March 26. Wilson was, as I had anticipated, very exultant over my
conversion, and Miss Penclosa was also demurely pleased at the result
of her experiment. Strange what a silent, colorless creature she is
save only when she exercises her power! Even talking about it gives
her color and life. She seems to take a singular interest in me. I
cannot help observing how her eyes follow me about the room.
We had the most interesting conversation about her own powers. It is
just as well to put her views on record, though they cannot, of course,
claim any scientific weight.
"You are on the very fringe of the subject," said she, when I had
expressed wonder at the remarkable instance of suggestion which she had
shown me. "I had no direct influence upon Miss Marden when she came
round to you. I was not even thinking of her that morning. What I did
was to set her mind as I might set the alarum of a clock so that at the
hour named it would go off of its own accord. If six months instead of
twelve hours had been suggested, it would have been the same."
"And if the suggestion had been to assassinate me?"
"She would most inevitably have done so."
"But this is a terrible power!" I cried.
"It is, as you say, a terrible power," she answered gravely, "and the
more you know of it the more terrible will it seem to you."
"May I ask," said I, "what you meant when you said that this matter of
suggestion is only at the fringe of it? What do you consider the
essential?"
"I had rather not tell you."