1903
The Smart Set
PUBLISHING CO.
NEW YORK LONDON
COPYRIGHTED
July, 1900, December,
1901, July, 1902
By ESS ESS
PUBLISHING CO.
COPYRIGHTED
1903, BY
THE SMART SET
PUBLISHING CO.
_First Printing in April_
*PREFACE*
In offering to the public in book form the following tales, from the
pages of THE SMART SET, the opportunity is presented to the author of
answering the questions that have frequently been asked of him and the
publishers, since these stories first appeared in print, concerning
their origin. He is not, and has not been, the _deus ex machina_.
One Perkins, a Yankee who lived for fifty years in India, and became an
adept in mysteries rejected by the Occidental mind, is responsible for
the curious psychical transpositions described in the following pages.
I am not at liberty to say much about Perkins. He has control of a
power that is so peculiar, and I may say erratic, that I dare not offend
him. If, in this preface, I should tell the public too much about
Perkins, he has both the ability and the inclination to work me harm of
the disastrous sort herein described. I do not dare to defy him.
I have taken the liberty of telling these stories in the first person.
My choice of this method will at once commend itself to the thoughtful
reader; and, what is more important, I am sure that it will satisfy the
_amour propre_ of Perkins, the Fakeer--a consummation devoutly to be
wished.
E. S. VAN Z.
Hartford, Conn., March, 1903.
*CONTENTS.*