ot continue for more than a moment longer; but the agony that flashed
across his mind at the thought of failure braced him to a sudden angry
jerk. All at once Haddo collapsed, and they fell heavily to the ground.
Arthur was breathing more quickly now. He thought that if he could keep
on for one instant longer, he would be safe. He threw all his weight on
the form that rolled beneath him, and bore down furiously on the man's
arm. He twisted it sharply, with all his might, and felt it give way. He
gave a low cry of triumph; the arm was broken. And now his enemy was
seized with panic; he struggled madly, he wanted only to get away from
those long hands that were killing him. They seemed to be of iron. Arthur
seized the huge bullock throat and dug his fingers into it, and they sunk
into the heavy rolls of fat; and he flung the whole weight of his body
into them. He exulted, for he knew that his enemy was in his power at
last; he was strangling him, strangling the life out of him. He wanted
light so that he might see the horror of that vast face, and the deadly
fear, and the staring eyes. And still he pressed with those iron hands.
And now the movements were strangely convulsive. His victim writhed in
the agony of death. His struggles were desperate, but the avenging hands
held him as in a vice. And then the movements grew spasmodic, and then
they grew weaker. Still the hands pressed upon the gigantic throat, and
Arthur forgot everything. He was mad with rage and fury and hate and
sorrow. He thought of Margaret's anguish and of her fiendish torture, and
he wished the man had ten lives so that he might take them one by one.
And at last all was still, and that vast mass of flesh was motionless,
and he knew that his enemy was dead. He loosened his grasp and slipped
one hand over the heart. It would never beat again. The man was stone
dead. Arthur got up and straightened himself. The darkness was intense
still, and he could see nothing. Susie heard him, and at length she was
able to speak.

'Arthur what have you done?'

'I've killed him,' he said hoarsely.

'O God, what shall we do?'

Arthur began to laugh aloud, hysterically, and in the darkness his
hilarity was terrifying.

'For God's sake let us have some light.'

'I've found the matches,' said Dr Porhoet.

He seemed to awake suddenly from his long stupor. He struck one, and it
would not light. He struck another, and Susie took off the globe and the
chimney as he kind