it would have lain there undiscovered for years. There was
nothing else that I can recall, except that when I restored the pistol I
saw I had left the end of one of my experimental tinder-lighter wicks
lying in the case.

"But I do not wish to know how you found out, now that Nepcote has
escaped. I have nothing left to live for. The doctor thinks I am
recovering, but I knew that it was only the hope of revenge which kept
me going. Now that is gone I have not long to live. I rejoice that it is
so. But whatever had happened, I would have saved that poor girl, Hazel
Rath.... I ask you to believe that ... Violet...."

He ceased, and with a weary gesture, let his head fall on his
outstretched arms, as though the strength which bore him up while he
told his tale deserted him when he had made manifest the truth.

His two listeners sat for some minutes in silence, each engrossed in his
own thoughts. Musard stared gloomily at Phil with unseeing eyes. He was
as one who had passed through unimagined horrors in a space not to be
measured by time, to emerge with a fatigued sense of the black malignity
of unknown gods who create the passions of humanity for their own brutal
sport. His moving lips betrayed a consciousness loosened from its
moorings, tossed in a turbulent sea of disaster. Then they formed the
whispered words:

"The house was founded in horror and it ends in horror. So the old
tradition comes true."

The next moment he turned his eyes on Colwyn with a look askance, as
though he saw in him the instrument of this misery.

"Why did Hazel Rath keep silence?" he asked.

"Women have made greater sacrifices for love," Colwyn gently replied.
"Hazel Rath loved him, and kept silence to shield him. She would not
have spoken at all if suspicion had not fastened on Nepcote, and even
when she did speak she kept something back. We may now learn later what
actually passed between Hazel and Mrs. Heredith in the bedroom that
night. My own opinion is that, while Hazel was bending over her, the
dying woman whispered the name of her murderer."

"What are you going to do now?" Musard abruptly demanded, in sudden
change of mood, speaking as though there were nobody present but their
two selves.

"There is only one thing to do."

"Do you mean to let the world know the truth--to give him up to
justice?"

"What other course is there open for me to pursue?" said Colwyn sadly.

"I cannot see what earthly purpose will be gained by m