Evening star., 1898-10-29

both from without and from within in this
other world about us. For a long time as
1t seemed to him this realization occupied
his mind to the exclusion of all other mat
ters, and then he recalled the engagement
with Mr. Vincent to which this astonishing
experience was after all but prelude
lie turned his mind to locomotion in this
new body in which he found himself For
time he was unable to shift himself from
his attachment to his earthly carcass For
a time this new, strange, cloud body of his
simply swayed. contracted expanded, coiled
ana Wr1thed with his efforts to free himself
and then quite suddenly the line that bound
him snapped. For a moment everything
was hidden by what appeared to be whiri.
through momentary gap, he saw his
dropping body collapse Imply, saw his life
less head drop sideways and found he was
driving DRIVING along along like a huge cloud in a
the luminous intricacy of London spread
like a model below.
But now he was aware that the fiuctuat-
ing Vapor about him was something more
than Vapor, and the temerarious excite
ment of his first essay was shot with fear
For he perceived, at first indistinctly and
then suddenly very clearly, that he was
surrounded by faces; that each roll and
coil of the seeming cloud stuff was a face
And such faces. Faces of thin shadow.
faces Of gaseous tenuity. Faces like those
faces that glare with intolerabIe strange
ness upon the sleeper in the evil hours of
his dreams. Evil, greedy eyes that were
V, faceS Eni
broWs and snariing, smiling lips; their
vague hands clutched at Mr. Bessei as he
passed and the rest of their bodies were but
vague, elusive streak Of trailing darkness.
Never word they said, never a sound
from the mouths that seemed to pibber
All about him they pressed in that dreamy
silence, passing freely through the dim mis-
tness that was his body gathering ever
more numerously about him And the
shadoWy Mr.. Bessei, now uddenly fear
stricken, drove mistily through the silent,
active multitude of eyes and clutching
hands.
So inhuman were these faces, SO malig-
nant their staring eyes, and shadowy claw
ing gestures. that ii did not occur to MIR.
drifting creatures. idiot phantoms. they
seemed, children of vain desire, beings 'TS my
born and forbifden the boon of being,
whose whose only exprefsions ana gestures told of
one link with existence.
1t says muchS fefV his resolution that
amidst the swarning cloud of these noise
less spirits of evil :. ne could still tnfnk of
Mr.. Vincent. He, made violent effort of
will and found himself. he knew NOT how
STOPPING towardOStapie Inn, saw Vincent
Slttting attentiVaCandlal alert in his armchair
by the fire. II
And clustering also, about him, as they
clustered ever about all that lives and
b1eathes, was another multitude of these
vain voiceless SHADOWS, longing, desiring,
seeking some loophole into life.
For a space Mr. BeSse sought ineffectu-
ally to attract bis friends attention He
tried to get in front of his eyes. to move
the objects in his room, to touch him. Bur
Mr. Vincent remained unmoved, iencrant
of the being that was SO close to his own.
The strange something that Mr. Bessal has
compared to a sheet of glass separated
them impermeably.
And at last Mr.. Bessel did a desperate
thing. l have told how that in some
strange way he could see not only the out
side of man, as we see him, but within.
He extended his shadowy hand and thrust
his vague black fingers, as 1t seemed
through the needless brain.
Then suddenly Mr.. Vincent started like a
man who recalls his attention from wan
oer1ns thoughts, and 1t seemed to Mr. Bes-
sci that a little dark7red body, situated in
the middle of MIR. Vincents BRAIN swelled
and glowed as he did SO. Since that ex-
perience he has been shown anatomical
hgures of the brain, and he knows now
that this is that useless structure, as doc
tors call it. the pineal eye. For, strange
as II will seem to many, we have deep in
our brains. where 1t cannot possibly see
any earthly light. an eye. At the time this.