River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-05-17

sleeves and reasoned with himself.
Was it pure Authorization? He knew
he was slipping, and he battled for
his sanity with the same energy he
had formerly displayed against Paw
kins. So persistent is mental habit.
that he felt as If IL were still q stfug-
gle with Pawkins. He was well yersed
in psychology He knew that such
visual Illusions do come as a result
of mental strain. But the point was,
he did not only see the moth, he had
heard it when it touched the edge OF
the lampshade, and afterward when it
hit against the wall, and he had felt
it strike his face in the dark.
It was a dim, gray night; an almost
unbroken sheet of watery cloud was
sweeping across the moon, and the
hedge and trees in front of the house
were black against the pale roadway.
Hapley's landlady, hearing strange
noises, looked out Of her window and
saw Hapley, like ghost in his shirt
and white trousers, running to and fro
in the road and beating the air. Now
he would stop, now he would dart very
rapidly at something invisible, now ne
would move upon it with stealthy
strides.
"Mrs Colville," said Hapley, calling
down the staircase next morning, Il
hope I did not alarm you last night"
'You may well ask that!" said Mrs.
Colville.
"Ihe fact is, am a sleep-walker.
There is nothing to be alarmed about,
really | am sorry ! made such an
ass of myself I will go over to Shore
ham, and get some stuff to make me
sleep soundly."
Halfway over the down, by the
chalk-pits, the moth came upon Hapley
again. He went on, trying to keep
his mind upon chess problems, but it
was no good. The thing fiuttered into,
his face, and he struck at it with his
hat in self-defense. Then rage, the old
rage-the rage he had so often felt
against Pawkins-came upon him
again. He went on, leaping and strik-
ing at the eddying insect. Suddenly
he trod on nothing and fell headlong.
There was a gap in his sensations,
and Hapley found himself sitting on
the heap of stones in front Of the
opening Of the chalk-pits, with leg
twisted back under him.
Late that night, after his broken leg
was set, he was feverish. He was
lying fiat on his bed, and he began
to run his eyes around the room to
see if the moth was still about. He
tried not to do this, but it was no
good He soon caught sight of the
thing resting close to his hand, by
the night-light, on the green table,
cloth The wings quivered. With a
sudden wave of anger he smote at it
with his fist and the nurse woke up
with shrek. He had missed it.
THAT moth" he said; and then,
"it was fancy. Nothing!"
All the time he could see quite clear.
" the insect going around the cornice
and darting across the room, and he
could also see that the nurse saw moth
ing of it and looked at him strangely.
He must keep himself in hand. He
knew he was lost man if he did
not keep himself in hand. But as the
night waned the fever grew upon him,
and the very dread he had of seeing
the moth made him see it. About five,
just as the dawn was gray, he tried to
get out of bed and catch it, though his
leg was af1re with pain. The nurse
had to struggle with him.
Because of this they tied him down
to the bed At this the moth grew
holder, and once he felt 1t settle in
his hair Then. because he struck
out violently with his arms, they tied
these also. At this the moth came
and crawled over his face, and Hap.
ley wept, swore, screamed, prayed I'm,
availingly for them to take it off him.
Now Hapley is spending the re-
mainder of his days in a padded room.
worried by moth that no one else
can see. The asylum doctor calls it
hallucination but Hapley, when he
! is in his easier mood, and can talk,
says it is the ghost of Pawkins, and
consequently a unique specimen and
well worth the trouble of catching.