zzle. He uncorked the bottle, inserted the syringe and
filled it, then he screwed on the needle, pressed the plunger until a
fine jet leapt in the air, then he laid it carefully back in the case.

"You say you will not marry me and I presume that you would make a scene
when I bring in the good English parson to perform the ceremony. I had
hoped," he said apologetically, "to have given you a wedding with all
the pomp and circumstance which women, as I understand, love. Failing
that, I hoped for a quiet wedding in the little church out yonder." He
jerked his head toward the window. "But now I am afraid that I must ask
his reverence to carry out the ceremony in this house."

He rose, leant over her and deftly pulled back her sleeve.

"If you scream I shall smother you with the towel," he said. "This won't
hurt you very much. As I was going to say, you will be married here
because you are in a delicate state of health and you will say 'Yes.'"

She winced as the needle punctured the skin.

"It won't hurt you for very long," he said calmly. "You will say 'Yes,'
I repeat, because I shall tell you to say 'Yes.'"

Suddenly the sharp pricking pain in her arm ceased. She was conscious
of a sensation as though her arm was being blown up like a bicycle tyre,
but it was not unpleasant. He withdrew the needle and kept his finger
pressed upon the little red wound where it had gone in.

"I shall do this to you again to-night," he said, "and you will not feel
it at all, and to-morrow morning, and you will not care very much what
happens. I hope it will not be necessary to give you a dose to-morrow
afternoon."

"I shall not always be under the influence of this drug," she said
between her teeth, "and there will be a time of reckoning for you, Dr.
van Heerden."

"By which time," he said calmly, "I shall have committed a crime so
wonderful and so enormous that the mere offence of 'administering a
noxious drug'--that is the terminology which describes the offence--will
be of no importance and hardly worth the consideration of the Crown
officers. Now I think I can unfasten you." He loosened and removed the
straps at her wrists and about her feet and put them in his pocket.

"You had better get up and walk about," he said, "or you will be stiff.
I am really being very kind to you if you only knew it. I am too big to
be vindictive. And, by the way, I had an interesting talk with your
friend, Mr. Beale, this afternoon, a persistent you