When Gregory had seen it Malacou sat down and said, `For the past week I have been able to spare little thought for you, owing to my preoccupation with this affair of Khurrem's; but now I am capable of concentrating again on other matters. Now you know that Frau Bjornsen has arrived safely in Sweden your mind should also be free from anxiety. Therefore, let us talk.'
`I have nothing to say to you,' Gregory replied quietly. `The only thing I intend to concentrate on is getting well, so that I can relieve you of my presence as soon as possible.'
`In that you are mistaken,' the doctor told him with equal quietness. `For our future relationship it is of the first importance that we should further develop the telepathic faculties that we have established between us.'
'There will be no future relationship. When I leave this place I hope never to set eyes on you again; and if I do I shall avoid you like the plague.'
`In that you are again mistaken. You cannot avoid your destiny and it is written in the stars that we shall be brought together. For some time past it has no longer been necessary for me to hypnotize you while attending to your leg. But if you refuse to co-operate with me I shall be forced to resume the practice and so compel your obedience.'
`I won't let you!' Gregory burst out. `I did before, but now I'll resist you with all the force of my will. And you'll find it stronger than yours.'
Malacou closed his eyes and bent his head, then remained silent. Two minutes later Tarik came into the room and the doctor spoke to him in Yiddish. The hunchback advanced on Gregory. Bracing himself, he shouted at Malacou, `Call him off. If he lays hands on me I'll strangle him.'
`Should you try, you would be more of a fool than I take you for,' remarked the doctor. `Tarik is very strong and if you struggle it is certain that you will re-break your leg.'
Gregory knew that to be true. Confronted with this awful dilemma, he let Tarik get behind him as he sat up in bed and place his hands firmly on both sides of his face; but he closed his eyes tightly and forced down his head. Tarik slowly pulled it up again and, although Gregory grabbed his wrists and pulled upon them, he found it impossible, without straining his body, to exert enough strength to break the grip.
While the hunchback held his head in that position, although Gregory's eyes were closed, he knew that Malacou was staring at him with intense concentration. With all the strength of his will he strove to fight off the Satanist's influence, and the wordless battle continued for nearly twenty minutes. Then, at last, Gregory felt his mind slipping and went under.
When he emerged from his trance Malacou was smiling, and said to him, `You have been under for only a few minutes as it is not my intention to take advantage of you if you will only be reasonable. I did as I did just now only to show you that I can dominate your mind whenever I wish. But it would be a foolish waste of time to enter on these struggles every day. Listen now to what I have to say and when you have heard me out I hope you will prove more amenable…
`I admit to having misled you when I implied that as an occultist I had not Passed the Abyss. I am an Adept, although not a very advanced one, and there are still many limitations to my powers. But when I told you that many minor magic’s can be performed without any commitment to evil I was not lying. That is the case with fortune-telling, while to consult the stars is no more harmful than endeavouring to envisage a country unknown to one by studying a map. We come now to affecting others by means of occult power.
`Whether you agree or not that witches and wizards can cast spells and destroy the health of people against whom they have a grudge, I think you will agree that certain holy persons of all religions have performed what we call "miracles".
`Such powers are derived through the practitioner drawing down to himself unseen forces that inhabit the spirit world. These forces are either Good or Evil and making use of them is termed either White Magic or Black Magic. For major operations it is necessary to call directly on the aid of either God or the Devil. The Saints could not have performed their miracles without praying for help to their Divinity, and I could not hope that Herman Hauff will die had I not appealed to the Lord of this World to destroy him for me.'
`You admit, then,' Gregory broke in, `that you are a worshipper of the Devil?'
Malacou nodded. `Yes, I have chosen to follow the Left Hand Path; because in no other way could I achieve my desires. But whether an act of magic is Black or White depends on the intention, of the occultist who performs it. If it is undertaken for selfish ends, as was the case with the ceremony I performed to remove the menace to my happiness in the person of Hauff, it is Black. But if it is undertaken for unselfish ends it is White.
`You do not stand in my path in any way. On the contrary, we have the same hatred for the Nazis and wish to bring about their ruin. Moreover, you must agree that in receiving you here in the first place, and for many weeks giving you the shelter of my home while you recover from your injuries, I have taken considerable risks on your behalf. There is, too, my conviction that we are destined to work together in the future and that you will save my life.
`All this adds up to the fact that you have no possible cause to fear ill from me. Such minor magic’s as I have performed in connection with you have all been White. That I have used Black Magic for other purposes has no bearing on the matter. I do not expect you to approve of that any more than if you had found me out to be a sadist or a blackmailer. But I do ask that you should endeavour to put out of your mind, as far as possible, your knowledge that at times I perform acts of which you highly disapprove; and, in all other matters, regard me as your ally. Have I made myself clear?'
Slowly Gregory nodded. He felt that Malacou had made a big point by implying that while working against the Nazis he would not have rejected the help of any ordinary crook, and he could not dispute the fact that he owed his escape from death at their hands to the sanctuary that the doctor had afforded him. It had to be faced, too, that if he refused to comply with Malacou's wishes the doctor had already proved that he could force him to under hypnosis. Mentally reserving to himself the right to oppose any act of Malacou's towards himself that he considered suspect, he said:
`All right, then. Provided we keep off the subject of Satanism, I'm willing to renew practising our telepathic communications.'
Having taken his decision he again entered on this mental activity, at first cautiously, then, when he found no harm came of it, with goodwill. As the December days progressed he was able to tell the doctor about the patients he had treated on his days at the clinic, while Malacou could always tell him what books he had been reading and how his attempts at walking were progressing. He was fast regaining his strength and with the aid of crutches could now propel himself not only about his room but up and down the walkway outside on the roof along which Erika had come on her two visits to him.
Shortly before Christmas he decided that in another week or so he would be fit enough to make a bid to get home. He was by then able to put his left foot to the ground and bear a little weight on it; and, although it might yet be a considerable time before he could dispense with a crutch, he saw that as no bar to his making the journey. At the prospect his mind naturally turned more and more frequently to happy thoughts of exchanging his dreary life in the old ruin for the joys of being with Erika and back at his comfortable flat in London. So he was not at all surprised when, on Christmas Eve, Malacou said to him: