…where is your insignia?” He put his elbows on the table, leaned his face on his hands, and fixed me with his great angry eyes. The question naturally staggered me. I had no answer, no excuse, no clue to its meaning; but the same strange inspiration seized me, and letting myself go, as it were, 1 calmly answered,”I was sent to meet you here.”He was still suspicious. “By whom?” he snapped.This was a poser. But it flashed across my mind that a few minutes before I had heard the girl mention the name ”Dusetto” She had articulated it so prettily that it caught my attention, and I ventured to pronounce it now, noticing its effect on both with a quiet smile. Still the man was not satisfied, and I was wondering how long I could bluff the matter out, when the girl came to my rescue. Laying her little hand…

…heart-rending scream, and in spite of the remonstrance of the police, every one, saving myself and the constables who held me, made a rush for the door. The master of the house was lying on the floor beside his bed, face downwards, with the back of his skull smashed to pulp. He did it with his jemmy, without a doubt, I heard someone say.” See, there are bloodstains on his coat!” — Which of course there were, stains from my own blood. Then the police sergeant formally charged me with the murder; my clothes were searched, and all the trinkets I had nabbed from the dressing- table were brought to light.”And all the while this was taking place, that demon of a traitress was kneeling beside her dead husband — the man she hated and whom, I am positive, she killed — moaning and groaning, and calling upon Heaven, in…

with suspense and trepidation. Though I had not as yet seen it, the face of the huntsman was what I feared most. It is the faces — always the faces — of these grotesque-looking individuals in my dreamland that are so alarming. As minute after minute passed and still he did not turn round, my anticipation at length grew to such a pitch that, unable to restrain myself any longer, I shrieked to heaven for pity; upon which he swung round and his countenance was fully revealed. So strong were the moonbeams — far stronger than they are in actuality — that every feature in his face stood out as clearly as if I had seen them through a magnifying-glass. The nose was hawk-like, prominent and curved, the chin — long and pointed, the eyebrows — black and slanting; and the eyes — God help me!— only a lurid, Satanic…