The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1907-10-31
CHAPTER xvI.-(contlnued.)

pleasure. 1t was good to be back In
his own place again, the curtains
drawn, the lamps glowing, the world
shut out. He was happier here than
anywhere else, after all! 1t was here
and pictures. its cultured comfort,
that the real events of his life took
place, those splendid hours OF solitude
when he set down the vivid expert.
ences of his crowded life with all the
skill and power God had given him
and he himself had cultivated so man.
fully and well.
Now for It! Tired as his mind was,
there lay a time of deep thinking be-
fore II. There was the article for to-
morrow to group and arrange. 1t was
probably the most important piece OF
do. 1t would startle the world, and it
behooved him to put forth all his en-
ergies.
Yet there was something else. He
must consider the problem OF the
cigarette case first. II was immedi-
oIO anu ulotuIDlus.
How had this thing come into Sir
Williams possession. What com
m%unication had Gouldesbrough had
with Gerald Rathbone? That they
were rivals for the hand of Miss Poole,
Megbie knew quite well. Every one
knew II. It was most unlikely that
the two men could have been friends
or even acquaintances. Indeed, Meg
bic was almost certain that Rathbone
did not know Sir William.
Was that little, shining silver toy
IN the table q message from the past?
Or was it rather instinct with a pres
ent meaning?
He took 1t up again and looked at 1T
curiously. Immediately that he did
so the sense of agitation and unrest
returned to him with tremendous
force.
Megbie was not a superstitious man.
But nowadays We all know so much
more about the nonmaterial things of
life that only the most ignorant people
call a man with with a belief in the
supernatural superstitious. Like many
another highly educated man of our
time, Megbie knew that there are
strange and little-understood forces,
all round us. When our ex-prime min
lister is a keen investigator into
psychic; when the principal of Birm-
ingham university, a leading scientist,
writes constantly In dispute of the
mere material aspect of life, the cul-
tured world follows suit.
Megbie held the cigarette case in
his hand; all the electric lights
burned steadily. The door was closed
and there al not a sound in the fiat.
Then, with absolute s~uddenncss,
Megbie saw that a man was standing
tae fireplace, not three yardN away.
He was a tall man, clean shayen, with
light, close-cropped hair, and a rather
large face. The eyes were light blue
In color, and surrounded by minute
FUCKERS and wrinkles. The nose was
aquiline, the mouth c%lean-cut and
rather full. The man was dressed in
. dark blue o%vercoat, and the collar
and cuffs of the coat were heavily
trimmed with astrachan fur. The
room was absolutely still.
Something like a gray mist or cur.
tain descended over Megbie's eyes.
It rolled up like a curtain and megbie
saw the man with absolute clearness
and certainty. He could almost have
put out his hand and touched him.
Measured by the mere material stand
ard of time, these events did not take
more than a second, perhaps only a
part Of a second. Then the writer be-
came aware that the room was filed
with sound-sudden, loud and menac-
ing. It was a sound as OF sudden
drums at midnight, such a sound as
the gay dancers In Brussels heard on
the eve Of Waterloo, when the assem-
byl sounded IN the great square and
the whole city awoke.
In another moment Megbie knew
what the sound in his ears really was;
his own heart and pulses were racing
and beating like the sudden rolling of
drums. In a fash he recognized the
face and form or his visitor-this out
ward form and semblance OF a man
which had sprung up and grown con-
crete in the night! The phantom
II, indeed, 1t was q phantom-wore
the dress and aspect Of Eustace
the well known man.
about-town, who had killed himself ut
Brighton a short time before!
Megble had never spoken to Charlie
wood-so far as he could remember
bue he knew him perfectly we'll by
sight, as every N in the West end
Of London had known him. and he
was q member Of one Of tho clubs to
which the dead man had belonged.
The Thing that stood there, the
Thing or Person which had sprung
out OF the air. wore the earthly SEM
blance Of Eustace Charliewood.
Megbie shouted out aloud.
A great cry burst from his lips, .
cry Of surprise and fear--a challenge
Of that almost dreadful curiosity that
men experience now and then when
they are In the presence Of the inex-
piicable. the terrible. and the I'M
known.
Then Msgbie saw that the face Of
ne apparitios was horribly contortsd.