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Rh concur, that Mrs. Lorne's death was deliberately brought about. The attempts upon your life and that of your other step-son were self-evident, of course."

"Proof!" Richard Lorne repeated lifting his clenched right hand over his head only to let it fall impotently once more. "Christine! My poor Christine and her boy! And I've got to lie here like this! I can't make a move to find the  fiend and get my hands about his throat! Sergeant, I'll give you anything in the world, all that I've got, if you'll find him for me and then let me have my way with him."

"It's my business to find him, sir; that's what I'm here for," Odell replied reassuringly. "You're not going to be useless in this investigation by any means simply because you are ill; you might be able to help me more than anybody. Mr. Lorne, you may not be conscious of it yourself, but there must have been something more than what we will call a psychic influence which made your conviction of foul play so strong. Think! Try to remember when the first misgivings came to you and what caused them. No matter how trivial it may seem to you, I want to hear it."

"It was something my poor wife said in her delirium, as I thought at the time. Later, after her death, it kept recurring to my mind, and I began to wonder whether she had actually been delirious after all when she spoke." For a moment Lorne turned his head away in an obvious effort to control his emotion. "It was just at dawn on the day before her death, and she had asked for me. The night nurse, Miss Risby, was still on duty; and my sister-in-law, worn out, was asleep on the couch at the other side of the room.