still turned towards something in the room beyond, a little empty
bottle in his hand.

"Dead!" he exclaimed tragically, with a sob, "with this beside her.
Dead just when she would have been free of the brute."

The blind man passed into the room, sniffed the air, and laid a gentle
hand on the pulseless heart.

"Yes," he replied. "That, Hollyer, does not always appeal to the
woman, strange to say."




THE LAST EXPLOIT OF HARRY THE ACTOR


The one insignificant fact upon which turned the following incident in
the joint experiences of Mr. Carlyle and Max Carrados was merely this:
that having called upon his friend just at the moment when the private
detective was on the point of leaving his office to go to the safe
deposit in Lucas Street, Piccadilly, the blind amateur accompanied
him, and for ten minutes amused himself by sitting quite quietly among
the palms in the centre of the circular hall while Mr. Carlyle was
occupied with his deed-box in one of the little compartments provided
for the purpose.

The Lucas Street depository was then (it has since been converted into
a picture palace) generally accepted as being one of the strongest