this goes on much longer," said the Professor to
himself again. "I had better stop this little comedy before it becomes a
tragedy. Poor Niti would go half mad if she found these two scoundrels
by her bedside--and yet if I do anything out of the way they will yell.
Ah, I think I have it!"

He walked softly out of the room, and when he got into the passage he
whispered in the tongue that had become so strangely familiar to him:

"Pent-Ah, Neb-Anat, come hither instantly! Who are you that you should
disturb the slumbers of your Lady the Queen!"

He saw them stare at each other with eyes wide with fear and wonder.

"It is the command of the Mighty One," whispered the woman, taking hold
of the man's hand and drawing him towards the door.

"And He must be obeyed," said he in reply, bowing his head and following
her.

They closed the door very softly behind them.

The Professor could not repress a sigh of thankfulness for Niti's escape
from what, at best, would have been a very terrible fright.

"And now, my friends," he went on to himself, "I think I can teach you
not to come into an English gentleman's house again with an idea of
stealing his property, to say nothing of abducting his daughter."

The man and woman were still staring at each other by the light of the
lamp, each holding each other's trembling hand, when the lamp was
suddenly snatched away from the woman and went out. Then, to their
horror, the ray shot out again in front of them as though the lamp were
floating by itself in the air. It flashed from face to face, both
ghastly with fear. Then an invisible hand gripped the man's, and drew
him with irresistible force along the passage. The woman grasped his
coat, and followed with shuffling feet and shaking limbs, dumb with
wonder and fear. The hand led them down the passage, round the corner,
and into the study. Then it released them. They heard the door shut and
the key turn in the lock. Then there was a click, and the electric
cluster above the writing-table shone out, apparently of its own
volition. The woman uttered a low scream, and cowered down in a corner
of a big sofa that stood by the bay-window. The man, after one terrified
glance round the room, began to creep towards the open sash; but the
invisible hand gripped him by the collar and pulled him back. His
trembling knees gave way under him, and he rolled in a heap on the
floor.

Then, to his wondering horror, he saw a stout blackthorn stick