Category: Novels

Possessed

Penelope moved nervously in her chair, evidently very much troubled about something as she waited in the doctor's office. Her two years in France had added a touch of mystery to her strange beauty. Her eyes were more veiled in their burning, as if she had glimpsed something th...

Chapters

21. Chapter 21

A woman who has been saved, as I have been, from a fate worse than death must be grateful, and ready to show her gratitude by helping others, especially other women. I have a me...

2. Chapter 2

I cannot tell what is on my mind, I cannot tell _anyone_, even a doctor; but I will keep my promise and look into my past life. I will open those precious, tragic, indiscreet li...

13. Chapter 13

At the request of Dr. William Owen I am writing this account of what happened last night after Roberta Vallis' party. What happened during the party was terrible enough, but wha...

9. Chapter 9

In setting forth the happenings at Roberta Vallis' party (with their startling psychic consequences to Penelope Wells) it is necessary to say a word about the Greenwich Village...

18. Chapter 18

What happened on the last day, or rather the last night, of Mrs. Wells' psychological crisis may be regarded either as a purely subjective phenomena, a dream or a startling expe...

12. Chapter 12

We come now to what has been regarded by some authorities as the most remarkable feature in the case of Penelope Wells, a development almost without parallel in the records of a...

1. Chapter 1

Penelope moved nervously in her chair, evidently very much troubled about something as she waited in the doctor's office. Her two years in France had added a touch of mystery to...

15. Chapter 15

There may now be presented, as bearing upon Mrs. Wells' strange illness, a conversation which took place between Dr. William Owen and Dr. Edgar Leroy, the psychic healer, on the...

20. Chapter 20

Today, with a multitude of the afflicted, I bathed in the _piscine_, a long trough filled with holy water from the grotto. The water was cold and not very clean (for hours it ha...

8. Chapter 8

An extraordinary thing happened on Monday night at Seraphine's apartment. I must write down the details before they fade from my memory. Seraphine telephoned Monday morning that...

7. Chapter 7

If this were a conventional novel and not simply a statement of essential facts in the strange case of Penelope Wells, there would be much elaboration of details and minor chara...

5. Chapter 5

For the purposes of this narrative, which is concerned almost exclusively with the poignant strangeness of a woman's experiences, it is sufficient to say that Captain Christophe...

17. Chapter 17

When Seraphine led Captain Herrick into the bedroom where Penelope lay propped up against pillows, her dark hair in braids and a Chinese embroidered scarf brightening her white...

6. Chapter 6

Heaven help me! I have heard the words that sound my doom. I saw Dr. Owen this morning. It is all true--my dream, and what I saw myself do in the bowl of goldfish. True! I did t...

16. Chapter 16

Dr. Leroy found Mrs. Walters in the attractive sitting-room, brightened by flowers (most of them sent by Christopher) that had been set apart for Penelope. The medium, usually s...

10. Chapter 10

Thus it happened that Penelope and Captain Herrick did not descend to the flower-spread supper room where dancing and good cheer awaited the gay company, but remained in Roberta...

14. Chapter 14

I understand why people kill themselves. There was an hour last night, that horrible hour between four and five (I have seen so many hospital patients die then), when I was reso...

19. Chapter 19

It is three months since I wrote this diary, three lonely months since I said good-bye to Christopher, or rather wrote good-bye, for I should never have had the courage to leave...

4. Chapter 4

During his thirty years of medical experience among neurasthenic and hysterical women, Dr. William Owen had never encountered a more puzzling case than the one before him on thi...

3. Chapter 3

Did you think I had vanished from the earth? I know I ought to have reported to you a week ago, but--I fear Penelope Wells is an unreliable person. Forgive me! I am in great dis...

11. Chapter 11

"You can't quiet me. I'll say anything I damn please. Go on, quiet me! Quiet Fauvette! I'd like to see you do it. Ha, ha, ha!" Her wild laughter rang through the apartment.