The Three Impostors

It is all more strange than I fancied he said at last. It was queer enough what I saw; a man is sauntering along a quiet sober everyday London street a street of grey houses and blank walls and there for a moment a veil seems drawn aside and the very fume of the pit steams up through the flagstones the ground glows red-hot beneath his feet and he seems to hear the hiss of the infernal caldron. A man flying in mad terror for his life and furious hate pressing hot on his steps with knife drawn ready; here indeed is horror; but what is all that to what you have told me? I tell you Phillipps I see the plot thicken; our steps will henceforth be dogged with mystery and the most ordinary incidents will teem with significance. You may stand out against it and shut your eyes but they will be forced open; mark my words you will have to yield to the inevitable. A clue tangled if you like has been placed by chance in our hands; it will be our business to follow it up. As for the guilty person or persons in this strange case they will be unable to escape us our nets will be spread far and wide over this great city and suddenly in the streets and places of public resort we shall in some way or other be made aware that we are in touch with the unknown criminal. Indeed I almost fancy I see him slowly approaching this quiet square of yours; he is loitering at street corners wandering apparently without aim down far-reaching thoroughfares but all the while coming nearer and nearer drawn by an irresistible magnetism as ships were drawn to the Loadstone Rock in the Eastern tale.Publisher John Lane wary of the atmosphere following the trial of Oscar Wilde asked Machen to censor his manuscript. Barring the omission of one word Machen refused to comply.