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It stood firm before unbiased test One irritation per five minutes Some of them, naturally, were so subtle that only a rasp, a ravations were underplayed

And cleverly so! �C realised Mr Jasper Underplayed and intended to dupe

Well, he would not be duped

Tie rack knocked over, 118 p on hand, 143 p clothes, 219 pm, store (sex), 9

Refusal to buy tie because torn, 238 pm, store, WOMAN, 10

These were typical entries for the afternoon

They were jotted doith a bellicose satisfaction by a shaking Mr Jasper A Mr Jasper whose incredible theory was being vindicated

About three o’clock he decided to eliminate those nuh to be judged so leniently

By four he had discarded every grading but nine and ten

By five he was seriously considering a new systeed up to twenty-five

Mr Jasper had planned to co his case But, sorew ible

And, at eleven that night, as the people next door got their second wind and resuhter, Mr Jasper hurled his pad against the ith a choking oath and stood there treet hiion in the world And that their prime devotion was to drive him from his senses

Wouldn’t it be possible for the it? Couldn’t they arrange theirlittle intrusions on his sanity so cleverly that it ht always seem as if he were at fault; that he was only a hypersensitive little man who saw malicious intent in every accidental irritation? Wasn’t that possible?

Yes His mind pounded out the acceptance over and over

It was conceivable, feasible, possible and, by heaven, he believed it!

Why not? Couldn’t there be a great sinister legion of people who ht? And sat there, beady eyes shining with nasty intent, as their leader spoke of ent X assigned to the row behind Mr Jasper at aparts of the picture in which Mr Jasper was ular intervals, there to ly until Mr Jasper hunched up, blind-raging, into the aisle and stoent Y would take over with candy and crinkly wrappers and extra moist sneezes

Possible More than possible It could have been going on for years without his ever acquiring the slightest inkling of its existence A subtle, diabolical intrigue, near impossible to detect But now, at last, stripped of its concealing robes, shown in all its naked, awful reality

Mr Jasper lay abed, cogitating

No, he thought with a scant remainder of rationality, it is silly It is a point outlandishly taken

Why should these people do these things? That was all one had to ask What was their motive?

Wasn’t it absurd to think that all these people were out to get hi Certainly his two thousand dollar policy subdivided aion would not amount to more than three or four cents a plotter Even if he were to be coerced into na them all as his beneficiaries

Why, then, did Mr Jasper find hi helplessly into the kitchenette? Why, then, did he stand there so long, balancing the long carving knife in his hand? And why did he shake when he thought of his idea?

Unless it was true

Before he retired Mr Jasper put the carving blade into its cardboard sheath Then, al the knife into the inside pocket of his suit coat

And, horizontal in the blackness, eyes open, his flat chest rising and falling with unsteady beat, he sent out his bleak ultiht be: ’If you are there, I will take no ain at four in theone more match to his inflams barking, the blinds rattling, the faucet dripping, the blankets bunching, the pillow flattening, the pyja toast and bad coffee and broken cup and loud radio upstairs and broken shoelace

And Mr Jasper’s body grew rigid with unspeakable fury and he whined and hissed and his otten was his pad and list, lost in violent te remained And that was self-defence

For Mr Jasper knew then there was a legion of plotters and he knew also that the legion was redoubling its efforts because he did know and would fight back

He fled the apartment and hurried down the street, his et control, he must! It was the crucial o on uniion would have its victi, at the bus stop, trying with utet that strident giggle of passing fe crescendo of split nerves They would not win! His , Mr Jasper vowed victory

On the bus, the htily and people buasped and knew that anyto scream and it would happen

Sniff, sniff! went the man -SNIFF!

Mr Jasper moved away tensely The man had never sniffed that loudly before It was in the plan Mr Jasper’s hand fluttered up to touch the hard length of knife beneath his coat

He shoved through packed commuters Soain He bent over to fix it, and sohtened up dizzily in the lurching bus, a strangled curse alh his pressed, white lips

One last hope re Could he escape? The question punched away his senses A new apartment? He’d moved before On what he could afford there was no way of finding anything better He’d always have the sahbours

A car instead of bus travel? He couldn’t afford it

Leave his miserable job? All sales jobs were just as bad and it was all he knew and he was getting older

And even if he changed everything �C everything! �C the legion would still pursue hi him down ruthlessly from tension to tension until the inevitable breakdown

He was trapped

And, suddenly, standing there with all the people looking at hionizing, crushing heap of annoyances and irritations and ravations His head snapped around as he looked at everybody

And his hair almost stood on end because he realised that all the people in the bus were ion too And he was helpless in their midst, a pawn to be buffeted about by their vicious, inhuhts and individual sanctities endlessly subject to their malevolent conspiracy

’No!’ He screamed it out at the bird And the blade flashed and the legion backed away screaht his war for sanity

MAN STABS SIX IN CROWDED BUS; IS SHOT BY POLICE

No Motive Found For Wild Attack