stion. All this, as I say, I should have narrated had I been my own
master. But God knows I was not. An irresistible force was at work
within me, compelling me, even against my will, to screen him, and to
tell the first deliberate lie to which, I think, I had ever given
utterance in my life.

It is a poor excuse to offer, and I am aware that a world so censorious
as our own will not, in all probability, believed this statement, but
upon my hopes of forgiveness at the Last Great Day, at that dread moment
when the sins of all men shall be judged and punishment awarded, I
declare it to be true in every single particular: and what is more, I
further say that even if my life depended on it I could not have done
otherwise.

Though it has taken some time to place these thoughts on paper, the
interval that elapsed between the inspector's last question and my
answer, which seemed to me so halting and suspicious, to the effect that
I had neither seen nor heard anything of the man he wanted, was scarcely
more than a few seconds.

Having received my assurance, the officer apologised for troubling me
and withdrew, and I was left alone with my thoughts. Deep down in my
heart there was the desire to hasten after him and to tell him that not
only I had lied to him, but that it was possible for me to make amends
by putting him on the track of the man who, I felt morally certain, was
the criminal. The wish, however, was scarcely born before it was dragged
down and stifled by that same irresistible force I have described a few
lines since. It seemed to me I was bound hand and foot, powerless to
help myself and incapable of doing aught save carry out the will of the
remorseless being into whose power I had fallen so completely. But had I
really so fallen? Could it be possible that such power was permitted to
a human being? No, no--a thousand times no! If he had that influence he
must be an agent of the Evil One, whose mission it was to draw to
perdition the souls of helpless men. Filled with shame, I sank into a
chair and covered my face with my hands, as if by so doing I could shut
out the horrible thoughts that filled my brain. Could it be true that I,
who had always regarded a liar as the most despicable of men, had sunk
so low as to become one myself? God help me! God pity me! Of all the
bitter hours my life has known, I think that moment was the worst.

For some time after the inspector had taken his departure I sat, as I
have sai