ding and gladdening every human soul.
Think of it! There is no mightier mission on earth. This girl can be,
and must be, made a savior, a hope-bringer, to thousands of despairing
souls!"

To this fervid appeal Britt remained impassive and coldly
critical--till, chilled and repelled, Clarke had withdrawn his
confidence. The two still met occasionally in Mrs. Lambert's home, but
their antagonism had deepened to actual hatred. Britt, impotent to
help, had long since ceased to protest, even to the girl herself; for
he had learned that every revolt on her part brought keener pain and
deeper humiliation in its train. He entered upon a study of the
subject, and thus far had found little to encourage the hope of the
girl's redemption from her maladies.

Clarke, too, had surrounded himself with every available book which
bore upon these baffling phases of human experiences, and had put
himself in touch with every society organized for the investigation of
occult phenomena--and in his dark little den brooded day and night
over the dimly apprehended laws of the unseen universe. He left his
studies only to be with Viola, who had become as necessary to him as
his daily food--as indispensable as air. She was at once his hope and
his very present help. How to keep her, how to mould her to his will,
how to use her to his great purpose of ridding the world of the fear
of death--these became his hourly care, his only interest.

To these ends he strove to enthrall her by his singing, by his
oratory, and by his love of poetry, knowing well that to drum
constantly upon the harsh string of her "mission" would revolt her;
and she, thus beset, thus beleaguered, gave over her rebellion,
resigning herself to her guides till this ruddy and powerful young man
of science came into her world to fill her with new determination to
escape from her mental slavery.

Clarke loved this girl, not as he had loved Adele, of course, but
quite as humanly. Her mediumship, so vital to the world, so sacred in
his eyes, had but added to her allurement. "All that I am, and all I
hope to be, is bound up in the possession of that sweet, wonderful
child," he said, in acknowledgment of his discovery. In a very subtle
way he now apprehended a change in the girl, and, realizing how
utterly his aims, his daily happiness, his future depended upon her,
he rose from his seat resolved not merely to advise against her going
away, but to claim her as his own--his wife.

"