily to the floor. She -sat dazedly looking up at the form standing over her. - -"Must I render you helpless again?" queried the flat voice of the -other. "Are you not yet broken, convinced of the uselessness of this -struggle?" - -She made no answer, staring dully at his immobile features. - -"Are you going to fight me further?" As she was still silent, he -repeated, "Are you?" - -She shook her head vaguely. "No," she muttered. She had reached the -point of utter indifference; nothing at all was important enough now to -struggle for. - -"Stand up!" ordered the being above her. - -She pulled herself wearily to her feet, leaning against the wall. She -closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them dully as the other moved. - -"What--are you--are you going to do?" she murmured. - -"First," said the demon coldly, "I shall disrobe you somewhat more -completely than on our other occasion. Thereafter we will proceed to -the consummation of our experiment." - -She watched him indifferently, uncomprehendingly, as he crooked a thin -finger in the neck of her frock. She felt the pressure as he pulled, -heard the rip of the fabric, and the pop of buttons, but she was -conscious of no particular sensation as the garment cascaded into a -black and red pool at her feet. She stood passive as he hooked his -finger in the strap of her vest, and that too joined the little mound -of cloth. She shivered slightly as she stood bared to the waist, but -gave no other sign. - -Again the thin hand moved toward her; from somewhere in her tormented -spirit a final shred of resistance arose, and she pushed the questing -member feebly to one side. She heard a low, sardonic laugh from her -oppressor. - -"Look at me!" he commanded. - -She raised her eyes wearily; she drew her arm about her in a forlorn -gesture of concealment. Her eyes met the strange orbs of the other, and -a faint thrill of horror stirred; other than this, she felt nothing. -Then his eyes were approaching her; she was conscious of the illusion -that they were expanding, filling all the space in front of her. Their -weird glow filled the world, dominated everything. - -"Will you yield?" he queried. - -The eyes commanded. "Yes," she said dully. - -She felt his hands icy cold on her bare shoulders. They traveled like a -shudder about her body, and suddenly she was pressed close to him. - -"Are you mine?" he demanded. For the first time there was a tinge of -expression in the toneless voice, a trace of eagerness. She made no -answer; her eyes, held by his, stared like the eyes of a person in a -trance, unwinking, fascinated. - -"Are you mine?" he repeated, his breath hissing on her cheek. - -"Yes." She heard her own voice in automatic reply to his question. - -"Mine--for the delights of evil?" - -"Yours!" she murmured. The eyes had blotted out everything. - -"And do you hate me?" - -"No." - -The arms about her tightened into crushing bands. The pressure -stopped her breath; her very bones seemed to give under their fierce -compression. - -"Do you hate me?" he muttered. - -"Yes!" she gasped. "Yes! I hate you!" - -"Ah!" He twisted his hand in her black hair, wrenching it roughly back. -"Are you ready now for the consummation? To look upon the face of evil?" - -She made no reply. Her eyes, as glassy as those of a sleep-walker, -stared into his. - -"Are you ready?" - -"Yes," she said. - -He pressed his mouth to hers. The fierceness of the kiss bruised her -lips, the pull of his hand in her hair was a searing pain, the pressure -of his arm about her body was a suffocation. Yet--somehow--there was -again the dawning of that unholy pleasure--the same degraded delight -that had risen in her on that other occasion, in the room of the -red-checked table cloth. Through some hellish alchemy, the leaden pain -was transmuting itself into the garish gold of a horrible, abnormal -pleasure. She found her crushed lips attempting a feeble, painful -response. - -At her movement, she felt herself swung abruptly from her feet. With -his lips still crushing hers, he raised her in his arms; she felt -herself borne across the room. He paused; there was a sudden release, -and she crashed to the hard surface of the couch, whose rough covering -scratched the bare flesh of her back. Nicholas Devine bent over her; -she saw his hand stretch toward her single remaining garment. And -again, from somewhere in her harassed soul, a spark of resistance -flashed. - -"Nick!" she moaned. "Oh, Nick! Help me!" - -"Call him!" said the other, a sneer on his face. "Call him! He hears; -it adds to his torment!" - -She covered her eyes with her hands. She felt his hand slip coldly -between her skin and the elastic about her waist. - -"Nick!" she moaned again. "Nick! Oh, my God! Nick!" - - - - -27 - -Two in Hell - - -The cold hand against Pat was still; she felt it rigid and stiff on -her flesh. She lay passive with closed eyes; having voiced her final -appeal, she was through. The words torn from her misery represented -the final iota of spirit remaining to her; and her bruised body and -battered mind had nothing further to give. - -The hand quivered and withdrew. For a moment more she lay motionless -with her arms clutched about her, then she opened her eyes, gazing -dully, hopelessly at the demon standing over her. He was watching her -with a curious abstracted frown; as she stirred, the scowl intensified, -and he drew back a step. - -His face contorted suddenly in a spasm of some unguessable emotion. -His fists clenched; a low unintelligible mutter broke from his lips. -"Strange!" she heard him say, and after a moment, "I'm still master -here!" - -He _was_ master; in a moment the emotion vanished, and he was again -standing over her, his face the same impassive demoniac mask. She -watched him in a dull stupor of despair that was too deep for even a -whimper of pain as he wrenched at the elastic about her waist, and it -cut into her flesh and parted. He tore the garment away, and the red -eyes bored down with a wild elation in their depths. - -"Mine!" the being muttered, a new hoarseness in his voice. "Are you -mine?" - -Pat made no answer; his voice croaked in more insistent tones. "Are you -mine?" - -She could not reply. She felt his fingers bite into the flesh of her -shoulder. She was shaken roughly, violently, and the question came -again, fiercely. The eyes flamed in command, and she felt through -her languor and weakness, the stirring of that strange and unholy -fascination that he held over her. - -"Answer!" he croaked. "Are you mine?" - -The torture of his searing grip on her shoulder wrung an answer from -her. - -"Yes," she murmured faintly. "Yours." - -She closed her eyes again in helpless resignation. She felt the -hand withdrawn, and she lay passive, waiting, on the verge of -unconsciousness, numb, spirit-broken, and beaten. - -Nothing happened. After a long interval she opened her eyes, and saw -the other standing again with clenched fists and contorted countenance. -His features were writhing in the intensity of his struggle; a strange -low snarl came from his lips. He backed away from her, step by step; he -leaned against the book-shelves, and beads of perspiration formed on -his scowling face. - -He was no longer master! She saw the change; imperceptibly the evil -vanished from his features, and suddenly they were no longer his, -but the weary, horror-stricken visage of her Nick! The red eyes were -no longer Satanic, but only the blood-shot, troubled, gentle eyes of -her sweetheart, and the lips had lost their grimness, and gasped and -quivered and trembled. He reeled against the wall, staggered to the -chair at the table, and sank weakly into it. - -Pat was far too exhausted, far too dazed, to feel anything but the -faintest sensation of relief. She realized only dimly that tears were -welling from her eyes, and that sharp sobs were shaking her. She was -for the moment unable to stir, and it was not long until the being at -the table turned stricken eyes on her that she moved. Then she drew -her knees up before her, as if to hide her body behind their slim, -chiffon-clad grace. - -Nick rose from the table, approaching her with weary, hesitant tread. -He seized a cover of some sort that was folded over the foot of the -couch, shook it out and cast it over her. She clutched it about her -body, sat erect and leaned back against the wall in utter exhaustion. -Many minutes passed with no word from either of the occupants of the -unholy chamber. It was Nick who broke the long silence. - -"Pat," he murmured in low tones. "Pat--Dear. Are you--all right?" - -She stared at him dazedly without answer. - -"Honey!" he said. "Honey! Tell me you're all right!" - -"All right?" she repeated uncomprehendingly. "Yes. I guess I'm all -right." - -"Then go, Pat! Get away from here before he--before anything happens! -Put your clothes on and hurry away!" - -"I can't!" she said, faintly. "I--can't!" - -"You must, Honey!" - -"I'm just--not able to. I will soon, Nick--honest. When I--when I get -my breath back." - -"Pat!" There was anguish in the cry. "Oh, God--Pat! We mustn't ever be -together again--not ever!" - -"No," she said. A bit of sanity was returning to her; comprehension of -her position sent a shudder through her. "No, we mustn't." - -"I couldn't bear another night like this--watching! I'd go mad!" - -"Oh!" she choked, tears starting. "If you hadn't come back, Nick!" - -"I conquered him," he said. "I don't think I could do it again. It was -your call that gave me the strength, Pat." He shook his head as if -bewildered. "He thought it was being in love with you that weakened me, -but in the end it was that which gave me the strength to subdue him." - -"I'm scared!" said the girl suddenly. "Oh, Nick! I'm frightened!" - -"You'd better go. You'd better dress and leave at once, Honey. Here." -He gathered her clothes from the floor, depositing them beside her on -the couch. "There are pins in the tray on the table, Pat. Fix yourself -up as well as you can, dear--and hurry out of here!" - -He turned toward the door as if to leave, and a shock of terror shook -her. - -"Nick!" she cried. "Don't go away! I'm more afraid when I can't see -you--afraid that _he_--" She broke off sobbing. - -"All right, Honey. I'll turn my back." - -She slipped out from under the blanket, found the pins, and repaired -her ruined costume. The frock was torn, crushed and bedraggled; she -pinned it together at the throat, though her trembling fingers made the -task difficult. She pulled it on and took a tentative step toward the -door. - -"Nick!" she called as a wave of dizziness sent her swaying against the -wall. - -"What's the matter, Honey?" He turned anxiously at her cry. - -"I'm dizzy," she moaned. "My head aches, and--I'm scared!" - -"Pat, darling! You can't go out alone like this--and," he added -miserably, "I can't take you!" He slipped his arm around her tenderly, -supporting her to the couch. "Honey, what'll we do?" - -"I'll be--all right," she murmured. "I'll go in a moment." The -dizziness was leaving her; strength was returning. - -"You must!" he said dolefully. "What a parting, Pat! Never to see you -again, and then having this to remember as farewell!" - -"I know, Nick. You see, I love you too." She turned her dark, troubled -eyes on him. "Honey, kiss me good-bye! We'll have that to remember, -anyway!" Tears were again on her cheeks. - -"Do I dare?" he asked despondently. "After the things these lips of -mine have said, and what these arms have done to you?" - -"But you didn't, Nick! Could I blame you for--that _other_?" - -"God! You're kind, Pat! Honey, if ever I win out in this battle, if -ever I know I'm the final victor, I'll--No," he said his tones dropping -abruptly. "I'll never come back to you, Pat. It's far too dangerous, -and--can I ever be certain? Can I?" - -"I don't know, Nick. Can you?" - -"I can't be, Pat! I'll never be sure that _he_ isn't just dormant, as -he was before, waiting for my weakness to betray me! I'll never be -certain, Honey! It _has_ to be good-bye!" - -"Then kiss me!" - -She clung to him; the room that had been so recently a chamber of -horrors was transformed. As she held him, as her lips were pressed to -his, she thought suddenly of the words of the demon, that Heaven and -Hell were always the same place. They had taken on a new meaning, those -words; she drew away from Nick and turned her tear-bright eyes tenderly -on his. - -"Honey," she murmured, "I don't want you to leave me. I don't want you -to go!" - -"Nor do I want to, Pat! But I must." - -"You mustn't! You're to stay, and we'll fight it out together--be -married, or any way that permits us to fight it through together." - -"Pat! Do you think I'd consent to that?" - -"Nick," she said. "Nick darling--It's worth it to me! I'm realizing it -now; I thought it wasn't--but it is! I can't lose you, Nick--anything, -even that _other_, is better than losing you." - -"You're sweet, Pat! You know I'd trade my very soul for that, but--No. -I can't do it! And don't Honey, torture me by suggesting it again." - -"But I will, Nick!" She was speaking softly, earnestly. "You're worth -anything to me! If _he_ should kill me, you'd still be worth it!" She -gazed tenderly at him. "I'd want to die anyway without you!" - -"No more than I without you," he muttered brokenly. "But I won't do it, -Pat! I won't do that to you!" - -"I love you, Nick!" she said in a low voice. "I don't want to live -without you. Do you understand me, dear? I don't want to live without -you!" - -He stared at her somberly. "I've thought of that too," he said. -"Pat--if I only believed that we'd be together after, together -_anywhere_, I'd say yes. If only I believed there _were_ an afterwards!" - -"Doesn't he prove that by his very existence?" - -"Your Doctor would deny that." - -"Doctor Carl never saw _him_, Nick. And anyway, even oblivion together -would be better than being separated, and far better than this!" - -He gazed at her silently. She spoke again. "That doesn't frighten me, -Nick. It's only losing you that frightens me, especially the fear of -losing you to _him_." - -He continued his silent gaze. Suddenly he drew her close to him, held -her in a tight, tender embrace. - - - - -28 - -Lunar Omen - - -After a considerable interval, during which Nick held the girl tightly -and silently in his arms, he released her, sat with his head resting -on his cupped palms in an attitude of deep study. Pat, beside him, -fell mechanically to repinning the throat of her frock, which had -opened during the moments of the embrace. He rose to his feet, pacing -nervously before her. - -"It isn't a thing to do on the impulse of a moment, Pat," he muttered, -pausing at her side. "You must see that." - -"It isn't the impulse of a moment." - -"But one doesn't abandon everything, the whole world, so easily, -Honey. One doesn't cast away a last hope, however forlorn a hope it may -be!" - -"Is there a hope, Nick?" she asked gently. "Is there a chance left to -us?" - -"I don't know!" His voice held an increasing tenseness. "Before -God--I--don't know!" - -"If there's a chance, the very slightest shadow of the specter of a -chance, we'll take it, won't we? Because the other way is always open -to us, Nick." - -"Yes. It's always open." - -"But we won't take that chance," she continued defiantly, "if it -involves my losing you, Honey. I meant what I said, Nick: I don't want -to live without you!" - -"What chance have we?" he queried somberly. "Those are our -alternatives--life apart, death together." - -"Then you know my choice!" she cried desperately. "Nick, Honey--don't -let's draw it out in futile talking! I can't stand it!" - -He moved his hand in a gesture of bewilderment and frustration, and -turned away, striding nervously toward the window whose blind she had -raised. He leaned his hands on the table, peering dejectedly out upon -the street below. - -"What time," he asked irrelevantly in a queer voice, "did the Doctor -say the moon rose? Do you remember?" - -"No," she said tensely. "Oh, Honey! Please--don't stand there with your -back to me now, when I'm half crazy!" - -"I'm thinking," he responded. "It rises a little earlier each night--or -is it later? No matter; come here, Pat." - -She rose wearily and joined him; he slipped his arm about her, and drew -her against him. - -"Look there," he said, indicating the night-dark vista beyond the -window. - -She looked out upon a dim-lit street or court, at the blind end of -which the house was apparently situated. Far off at the open end, -across a distant highway where even at this hour passed a constant -stream of traffic, flashed a narrow strip of lake; and above it, rising -gigantic from the coruscating moon-path, lifted the satellite. She -watched the remote flickering of the waves as they tossed back the -broken bits of the light strewn along the path. Then she turned puzzled -eyes on her companion. - -"That's Heaven," he said pointing a finger at the great flowing lunar -disk. "There's a world that never caught the planet-cancer called Life, -or if it ever suffered, it's cured. It's clean--burned clean by the -sun and scoured clean by the airless zero of space. A dead world, and -therefore not an unhappy one." - -The girl stared at him without comprehension. She murmured, "I don't -understand, Nick." - -"Don't you, Pat?" He pointed again at the moon. "That's Heaven, the -dead world, and this is Hell, the living one. Heaven and Hell swinging -forever about their common center!" He gestured toward the sparkling -moon-path on the water. "Look, Pat! The dead world strews flowers on -the grave of the living one!" - -Some of his bitter ecstasy caught the girl; she felt his somber mood of -exaltation. - -"I love you, Nick!" she whispered, pressing closely to him. - -"What difference does it make--our actions?" he queried. "There's the -omen, that lifeless globe in the sky. Where we go, all humanity now -living will follow before a century, and in a million years, the human -race as well! What if we go a year or a million years before the rest? -Will it make any difference in the end?" He looked down at her. "All -we've been valuing here is hope. To the devil with hope! Let's have -peace instead!" - -"I'm not afraid, Nick." - -"Nor I. And if we go, _he_ goes, and he's mortally afraid of death!" - -"Can he--prevent you?" - -"Not now! I'm the stronger now. For this time, I'm master." - -He turned again to stare at the glowing satellite as it rose -imperceptibly from the horizon. "There's nothing to regret," he -murmured, "except one thing--the loss of beauty. Beauty like that--and -like you, Pat. That's bitterly hard to foreswear!" He leaned forward -toward the remote disk of the moon; he spoke as if addressing it, in -tones so low that the girl, pressed close to him, had to quiet the -sound of her own breath to listen. He said: - - "Long miles above cloud-bank and blast, - And many miles above the sea, - I watch you rise majestically - Feeling your chilly light at last-- - Cold beauty in the way you cast - Split silver fragments on the waves, - As if this planet's life were past, - And all men peaceful in their graves." - -Pat was silent for a moment as he paused, then she murmured a low -phrase. "Oh, I love you, Nick!" she said. - -"And I you, dear," he responded. "Have we decided anything? Are -we--going through with it?" - -"I've not faltered," she said soberly. "I meant it, Nick. Without you, -life would be as empty as that airless void you speak of. I'm not -afraid. What's there to be afraid of?" - -"Only the transition, Pat. That and the unknown--but no situation could -possibly be more terrible than our present one. It _couldn't_ be! -Oblivion, annihilation--they're preferable, aren't they?" - -"Oh, yes! Nothing I can imagine could be other than a change for the -better." - -"Then let's face it!" His voice took on a note of determination. "I've -thought to face it a dozen times before this, and each time I've -hesitated. The hesitation of a coward, Pat." - -"You're no coward, dear. It was that illusion of hope; that always -weakens one. No one's strong who hasn't given up hope." - -"Then," he repeated, "let's face it!" - -"How, Nick?" - -"My father has left us the means. There in the cabinet are a hundred -deaths--swift ones, lingering ones, painful, and easy! I don't know one -from the other; our choice must be blind." He strode over to the case, -sending slivers of glass from the shattered front glistening along -the floor. "I'd choose an easy one, Dear, if I knew, for your sake. -Euthanasia!" - -He stared hesitantly at the files of mysterious drugs with their -incomprehensible labels. - -Suddenly the scene appeared humorous to the girl, queerly funny, in -some unnatural horrible fashion. Her nerves, overstrained for hours, -were on the verge of breaking; without realization of it, she had come -to the border of hysteria. - -"Shopping for death!" she choked, trying to suppress the wild laughter -that beat in her throat. "Which one's most suitable? Which one's most -becoming? Which one"--an hysterical laughing sob shook her--"will wear -the longest?" - -He turned, gazing at her with an illogical concern in his face. - -"What's the difference?" she cried wildly. "I don't care--painful or -pleasant, it all ends in the same grave! Close your eyes and choose!" - -Suddenly he was holding her in his arms again, and she was sobbing, -clinging to him frantically. She was miserably unstrung; her body -shook under the impact of her gasping breath. Then gradually, she -quieted, and was silent against him. - -"We've been mad!" he murmured. "It's been an insane idea--for me to -inflict this on you, Pat. Do you think I could consider the destruction -of your beauty, Dear? I've been lying to myself, stifling my judgment -with poetic imagery, when all the while it was just that I'm afraid to -face the thing alone!" - -"No," she murmured, burying her face against his shoulder. "I'm the -coward, Nick. I'm the one that's frightened, and I'm the one that broke -down! It's just been--too much, this evening; I'm all right now." - -"But we'll not go through with _this_, Pat!" - -"But we will! It's better than life without you, Dear. We've argued and -argued, and at last forgotten the one truth, the one thing I'll never -retract: I can't face living without you, Nick! I can't!" - -He brushed his hand wearily before his eyes. "Back at the starting -point," he muttered. "All right, Honey. So be it!" - -He strode again to the cabinet. "Corrosive sublimate," he murmured. -"Cyanide of Potassium. They're both deadly, but I think the second is -rapid, and therefore less painful. Cyanide let it be!" - -He extracted two small beakers from the glassware on the shelf. He -filled them with water from a carafe on the table, and, while the girl -watched him with fascinated eyes, he deliberately tilted a spoonful or -so of white crystals into each of them. The mixture swirled a moment, -then settled clear and colorless, and the crystals began to shrink as -they passed swiftly into solution. - -"There it is," he announced grimly. "There's peace, oblivion, -forgetfulness, and annihilation for you, for me, and--for _him_! Beyond -all doubt, the logical course for us, isn't it? Do we take it?" - -"Please," she said faintly. "Kiss me first, Honey. Isn't that the -proper course for lovers in this situation?" She felt a faint touch of -astonishment at her own irony; the circumstances had ceased to have -any reality to her, and had become merely a dramatic sequence like the -happenings in a play. - -He gathered her again into his arms and pressed his lips to hers. It -was a long, tender, wistful kiss; when at last it ended, Pat found her -eyes again filled with tears, but not this time the tears of hysteria. - -"Nick!" she murmured. "Nick, darling!" - -He gave her a deep, somber, but very tender smile, and reached for one -of the deadly beakers, "To another meeting!" he said as his fingers -closed on it. - -Suddenly, amazingly, the strident ring of a doorbell sounded, the more -surprising since they had all but forgotten the existence of a world -about them. Interruption! It meant only the going through once more of -all that they had just passed. - -"Drink it!" exclaimed Pat impulsively, seizing the remaining beaker. - - - - -29 - -Scopolamine for Satan - - -The glass was struck from Pat's hand, and the water-clear contents -streamed into pools and darkening blots over the table and its litter -of papers. She stared unseeingly at the mess, without realizing -that it was Nick who had dashed the draught from her very lips. She -felt neither anger nor relief, but only a numbness, and a sense of -anti-climax. Somewhere below the bell was ringing again, and a door was -resounding to violent blows, but she only continued her bewildered, -questioning gaze. - -"I can't let you, Pat!" he muttered, answering her unspoken query. - -"But Nick--why?" - -"There's somebody at the door, isn't there? Mustn't we find out who?" - -"What difference can it make?" she asked wearily. - -"I don't know. I want to find out." - -"It's that illusion of hope again," she murmured. "That's all it is, -Nick--and it means now that it's all to do over again! The whole thing, -from the beginning--and we were so near--the end!" - -"I know," he said miserably. "I know all that, but--" He paused as the -insistent racket below was redoubled. "I'm going to answer that bell," -he ended. - -He moved away from her, vanishing through the room's single door. She -watched his disappearance without moving, but no sooner had he passed -from sight than a curious feeling of fear oppressed her. She cast off -the numbness and languor, and darted after him into the darkness of the -hall. - -"Nick!" she called. Somewhere ahead a light flashed on; she saw the -well of a stair-case, and heard his footsteps descending. She followed -in frantic haste, gaining the top step just as the pounding below -ceased. She heard the click of the door, and paused suddenly at the -sound of a familiar voice. - -"Where's Pat?" The words drifted up in low, rumbling, ominous tones. - -"Dr. Carl!" she shrieked. She ran swiftly down the stairs to Nick's -side, where he stood facing the great figure of the Doctor. "Dr. Carl! -How'd you find me?" - -The newcomer gave her a long, narrow-eyed, speculative survey. "I -spent nearly the whole night doing it," he growled at last. "It took -me hours to locate Mueller and get this address from him." He stepped -forward, taking the girl's arm. "Come on!" he said gruffly, without a -glance at Nick standing silently beside her. "I'm taking you home!" - -She held back. "But why?" - -"Why? Because I don't like the company you keep. Is that reason enough?" - -She still resisted his insistent tug. "Nick hasn't done anything," she -said defiantly, with a side glance at the youth's flushed, unhappy -features. - -"He hasn't? Look at yourself, girl! Look at your clothes, and your -forehead! What's more, I saw enough from my window; I saw him bundle -you into that car!" His eyes were flashing angrily, and his grip on her -arm tightened, while his free hand clenched into an enormous fist. - -"That wasn't Nick!" - -"No. It was your devil, I suppose!" said Horker sarcastically. "Anyway, -Pat, you're coming with me before I do violence to what remains of your -devil!" - -Nick spoke for the first time since the Doctor's entrance. "Please do, -Pat," he said softly. "Please go with him." - -"I won't!" she snapped. The sudden shifts of situation during the long -hours of that terrible evening were irritating her. She had alternated -so rapidly between horror and hope and despair that her frayed nerves -had seized now at the same reality of anger. - -Her mind, so long overstrained, was now deliberately forgetting her -swing from the pit of terror to the verge of death. "You come up like a -hero to the rescue!" she taunted the doctor. "Hairbreadth Horker!" - -"You little fool!" growled the Doctor. "A fine reception, after -losing a night's sleep! I'll drag you home, if I have to!" He moved -ponderously toward the door; she gave a violent wrench and freed her -arm from his grasp. - -"If you can, you mean!" she jeered. She looked at his exasperated face, -and suddenly, with one of her abrupt changes of mood, she softened. -"Dr. Carl, Honey," she said in apologetic tones, "I'm sorry. You're -very sweet, and I'm really grateful, but I can't leave Nick now." Her -eyes turned troubled. "Not now." - -"Why, Pat?" Mollified by the change in her mien, his voice rumbled in -sympathetic notes. - -"I can't," she repeated. "It's--it's getting worse." - -"Bah!" - -"So it's 'Bah'!" she flared. "Well, if you're so contemptuous of the -thing, why don't you cure it? What good did your psychoanalysis do? You -don't even know what it is!" - -"What do you expect?" roared the Doctor. "Can I diagnose it by absent -treatment? I haven't had a chance to see the condition active yet!" - -"All right!" said Pat, her strained nerves driving her to impatience. -"You're here and Nick's here! Go on with your diagnosis; get it over -with, and let's see what you can do. _You_ ought at least to be able -to name the condition--the outstanding authority in the Middle West on -neural and mental pathology!" Her tone was sardonic. - -"Listen, Pat," said Horker with exaggerated patience, in the manner of -one addressing a stupid child, "I've explained before that I can't get -at the root of a mental aberration when the subject's as unstrung as -your young man here seems to be. Psychoanalysis just won't work unless -the subject is calm, composed, and not in a nervous state. Can you -comprehend that?" - -"Just dimly!" she snapped. "You ought to know another way--you, the -outstanding authority--" - -"Be still!" he interrupted gruffly. "Of course I know another way, -if I wanted to drag all of us back to my office, where I have the -equipment!--which I won't do tonight," he finished grimly. - -"Then do it here." - -"I haven't what I need." - -"There's everything upstairs," said Pat. "It's all there, all Nick's -father's equipment." - -"Not tonight! That's final." - -The girl's manner changed again. She turned troubled, imploring eyes -on Horker. "Dr. Carl," she said plaintively, "I can't leave Nick now." -She seized the arm of the silent, dejected youth, who had been standing -passively by. "I can't leave him, really. I'd not be sure of seeing him -again, ever. Please, Dr. Carl!" - -"If these frenzies of yours," rumbled Horker, "are so violent and -malicious, you ought to be confined. Do you know that, young man?" - -"Yes, sir," mumbled Nick wretchedly. - -"And I've thought of it," continued the Doctor. "I've thought of it!" - -"Please!" cried Pat imploringly. "Won't you try, Dr. Carl?" - -"The devil!" he growled. "All right, then." - -He followed the girl up the stairs, while Nick trailed disconsolately -behind. She led him back into the chamber they had quitted, where a -curious odor of peach pits seemed to scent the air. Horker sniffed -suspiciously, then seized the remaining beaker, raising it cautiously -to his nostrils. - -"Damnation!" he exploded. "Prussic acid--or cyanide! What in--" He -caught sight of Pat's tragic eyes, and suddenly replaced the container. -"Pat!" he groaned. "Pat, Honey!" He drew her into the circle of his -great arm. "I'll help you, dear! All I can, with all my heart, since -it means that much to you!" He groaned again under his breath. "Oh, my -God!" - -He held her a moment, patting her tousled black head with his massive, -delicate fingered hand. Then he released her, turning to Nick. - -"This the stuff?" he asked, brusquely, indicating the cabinet of -bottles, with its splintered front. - -Nick nodded. Pat sank to the chair beside the table and watched Horker -as he scanned the array of containers. He pulled out a tiny wooden case -and snapped it open to reveal a number of steel needles that glinted -brightly in the yellow light. He grunted in satisfaction and continued -his inspection. - -"Atropine," he muttered, reading the labeled boxes. "Cocaine, daturine, -hyoscine, hyoscyamine--won't do!" - -"What do you need?" the girl queried faintly. - -"A mild hypnotic," said the Doctor abstractedly, still searching. -"Pretty good substitutes for psychoanalysis--certain drugs. Dulls the -conscious mind, but not to complete unconsciousness. Good means of -getting at the subconscious. See?" - -"Sort of," said Pat. "If it only works!" - -"Oh, it'll work if we can find--ah!" He seized a tiny cardboard box. -"Scopolamine! This'll do the work." - -He extracted a tiny glassy something from one or other of the boxes he -held, and frowned down at it. He seized the carafe of water, plunged -something pointed and shiny into it. - -"Antiseptic," he muttered thoughtfully. He seized a brown bottle from -the case, held it toward the light, and shook it. "Peroxide's gone -flat," he growled. "Nothing but water." - -He pulled a silver cigar-lighter from his pocket and snapped a yellow -flame to it. He passed the point of the hypodermic rapidly back and -forth through the little spear of fire. Finally he turned to Nick. - -"Take off your coat," he ordered. "Roll up your shirt sleeve--the left -one. And sit over there." He indicated the couch along the wall. - -The youth obeyed without a word. The only indication of emotion was a -long, miserable, wistful look at Pat as he seated himself impassively -on the spot that the girl had so recently occupied. - -"Now!" said the Doctor briskly, approaching the youth. "This will make -you drowsy, sleepy. That's all it'll do. Don't fight the effect. Just -relax, let the thing take its course, and I'll see what I can get out -of you." - -Pat gasped and Nick winced as he drove the needle into the bared arm. - -"So!" he said. "Now relax. Lean back and close your eyes." - -He stepped to the door, dragged in a battered chair from the hall, -and occupied it. He sat beside Pat, watching the pale features of the -youth, who sat quietly with closed eyes, breathing slowly, heavily. - -"Long enough," muttered Horker. He raised his voice. "Can you hear me?" -he called to the motionless figure on the couch. There was no response, -but Pat fancied she saw a slight change in Nick's expression. - -"Can you hear me?" repeated Horker in louder tones. - -"Yes, I can hear you," came in icy tones from the figure on the couch. -Pat started violently as the voice sounded. The eyes opened, and she -saw in sudden terror the ruddy orbs of the demon! - - - - -30 - -The Demon Free - - -Pat emitted a small, startled shriek, and heard it echoed by a -surprised grunt from Dr. Horker. - -"Queer!" he muttered. "The stuff must be mislabeled. Scopolamine -doesn't act like this; it's a narcotic." - -"He's--the other!" gasped Pat, while the being on the couch grinned -sardonically. - -"Eh? An attack? Can't be!" The Doctor shook his head emphatically. - -"It's not Nick!" cried the girl in panic. "You're not, are you?" she -appealed to the grim entity. - -"Not your sweetheart?" queried the creature, still with his mocking -leer. "A few hours ago you were lying here all but naked, confessing -you were mine. Have you forgotten?" - -She shuddered at the reference, and shrank back in her chair. She heard -the Doctor's ominous, angry rumble, and the evil tittering chuckle of -the other. - -"Pathological or not," snapped Horker, "I can resent your remarks! I've -considered several times varying my treatment with another solid cut to -the jaw!" He rose from his chair, stamping viciously toward the other. - -"A moment," said Nicholas Devine. "Do you know what you've done? Have -you any idea what you've done?" He turned cool, mocking, red-glinting -eyes on the Doctor. - -"Huh?" Horker paused as if puzzled. "What _I've_ done? What do you -mean?" - -"You don't know, then." The other gave a satyric smile. "You're stupid; -I gave you the clue, yet you hadn't the intelligence to follow it. -Do you know what I am?" He leaned forward, his eyes leering evilly -into the Doctor's. "I'll tell you. I'm a question of synapses. That's -all--merely a question of synapses!" He tittered again, horribly. "It -still means nothing to you, doesn't it, Doctor?" - -"I'll show you what it means!" Horker clenched a massive fist and -strode toward the figure, whose eyes stared, steadily, unwinkingly into -his own. - -"Back!" the being snapped as the great form bent over him. The Doctor -paused as if struck rigid, his arm and heavy fist drawn back like the -conventional fighting pose of a boxer. "Go back!" repeated the other, -rising. Pat whimpered in abject terror as she heard Horker's surprised -grunt, and saw him recede slowly, and finally sink into his chair. His -bewildered eyes were still fixed on those of Nicholas Devine. - -"I'll tell you what you've done!" said the strange being. "You've freed -me! There was nothing wrong with your scopolamine. It worked!" He -chuckled. "You drugged _him_ and freed me!" - -Horker managed a questioning grunt. - -"I'm free!" exulted the other. "For the first time I haven't _him_ to -fight! He's here, but helpless to oppose me--he's feeble--feeble!" He -gave again the horrible tittering chuckle. "See how weak the two of you -are against my unopposed powers!" he jeered. "Weaklings--food for my -pleasures!" - -He turned his eyes, luminous and avid, on Pat. "This time," he said, -"there'll be no interruptions. A witness to our experiment will add a -delicate touch of pleasure--" - -He broke off at the Doctor's sudden movement. Horker had snatched -a glistening blue revolver from his pocket, held it leveled at the -lust-filled eyes. - -"Huh!" growled the Doctor triumphantly. "Do you think I come trailing a -maniac without some protection? Especially a vicious one like you?" - -Nicholas Devine turned his eyes on his opponent. He stared long and -intently. - -"Drop it!" he commanded at length. Pat felt a surge of chaotic terror -as the weapon clattered to the floor. She turned a frightened glance on -Horker's face, and her fright redoubled at the sight of his straining -jaw, the perspiration-beaded forehead, and his bewildered eyes. The -demon kicked the gun carelessly aside. - -"Puerile!" he said contemptuously. He backed away from them, re-seating -himself on the couch whence he had risen. He surveyed the pair in -sardonic mirth. - -"Pat!" muttered the Doctor huskily. "Get out of here, Honey! He's got -some hellish trick of fascination that's paralyzed me. Get out and get -help!" - -The girl moved as if to rise. Nicholas Devine shifted his eyes for the -barest instant to her face; she felt the strength drain out of her -body, and she sank weakly to her chair. - -"It's useless," she murmured hopelessly to the Doctor. "He's--he's just -what I told you--a devil!" - -"I guess you were right," mumbled Horker dazedly. - -There was a burst of demonic mirth from the being on the couch. "Merely -a matter of synapses," he rasped, chuckling. His face changed, took -on the familiar coldness, the stony expression Pat had observed there -before. "This palls!" he snapped. "I've better amusement--after we've -rendered your friend merely an interested on-looker." He narrowed his -red eyes as if in thought. "Take off a stocking," he ordered. "Tie his -hands to the back of the chair." - -"I won't!" said the girl. The eyes shifted to her face. "I won't!" she -repeated tremulously as she kicked off a diminutive pump. She shuddered -at the gleam in the evil eyes as she stripped the long silken sheath -from a white, rounded limb. She slipped a bare foot into the pump and -moved reluctantly behind the chair that held the groaning Horker. She -took one of the clenched, straining hands, and drew it back, fumbling -with shaking fingers as she twisted the strip of thin chiffon. The -demon moved closer, standing over her. - -"Loose knots!" he snarled abruptly. He knocked her violently away with -a stinging slap across her cheek, and seized the strip in his own -hands. He drew the binding tight, twisting it about the lowest rung of -the chair's ladder back. Horker was forced to lean awkwardly to the -rear; in this unbalanced position it was quite impossible to rise. - -Nicholas Devine turned away from the straining, perspiring Doctor, and -advanced toward Pat, who cowered against the shattered cabinet. - -"Now!" he muttered. "The experiment!" He chuckled raspingly. "What -delicacy of degradation! Your lover and your guardian angel--both -helpless watchers! Excellent! Oh, very excellent!" - -He grasped her wrist, drawing her after him to the center of the room, -into the full view of the horrified, staring eyes of Horker. - -"Always before," continued her tormentor, "these hands have prepared -you for the rites--the ceremony that failed on two other occasions -to transpire. Would it add a poignancy to the torture if I made you -strip this body of yours with your own hands? Or will they suffer more -watching me? Which do you think?" - -Pat closed her eyes in helpless resignation to her fate. "Nick!" she -moaned. "Oh, Nick dearest!" - -"Not this time!" sneered the other. "Your friend and protector, the -Doctor, has thoughtfully eliminated your sweetheart as a factor. He -struggles too feebly for me to feel." - -"Nick!" she murmured again. "Dr. Carl!" - -But the Doctor, now pulling painfully at his bonds, could only groan in -distraction, and curse the unsuspected strength of sheer chiffon. He -writhed miserably at the chafing of his wrists; his strange paralysis -had departed, but he was quite helpless to assist Pat. - -"I think," said the cold tones of Nicholas Devine, "that the more -delicate torture lies in your willingness. Let us see." - -He drew her into his arms. He twisted a hand in her hair, jerked her -head violently backward, and pressed avid lips to hers. She struggled a -little, but hopelessly, automatically. At last she lay quite passive, -quite motionless, supported by his arms, and making not the slightest -response to his kiss. - -"Are you mine?" he queried fiercely, releasing her lips. "Are you mine -now?" - -She shook her head without opening her eyes. "No," she said dully. "Not -now, or ever." - -Again he crushed her, while the Doctor looked on in helpless, -bewildered, voiceless anger. This time his kiss was painful, burning, -searing. Again that unholy fascination and unnatural delight in her own -pain stirred her, and it took what little effort she was able to make -to keep from responding. After a long interval, his lips again withdrew. - -"Are you mine?" he repeated. She made no answer; she was gasping, -and tears glistened under her closed eye-lids, from the pain of her -crushed lips. Again he kissed her, and again the wild abandonment to -evil suffused her. She was suddenly responding to his agonizing caress; -she was clinging fiercely to his torturing lips, feeling an unholy -exaltation in the pain of his tearing fingers in the flesh of her back. - -"Yours!" she murmured in response to his query. She heard her voice -repeat madly, "Yours! Yours! Yours!" - -"Do you yield willingly?" came the icy tones of the demon. - -"Yes--yes--yes! Willingly!" - -"Take off your clothes!" sounded the terrible, overpowering voice. He -thrust her from him, so that she staggered dizzily backward. She stood -swaying; the voice repeated its command. - -The girl's eyes widened wildly; she had the appearance of one in an -ecstasy, a religious fervor. She raised her hand with a jerky impulsive -gesture to the neck of her frock, still pinned together in the -makeshift repairs of the evening. - -There came a strange interruption. The Doctor, helpless on-looker, -had at length evolved an idea out of the bewilderment in his mind. He -opened his mouth and emitted a tremendous, deep, ear-shattering bellow! - -Nicholas Devine sent the girl spinning to the floor with a vicious -shove, and turned his blazing eyes on Horker, who was drawing in his -breath for a repetition of his roar. "Quiet!" he rasped, his red orbs -boring down at the other. "Quiet, or I'll muffle you!" Closing his -eyes, the Doctor repeated his mighty shout. - -The demon snatched the blanket from the couch, tossing it over the -figure of the Doctor, where it became a billowing, writhing heap of -brown wool. He turned his gaze on Pat, who was just struggling to her -feet, and moved as if to advance toward her. - -He paused. She had retrieved the Doctor's revolver from the floor, and -now faced him with the madness gone out of her eyes, supporting the -weapon with both hands, the muzzle wavering toward his face. - -"Drop it!" he commanded. She felt a recurrence of fascination, and an -impulse to obey. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Doctor's -head emerging from the blanket as he shook it off. - -"Drop it!" repeated Nicholas Devine. - -She closed her eyes, shutting out the vision of his dominant visage. -With a surge of terror, she squeezed the trigger, staggering back to -the couch at the roar and the recoil. - -She opened her eyes. Nicholas Devine lay in the center of the room on -his face; a crimson spot was matting the hair on the back of his head. -She saw the Doctor raise a free hand; he was working clear of his bonds. - -"Pat!" he said softly. He looked at her pale, sickened features. -"Honey," he said, "sit down till I get free. Sit down, Pat; you look -faint." - -"Never faint!" murmured the girl, and pitched backward to the couch, -with one clad and one bare leg hanging in curious limpness over the -edge. - - - - -31 - -"Not Humanly Possible" - - -Pat opened weary eyes and gazed at a blank, uninformative ceiling. It -was some moments before she realized that she was lying on the couch in -the room of Nicholas Devine. Somebody had placed her there, presumably, -since she was quite unaware of the circumstances of her awakening. Then -recollection began to form--Dr. Carl, the _other_, the roar of a shot. -After that, nothing save a turmoil ending in blankness. - -A sound of movement beside her drew her attention. She turned her head -and perceived Dr. Horker kneeling over a form on the floor, fingering -a white bandage about the head of the figure. Her recollections took -instant form; she remembered the catastrophes of the evening--last -night, rather, since dawn glowed dully in the window. She had shot -Nick! She gave a little moan and pushed herself to a sitting position. - -The Doctor glanced at her with a sick, shaky smile. "Hello," he -said. "Come to, have you? Sorry I couldn't give you any attention." -He gave the bandage a final touch. "Here's a job I had no heart -for," he muttered. "Better for everyone to let things happen without -interference." - -The girl, returning to full awareness, noticed now that the bandage -consisted of strips of the Doctor's shirt. She glanced fearfully at the -still features of Nicholas Devine; she saw pale cheeks and closed eyes, -but indubitably not the grim mien of the demon. - -"Dr. Carl!" she whispered. "He isn't--he isn't--" - -"Not yet." - -"But will he--?" - -"I don't know. That's a bad spot, a wound in the base of the brain. -You'd best know it now, Pat, but also realize that nothing can happen -to you. I'll see to that!" - -"To me!" she said dully. "What difference does that make? It's Nick I -want saved." - -"I'll do my best for you, Honey," said Horker with almost a hint of -reluctance. "I've phoned Briggs General for an ambulance. Your faint -lasted a full quarter hour," he added. - -"What can we tell them?" asked the girl. "What can we say?" - -"Don't you say anything, Pat. I'm not on the board for nothing." He -rose from his knees, glancing out of the window into the cool dawn. -"Queer neighborhood!" he said. "All that yelling and a shot, and still -no sign of interest from the neighbors. That's Chicago, though," he -mused. "Lucky for us, Pat; we can handle the thing quietly now." - -But the girl was staring dully at the still figure on the floor. "Oh -God!" she said huskily. "Help him, Dr. Carl!" - -"I'll do my best," responded Horker gloomily. "I was a good surgeon -before I specialized in psychiatry. Brain surgery, too; it led right -into my present field." - -Pat said nothing, but dropped her head on her hands and stared vacantly -before her. - -"Better for you, and for him too, if I fail," muttered the Doctor. - -His words brought a reply. "You won't fail," she said tensely. "You -won't!" - -"Not voluntarily, I'm afraid," he growled morosely. "I've still a -little respect for medical ethics, but if ever a case--" His voice -trailed into silence as from somewhere in the dawn sounded the wail of -a siren. "There's the ambulance," he finished. - -Pat sat unmoving as the sounds from outdoors detailed the stopping -of the vehicle before the house. She heard the Doctor descending the -steps, and the creak of the door. Though it took place before her eyes, -she scarcely saw the white-coated youths as they lifted the form of -Nicholas Devine and bore it from the room on a stretcher, treading -with carefully broken steps to prevent the swaying of the support. Dr. -Horker's order to follow made no impression on her; she sat dully on -the couch as the chamber emptied. - -Why, she wondered, had the thought of Nick's death disturbed her so? -Wasn't it but a short time since they had both contemplated it? What -had occurred to alter that determination? Nick was dying, she thought -mournfully; all that remained was for her to follow. There on the -floor lay the revolver, and on the table, glistening in the wan light, -reposed the untouched lethal draft. That was the preferable way, she -mused, staring fixedly at its glowing contour. - -But suppose Nick weren't to die--she'd have abandoned him to his -terrible doom, left him to face a situation far more ominous than any -unknown terrors beyond death. She shook her head distractedly, and -looked up to meet the eyes of Dr. Horker, who was watching her gravely -in the doorway. - -"Come on, Pat," he said gently. - -She rose, followed him down the stairs and out into the morning light. -The driver of the ambulance stared curiously at her dishevelled, -bedraggled figure, but she was so weary and forlorn that even the -effort of brushing away the black strands of hair that clouded her -smoke-dark eyes was beyond her. She slumped into the seat of the -Doctor's car and sighed in utter exhaustion. - -"Rush it!" Horker called to the driver ahead. "I'll follow you." - -The car swept into motion, and the swift cool morning air beating -against her face from the open window restored some clarity to her -mind. She fixed her eyes on the rear of the speeding vehicle they -followed. - -"Is there any hope at all?" she queried despondently. - -"I don't know, Pat. I can't tell yet. When you closed your eyes, he -half turned, dodged; the bullet entered his skull near the base, -near the cerebellum. If it had pierced the cerebellum, his heart and -breathing must have stopped instantly. They didn't, however, and that's -a mildly hopeful sign. Very mildly hopeful, though." - -"Do you know now what that devil--what the attack was?" - -"No, Pat," Horker admitted. "I don't. Call it a devil if you like; -I can't name it any better." His voice changed to a tone of wonder. -"Pat, I can't understand that paralyzing fascination the thing exerted. -I--any medical man--would say that mental dominance of that sort -doesn't exist." - -"Hypnotism," the girl suggested. - -"Bah! Every psychiatrist uses hypnotism in his business; it's part of -some treatments. There's nothing of fascination about it; no dominance -of one will over another, despite the popular view. That's natural -and understandable; this was like--well, like the exploded claims of -Mesmerism. I tell you, it's not humanly possible--and yet I felt it!" - -"Not _humanly_ possible," murmured Pat. "That's the answer, then, Dr. -Carl. Maybe now you'll believe in my devil." - -"I'm tempted to." - -"You'll have to! Can't you see it, Dr. Carl? Even his name, -Nick--that's a colloquialism for the devil, isn't it?" - -"And Devine, I suppose," said Horker, "refers to his angelic ancestry. -Devils are only fallen angels, aren't they?" - -"All right," said Pat wearily. "Make fun of it. You'll see!" - -"I'm not making fun of your theory, Honey. I can't offer a better one -myself. I never saw nor heard of anything similar, and I'm not in -position to ridicule any theory." - -"But you don't believe me." - -"Of course I don't, Pat. You're weaving an intricate fairy tale about -a pathological condition and a fortuitous suggestiveness in names. -Whatever the condition is--and I confess I don't understand it--it's -something rational, and those things can be treated." - -"Treated by exorcism," said the girl. "That's the only way anyone ever -succeeded in casting out a devil." - -The Doctor made no answer. The wailing vehicle ahead of them swung -rapidly out of sight into an alley, and Horker halted his car before -the gray facade of Briggs General. - -"Come in here," he said, helping Pat to alight. "You'll want to wait, -won't you?" - -"How long," she queried listlessly, "before--before you'll know?" - -"Perhaps immediately. The only chance is to get that bullet out at -once--if there's still time for it." - -She followed him into the building, past a desk where a white-clad girl -regarded her curiously, and up an elevator. He led her into a small -office. - -"Sit here," he said gently, and disappeared. - -She sat dully in the chair he had indicated, and minutes passed. She -made no attempt to think; the long, cataclysmic night had exhausted her -powers. She simply sat and suffered; the deep scratches of fingernails -burned in the flesh of her back, her cheek pained from the violent -slap, and her head and jaw ached from that first blow, the one that had -knocked her unconscious last evening. But these twinges were minor; -they were merely physical, and the hurts of the demon had struck far -deeper than any physical injury. The damage to her spirit was by all -odds the more painful; it numbed her mind and dulled her thoughts, and -she simply sat idle and stared at the blank wall. - -She had no conception of the interval before Dr. Horker returned. He -entered quietly, and began rinsing his hands at a basin in the corner. - -"Is it over?" she asked listlessly. - -"Not even begun," he responded. "However, it isn't too late. He'll be -ready in a moment or so." - -"I wish it were over," she murmured. "One way or the other." - -"I too!" said the Doctor. "With all my heart, I wish it were over! If -there were anyone within call who could handle it, I'd turn it to him -gladly. But there isn't!" - -He moved again toward the door, leaning out and glancing down the hall. - -"You stay here," he admonished her. "Don't try to find us; I want no -interruptions, no matter what enters that mind of yours!" - -"You needn't worry," she said soberly. "I'm not fool enough for that." -She leaned wearily back in the chair, closing her eyes. A long interval -passed; she was vaguely surprised to see the Doctor still standing in -the doorway when she opened her eyes. She had fancied him already in -the midst of his labor. - -"What will you do?" she asked. - -"About what?" - -"I mean what sort of operation will it need? Probing or what?" - -"Oh," he said. "I'll have to trephine him. Must get that bullet." - -"What's that--trephine?" - -He glanced down the hall. "They're ready," he said, and turned to go. -At the door he paused. "Trephining is to open a little door in the -skull. If your devil is in his head, we'll have it out along with the -bullet." - -His footsteps receded down the hall. - - - - -Revelation - - -"Is it over now?" queried Pat tremulously as the Doctor finally -reappeared. The interminable waiting had left her even more worn, and -her pallid features bore the marks of strain. - -"Twenty minutes ago," said Horker. His face too bore evidence of -tension; moreover, there was a puzzled, dubious expression in his eyes -that frightened Pat. She was too apprehensive to risk a question as to -the outcome, and simply stared at him with wide, fearful, questioning -eyes. - -"I called up your home," he said irrelevantly. "I told them you left -with me early this morning. Your mother's still in bed, although it's -after ten." He paused. "Slip in without anyone seeing you, will you, -Honey? And rumple up your bed." - -"If I haven't lost my key," she said, still with the question in her -eyes. - -"It's in the mail-box. Magda found it on the porch this morning. I -talked to her." - -She could bear the uncertainty no longer. "Tell me!" she demanded. - -"It's all right, I think." - -"You mean--he'll live?" - -The Doctor nodded. "I think so." He turned his puzzled eyes on her. - -"Oh!" breathed Pat. "Thank God!" - -"You wanted him back, Honey, didn't you?" Horker's tone was gentle. - -"Oh, yes!" - -"Devil and all?" - -"Yes--devil and all!" she echoed. Suddenly she sensed something strange -in the other's manner. She perceived the uncertainty in his visage, and -felt a rising trepidation. "What's the matter?" she queried anxiously. -"You're not telling me everything! Tell me, Dr. Carl!" - -"There's something else," he said. "I'm not sure, Pat, but I think--I -hope--you've got him back without the devil!" - -"He's cured?" Her voice was incredulous; she did not dare accept the -Doctor's meaning. - -"I hope so. At least I located the cause." - -"What was it?" she demanded, an unexpected vigor livening her tired -body. "What was that devil? Tell me! I want to know, Dr. Carl!" - -"I think the best name for it is a tumor," he said slowly. "I told them -in there it was a tumor. I wish I knew myself." - -"A tumor! I don't understand!" - -"I don't either, Pat--not fully. It's something on or beyond the border -of medical knowledge. I don't think any living authority could classify -it definitely." - -"But tell me!" she cried fiercely. "Tell me!" - -"Well, Honey--I'll try." He paused thoughtfully. "Cancers and -tumors--sarcomas--are curious things, Dear. Doctors aren't at all -sure just what they are. And one of their peculiarities is that they -sometimes seem to be trying to develop into separate entities, trying -to become human by feeding like parasites on their hosts. Do you -understand?" - -"No," said the girl. "I'm sorry, Dr. Carl, but I don't." - -"I mean," he continued, "that sometimes these growths seem to be trying -to develop into--into organisms. I've seen them, for instance--every -surgeon has--with bones developing. I've seen one with a rather perfect -jaw-bone, and little teeth, and hair. As if," he added, "it were -making a sort of attempt to become human, in a primitive, disorganized -fashion. Now do you see what I mean?" - -"Yes," said the girl, with a violent shudder. "Dr. Carl, that's -horrible!" - -"Life sometimes is," he agreed. "Well," he continued slowly, "I opened -up our patient's skull at the point where the fluoroscope indicated the -bullet. I trephined it, and there, pierced by the shot, was this--" He -hesitated, "--this tumor." - -"Did you--remove it?" - -"Of course. But it wasn't a natural sort of brain tumor, Honey. It was -a little cerebrum, apparently joined to a Y-shaped branch of the spinal -cord. A little brain, Pat--no larger than your small fist, but deeply -convoluted, and with the pre-Rolandic area highly developed." - -"What's pre-Rolandic, Dr. Carl?" asked Pat, shivering. - -"The seat of the motor nerves. The home, you might say, of the will. -This brain was practically all will--and I wonder," he said musingly, -"if that explains the ungodly, evil fascination the creature could -command. A brain that was nothing but pure will-power, relieved by -its parasitic nature of all the distractions of a directing body! I -wonder--" He fell silent. - -"Tell me the rest!" she said frantically. - -"That's all, Honey. I removed it, and I guess I'm the only surgeon in -the world who ever removed a brain from a human skull without killing -the patient! Luckily, he had two of them!" - -"Oh God!" murmured the girl faintly. She turned to Horker. "But he will -live?" - -"I think so. Your shot killed the devil, it seems." He frowned. "I said -it was a tumor; I told them it was a tumor, but I'm not sure. Perhaps, -just as some people are born with six fingers or toes on each member, -he was born with two brains. It's possible; one developed normally, -humanly, and the other--into that creature we faced last night. I don't -know!" - -"It's what I said," asserted Pat. "It's a devil, and what you've just -told me about tumors proves it. They're devils, that's all, and some -day some student is going to cut one loose and raise it to maturity -outside a human body, and you'll see what a devil is really like! And -go ahead and laugh!" - -"I'm not laughing, Pat. I'd be the last one to laugh at your theory, -after facing that thing last night. It had satanic powers, all -right--that paralyzing fascination! You felt it too; it wasn't just a -mental lapse on my part, was it?" - -"I felt it, Dr. Carl! I'd felt it before that; I was always helpless in -the presence of it." - -"Could it," he asked, "have imposed its will actively on yours? I mean, -could it have made you actually do what it asked there at the end, just -before I recovered enough sense to let out that bellow?" - -"To take off--my dress?" She shivered. "I don't know, Dr. Carl.--I'm -afraid so." She looked at him appealingly. "Why did I yield to it so?" -she cried. "What made me find such a fierce pleasure in its kisses--in -its blows and scratches, and the pain it inflicted on me? Why was that, -Dr. Carl?" - -"Why," he countered, "do gangsters' girls and apache women enjoy the -cruelties perpetrated on them by their men? There's a little masochism -in most women, and that--creature was sadistic, perverted, abnormal, -and somehow dominating. It took an unfair advantage of you, Pat; don't -blame yourself." - -"It was--utterly evil!" she muttered. "It was the ultimate in -everything unholy." - -"It was an aberrant brain," said Horker. "You can't judge it by human -standards, since it wasn't actually human. It was, I suppose, just -what you said--a devil. I didn't even keep it," he added grimly. "I -destroyed it." - -"Do you know what it meant by saying it was a question of synapses?" -she asked. - -"That was queer!" The Doctor's voice was puzzled. "That remark implies -that the thing itself knew what it was. How? It must have possessed -knowledge that the normal brain lacked." - -"Was it a question of synapses?" - -"In a sense it was. The nerves from the two rival brains must have met -in a synaptic juncture. The oftener the aberrant brain gained control, -the easier it became for it to repeat the process, as the synapse, so -to speak, wore thin. That's why the attacks intensified so horribly -toward the end; the habit was being formed." - -"Last night was the very worst!" - -"Of course. As the thing itself pointed out, I made the mistake of -drugging the normal brain and giving the other complete control of -the body. At other times, there'd always been the rivalry to weaken -whichever was dominant." - -"Does that mean," asked Pat anxiously, "that Nick's character will be -changed now?" - -"I think so. I think you'll find him less meek, less gentle, than -heretofore. More spirited, perhaps, since his energies won't be drained -so constantly by the struggle." - -"I don't care!" she said. "I'd like that, and anyway, it doesn't make a -bit of difference to me as long as he's just--_my_ Nick." - -The Doctor gave her a tender smile. "Let's go home," he said, pinching -her cheek in his great hand. - -"Can you leave him?" - -"I'll run back after a while, Honey. I think he'll do." He took her -hand, drawing her after him. "Don't forget to slip in unseen, Pat, and -rumple up your bed." - -"Rumple it!" She gave him a weary smile. "I'll be _in_ it!" - -"Good idea. You look a bit worn out, Honey, and we can't have you -getting sick now, or even pull a temporary faint like that one last -night." - -"I didn't faint!" - -"Maybe not," grinned Horker. "Perhaps the proceedings grew a little -boring, and you just lay down on the couch for a nap. It _was_ a dull -evening." - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dark Other, by Stanley G. 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