But no notice was taken of him, and a feeling almost of despair began to settle over him. He glanced about the room he was in, to see if there was any other way of escape, when, to his dismay, he found that the apartment was padded from floor to ceiling, and thus no sound within it could be heard outside. It was lighted only from above, where strong bars over the glass plainly indicated to him that the place was intended as a prison, although there were ventilators at the top and bottom, which served to keep the air pure. The place was comfortably, even elegantly, furnished with a bed, a lounge, a table and several chairs. There were a number of fine pictures on the walls, handsome ornaments on the mantel, besides books, papers and magazines on the table. But Ray could not stop to give more than a passing glance to all this. He was terribly wrought up at finding himself in such a strait, and paced the room from end to end, like a veritable maniac, while he tried to think of some way to escape. But he began to realize, after a time, that giving way to such excitement would do no good--that it would be far wiser to sit quietly down and try to exercise his wits; but his mind was a perfect chaos, his head ached, his temples throbbed, his nerves tingled in every portion of his body, and to think calmly in such a state was beyond his power. Suddenly, however, he became conscious of a strange sensation--he felt a peculiar influence creeping over him; it almost seemed as if there was another presence in the room--a power stronger than himself controlling him. This impression grew upon him so rapidly that he began to look searchingly about the apartment, while his pulses throbbed less heavily, his mind grew more composed, his blood began to cool, and he ceased his excited passings up and down the floor. All at once, in the wall opposite to him, he espied a hole about the size of a teacup, and through this aperture he caught the gleam of a pair of human eyes, which seemed to be looking him through and through. Once meeting that gaze, he could not seem to turn away from it, and he began to feel very strangely--to experience a sense of weariness, amounting almost to exhaustion, then a feeling of drowsiness began to steal over him--all antagonism, indignation, and rebellion against the cruel fate that had so suddenly overtaken him appeared to be gradually fading from his mind, and he could only think of how tired he was. "What can it mean?" he asked himself, and made a violent effort to break away from the unnatural influence. He believed that those eyes belonged to the man whom he had met in the other room--that having hopelessly ensnared his victim he was now availing himself of a panel in the wall to watch and see how he would bear his imprisonment.