an stood beside
him; but with such a malevolent aspect that he was somewhat startled
and uneasy at her presence.

"I am beguiled of my prey!--mocked--thwarted. But beware, old man; thy
meddling may prove dangerous. I will possess the inheritance, though
every earthly power withstood me! That boy is mine. He hath sworn
it--sealed it with his heart's blood--and I demand the pledge." The
victim groaned. "Hearest thou that response? 'Tis an assent. He is
mine in spite of your stratagems."

This was probably but the raving of a disordered intellect, but Dee
was too deeply imbued with the superstitions of the age to suppose for
a moment that it was not a case of undisguised witchcraft, or that
this wicked hag was not invested with sufficient power to execute
whatever either anger or caprice might suggest.

"What is thy will with the wretched victim thou hast ensnared?" he
inquired.

"I have told thee."

"Thou wilt not convey him away bodily to his tormentors?"

"Unless they have a victim the inheritance may not be mine." She said
this with such a fiendish malice that made even the exorcist tremble.
His presence of mind, however, did not forsake him.

"The ring--I remember--there was a condition in the bond. In all such
compacts there is ever a loophole for escape."

"None that thou canst creep through," she said, with a look of scorn.

"It is not permitted that the children of men be tempted above
measure."

"When that ring shall have strength to bind me, and not till then. All
other bonds I rend asunder. Even adamant were as flaming tow."

"Here is a ring of stout iron," said Dee, pointing to an iron ring
fixed by a stout staple in the wall. "I think it would try thy boasted
strength."

"I could break it as the feeble reed."

The Doctor shook his head incredulously.

"Try me. Thou shall find it no empty boast."

She seemed proud that her words should be put to the test; and even
proposed that her arms should be pinioned, and her body fastened with
stout cords to the iron ring which had been prepared for this purpose.

"Thou shalt soon find which is the strongest," said she, exultingly.
"I have broken bonds ere now to which these are but as a thread."

She looked confident of success, and surveyed the whole proceeding
with a look of unutterable scorn.

"Now do thy worst, thou wicked one," said Dee, when he had finished.

But lo! a shriek that might have wakened the dead. She was unable to
extricate he