The Washington times., 1912-05-15

~ But Mr.. Bellair told him to 81
"A down. Then the master wen
on talking a lot of things
which partly understood. but
2 can't tell you in the right words, sir
because my master was q beautiful
speaker when he got started. He called
1T the Thing Behind the Curtain, and
spoke OF 1t as II it was a living thing
a wild beast, II seemed to me- though ]
know better now. He told Mr.. Ford
That 1t sat all day and night behind the
curtain, chuckling and purring and
reaching out its claws for human souls
he talked a lot, too, about its being his
evil genius, how 1t wouldn't let him GO
and how 1t told him things that in my
estimation nobody this side of the grave
ought to know or talk about.
And / was surprised to hear my mas.
ter blaspheme, too, for usually he was
very respectful man about religion
But 1 heard him say as plain as you
near me that he could raise the dead
only the trouble was he could never get
the mind to come back, and he had 10
supply the dead people he raised with
brains he borrowed from people who
were still alive; How he could borrow
TO a dead man l don't know. Anyhow
mat was the trouble. he said, because II
he gave a dead man the same brain as
some living man had, there would be a
Anyhow, it was beyond me, and
think II was beyond Mr.. Ford, for he
jumped up and said II Mr.. Bellair didn' I
open that door at once he would call the
now he was going to do 1t. His calling
Tor the police would hardly have been a
compelling circumstance, as far as INV
masters orders went.
M ~
master soothed him couldn't tell, but
heard Mr.. Bellair say that the Thing
behind the Curtain had a habit Of look
ing INTO peoples minds and learning all
The worst Of the Thing, Mr.. Beilair
said, was that 1t didn't always Keen its
secrets, and that If he let 1t out OF the
room It might make such a mess Of pub
most people sorry.
1t was then that the real trouble be-
gan IN the red room. You'll have to
guess for yourself what it was ali about,
Surtai5 CUT IL seems ems that the Thing Behind the
Dody's soul and had been hearing some
thlng wicked about this Mr.. Ford, for
the master suddenly said:
s,,n mar: Ford. the way you let your foot
siip In the cave was rather clever"
don't know what could have hap-
pened to Mr.. Ford. except that he had
been been getting, more frightened all the
d,dn,t dlme until this knocked him over. for l
Mr. Bellair said. "Thank YOU" Just
ike photographer after he has
snapped your picture.
o. nov; said the master. well see
f that Is the truth"
There was something queer going on
Ia that room. Still, Mr.. Ford was ST.
ient. and Mr.. Bellair spoke only at in
teryals. I heard him talking like this:
Just be patient, Mr.. Ford.
ton may interest you. You see.
! am able to be you without altogether
@ forgetting to be me; That's what
-, And a lot of other things like thar.
Ihen l heard a click. like a telephone
switch. That's probably what It was.
as you say. Mr.. Bellair began to speak
put his voice was strange to me, SO that
Ford's voice. But IT was Mr.. Bellairs.
s.,;n lust as thought" said he. 'It was
The words were hardly out of his
another. 1 jumped out of the chair:
but ! was SO frightened that / dropped
the key, and in the half light of the
LANDING landing l was unable to find it for a
around the floor distinctly heard r MI.
Ford say:
"oh. God! Oh. Godr
Then another voice spoke. I would
nave thought that It was Mr.. Ford, but
Just as ! thought" said the voice.
oh! why did / kill him? The game
wasn't worth the candle. This man
knows knowS OH 5s wb% SGoTs Sd Whit 1 hid, does he
thing like her?''
riI,asn Then ! was sure that my master had
killed Mr.. Ford Yes, / am sure of
what l am saying. The conversation
was. was not not the other way about. 1t must
about the killing. although his voice did
SOUND queer, for / distinctly heard Mr.
Ford saying, "oh, God! Oh. God?'
while the other voice was speaking.
Ana II / had not been sure that II was
MT; Bellair who had said that about the
killing, why was I so astonished when I
opened the door and found that 1t was
Mr.. Ford who had shot Mr.. Bellair?
teephone swtsS TSeTe Sss SSse by the
band around his head, with wires resebl .se.
Ing into the switch-just like a tele-
phone Mr.. Ford was lying in the.
body twitching like man in a Mt. And
he was crying out like a child who has
awakened in the dark and seen. My
head was going like that, too. 1 wanted
TO scream out.
My master. you see, was standing up
straight There was a bullet through
his brow, and blood was streaming
from hole in his shirt front. And he
was still talking calmly, but his voice
wasn't his. IL was Mr.. Ford's, but his
face was his own, only
(At this point the witness became
suddenly hysterical. II was impossible
TO proceed, in view of her condition, or
to give credence to her testimony The
rest of her narrative, here given. was
taken a few days later when she had
resumed her usual adamantine exterior. }
Yes, sir, II is hard that l should be
compelled to put in words a thing that
mere thought of fills me with horror.
II was my master who was shot, not
Mr.. Ford. But something had happened
to Mr.. Bellair. His voice was the other
mans voice; and, although his face was
the same, there was something about II
that was like Mr.. Ford. could not be
mistaken. for the two men were there
before me.
What was Mr.. Bellair saying7
don't know what II meant. except that
II was what they had been talking