The doctor reeled, and through his head raced wildly disjointed scraps from all he had seen, heard, and read of the frightful case of Joseph Curwen and Charles Dexter Ward. "I say to you againe, doe not calle up Any that you cannot putt downe . . . . Have ye Wordes for laying at all times readie, and stopp not to be sure when there is any Doubte of Whom you have. Three Talkes with What was therein inhum'd. . . ." Mercy of Heaven, what is that shape behind the parting smoke?