The evening world., 1911-06-10
= h e -
Professors Mystery
Of Mw Yo,k Romance Of a Sumne, Cbfs Strange Advsnfu-es
BY WELLS HASTINGS and BRIAN HOOKER

definite help. | would not go back to
stamford. had made more than
enough trouble there already.
1t was another week before the chance
came, And I was q little surprised
when Maclean conducted me not to the
closed house we had before visited. but
~ the house on Ninety-second street 20
which 1 had followed Doctor Paulus on
his way home.
'Oh. they meet around at one an
Others houses" Ma explained as we
went up tho steps. IT'S a gang or
social lights that's runnln' these
stunts as a fad. you see An the
psychic researchers, they ring In. Now
this time, see IL you can't keep some
thing on your stomach besides your
hand. You missed a pile OF fun last
performance"
1t was a very different sort of
! house from the other. Wide open and
full OF the sense OF family inhabi-
lance. = house full OF silk hangtngs
, and new mahogany and vases or un-
s~easonabie flowers, an orchid or n
house, a house where people would be
like their own automobile. polished
and expensive and a tribe a
Prof. Sheiburgh was there. looking
a little out or his element; and the
Others. by what I could tell. were
mostly the same people as before: hut
,here were more OF them. twenty or
twenty-five all told. chattering In
! groups about the brilliant room and
giving II almost the abr OF "A rccep-
| ton. II was evening, and the cleo
| trio light and the formal dress or most
OF the guests added to the impression.
had my first good look at the me
dium before the proceedings began. a
fattish. fiufry oma with large eyes.
pale-haired. and slow moving. whose
voiuble trivialities OF conversation and
dress exaggerated both vulgarism and
convention. For a m or two. I
wrest,ed with an uncanny certainty OF
having seen her somewhere before.
cropping about mons rocoliections.
Then all at once ! remembered; chs
was tho woman WAC had been with us
In the trolley accident. tho woman who
had 40 curiously discovered the where
abouts OF the chain.
As before. the circle formed about the
centre table consisted OF only a dozer
or 80. and the rest Of us were left sit
ting about the walls. The doors were
closed. and the ex~tinguishing OF th'
lights left the room In almost utte'
darkness.
The greenish pallor o the edge
Of the windows made II possible Il
' lrldklItt III tioh W so" $50 h
had the soiidity OF closed eyelids. AM
perhaps because OF the sudden TRANSITION
from brilliant light II had the sam'
fulness of Indefinite color and move
ment: as when one suddenly burie
ones face In the pillow. with the iigh
still burnins.
I caught myself neon cious1y strain
ing my eyes to observe these half
imaginary after-images. And despit'
tho difference OF environment ne sit
tiers had hardly begun their tuneies
grooming Of old songs before ! felt tn
same breathioss closeness as before. IN
same saturated oppression. the sam
feeling OF uncomfortable and even In
decent overcrowding.
I stsadied myself with Ions breathi
bracinx ~lnvoluntarily against tho ten
sion. Then all at once the door opene'
silently and softly closed. and A.
turned TO look some n rustled pas
mo. visible only as a solid shadow II
the gloom, and without a word siippe'
into a seat at the table. The other
made room. and q chair was moved vi
quietly. no one speaking or svsI
pausing in the song.
But my heart pounded In my ears an,
my hands heated as I clenchsd them
for somehow I knew as certainly a. I
! COuiu HhNt pininiy orci thnt ~ Now
conner was Mrs. Tabor.
And II WAS as II she brought with he
an increase Of the already tense OK
p~ectancy. as n her wi nervous troubi,
spread out about her like n deepening
OF color. like a drop Of loo fallinI
into water already tingsd with red. I
was my own imagination. OF course
the excitement OF being close upon m,
quest. and the reaction Of silence clos
Ing over tho interruption Of her en-
trance; hut ] felt the sxertion Of
breathing. a. II I were Immersed up 4
the chin In water.
II the atmosphere had been like
weight before. II was now like a de
i~iberateiy closing wise. In the interval,
OF the droning hum at the table. thu
silence took on a quality OF brittlsness
Little bruskings and rustlings ran II
waves around the room. n I though
how a breeze runs over a f1eld OF tai
grass, where each tuft In turn take.
up its neighbours restlessness.
II occurred TO me suddenly that mos
OF the people here were women. ant
the sense of crowded presence led m,
TO imagining crowds and throngs OF
women grouped in pictures or dancing
In rows upon the stage. And then
remembered sharply that I could moi
see Mrs. Tabor and wondered whether
! my certainty that II was she had anS