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264 be too utterly preposterous and incredible for you to believe that it was not the figment of a crazed brain. You do not know what I endured in those fearful three months; I dare not face a possibility of the repetition of such suffering. I will leave the house at once, within the hour; and I can- not thank you enough. If—if you should suspect what I believe to be the truth, come to me; prove that you have the same person in mind, and I will tell you the idea which I have formed."

With that Odell was forced for the time being to be content; and accepting the address of her servant, he saw her depart with one of the plainsclothesmen who were on duty outside in tow.

He had had a long day after the sleepless night and the effects of the blow which Tony had dealt him, and he plodded wearily homeward in an unaccustomed state of mental depression. Much had been accomplished in the last few hours; but it had been of a purely negative nature, save only that portion of the investigation which had related to Richard Lorne; and his possible guilt was still merely a matter of the wildest speculation. Granted the existence of a conceivable motive, there still remained vast difficulties in the way of fastening the series of revolting crimes upon him; and not the least of them in the detective's mind was the hint of insanity which Mrs. Gael had attempted to convey to him.

In his own modest rooms once more, he slept the sleep of utter exhaustion, and awakened to the discordant jangle of the telephone bell trying to vie with those of a nearby church. Sunday morning! Four days had elapsed since he was first called in upon the mystery of the Meade house,