aunted, did you say?" He
paused in the roadway and stared into the darkness where the building of
the old school had first appeared to him. But the stranger hurried him
forward.

"We shall talk more safely farther on," he said. "I followed you from
the inn the moment I realised where you had gone. When I found you it
was eleven o'clock--"

"Eleven o'clock," said Harris, remembering with a shudder.

"--I saw you drop. I watched over you till you recovered consciousness
of your own accord, and now--now I am here to guide you safely back to
the inn. I have broken the spell--the glamour--"

"I owe you a great deal, sir," interrupted Harris again, beginning to
understand something of the stranger's kindness, "but I don't understand
it all. I feel dazed and shaken." His teeth still chattered, and spells
of violent shivering passed over him from head to foot. He found that he
was clinging to the other's arm. In this way they passed beyond the
deserted and crumbling village and gained the high-road that led
homewards through the forest.

"That school building has long been in ruins," said the man at his side
presently; "it was burnt down by order of the Elders of the community at
least ten years ago. The village has been uninhabited ever since. But
the simulacra of certain ghastly events that took place under that roof
in past days still continue. And the 'shells' of the chief participants
still enact there the dreadful deeds that led to its final destruction,
and to the desertion of the whole settlement. They were
devil-worshippers!"

Harris listened with beads of perspiration on his forehead that did not
come alone from their leisurely pace through the cool night. Although he
had seen this man but once before in his life, and had never before
exchanged so much as a word with him, he felt a degree of confidence and
a subtle sense of safety and well-being in his presence that were the
most healing influences he could possibly have wished after the
experience he had been through. For all that, he still felt as if he
were walking in a dream, and though he heard every word that fell from
his companion's lips, it was only the next day that the full import of
all he said became fully clear to him. The presence of this quiet
stranger, the man with the wonderful eyes which he felt now, rather than
saw, applied a soothing anodyne to his shattered spirit that healed him
through and through. And this healing influence, distilled f