om her as though they
were tangible things. No, no! she would not be beaten! Insomnia,
narcotics and stimulants had unnerved her for the time, but she was
strong enough to pull herself together and stay the circumstances which
threatened to swamp her midway in her career. Bolstered for the moment
by this resolve, she threw back her head and raised her eyes.

The Dago Duke, Dan Treu, and an important looking stranger were crossing
the street and she felt intuitively that it was for the purpose of
meeting her face to face. The Dago Duke bowed with his exaggerated
salutation of respect as they passed, the deputy-sheriff with an odd
constraint of manner, while the stranger who raised his hat in formal
politeness gave her a look which seemed to search her soul. It
frightened her. Who was he? She had seen him at old Dubois's funeral.
Was he some new factor to be reckoned with, or was it merely her crazy
nerves that made her see fresh danger at every turn, a new enemy in
every stranger?

She climbed the stairs to her office in a kind of nervous frenzy. She
felt like screaming, like beating upon the walls with her bare fists.
Inaction was no longer possible. She must do something, else this agony
of uncertainty and suspense would drive her mad. She strode up and down
at a pace which left her breathless, clenching and unclenching her
hands, while thickly, between set teeth, she raved at Essie Tisdale,
upon whom her venom concentrated.

"I could throttle her!" She looked at her curved, outspread fingers,
tense and strong as steel hooks. "I could choke her with my own hands
till she is black! Curse her--curse her! She's been a stumbling block in
my way ever since I came. The sight of her is a needle in my flesh. I'd
only want a minute if I could get my fingers on her throat! I'd shut
that baby mouth of hers for good and all. God! How I hate her!" She
hissed the words in venomous intensity, racked with the strength of her
emotions, weak from it, her ghastly face moist with perspiration.

"I've humiliated her!" she gasped. "I've made her suffer. I've downed
her, but there's something left yet that I haven't crushed! I'm not
satisfied; I haven't done enough. I want to break her spirit, to break
her heart, to finish her for all time!"

She groped for the door-knob as one who sees dimly, and all but ran down
the corridor. Even as she went the thought flashed through her mind that
she was making a fool of herself, that she was bein