There is only one way to excuse her, and that is by supposing she
acted under some strange compulsion.'
Arthur clenched his hands.
'I'm not sure if that doesn't make it more awful than before. If he's
married her, not because he cares, but in order to hurt me, what life
will she lead with him? We know how heartless he is, how vindictive, how
horribly cruel.'
'Dr Porhoet knows more about these things than we do,' said Susie. 'Is it
possible that Haddo can have cast some spell upon her that would make her
unable to resist his will? Is it possible that he can have got such an
influence over her that her whole character was changed?'
'How can I tell?' cried the doctor helplessly. 'I have heard that such
things may happen. I have read of them, but I have no proof. In these
matters all is obscurity. The adepts in magic make strange claims. Arthur
is a man of science, and he knows what the limits of hypnotism are.'
'We know that Haddo had powers that other men have not,' answered Susie.
'Perhaps there was enough truth in his extravagant pretensions to enable
him to do something that we can hardly imagine.
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