The League of Frightened Men

I found it. "That's it. Pawn. I don't get it."

"Neither did the stenographer.

Proceed."

At a certain point, some five years ago, I decided definitely he was psychopathic. v Wolfe: You continued to know him then?

Hibbard: Oh yes. Many of us did. Some of us saw him frequently; one or two associated with him closely. Around that time his latent brilliance seemed to find itself in maturity. He… well… he did things which aroused admiration and interest. Convinced as I was that he was psychopathic, I nevertheless felt less concern for him than I had for a long time, for he appeared to be genuinely involved in satisfactory – at least compensatory – achievement. The awakening came in a startling manner.

There -was a reunion – a gathering – of a group of us, and one of us -was killed – died – obviously, we unanimously thought, by an accident. But he – that is, the man we had injured – was there; and a few days later each of us received through the mail a communication from him saying that he had killed one of us and that the rest would follow; that he had embarked on a ship of vengeance.

Wolfe: Indeed. Psychopathic must have begun to seem almost an euphemism.

Hibbard: Yes. But there was nothing we could do.

Wolfe: Since you were equipped with evidence, it might not have proven hazardous to inform the police.

P Hibbard: We had no evidence.

Wolfe: The communication?

Hibbard: They were typewritten, unsigned, and were expressed in ambiguous terms which rendered them worthless for practical purposes such as evidence. He had even disguised his style, very cleverly; it was not his style at all.

But it was plain enough to us. Each of us got one; not only those who had been present at the gathering, but all of us, all members of the league. Of course -Wolfe: The league?

Hibbard: That was a slip. It doesn't matter. Many years ago, when a few of us were together discussing this, one -maudlin, of course – suggested that we should call ourselves the League of Atonement. The phrase hung on, in a way. Latterly it was never heard except in jest. Now I fancy the jokes are ended. I was going to say, of course all of us do not live in New York, only about half.