been spared. But who knows how much longer it will last? I have
been so frightened that I haven't eaten a meal in the apartment since I
came back. When I am hungry I simply steal out to a hotel--a different
one every time. I never drink any water except that which I have
surreptitiously boiled in my own room over a gas-stove. Disinfectants
and germicides have been used by the gallon, and still I don't feel
safe. Even the health authorities don't remove my fears. With my
guardian's death I had begun to feel that possibly it was over. But no.
This morning another servant who came up from the hall last week was
taken sick, and the doctor pronounces that typhoid, too. Will I be the
next? Is it just a foolish fear? Why does it pursue us to New York? Why
didn't it stop at Bisbee Hall?"

I don't think I ever saw a living creature more overcome by horror, by
an invisible, deadly fear. That was why it was doubly horrible in a girl
so attractive as Eveline Bisbee. As I listened I felt how terrible it
must be to be pursued by such a fear. What must it be to be dogged by
a disease as relentlessly as the typhoid had dogged her? If it had been
some great, but visible, tangible peril how gladly I could have faced it
merely for the smile of a woman like this. But it was a peril that
only knowledge and patience could meet. Instinctively I turned toward
Kennedy, my own mind being an absolute blank.

"Is there anyone you suspect of being the cause of such an epidemic?" he
asked. "I may as well tell you right now that I have already formed
two theories--one perfectly natural, the other diabolical. Tell me
everything."

"Well, I had expected to receive a fortune of one million dollars, free
and clear, by his will and this morning I am informed by his lawyer,
James Denny, that a new will had been made. It is still one million. But
the remainder, instead of going to a number of charities in which he was
known to be interested, goes to form a trust fund for the Bisbee School
of Mechanical Arts, of which Mr. Denny is the sole trustee. Of course,
I do not know much about my guardian's interests while he was alive, but
it strikes me as strange that he should have changed so radically, and,
besides, the new will is so worded that if I die without children
my million also goes to this school--location unnamed. I can't help
wondering about it all."

"Why should you wonder--at least what other reasons have you for
wondering?"

"Oh, I can't exp