ithout howled with increasing
fury, the rain beat against the side of the house, and the thunder
crashed overhead.

A shuddering silence seemed to have seized upon the group, and they sat
watching the flickering lamp and smouldering fire, when suddenly all
were roused by a loud rapping at the door. The entire group started up
in alarm, the negro howled, and Bly gasped:

"God save us!"

"The whole armor of God shield us against the witches," groaned John
Louder.

"Heaven help us now!" whispered Gray.

Charles Stevens, though scarcely more than a youth, was the most
self-possessed of all. He rose and opened the door. A blinding flash
revealed a pair of horses with drooping heads in the rain and storm,
while a man and young girl, the late riders of the horses, stood at the
door holding the reins.

As soon as the door was opened, the man, holding the little maiden's
hand in his own, stepped into the house to be out of the gust of wind
and rain.

"We are belated travellers, kind sir, and seek shelter from the storm,"
the stranger began.

At sound of his voice, John Louder sprang to his feet, and, seizing the
lamp, held it close to the man's face. Starting back with a yell, he
cried:

"Away! wizard, devil, away! You are he who offered the book to me. Away!
away! or I will slay you!"

The startled stranger answered:

"I never saw you before."

John Louder insisted that he was the evil one who had met him at the
lake while he was stalking the deer, and had offered him the book to
sign.

"I never saw you before in my life," the stranger answered, his
theatrical tones making a strange impression on the superstitious
Louder. He read in his face the look of a demon, and continued to cry:

"You must, you shall go away! Prince of darkness, back into the storm
which your powers created!"

Charles Stevens was too much amazed to speak for some moments, for, by
the combined aid of the lamp and firelight, he saw before him the very
features of the man whom he had found wounded and almost dying at the
spring. The wanderer turned his sad and handsome face to the youth and
asked:

"Can you take us to shelter?"

"I did once, and will again."

"You did once? Truly you mistake, for I never saw you before. My child
will perish in this storm."

"It is five miles to my house; but if you will come with me I will show
you the way."

They tried to dissuade Charles from going out into the driving storm;
but he was not mo