about his head, he plunged through our midst
into the hall without.

For an instant we stood stupefied, then Carrie Benson's voice rose in
one long, thrilling cry, and with a bound she rushed toward the door. I
put out my hand to stop her, but it was not necessary. Before she could
cross the threshold the sudden, sharp detonation of a pistol-shot was
heard in the hall, and we knew that the last dreadful word of that
night's tragedy had been spoken.

* * * * *

The true secret of Hartley Benson's action in this matter was never
discovered. That he planned his father's violent death, no one who was
present at the above interview ever doubted. That he went further than
that, and laid his plans in such a manner that the blame, if blame
ensued, should fall upon his innocent brother, was equally plain,
especially after the acknowledgment we received from Jonas, that he went
out on the balcony and looked in the window at the special instigation
of his young master. But why this arch villain, either at his own risk
or at that of the man he hated, felt himself driven to such a revolting
crime, will never be known; unless, indeed, the solution be found in his
undoubted passion for the beautiful Edith, and in the accumulated
pressure of certain secret debts for whose liquidation he dared not
apply to his father.

I never revealed to this family the true nature of the motives which
actuated me in my performance of the part I played that fatal night. It
was supposed by Miss Carrie and the rest, that I was but obeying
instructions given me by Mr. Benson; and I never undeceived them. I was
too much ashamed of the curiosity which was the mainspring of my action
to publish each and every particular of my conduct abroad; though I
could not but congratulate myself upon its results when, some time
afterward, I read of the marriage of Joe and Edith.

* * * * *

The counterfeiters were discovered and taken, but not by me.

FINIS.

* * * * *

Transcriber's notes:

Punctuation has been standardised.

Page 92 replaced "repositor" with "repository" (a witness of Mr.
Benson's death and the repository of certain family secrets)

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of X Y Z, by Anna Katharine Green

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