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302 knocked upon the door and told me that you had taken the broth from him once more and said that you wanted it for Rannie, and instructed him to bring up more for Cissie.—For Rannie! You would have killed him for whom I had planned it all!

"I saved him, though Cissie and the others still live. Rannie, Rannie, I did it all for you; and though they may rob you of a portion of the wealth which should be yours, you will still be richer than all; and I have made you so!"

She half rose in her chair with her hands outstretched to the object of her insane adoration; but he shrank from her, his eyes like livid coals of fire in his horrified face.

"Don't speak to me, you devil!" Loathing beyond the power of words filled his shaking voice. "If you were not mad I could kill you as you sit there! Murderess! You have done me a greater injury than when I was a child!"

Some inkling of his meaning must have filtered through to her diseased mind; for she began to whimper like a hurt animal and the tears rolled down her faded cheeks.

"It was for you! They hated you, all of them. They laughed at your infirmity; but I would have given you the power to triumph over them, every one!" Her tones rose once again to a shriek. "Rannie, I love you, love—"

The shriek ended suddenly in a rattling gurgle; and she clutched at her breast as the distortion of mania left her face and a look of wonder shot with pain took its place. A glow as of returning sanity suffused the staring eyes for a fleeting moment; then they dulled, and her head dropped forward on her breast.

Odell was by her side in an instant; but Doctor Adams was before him; and the detective retreated a step as the