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Speaker 1: The Nightmare Room by a Conan Doyle. The sitting room

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of the Masons was a very singular apartment. At one end,

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it was furnished with considerable luxury. The deep sofas, the

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low luxurious chairs, the voluptuous statuettes, and the rich curtains

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hanging from deep and ornamental screens of metal work made

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a fitting frame for the lovely woman who was the

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mistress of the establishment. Mason, a young but wealthy man

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of affairs, had clearly spared no pains and no expense

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to meet every want and every whim of his beautiful wife.

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It was natural that he should do so, for she

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had given up much for his sake. The most famous

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dancer in France, the heroine of a dozen extraordinary romances,

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she had resigned her life of glittering pleasure in order

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to share the fate of the young American whose austere

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ways differed so widely from her own. In all that

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wealth could buy, he tried to make amends for what

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she had lost. Some might perhaps have thought it in

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better taste had he not proclaimed this fact, had he

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not even allowed it to be printed. But save for

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some personal peculiarities of the sort His conduct was that

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of a husband who has never, for an instant ceased

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to be a lover. Even the presence of spectators would

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not prevent the public exhibition of his overpowering affection. But

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the room was singular. At first it seemed familiar, and

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yet a longer acquaintance made one realize its sinister peculiarities.

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It was silent, very silent. No footfall could be heard

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upon those rich carpets and heavy rugs. A struggle, even

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the fall of a body, would make no sound. It

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was strangely colorless, also in a light which seemed always subdued.

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Nor was it all furnished in equal taste. One would

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have said that when the young banker had lavished thousands

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upon this boom dar, this inner jewel case for his

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precious possession, he had failed to count the cost, and

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had suddenly been arrested by a threat to his own solvency.

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It was luxurious where it looked out upon the busy

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street below. At the farther side, it was bare, spartan,

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and reflected rather the taste of a most ascetic man

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than of a pleasure loving woman. Perhaps that was why

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she only came there for a few hours, sometimes two,

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sometimes four in the day. But while she was there,

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she lived intensely. Within this nightmare room, Lucille Mason was

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a very different and a far more dangerous woman than

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she was in any other room. Dangerous, that was the word.

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Who could doubt it? Who saw her delicate figure stretched

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upon the great bear skin which draped the sofa. She

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was leaning upon her right elbow, her delicate but determined

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chin resting upon her hand, while her eyes, large and languishing,

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adorable but inexorable, stared out in front of her with

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a fixed intensity, which had in it something vaguely terrible.

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It was a lovely face, a child's face, and yet

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nature had placed there some subtle mark, some indefinable expression,

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which told that a devil lurked within. It had been

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noticed that dogs shrank from her, and that children screamed

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and ran from her caresses. There are instincts that are

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deeper than reason. Upon this particular afternoon, something had greatly

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moved her. A letter was in her hand, which she

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read and re read with a tightening of those delicate

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little eyebrows and a grim setting of those delicious lips.

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Suddenly she started, and a shadow of fear softened the

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feline menace of her features. She raised herself upon her arm,

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and her eyes were fixed eagerly upon the door. She

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was listening, intently, listening for something which she dreaded, most

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certainly dreaded to hear. For a moment, a smile of

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relief played over her expressive face. Then, with a look

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of horror, she stuffed her letter into her dress. She

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had hardly done so before the door opened and a

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young man came briskly into the room. It was Archie Mason,

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her husband, the man whom she had loved, the man

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for whom she had sacrificed her European fame, the man

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whom now she regarded as the one obstacle to a

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new and wonderful experience. The American was a man about thirty, clean, shaven, athletic,

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dressed to perfection in a closely cut suit which outlined

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his perfect figure. He stood at the door with his

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arms folded, looking intently at his wife, with a face

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which might have been a handsome sun tinted mask save

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for those vivid eyes. She still leaned upon her elbow,

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but her eyes were fixed on his. There was something

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terrible in the silent exchange. Each interrogated the other, and

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each conveyed the thought that the answer was vital. He

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might have been asking what have you done? She, in

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her turn, seemed to be saying, what do you know? Finally,

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he walked forward, sat down upon the bear skin beside her, and,

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taking her delicate ear gently between his fingers, turned her

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face towards his. Lucille, he said, are you poisoning me?

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She sprang back from his touch, with horror in her

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face and protests upon her lips. Two moved to speak.

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Her surprise and her anger showed themselves rather in her

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darting hands and her convulsed features. She tried to rise,

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but his ground gasp tightened upon her wrist. Again he

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asked his question, but this time it had deepened in

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its terrible significance. Lucille, why are you poisoning me? You

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are mad, archie mad? She gasped. His answer froze her blood.

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With pale, parted lips and blanched cheeks, she could only

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stare at him in helpless silence. He drew a small

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bottle from his pocket and held it before her eyes

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as grim evidence of her guilt. It is from your

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jewel case, he said. Twice. She tried to speak and failed.

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At last, the words came slowly, one by one from

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her contorted lips. At least I never used it again.

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His hand sought his pocket. From it, he drew a

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sheet of paper, which he unfolded and held before her.

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It is the certificate of doctor Angus. It shows the

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presence of twelve grains of antimony. I have also the

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evidence of Dival, the chemist who sold it. Her face

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was terrible to look at. There was nothing to say.

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She could only lie with that fixed, hopeless stare, like

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some fierce creature in a fatal trap. Well, he asked.

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There was no answer save a movement of desperation and

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appeal from the beautiful woman. Why, he said, I want

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to know why. As he spoke, his eye caught the

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edge of the letter, which she had thrust into her bosom.

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In an instant he had snatched it. With a cry

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of despair. She tried to regain it, but he held

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her off with one hand while his eyes raced over it. Campbell,

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He gasped. It was Cambell. She had found her courage again.

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There was nothing more to conceal. Her face set hard

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and firm. Her eyes were deadly as daggers as she

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faced him. Yes, she said, it is Campbell, my God,

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Campbell of all men. He rose and walked swiftly about

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the room. Campbell, the grandest man that he had ever known,

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a man whose whole life had been one long record

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of self denial, of courage, of every quality which marks

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the chosen man. And yet he too had fallen a

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victim to this siren, and had been dragged down to

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such a level that he had been betrayed in intention,

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if not in actual deed, the man whose hand he

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shook in friendship. It was incredible, and yet here was

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the passionate, pleading letter imploring his wife to fly and

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share the fate of a penniless man. Every word of

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the letter showed that Campbell had at least no thought

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of Mason's death, which would have removed all difficulties. That

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devilish solution was the outcome of the deep and wicked

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brain which brooded within that perfect habitation in the mind

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of the woman he loved. Mason was a man in

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a million, a philosopher, a thinker with a broad and

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tender sympathy for others, for an instant, his soul had

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been submerged in his bitterness. He could, for that brief

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period have slain both his wife and Campbell, and gone

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to his own death with the serene mind of a

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man who has done his plain duty. But already, as

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he paced the room, milder thoughts had begun to prevail.

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How could he blame Campbell? He knew the absolute witchery

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of this woman. It was not only her wonderful physical beauty.

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She had a unique power of seeming to take an

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interest in a man, in writhing to his inmost conscience,

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in penetrating those parts of his nature which were too

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sacred for the world, and in seeming to stimulate him

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towards ambition and even towards virtue and splendid kindliness. It

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was just there that the deadly cleverness of her net

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was shown. He remembered how it had been in his

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own case. She was free then, or so he thought,

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and he had been able to marry her. But suppose

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she had not been free, Suppose she had been married,

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and suppose she had taken possession of his soul in

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the same way. Would he have stopped there? Would he

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have been able to draw off with him his unfulfilled longings.

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He was bound to admit that, with all his new

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England strength, he could not have done so, Why then,

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should he feel so bitter with his unfortunate friend who

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was in the same position. It was pity and sympathy

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that filled his mind as he thought of Campbell, caught

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by this wonderful siren. And she there she lay upon

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the sofa, a poor, broken butterfly, her dreams dispersed, her

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plot detected, her future dark and perilous. Even for her

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poisoner as she was, his heart relented. He knew something

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of her history. He knew her as a spoiled child

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from birth, untamed, unchecked, sweeping everything easily before her With

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her cleverness, her beauty, and her charm, she had never

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known an obstacle. Now one had risen across her path,

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and she had madly and wickedly tried to remove it

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in the only way she could think of. But if

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she had wished to remove it was not that in

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itself a sign that he had been found wanting that

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he was not the man who could bring her peace

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of mind and contentment of heart. He was too stern

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and self contained for that. Sunny, volatile nature. He was

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of the north and she of the south, drawn strongly

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together for a time by the law of opposites, but

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impossible for permanent union. He should have seen this, he

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should have understood it. It was on him that the

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responsibility lay. His heart softened towards her, as it would

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to a little child that was in helpless trouble. For

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a time he had paced the room in silence, his

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lips compressed, his hands clenched till his nails had marked

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his palms. Now, with a sudden movement, he sat beside

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her and took her cold and inert hand in his.

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You shall choose between us, dear, he said, if really

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you are sure, sure you know that Campbell could make

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you happy. I will not be the obstacle a divorce.

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She gasped, his hand closed upon the bottle of poison.

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You can call it, that, said he. A new, strange

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light shone in her eyes as she looked at him, Archie,

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she cried, you could forgive me even that, He smiled

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at her. You are only a little wayward kitty. After all,

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Her arms were outstretched to him. When there was a

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tap at the door, and the maid entered in the strange,

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silent fashion in which all things moved in that room.

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There was a card on the tray, Captain Campbell, I

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will not see him, Mason sprang to his feet. On

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the contrary, he is most welcome show him up this instant.

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A few minutes later, a tall, sunburnt young soldier had

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been ushered into the room. He came forward with a

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smile upon his pleasant features. But as the door closed

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behind him and the faces before him resumed their natural expressions,

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he paused irresolutely. Well, he asked. Mason stepped forward and

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laid his hand upon his shoulder. I bear no ill will,

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he said, ill will? Yes, I know all, but I

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might have done the same myself had the position been reversed,

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Mason quietly told him. Campbell stepped back and looked a

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question at the lady. She nodded and shrugged her graceful shoulders.

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Mason smiled, you need not fear that it is a

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trap for a confession. We have had a frank talk

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upon the matter. See Jack, you were always a sportsman.

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Here is a bottle. Never mind how it came here.

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If one or the other of us drinks it, it

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will clear the situation. His manner was wild, almost delirious. Lucille,

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which shall it be? There had been a strange force

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at work in the nightmare room. A third man was there,

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though not one of the three who stood in the

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crisis of their life's drama had time or thought for him.

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How long he had been there, how much he had heard?

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None could say. In the corner, farthest from the little group,

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he was crouched against the wall, a sinister, snakelike figure,

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silent and scarcely moving save for a nervous twitching of

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his clenched right hand, intent watching eagerly every new phase

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of the drama. Are you game, Jack, asked Mason. The

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soldier nodded. No, No, cried the woman. Mason had uncorked

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the bottle, and turning to the side table, he drew

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out a pack of cards. We can't put the responsibility

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on her, he said, Come jack, the best of three.

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The soldier approached the table. He fingered the fatal cards.

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The woman, leaning upon her hand, bent her face forward

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and stared with fascinated eyes. Then, and only then, the

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bolt fell. The stranger had risen, pale and grave. All

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three were suddenly aware of his presence. They faced him

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with eager inquiry in their eyes. He looked at them

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with something of the Master in his bearing. How is it,

238
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they asked, altogether rotten? He said, rotten. We'll shoot the

239
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all seen again tomorrow. End of the Nightmare Room.