eel that excitement leading us astray."

"Ay, and I have mastered myself till I can do no more," cried the young
man wildly; "I escaped from Liverpool."

"Escaped?"

"Yes, and managed to get to the train, as I thought, unseen; but at the
first stopping station I saw the demons pass my carriage and look in.
They had changed their dress, and disguised themselves, but I knew them
at once, and that my attempts were vain. It was growing dark when we
reached London, and when they took the tickets I waited till the train
went on again, and then leaped for my life."

"You leaped from the train?"

"Yes. I wonder I did not when it was at full speed, faraway in the
country."

"Hah!" ejaculated the doctor.

"I leaped from the train; but they were watching me, and they followed
down the embankment and into a maze of little streets in North London
yonder, where the fog and snow bewildered me; but I kept on all the
evening, fearing to ask help of the police, dreading to go to an hotel
for dinner. The dread, the want of sleep, have made me nearly mad. I
did not know where to go, and at last, after struggling wildly to
escape, I knew that my brain was going, that before long the dogs would
drag me down. Then in my despair I thought of you."

"And came here?"

"Yes, for sanctuary, doctor. Save me from these devils--save me from
myself. Doctor, is this to be the end of it all? I am alone--helpless:
they may be listening even now. Doctor, for God's sake save me; I can
do no more!"

Trembling in every limb, wildly excited, and with his despair written in
every lineament of his face, Mark Heath dropped from his chair, and
crept upon his knees before the doctor, holding up his clasped hands,
and evidently so completely exhausted that he might have been mastered
by a child.

"Yes, yes; of course, of course I will," said the doctor kindly.
"There, come and lie down here on this couch."

"Lie down?" said the young man, with a suspicious look.

"To be sure; it will rest you. You are quite safe here."

"Safe? Am I safe?"

"Of course," said the doctor, spreading the fallen ulster over the young
man's shivering form, as he slowly lay down.

"Stop! where are you going?"

"Only into the next room--the surgery," said the doctor, turning to face
his visitor's fierce eyes as he started up from the couch.

"What for? Is it to admit those devils."

Mark Heath, in a fit of impotent rage, made a dash to reach the
firepla