The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diary of Philip Westerly, by Paul Compton

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Title: The Diary of Philip Westerly

Author: Paul Compton

Release Date: June 1, 2010 [EBook #32635]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Weird Tales August-September 1936.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

The Diary

of Philip Westerly

By PAUL COMPTON

_A strange, brief tale of the terrible fear inspired by a
man's horrendous reflection in a mirror_

* * * * *

It has been ten years since my uncle, Philip Westerly, disappeared.
Many theories have been advanced as to why and how he vanished so
strangely and so completely. Many have wondered why a man should
vanish and leave nothing behind him but a smashed mirror. But none of
these theories or wild imaginings are half so fantastic as the story I
gathered from the diary which some whim prompted him to keep.

But first a word about Philip Westerly. He was a wealthy man, and also
a cruel, selfish man. His wealth was attributed to this same cruelty
and selfishness. He also had many whims. One of them was keeping a
diary. Another was his love for mirrors. He was handsome in a cruel
sort of way and almost effeminate in his liking to stand before them
and admire himself. This eccentricity was borne out by the fact that
covering one whole side of his room was a mirror of gigantic size--the
same mirror that is linked with his disappearance. But read the
excerpts from the diary of Philip Westerly.

* * * * *

Aug. 3rd. _Afternoon_: Billings asked for an extension on that note
today, but I saw no reason why I should grant him any such thing. When
I told him this, he began cursing me in a frightfu