Luscombe,
never! It would be a crime, and worse than a crime. Why, he is----'
Then he stopped again, and with wild eyes seemed staring into vacancy.

'Come, come,' I said, 'this won't do. He has no thoughts about Lorna
Bolivick.'

'Did he tell you so?'

'Of course he didn't; there is no reason why he should; but Miss
Blackwater told me it was as good as settled that she should marry
young Buller.'

'No, the danger doesn't lie there. Why, you could see that, if you had
eyes. Didn't you watch him while he was talking during the early part
of the evening?--didn't you see how he looked at her? He's a bad man,
I tell you! Have you ever seen a serpent trying to fascinate a bird?
I have--where I don't know, but I have. He was just like that, and she
yielded to his fascination, too; you must have noticed it! Buller is a
nonentity, just a harmless, good-natured, weak boy. He could be a tool
in another man's hands, though,--Springfield could make him do
anything.'

He did not look at me while he spoke; he seemed to be staring at some
far distant object.

'You say you know Springfield,' I said; 'what did you mean by that?'

'I mean,--I have met him before somewhere.'

'Where?'

'I don't know. I only know I have. Do you remember that time over in
France, when he made that strange noise?'

I nodded.

'It was an old Indian cry. It was a cry that always means vengeance.
It was he who made it,--do you remember? Afterwards I saw his face. I
knew then I had seen him somewhere, but where, I don't know. Oh, if
only this thick veil of the past could be turned aside, and I could
see! Oh, if I could only remember!--but I can't. I tell you, that man
knows me--he remembers. Did you watch his eyes when he looked at me?
And I am helpless, helpless!--and she is so young, so beautiful, so
pure. I can't understand it at all, and yet, when I saw her this
evening for the first time, as she stood in the doorway with the light
of the setting sun upon her face---- I am so helpless,' he continued.
'I can do nothing. Besides----'

As I have said, I had learnt to love Paul Edgecumbe, and although I
realized his madness as much as he did, I wanted to lift the weight of
care from his life.

'If what you told me some months ago is true, there is no room for
despair,' I urged.

'What did I tell you?'

'You told me you had found a great secret,' I replied; 'that you had
become sure of Almighty God. If that is true, th