about me that I do not wish you to
do. In such a life as mine there are naturally things that I do not wish
known. In going to my old haunts, trying to unearth Kaffar, you would
learn something about them. And so I command you," he continued, in a
hoarse tone that made me shudder, "that you do not move one step in that
direction. If you do--well, you know my power."

From that moment I felt more enslaved than ever. I shuddered at the
thought of disobeying him; I felt more than ever a lost man. As I felt
at that moment, in spite of my desire to let every one know this man's
power over me, I would rather have pulled out my tongue than have done
so.

"Are those all your commands?" I said humbly.

"Ah! you are cowed at last, are you?" he said mockingly. "You matched
your strength with mine; now you know what it means. You did not think I
could crush you like a grasshopper, did you? Yes, I have one other
command for you. You must go to London to-morrow, and go on with your
old work. You must not hold any communication with Miss Forrest, my
affianced bride. I myself am going to London to-day, and most likely
shall remain there for a while. Perhaps I shall want to see you
occasionally. If I do, you will quickly know. I shall have no need to
tell you my address;" and he laughed a savage laugh.

"Is that all?" I said.

"That is all. You will come to the wedding, Mr. Blake. You shall see her
arrayed for her husband, dressed all in white, as a bride should be. You
shall see her lips touch mine. You shall see us go away together--the
woman you love, and the man who has crushed you as if you were a worm."

This maddened me. By a tremendous effort of will I was free. "That shall
never be. Somehow, some way, I will thwart you," I cried. "I will free
myself from you; I will snap your cruel chain asunder."

"I defy you!" he said. "You can do nothing that I have commanded you not
to do. For the rest I care not a jot."

He went away, leaving me alone, and then all the sensations of the
previous nights came back to me. I remembered what the ghost was
supposed to foretell, and the evil influence the dark pond was said to
have. I saw again the large red hand on the water's surface. I recalled
dimly the struggle, the fighting, the strange feeling I had as my senses
began to leave me. Could I have killed him? If I did, I was guiltless
of crime. It was not my heart that conceived the thought; it was not I
who really did the deed. I had