t hold still."

At this he gave a blood-curdling laugh, and the horrible truth burst
upon the listener's dazed senses. She was alone with a maniac. All the
stories she had ever read rushed to her memory, and the only clear
idea she had was the conviction that she must, if possible, humor his
vagaries till help came. She was a petted, spoiled darling, but she
had great strength of will, and she now called it into requisition.

She hurriedly glanced at the clock, and calculated how long it would be
before the train whistle could signal the coming of her dear ones. Alas!
it was just eight. What, oh, what must she do? Of whom did he speak?
Kill her? Kill whom? Then the mystery of the murdered girl darted into
her mind. Katie had been right then. There was in truth a murdered girl.
Was this awful creature her slayer?

Suddenly, with a confidential gesture he bade her sit down with him.

"I'll tell you about it," he said; "if she had only kept still! But she
screamed and tried to run away, I can't stand noise!" He clapped his
hands over his ears as if to shut out the echo of it. "I must have this
blood--this pure, young, life-giving stream. But she would not listen to
me. Poor thing! It was too bad, wasn't it? Hey? Speak!" and he grasped
her delicate wrist with a grip of steel.

Trembling at the sound of her own voice, the girl commanded herself to
say:

"Yes; who was she?"

"I don't know," he replied, seriously. "She was beautiful and fresh; she
was almost as fair as you," letting his wild eyes roam over her. "I was
getting away from that cursed place. Think of confining a man of my
learning in a madhouse! But that was just it. I had mastered the new
theory--the transfusion of blood. They wanted to steal my glory, so they
locked me in. But I outwitted them; I captured these and ran away."

Laughing wildly but still under his breath, he took from his jacket a
black case of bright, new surgical instruments.

"These were what I needed," he continued, with a low chuckle; "I could
not attain the goal without these beauties." Caressingly he went over
them. "Lancet, probe, trocar, bistoury, tourniquet,"--mentioning the
collection, while he passed his fingers affectionately along the small
sharp knives.

"For years and years," he went on, "I have studied this theory. The only
thing is to find a young, strong, healthy subject; I found her. I was
hiding in the bushes; she was on the highway; but she would not listen
to me.