and meanwhile mary was left alone in the ghastly silence of the room, crouching in the corner like a hunted animal. her face was ashen, and her eyes distended; in her quivering hands she clutched the locket.

she was staring at it and staring at it, in terror, powerless to move. she wished to open it; but ten minutes must have gone before she rose and groped her way across the room. she found a chisel and knelt down upon the floor, and worked in frenzied fear to force it. her hands were like a drunkard's, and she cut herself again and again; but then suddenly the cover flew off, and she pounced upon it.

one glance she took; and then it fell to the ground from her helpless grasp, and she staggered backward, with a shuddering moan, against the wall. she swayed there[110] an instant, and then like a flash she turned and fled across the room. she fumbled for an instant in a drawer of the desk; then a pistol shot rang out, and she sunk down in a quivering heap upon the floor, her brains spattered out upon the carpet.