d anxious. "There is going
to be no violence so long as I am here. Why should there be any violence
at all?"

The man asked the question with an eye on Berrington. For some reason
or other he seemed very desirous of pleasing the soldier, and yet not
offending his comrades. Sartoris laughed.

"Cautious man," he said. "Always be on the safe side. Hang the girl, is
she going to stay here all night? Go, I tell you; take your white face
from me. Go."

The door closed behind Mary Sartoris, and something like a sob came from
the hall. With a sudden fury and new strength Berrington darted to the
table again. Once more he might have been successful, but the keen eye
of Sartoris was upon him; the cripple seemed to read his thoughts. Like
a flash the invalid chair caught Berrington on the shin, and sent him
sprawling across the floor; the chair sped on and there was a sudden
click and the room was in darkness. Berrington had a quick mental
picture of where different objects were--and he made a dash for the
switch. Some great force seemed to grip him by the hands, he was
powerless to move; he heard what seemed to him to be the swing and jolt
of machinery. Somebody was laughing much as if a funny play was being
performed before delighted eyes, with Berrington for the third man of
the company, and then the light came up again.

Angry and baffled and disappointed as Berrington was, all these feelings
gave way to amazement as he looked around the room. Every sign of a body
had disappeared, the room was empty save for Sartoris, who sat smoking a
cigarette, with a sardonic smile on his face. All the others had gone,
and the body was gone from the table; on the latter was a dark crimson
cloth surmounted by a mass of flowers arranged tastefully around an
electric stand. Sartoris laughed in an easy, mocking way.

"Miracles whilst you wait," he said. "I just press a button and there
you are. You say that you saw a lot of people here and some object on
the table. You would swear to that?"

"Being in full possession of my faculties, I would," Berrington said
grimly.

"And where are they? There was no lady, there were no people, only my
humble, sweet self always glad to see my distinguished friend Colonel
Berrington."

Berrington made no reply for a moment. It seemed hopeless to try to cope
with the little fiend who appeared to have all the powers of hell behind
him. He looked down at the floor as if to find evidence of magic there,