The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

THE EQUINOX “*Te Revenant, they whispered, ‘de la Rue des Quatre Vents. “Thad forgot to tell you one thing which most steadfastly confirmed me in the search. Two days after the adventure I passed, hot on the quest, by the Morgue. Two women came out. ‘Not pretty, the fish!’ said one. ‘He with the scarred lip——’ “T heard no more, ran in, There on the slab, grinning yet in death, was Jean. His swim had ended him. Faithful to death | “T watched long. I offered a huge sum for his identifica- tion. The authorities even became suspicious: why was I so anxious? How could I say? He was the servant of . . . “T did not know my sweet child’s name! * * * * * “So, while a living man, I made myselfa ghost. IV “Tt may have been one day some ten years later,” con- tinued the old nobleman, “when as I paced uselessly the Street of the Four Winds I was confronted by a stern, grey figure, short, stout, and bearded, but of an indescribable majesty and force. “He laid his hand unhesitatingly upon my shoulder. ‘Unhappy man!’ he cried, ‘thou art sacrificing thy life toa phantom. “Look not,” quoth Zoroaster, “upon the Visible Image of the Soul of Nature, for Her name is Fatality.” What thou hast seen—I know not what it is, save that it isas 126