A thoughtful look was on John’s face.  He was lying on his couch in the large room where his learned uncle stored all his precious books and parchments, safely locked away in carved presses; and rising slowly to his feet —­ for he was still feeble and languid in his movements —­ he unlocked one of these, and took from it a large volume in some dead language, and laid it upon the table before him.

“I know not whether or no I am right, but I have heard before of a strange power that some men may possess over the minds and wills of others —­ a power so great that they become their helpless tools, and can be made to act, to see, to feel just as they are bidden, and are as helpless to resist that power as the snared bird to avoid the outstretched hand of the fowler.  That this power is a power of evil, and comes from the devil himself, I may not disbelieve; for it has never been God’s way of dealing with men to bind captive their wills and make them blind and helpless agents of the will of others.  Could you read the words of this book, you would find many things therein as strange as any you have heard today.  For myself, I have little doubt that old Peter Sanghurst, who has spent years of his life amongst the heathen Moors, and is, as all men avow, steeped to the lips in their strange and unchristian lore, has himself the art of thus gaining the mastery over the minds and wills of others, and that it was no demoniacal possession, but just the wicked will of the old man exercised upon that of his helpless victim, which drew the boy back to him when his father had him safe at home (as he thought) once more.  In this book it is written that young boys, especially if they be beautiful of form and receptive of mind, make the best tools for this black art.  They can be thrown into strange trances, in which many things are revealed to them.  They can be sent in the spirit to places they have never seen, and can be made to describe what is passing thousands of miles away.  I cannot tell how these things may be, unless indeed it is the devil working in them; yet here it is written down as if it were some art which certain men with certain gifts may acquire, as they may acquire other knowledge and learning.  In truth, I think such things smack of the Evil One himself; yet I doubt if there be that visible bond with Satan that is commonly reported amongst the unlettered and ignorant.  It is a cruel and a wicked art without doubt, and it says here that the children who are caught and subjected to these trances and laid under this spiritual bondage seldom live long; and that but for this, there seems no end to the wonders that might be performed.  But the strain upon their spirits almost always results in madness or death, and thus the art never makes the strides that those who practise it long to see.”

John was turning the leaves of the book as he spoke, reading a word here and there as if to refresh his memory.  The Gascon brothers listened with breathless interest, and suddenly Raymond started to his feet, saying: