Of course I did not leave Penelope after this, but comforted her and prayed with her and rejoiced that her madness was past. Then we tried to sleep, locked in each other's arms, but, shortly after six, there came a timid knock at the door and, all of a tremble, Jeanne entered, Penelope's French maid who had come with her mistress to Roberta's party and had occupied a small room overhead, and she told us with hysterical sobs that she had not closed her eyes all night for ghastly visions of Penelope murdered in her bed. Now it is easy to scoff at premonitions and haunting fears, but there can be no doubt that on this night an evil spirit was present in Roberta's apartment, a hideous, destructive entity that came and--wavered in its deadly purpose against Penelope, then--_manifested to Roberta Vallis in the adjoining apartment_, for when I went in there a little later I found Roberta--she who had mocked God and defied the powers of evil--I found her in her bed, her face convulsed with a look of indescribable terror--_dead!_ The hotel doctor reported it as a case of heart failure, but Doctor William Owen, who has an honest mind, acknowledged that all this was beyond his understanding. This tragedy made him realize at last that there may be sinister agencies in us and about us that cannot be dealt with by mere medical skill. And, at my pleading, he directed that Mrs. Wells be placed immediately in the care of Dr. Edgar Leroy. Thank God, my precious Penelope will receive psychic treatment before it is too late. There is no other hope for her but this. CHAPTER XIV POSSESSED (_From Penelope's Diary_) _At Dr. Leroy's Sanitarium._ I understand why people kill themselves. There was an hour last night, that horrible hour between four and five (I have seen so many hospital patients die then), when I was resolved to kill myself. Seraphine was sleeping in the next room--she has not left me since I came to this place yesterday--and I longed to waken her for a last talk, but decided not to. What was the use? I must settle this for myself--whether it was possible for me to go on living or not, I must fight out this battle alone--with my own soul. I decided to kill myself because I felt sure, after what had happened, that I was condemned to madness. This is evidently a place where mad people are treated. They call it a Sanitarium, but I know what that means. Seraphine speaks of Dr. Leroy (I have only seen him once) as a wonderful spiritual healer and she says I will love him because he is so kind and wise; but none of this deceives me. I know they have brought me to a place for mad people. Here is a thought that makes me waver--what if death is not annihilation? What if I find myself in some new state where there are other horrors and terrors--worse than those that I have suffered? The Voices tell me this--taunting me. And then Christopher! He loves me so much! He will be so sorry, if I do this!