Suspended from the gas pipe, which was bent and leaking, was Don Roberto. The light was dim. The purple face on the languidly revolving body was barely visible; but as it turned slowly to the door, it occupied a definite place among the shadows. Trennahan flung back the curtains and opened the window, closing the lower inside blinds. A cloud hurried across the face of the sun, as if light had no place in that ghastly room. About the limp body and sprawling hands clung the delicate prismatic tapestry of the spiders. It was rent in twain, and it quivered, and threatened to drop and trail upon the floor. The little weavers were racing about, full of anger and consternation, bent on repair. A number had already gathered up the broken strands and were fastening them across the body. Had Don Roberto remained undiscovered for twenty-four hours, he might have been wrought into the tissue of that beautiful delicate web, a grotesque intruder over whom the spiders would doubtless have held long and puzzled counsel. The cloud passed. The sun caught a brilliant line of colour. Trennahan went forward hastily, and examined the long knotted strip between the body and the ceiling. Don Roberto had hanged himself with the American flag. THE END * * * * * _By the Same Author._ Patience Sparhawk and Her Times. His Fortunate Grace. The Doomswoman. (Companion volumes to "The Californians.") A Whirl Asunder. American Wives and English Husbands. A Daughter of the Vine (ready shortly). Some Novels Published by John Lane An African Millionaire By Grant Allen Patience Sparhawk and Her Times By Gertrude Atherton The Californians By Gertrude Atherton A Man from the North By E. A. Bennett Ordeal by Compassion By Vincent Brown Grey Weather By John Buchan Carpet Courtship By Thomas Cobb A King with Two Faces By M. E. Coleridge A Bishop's Dilemma By Ella D'Arcy Middle Greyness By A. J. Dawson Mere Sentiment By A. J. Dawson Symphonies By George Egerton Fantasias By George Egerton The Martyr's Bible By George Fifth A Celibate's Wife By Herbert Flowerdew When All Men Starve By Charles Gleig The Edge of Honesty By Charles Gleig Comedies and Errors By Henry Harland The Child Who Will Never Grow Old By K. Douglas King Weighed in the Balance By Harry Lander The Quest of the Golden Girl By Richard Le Gallienne The Romance of Zion Chapel By Richard Le Gallienne Derelicts By W. J. Locke Idols By W. J. Locke Mutineers By A. E. J. Legge The Spanish Wine By Frank Mathew A Child in the Temple By Frank Mathew Regina By Herman Sudermann The Tree of Life By Netta Syrett Galloping Dick By H. B. Marriott Watson The Heart of Miranda By H. B. Marriott Watson