“That isn’t what I mean,” said Nicholas Devine, turning his eyes on his companion. “I mean pure horror in the sense of horror detached from experience, apart from reality. Not just a formless fear, wh...

“She’s out,” said Pat as the massive form of Dr. Carl Horker loomed in the doorway. “Your treatments must be successful; Mother’s out playing bridge.” The Doctor gave his deep, rumbling chuckle. “So m...

“How do you charge⁠—by the hour?” asked Pat, as Doctor Horker returned from the hall. The sound of her mother’s departing footsteps pattered on the porch. “Of course, Young One; like a plumber.” “Then...

The car slid smoothly along a straight white road that stretched ahead into the darkness like an earthbound Milky Way. In the dim distance before them, red as Antares, glowed the taillight of some aut...

The satyr beside Pat was leaning toward her; the arm about her was tightening with a brutal ruthlessness, and while still staring in fascination at the incredible eyes, she realized that another arm a...

“Not that I’m displeased at this visit, Pat,” rumbled the Doctor, seating himself in one of the great chairs by the fireplace, “but I’m curious. I thought you were dating your ideal tonight, yet here ...

“I suppose I really ought to meet your friends, Patricia,” said Mrs. Lane, peering out of the window, “but they all seem to call when I’m not at home.” “I’ll have some of them call in February,” said ...

Pat stared curiously at the apparition but made no move to alight from the vehicle. She was conscious of no fear, only a sense of wonder and perplexity. After all, this was merely Nick, her own harmle...

Pat slammed the empty tumbler down on the checked tablecloth and buried her face in her hands, choking and gasping from the effects of the fiery liquor. Her throat burned, her mouth was parched by the...

Pat slid dizzily from her perch on the table and sank heavily to a chair. The interruption of the mustached keeper of this den of contradictions struck her as extremely humorous; she giggled hysterica...

Pat opened her eyes reluctantly, with the impression that something unpleasant awaited her return to full consciousness. Something, as yet she could not recall just what, had happened to her; she was ...

“I’m glad!” Pat told herself. “I’m glad it’s over, and I’m glad I promised Dr. Carl⁠—I guess I was mighty close to the brink of disaster that time.” She examined the injuries on her face, carefully po...

Pat turned the envelope dubiously in her hands, while a maze of chaotic thoughts assailed her. She felt almost a sensation of guilt as if she were in some manner violating the promise given to Dr. Hor...

“I won’t be bullied!” Pat told herself, examining her features in the mirror. The two day interval had faded the discoloration of her cheek to negligible proportions, and all that remained as evidence...

“I don’t remember when I first noticed it,” began Nick in a low voice, “but I’m two people. I’m me, the person who’s talking to you now, and I’m⁠—another.” Pat, looking very pale and serious in the du...

Pat stared at the intruder in a mingling of embarrassment, perplexity, and indignation. She felt her cheeks reddening as the latter emotion gained the dominance of her mood. “Well!” she snapped. “What...

Pat had no intentions, however, of following the famous highway that evening. She stamped angrily down the Doctor’s steps, swished her way through the break in the hedge with small regard to the safet...

“He doesn’t answer! I’m too late,” thought Pat disconsolately as she replaced the telephone. The cheerfulness with which she had awakened vanished like a patch of April sunshine. Now, with the failure...

Pat suffered Wednesday through somehow, knowing that any such early response to her letter was impossible. Still, that impossibility did not deter her from starting at the sound of the telephone, and ...

Pat was by no means as buoyant as she had been in the morning. She approached the appointed meeting place with a feeling of trepidation that all her arguments could not subdue. She surveyed the crowde...

Pat almost ran the few blocks to her home. She hastened along in a near panic, regardless of the glances of pedestrians she chanced to pass. With the disappearance of the immediate urge, the composure...

Pat rushed to the door, out upon the porch, and down to the street. Dr. Horker followed her to the entrance and stood watching her as she darted toward the dejected figure beside the car. “Nick!” she ...

Pat awoke in rather better spirits. Somehow, the actual entrance of Dr. Horker into the case gave her a feeling of security, and her natural optimistic nature rode the pendulum back from despair to ho...

It was early in the evening, not yet eight o’clock, when Pat saw the car of Nicholas Devine draw up before the house. She had already been watching half an hour, sitting cross-legged in the deep windo...

Pat drew back, leaning against the door, and her key tinkled on the concrete of the porch. She was startled, shocked, but not as completely terrified as she might have expected. After all, she thought...

“Heaven and Hell always were the same place,” said Nicholas Devine, his red eyes glaring down at the girl. “We’ll demonstrate the fact.” Pat shifted wearily, and sat erect, passing her hand dazedly ac...

The cold hand against Pat was still; she felt it rigid and stiff on her flesh. She lay passive with closed eyes; having voiced her final appeal, she was through. The words torn from her misery represe...

After a considerable interval, during which Nick held the girl tightly and silently in his arms, he released her, sat with his head resting on his cupped palms in an attitude of deep study. Pat, besid...

The glass was struck from Pat’s hand, and the water-clear contents streamed into pools and darkening blots over the table and its litter of papers. She stared unseeingly at the mess, without realizing...

Pat emitted a small, startled shriek, and heard it echoed by a surprised grunt from Dr. Horker. “Queer!” he muttered. “The stuff must be mislabeled. Scopolamine doesn’t act like this; it’s a narcotic....

Pat opened weary eyes and gazed at a blank, uninformative ceiling. It was some moments before she realized that she was lying on the couch in the room of Nicholas Devine. Somebody had placed her there...

“Is it over now?” queried Pat tremulously as the Doctor finally reappeared. The interminable waiting had left her even more worn, and her pallid features bore the marks of strain. “Twenty minutes ago,...