stopped and looked around me. The influence had gone, and I was free;
but from behind one of the trees stepped out a man, and the man
was--Herod Voltaire!

"Good-morning, Mr. Justin Blake," he said blandly.

"Why have you brought me here?" I asked savagely.

He smiled blandly. "You will admit I have brought you here, then?" he
said. "Ah, my friend, it is dangerous to fight with a man when you don't
know his weapons."

"I want to know what this means?" I said haughtily.

"Not so fast," he sneered. "Come down from that high horse and let's
talk quietly. Yes, I've no doubt you would have enjoyed a ride with a
certain lady better than the lonely walk you have had; but, then, you
know the old adage, 'Needs must when the devil drives.'"

"And so you've admitted your identity!" I said. "Well, I don't want your
society; say what you want to say, or I'm going back."

"Yes," he said, revealing his white teeth, "I am going to say what I
want to say, and you are not going back until you have heard it, and,
more than that, promised to accede to it."

Again I felt a cold shiver creep over me, but I put on a bold face, and
said, "It always takes two to play at any game."

"Yes it does, Mr. Blake, and that you'll find out. You feel like defying