"I do not like the idea that there are these 'entities,' as you call them, all around us." "There are not, they cannot come near us unless we allow them--have I not told you that the atmosphere must be congenial? Our own wills can create an armour through which nothing demagnetising can pass. It is weakness and drifting which are inexorably punished; they draw currents suitable for the vampires beyond to exist on." "All this does sound so weird to me." Amaryllis was interested and yet repelled. "Have you ever thought about Marconigrams and their etheric waves? No--not often. People just accept such things as facts as soon as they become commercial commodities--and only a few begin to speculate upon what such discoveries suggest, and the other possibilities which they could lead to. Nothing is supernatural; it is only that we are so ignorant. Some day I will take you to my laboratory in my home in Russia and show you the result of my experiments with vibrations and coloured lights." "I should love that--but just now you troubled me--you seemed to include smoking in the things which brought evil--I smoke sometimes." "So do I--will you have a Russian cigarette?" He took out his case and offered her one, which she accepted. "Will it bring something bad?" "Not more than a glass of wine," and he opened his lighter and bent nearer to her. "One glass of wine might be good for you, but twenty would make you very drunk and me very quarrelsome!" They laughed softly and lit their cigarettes. "I feel when I am with you that I am enveloped in some strong essence," and Amaryllis lay back with a satisfied sigh--"as though I were uplifted and awakened--it is very curious because you have such a wicked face, but you make me feel that I want to be good." His queer, husky voice took on a new note. "We have met of course in a former life--then probably I tempted you to break all vows--it was my fault. So in this life you are to tempt me--it may be--but my will has developed--I mean to resist. I want to place you as my joy of the spirit this time--something which is pure and beautiful apart from earthly things." Into Amaryllis' mind there flashed the thought that if she saw him often, her emotions for him might not keep at that high level! Her eyes perhaps expressed this doubt, for Verisschenzko bent nearer. "Another must fulfil that which must be denied to me. You are too young to remain free from emotion. Hold yourself until the right time comes." Amaryllis wondered why he should speak as though it were an understood thing that she could feel no emotion for John. She resented this. "I have my husband," she answered with dignity and a sweetly conventional air. Verisschenzko laughed.