"There's something very extraordinary in this," the doctor would say to Hunston, "something which is quite beyond me. If we were not in the nineteenth century, I should almost be inclined to believe in a spell having been cast upon you."
Hunston winced.
"Upon me?"
"Yes; or rather upon that wonderful mechanical arm. I should almost think that the wearer was under a ban."
The doctor's words thrilled the listener strangely.
Little did he know that Doctor Anderson was well acquainted with the history of the mechanical arm, and of its ill-fated inventor, Robert Emmerson.
Little did he think that the doctor's words were meant to produce the exact effect which they had.
The doctor's speech sank deeply into Hunston's mind, and he brooded day and night.
But although it did not affect his health, it certainly had a most unwholesome effect upon his mind, and the result of this soon made itself manifest.
* * * * *