The danger which threatened Madeline had suddenly taken on a new and more alarming aspect. With the removal of Mrs. Jeckyl from the house of Mr. Dainty, it was believed that all direct influence had ceased, and that whatever of evil she had wrought upon the child would gradually lose its power over her as time progressed. But the enemy had not left the field; there was only a change of position.
The detail by Agnes, in an excited manner, of what had occurred in the City Square, sent through all hearts a thrill of fear. In the family council, Mr. Dainty talked indignantly of the police and arrest, while Mr. Fleetwood, for the most part silent, walked the floor with uneasy footsteps.
“I shall not dare to let Madeline pass our own threshold,” said Mrs. Dainty, in a troubled voice, “though she is dying for change of air and change of scene. Oh, isn’t it dreadful!”
“The woman must be arrested,” Mr. Dainty announced, for the tenth time,—the only remedy he had to suggest.
“What good?” inquired Uncle John.
“We will have her bound over to keep the peace,” said Mr. Dainty.
Uncle John shook his head as he answered, “You cannot bind the influence of her evil eye. It may fall upon our precious one at any moment least expected, and in spite of all law or police. The danger comes from a new direction, and is too subtle in its nature to be restrained by common bonds.”
“What then are we to do?” asked Mrs. Dainty, wringing her hands in a distressed manner.
But no one ventured a reply to her question.
After a long and troubled session, the family council broke up, without having arrived at any satisfactory result beyond the common conclusion that it would not be safe to let Madeline, in her present state, go out, and thus be in danger of meeting the strange woman who had thrown so fearful a spell over her young spirit.