me as, with great difficulty, I groped my way back to
the library, where I stood gazing at that strange counterpart of
myself, till, under the growing horror of the situation, it seemed
to my benumbed senses as though I were some disembodied spirit
hovering above his own corpse. The horrible illusion was like a
nightmare; I could not throw it off, and I would then and there
have gone stark, staring mad, but that there came to me out of that
awful chaos of fancies a suggestion which seemed like an inspiration.
'It is Hugh Mainwaring,' I said to myself, 'Hugh Mainwaring died
to-night!'

"My fevered brain grew cool, my pulse steady, and my nerves firm
as I proceeded at once to act upon the idea. Kneeling beside the
dead man, I examined the wound. The bullet had entered above the
right eye and passed downward, coming out at the base of the brain;
from both wounds the blood was flowing in a slow, sluggish stream.
Drawing a large handkerchief from my pocket, I bound it tightly
about the head over both wounds, knotting it firmly; then carrying
the body into the tower-room, I made sure that all doors were
locked, and proceeded to put into execution the plan so suddenly
formed. By this time I was myself, and, though the task before me
was neither easy nor pleasant to perform, I went about it as
calmly and methodically as though it were some ordinary business
transaction. As expeditiously as possible I removed the dead man's
clothing and my own, which I then exchanged, dressing the lifeless
form in the clothes I had worn on the preceding day, even to the
dressing-gown which I had put on upon retiring to my apartments,
while I donned his somewhat travel-worn suit of tweed. Having
completed this gruesome task, I left the body in much the same
position in which it had originally fallen, lying slightly upon
the right side, the right arm extended on the floor, and, to give
the appearance of suicide, I placed my own revolver--first
emptying one of the chambers--near his right hand. On going to
my desk for the revolver, I discovered the explanation of my
brother's words when he said that he had already undone my work
of the preceding day, the final act of the farce I had carried
out. In the terrible excitement of those moments his meaning
escaped my mind; now it was clear. My own will, executed with
such care, and which early in the evening I had left upon my desk,
was gone. That he had destroyed it in his wrath and scorn I