rgest
results in the satisfaction of a desire for revenge must be chosen. The
simple death of those two, the bare stoppage of breath, would be wholly
inadequate. First, the manner of taking their lives must have the
quality of strength and a force which in itself would have a large
element of satisfaction; hence it must be striking, deliberate, brutal
if you wish, revolting if you are particular. Second, it must be
preceded by exposure, denunciation, publication, scorn, contempt, and
terror.

That much was good--what next? There were various available means for
taking life. A revolver suggested itself. It makes a dark, red spot;
the very sight of the weapon, held steadily and longer than necessary,
levelled at the place where the spot is to appear, is terrifying; there
is a look of fright; then uplifted arms, an appeal for mercy, a protest
of innocence, a cry to God; after that the crash, a white face, a
toppling to the floor, eyes rolled upward, bluish lips apart, a dark
pool on the carpet--all that was very good. The wretched man felt
better now that he was beginning to think so clearly.

But there was poison also--poison in variety: arsenic, which burns and
corrodes, causing great pain, often for hours; strychnine, which acts
through the nerves, producing convulsions and sometimes a fixed
distortion of the features, which even the relaxation of death cannot
remove; corrosive sublimate, prussic acid, cyanide of potassium--too
quick and deadly. It must be a poison, if poison at all, which will
bring about a sensible progression through perceptible stages of
suffering, so that during this time the efficiency of physical pain may
be raised by the addition of mental suffering.

Were these all the methods? Yes--enough for this purpose. Then, which
should it be--revolver or poison? It was a difficult problem. Let it
first be settled that the three should be together, locked in a room,
and that the two guilty ones should suffer first, one at a time.

The revolver won.

Randolph was in the act of leaving his office to go and buy the weapon,
when he was startled by what he saw in his office-mirror. It required a
moment for him to recognize his own reflection. His face was
unnaturally white; a discoloration was under his eyes, which had a
glassy appearance; his lips were pressed tightly together, the corners
of his mouth drawn down, large dark veins standing out on his temples.
Fearing that if, while in this condition, he