d do no good--that it would be far wiser to sit quietly down and try
to exercise his wits; but his mind was a perfect chaos, his head ached,
his temples throbbed, his nerves tingled in every portion of his body,
and to think calmly in such a state was beyond his power.

Suddenly, however, he became conscious of a strange sensation--he felt a
peculiar influence creeping over him; it almost seemed as if there was
another presence in the room--a power stronger than himself controlling
him.

This impression grew upon him so rapidly that he began to look
searchingly about the apartment, while his pulses throbbed less heavily,
his mind grew more composed, his blood began to cool, and he ceased his
excited passings up and down the floor.

All at once, in the wall opposite to him, he espied a hole about the size
of a teacup, and through this aperture he caught the gleam of a pair of
human eyes, which seemed to be looking him through and through.

Once meeting that gaze, he could not seem to turn away from it, and
he began to feel very strangely--to experience a sense of weariness,
amounting almost to exhaustion, then a feeling of drowsiness began to
steal over him--all antagonism, indignation, and rebellion against the
cruel fate that had so suddenly overtaken him appeared to be gradually
fading from his mind, and he could only think of how tired he was.

"What can it mean?" he asked himself, and made a violent effort to break
away from the unnatural influence.

He believed that those eyes belonged to the man whom he had met in
the other room--that having hopelessly ensnared his victim he was now
availing himself of a panel in the wall to watch and see how he would
bear his imprisonment.

"Who and what are you, sir, and what is the meaning of this barbarous
treatment?" he demanded; but somehow the tones of his own voice did not
sound quite natural to him. "You are aiding and abetting a foul wrong,"
he went on, "even if you are not directly concerned in it, and I command
you to release me at once."

There came no word of reply, however, to this demand; but those strange,
magnetic eyes remained fixed upon him with the same intense, masterful
expression.

He tried to meet them defiantly, to resist their influence with all the
strength of his own will; but that feeling of excessive weariness only
seemed to increase, and, heaving a long sigh, he involuntarily began to
retreat step by step before those eyes until he reached