Then they were
like black coals advancing upon her out of the darkness, growing
bigger and bigger as they came, with little flames in their centers
also growing as they approached.

"You will submit your will to mine," said the soft voice of Caleb
Barter.

His right hand was making swift snakelike movements back of Ellen's
head. His voice droned on, but already it seemed to Ellen to come from
a vast distance.

"Your mind will be concerned only with the welfare of Caleb Barter,"
droned on the voice. "You will think only of Caleb Barter; your
greatest desire will be to serve him. There is nothing you would not
do for him. Let your objective mind sleep until Caleb Barter wakens
it; give your subjective mind into my keeping."

Beads of perspiration broke out on the cheeks of Caleb Barter as he
worked quickly to place the girl entirely under his skilled hypnosis.
At last she stood like a statue, her wide-open eyes staring into
space, straight ahead. She did not move. She scarcely seemed to
breathe.

"You will know that my home is your home, Ellen," said Barter softly.
"You will feel that you are welcome here and that you love this place.
It needs the attention of a loving woman; you will give it that
attention. But you will be subservient always to my will. You will
enter upon your duties."

Ellen Estabrook sighed softly as though with relief. Her hands went up
to remove her hat, which she placed on a chair in a corner of the
hellish laboratory. She removed her light coat and arranged her hair
with skilled fingers. But even as she moved around the room of the
long table her eyes stared vacantly into space. She was as much a
puppet of Caleb Barter as were Stanley, Morton and Cleve. But,
mercifully, she did not know it.

- - -

Barter studied her for several moments; his eyes squinted. He was
making sure that she was not duping him with pretense. Satisfied at
last be turned his eyes away from her. He stepped to the porcelain
slab set in the bronze wall of his laboratory and looked at the
push-buttons marked "C-3" and "E-5". The red lights were on,
indicating that the two puppets controlled by these two keys were
returning toward their master. The lights had been green when Barter
had begun his conversation with Ellen Estabrook, indicating that the
two puppets were still going away. With a tremendous effort of will he
had given them sufficient mental stimulus to keep them traveling
without his direct w