Louis Joseph Vance

“ Lowering his arms the man turned back. Behind the beach the dunes rolled away in ghostly procession, a chill breeze stirring the sand grass on their rounded summits and filling the air with eerie whisperings. Above them the unlovely facade of the cottage lifted up, flanked by the gaunt aërial, doors and windows golden with lamplight. ”

“ Wain, tender of heart, melted in compassion and forbore further intrusion into the sanctuary of his friend's sorrow. To no other living being, he knew, would Speed have opened his heart; and he prized this proof of intimacy. ”

“ Speed eyed him a bit uneasily. "You believe in telepathy?"
"Thought transference?" Wain shook his square head, a sturdy skeptic. "I doctor the body of man, not his brain."
"Well, it's in that direction. Few people realize how thin is the wall between the phenomena we call wireless telegraphy and pure, abstract telepathy."
"I hope they never will," grumbled the elder man sharply, half in scorn, half in acquiescence. It was with the physician's eye that he looked Speed up and down. "You're trained pretty fine," he summed up tersely. "Smoking much?"
"Inordinately," laughed Speed. ”

“ Over the edge of the placid sapphire sea the sun was rising, red and hot, its level rays splashing a scarlet lane across the waters. The wide arc of the horizon, stark against its border of magenta and purple cloud, was bare of any sail or smoke smudge; but, clear and black against the blood-red trail, something floated, a tiny spot, far ashore.
The man's eyes were arrested and held by it. Wan and haggard he stood at gaze for many minutes. Then, almost automatically, he stooped and unlaced his shoes. ”

“ Reality or illusion? His wife's voice, or the articulate yearning of his soul? He clenched his hands tightly, knotting his brows in anguish. Was Wain but too justly vindicated of his solicitude for his friend's sanity?
The harsh alarm of the buzzer again disturbed and distracted him. Unthinkingly he had diverted the current into the Wireless apparatus. Out of the vast void of darkness some one was calling the Marconi station at Montauk. Abstractedly Speed put on the receiver and eavesdropped—his privilege, by reason of his understanding with the Wireless management. ”

“ Out of its occult bosom long, black, foamless rollers shouldered sluggishly, with a singular seeming d reluctance lurching in over the outer bar, pale cold fire gleaming on their crests as they curled to break in a welter of phosphorescence. ”

“ Wain dropped heavily into the tiny cockpit of the boat and prepared to hoist sail. "My wife wants to see you, and the hotel table isn't altogether impossible."
"You're good, but—no, thank you," returned Speed from the dock. "Shall I cast you off?"
"Please. I'll sing out when." Wain tugged, panting, at the halyards until he had the canvas spread to his satisfaction, thereafter making fast to cleats and slowly coiling up the surplus rope. "These experiments?" he demanded suddenly, with a troubled face. "Do they lead anywhere? You get results?" ”

“ Wain consulted his watch. "I presume you realize it's madness—or the quickest, surest way there—to bury yourself alive in this solitude. I am equally convinced that argument and advice would be wasted on you. Come along over to the dock with me; it's nearly six, and if I don't start now I'll be late for dinner."
"Glad to."
The two men left the cottage and, turning their backs to the surf, swung shoulder to shoulder along a well-defined path through the dunes, from the sea beach to the edge of the landlocked bay. ”

“ She stopped him with an imperative gesture. "There is need—great need, my husband. Between us there can no longer be any misunderstanding. Faith, faith and understanding as complete as our love, must be ours, henceforth and forevermore, Allan. ”