Hours slipped away while the beautiful fiend, so young in years, so old in the conception of crime, crouched in her seat, waiting, musing, pondering on the best schemes for ridding herself of those who stood in her way.

She was eager as a wild beast to strike quickly and finish the awful work she had set herself to do.

It seemed to her that she might never have another such opportunity for ending Edmund Clarke\'s life as was offered to her by the conditions of the present moment.

It was most important to get rid of him, she knew, and the sooner the better for the safety of her position as heiress of the Clarke millions. Let him die first, and she could attend to the others afterward.

At the dark, gloomy hour of midnight, while the icy winds wailed around the house like a banshee, Roma went groping through the pitch-black corridors toward the room where Mr.[Pg 219] Clarke lay sleeping with his gentle, loving wife by his side.

Like a sleek, beautiful panther the girl crept into the unlocked door, knowing the room so well that she could find her way to the bedside in the darkness, and put out her stealthy, murderous hand, with the bottle of poison in it, seeking for the glass that held the sleeping potion Doctor Jay had prescribed.

Her heart beat with evil exultation, for it seemed to her that her errand could scarcely fail of success. Edmund Clarke was sound asleep, she knew by his deep breathing, and she decided that, after pouring the poison into the glass, she would make enough noise in escaping from the room to arouse him fully, so that he would be sure to swallow the second dose ere sleeping again.

It was a clever plan, cleverly conceived, and in another moment it would be executed, and no earthly power could save the victim from untimely death.

But in her haste Roma made one fatal mistake.

In groping for the glass, she held the vial with the arsenic clasped in her hand.

And she was very nervous, her white hands[Pg 220] trembling as they fluttered over the little medicine stand by the head of the bed.

That was why, the next moment, there came the sharp clink of glass against glass as her hands came in contact with what she sought, overturning and breaking both, with such a sharp, keen, crystalline tinkle that both the sleepers were aroused suddenly and quickly, and Mr. Clarke flung out his arms, clutching Roma ere she could escape, and demanding bewilderedly:

"What is the matter? Who is this?"

"Edmund! Edmund!" cried his equally startled wife, hastily lighting a night lamp close to her arm, in time to see Roma writhing and struggling in her father\'s arms.

"Roma!" he panted.

"Roma!" echoed his wife.

It was a situation to strike terror to the girl\'s guilty heart.

But in her scheming she had not failed to take into account any possible contretemps.

Failing in her efforts to escape before her identity was detected, Roma laughed aloud, hysterically:

"Dear papa, do not squeeze me so hard, please;[Pg 221] you take away my breath! Why, you must take me for a burglar!"

Edmund Clarke, releasing her and not yet fully awake, stammered drowsily:

"Yes—I—took—you—for—a—burglar. What do you want, Roma?"

"Yes, what is the matter, my dear?" added Mrs. Clarke wonderingly, while Roma, mistress of the situation still, pressed her hand to her cheek, groaning hysterically:

"Oh, papa, mamma, forgive me for arousing you, but I am suffering so much with a wretched toothache, and I came to ask you for some medicine to ease it!"

"Poor dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Clarke, with immediate maternal sympathy, as she rose quickly from her bed and motioned Roma into her dressing room, searching for remedies within a little medicine case while she plied her with questions.

"When did it begin to ache, dear? Why didn\'t you send Dolly for the medicine? It will make you worse, coming along the cold corridors!"

"For goodness\' sake, don\'t tease! Give me the medicine quick as you can!" Roma answered crossly, dropping into a chair and hiding her face[Pg 222] in her hands, her whole form shaking with fury at the failure of her scheme to kill Edmund Clarke.

A blind, terrible rage possessed her, and she would have liked to spring upon him and clutch his throat with murderous hands.

But she dare not give way to her m............