cue of the devoted maiden, that he was one of those maniacs
who have perfect control over themselves and pass for very decent sort
of men except in the moment of triumph; and, noting his look of sinister
delight, perceived that half his pleasure and almost his sole reward for
the horrible crimes he had perpetrated, was in the mystery surrounding
his victims and the entire immunity from suspicion which up to this time
he had enjoyed.

Meantime Mr. Gryce had covered the wretch with his pistol, and his man,
who succeeded in reaching the place even sooner than ourselves, hampered
as we were by the almost impenetrable hedge behind which we had
crouched, tried to lift the grass-covered lid we could faintly discern
there. But this was impossible until I, with almost superhuman
self-possession, considering the imperative nature of the emergency,
found the spring hidden in the well-curb which worked the deadly
mechanism. A yell from the writhing creature cowering under the
detective's pistol guided me unconsciously in its action, and in another
moment we saw the fatal lid tip and disclose what appeared to be the
remains of a second well, long ago dried up and abandoned for the other.

The rescue of Lucetta followed. As she had fainted in falling she had
not suffered much, and soon we had the supreme delight of seeing her
eyes unclose.

"Ah," she murmured, in a voice whose echo pierced to every heart save
that of the guilty wretch now lying handcuffed on the sward, "I thought
I saw Albert! He was not dead, and I----"

But here Mr. Gryce, with an air at once contrite and yet strangely
triumphant, interposed his benevolent face between hers and her weeping
sister's and whispered something in her ear which turned her pallid
cheek to a glowing scarlet. Rising up, she threw her arms around his
neck and let him lift her. As he carried her--where was his rheumatism
now?--out of those baleful grounds and away from the reach of the
maniac's mingled laughs and cries, her face was peace itself. But
his--well, his was a study.

XL

EXPLANATIONS

The hour we all spent together late that night in the old house was
unlike any hour which that place had seen for years. Mr. Ostrander,
Lucetta, Loreen, William, Mr. Gryce, and myself, all were there, and as
an especial grace, Saracen was allowed to enter, that there might not be
a cloud upon a single face there assembled. Though it is a small matter,
I will add that this dog persist