cannot now draw back. You have already accepted your price--twenty thousand pounds."
"Enough!" I cried indignantly. "If I were to give information to the police regarding this conversation, you would find yourself arrested within an hour."
"As I have already told you, my dear sir, I am not at all afraid of such a contretemps; I am no blunderer, I assure you."
"Neither am I," I answered quickly, resolving to remain there no longer discussing such a subject. From the first moment of our meeting I had entertained a suspicion of him. Several facts were evident. He had some strong motive, first in marrying his daughter Beryl, secondly in encompassing her death before sundown, and thirdly in implicating me so deeply that I should be unable to extricate myself from the net which he set to entrap me.

A fourth fact, apparently small in itself, had caused me considerable reflection: the hand that I had held and on the finger of which I had placed the bond of matrimony, was in no sense chilly or clammy. It was not the wasted hand of a moribund invalid, but rather that of a healthy person. While I had held it I felt and counted the pulsations. The latter had told me that my mysterious bride was without fever, and was apparently in a normal state of health. It was curious that she should have walked and acted involuntarily, if only half conscious of her surroundings.

The Tempter was endeavouring to deceive me in this particular. But it was in vain.

"Cannot we come to terms?" he asked in a low, earnest voice. "There is surely no object to be gained in our being enemies; rather let us act together in our mutual interests. Recollect that by your marriage you have become my son-in-law and heir."
"Your heir!" I echoed. I had not thought of that before. His house betokened that he was wealthy. "You are very generous," I added, not without some sarcasm. "But I do not feel inclined to accept any such responsibility from one whose name even I do not know."
"Of course," he said easily. "I was stupid not to introduce myself. In the excitement it quite slipped my memory. Pray forgive me. My name is Wynd--Wyndham Wynd."
"Well, Mr Wynd," I said with some forced politeness, "I think we may as well conclude this interview. I wish to make the acquaintance of my wife."
"Quite natural," he answered, smiling good-humouredly. "Quite natural that you should wish to see her; only I beg you, doctor, to prepare for disappointment."
"Your warning is unnecessary," I responded as carelessly as I could.

My curiosity had been aroused by the healthfulness of that small, well-formed hand, and I 

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