A Fatal Dose. Fred M. White

      I. — A WOMAN OF PROPERTY

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      THE theatre was very full, for a popular actor had returned to the stage after a long illness, and some of the best people in town had assembled to give him a welcome. It was no new play which the favourite was producing; instead, he had chosen to appear before his patrons in three separate parts from different successes. As a consequence the intervals were rather long, and the audience had every opportunity of criticising one another. Two men lounging in the stalls were attracted at the same moment by the occupant of one of the boxes on the left-hand side of the stage.

      The woman was not particularly young, nor could she, even by the tongue of malice, be called middle-aged. For the rest, her beauty was of the brilliant order. Her fascinating smile exposed a dazzling set of white teeth, her hair was a triumph of art and nature combined. She sat there quite alone, a snowy arm lying carelessly on the edge of the box, the shapely hand set of by a coruscating diamond