WELSH RAREBIT TALES. [Illustration: “There, creeping out of the darkness, was that hideous thing.” (See page 171.)] Welsh Rarebit Tales BY HARLE OREN CUMMINS [Illustration] _Illustrated by_ _R. EMMETT OWEN_ _Cover and Decorations by BIRD_ THE MUTUAL BOOK COMPANY BOSTON, MASS. COPYRIGHT, BY THE MUTUAL BOOK COMPANY 1902 Plimpton Press PRINTERS AND BINDERS NORWOOD, MASS. To my Mother The author wishes to express his thanks to S. S. McClure & Co., F. A. Munsey, The Shortstory Publishing Company, and others, for their courtesy in allowing him book rights on the following tales. PREFACE. A preface is the place where an author usually apologizes to the public for what he is about to inflict. Such being the case, I hasten to state that I am only jointly responsible for this aggregation of tales, which resemble, more than anything else, the creations of a disordered brain. The origin of the Welsh Rarebit Tales was as follows: A certain literary club, of which I am a member, is accustomed to hold semi-occasional meetings at some of the uptown hotels. At the close of the dinner each of the fifteen members is permitted to read to the others what he considers his most acute spasm since the previous meeting. The good and bad points of the manuscript are then discussed, and we believe that much mutual benefit is thereby derived. Having run short of first-class plots, the club at a recent meeting decided to try a gastro-literary experiment. Knowing the effect upon the digestive and cerebral organs of indulging in concentrated food before retiring, we each and every one partook, just before adjourning, of the following combination:-- 1 Large Portion Welsh Rarebit, 1 Broiled Live Lobster, 2 Pieces Home Made Mince Pie, 1 Portion Cucumber Salad. At the second meeting of the club (the next meeting, by the way, had to be postponed on account of illness of fourteen of the members) the accompanying tales were related. Partly as a warning to injudicious diners, we decided to publish the result of our experiment, hoping that all who read this book, and see the nightmares which were produced, will be warned never to try a similar feat (or eat). By unanimous sentence of the other fourteen members, and as a punishment for having been the originator of the scheme, mine was chosen as the unlucky name under which the Tales should appear. H. O. C. BOSTON, MASS., FEB. 10, ’02. CONTENTS PAGE 1. THE MAN WHO MADE A MAN 3 2. IN THE LOWER PASSAGE 13 3. THE FOOL AND HIS JOKE 23 4. THE MAN AND THE BEAST 31 5. AT THE END OF THE ROAD 45 6. THE SPACE ANNIHILATOR 51 7. A QUESTION OF HONOR 73 8. THE WINE OF PANTINELLI 81