dfrey's face was glowing with the sort of creative fire which, I
imagine, illumines the poet's brow at the moment of inspiration.

"Where did you first meet Silva?" he asked.

"In Paris."

"What was he doing there?"

"He was practising mysticism. My father went to consult him; he was
much impressed by him, and they became very intimate."

"And Silva, of course, at once saw the possibilities of exploiting an
immensely rich old man, whose mind was failing. So he comes here as
his instructor in Orientalism; he does some very marvellous things; by
continued hypnosis, he gets your father completely under his control.
He secures a promise of this estate and a great endowment; he causes
your father to make a will in which these bequests are specifically
stated. Then he hesitates, for during his residence in this house, a
new desire has been added to the old ones. It had not often been his
fortune to be thrown in daily contact with an innocent and beautiful
girl, and he ends by falling in love with you. He knows of your love
for Swain. He has caused Swain to be forbidden the house; but he finds
you still indifferent. At last, by means of his own entreaties and
your father's, he secures your consent to become his disciple. He
knows that, if once you consent to sit with him, he will, in the end,
dominate your will, also.

"But you ask for three days' delay, and this he grants. During every
moment of those three days, he will keep you under surveillance.
Almost at once, he guesses at your plan, for you return to the house,
you write a letter, and, the moment you leave your room, he enters it
and sees the impression on the blotter. He follows you into the
grounds, he sees you throw the letter over the wall, and suspects that
you are calling Swain to your aid. More than that, Lester," he added,
turning to me, "he saw you in the tree, and so kept up his midnight
fire-works, on the off-chance that you might be watching!"

"Yes; that explains that, too," I agreed thoughtfully.

"When he realises that you are asking your lover's aid," Godfrey
continued to Miss Vaughan, "a fiendish idea springs into his mind. If
Swain answers the call, if he enters the grounds, he will separate him
from you once for all by causing him to be found guilty of killing
your father. He hastens back to the house, tears the leaf from the
album of finger-prints and prepares the rubber gloves. That night, he
follows you when you leave the house; he overhe