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250 choose to exert it. I shall be a snake in the grass, or a favourite dog or cat in the lap of beauty, or a solemn adviser, or a lying spirit when I please, and I can charm them with music to which that of Orpheus himself cannot be compared; and I have not told you the half of my power, sir, to do you service. Let me go!'

'I will not let you go. You are as cunning as a fox, and as deep as the Pit of Acheron,' said the Demon.

'You said yourself, sir,' answered the Doctor, 'that, clever as I am, I cannot deceive, or outwit you, or escape from your power, and I know it would be useless for me to try; will you now doubt your own talents or your genius? I do not compare myself with you. I shall never try to emulate your superiority as a leader, or be your equal in strategy or finesse, or in the forethought and prudence that are inestimable, or in the unflinching bravery which levels mountains; but I will do as I have said—gain for you, in six months' time, a million souls of priceless value.'

'How will you do it?'

'By writing a fashionable book against Christianity: a grand display of mystical rubbish which everybody will read and nobody understand.'

The Demon, who had been hastily walking up and down the room, now stopped suddenly, and looked hard at the Doctor. 'I do not,' he said, 'doubt or distrust you overmuch, Julius, for I must confess that I have a lingering affection for you, and woe to you if you deceive me. I cannot deny that you have often saved me from the remorse which sometimes follows cruelty. I believe, also, that you are capable of some sincerity, and I do not doubt my own power to overcome hostile machinations, but for all that, and not because I fear you, if I take you with me I shall require security.'

'Security, my lord!' said the Doctor aghast.