shadow of its presence. He was aware of a feeling of foreboding.
Something ominous was about to happen. Calamity hovered in the air. He
gazed fixedly across the table at the other man. He could not understand.
Was it that he had blundered and poisoned himself? No, Matt had the nicked
cup, and he had certainly put the poison in the nicked cup.

It was all his own imagination, was his next thought. It had played him
tricks before. Fool! Of course it was. Of course something was about to
happen, but it was about to happen to Matt. Had not Matt drunk the whole
cup of coffee?

Jim brightened up and finished his steak, sopping bread in the gravy when
the meat was gone.

"When I was a kid--" he began, but broke off abruptly.

Again the unseen thing of gloom had fluttered, and his being was vibrant
with premonition of impending misfortune. He felt a disruptive influence
at work in the flesh of him, and in all his muscles there was a seeming
that they were about to begin to twitch. He sat back suddenly, and as
suddenly leaned forward with his elbows on the table. A tremor ran dimly
through the muscles of his body. It was like the first rustling of leaves
before the oncoming of wind. He clenched his teeth. It came again, a
spasmodic tensing of his muscles. He knew panic at the revolt within his
being. His muscles no longer recognized his mastery over them. Again they
spasmodically tensed, despite the will of him, for he had willed that they
should not tense. This was revolution within himself, this was anarchy;
and the terror of impotence rushed up in him as his flesh gripped and
seemed to seize him in a clutch, chills running up and down his back and
sweat starting on his brow. He glanced about the room, and all the details