rther fears and apprehensions, when 'the destroying angel' of your
'ill-starred destiny,' my dear"--he turned to the woman--"is
exorcised--banished--proscribed--"

"Max--!" Whitaker struck in explosively.

"--is on his way to the police-station, well guarded," Ember affirmed
with a nod and a grim smile. "I have his confession, roughly jotted down
but signed, and attested by several witnesses.... I'm glad you were out
of the way; it was rather a painful scene, and disorderly; it wouldn't
have been pleasant for Mrs. Whitaker.... We had the deuce of a time
clearing the theatre: human curiosity is a tremendously persistent and
resistant force. And then I had some trouble dealing with the misplaced
loyalty of the staff of the house.... However, eventually I got Max to
myself--alone, that is, with several men I could depend on. And then I
heartlessly put him through the third degree--forestalling my friends,
the police. By dint of asserting as truths and personal discoveries what
I merely suspected, I broke down his denials. He owned up, doggedly
enough, and yet with that singular pride which I have learned to
associate with some phases of homicidal mania.... I won't distress you
with details: the truth is that Max was quite mad on the subject of his
luck; he considered it, as I suspected, indissolubly associated with
Sara Law. When poor Custer committed suicide, he saved Max from ruin and
innocently showed him the way to save himself thereafter, when he felt
in peril, by assassinating Hamilton and, later, Thurston. Drummond only
cheated a like fate, and you"--turning to Whitaker--"escaped by the
narrowest shave. Max hadn't meant to run the risk of putting you out of
the way unless he thought it absolutely necessary, but the failure of
his silly play in rehearsal to-night, coupled with the discovery that
you were in the theatre, drove him temporarily insane with hate, chagrin
and jealousy."

Concluding, Ember rose. "I must follow him now to the police-station....
I shall see you both soon again--?"

The woman gave him both her hands. "There's no way to thank you," she
said--"our dear, dear friend!"

"No way," Whitaker echoed regretfully.

"No way?" Ember laughed quietly, holding her hands tightly clasped. "But
I see you together--happy--Oh, believe me, I am fully thanked!"

Bowing, he touched his lips gently to both hands, released them with a
little sigh that ended in a contented chuckle, exchanged a short, firm
gras