tor could give a death certificate when none had been
in attendance upon her, the Law stepped in, the coroner held an inquest,
an autopsy was decided upon, and the result of it was a deeper and more
amazing mystery than ever. She had died--but from what? Every organ was
found to be in a thoroughly healthy condition. The heart was sound, the
lungs betrayed no sign of an anesthetic, the blood and kidneys not the
faintest trace of poison--everything about her was perfectly normal. She
had not died through drugs, she had not died through strangulation,
suffocation, electrical shock, or failure of the heart. She had not been
stabbed, she had not been shot, she had not succumbed to any mortal
disease--yet there she was, stone-dead, slain by something which no one
could trace and for which Science could find no name."

Narkom opened his lips to speak, but Cleek signalled him to silence, and
stood studying the Captain from under down-drawn brows, looking and
listening and thoughtfully rubbing his thumb and forefinger up and down
his chin.

CHAPTER XXXII

"Of course the family was horribly shocked and upset by this sudden and
mysterious interruption to the dream of peace," went on the Captain;
"but nothing was left but to accept the verdict of 'Death from unknown
causes,' and to believe it the will of God. The body was buried a few
days later, and, comforting each other as best they could, the sorrowing
uncle and heart-broken nieces and nephews settled down to living their
lives without the one who had been the sunshine of the home, and whose
loss seemed the greatest blow that could have been dealt them. A month
passed and they were just beginning to forget details of the tragedy
when a second and equally mysterious and horrifying one occurred, and
the eldest son of the dead woman--Philip--was stricken down precisely as
his mother had been, and, as his horrified brother, sisters, and uncle
now recalled, like her, on the tenth day of the month!"

"Hum-m-m!" said Cleek, reflectively. "Rather significant, that. It was,
I assume, that circumstance which first suggested the idea of something
more than mere chance being at the back of these sudden and mysterious
deaths?"

"That and one other circumstance. The condition of the bedclothing, Mr.
Cleek, showed that in Philip's case there had been something in the
nature of a struggle before he had succumbed to the Power which had
assailed him. In other words, he had not been,