every effort and was of such delicate
make that exertion of unusual kind could not readily be associated with
her. Had she come alone or in Carmel's company, and if in Carmel's
company, on what ostensible errand if not that of death? Her dress,
which was of dark wool, showed that she had changed her garments for this
trip. I had seen her at dinner, and this was not the gown she had worn
then--the gown in which she had confronted me during those few
intolerable minutes when I could not meet her eyes. Fatal cowardice! A
moment of realisation then and we might all have been saved this horror
of sin and death and shameful retribution.

And yet who knows? Not understanding what I saw, how could I measure the
might-have-beens! I would proceed with my task--note if she wore the
diamond brooch I had given her. No, she was without ornament; I had never
seen her so plainly clad. Might I draw a hope from this? Even the pins
which had fallen from her hair were such as she wore when least adorned.
Nothing spoke of the dinner party or of her having been dragged here
unaware; but all of previous intent and premeditation. Surely hope was
getting uppermost. If I had dreamed the marks--

But no! There they were, unmistakable and damning, just where the breath
struggles up. I put my own thumbs on these two dark spots to see
if--when what was it? A lightning stroke or a call of fate which one
must answer while sense remains? I felt my head pulled around by some
unseen force from behind, and met staring into mine through the glass of
the window a pair of burning eyes. Or was it fantasy? For in another
moment they were gone, nor was I in the condition just then to
dissociate the real from the unreal. But the possibility of a person
having seen me in this position before the dead was enough to startle
me to my feet, and though in another instant I became convinced that I
had been the victim of hallucination, I nevertheless made haste to cross
to the window and take a look through its dismal panes. A gale of
blinding snow was sweeping past, making all things indistinguishable,
but the absence of balcony outside was reassuring and I stepped hastily
back, asking myself for the first time what I should do and where I
should now go to ensure myself from being called as a witness to the
awful occurrence which had just taken place in this house. Should I go
home and by some sort of subterfuge now unthought of, try to deceive my
servants as to the