. He did
not even have a cold.

DeVoe's amazement at this miracle was mingled with annoyance which he
showed by complaining: "See here, Butler, are you kidding? You might at
least have a little consideration for my feelings; this suspense is
awful."

"My dear fellow, I'm doing all I can." Murray filled his chest, then
pressed it gingerly with his palm. There was not a trace of soreness;
his muscles lacked even a twinge of rheumatism.

* * * * *

That day he had another window cut in the wall of his room, immediately
over his bed, and, after exposing himself as usual upon retiring, left
it open and slept in the draught. Finding that this had no effect, he
undertook to sleep without covers, but the bitter weather would not
permit, so he purchased drugs and, after returning from his Turkish
bath, swallowed a sleeping-potion. When he could no longer keep his eyes
open he lay down nude and dripping where the frigid wind sucked over
him. Some time, somehow, before morning he must have covered himself,
for he awoke between the sheets as usual. With the exception of a thick
feeling in his head, however, which quickly wore off, he possessed no
ill effects.

Day after day, night after night, he exposed himself with a deliberate
methodical recklessness that seemed fatal; time after time his good
constitution threw off the assault. DeVoe declared querulously that his
friend looked even better than when they had arrived, and the scales
showed he had put on five pounds of weight. The affair assumed an
ironical, grisly sort of humor which amused Murray. But it was maddening
to DeVoe.

One howling, stormy afternoon the former bundled his accessory into warm
clothes and took him for a long walk. Leaving the town behind them, they
plowed up through the snow to the summit of a near-by mountain where the
gale raged past in all its violence. Henry was cursing the cold and
grumbling at his idiocy in coming along, and, when he had regained his
breath, growled:

"Understand, Butler, this ends it for me. I never agreed to kill
_myself_. Hereafter you can make your Alpine trips alone. I've had a
cold now for a week."

Murray laughed good-naturedly. "Remember, if I fail I can't pay you."

"For Heaven's sake, then, get it over with! I need that money and--I
have nerves."

The former speaker opened his coat and DeVoe saw that he had left the
house with no protection whatever beneath it, except trousers a