he Enemy who creeps to the
nine lamps?

"See, the fire shines through the wax! The image is grown thin and wan.
Three days, three nights, it has shrunk before the flames. Three days,
three nights, the woman has watched. As the fire is not weary, she is
not weary. As the fire is beautiful, she is beautiful.

"The man is borne to her door again. He lifts up his hands and cries to
her. But now he begs for death. Now he knows anguish stronger than fear.
And the woman laughs, and the door is barred.

"The fire shines on a lump of wax. The man is dead. From her chair the
woman has arisen and stands, triumphant.

"_But what crouches behind her, unseen? The lamps are cast down! The
pentagram is crossed! The Horror takes its own._"

The impassioned speech broke off with the effect of a snapped bar of
thin metal. In the silence, the steady whisper of rain came to my ears
again, continuing patiently. I became aware of a rich yet delicate
fragrance in the air I breathed. It was not any perfume I could
identify, either as a composition or as a flower scent. If I may hope to
be understood it sparkled upon the senses. It produced a thirst for
itself, so that the nostrils expanded for it with an eagerness for the
new pleasure. I found myself breathing deeply, almost greedily, before
answering my prisoner's story.

"'Sister Helen,'" I quoted, as lightly as I could.

"And do you think Rossetti had no truth to base his poem upon?" her
quiet voice flowed out of the darkness, seeming scarcely the same speech
as the swift, irregular utterance of a moment before. "Do you think that
all the traditions and learning of the younger world meant--nothing?"

"Are you asking me to believe in witchcraft and sorcery?"

"I ask nothing."

"Not even to believe that you will press the knife if I refuse to free
you?"

"Not even that; now!"

Compunction smote me. Her voice sounded more faint, as if from fatigue
or discouragement. It seemed to me that the blade against my wrist had
relaxed its menace of pressure and just rested in position. I seemed to
read my lady's weariness in the slackened vigilance. Perhaps she was
really frightened, now that her brave attempt to lull me into incaution
had failed.

"Listen, please," I spoke earnestly. "I am going to set you free. I
apologize for keeping you captive so long! But you will admit the
provocation to my curiosity? You will forgive me?"

A sigh drifted across the darkness.

"I ask no questio