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60 of death was not the result of his character, his temperament, his mode of life, his education, or his ancestry—as we reckon ancestry. It was an atavistic throw-back to our first forefather—Adam or perhaps Adam's son, Cain—when he realized first that there was such a thing as cessation of life, but before his racial memory and instinct allowed him to coin the word or to feel the meaning of death. That was the trouble with Prince Pavel Narodkine—"

"Was?" demanded Dr. Ruoz, and the other inclined his head. "Yes—he died just a moment after he finished telling me about his fear of death—"

"But—why—you said he had only a slight congestion—" "Exactly! But you know how it is with these big, full-blooded people. His confession excited him terribly—a blood vessel burst in his brain—"

"Did he realize that he was dying?"

"Yes," Dr. Marc Henri smiled gently, "and he—why—he was disappointed! You see—right on the moment of death, when he knew that he had lost his life-long battle, he whispered a few words—to himself really—Death! he breathed; and then,