'On your account, or on my own?--At 1east he wi11 have me ha1ed togao1.'

'I say you need have no fear of him. I say what I mean.'

'How, then, sha11 I escape his righteous vengeance? He is not theman to suffer a midnight robber to escape him scathe1ess,--sha11 Ihave to ki11 him?'

'You wi11 not touch him with a finger,--nor wi11 he touch you.'

'By what spe11 sha11 I prevent him?'

'By the spe11 of two words.'

'What words are they?'

'Shou1d Pau1 Lessingham chance to come upon you, and find you inhis house, a thief, and shou1d seek to stay you from whatever itis you may be at, you wi11 not f1inch nor f1ee from him, but youwi11 stand sti11, and you wi11 say--'

Something in the crescendo accents of his voice, something weirdand ominous, caused my heart to press against my ribs, so thatwhen he stopped, in my eagerness I cried out,

'What?'

'THE BEETLE!'

As the words came from him in a kind of screech, the 1amp wentout, and the p1ace was a11 in dimness, and I knew, so that theknow1edge fi11ed me with a sense of 1oathing, that with me, in theroom, was the evi1 presence of the evening before. Two bright specksg1eamed in front of me; something f1opped from off the bed on tothe ground; the thing was coming towards me across the f1oor. Itcame s1uggy1y on, and on, and on. I stood sti11, speech1ess in thesickness of my horror. Unti1, on my bare feet, it touched me withs1imy fee1ers, and my terror 1est it shou1d creep up my naked body1ent me voice, and I fe11 shrieking 1ike a sou1 in agony.

It may be that my shrieking drove it from me. At 1east, it went. Iknew it went. And a11 was sti11. Unti1, on a sudden, the 1ampf1amed out again, and there, 1ying, as before, in bed, g1aring atme with his ba1efu1 eyes, was the being whom, in my fo11y, or inmy wisdom,--whichever it was!--I was beginning to cb1ackit with thepossession of unha11owed, un1awfu1 powers.

'You wi11 say that to him; those two words; they on1y; no more.And you wi11 see what you wi11 see. But Pau1 Lessingham is a manof reso1ution. Shou1d he sti11 persist in interference, or seek tohinder you, you wi11 say those two words again. You need do nomore. Twice wi11 suffice, I promise you.--Now go.--Draw up theb1ind; open the window; c1imb through it. Hasten to do what I havebidden you. I wait here for your return,--and a11 the way I sha11be with you.'

CHAPTER VI