The San Francisco call., 1913-07-20

| a message with my man, plQQlHS NE
come at my earliest leisure.
why not for dinnerr" she added.
But your" I queried; for her car
was headed In the opposite direction.
II am only going to Noroton.
! shall be back in time. You'll come p
"Of course I'll come" I answered
her. I think she must have heard more
in my voice than the simple words,
| for her lids dropped, for Just breath,
and the color famed sudden below her
lowered sashes.
But, after all, saw very little Of
her that evening, for when the coffee
and liqueurs we're served she bade us
goodnight and left us, not to return.
AS for the subject upon which Cam
eron desired to consult me. II had not
been SO much as mentioned.
Even after his niece had withdrawn
he continued for time to discuss with
me topics of general and public, rather
than personal, import.
Meanwhile my curiosity grew
keener. 1t was natural, suppose,
that I should fancy Evelyn involved
IN some way. And while | vainly
made effort to imagine wherein | might
have laid myself open to the disap-
proval of this most punctillious OF
guardians, | momentarily lost track OF
my hosts discourse. E1nersing from
my abstraction II was with q measure
Of relief that heard him saying:
II think you told me once. Clyde,
that you rather prided yourself on
your ability TO get a line on ones
character from his handwriting.
That's why I telephoned you this Aft
ernoon. have received an anony-
nous letter"
IAN anonymous letter!" repeated.
Anonymous letters should be burned
and forgotten. Surely you're not both
ering about the writer"
There are anonymous letters and
anonymous letters. Ordinarily your
method lie the one / should pursue.
Indeed, may say that when, about
a month or 90 ago, I received COM
municatior of that character, did al
most precisely what you now advise.
Certainly l followed one-half OF your
prescription--f forgot the letter.
"And now something has happened
to recall 1t to your memory"
Something happened very shortly
after its receipt" he replied. Some
thing very puzalins. But in spite OF
that was inclined to treat the matter
as bit Of clever chicanery. devised for
the purpose, probably, Of extortion.
As such | again put il from my
thoughts. but today / received a Sec
ond letter.
When the second letter came he
continued, Il searched among the cir
culars for the first and found 1t.
want you to see them both. The writ
ing is very curious and the signature,
II may call It that, is still more sin
gular. On the first letter | took 1t for
blot. But on the second letter oc-
ours the same black blur or smudge of
| Identical outline
OF course | thought of the Black
Hand. But somehow did not dare to
voice It, To have suggested anything
so ordinary to Cameron in his present
mood would have been to offer him
| offense.
| And when, at the next moment. he
drew from an inner pocket of his even
ing coat two thin, waxlike sheets OF
paper and passed them to me I was
glad that | had Kept silence. For the
letters were no rough, rude scrawis of
an iiliterate Malta or Camorra.
"ff you don't mind" Cameron was
saying. you might read them aloud. .
In the succeeding moment the room
was ghostly silent and then, breaking
against the stiffness. was the sound OF
my own voice, reading:
THAT which you have wrought shall
in turn be wrought upon you. Take
warning therefore of what shall hap.
pen on the seventh day hence. As sun
follows sun, so follows all that Is de-
creed. The ways of our God are many.
On the righteous he showers bless.
ings; on the evil he pours misery
That was the first letter. The Sec
ond began with the same sentence:
That which you have wrought shall
in turn be wrought upon you"
But there the verbal identity ceased.
1t went on:
Once more, as earnest of what is
decfeed, there will be shown unto you
a symbol of our power. Precaution
can not avail. Fine words and q smil-
ing countenance make not virtue"
And beneath each letter was the
strange silhouette.
1t Is difficult for me to convey the
most meager idea of the emotional
influence which these two brief COM
munications exerted. They seemed to
breathe a grim spirit of implacable
Nemesis
'Well?" he said.
! Il don't want to alarm YOU" said,
but somehow feel that these'-and