eak of Ouija boards
and the murmur of conversation rose louder and louder, and then I felt
my face twitch in the spasm of that idiotic grin. I tried to straighten
my wretched features into their usual semblance of humanity, I tried
and----

"Doesn't he look sly!" said Miss Hinkle. And then I got up and fled from
the room.

I do not know how that party ended. I do not want to know. I went
straight upstairs, and undressed and crawled into bed, and lay there in
the burning dark while the last guest gurgled in the hall below about
the wonderful evening she had spent. I lay there while the front door
shut after her, and Lavinia's steps came up the stairs and--passed the
door to the guest room beyond. And then after a couple of centuries
elapsed the clock struck three and I dozed off to sleep.

At the breakfast table the next morning there was no sign of my wife. I
concluded she was sleeping late, but Gladolia, upon being questioned,
only shook her head, muttered something, and turned the whites of her
eyes up to the ceiling. I was glad when the meal was over and hurried
to the library for another try at that story.

I had hardly seated myself at the desk when there came a tap at the door
and a white slip of paper slid under it. I unfolded it and read:

"DEAR JOHN,

"I am going back to my grandmother. My lawyer will
communicate with you later."

"Oh," I cried. "Oh, I wish I was dead!"

And:

"That's exactly what you ought to be!" said that horrible voice from the
other end of the room.

I sat up abruptly--I had sunk into a chair under the blow of the
letter--then I dropped back again and my hair rose in a thick prickle on
the top of my head. Coming majestically across the floor towards me was
a highly polished pair of thick laced shoes. I stared at them in a sort
of dreadful fascination, and then something about their gait attracted
my attention and I recognized them.

"See here," I said sternly. "What do you mean by appearing here like
this?"

"_I_ can't help it," said the voice, which seemed to come from a point
about five and a half feet above the shoes. I raised my eyes and
presently distinguished her round protruding mouth.

"Why can't you? A nice way to act, to walk in sections----"

"If you'll give me time," said the mouth in an exasperated voice, "I
assure you the rest of me will presently arrive."

"But what's the matter with you? You never acted this way before."

She seemed stun