uarter of London is blue." He
looked at me with a sudden anxiety. "You're sure I'll get it?"

"Quite sure. Everyone is bound to get it. There's no possible immunity."

He sat heavily in the chair, staring at the carpet.

"Harden, I didn't quite like the look of those crowds in the East End.
Anything big like this stirs up the people. It excites them and then the
incalculable may happen. I've been thinking about the effect upon the
uneducated mind. I've spread over the country the vision of humanity
free from disease, and that's roused something in them--something
dangerous--that I didn't foresee. Disease, Harden, whatever you doctors
think of it, puts the fear of God into humanity. It's these sudden
releases--releases from ancient fears--that are so dangerous. Are you
sure you can't stop the germ, or direct it along certain channels?"

"I have already told you that's impossible."

"You might as well try and stop the light of day," said Sarakoff from a
sofa, where he was lying apparently asleep. "Let the people think what
they like now. Wait till they get it themselves. There are rules in the
game, Jason, that you have no conception of, and that I have only
realized since I became immortal. Yes--rules in the game, whether you
play it in the cellar or the attic, or in the valley, or on the mountain
top."

"Your friend is very Russian," said Jason equably. "I have always heard
they are dreamers and visionaries. Personally, I am a practical man, and
as such I foresee trouble. If the masses of the people have no illness,
and enjoy perfect health, we shall be faced by a difficult problem.
They'll get out of hand. Depressed states of health are valuable assets
in keeping the social organization together. All this demands careful
thought. I am visiting the Prime Minister this evening and shall give
him my views."

At that moment a newspaper boy passed the window with an afternoon
edition and Jason went out to get a copy. He returned with a smile of
satisfaction, carrying the paper open before him.

"Three murders in London," he announced. "One in Plaistow, one in East
Ham and one in Pimlico. I told you there was unrest abroad." He laid the
paper on the table and studied it "In every case it was an aged
person--two old women, and one old man. Now what does that mean?"

"A gang at work."

He shook his head.

"No. In one case the murderer has been caught. It was a case of
patricide--a hideous crime. Curiously enough t