most familiar in his features, and yet something horribly
incongruous and unreal. His eyes glowed like living fire; his soft,
low tones reminded me of nothing so much as the purring of a tiger;
while the smile that played about his lips was more terrible than
anything I had ever seen on human face. It was ten times more
fearful than the muzzle of the revolver confronting me, and seemed
to freeze the very blood in my veins.

"'You take a base advantage; I am unarmed," I sneered.

"'I knew too well with whom I had to deal to come unarmed,' he
replied; 'though this,' and he lowered the revolver, 'this is not
the sort of weapon you would employ,--a thrust in the dark, a stab
in the back, that is your style, coward!"

"'I demand an explanation of this,' I said.

"He folded his arms, still retaining his hold upon the weapon, as
he answered, 'Explanations will follow in due time; but surely, on
the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of such a life as yours,
congratulations are first in order. Allow me to congratulate you,
Hugh Mainwaring, upon the success which has attended and crowned
the past twenty-five years of your life! upon the rich harvest
you have reaped during all these years; the amassed wealth, the
gratified ambitions, the almost illimitable power, the adulation
and homage,--all so precious to your sordid soul, and for which
you have bartered honor, happiness, character, all, in short, that
life is worth. Standing, as you do to-night, at the fiftieth
milestone on life's journey, I congratulate you upon your
recollections of the past, and upon your anticipations for the
future, as you descend to an unhonored and unloved old age!'

"Every word was heaped with scorn, and, as I looked into the burning
eyes fixed upon mine and watched the sardonic smile hovering about
his lips, I wondered whether he were some Mephistopheles--some
fiend incarnate--sent to torture me, or whether he were really
flesh and blood.

"The mocking smile now left his face, but his eyes held me speechless
as he continued,--

"'No wonder that memories of bygone years haunted your thoughts
to-night! Memories, perhaps, of a father whose dying will you
disregarded; of a brother whom you twice defrauded,--once of the
honor and sanctity of his home, then, as if that were not enough,
of his birthright,--his heritage from generations of our race--'

"'Stop!' I cried, stung to anger by his accusations and startled
by the strange words, 'our r