A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, December 1949 — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

sa . to the heart, hastened away, ed the father she had betrayed, r big black stallion, mounted it, ie King up behind her and tried to at the waves to higher ground. There ist have been something good in her all. But—another extraordinary de- her shadows rebelled, got behind the es and pushed them on higher and ter. So the waves overtook the stallion 1 Dahut and her papa—and that was feed their finish. But still they ride ng the shores of Quiberon ‘on her stal- n black, at her heels her shadow ick—’ ” I stopped, abruptly. _ My left arm had been raised, the glass wine within it. By a freak of the light, candles threw its shadows sharply the white tablecloth, directly in front 1e Demoiselle. And the Demoiselle’s white hands were sy with the shadow of my wrist, as though measuring it, as though passing eo == something under and around it. mt —- I dropped my hand and caught hers. = ees she slipped them under “the edge ___ Of the table. As swiftly I dropped my right =a and took from her fingers what they held. It was a long hair, and as I raised it, I saw that it was one of her own. I thrust it into the candle flame and held it there while it writhed and shriveled. The Demoiselle laughed, sweet, mock- ing laughter. I heard de Keradel’s chuck- le echo hers. The disconcerting thing was a that his amusement seemed not only frank _ but friendly. The Demoiselle said: “First he compares me to the sea—the treacherous sea. Then darkly, by infer- Bee sence, to wicked Dahut, the Shadow 3s een. And then he thinks me a witch nd burns my hair. And yet—he says he is not credulous—that he does not be- * s aa Again she laughed—and again de Kera- del echoed her. I felt foolish, damned foolish. It was | — touché for the Demoiselle, page any = = doubt. I glared at Bill. Why the devil had he led me into such a trap? But Bill was Eat laughing. He was looking at the --. Demoiselle with a face peculiarly stony. Nor was Helen smiling. ____ There was a short and awkward silence. a De Keradel broke it. =k: do not quite know why, but I am ? i ee eS es eS Oe A. MERRITT’S FANTASY ae reminded of a question I wished to ask you, Dr. Bennett. I was much interested in the account of the suicide of Mr. Rals-— ton, who, I gathered from your interview in the newspapers, was not only a patient of yours but a close friend.”’ He answered, smoothly, in his best pro- fessional manner. “Yes, indeed, Dr. de Keradel, as friend and patient I probably knew him as well as any one.” De Keradel said: “It is not so much his death that interests me. It is that in the account of it three other men were men- tioned. His death linked to theirs in fact, as though the same cause were behind all.” Bill said: “Quite so.” De Keradel took up his glass, twirled it slowly, and said: “T am really much interested, Dr. Ben- nett. We are all of us physicians, here. Your sister ... my daughter . . . are of course in our confidence They will not talk. Do you think that these four deaths had anything in common?” “Without doubt,” answered Bill. “What?” asked de Keradel. “Shadows!” said Bill. CHAPTER 5 The Whispering Shadow I STARED at Bill, incredulously. I remembered his anxiety over my mention of shadows to the reporters, and his tenseness when [| had told of the Shadows of Dahut the White. And here we were back to shadows again. There must be some link, but what was it | De Keradel exclaimed: “Shadows! Do you mean all suffered from identical hal- lucinations ?”’ 5 Shadows—yes, ” tions—I’m not sure.’ De Keradel repeated, thoughtfully: “You are not sure.’’ Then asked: “Were these—shadows—what your friend and patient desired you to regard as objective rather than subjective? I read the news- paper reports with great interest, Dr. Bennett.” ‘“T’m sure you did, Dr. de Keradel,” said Bill, and there was an edge of irony to his voice. ““Yes—it was the shadow which he desired me to regard as real, not imagi- Comicbooks. ~—* PO Oe le eee ee ee ee FP ee ee Oe ee eR ey ~ said Bill. “Hallucina- |