The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-06-15

The side door swung open. In the
dimness Of the half-closed apartment
Average Jones saw a man huddled in
a chair. He wore a black skull cap.
So far as Identification went he was
safe. His whole face was g~rotesquely
blotched and swollen. So, also, we're
the hands which rested On his knees.
BE at peace" he said. 1T is not.
contagious. You can find your way
out? / bid you good evening, SIR
Now i wonder unused Average
Jones. as he jolted on the rear plat
form of an Eighth avenu car, by
what lead / could have landed that
job. | rather think I've missed some
thing"
All that night, and recurrently on
many nights thereafter, the poisoned
and c~ontorted face and the scrawled
MERCY" on the cabinet lurked trou-
blously in his mind. A few days later
he made his way to the Cosmic club
one afternoon. There, as he had fore
seen, he found Robert Bertram.
Can l detach you from your usual
bridge game this evening" he de-
manded of that languid gentleman.
Very possibly. What's the induce
ment?"
Chapter Second Of the Bellair street
advertisement. I've told you the first
chapter. You've been the god-outside-
the-machine SO far. Now, come or m"
Together they went to the Green
witch village house. The name Smith"
had disappeared from the vestibule.
The landlord turned out to be a
German landlady. who knew little con-
corning her late ground-fioor tenant
and evinced no interest in the sub
ject. The "perfessor," as she termed
Smith," had left no address. Mrs.
Marion in the other ground-fioor fiat
had tried to be acquainted with him.
Not much luck, she thought.
Mrs. Marion was voluble, ignorant,
and a willing source Of information.
The ~perfessor? Sure! / knew'm-
Twas me given the name. He was
a Mejum. A big one; one of the kind
IL SOlhCo w. IdIDCi al. Opli dpplh . I.
Somethin' fierce! My kitchen window
is on the airshaft. Sos his. Many's
the time in the still evenin's I've
heard the rap-rap-rappin' on his win
dow an on the wall, but mostly on the
window. Blip! out of the dark. It'd
make you just hop! And him sittin
quiet and peaceful in the front room
all the time. And once / seen him with
his materializin' wand, sittin' in the
room almost dark"
His what?"
"Materializin' wand. Spirit-rod, you
know. AS tall as himself and all shiny
and slick. 1t was slim and sort o.
knobby like this wood-what's the
name Of it, now?-they make fish
poles out of. Only the real big bugs
in spiritualism use EN-. They're daa-
gerous. You wouldn't catch me touch
in it or goin' in there ever now. /
says to Mrs. Kraus, l says"
And so the stream of high-pitched,
eager talk flowed until the two men
escaped from 1t into the vacant apart
ment. Going to the kitchen through
doors on a straight line with the front
room. Average Jones inspected the
window. The glass was thickly marked
with faint, blush blurs, being indeed,
almost Opaque from them in the mid
die Of the upper pane. Below the
window was a considerable amount of
crumbled putty, which he fingered
with puzzled curiosity.
In the front room a mass of papers
had been half burned. Some of them
were local journals. mostly the Eve
ming Register. A few were publica-
tions in the Arabic text.
Oriental newspapers" remarked
Bertram.
Average Jones picked them up and
began to fold them. From between
two sheets fluttered a very small bit
OF paper, narrow and half curled, as
If from the drying of mucilage. He
lifted and read Il.
Here we are again, Bert" he re-
marked In his most casual tone. The
quality Of this Mercy is strained, all
The two men bent over the slip,
studying 1t. The word was. as Aver
age Jones had said, In a strained, eff
fortful handwriting. and each letter
stood distinct. These were the char
I'm 80 ~A