s young man's excellent
constitution."

But Travers had crowded into the centre of the circle. "Gardiner," he
said, "if you weren't under arrest I'd thrash you here and now. But
you can at least do something to square yourself. Where is that
money?"

"That's right, Jim. Everyone thinks of what is nearest his heart."

"You scoundrel! You know why it is near my heart. You have robbed Mr.
Harris of all that he had spent his whole life for. You will have no
chance to use that money yourself. You are sure of your living for
the next twenty years. Why not show that you are not all bad--that
you have some human sentiments in you? It seems as little as you can
do."

"There may be something in what you say," said Gardiner. "I have a
slip of paper here with the key to the secret."

He reached with his finger and thumb in his vest pocket and drew out
a small folded paper.

This he unfolded very slowly and deliberately before the eyes of the
onlookers. It contained a small quantity of white powder. Before any
hand could reach him he had thrown his head back and swallowed it.

"Too late!" he cried, as Grey snatched the empty paper from his
fingers. "Too late! Well, I guess I beat you all out, eh? And, as I
said before, what are you going to do about it? Twenty years, eh,
Jim? You'll be scrawny and rheumatic by that time, and the beautiful
Beulah will be fat and figureless. Twenty years for you, Jim, but
twenty minutes for me--and I wouldn't trade with you, damn you! I beg
the pardon of the ladies present. One should never forget to be a
gentleman, even when--when--"

But Gardiner's breath was beginning to come fast, and he raised his
hands to his throat. A choking spell seized him, and he would have
fallen had not the policeman and the coroner held him on his feet.
"Let me lie down," he said, when he got his breath. "Let me lie down,
can't you? Have I got to die on end, like a murderer?"

They led him to the adjoining room, where he fell upon the bed. The
muscles of his great arms and neck were working in contortions, and
his tongue seemed to fill his mouth.

"Most extraordinary," said the coroner. "Strychnine, doubtless. We
can't do much for him, I'm afraid. We might try some mustard and hot
water, Mrs. Arthurs."

"Take your time, Lil," whispered Arthurs. "You may save your country
a long board bill." But Lilian Arthurs' abhorrence of Gardiner's
perfidy had been overwhelmed in a wave of sympathy for a suffering
fell