Page:Weird Tales v01n01 (1923-03).djvu/170

 A Novelette of Weird Happenings—

By J. B. M. CLARKE, JR.

ET'S GO and call on him now then," said Norton in his impulsive way, rising and crossing to the window.

The fine rain, which had been swishing intermittently against the panes with each gust of wind, had ceased for some time, and as Norton lifted the blind and peered forth he got the first glimpse of a wan moon struggling through an uneven copper-edged break in the swift-moving clouds.

"I was to have gone over there this evening." he said, "but 'phoned the engagement off on account of the storm. However, it's not too late "

It did not take much persuasion to induce Meldrum to consent, for, although a year or two Norton's senior and inclined in consequence to give him paternal advice now and again, he generally indulged his whims.

"You can't break a teacher of the lecturing habit," was the way Norton expressed it.

He himself was an architect, and both were single men, although Norton was striving hard to build up a connection that would enable him to marry one of the prettiest girls in town, with whom he was then "keeping company." Meldrum locked the door of his apartment behind him, and the pair sallied forth into the fresh damp air of the night in early spring.

"After all you have told me. I am rather curious to see your South African friend again," said Meldrum, setting his pace with his friend's "While no doubt an interest in animals is wholesome enough, his particular taste seems to run unpleasantly to apes and monkeys. Some of those experiments of his, of which you spoke, seem rather purposeless—making baboons drunk for instance "

"If you could have seen him when he was telling me about that baboon business you would have take a dislike to him too," said Norton, making a gesture of displeasure with his hand. "Although I will admit I had an aversion toward him from the first—I didn't quite know why. He had a trick of laying his hot heavy hand on my shoulder that used to irritate me dreadfully when we were in Inspection Department in Washington."

"What was he doing there?" asked Meldrum.

"He had been inspecting aeroplane spruce in British Columbia," replied Norton, "and he had a desk in our office. I was there for about three months after being invalided home, before I was sent to New York."

After a few moments silence, Norton added:

"He is more than queer. He is a throw-back."

"A what?" said Meldrum, puzzled.

"A throw-back—an atavistic specimen." said Norton firmly. "A mixture of old and new, and a bad one at that.." [sic]