. He will be almost alone
in yon big house, bound hand and foot, I doubt not, or thrown into some
strange trance that shall keep him as fast a prisoner. There be but few
servants that can be found to live there. Mostly they flee away in
affright ere they have passed a week beneath that roof. Those that stay
are bound rather by fear than aught beside; and scarce a human being
will approach that house, even in broadest daylight. There are many
doors and windows, and the walls in places are mouldering away, and
would give easy foothold to the climber. It is beneath the west wing,
hard by the great fish ponds, that the rooms lie which are ever closed
from light of day, and in which the evil men practise their foul arts. I
have heard of a secret way from the level of the water into the cellars
or dungeons of the house; but whether this be true I do not rightly
know. Yet methinks you could surely find entrance within the house, for
so great is the terror in which Basildene is held that Master Sanghurst
freely boasts that he needs neither bolt nor bar. He professes to have
drawn around the house a line which no human foot may cross. He knows
well that no man wishes to try."

Raymond shivered slightly, but he was not daunted, Yet there was still
the question to be faced, what should be done with the boy when rescued
to hold him back from the magician's unholy spell. But Joan had an
answer ready for this objection. Her hands folded themselves lightly
together, her dark eyes shone with the earnestness of her devotion.

"That will I soon tell to you. The spell cast upon the boy is one of
evil, and therefore it comes in some sort from the devil, even though,
as John says, men may have no visible dealings with him. Yet, as all sin
is of the Evil One, and as the good God and His Holy Saints are stronger
than the devil and his angels, it is His help we must invoke when the
powers of darkness strive to work in him again. And we must ask in this
the help of some holy man of God, one who has fasted and prayed and
learned to discern betwixt good and evil, has fought with the devil and
has overcome. I know one such holy man. He lives far away from here. It
is a small community between Guildford and Salisbury -- I suppose it
lies some thirty miles from hence. I could find out something more,
perchance, in time to acquaint you farther with the road. If you once
gain possession of the boy, mount without loss of time, and draw not
rein till y