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A Note on the Texts
    â€œThe Inmost Light,” the two segments from The Three Impostors (“Novel of the Black Seal” and “Novel of the White Powder”), “The Red Hand,” “The White People,” and “A Fragment of Life” are taken from The House of Souls (Grant Richards, 1906). “The Bowmen” and “The Soldiers’ Rest” are taken from The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War (Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1915). “The Great Return” and The Terror are taken from the Caerleon Edition of Machen’s Works (Martin Secker, 1923), volume 7. “Out of the Earth” is taken from The Shining Pyramid (Martin Secker, 1925).
    I am grateful to Ray Russell and Gwilym Games for assistance in the preparation of the text and notes.

THE INMOST LIGHT

I
    One evening in autumn, when the deformities of London were veiled in faint blue mist, and its vistas and far-reaching streets seemed splendid, Mr. Charles Salisbury was slowly pacing down Rupert Street, drawing nearer to his favourite restaurant by slow degrees. His eyes were downcast in study of the pavement, and thus it was that as he passed in at the narrow door a man who had come up from the lower end of the street jostled against him.
    â€œI beg your pardon—wasn’t looking where I was going. Why, it’s Dyson!”
    â€œYes, quite so. How are you, Salisbury?”
    â€œQuite well. But where have you been, Dyson? I don’t think I can have seen you for the last five years?”
    â€œNo; I dare say not. You remember I was getting rather hard up when you came to my place at Charlotte Street?”
    â€œPerfectly. I think I remember your telling me that you owed five weeks’ rent, and that you had parted with your watch for a comparatively small sum.”
    â€œMy dear Salisbury, your memory is admirable. Yes, I was hard up. But the curious