Never in his life had he felt so dizzy and faint as he did at that moment, while a weakening, sickening tremor pervaded every nerve in his body.
“Better let her alone now, Tom, and don’t come here again for a week. Let her get a little strength before you exert your power over her again,” the woman said in reply to the man’s last observation.
“The weaker she is the less will she will have,” he muttered.
“Her will is so strong that you will never move her to tell what you want to know; and you do not want to kill her, I know.”
“No,” he admitted, with a scowl.
“She will do almost anything you tell her, except to reveal what will injure that one person; that seems to be an instinct which nothing can conquer, and your magnetic force is not sufficient to overcome it.”
“You do not need to tell me that,” he growled.
“Well, I want you to let her alone for awhile; I don’t want her dying on my hands,” returned the woman, with decision.
The ill-looking man did not reply, but made a few passes over Editha’s head and face, touching her on the forehead and in the region of the epigastrium.
Almost instantly the wild look faded from her eyes, her clasped hands dropped apart, and fell limp and nerveless upon the counterpane, while she lay panting and exhausted, but looking much more natural to Earle than she had done a moment before with that strained look on her face.