the emotions, if not over the reason. It enslaved Pepeeta completely.

It was impossible that in so small a room a speaker should be
unconscious of the presence of strangers. David had noticed them at
once, and his glance, after roaming about the room, invariably returned
and fixed itself upon the face of the Fortune Teller. Their fascination
was mutual. They were so drawn to each other by some inscrutable power,
that it would not have been hard to believe that they had existed as
companions in some previous state of being, and had now met and vaguely
remembered each other.

When at length David stopped speaking, it seemed to Pepeeta as if a
sudden end had come to everything; as if rivers had ceased to run and
stars to rise and set. She drew a long, deep breath, sighed and sank
back in her seat, exhausted by the nervous tension to which she had been
subjected.

The effect upon the quack was hardly less remarkable. He, too, had
listened with breathless attention. He tried to analyze and then to
resist this mesmeric power, but gradually succumbed. He felt as if
chained to his seat, and it was only by a great effort that he pulled
himself together, took Pepeeta by the arm and drew her out into the open
air.

For a few moments they walked in silence, and then the doctor exclaimed:
"P-p-peeta, I have found him at last!"

"Found whom?" she asked sharply, irritated by the voice which offered
such a rasping contrast to the one still echoing in her ears.