Sax Rohmer

“ And presently her lips moved again and she spoke, in a mere whisper:
"What has he thought of me!"
When again Madame Sabinov sought his glance, her lashes were wet.
"I understand," he said gently. "You have realized that the will is the spirit. ”

“ Because the will of another has commanded your obedience, when none other was present, you have realized that there are forces linked to the human body which, nevertheless, are untrammelled by it and which may outlive it."
Madame Sabinov bowed her head.
"I begin," she said, speaking in a strange, stifled voice, "to realize that there are laws of which I know nothing; and so—Oh! do you understand?—I dare not allow any one to gain such power over me! Never, never again! I must know who it is. Can you tell me who it is?"
"Possibly," Sir Provost replied. ”

“ Sir Provost understood and sympathized. Nevertheless, he would have liked to know in what degree his diagnosis had been correct; for he had traced the disturbance of which Carey complained to one of two unfamiliar objects on his writing table—the Korean bowl and the figure of the contemplative Buddha. The latter, Carey suspected, had been left in his room by Madame Sabinov. Sir Provost did not question the facts of the story. He had unusual means of judging a man's probity. Therefore, Madame Sabinov might possibly be a link between Carey and the Unknown Quantity. ”

“ A member of an old and respected family, he had never neglected the professional asset afforded by his right of entry into good society. Nevertheless, his title had been well merited. In that strange domain of the mind and spirit which science has recently reopened, he had explored at least as deeply as any man of his generation. ”