en figure tied to
his bed, his face done up in knots.

[Illustration: "He lay like a waxen figure tied to his bed."]

Arthur stood dumbly at the foot of the bed for only a few seconds; then
he went back upstairs to his room.

Almost immediately he emptied both barrels of the shotgun into his head.

* * * * *

The tragedy at Timber Lake was discovered accidentally three days later.
A party of fishermen, upon finding the two bodies, notified state
authorities, and an investigation was directly under way.

Arthur Duryea had undoubtedly met death at his own hands. The condition
of his wounds, and the manner with which he held the lethal weapon, at
once foreclosed the suspicion of any foul play.

But the death of Doctor Henry Duryea confronted the police with an
inexplicable mystery; for his trussed-up body, unscathed except for two
jagged holes over the jugular vein, _had been drained of all its blood_.

The autopsy protocol of Henry Duryea laid death to "undetermined
causes," and it was not until the yellow tabloids commenced an
investigation into the Duryea family history that the incredible and
fantastic explanations were offered to the public.

Obviously such talk was held in popular contempt; yet in view of the
controversial war which followed, the authorities considered it
expedient to consign both Duryeas to the crematory....

[Illustration]

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