ral feet toward the door,
from the centre of the room, where the most obstinate part of the
struggle had taken place.

But the old man's supremacy was short lived. The younger and stronger
man suddenly stooped, caught the inventor with both hands under the
arms, and thrust him toward the corner occupied by the mysterious
machine. The inventor would have fallen on it, and perhaps have been
instantly killed by contact with some portion of the brass or iron work,
but for the interposition of the screen. This broke his fall. He
scrambled to his feet, full of rage, and foaming at the mouth.

Marcus stepped back, and said, "Now let it cease."

Pet saw her father snatch something that looked like a club, from some
part of the machine.

"This is my answer," he said, and precipitated himself with fresh fury
upon Marcus.

The younger man had expected the attack, and braced himself for it. He
caught the inventor by the arm that held the club, or other weapon. They
wrestled for its possession--the inventor with frenzy in every feature,
Marcus with fixed determination, and silently.

The weapon was now aloft--now below--now shifted in the twinkling of an
eye to the right, and now to the left. At one time the inventor seemed
to be on the point of securing it; at another, Marcus. Suddenly Pet saw
it whirl like a shillelah above her father's head, with a strange noise
like the quick winding of a clock. Then she heard a dull sound, as of
striking a board with a brick, and--she saw her father fall to the
floor. At the same moment, the light in the room went out, and all
was darkness.

The pent-up agony at last found utterance. She shrieked, and, instantly,
her eyes were open, and her limbs free. She jumped out of bed, and was
about to rush into the chamber of horrors, when she saw the bright light
of the gas yet shining through the crack beneath her door. She listened.
The house was still as the grave. Not a sound from all the world
outside, except the striking of a fire alarm for the seventh district.
The deep notes vibrated upon her quickened hearing like a knell.

Then she remembered that, in the vision, the light had disappeared. Here
it was gleaming under her door as brightly as ever. "Pshaw! what a silly
girl I am!" said she. "It was a nightmare. That's all." She raised her
hands to her face. It was hot and dripping.

"Father prescribed too large a dose of blankets. No wonder I had this
horrid dream."

But, notwithstan