d toward
him--was that Gannette? Heavens, no! Gannette had died, stark mad!
But, that other shade--so like his wife, a few months dead, yet alive
again! Whence came that look of horror in a face once so haughty! It
was unreal, ghastly unreal, as it drifted past! Ah, now he knew that
he was dreaming, for there, there in the light stood Carmen! Oh, what
a blessed relief to see that fair image there among those other
ghastly sights! He would speak to her--

But--_God above_! _What was that?_ A woman--no, not Carmen--fair
and--

Her white lips moved--they were transparent--he could see right
through them--and great tears dropped from her bloodless cheeks when
her accusing look fell upon him!

Slowly she floated nearer--she stopped before him, and laid a hand
upon his shoulder--it was cold, cold as ice! He tried to call out--to
rise--to break away--

And then, groaning aloud, and with his brow dripping perspiration, he
awoke.

Hood entered, but stopped short when he saw his master's white face.
"Mr. Ames! You are ill!" he cried.

Ames passed a hand across his wet forehead. "A--a little tired, that's
all, I guess. What now?"

The lawyer laid a large envelope upon the desk. "It has come," he
said. "There's a delegation of Avon mill hands in the outer office.
Here are their demands. It's just what I thought."

Ames slowly took up the envelope. For a moment he hesitated. Again he
seemed to see that smiling girl before him. His jaw set, and his face
drew slowly down into an expression of malignity. Then, without
examining its contents, he tore the envelope into shreds, and cast the
pieces into the waste basket.

"Put them out of the office!" he commanded sharply. "Wire Pillette at
once to discharge these fellows, and every one else concerned in the
agitation! If those rats down there want to fight, they'll find me
ready!"

CHAPTER 14

The immense frame of J. Wilton Ames bent slightly, and the great legs
might have been seen to drag a bit, as the man entered his private
elevator the morning after his rejection of the mill hands' demands,
and turned the lever that caused the lift to soar lightly to his
office above. And a mouse--had the immaculate condition of his
luxurious _sanctum_ permitted such an alien dweller--could have seen
him sink heavily into his great desk chair, and lapse into deep
thought. Hood, Willett, and Hodson entered in turn; but the magnate
gave them scant consideration, and at length w