"Back! back!" he cried warningly. "If you come one inch nearer to
me I cannot answer for your safety--back, I say! Good God! you do
not know your OWN power!"

Alwyn scarcely heeded him,--some fatal attraction drew him on, and
he still advanced, when all suddenly he paused, trembling
violently. His nerves began to throb acutely,--the blood in his
veins was like fire,--there was a curious strangling tightness in
his throat that interrupted and oppressed his breathing,--he
stared straight before him with large, luminous, impassioned eyes.
What--WHAT was that dazzling something in the air that flashed and
whirled and shone like glittering wheels of golden flame? His lips
parted ... he stretched out his hands in the uncertain manner of a
blind man feeling his way ... "Oh God! ... God!" ... he muttered
as though stricken by some sudden amazement,--then, with a
smothered, gasping cry, he staggered and fell heavily forward on
the floor--insensible!

At the self-same instant the window blew open, with a loud crash--
it swung backward and forward on its hinges, and a torrent of rain
poured through it slantwise into the room. A remarkable change had
taken place in the aspect and bearing of Heliobas,--he stood as
though rooted to the spot, trembling from head to foot,--he had
lost all his usual composure,--he was deathly pale, and breathed
with difficulty. Presently recovering himself a little he strove
to shut the swinging casement, but the wind was so boisterous,
that he had to pause a moment to gain strength for the effort, and
instinctively he glanced out at the tempestuous night. The clouds
were scurrying over the sky like great black vessels on a foaming
sea,--the lightning flashed incessantly, and the thunder