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Page 96
"No, I was not near the place, I can prove it. Besides, your folks and
myself were on good terms. There is somebody else, who was around the
house when the affair happened--somebody you know well, a person who
would know all about the drug with which your father and Mrs. Langmore
were killed."
"Who was it?"
"Will you consent to marry me?"
"Tell me first."
"No, afterwards."
"You are fooling me."
"I swear I am not, Margaret. Marry me, and I will clear you as surely
as the sun is shining."
"And if I refuse?"
He came and caught her by the arm, his face blazing with sudden passion.
"Do not dare to do that! Don't you understand the matter? You are in
my power--in my power absolutely. I can hand you over to the police
whenever I will."
"That will not be such a hardship. I said I was going back."
"Bah! If I tell them that I caught you, that you begged me to let you
get away--that you even said you would marry me, if I would aid you,
what then? Everybody will think you guilty, and Raymond Case will
never come near you again."
"You--you monster!"
"Perhaps I am a monster when aroused. You had better think this matter
over."
"I do not want to think it over. My mind is made up. I shall never
marry you, never, no matter what happens. I loathe and despise you!"
There was a moment of silence, and his dark face turned a sickly white
and then red. He breathed heavily through his set teeth.
"You mean that?" he said finally, his eyes shining like those of a
serpent.
"I do."
He glared at her steadily. Then, in a burst of rage, he caught her by
the throat and threw her backward to the floor. She offered no
resistance, and pausing in his madness he realized that she had swooned
away.
"Fainted!" he hissed between his set teeth. "I wish she was dead!
Curse her and her beauty!"
He waited, and as she did not return to consciousness, he picked her
up, and placed her on the bed. Then he hurried outside:
"Go back to the house," he said to the old woman. "You'll not be
needed here any more. And see that you keep your jaw closed over
this," he added harshly. And the woman slunk away as if struck, like a
dog.
Once inside of the cottage, he took up a glass of water standing on the
table, and to this added a powder taken from his pocket, stirring it up
well. Then he looked around to see that there was no other water
around the building.
"When she rouses up she will be dry, and she will drink this," he
muttered to himself. "Half a glass will do the work and she will never
bother me or anybody else any more."
He paused again and took from his pocket several sheets of paper,
closely and carelessly written upon in pencil. The first sheet was
headed:
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