The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-04-09

from the hall.
Mono. Go to bed, Annette. Go
to bed-do you hear me?" as the maid
ratified the door-knob. 81 don't want
to be disturbed"
81 beg your pardon, madame" An
nette coughed discretely. 81 didn't
know that nybody-thought you had
come home alone-I-"
GO to bedt At once Diana
shrieked; then, the maids footsteps
pattering away, fell on the couch, pant
ing.
She was in towering rage. She
felt sure that if it had not been for
the maid she could have pounced upon
the Thing while it lay there on the
floor, roaring with laughter Now the
laughter had died out and the Thing
had got away. 1t had shfunk into
tiny butterfly-that's how Diana felt it
which was beating its wings against
the brass rod of the portiers. But it
was futtering rather helplessly, blind
ly, as it had lost some of its energy
and vigor; and again Diana felt sorry
and CORRESPONDENCE her hatred grew.
And her determination.
''Pll get you-you-"
She waited until her breath came
more evenly, rose, walked noiselessly
to the portieres and rustled them
The Thing was startled. Diana
could feel the tiny wings flutter and
beat. She could hear its terrible
straining effort to bloat into a huge
soab-bubble and, not succeeding. to
shrink into a pin-point.
But something was making it i'm
possible, and Diana knew what it was.
1t was the fact that, in one of the
hidden back cells of her brain, the
thought of Bunny Whipple's silly little
fool of golden-haired wife had taken
firm root, refused to bulge.
So Diana kept the thought. She
nursed it. 1t seemed like bait, and
she thrust it forward
She spoke out loud, her face raised
up to the portieres:
Silly little fool of golden-haired
bride" and she added, out of SALOONS
scious volition: SILLY BUNNY"
She had spoken the last words ca
ressingly, as a naughty boy speaks TO
a cat before he catches her and
tweaks her tail, and the Thing was
about to fall into the trap. For a
second it lowered on the brass rod,
seemed to wait, expectant, undecided,
Then it came down few inches. 1t
futtered within reach of Diana's out
stretched hand.
But when she closed her hand sud-
denly, viciously, it winged away
again, breathless, frightened, but un
harmed. 1t flew into the center Of
the room. 1t made a renewed terri
Bile effort to bloat into balloon.
And this time it succeeded partly.
She did not feel exactly what shape
it had assumed, fiabby, covered all
over with soft Jumps which were very
teastly.
She followed more determined than
ever, and the Thing tried to leap into
| the air.
It had nearly succeeded when Diana
with quick presence of mind, thought
again of Bunny Whipple and Bunny
Whipple's silly, golden-haired wife.
"She asks me to give her back
Bunny's love-his love! God! Does
the silly little fool think that Bunny
loves me? Does she call that-Love?'
This time it was Diana who burst
into a roar of laughter, and the Thing
stood still and listened, its head
cooked to one, side, stupid, ridiculous,
foolish: and when Diana neared it,
when it tried to fly, to hover, to swing
in mid air. all it succeeded in doing
was to move swiftly about the room,
just an inch or two away from the
woman's cropping fingers.
Diana laughed again. for she knew
that the thing had lost its faculty Of
flying. that it would not be able to
escape her for long with the chances
all in her favor. For the boudoir was
cluttered-up with furniture and she
knew the location of every piece, while
the Thing would lose itself, stumble,
fall, and then
wait, You just wait!" she whis-
pered; and the Thing backing away
from the center of the room toward
the carved Chinese screen, she fol-
lowed step by step. her fingers CROP
ing, clawing, the lust of the hunter in
her eyes, in her heart.
I'll throttle you"
Then she reconsidered. To throttle
so as to kill, she would have to meas
ure her own strength exactly against
the Things strength of resistance.
And that would be hard For the
Thing was non-physical. 1t had no
body.
But it was sure to have a heart.
She would stab that heart. So she
picked from the buhl table the jew
eled Circassian dagger which she hac
admired the day before in little
shop on Lexington avenue, and which
Bunny had given to her-with some
very foolish remark, quite typical of