e as though he were going to win it!"

It looked so to me, too, and I fell into gloomy thought.

"You've got your men watching the house, I suppose?" I asked, at last,
turning to Simmonds.

"Yes; and we managed to score one little point to-day."

"What was that?"

"I found out that Annie Crogan, the housemaid over there, had a cousin
on the force, so I got him out here and he managed to have a talk with
her. He didn't find out anything," he added; "that is, anything we
don't know; but she promised to leave the door of her bedroom open at
night, and, if anything happened, to show a light at her window."

"Splendid!" I said. "And of course she'll keep her eyes open in the
daytime."

"Sure she will. She's a bright girl. The only thing I'm afraid of is
that the Hindu will get on to her and fire her. But she's been warned
to be mighty careful. If they don't suspect her, maybe she'll have
something to tell us, in a day or two."

"Perhaps she will," I agreed; and I drew a breath of relief. Surely
with all these guardians, inside the house and out, Miss Vaughan was
safe. The least outcry would bring swift assistance. Besides, I could
not bring myself to believe that Silva was such a brute as Godfrey
seemed to think him. I had been attracted by him, not repelled, and I
have always believed in the accuracy of these instinctive feelings.

And Godfrey himself, I reflected, did not seem to be very clear in the
matter. If Silva was merely a fakir and a charlatan, there was no
reason why he should wish to induct Miss Vaughan into the mysteries of
a religion which he wore only as a cloak, to be dropped as soon as his
plans were accomplished. On the other hand, if he was sincere and
really wished to convert the girl, it was only reasonable to suppose
that he was sincere in other things as well.

"It reduces itself to this," I said finally to Godfrey. "If Silva is a
charlatan, there is no reason why he should hypnotise Miss Vaughan;
but if he really wishes to make a priestess of her, then, by the same
token, he is sincere and not a charlatan at all."

Godfrey nodded.

"There's a twist there which I can't seem to get straight," he
admitted. "We'll have to watch Silva a little longer to find out what
his game really is. Of course, it's just possible that he'd be glad
to get rid of the girl, but that she really is obsessed by the idea of
carrying out her father's wish. If that's the case, Silva is rather up
a tree."

"That'