of madness, but of kindliness now.

"Children," he said, at length, "I have, during these lucid moments,
watched you all closely. Call it instinct if you will, but you, Zita,
and you, Quentin, seem to be particularly dear to me now. To-day,
returning from the scene of the explosion, with every faculty not only
clear, but rather sharpened by long disuse, I pieced the years, the
months, even the days together. I searched in an old trunk and I
found--this."

It was a list of those rescued from the steamer _Magnifique_, and with
amazement they read the names among the passengers:

QUENTIN LOCKE
ZITA LOCKE

There was a short note at the bottom of the list, to the effect that no
trace of either the father or the mother of the two children had been
found.

Paper after paper which Doctor Q had found, where they had been
preserved by Balcom, proved the identification and the story.

Locke's head was in a whirl at the sudden change in relationships, but
not more so than Zita's. Finally Zita could stand the strain no longer.
What had been a hopeless love was now explained.

"My--my brother!" she sobbed, as she buried her head on Quentin's
shoulder.

Both turned to Doctor Q--Doctor Q no longer, but really Quentin Locke,
senior, whence had come the "Q."

His eyes filled with tears and his voice choked.

"My--children," he murmured, "I see that it is not too late for me to
find happiness, after all. Our enemy is dead. It was Balcom, of course,
who was in that frame of armor, who used that terrible poison that stole
away Brent's mind. The iron monster will walk no more. Henceforth Peter
Brent and Miss Eva and you, Quentin--will--"

Doctor Q had not time to finish the sentence.

The door burst inward.

The Automaton, its eyes aflame, stalked in among them!

CHAPTER XXV

As the Automaton crashed its way into the room all sprang back
terrified, aghast.

For this monster, they had felt sure, was now nothing but an inanimate
shell of armor, since Balcom was dead.

Yet here it was, stalking toward them and evidently as bent on
destruction as ever.

What did it mean?

In an instant Locke had helped Eva through an open window and turned to
assist Zita. But Doctor Q forestalled him and had already taken her in
his arms and had fled with her into another room.

For the moment Locke was surprised to see that the Automaton totally
ignored him. Instead, it stalked to the door and wrenched it open.
There, cowe