s of dynamite."

"My God!" cried Harry.

"Ah!" she continued wildly, "will you flee now? At any moment you may
hear the click that sounds the ruin of this building. I was sure M'Guire
was wrong; this morning, before day, I flew to Zero; he confirmed my
fears; I beheld you, my beloved Harry, fall a victim to my own
contrivances. I knew then I loved you--Harry, will you go now? Will you
not spare me this unwilling crime?"

Harry remained speechless, his eyes fixed upon the box: at last he
turned to her.

"Is it," he asked hoarsely, "an infernal machine?"

Her lips formed the word "yes"; which her voice refused to utter.

With fearful curiosity, he drew near and bent above the box; in that
still chamber, the ticking was distinctly audible; and at the measured
sound, the blood flowed back upon his heart.

"For whom?" he asked.

"What matters it?" she cried, seizing him by the arm. "If you may still
be saved, what matter questions?"

"God in Heaven!" cried Harry. "And the Children's Hospital! At whatever
cost, this damned contrivance must be stopped!"

"It cannot," she gasped. "The power of man cannot avert the blow. But
you, Harry--you, my beloved--you may still----"

And then from the box that lay so quietly in the corner, a sudden catch
was audible, like the catch of a clock before it strikes the hour. For
one second, the two stared at each other with lifted brows and stony
eyes. Then Harry, throwing one arm over his face, with the other
clutched the girl to his breast and staggered against the wall.

A dull and startling thud resounded through the room; their eyes blinked
against the coming horror; and still clinging together like drowning
people, they fell to the floor. Then followed a prolonged and strident
hissing as from the indignant pit; an offensive stench seized them by
the throat; the room was filled with dense and choking fumes.

Presently these began a little to disperse: and when at length they drew
themselves, all limp and shaken, to a sitting posture, the first object
that greeted their vision was the box reposing uninjured in its corner,
but still leaking little wreaths of vapour round the lid.

"Oh, poor Zero!" cried the girl with a strange sobbing laugh. "Alas,
poor Zero! This will break his heart!"

THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_concluded_)

Somerset ran straight upstairs; the door of the drawing-room, contrary
to all custom, was unlocked; and, bursting in, the young man found Zer