t will be a good test if you see yourself quite suddenly when
the whole thing is finished. I will borrow this--and keep you out of
temptation."
"Just as you like," I returned. "It will at least give me time to
train myself for the shock."
Quick and easy as the first operation had been, the second proved
equally simple. The only apparatus it involved was an ordinary X-ray
machine, with a large glass globe attached to it, which McMurtrie
brought up the next morning and arranged carefully by my bedside. On
his pressing down a switch, which he did for my benefit, the whole
interior of this globe became flooded with those curious lambent
violet rays, which have altered so many of our previous notions on the
subject of light and its power.
McMurtrie placed me in position, and then producing a large sheet of
finely-beaten-out lead, proceeded to bend and twist it into a sort of
weird-looking helmet. When I put this on it covered my head and face
almost completely, leaving only an inch of hair along the forehead and
perhaps a little more over each temple exposed to the light.
Thus equipped, I sat for perhaps an hour in the full glare of the
machine. It was dull work, and as McMurtrie made no attempt to enliven
it by conversation I was not sorry when he eventually flicked off the
switch, and relieved me of my headgear.
I had expected my hair to tumble out in a lump, but as a matter of
fact it was over two days in accomplishing the task. There was no
discomfort about the process: it just came off gradually all along
my forehead, leaving a smooth bare line which I could feel with my
fingers. As soon as it was all gone, McMurtrie proceeded to decorate
me with some kind of stain that he had specially prepared for my
face and neck--a composition which according to him would remain
practically unaffected either by washing or exposure. It smelt
damnably in the pot, but directly it was rubbed in this slight
drawback disappeared.
I was naturally anxious to see what result all these attentions had
had upon my personal appearance, but McMurtrie insisted on my waiting
until my hair and beard had grown to something like a tolerable
length. I can well remember the little thrill of excitement that
ran through me when, on the fourth day after my first operation, he
brought me back the looking-glass.
"I think we might introduce you to yourself today," he said, smiling.
"Of course another fortnight will make a considerable differen
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