Norman finished his drink. His mind was slipping away from this new menace, fumbling at it instead of grasping it firmly. He must whip his mind awake! Tansy pushed her drink over toward him. "And Mrs. Gunnison's fear is justified, for Mrs. Carr has powers so deadly that she has never had to use them except as a threat. Her eyes are the worst. Those thick glasses of hers--she possesses that most feared of supernatural weapons, against which half the protective charms in recorded magic are intended. That weapon whose name is so well known throughout the whole world that it has become a laughingstock of skeptics. The evil eye. With it, she can blight and wither. With it, she can seize control of another's soul at a single glance. "So far she has held back, because she wanted the other two punished for certain trifling disobediences and put into a position where they would have to beg her help. But now she will act quickly. She recognizes in you and your work a danger to herself." Tansy's voice had become so breathlessly rapid that Norman realized she must be talking against time. "Besides that, she has another motive buried in the darkness of her mind. I do not know what it is, but sometimes I have caught her studying my every movement and expression with the strangest avidity--" Suddenly she broke off and her face went white. "--I can feel her now ... I can feel her seeking me out ... she is breaking through--No!" Tansy screamed. "No, you can't _make_ me do it!... _I won't!... I won't!"_ Before he knew it, she was on her knees, clinging to him, clutching at his hands. "Don't let her _touch_ me, Norman," she was babbling like a terrified child. "Don't let her come _near_ me." "I won't," he said. "--oh ... but you can't stop her.... She's coming _here_, she says, in her own body--that's how much she cares for your powers! She's going to take me away.... I can't tell you what she's going to make me do--it's too _repulsive_." "If she comes here, I'll stop her," he said in a flat voice. Her babbling ceased. Slowly she lifted her white, frightened face until it looked up at his. "You mean--" He nodded. "I've still got a few cartridges for the revolver." His face was set. "Norman, I can't let you do it ... except--" "--that I am in as much danger as you are." "Yes." A semblance of control came back into Tansy's face. "You might be able to do it," she said softly. "She wouldn't be expecting physical violence. But you would have to be very _quick_. If you hesitated for the tiniest _instant_, if you gave her the slightest opportunity to fix you with her eyes, you would be lost. She would seize control. You know the cobra that spits venom at its victim's eyes--it's like that."