fe seemed so tenuously suspended, having no plan
beyond a Valkyrie passion of resolution to bring him back from the
border of death by the sheer force of invincible will. She succeeded,
after many attempts, in shifting him from his sitting posture to a
greater ease. Between his still lips she forced brandy.

After ages of suspense and vigil, with his head on her lap and her
fingers wildly working at his wrists, she vacillated terribly between
the hope that life was returning and the fear that it was waning. After
other ages she saw his lids flicker almost imperceptibly and then, when
anxiety had taken a heavy toll, his eyes looked up in uncomprehending
life. Conscience bent her face close to his and there was breath on his
lips and nostrils. Eben had been a Machiavelli in spirit only. In
effect he had bungled.

* * * * *

Mystery still hung over the house of Eben Tollman an hour or two later,
but the two figures that had sat with the quietness of unaccomplished
death were again sensate and restored to full consciousness.

Conscience had been able to go to her own room, and Stuart, now dressed,
came slowly and as yet somewhat haltingly down the stairs, holding
carefully to the rail. He was setting out to search for Eben Tollman,
and to call in medical help. But in the hall he paused, and then,
turning on impulse, went slowly into the living-room.

There he stood looking about as a man who has dropped from his own
planet to one wholly unfamiliar may seek to take his bearings.

His eyes fell as he paused on two patches of white which showed against
the dark richness of the rugs and laboriously he picked them up. One was
a yellow envelope inscribed "S. F. & C. W."

As a sudden blow may bring back a lost identity to the victim of amnesia
the discovery electrified the man and he straightened into an abrupt
erectness. His features lost their sleep-walking indefiniteness and his
jaw stiffened.

As the significance of his discovery dawned on him, a pallor quite
separate from that of his condition came over his face and a murder
light broke in his eyes. He would go on with his search for Eben, but
when he found him now--! He wheeled suddenly and began looking at the
table, and across the confused screen of his brain flashed a complete
picture and an understanding.

Then he studied the other and smaller envelope--and recognized it as the
one which Dr. Ebbett had given Eben Tollman when they