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306 sible suspects down to Miss Meade, Mr. Gene Chalmers, and the three servants. During the morning I heard footsteps ascending to the very top of the house, and something in their stealthy, almost noiseless tread recalled Peters's story of the ghost to my mind.

"On an impulse I followed; but the person ahead was always just beyond my range of vision until I halted in the doorway of the storage room, the one with the barred windows. Then I saw Miss Meade. With her frail, slender arms she was moving two huge, heavy trunks which were piled one on top of the other; and she seemed to put forth no effort in a task that would normally require the energy of two husky men. I did not see her face at once; but when she turned it toward me the mask was off, and I knew that my search was ended even before I heard her insane speech: 'Eat that, my pretties. I have enough left for Cissie's last dose. I'll fool them all!'

"I made my escape before she was aware of my presence, and decided that the only way to convince any of you of her guilt would be to trick her into betraying herself. The greatest thing in her life was her love, or obsession, for Rannie; and I determined to play upon that. I gathered you in as witnesses, laid my trap, and sprung it as you know.

"I would feel culpable in having brought on the scene which resulted in Miss Meade's death, but there was no other way to bring her machinations home to her; and Doctor Adams has since informed me her case was incurable and that future existence would have meant for her a mere tortured blank. Her superhuman strength was, of course, a part of her madness."