worked out to trap me?"

"I know of no scheme. Now that I am in your hands, Professor, what do
you intend doing with me?"

Barter stared at Ellen for several minutes.

"I haven't captured Bentley ... yet," he said at last, slowly, "but I
shall--no doubt about that. It is inevitable--as inevitable as Caleb
Barter. I can use him in my labors for humanity. How I treat him after
he is taken depends somewhat on you. You may therefore consider
yourself a sort of hostage. I have much medical work to perform. Have
you ever been a nurse?"

- - -

Ellen recoiled in horror. "You don't mean you would ask me to help you
perform those horrible--" She stopped abruptly before her sudden
tendency to hysterics should make her say things to anger Barter too
far.

"So," he said quickly, "you think my brain operations are horrible,
eh? Well, you shall see that they are not horrible; that Professor
Barter, the greatest scientist the world has ever produced, is really
preparing to prevent civilization from utterly decaying."

"And afterward?" asked Ellen. "I know that eventually you will be
taken and that the people will destroy you, tear you limb from limb.
But you will never believe that. Tell me, then, what you plan to do
with me."

For a brief time he considered the matter.

"I am an old man," he said at last, musingly, "but I am young in
spirit and in body. It would be amusing to have a mate--but no, no,
that would not do! The destiny of Caleb Barter is not linked with a
woman. You would simply hold me back. However, I have often been
interested in miscegenation and its effect on the race if properly
guided. My assistant Naka Machi, is one of the finest specimens of his
race. Perhaps I shall arrange for you to mate with him, under
conditions which I shall dictate, in order to experiment with your
offspring...."

Ellen swayed, her face going dead white. She hadn't yet met Naka
Machi, but his name told her enough. The thought of a Japanese,
however, was far less repellent than the cold, calm way in which
Barter spoke of using the offspring of such a union.

"I'll kill myself at the first opportunity," said Ellen suddenly.

- - -

Barter put his forefinger under Ellen's chin in a paternal fashion.
His eyes looked deeply into hers. She thought of what his fingers had
done in the past ... those long slender fingers. His touch made her
shudder.

But his eyes held her. They seemed like deep wells.