The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1927-09-09
CHAPTER VII-Continued

N11<A1 EN- VAA-NOutlUuSQ
~
He stood perfectly still before her.
except that the hand which held the
mirror permitted it to swing very
slowly, pendu!um-wise, before her,
though always at an angle that sent
the beam straight into her eyes.
From my corner of the room
watched him breathlessIy. OF course
it was perfectly obvious to see what
he was doing. The examination of her
eyes had been mere pretext. His
real object in inducing the girl to
strain her eyes upward was to throw
her into hypnotic sleep. The method
he had taken was an Old-fashioned
one, and one he rarely used. At the
laboratory he hypnotized people al
most daily by the simple and almost
instantaneous process of having them
lie down and telling them that they
were going to sleep. But that method
was absolutely dependent upon con-
dition which could not exist here. The
patient must expect to be hypnotized
and be in state of willing submission.
We had no reason to suppose that
Jane Perkins would submit herself to
any such test as that In the hands of
strangers. And even with his mirror
he would not be able to hypnotize her
IL she should suspect that this was
what he was trying to do, and should
resist. But his confident, friendly
manner, his easy assumption of au-s
thority, the fact that he came from
the same part Of the world as her.
elf-all this speedily disarmed sus.
ppicien.
At the end of three or four minutes
of silence the doctor turned away and
laid his little mirror upon the table.
cts five minutes past eight" he
said, with a second glance at his
watch. 1--WE haven't any time to lose.
Close all the windows; that's the first
thing to do-and lock them. And then
we'll bolt both doors-it won't do to
take any chances-and, in general, try
to be ready for anything she may do.
think you'd better stand behind her
chair. over yonder, where she won't
see you at first. Now-are you ready?"
He stationed himself where he had
stood before, just pace or two away
from the chair where the girl lay
asleep. His eyes were shining, and
every line of the attitude Of his big
sinewy body bespoke the relaxation
possible only to nervous systems Of
very high order, the relaxation that
Is ready to exert its utmost effort In
any direction; that is braced against
nothing because 1t Is expecting any
thing.
And then, softly at first but growing
louder he began to hum once more
that old Maori death chant.
From my station behind the chair
could see nothing of the girl, except
one hand, which hung out over the
arm of 1t. fixed my eyes on that,
and as I stood there saw it change,
saw in it the index of some mysteri-
GUS incredible transformation that
must be permeating every fiber Of her
body. 1t had been Jane Perkins hand
moment ago-a chambermaid's hand,
pudgy, lifeless, inexpensive. Now, in
definably, it was different, altogether
different. The fingers stretched apart
little as If they tingled with the
warmth and life of new current, in
tenser, more electrical. The hand
opened wide, then slowly clenched
itself into fist; and last of all it
sprang open again, distended to its
widest reach, with galvanic quickness
which Jane Perkins nerves would
never have been capable of command
ing.
The doctor broke off his song and
there followed, for one dead moment,
silence, which was shattered at the
end of it by strange, weird, haIf-sup-
pressed cutlery. The next instant the
girl had flashed out of her chair, and
stood confronting me. The quickness
Of her motion was absolutely inde-
scribable. Her face was now the one
we had seen in the hospital and had
glimpsed dimly in the dark in Henry
Morgan's study.
At the sight of me she shrank.
crouched, rather. for something about
the action suggested that it might be
followed by a spring. Her hand
flashed to her bosom and explored
there for something's knife prob
ably-that 1t did not find. What she
would have done then, whether she
4 would have flung herself upon me un-
armed, I do not know, but the doctor