ked at Susie with astonishment.

'I can't believe that Margaret could have done such a thing,' she went
on. 'The more I think of it, the more incredible it seems. I've known
Margaret for years, and she was incapable of deceit. She was very
kind-hearted. She was honest and truthful. In the first moment of
horror, I was only indignant, but I don't want to think too badly of
her. There is only one way to excuse her, and that is by supposing she
acted under some strange compulsion.'

Arthur clenched his hands.

'I'm not sure if that doesn't make it more awful than before. If he's
married her, not because he cares, but in order to hurt me, what life
will she lead with him? We know how heartless he is, how vindictive, how
horribly cruel.'

'Dr Porhoet knows more about these things than we do,' said Susie. 'Is it
possible that Haddo can have cast some spell upon her that would make her
unable to resist his will? Is it possible that he can have got such an
influence over her that her whole character was changed?'

'How can I tell?' cried the doctor helplessly. 'I have heard that such
things may happen. I have read of them, but I have no proof. In these
matters all is obscurity. The adepts in magic make strange claims. Arthur
is a man of science, and he knows what the limits of hypnotism are.'

'We know that Haddo had powers that other men have not,' answered Susie.
'Perhaps there was enough truth in his extravagant pretensions to enable
him to do something that we can hardly imagine.'

Arthur passed his hands wearily over his face.

'I'm so broken, so confused, that I cannot think sanely. At this moment
everything seems possible. My faith in all the truths that have supported
me is tottering.'

For a while they remained silent. Arthur's eyes rested on the chair in
which Margaret had so often sat. An unfinished canvas still stood upon
the easel. It was Dr Porhoet who spoke at last.

'But even if there were some truth in Miss Boyd's suppositions, I don't
see how it can help you. You cannot do anything. You have no remedy,
legal or otherwise. Margaret is apparently a free agent, and she has
married this man. It is plain that many people will think she has done
much better in marrying a country gentleman than in marrying a young
surgeon. Her letter is perfectly lucid. There is no trace of compulsion.
To all intents and purposes she has married him of her own free-will, and
there is nothing to show that she desires to be