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 got Susie out of the way by sending a telegram from a girl whose name he had seen on a photograph. I’ve heard him roar with laughter at his cleverness.”

She stopped suddenly, and a look of frightful agony crossed her face.

“And at this very minute, for all I know, it may be by his influence that I say this to you, so that he may cause you still greater suffering by allowing me to tell you that he never cared for me. You know now that my life is hell, and his vengeance is complete.”

“Vengeance for what?”

“Don’t you remember that you hit him once, and kicked him unmercifully? I know him well now. He could have killed you, but he hated you too much. It pleased him a thousand times more to devise this torture for you and me.”

Margaret’s agitation was terrible to behold. This was the first time that she had ever spoken to a soul of all these things, and now the long restraint had burst as burst the waters of a dam. Arthur sought to calm her.

“You’re ill and overwrought. You must try to compose yourself. After all Haddo is a human being like the rest of us.”

“Yes, you always laughed at his claims. You wouldn’t listen to the things he said. But I know. Oh, I can’t explain it; I daresay common-sense and probability are all against it, but I’ve seen things with my own eyes that pass all comprehension. I tell you he has powers of the most awful kind. That first day when I was alone with him, he seemed