The Washington herald., 1908-06-15
THE END.
EPIL0GUE.

EPIL0GUE.
The storm was over. Another battle
in the everlasting conflict between flesh
and spirit had been fought out Then an
angel OF peace swept over the battlefield.
laying hands OF healing on the living
victims Of the fight and burying the
fallen so deep that no noxious fumes OF
corruption could arise 10 haunt the sur
vivors.
Abdul Won Tarsenheim. one OF those
strange products of the rebel planet, Sat
urn, had stolen weapons from the armory
Of the universe which human hands have
not yet grown strong enough 10 WELD
with safety. He had pried into chambers
the doors Of which will be open 80 US all
when our eyes have grown strong enough
10 bear the light, our ears capable OF
hearing the harmonies without being
deafpned forever: and so another OF Lots
wives had turned into n pillar of salt.
Whether his machine was only an cleo
trical device or whether ne really had In
vented method OF utilizing planetary
vibrations, and recording the harmonies
and discords produced by the revolution
Of the planets, or whether the gypsy
sheik-himself an advanced hypnOust-
had caused his victim 70 believe that he
heard the discords which killed him. will
never be kpown. Still, II is a curious
thing that experts tried in vain 10 recon-
struct or get any electrical results from
the strange apparatus.
But The evil Won Tarsenheim did died
with him, as far as this earth is con-
cerned.
When Lady Kitty recovered from the
attack OF brain fever brought on by her
contact with HIS hypnotic crime. the
brain area whereon the events OF those
two years had been recorded was merci-
fully sealed, fused by the terrific charge
which had been sent over the wires.
The little puzzled look which sometimes
came into her eyes only added 20 their
charm In the eyes OF Fabian Dare. when
he met her again, year after the awful
scene which had been the climax OF the
strange deal he had made with Won Tar
scnheim and Vandraken, out Of which
some pOetical, ascetic strain, combined
with great fighting qualities. had enabled
him to emerge, Scared, perhaps. but not
vitality injured.
Like many another man, he often
planned his life as Il would have been
could he have lived again by his expert
ence Of Il.
He knew he would have suffered a
hundred deaths before giving up his per-
sonality 10 another, as men do when they
allow themselves to be hypuotlzed. He
hoped that brought face to face with
such conditions as prevailed that awful
night OF storm In Won Tarsenheim's
laboratory, he would have seen that his
duty perhaps his redemption. lay in CIV
Ing UP his life to redeeming the man
who had injured him. instead Of yielding
TO the pressure OF hate and fear which
had unbalanced his brain for the moment.
But he was only a human being-nOt even
popular actor, with a reputation for
high-souled denouements 10 sustain-so
he had been forced 20 go forward In the
dark, along with his groping fellOw-men.
He came to believe and the books and
poems which brought him fame and
wealth, magnetlzed as they were by his
strange experiences, echoed with the be-
lief that the ultimate power which has
decreed we shall walk in the dark will
not blame US for stumbling; and that
though we may not Ike the automatic
record we have kept, when we meet II
race to face, we shall have our oppor-
tunity to effsce the stains, or, failing, be
h
Perhaps he came to believe this more
and more as the marks with which an
other mans sin had marked him wore
away, leaving him only n little grayer.
leaving the lines Of concentration more
strongly marked than his years Justified.
and yet endOwing him with a fascination
OF mystery that caused strangers to give
him attention as he passed, which his
good looks alone could not have at
tracted
His imagination. stimulated by his CON
tact with the great forces which Won
Tarsenheim played with, had given him a
glimpse OF Deity free from the little
human personal prejudices with which
men and their churches have barnacled
what they worship.
His writings rang with the question,
Had God made man in His own image,
or had man made God In his image, Gre
ating himself too large. his God too
small?"
He saw that men had taken as their
written religion the code which was once
the religion and 1.-THE law, combined. OF
pastoral people, and then. divorclng law
from religion in fact, yet I'm theory ap-
piled the old combination to the churches
Of an industrial world.
He saw that as the area OF the physical
was enlarged by mans material inven-
tions, larger conception, a wider vision
OF the ultimate power, was a necessity to
mankind. since 1t had reached a point
where 1t must either leap forward or fall
backward
lie had been through experiences so un-
usual, fight so terrific. that he had har-
vested In two years the philosophy which
most men only acquire at the end OF
ire, and sense of proportion which
rev men ever acquire at aIl-that sense
OF proportion which discriminates be-
tween pin pricks and sword thrusts, and
refuses 20 take trivial things seriously,
wasting neither laughter nor tears, so
that they may both be ready in the hour
OF need
ana when he came into the baronetcy,
and. better still, a fame worthy to be laid
at her feet Lady Kitty found in his rest