Phil, too, had intended to
embrace a new profession; but he had soon discovered that
Jonesville offered better financial returns to a man of his
accepted gifts than did the choicest of seaside concessions, and
therefore he had resumed his old calling under a slightly
different guise. Before long he acknowledged himself well pleased
with the new environment, for his wife was far happier in draping
dress goods upon the figures of her customers than in hanging
python folds about her own, and he found his own fame growing with
every day. His mediumistic gifts came into general demand. The
country people journeyed miles to consult him, and Blaze Jones's
statement that they confided in the fortune-teller as they would
have confided in a priest was scarcely an exaggeration. Phil did
indeed become the repository for confessions of many sorts.
Contrary to Blaze's belief, however, Strange was no Prince of
Darkness, and took little joy in some of the secrets forced upon
him. Phil was a good man in his way--so conscientious that certain
information he acquired weighed him down with a sense of
unpleasant responsibility. Chancing to meet Dave Law one day, he
determined to relieve himself of at least one troublesome burden.
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