, upon the
table. He was dead and--the other had gone. I ran to the dead man's
side and raised him up. It was too late. All--all I had or cared for
in the world had been taken from me by the hand of the murderer."

"Murdered?" Joan whispered in horrified tones.

"Yes, murdered!" came the swift, vehement retort. "Shot--shot through
the heart, and in the stomach--and his murderer had fled. Oh, God,
shall I ever forget that moment!"

The woman fell back in her chair, her whole withered body shaking with
emotion. Then with an effort she pulled herself together and went on
more calmly--

"I hardly know what I did. All I remember is that I gave the alarm,
and presently had the police there. I told them all I could, and gave
the name and description of--the man who had done the deed. But it was
useless. He had gone--bolted. Nor was he ever seen or heard of again.
The curse had worked out. You, your father's golden girl, were left
orphaned to the care of the woman to whom your very existence was an
ineradicable wrong, and who, through your coming, had been robbed of
all that made life possible."

She raised her crystal and held it poised on the gathered finger-tips
of one hand. And when she spoke again her voice had gained strength
and tone.

"Since those days I have learnt to read the words that are written by
the hand of Fate. And here--here is the open book. It is all here. The
storm of disaster that brought you into the world will dog your
footsteps. You are cursed with the luck that leads to disaster.
Wherever you go men will bless your name, and, almost in the same
breath, their blessings shall turn to the direst curses. It is not I
who am speaking. My tongue utters the words, but the writing of Fate
has been set forth for me to interpret. Wherever you go, wherever you
be, you cannot escape the destiny set out for you. I tell you you are
a leper, a pariah, whom all men, for their own safeguarding, must
shun."

All through the final pronouncement Joan sat transfixed with horror. A
leper! A pariah! Nor, in the light of those things which to her own
knowledge had happened, could she doubt the hideous denunciation. She
had heard and understood that ill-luck could and did pursue its
victims. But this! Oh, it was too terrible--too cruel! For an instant
she thought of the doctor and his words of warning. But one glance at
the bowed figure, again intent upon her crystal, and the thought
passed. The story she had listene