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Rh "She is better dead," Titheredge observed in his dry judicial tones. "It is only a pity that her malady did not manifest itself a few short weeks ago; but we have you to thank, Sergeant, that she was prevented from carrying out her hideous scheme to exterminate the family."

"We owe you our lives," Richard Lorne declared brokenly. "When I think of my poor wife I could go mad myself, and it is as well perhaps that her sister is beyond my reach. Sergeant Odell, I shall not speak of reward at this moment; but you will not find me unappreciative of the masterly way in which you have handled this case and brought it to a successful conclusion, nor unmindful of the debt that I and mine owe to you."

Odell rose.

"It was only in the line of my professional duty, sir," he said quietly. "My one regret lies in the solution of the problem—that an afflicted, unfortunate member of your own family should prove to have performed the dreadful, self-appointed work of those unseen hands."

THE END