wife suddenly bounded forward, the shadowy form of Nahra seemed to rise from the ground and mock me. With a supreme effort I jerked my finger back and fired. Bang! The sound of the explosion acted like a safety-valve to the pent-up feelings of all, and there was a chorus of shrieks. I rushed forward--the ayah lay on the ground, face downward and motionless. My wife had hold of Eric, who was shaking all over. Of the tiger there were no signs. It had completely vanished. "'Thank God,' I exclaimed, kissing my wife feverishly. 'Thank God! It was only a ghost! but it was very alarming, wasn't it?' "'Alarming!' my wife gasped, 'it was awful! I quite thought it was real! so did Eric, and so did ---- '--then her eyes fell on the ayah, and she gave a great start. 'Charlie!' she cried, 'for mercy's sake look at her! I dare not! Is she all right?' "I turned the ayah over--she was dead! Fright had killed her! "I then told my wife of the curse of Nahra, and of the phantom I thought I had seen of him, when the white tiger was springing. When I had finished, my wife hid her face in my shoulder. "'Charlie!' she said, 'I did something awful. I saw what I then took to be the real white tiger single out Eric, and in my anxiety to save him from the brute, I pushed the ayah in front of him. And the thing sprang on her instead. It was nothing short of murder! And yet--well, there were extenuating circumstances, weren't there?' "'Of course there were,' I said--for I verily believed, O'Donnell, fear had, for the time being, turned her brain. "On our way home she suddenly called my attention to Eric. "'Charlie,' she cried, 'what's that mark on his cheek? He's hurt!' "I looked--and my heart turned sick within me. On the boy's cheek was a faint red scratch, just as might have been caused by a slight, very slight contact with some animal's claw. "'Sahib!' Cushai whispered to me, when he saw it and heard of our adventure. 'Sahib! Beware! Nahra was a clever man. He must have used the spirit of the white tiger as his tool. Let the medicine man examine the scar.' "I did so. I took Eric to a Dr. Nicholson, who lived close by. "He looked at the wound curiously for a few moments, and then said to me--he was renowned for his plain speaking--'Mr. De Silva, there's no use beating about the bush, and prolonging the agony unnecessarily for you and your wife. The boy's got leprosy--God alone knows how! At the most he may live six weeks.' "The shock, of course, was terrible. Eric had to be isolated from everyone--even from those who loved him best--and died within a month. "'Sahib, I knew!' Cushai said to me the day of the funeral, 'I knew some disaster would befall you. Nahra was a wonderful man, and his curse had to be fulfilled. You may rest assured, however, nothing further will befall you, for I saw Nahra in a vision this morning, and he told me both his and the white tiger's spirit were now on friendly terms, and would trouble you no more.'