Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-01
THE HOUSE THAT WA s
Continued from page s

1t was more than a month later that Thu
Thinking Machine called upon Harold Fair
banks at his home. The young man was sittin
up in bed, weak but intelligently cognizant o
everything about him. There was still an &C
casional restless rowing of his eyes; but tina
was all.
You remember me, Mr.. Fairbanks?" bega1
the scientist.
YES" was the reply.
You remember the events of the night W
were together!"
Everything. from the time the automobile
left the road and the light appeared in the dis
lance" said Fairbanks. g remember seeing
the old man again, and the woman appearing
| know now that he was deaf and dumb and
blind, and that she was insane. That seems I'd
clear the situation great deal" He passed
a wasted hand across his brow. But wher
is the place. l couldn't find it"
said The Thinking Machine soothingly. "Yo,
don't remember shooting at your mother
No. Don't excite yourself she was no
wounded. Immediately after that you wer
placed in sanatorium. l saw you there
The ivory image had been taken away from
you. l went into the room where you wer
confined and gave it back to you. 1t acted as
thought it would,-quieted you. To maxi
certain that it was this and nothing else tina
had that effect, took it away from you again
your condition was such that you overturned
heavy table that was bolted to the floor
broke 2 e the i bolt. You don't remember that
81 left the image with you. That really wa
the tangible cause of your condition. If il
hadn't been for that, and the brooding over the
mystery which it constantly caused, the events
of that first night would have passed out o
your mind in time. You superinduced sci
hypnotism with that little image; that is, you
must understand that self hypnotism IS pos
sible to persons of a certain temperament in
mechanical way, when the object employed IS
highly polished-shiny, might say.
Although that image brought you to tho
condition you were in, l restored it to you I'd
quiet you physically That was necessary
the first night. You went with us in an auto |
mobile, from Pelham to the little store where
you had stopped that first night for gasolene
We stopped there for gasolene, and saw THO
fact, he had gone away only for few months !
and is now installed in the little store again
This was all done, you understand, to arouse
you, if possible, to what was passing around
you. In way it succeeded.
well, from the little store we went as you
went the night of your first trouble, until we|
came to the two roads, one leading by sharp
turns to the left. Then we went straight I'd
the farm house where the old man and the|
woman were. There l wanted to convince youI
that they were real people,-that there was
nothing of the ghostly about them. AS mat
ter of fact, that old man and the woman neveIj
knew you were in the house that night. The|
man had no means of knowing it so long as youl
never touched him nor he you. You say hid
brought in something to eat. In all probability
that was intended for the woman. You'
assumed it was for yourself The fire which
compelled you to jump, and which resulted
in the broken ankle for you, did not destroy
the house. There were still marks of it there
but the heavy rain extinguished it, and car
penters made the necessary repairs. Now all
that is clear, isn't it,"
Perfectly" was the reply: "but the white
thing in the road-the screaming heard
there?"
There is no mystery whatever about
that" continued the scientist calmly. That
road that turns to the left turns more sharply
than you imagine. After little distance i'll
goes almost parallel with the main road, sol
that following it at night you would, without
any knowledge of it, pass within few hundred
feet of a point on the main road. Now the|
house where these people live is say five hun
dred feet from the road that turns to the left
therefore not more than eight hundred feet
we'll say from the main road. Thus the
screaming you heard in the main road was the
woman who lived in that house; the figure you|
saw was that woman. Just why she had left
the house and was wandering around through
the wood does not appear it is certain that
she was there, and was frightened by the