Captain Herrick has rented it from a
distinguished artist. There is a great high ceiling and a wonderful
fireplace where logs were blazing. I was standing before this fireplace
trying to warm myself, when there came a crash overhead, it was only a
gas fixture that had fallen, but it seemed to me the whole building was
coming down. I almost fainted in terror and Chris caught me in his arms,
trying to comfort me. Then, before I realized what he was doing, he had
drawn me close to him and kissed me.

This made me very angry. I felt that he had no right to take advantage
of my fright in this way and I told him I would not stay in his studio a
minute longer. And I did not. I almost ran down the stairs, then out
into the street. It was foolish to get so agitated, but I could not help
it. I went over to the Brevoort and spent the night there. You will
understand in a minute why I am telling you all this, it has to do with
the vision that I saw in the bowl of gold fish.

In this vision I saw myself enter Captain Herrick's studio just as I
really did--in my white satin dress. Christopher was with me in his
uniform. Then I saw myself lying on a divan and--Chris was bending over
me, kissing me passionately. He kissed me many times, it seemed as if he
would never stop kissing me--in the vision. All this was as clear as a
motion picture. The extraordinary part of it is, that I neither resisted
him nor responded in any way, I just seemed to be lying there--with my
eyes closed--as if I were asleep.

I am very much distressed about this. I _know_ that I did not really lie
down on Captain Herrick's divan--I would not have done such a thing for
the world. I _know_ Captain Herrick did not really kiss me in that
passionate way, as I saw him kiss me in the bowl of gold fish, but I
_feel_ that he did. I am afraid that he did. I can't get over the
feeling that he did. This sounds like madness, doesn't it? A woman
cannot be ardently kissed by a man without knowing it, can she? Perhaps
I am mad--perhaps this is the way mad people feel.

Help me, doctor, if you can, and above all _please_ see Captain
Herrick--he is an old friend of yours--and find out exactly what I did
at his studio. I must know the truth. And I can't ask Chris, can I?

Yours in anguish of soul,

PENELOPE WELLS.

P. S.--Please telephone me as soon as you get this and make an
appointment to see me.

CHAPTER IV

FIVE PURPLE MARKS

During his thirty years of