d his hand, a heavy weight it seemed, and motioned her away.
"The Colossus is ruined!" he hoarsely whispered. "Ruined. They'll try
to mix me up in it. Ruined!"

"You can't be mixed up in it, and the Colossus will not be ruined,"
Henry replied.

"Yes, ruined. You haven't brought me anything but bad luck."

"I have brought you the best luck of your life. I have helped you to
get rid of a vampire."

"You have?" He turned his lusterless eyes upon Henry.

"Yes, I have, and if you will be patient for a few moments I will make
it plain to you. But wait, you must not think of going down-town
to-night. Will you listen to me?"

"Yes."

"I was not the only one who suspected that Brooks had something to do
with the murder. Many people, in fact--it seemed that almost everybody
placed him under suspicion. But there was no evidence against him;
there was nothing but a strong supposition. You remember one evening
not long ago when Ellen said that he objected to the preacher's coming
to pray for Mrs. Colton. This was enough to stamp him a brute. Give
that sort of a man the nerve and he won't stop short of any cruelty or
any crime."

"Are you going to tell me something or do you simply intend to
preach?" Witherspoon asked. His voice had returned.

"Father, he's telling you as fast as he can."

"And I must tell it my own way," Henry said. "That same evening I
learned the name of the doctor--the great specialist employed by
Brooks to treat the old lady. But I inquired about him and found that
he was simply a cheap quack. This was additional cause for suspicion.
I called on a detective and told him that I suspected Brooks. At this
he smiled. Then I said that if he would agree to give half the reward
to any charity that I might name, in the event of success, I would
submit my plan, and then he became serious. I convinced him that I had
not only a plausible but a direct clue, and he agreed to my proposal.
I then told him about the doctor; I expressed my belief that the old
woman must know something and urged that this might be brought out if
we could get her away and place her under the proper treatment. Well,
we learned that she had a sister living in New Jersey. The detective
went to see her, and you know the result--the old lady's removal.
Recently we received word that she was so much improved that she could
mumble in a way to be understood, and last week the detective and I
went to see her. This was my apparently inconsisten