Evening star., 1920-02-08

ed tone. MY God! l have killed him!
The window from which these sounds
issued was open. Arthur pushed 1t
further up and sprang in. acting on
impulse.
1T was a bedroom. A tall woman
who was fully dressed in outdoor cos
tune, with motor veil over her face,
was standing in the middle of the
room. looking down Mortified at the
body of the man in evening dress
huddled against one of the walls. In
her hand was a brass candle holder
which she had taken from the mantel
shelf and with which she had ap-
parently struck down the man. She
shrank back as Arthur entered, pant
ing with fear. her nerves all gone.
He snatched the candlestick from her
and stopped over the body. The man
had been struck behind the ear; he
was quite senseless. and he breathed
like one whose skull is fractured.
Arthur examined him quickly. Among
many-too many things. he has been
a medical student. He saw that the
man was not seriously injured, and
that he would soon recover his
senses.
"As he rose,the woman seized him
by the arm and asked for his opin-
ion. He was not inclined to imme-
1'ately console her and suggested
that help should be fetched. In a wild
passion of entreaty she implored him
not to be hasty. He gathered from her
scarcely coherent sentence that she
had been in the act Of going away
with the man that night, of running
herself for the sake of that uncon-
scious victim who had blackmailed
her, who held her in his power. And
at the last moment she had struck
him down in her hate. She kept re-
peating in tone of anguish-Will
he die? VIII he die?' AS she gave way
to her agony of fear and remorse a
small jewel box slipped from her
dress and it's contents were scattered.
Arthur picked them up, taking his
time, trying to decide what was his
duty. To give himself necessary leis-
ure he appeared to examine the jew
els, and it was that which gave the
woman her wicked idea, an idea ere
ated by sheer terror.
II cannot tell you how she broached
1t. Arthur did not give me details.
She took advantage of his condition,
Of the obvious want, to offer him all
the jewels il he would leave the man
sion by tho way he had entered and
SO create an obvious theory that
thief had forced his way in. had at
tackled with the brass candle-holder
one who had interrupted him, had got
away with the stones. Such was the
temptation she frantically proposed in
order to save herself, pressing the
jewels upon Arthur in q frenzy OF
selfish remorse. 50 r.' -.
HE dallied with that abomjnabls
offer. You, will blame him. Who will j.
mot blame him? But bitterly has he :
suffered for it. you must allow.
HE tried to get answers to one or
two uestions. The woman was a
guest in the house. 1t was filled with
que ests. She represented that her vic
tim might recover. And. indeed. IL
Arthur had not been perfectly as
sured Of that he could not for an in
stant have thought of yielding to
such madness. She insisted on the
value Of the jewels, which would
mean a fortune to him. She urged
that he would have plenty Of time to
make good his escape. He hesitated,
turning the stones over and over in
his fingers. A fortune was suddenly
thrust upon him. With his great
want came his opportunity. Rehec-
tion showed him that it was a golden
opportunity q sure chance. 1t was
proffered because the woman dread
ed having struck her enemy a mortal
blow. But since Arthur knew it was
not that--and second examination
convinced him Of the fact--he per-
ceived that he must be absolutely safe
from pursuit The man would re-
cover; that would be an end to the
matter. obviously. He would recov-
er. would stasger off to bed and wake
TO silence on the point in the morn
ing. There would be no hue and cry;
TO following Of his-Arthur's muddy
footprints by servants or police. The
whole thing would be kept quiet by
the two responsible for it,"
Miss Bassett paused. very pale, her
voice descending to a piteous whisper.