"You have changed the nature of my wife!" Parker was getting hold of
himself and he could speak with a degree of calmness. "That is a worse
crime than the one you've committed against me directly!"

"Mr. Parker," said the doctor, impressively, "you are in a web. I am
the spider. You are the fly. I don't particularly desire to hurt you,
but I want your wife. This is the crux of the matter. She is the woman
to share my triumphs. Already I have aroused her interest. Give her up
and you will continue your work as before. Refuse, and you will lose
her just as certainly as though you give her to me. For, my dear sir,
you will be insane in less than a month from now. I promise you
that!"

* * * * *

Allen Parker was not one to indulge in melodrama. For a long moment he
sat looking into the black eyes of Von Stein. Then he spoke carefully.

"If my wife of her own will loved you, and wanted freedom, I'd let her
go. But this is a kind of hypnosis. It's diabolical!"

"Who but the devil was the father of magic?" asked the doctor,
cheerfully. "Hypnosis is unconsciously based on a scientific principle
which I have mastered. Repeated advertising of a tooth brush or a box
of crackers is mild mental suggestion--hypnosis, if you will. My dear
fellow, be sensible!"

"Sophistry!" growled Parker.

Von Stein laughed. He moved a lever upon a dial and a sheet of blue
flame quivered between them. With another movement of the lever it
vanished.

"I could destroy you instantly," he said, "and completely, and no one
could prove a crime! I shall not do it. I have no time to be bothered
with investigations. Think of the fate I have promised you. Think, and
you will give her up!"

"I shall not!" Parker wiped cold drops from his forehead. The doctor
frowned thoughtfully.

"I'll intensify her desire to come here to-night," he said. "She
herself will persuade you."

* * * * *

Parker set his fingers into the arms of his chair as Von Stein rose
and walked to the copper bowl. He stood directly under it, and put on
goggles with shields fitting close to his feet. At the pressure of his
foot a tablelike affair rose from the floor in front of him. This,
like the desk, was equipped with numerous dials, buttons and levers.
Von Stein manipulated them. The great cap of copper descended until
his head was enveloped by the mist of platinum wires. A faint humming
grew in the room. A tiny b