for to-night I have
determined that she, and you, and I, must not think of sleep, but must
remain together, here in the library. We must not lose sight of one
another--you understand?"

"I am glad that you have proposed it!" cried Robert Cairn eagerly,
"I, too, feel that we have come to a critical moment in the contest."

"To-night," continued the doctor, "I shall be prepared to take certain
steps. My preparations will occupy me throughout the rest of to-day."

CHAPTER XXX

THE ELEMENTAL

At dusk that evening, Dr. Cairn, his son, and Myra Duquesne met
together in the library. The girl looked rather pale.

An odour of incense pervaded the house, coming from the doctor's
study, wherein he had locked himself early in the evening, issuing
instructions that he was not to be disturbed. The exact nature of the
preparations which he had been making, Robert Cairn was unable to
conjecture; and some instinct warned him that his father would not
welcome any inquiry upon the matter. He realised that Dr. Cairn
proposed to fight Antony Ferrara with his own weapons, and now, when
something in the very air of the house seemed to warn them of a
tremendous attack impending, that the doctor, much against his will,
was entering the arena in the character of a practical magician--a
character new to him, and obviously abhorrent.

At half-past ten, the servants all retired in accordance With Dr.
Cairn's orders. From where he stood by the tall mantel-piece, Robert
Cairn could watch Myra Duquesne, a dainty picture in her simple
evening-gown, where she sat reading in a distant corner, her delicate
beauty forming a strong contrast to the background of sombre volumes.
Dr. Cairn sat by the big table, smoking, and apparently listening. A
strange device which he had adopted every evening for the past week,
he had adopted again to-night--there were little white seals, bearing
a curious figure, consisting in interlaced triangles, upon the insides
of every window in the house, upon the doors, and even upon the
fire-grates.

Robert Cairn at another time might have thought his father mad,
childish, thus to play at wizardry; but he had had experiences which
had taught him to recognise that upon such seemingly trivial matters,
great issues might turn, that in the strange land over the Border,
there were stranger laws--laws which he could but dimly understand.
There he acknowledged the superior wisdom of Dr. Cairn; and did not
question it.