ered. In the center of the blotting pad was a familiar outline in green ink. The pentagram.
I knew it was what I sought. I pounced on it like a wild animal and ripped it across. And ripped again. Then I turned around weakly with the pieces in my hand.
The thing which had almost had its fingers on my throat was gone.
I began to chuckle feebly, and kept tearing the blotting pad across and across again, tossing the small pieces in the air; they fluttered to the floor like a miniature stage snowstorm.
Like Wellington after Waterloo, I kept saying to myself: "A near run thing! A near run thing!"
And all because of the fact that when old Spencer had drawn so carefully that representation of the pentagram he sent me, he had blotted it on his pad, and never noticed that he had left a perfect reproduction of those dangerous angles among his papers.
That was his undoing. I suppose. I suppose he was frightened to death.
The doctor diagnosed coronary thrombosis, and the coroner saw fit to agree with him. Sometimes these days I catch myself trying to agree with him, too. It is human to rationalize.
But I do know that I am never under any conditions, going to play about with any triangles that include one angle of 36° 47' 29". In fact, I am allergic to triangles of any kind.
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Coming Soon from ARKHAM HOUSE!
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A Hornbook for Witches
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by Leah Bodine Drake
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| The first collection of the fantastic poems of one of the best modern fantaisistes in verse. Limited. $2.00
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| Away and Beyond
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by A. E. Van Vogt
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| The best short science-fiction by one of the outstanding writers in the genre, this collection includes such well-known tales as Film Library, The Monster, Defense, Asylum, A Can of Paint, The Harmonizer, Dear Pen Pal, and many others. $4.00
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| The Abominations of Yondo
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by Clark Ashton Smith
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| The fourth collection of Smith's inimitable fantastics and science-fiction stories, among them The White Sybril, A Vintage from Atlantis, The Dweller in the Gulf, The Nameless Offspring, The Enchantress of Sylaire, The Witchcraft of Ulua, and others. $3.00
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| Tales From Underwood
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by David H. Keller
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| The definitive collection of the best short stories by one of the first popular authors in the field of the weird or science-fiction. The stories include The Revolt of the Pedestrians, The Thing in the Cellar, The Worm, The Dead Woman, Tiger Cat, The Doorbell, The Jelly Fish, The God Wheel, The Last Magician, and many others. $3.00
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SOON Out of Print with Arkham House are these titles: The Hounds of Tindalos, by Frank Belknap Long ($3); The Lurker at the Threshold, by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth ($2.50); and Skull-Face and Others, by Robert E. Howard ($5).
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ORDER NOW to your copies, and send for our free Tradelist and Catalog Today!
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ARKHAM HOUSE: Publishers
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Sauk City, Wisconsin
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