t conceal.

She had openly avowed that the hand of my well-beloved had killed the
unknown victim because of jealousy. Well, when I considered all the facts
calmly and deliberately, her words certainly seemed to bear the impress
of truth.

Phrida had confessed to me that, rather than face inquiry and
condemnation she would take her own life. Was not that in itself
sufficient evidence of guilt?

But no! I strove to put such thoughts behind me. My brain was awhirl,
nay, even aflame, for gradually there crept over me a strange, uncanny
feeling of giddiness such as I had never before experienced, a faint,
sinking feeling, as though the chair was giving way beneath me.

"I don't know why, but I'm feeling rather unwell," I remarked to my
hostess. Surely it could not be due to my overwrought senses and my
strained anxiety for Phrida's safety.

"Oh! Perhaps it's the heat of the room," the woman replied. "This place
gets unpleasantly warm at night. You'll be better in a minute or two, no
doubt. I'll run and get some smelling salts. It is really terribly close
in here," and, rising quickly, she left me alone.

I remember that instantly she had disappeared a red mist gathered before
my eyes, and with a fearful feeling of asphyxiation I struggled
violently, and fell back exhausted into my chair, while my limbs grew
suddenly icy cold, though my brow was burning.

To what could it be due?

I recollect striving to think, to recall facts, to reason within myself,
but in vain. My thoughts were so confused that grim, weird shadows and
grotesque forms arose within my imagination. Scenes, ludicrous and
tragic, wildly fantastic and yet horrible, were conjured up in my
disordered brain, and with them all, pains--excruciating pains, which
shot through from the sockets of my eyes to the back of my skull,
inflicting upon me tortures indescribable.

I set my teeth in determination not to lose consciousness beneath the
strain, and my eyes were fixed upon the wall opposite. I remember now the
exact pattern of the wallpaper, a design of pale blue trellis-work with
crimson rambler roses.

I suppose I must have remained in that position, sunk into a heap in the
chair, for fully five minutes, though to me it seemed hours when I
suddenly became conscious of the presence of persons behind me.

I tried to move--to turn and look--but found that every muscle in my body
had become paralysed. I could not lift a finger, neither would my lips
arti