Evening star., 1898-10-29

with the rest of the internal anatomy Of
the brain, was quite new to him. At the
siSht of Its changed appearance. however.
he thrust forth his finger and rather fear
1ul still of the consequences. touched this
little spot. And instantly Mr. Vincent
started. and Mr.. Bessel knew that he was
seen.
And al that instant it came to Mr. Bes-
sci that evil had happened to his body, and
peeoid! great wind blew through all that
worla OF shadows and tore him away. So
Esuong Was this persuasion that he thought
no more Mr.. Vincent, but turned about
forthwith. and all the countless faces drove
back with him like leaves before a gale
But ne returned too late. In an instant ne
saw the body that he had left inert and COL
iapsed-lying indeed like the body of a man
just dead-had arisen, had arisen by virtue
OF some strength and will beyond his own.
1t stood with staring eyes, stretching its
limbs in dubious fashion.
for moment he watched it in wild dis
may ana then he stopped toward it. But
tne plane OF glass had closed against him
again. and he was foiled. He beat himself
passionately against this. and all about him
the spirits of evil grinned and pointed and
Knocked He gave way to furious anger.
ne compares himself to a bird that has
| huttered into room and is beating at the
DOM
And behold, the little body that had once
Deen his was dancing with delight. He saw
II shouting, though he could not hear
lts shouts; he saw the violence of its
movements grow. He watched it fling his
cherished furniture about in the mad de-
nsht of existence, rend his books apart
smash bottles, drink heedlessly from the
Jagged fragments, leap and smite, in pas
slonate acceptance of living. He watched
these actions in paraiyzed astonishment
Ihen once more he hurled himself against
the impossible barrier, and then. with all
tnat crew OF king ghosts about him,
hurried back in dire confusion to Vincent
| to tell him of the outrage that had come
upon him.
But the brain of Vincent was now closed
against apparitions, and the disembodied
MI BesSei pursued him in vain as he hur-
rled out into Holborn to call a cab Foiled
and terror-stricken, Mr.. Bessel swept back
again TO ind his desecrated body whooplng
IN glorious frenzy down the Burlington
Arcade.
ANA now the attentive reader begins to
understand Mr.. BessePs Interpretation of
the frst part If this strange story. The be-
ing whose frantic rush through London
ha9 ihnicted so much injury and disaster
naa indeed Mr. Bessels body, but it was
| not MI. bessei 1t was an evil spirit out OF
| that strange world beyond existence into
which Mr.. Bessel had so rashly ventured
For twenty hours it held possession of him.
and for all those twenty hours The disnos-
| sessed spirit body of Mr. Bessel was going
20 ana fro IN that unheard-of middle world
OF shadows. seeking help in vain
he spent many hours beating al the
| MINDS OF Mr Vincent and of his friend Mr.
| Hart. Each, we know he reused bv his
| efforts But the language that might con-
Ney ms situation to these helpers across
me gun ne did not know; his feeble fingers
| sroped Vainly and powerlessy in theiI
| brains. once, indeed, as we have already
| tod, he was able to turn Mr. Vincent aside
| from ms path, so that he encountered the
! stoien body in its career, but he could not
make HIM understand The thing that had
| happened he was unable to draw any help
| from that encounter = All through h
| these hours the persuasion was oyerwheIm-
,,1i,, Z hot
| body would be killed by its furious tenant
and he would have to remain in this shad
| Ow land foreN ermore. So that those long
| hours were a growing agony of fear And
| ever as he hurried to and fro in his ineffec-
| tuai excitement, innumerable spirits of that
| world about him mobbed him and con-
| fused his mind. And ever an envious ap-
| plauding multitude poured after their sue.
| Cessful fellow as he went upon his glorious
| career.
| For that it would seem must be the life
| OF these bodiess things of this world that
| is the shadow of our world. Ever they
| watch, coveting a way into mortal BODY
| IN order that they may descend as furies
| and frenZles, as violent lusts ani mad
strange impulses, rejoicing in the body they
have won. For Mr.. BeSSel was not the only
| human soul in that place. Witness the
fact that he met first one and afterward
several shadows of men, men like himself
| it seemed, who had lost their bodies even
| 1t may be as he had lost his. and wandered
despairing in that lost world that is neither
| life nor death, They could not speak be-
cause that world is silent, yet he knew
them for men, because of their dim human
bodies and because of the sadness of their
faces.
But how they had come into that world
ne could not tell where the bodies thew
had lost might be, whether they still raved
about the earth or whether they were
closed forever in death against return
Ihat they were the spirits of the dead
neither he nor 1 believe. But Dr. Wilson
Paget thinks they are the rational souls OF
men who are lost in madness on the earth
At last Mr.. Bessel CHANGED upol a place
where little crowd of such disamb pdied
silent creatures was gathered, and thrust
ing through them, he saw below a brightly
lit room, and four or five quiet gentlemen
and a woman, a stoutish woman dressed in
black alpaca and sitting awkwardly In a
chair with her head thrown back. He knew
her from her portraits to be Mrs Bullock
the medium. And he perceived that tracts
and structures in her brain glowed and
stirred as he had seen the pineaI eve in the
brain of Mf. Vincent glow The light was
very ftful; sometimes it was d broad IL
Elimination, and sometimes merely faint
twilight spot, and it shifted slowly about
her brain. She kept on talking and writing
with one hand And Mr. BeSsel saw that
the crowding shadows of men about him,
and great multitude of the shadow spirits
of that shadow land, were all striving and
thrusting to touch the lighted legiors of
her brain. AS one gained her brain or
aEother was thrust away, her voice and the
HIltlHS Ol uer mana cndnSeu. 80 lf.at What
She said was disorderly and confused for
the most part; a fragment of one
souls message, and now a fragment Ct an
others and she babbled ihs insane
fancies of the spirits of vain desire. Then
Mr.. Bessel understood that she SPOKE for
the spirit that had touch of her. and he be-
gan to struggle very furiously toward her.
But he was on the outside of the crowd,
and at that time he could not reach her,
and al last, growing anxious, he went way
to find what had happened meanwhile to
his body.
For a long time he went to and fro seek
ing it in vain and fearing that 1t must have
been killed, and then he found it at the
bottom of the shaft in Baker street, writh-
ing furiously and cursing with pain. Its
leg and arm and two ribs had been
bNoken by it's fall. Moreover the evil spir-
it was angry because his time had been so
short and because of the pain-making vio-
lent movements and casting his body about.
And at that Mr.. BesSel returned with re-
doubled earneStness to the room where the
seance going on, and soon as he
had thrust himself within sight of the place
ne saw one of the men vino stood about
the medium looking at his watch if he
meant that the seance should presently
end. At that a great number of the shad-
ows who had been striving turned away
tUitl, of 4 RAt he