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THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF
LUTHER TRANT
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THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF
LUTHER TRANT
EDWIN BALMER WILLIAM MacHARG
WILLIAM OBERHARDT
BOSTON
SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1 909- 1910
By Ben J, B. Hampton
Copyright, 1 910
By Shall, Maynard & Company
(incorpokatbo)
Entered at SUtioncn' Halt
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CONTENTS
I The Man in the Rook I
_J1 The Fast Watch 39
II! The Reo Dbess 74
IV The Private Bakx Puzzle 113
V The Man Highek Up 148
VI The CHALcaiHUin, Stone 186
VII The Empty Cabtsidges 331
VIII The Axton Letters aSo
IX The Elevimth Hotnt 324
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ILLUSTRATIONS
FAOHG rAGB
" I do not IcDOw bim," Axton's eyes glanced furtively about.
"I have never seen bim before. This is not Lawter."
Set page 316 FrotUispiece
" Dress ! " be enunciated clearly. " Skirt 1 " Miss Lawrie
answered feebly 36
"Oh, try it, Mr. Trantl" she cried. "Try— try anything" 44
After glancing at her hand to see that it was held in posi-
tion, be set ont a third lot 103
"What do you want to see that machine for? You shall
not see it, if 1 can help it I " 130
Welter's face did not alter; the watchers stared with as-
tonisbment 170
" Oh, speak not — speak not again I " be shrieked. " I will
tell all. I lied " 222
" What's all this tomfoolery with steins got to do with who
shot Neal Sheppard?" Chapin blurted out contemptu-
onsly 258
The Chinaman saw it and knew that it was betraying bim,
but it leaped and leaped again 363
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FOREWORD
Except for its characters and plot, this book is not
a work of the imagination.
The methods which the 6ctitious Trattt — one time
assistant in a psjrchological laboratory, now turned de-
tective — here uses to solve the mysteries which pre-
sent themselves to him, are real methods; the tests he
employs are real tests.
Though little known to the general public, they are
precisely such as are being used daily in the psy-
chological laboratories of the great universities — both
in America and Europe — by means of which modern
men of science are at last disclosing and defining the
workings of that oldest of world-mysteries — ^ the hu-
man mind.
The facts which Trant uses are in no way debatable
facts; nor do they rest on evidence of untrained, im-
aginative observers. Innumerable experiments in our
university laboratories have established beyond ques-
tion that, for instance, the resistance of the human
body to a weak electric current varies when the sub-
ject is frightened or undergoes emotion; and the
consequent variation in the strength of the current,
depending directly upon the amount of emotional dis-
turbance, can be registered by the galvanometer for
all to see. The hand resting upon an automatograph
lall travel toward an object which exdtes emotion.
FOREWORD
however capable its possessor may be of restrainit^ all
other evidence of what he feels.
If these facts are not used as yet except in the
academic experiments of the psychological laborato-
ries and the very real and useful purpose to which they
have been put in the diagnosis of insanities, it is not
because they are incapable of wider use. The results
of the " new psychology " are coming every day closer
to an exact interpretation. The hour is close at hand
when they will be used not merely in the determination
of guilt and innocence, but to establish in the courts
the credibility of witnesses and the impartiality of
jurors, and by employers to ascertain the fitness and
particular abilities of their employees.
Luther Trant, therefore, nowhere in this book needs
to invent or devise an experiment or an instrument
for any of the results he here attains; he has merely
to adapt a part of the tried and accepted experiments
of modern, scientific psychology. He himself is a
character of fiction; but his methods are matters of
faa '
The Authors.
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THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF
LUTHER TRANT
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THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF
LUTHER TRANT
I
TBB UAH IN THS KOOH
*' Amazing, Trant."
"More than merely amazing I Face the fact, Dr.
Reiland, and it is astounding, incredible, disgraceful,
that after five thousand years of civilization, our police
and court procedures recognize no higher knowledge
of men than the first Pharaoh put into practice in
Egypt before the pyramids ! "
Young Luther Trant ground his heel impatiently
into the hoar frost on the campus walk. His queerly
mismated eyes — one more gray than blue, the other
more blue than gray — flashed at his older compan-
ion earnestly. Then, with the same rebellious im-
patience, he caught step once more with Reiland, as
he went on in his intentness :
" You saw the paper this morning, Dr. Reiland ?
' A man's body found in Jackson Park ' ; six suspects
seen near the spot have been arrested. ' The
Schlaack's abduction or murder ' ; three men under ar-
rest for that since last Wednesday. 'The Lawton
trial frc^^ssing'; with the likelihood that young
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2 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Lawton will be declared innocent ; eighteen month^
he has been in confinement — eighteen months of in-
delible association with criminals! And then the big ■
one : ' Sixteen men held as suspected of complicity
in the murder of Bronson, the prosecuting attorney.'
Did you ever hear of such a carnival of arrest?
And put beside that the fact that for ninety-three out
of every one hundred homicides no one is ever pun-
ished I "
The old professor turned his ruddy face, glowing
with the frosty, early-moming air, patiently and ques-
tioningly toward his young companion. For some
time Dr. Reiland had noted uneasily the' growing rest-
lessness of his brilliant but hotheaded young aid, with-
out being able to tell what it portended.
" Well, Trant," he asked now, " what is it? "
" Just that, professor I Five thousand years of be-
ing civilized," Trant burst on, " and we still have the
' third degree ' ! We still confront a suspect with his
crime, hoping he will ' flush ' or ' lose color,' ' gasp '
or ' stammer.' And if in the face of this crude test
we find him prepared or hardened so that he can pre-
vent the blood from suffusing his face, or too notice-
ably leaving it; if he inflates his lungs pr(^rly and
controls his tongue when he speaks, we are ready to
call him innocent. Is it not so, sir? "
" Yes," the old man nodded, patiently. " It is so,
I fear. What then. Trant?"
"What, Dr. Reiland? Why, you and I and every
psychologist in every psychological laboratory in this
country and abrold have been playing with the an-
swer for years I For years we have been measuring
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 3
the effect, of every thought, hnpulse and act in the
* human being. Daily I have been proving, as mere
laboratory experiments to astonish a row of staring
sophomores, that which — applied in courts and jails
— would conclusively prove a man innocent in five
minutes, or condemn him as a criminal on the evidence
of his own uncontrollable reactions. And more than
that. Dr. Reiland I Teach any detective what you have
taught to me, and if he has half the persistence in
looking for the marks of crime on men that he had in
tracing its marks on things, he can clear up half the
cases that fill the jail in three days."
" And the other half within the week, I suiq>ose,
TMt?"
The older man smiled at the other's enthusiasm.
For five years Reiland had seen his young compan-
ion almost daily ; first as a freshman in the elementary
psychology class — a red-haired, energetic country-
boy, ill at ease among even the slight restrictions of
this fresh-water university. The boy's eager, active
mind had attracted his attention in the beginning; as
he watched him change into a man, Trant's almost
startling powers of analysis and comprehension had
aroused the old professor's admiration. The compact,
muscular body, which endured without fatigue the
great demands Trant made upon it and brought him
fresh to recitations from two hours sleep after a
night of work ; and the tireless eagerness which drove
him at a gallop through courses where others plod-
ded, had led Reiland to appoint Trant his assistant
iust before his graduation. But this energy told Rei-
land, too, that he could not hope to hold Trant long
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4 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
to the narrow activities of a university; and it was ■
with marked uneasiness that the old professor glanced *
sideways now while he waited for the your^r man
to finish what he was saying.
" Dr. Reiland," Trant went on more soberly, " you
have taught me the use of the cardiograph, by which
the effect upon the heart of every act and passion can
be read as a physician reads the pulse chart of his
patient, the pneumograph, which traces the minutest
meaning of the breathing; the galvanometer, that won-
derful instrument which, though a man hold every
feature and muscle passionless as death, will betray
him through the sweat glands in the palms of his
hands. You have taught me — as a scientific e»^ri-
ment — how a man not seen to stammer or hesitate,
in perfect control of his speech and faculties, must
surely show through his thou^t associations, which
he cannot know he is betraying, the marks that any
important act and every crime must make indelibly
upon his mind — "
"Associations?" Dr. Reiland interrupted him less
patiently. " That is merely the method of the Ger-
man doctors — Freud's method — used by Jung in
Zurich to diagnose the causes of adolescent insanity."
" Precisely." Trant's eyes flashed, as he faced the
old professor. " Merely the method of the German
doctoral The method of Freud and Jui^I ' Do you
think that I, with that method, would not have known
eighteen months ago that Lawton was innocent? Do
you suppose that I could not pick out among those
sixteen men the Bron$on murderer? If ever such
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THE MAN IN THE ROOM 5
ft problem comes to me I shall not take eighteen
months to solve it. I will not take'a week."
In spite of himself Dr. Reiland's lips curled at this
arrogant assertioa " It may be so," he said. " I
have seen, Trant, how the work of the German, Swiss
and American investigators, and the delicate experi-
ments in the psychological laboratory which make vis-
ible and record the secrets of men's minds, have fired
your imagination. It may be that the murderer would
be as little, or even less, able to conceal his guilt than
the sophomores we test are to hide their knowledge
of the sentences we have had previously read to them.
But I myself am too old a man to try such new things ;
and you will not meet here any such problems," he
, motioned to the quiet campus with its skeleton trees
' and white-frosted grass plots. " But why," he de-
manded suddenly in a startled tone, " is a delicate
girl like Margaret I-awrie running across the campus
at seven o'clock on this chilly morning without either
hat or jacket?"
The girl who was speeding toward them aloi^ an in-
tersecting walk, had plainly caught up as she left her
home the first thing handy — a shaw! — which she
clutched about her shoulders. On her forehead, very
white under the mass of her dark hair, in her wide
gray eyes and in the tense lines of her straight mouth
and rounded chin, Trant read at once the nervous anx-
iety of a highly-strung woman.
" Professor Reiland," she • demanded, in a quick
voice, " do you know where my father is? "
" My dear Margaret," the old man took her hand,
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6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
which trembled violently, " you must not excite your-
self this way."
" You do not know ! " the girl cried excitedly. " I
see it in your face. Dr. Reiland, father did not come
home last night! He sent no word."
Reiland's face went blank. No one knew better than
he how great was the break in Dr. Lawrie's habits that
this fact implied, for the man was his dearest friend.
Dr. Lawrie had been treasurer of the university twenty
years, and in that time only three events — his mar-
riage, the birth of his ^ughter, and his wife's death
— had been allowed to interfere with the stern and
rigorous routine into which he had welded his lonely
life. So Reiland paled, and drew the trembling girl
toward him.
" When did you see him last, Miss Lawrie? " Trant
asked gently.
" Dr. Reiland, last night he went to his university
office to work," she replied, as though the older man
had spoken. " Sunday night. It was very unusual.
All day he had acted so strangely. He looked so
tired, and he has not come back. I am on my way
there now to see — if — I can find him."
" We will go with you," Trant said quickly, as the
girl helplessly broke off. " Harrison, if he is there so
early, can tell us what has called your father away.
There is not one chance in a thousand, Miss Lawrie,
that anything has happened to him."
" Trant is right, my dear." Reiland had recovered
himself, and looked up at University Hall in front of
them with its fifty windows on the east glimmering
like great eyes in the early morning sun. Only, on
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THE MAN IN THE ROOM 7
three of these eyes the lids were closed — the shutters
of the treasurer's office, all saw plainly, were fastened.
Trant could not remember that ever before he had
seen shutters closed on University Hall. They had
stood open until, on many, the hinges had rusted solid.
He glanced at Dr. Reiland, who shuddered, but
strai^tened again, stiffly.
"There must be a gas leak," T-rant commented,
sniffing, as they entered the empty building. But the
white-faced man and girl beside him paid no heed,
as they sped down the corridorf
At the door of Dr. Lawrie's office — the third of
the doors with high, ground-glass transoms which
opened on both sides into the corridor — the smell of
gas grew stronger. Trant stooped to the keyhole and
fotind it plugged with paper. He caught the tran-
som bar, set his foot upon the knob and, drawing him-
self up, pushed against the transom. It resisted; but
he pounded it in, and, as its glass panes fell tinkling,
the fiunes of illuminating gas burst out and choked
him.
" A foot," he called down to his trembling compan-
ions, as he peered into the .darkened room. " Some
one on the lounge I "
Dropping down, he hurried to a recitation room
across the corridor and dragged out a heavy table.
Together they drove a corner of this against the
lock; it broke, and as the door whirled back on its
hinges the fumes of gas poured forth, stifling them
and driving them back. Trant rushed in, threw up
the three windows, one after the other, and beat open
the shutters. As the gray autumn light flooded the
8 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
room, a shriek from the girl and a choking exclama-
tion from Reiland greeted the figure stretched mo-
tionless upon the couch. Trant leaped upon the flat-
topped desk tmder the gas fixtures in the center of
the rdom and turned off the four jets from which the
gas was pouring. Darting across the hall, he opened
the win()pws of the room opposite.
As the* strong morning breeze eddied through the
building, clearing the gas before it, while Reiland with
tears streaming from his eyes knelt by the body of his
lifelong friend, it lifted from a metal tray upon the
desk scores of fragments of charred paper which
scattered over the room, over the floor and furniture,
over even the couch where the still figure lay, with its
white face drawn and contorted.
Reiland arose and touched his old friend's hand,
his voice breaking. " He has been dead for hours.
Oh, I^wrie!"
He caught to him the trembling, horrified girl, and
she burst into sobs against his shoulder. Then, while
the two men stood beside the dead body of him in
whose charge had been all finances of this great in-
stitution, their eyes met, and in those of Trant was a
silent question. Reddening and paling by turns,
Reiland answered it* " No, Trant, nothing lies behind
this death. Whether it was of purpose or by acci-
dent, no secret, no disgrace, drove htm to it That I
know."
The young man's oddly mismated eyes glowed into
his, questioningly. " We must get President Joslyn,"
Reiland said. " And Margaret," he lifted tM girl's
head from his shoulder, while she shuddered and clung
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 9
to him, " you must go home. Do you fed able to go
home alone, dearie? Everything that is necessary
here shall be done."
She gathered herself together, choked and nodded
Reiland led her to the door, and she hurried away,
sobbing.
While Trant was at the telephone Dr. Reiland swept
the fragments of glass across the sill, and closed the
door and windows.
Already feet were sounding in the corridors; and
the rooms about were fast filling before Trant made
out the president's thin figure bending against the
wind as he hurried across the campus.
Dr. Joslyn's swift glance as Trant opened the door
to him — a glance which, in spite of the student pallor
of his high-boned face, marked the man of action —
considered and comprehended all.
" So it has come to this," he said, sadly. " But —
who laid Lawrie there?" he asked sharply after an
instant
" He laid himself there," Reiland softly replied.
" It was there we found him."
Trant put his finger on a' scratch on the wall paper
made by the sharp corner of the davenport lounge;
the corner was still white with plaster. Plainly, the
lounge had been violently pushed out of its position,
scratching the paper.
Dr. Joslyn's eyes passed on about the room, passed
by Reiland's appeal, met Trant's direct look and fol-
lowed it to the smaller desk beside the dead treasurer's.
He opened the door to his own office.
"When Mr. Harrison comes," he commanded,
lo THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
speaking of Dr. Lawne's secretary and assistant, " tell
him I wish to see him. The treasurer's office will not
be opened this morning."
"Harrison is late," he commented, as he returned
to the others. " He usually is here by seven-thirty.
We must notify Branower also," He picked up the
telephone and called Branower, the president of the
board of trustees, asking him merely to come to the
treasurer's office at once.
" Now give me the particulars," the president said,
turning to Trant.
"They are all before you," Trant replied briefly.
" The room was filled with gas. These four outlets
of the fixture were turned full on. And besides," he
touched now with his fingers four tips with composi-
tion ends to regulate the flow, which lay upon the ta-
ble, " these tips had been removed, probably with these
pincers that lie beside them. Where the nippers came
from I do not know."
" They belong here," Joslyn answered, absently.
" Lawrie had the tinkering habit." He opened a
lower desk drawer, filled with tools and nails and
screws, and dropped the nippers into it.
"The door was locked inside?" inquired the pres-
ident.
" Yes, it is a spring lock," Trant answered.
" And he had been burning papers." The presi-
dent pointed quietly to the metal tray.
Dr. Reiland winced.
" Some one had been burning papers," Trant softly
interpolated.
" Some one? " The president looked up sharply.
THE MAN IN THE ROOU II
" These ashes were aU in the tray, I think," Trant
contented himself with answering. " They scattered
when I opened the windows."
Joslyn hfted a stiletto letter-opener {rom the desk
and tried to separate, so as to read, the carbonized
ashes left in the tray. They fell into a thousand
pieces ; and as he gave up the hopeless attempt to de-
cipher the writing on them, suddenly the young as-
sistant bent before the couch, slipped his hand under
the body, and drew out a crumpled paper. It was a
recently canceled note for twenty thousand dollars
drawn on the University regularly and signed by Dr.
Lawrie, as treasurer. But as the young psychologist
started to study it more closely. President Joslyn's hand
closed over it and took it from Trant's grasp. The
president himself merely glanced at it; then, with
whitening face, folded it carefully and put it in hts
pocket.
" What is the matter, Joslyn? " Dr. Reiland started
up.
"A note," the president answered shortly. He
took a turn or two nervously up and down the room,
paused and stared down at the face of the man upon
the couch; then turned almost pityingly to the old pro- '
fessor,
" Reiland," he said compassionately, " I must tell
you that this shocking affair is not the surprise to me
that it seems to have been to you. I have known for
two weeks, and Branbwer has known for nearly as
long — for I took him into my confidence — that there
were irregularities in the treasurer's office. I ques-
tioned Lawrie about it when' I first stumbled upon the
12 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
evidence. To my surprise, Lawrie — one of my old-
est personal friends and certainly the man of all men
in whose perfect honesty I trusted most implicitly — re-
fused to reply to my questions. He would neither
admit nor deny the truth of my accusations; and he
begged me almost tearfully to say nothing about the
matter until the meeting of the trustees to-morrow-
night. I understood from him that at, or before, the
trustees' meeting he would have an explanation to
make to me ; I did not dream, Reiland, that he would
make instead this " — he motioned to the figure on the
couch, " this confession ! This note," he nervously
unfolded the paper again, " is drawn for twenty thou-
sand dollars. I recall the circumstances of it clearly,
Reiland; and I remember that it was authorized by
the trustees for two thousand dollars, not twenty."
" But it has been canceled. See, he paid it I And
these," the old professor pointed in protest to the ashes
in the tray, " if these, too, were notes — raised, as you
clearly accuse — ■ he must have paid them. They were
returned."
" Paid? YesI " Dr. Joslyn's voice rang accusingly.
"Paid from the university funds! The examination
which I made personally of his books, unknown to
Lawrie — for I could not confess at first to my old
friend the suspicions I held against him — showed that
he had methodically entered the notes at the amounts
we authorized, and later entered them again at their
face amounts as he paid them. The total discrepancy
exceeds one hundred thousand dollars ! "
"Hush I" Reiland was upon him. "Hush."
The morning was advancing. The halls resounded
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 1 3
with the tread of students passing to recitation rooms.
Trant's eyes had registered all the room, and now
measured Joslyn and Dr. Reiland. Tliey had ceased
to be trusted nien and friends of his as, with the
quick analysis that the old professor had so admired
in his young assistant, he incorporated them in his
problem.
* Who filled this out ? " Trant had taken the pa-
per from the hand of the president and asked this
question suddenly.
" Harrison. It was the custom. The signature is
Lawrie's, and the note is regular. Oh, there can be
no doubt, Reiland I "
" No, no I " the old man objected. " James Lawrie
was not a thief 1 "
" How else can it be? The tips taken from the fix-
ture, the keyhole plugged with paper, the shutters — •
never closed before for ten years — fastened within,
the door locked 1 Burned notes, the single one left
signed in his own' hand 1 And all this on the very
day before his books must have been presented to the
trustees ! You must face it, Reiland — you, who have
been closer to Lawrie than any other man — face it as
I do ! Lawrie is a suicide — a hundred thousand dol-
lars short in his accounts I"
" I have been close to him," the old man answered
bravely. " You and I, Joslyn, were almost his only
friends. Lawrie's life has been open as the day ; and
we at least should know that there can have been no
disgraceful reason for his death.
" Luther," the old professor turned, stretching out
his hands pleadingly to his young assistant, as he saw
14 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
that the face of the president did not soften, " Do you,
too, beUeve this? It is not so! Oh, my boy, just be-
fore this terrible thing, you were telling me of the
new training which could be used to clear the innocent
and prove the guilty. I thought it braggadocio. I
scoffed at your ideas. But if your words were truth,
now prove them. Take this shame from this inno-
cent man."
The young man sprang to his friend as he tottered.
" Dr. Reitand, I shall clear him I " he promised wildly.
" I shall prove, I swear, not only that Dr. Lawrie was
not a thief, but — he was not even a suicide ! "
" What madness is this, Trant," the president de-
manded impatiently, " when the facts are so plain be-
fore us?"
" So plain, Dr. Joslyn? Yes," the young man re-
joined, " very plain indeed — the fact that before the
papers were burned, before the gas was turned on or
the tips taken from the "fixture, before that door was
slammed and the sprii^ lock fasterted it from the out-
side — Dr. Lawrie was dead and was laid upon that
lounge!"
" What ? What — what, Trant ? " Reiland and the
president exclaimed together. But the young man
addressed himself only to the president.
" You yourself, sir, before we told you how we
found him, saw that Dr. Lawrie had not himself lain
down, but had been laid upon the lounge. He is not
light; some one almost dropped him there, since the
edge of the lounge cut the plaster on the wall. The sin-
gle note not burned lay under his body, where it coidd
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THE MAN IN THE ROOM IS
scarcely have escaped if the notes were burned first;
where it would most surely have been overlooked if
the body already lay there. Gas would not be pour-
ing out during the burning, so the tips were probably
taken off later. It must have struck you how theatric
all this is, that some one has thought of its effect, that
some one has arranged this room, and, leaving Lawrie
dead, has gone away, closing the spring lock — "
" Luther I " Dr. Reiland had risen, his hands
stretched out before him. " You are charging mur-
der!"
" Wait I " Dr. Joslyn was standing by the window,
and his eyes had caught the swift approach of a
limousine automobile which, with its plate glass shim-
mering in the sun; was taking the broad sweep into
the driveway. As it slowed before the entrance, the
president swung back to those in the room.
" We two," he said, " were Lawrie's nearest friends
— he had but one other. Branower is conaing now.
Go down and prepare him, Trant. His wife is with
him. She must not come up."
Trant hurried down without comment. Through
the window of the car he could see the profile of a
woman, and beyond it the broad, powerful face of a
man, with sandy beard parted and brushed after a for-
eign fashiotL Branower had succeeded his father as
president of the board of trustees of the university.
At least half a dozen of the surrounding buildings had
been erected by the elder Branower, and practically
his entire fortune had been bequeathed to the uni-
versity.
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l6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TilANT
" Well, Trant, what is it? " the trastee asked. He
had opened the door of the limousine and was prepar-
ing to descend.
" Mr. Branower," Trant replied, " Dr. Lawrie was
found this morning dead in his office."
" Dead? This morning? " A muddy grayness ap-
peared under the flush of Branower's cheeks. " Why I
I was coming to see him — even before I heard from
Joslya What was the cause ? ".
" The room was filled with gas."
" Asphyxiation I "
" An accident ? " the woman asked, leaning forward.
Even a$ she whitened with the horror of this news,
Trant found himself wondering at her beauty. Every
feature was so perfect, so flawless, and her manner
so sweet and full of charm that, at this first close sight
of her, Trant found himself excusing and approving
Branower's' marriage. She was an unknown Amer-
ican girl, whom Branower had met in Paris and had
.brought back to reign socially over this proud university
suburb where his father's friends and associates had
had to accept her and — criticise.
" Dr. Lawrie asphyxiated," she repeated, " accident-
ally, Mr. Trant?"
" We — hope so, Mrs. Branower."
" There is no clew to the perpetrator? "
" Why, if it was an accident, Mrs. Branower, thece
was no perpetrator."
"Coral" Branower ejaculated.
" How silly of me ! " She flushed prettily. " But
Dr. Lawrie's lovely daughter; what a shock to her! "
Branower touched Trant upon the arm. After his
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 17
6rst personal shock, he had become at once a trustee —
the trustee of the university whose treasurer lay dead
in his office just as his accounts were to be submitted
to the board. He dismissed his wife hurriedly.
" Now, Trant, let us go up."
President Joslyo met Branower's grasp mechanically
and acquainted the president of the trustees, almost
curtly, with the facts as he had found them.
Then the eyes of the two men met significantly.
" It seems, Joslyn," Branower used almost the same
words that Joslyn had used just before his arrival,
"like a — confession! It is suicide?" the president
of the trustees was revolting at the charge.
" I can see no other solution," the president
replied, " though Mr. Trant — "
" And I might have saved this, at least ! " The trus-
tee's face had grown white as he looked down at the
man on the couch. " Oh, Lawrie, why di3 I put you
off to the last moment ? " »
He turned, fumbling in his pocket for a letter. " He
sent this Saturday," he confessed, pitifully. "I
^ould have come to him at once, but I could not sus-
pect this."
Joslyn read the letter through with a look of in-
creased conviction. It was in the clear hand of the
dead treasurer. " This settles all," he said, decidedly,
and he re-read it aloud:
Dear Branower: I pray you, as you have pity for a
man with sixty years of probity behind him facing dishonor
and disgrace, to come to me at the earliest possible hour.
Do not, I pray, delay later than Monday, I implore you.
Jahb8 Lawuk.
U;.t.z=dbvGOOg["C
l8 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Dr. Reiland buried his face in his hands, and Jos-
lyn turned to Trant. On the young man's face was
a look of deep perplexity.
"When did you get that, Mr. Branower?" Trant
asked, finaUy.
" He wrote it Saturday morning. It was delivered
to my nouse Saturday afternoon. But I was motor-
ing with my wife. I did not get it until I returned
late Sunday afternoon."
" Then you could not have come much sooner."
" No; yet I might have done something if I had sus-
pected that behind this letter was hidden his determina-
tion to commit suicide."
" Not suicide, Mr. Branower I " Trant interrupted
curtly.
"What?"
" Look at his face. It is white and drawn. If as-
phyxiated, it would be blue, swollen. Before the gas
was turned on he was dead — struck dead — "
"Struck dead? By whom?"
" By the man in this room last night ! By the man
who burned those notes, plugged the keyhole, turned
on the gas, arranged the rest of these theatricals, atid ■
went away to leave Dr. Lawrie a thief and a suicide
to — protect himself! Two men had access to the
university funds, handled these notes! One lies be-
fore us ; and the man in this room last night, I should
say, was the other — " he glanced at the clock — " the
man who at the hour of nine has not yet appeared at
his office ! "
"Harrison?" cried Joslyn and Reiland together.
" Yes, Harrison," Trant answered, stoutly. " I cer-
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 1$
tainly prefer him for the man in the room last night."
" Harrison ? " Branower repeated, conte^^)tuou8ly.
" Impossible."
" How impossible? " Trant asked, defiantly.
" Because Harrison, Mr. Trant," the president of
the trustees rejoined, " was struck senseless at Elgin
in an automobile accident Saturday noon. He has
been in the Elgin hospital, scarcely conscious, ever
since,"
" How did you learn that, Mr. Branower? "
" I have helped many young men to positions here.
Harrison was one. Because of that, I suppose, he
filled in my name on the ' whom to notify ' line of a
personal identification card he carried. The hospital
doctors notified me just as I was leaving home in my
car. I saw him at the Elgin hospital that after-
noon."
Young Trant stared into the steady ^es of the pres-
ident of the trustees. " Then Harrison could not have
been the man in the room last night. Do you re-
alize what that implies ? " he asked, whitening. " I
preferred, I said, to fix him as Harrison. That would
keep both Dr. Lawrie from being the thief and any
close personal intimate of his from being the man who
struck him dead here last night But with Harrison not
here, the treasurer himself must have known all the
particulars of this crime," he struck the canceled note
in his hand, " and been concealing it for — that close
friend of his who came here with him. You see how
very -terribly it simplifies our problem ? It was some
one close enough to Lawrie to cause him to conceal the
thing as long as he could, and some one intimate
[t;.i....j by Google
20 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
enough to know of the treasurer's tinkering habits, so
that, even in great haste, he could think at once of
the gas nippers in Lawrie's private tool drawer. Gen-
tlemen," the your^ assistant tensely added, " I must
ask you which of you three was the one in this room
with Dr. Lawrie last night ? "
"Whatl" The word in three different cadences
burst from their lips — amazement, anger, threat.
He lifted a shaking hand to stop them.
" I realize," he went on more quickly, " that, after
havii^ suggested one charge and having it shown
false, I am now making a far more serious one, which,
if I cannot prove it, must cost me my position here.
But I make it now again, directly. One of you three
was in this room with Dr. Lawrie last night. Which
one? I could tell within the hour if I could take you
successively to the psychological laboratory and sub-
mit you to a test. But, perhaps I need not. Even
without that, I hope soon to be able to tell the other
two, for which of you Dr. Lawrie concerned himself
with this crime, and who it was that jn return struck
him dead Sunday night and left him to bear a double
disgrace as a suicide."
The young psychologist stood an instant gazing into
their startled faces, half frightened at his own
temerity in charging thus the three most respected men
in the university; then, as President Joslyn eyed him
sternly, he caught again the enthusiasm of his reason-
ing, and flushed and paled.
" One of you, at least, knows that I speak the
truth," he said, determinedly; and without a back-
L);.i....jbvGooglc
THE MAN m THE ROOM 21
ward look he burst from the room and, running down
the steps, left the campus.
It was five o'clock that afternoon, when Trant
rang the bell at Dr. Joslyn's door. He saw that Mr.
Branower and Dr. Reiland had been taken into the
president's private study before him ; and that the man-
ner of all three was less stern toward him than he had
expected.
" Dr. Reiland and Mr. Branower have come to hear
the coroner's report to me," Joslyn explained. " The
physicians say Lawrie did not die from asphyxiation.
An autopsy to-morrow will show the cause of his
death. But, at least, Trant — you made accusations
this morning which can have no foundation in truth,
but in part of what you said you must have been cor-
rect; for obviously some other person was in the
room."
" But not Harrison," Trant replied. " I have just
come from Elgin, where, though I was not allowed to
speak with him, I saw him in the hospital."
" You doubted- he was there ? " Branower asked.
"I wanted to make sure, Mr, Branower. And I
have traced the notes, too," the young man continued.
" All were made out as usual, signed regularly by Dr.
Lawrie and paid by him personally, upon maturity,
from the university reserve. So I have made only
more certain that the man in the room must have
been one of Dr. Lawrie's closest friends. I came back
and saw Margaret Lawrie."
Reiland's eyes filled with tears. " This terrible
thing, with her unfortunate presence with us at the
Dgitiz^dbv Google
22 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OP LUTHER TRANT .
finding of her father's body, has prostrated poor Mar
garet," he said.
" I found it so," Trant rejoined. " Her memory is
temporarily destroyed, I could make her comprehend
little. Yet she knows only of her father's death ; noth-
ing at all has been said to her of the suspicions against
him. Does his death alone seem cause enough for her
prostration? More likely, I think, it points to some
guilty kaowledge of her father's trouble and whom he
was protecting. If so, her very condition makes it
impossible for her to conceal those guilty associations
under examination."
" Guilty associations? " Dr. Reiland rose nerv-
ously. " Do you mean, Trant, that you think Mar-
garet knows anything of the loss of this money? Oh,
no, no ; it is impossible ! "
" It would at any rate account for her prostration,"
the assistant repeated quietly, " and I have determined
to make a test of her for association with her father's
guilt. I will use in this case, Dr. Reiland, only the
simple association of words — Freud's method."
" How ? What do you mean ? " Branower and Jos-
lyn exclaimed.
" It is a method for getting at the concealed causes
of mental disturbance. It is especially useful in
diagnosing cases of insanity or mental breakdown from
insufficiently known causes.
" We have a machine, the chronoscope," Trant con-
tinued, as the others waited, interrogatively, " which
registers the time to a thousandth part of a second, if
necessary. The German physicians merely speak a
series of words which may arouse in the patient ideas
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 23
that are at the bottom of his insanity. Those words
which are connected with the trouble cause deeper feel-
ing in the subject and are marked by longer intervals
of time before the word in reply can be spoken. The
nature of the word spoken by the patient often clears
the causes for his mental agitation or prostration.
" In this case, if Margaret Lawrie had reason to be-
lieve that any one of you were closely associated with
her father's trouble, the speaking of that one's name
or the mentioning of anything connected with that
one, must betray an easily registered and decidedly
measurable disturbance."
" I have heard of this," Joslyn commented.
" Excellent," the president of the trustees agreed,
" if Margaret's physician does not object."
" I have already spoken with him," Trant replied.
" Can I expect you all at Dr. Lawrie's to-morrow
morning when I test Margaret to discover the identity
of the intimate friend who caused the crime charged to
her father?"
Dr. Lawrie's three dearest friends nodded in turn.
Trant came early the next morning to the dead treas-
urer's house to set up the chronoscope in the spare bed-
room next to Margaret Lawrie's.
The instrument he had decided to use was the pendu-
lum chronoscope, as adapted by Professor Fitz of
Harvard University. It somewhat resembled a brass
dumb-bell very delicately poised upon an axle so that
the lower part, which was heavier, could swing slowly
back and forth like a pendulum. A light, sharp
pointer paralleled this pendulum. The weight, when
Dgitiz^dbv Google
24 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
started, swung to and fro in the arc of a circle; the
pointer swung beside it. But the pointer, after start-
ing to swing, could be instantaneously stopped by an
electro-magnet. This magnet was connected with a
battery and wires led from it to the two instruments
used in the test The first pair of wires connected
with two bits of steel which Trant, in conducting the
test, would hold between his lips. The least motion of
his lips to enunciate a word would break the electric
circuit and start swinging the pendulum and the pointer
beside it. The second pair of wires led to a sort of
telephone receiver. When Margaret would reply into
this, it woidd close the circuit and instantaneously the
electro-magnet clamped and held the pointer. A
scale along which the pointer traveled gave, down to
thousandths of a second, the time between the speak-
ing of the suggesting word and the first associated
word replied.
Trant had this instrument set up and tested before
he had to turn and admit Dr. Reiland.- Mr. Branower
and President Josls'n soon joined them, and a mo-
ment after a nurse entered supporting Margaret Law-
rie. Dr. Reiland himself scarcely recognized her as
the same ^rl who had come running across the campus
to them only the morning before. Her whole life
had been centered on the father so suddenfy taken
away.
Trant nodded to the nurse, who withdrew. He
looked to Dr. Reiland.
" Please be sure that she understands," he said,
softly. The older man bent over the girl, who had
been placed upon the bed.
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 2$
" Margaret," he said tenderly, " we know you can-
not speak well this morning, my dear, and that you
cannot think very clearly. We shall not ask you to
do much. Mr. Trant is merely going to say some
words to you slowly, one word at a time; and we want
you to answer — you need only speak very gently —
anything at all, any word at all, my dear, which you
think of first I will hold this little horn over you to
speak into. Do you understand, my dear?"
The big eyes closed in assent The others drew
nervously nearer. Reitand took the receiving drum
at the end .of the second set of wires and held it be-
fore the girl's lips. Trant picked up the mouth metals
attached to the starting wires.
" We may as well begin at once," Trant said, as he
seated himself beside the table which held the chrono-
scope and took a pencil to write upon a pad of paper
the words he suggested, the words associated and the
time elapsing. Then he put his mouthpiece between
his lips.
" Dress I " he enunciated clearly. The pendulum,
released by the magnet, started to swing. The pointer
swung beside it in an arc along the scale. " Skirt! "
Miss Lawrie answered, feebly, into the drum at her
lips. The current caught the pointer instantaneously,
and Trant noted the result thus :
Dress — 2.7 seconds — skirt.
" Dog I " Trant spoke, and started the pointer again.
" Cat ! " the girl answered and stopped it Trant
wrote ;
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26 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Dog — 2.6 seconds — cat
A faint smile appeared on the faces of Mr. Bran-
ower and Dr. Joslyn, but Reiland knew that his young
assistant was merely establishing the normal time of
Margaret's associations through words without prob-
able connection with any disturbance in her mind.
" Home," Trant said ; and it was five and two-tenths
seconds before he could write " father." Reiland
moved, sympathetically, but the other men still watched
without seeing any significance in the time extension.
Trant waited a moment, "Money!" he said, sud-
denly. - Dr. Reiland watched the swinging pointer
tremblingly. But " purse " from Margaret stopped it
before it had registered more than her established nor-
mal time for innocent associations.
Money — 2.7 seconds — purse.
"Note!" Trant said, suddenly; and, "letter" he
wrote again in two and six-tenths seconds.
Dr. Jodyn moved impatiently; and Trant brusquely
pulled his chair nearer the table. The chair legs
rasped on the hard-wood floor. Margaret shivered
and, when Trant tried her with the next words, she
merely repeated them. President Joslyn moved again.
"Cannot you proceed, Trant?" he asked.
" Not unless we can make her understand again,
sir," the young man answered. " But I think, Dr.
Joslyn, if you would show her what we mean — not
merely try to explain again — we might go on. I
mean, when I say the next word, will you take the
Dgitiz^dbv Google
" Miss Lawrie answered feebly
.dbv Google
.dbv Google
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 27
mouthpiece from Dr. Reiland and speak into it some
different one?"
" Very well," the president agreed, impatiently, " if
you think it will do ai^ good."
"Thank you!" Trant replaced his mouthpieces.
" October I " He named the month just ended. The
pointer started. " Recitations ! " the president of the
university answered in one and nine-tenths seconds.
" Thank you. Now for Miss * Lawrie, Dr.
Reiland!"
"Steall" he tried; and the girl associated "iron"
in two and seven-tenths seconds.
" Good! " Trant exclaimed. " If you will show her
again, I think we can go ahead. Fourteenth I " he
said to the president. Josl)^ replied " fifteenth " in
precisely two seconds and passed the drum back. All
watched Miss Lawrie. But again Trant rasped care-
lessly his chair upon the floor and the girl merely re-
peated the next words. Reiland was unable to make
her understand. Joslyn tried to help, Branower
shook his head skeptically. But Trant turned to him.
" Mr. Branower, you can help me, I believe, if you
will take Dr. Joslyn's place. I beg your pardon. Dr.
Joslyn, but I am sure your nervousness prevents you
from helping now."
Branower hesitated a moment, skeptically; then,
smiling, acquiesced and took up the drum. Trant re-
placed his mouthpieces.
" Blow ! " he said. " Wind ! " Branower answered,
quietly. Trant mechanically noted the time, two sec-
onds, for all were intent upon the next trial with the
girL
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38 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"Books!" Trant said. "Library I" said the prl,
now able to associate the different words and in her
minimum time of two and a half seconds.
"I think we are going again," said Trant. "If
you will keep on, Mr. Branower. Strike!" he ex-
claimed, to start the pointer. " Lalxjr trouble,"
Branower returned in just under two seconds; and
again he guided the girl. For " conceal " she an-
swered " hide ". at once. Then Trant tested rapidly
this series:
Margaret, conceal — 2.6 — hide.
Branower, figure — 2.1 — shape.
Margaret, thief — 2.8 — silver.
Branower, twenty-fifth — 4.5 — twenty-sixth.
" Joslyn ! " Trant tried an intelligible test word
suddenly. He had just suggested " thief " to the
girl; now he named her father's friend, the president
of the university. But " friend " she was able to as-
sociate in two and six-tenths seconds. Trant sank
back and wrote this series without comment :
Margaret, Joslyn — 2.6 — friend.
Branower, wife — 4.4 — Cora.
Margaret, secret — 2.7 — Alice.
Trant glanced up, surprised, considered a moment,
but then bowed to Mr. Branower to guide the girl
again, saying " wound," to which he wrote the reply
" no," after four and six-tenths seconds. Immedi-
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 29
ately Trant made the second direct and intelligible
test.
" Branower I " he shot, suggestively, to the girl ; but
" friend " she was again able to associate at once.
As the moment before the president of the trustees had
glanced at Joslyu, now the president of the University
nodded to Branower. Trant continued his list rap-
idly:
Margaret, Branower — 2.7 — friend.
% Branower, letter-opener — 4.9 — desk.
" Father I " Trant tried next. But from this there
came no association, as the emotion was too deep.
Trant, recognizing this, nodded to Mr. Branower to
start the next test, and wrote :
Margaret, father — no association.
Branower, Harrison — 5.3 — Cleveland.
Margaret, university — 2.5 — study.
Branower, married — 2, i — wife.
Margaret, expose — 2.6 — camera.
Branower, brother — 4.9 — sister.
Margaret, sink — 2.7 — kitchen.
Branower, collapse — 4.8 — ballooa
" Reiland ! " Trant said to the girl at last. It was
as if he had put off the trial for his own old friend as
long as he could. Yet if anyone had been watching
him, they would have noted now the quick flash of his
mismated eyes. But all eyes were upon the swinging
Dgitiz^dbv Google
30 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
pointer of the chronoscope which, at the mention of
her father's best and oldest friend in that way, Mar-
garet was unable to stop. One full second it swung,
two, three, four, five, six —
The young assistant in psychology picked up his
papers and arose. He went to the door and called in
the nurse from the next room. " That is all, gentle-
men," he said. " Shall we go down to the study? "
" Well, Trant ? " President Joslyn demanded impa-
tiently, as the four filed into the room below, which
had been Dr. Lawrie's. " You act as if you had dis-
covered some clew. What is it?"
Trant was closing the door carefully, when a sur-
prised exclamation made him turn.
"Cora!" Mr. Branower exclaimed; "you here?
Oh ! You came to see poor Margaret I "
" I couldn't stay home thinking of you torturing her
so this momingl " The beautiful woman swept their
faces with a glance of anxious inquiry.
" I told Cora last night something about our test,
Joslyn," Branower explained, leading his wife toward
the door. " You can go up to Margaret now, my
dear."
She seemed to resist. Trant fixed his eyes upon
her, speculatively.
" I see no reason for sending Mrs. Branower away
if she wishes to stay and hear with us the results of
our test which Dr. Reiland is about to give us." Trant
turned to the old professor and handed him the sheets
upon which he had written his record.
" Now, Dr. Reiland, please I Will you explain to
us what these tell you?"
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 31
Dr. Joslyn's hands clenched and Branower drew to-
ward his wife as Reiland took the papers and exam-
ined them earnestly. But the old professor raised a
puzzled face.
" Luther," he appealed, " to me these show noth-
ing! Margaret's normal association-time for imio-
cent words, as you established at the start, is about two
and one-half seconds. She did not exceed that in
ai^ of the words with guilty associations which you
put to her. From these results, I should say, it is sd-
entificalty impossible that she even knows her father is
accused. Her replies indicate nothing unless — un-
less," he paused, painfully, "because she could asso-
ciate nothing with my name you consider that im-
plies — "
" That you are so close to her that at your name,
as at the name of her father, the emotion was very
deep. Dr. Reiland," the young man interrupted. " But
do not look only at Margaret's associations! Tell us,
instead, what Dr. Joslyn's and Mr. Branower's show ! "
*' Dr. Joslyn's and Mr. Branower's ? "
" Yes ! For they show, do they not — uncon-
sciously, but scientifically and quite irrefutably — that
Dr. Joslyn could not possibly have been concerned in
any way with those notes, part of which were due and
paid upon the fourteenth of October; but that Mr.
Branower has a far from innocent association with
them, and with the twenty-fifth of the month, on which
the rest were paid ! "
He swung toward the trustee. " So, Mr. Bran-
ower, you were the man in the room Sunday night!
You, to save the rascal Harrison, your wife's brother
32 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
and the real thief, struck Dr. Lawrie dead in his office,
burned the raised notes, turned on the gas and left him
to seem a suicide and a thief ! "
For the second time within twenty-four hours, Trant
held Dr. Reiland and the president of the imiversity as-
tounded before him. But Branower gave'Jn ugly
laugh.
"If you could not spare me, you mij^t at least
have spared my wife this last raving accusation!
Come, Cora ! " he commanded.
" I thought you might control yourself, Mr. Bran-
ower," Trant returned. " And when I saw your wife
wished to stay I thought I might keep her to convince
even President Joslyn, You see ? " he quietly indi-
cated Mrs. Branower as she fell, white and shaking,
into a chair. " Do not think that I would have told
it in this way if these facts were new to her. I was
sure the only surprise to her would be that we knew
them."
Branower bent to his wife; but she straightened
and recovered,
" Mr. Branower," Trant continued then, " if you
will excuse chance errors, I will make a fuller state-
ment.
" 1 shoiUd say, first, that since you kept his relation-
ship a secret, this Harrison, your wife's brother, was
a rascal before he came here. Still you procured him
his position in the treasurer's office, where he soon
began to steal. It was very easy. Dr. Lawrie merely
signed notes; Harrison made them out. He could
make them out in erasable ink and raise them after
they were signed, or in any other simple way. Suf-
L);.I....J by Google
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 33
fice it that he did raise them and stole one hundred
thousand dollars. When the notes were presented for
payment, the matter was laid before you. You must
have promised Dr. Lawrie to make up the loss, for he
paid the notes and entered the payment in his books.
Then tte time came when the books must be presented
for audit. Lawrie wrote that last appeal to you to
put off the settlement no lor^r. But before the letter
was delivered you and Mrs. Branower had hurried off
to Elgin to see this Harrison, who was hurt. You
got back Sunday evening and read Dr. Lawrie's note.
You went to him ; and, unable to make payment, there
in his office you struck him dead — "
But Branower was upon him with a harsh cry.
"You devil I You — devill But you lie I I did
not kill him I"
"With a blow? Oh, not You raised no hand
against him. But his heart was weak. At your re-
fusal to carry out your promise, which meant his ruin,
he collapsed before you — dead. Do you wish to con-
tinue the statement now yourself?"
The wife gathered herself. " It is not sol No! "
she forbade, " no I " But Branower turned on Presi-
dent Joslyn a haggard face.
"Is this true?" the president demanded sternly.
Branower buried his face in his hands.
" I will tell you all," he said thickly. " Harrison,
as this fellow found out somehow, is my wife's brother.
He has always been reckless, wild ; but she — Cora, do
not stop me now — loved him and clung to him as —
as a sister sometimes clings to such a brother. They
were alone in the world, Joslyn. She married me only
34 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
on condition that I save and protect him. He de-
manded a position here. I hesitated. His life had
been one long scandal; but never before had he been
dishonest with money. Finally I made it a condition
to keep his relationship secret, and sent for him. I
myself first discovered he had raised the notes, weeks
before you came to me with the evidence you had dis-
covered that something was wrong in the treasurer's
office. As soon as I found it out, I went to Lawrie.
He agreed to keep Harrison about the office until I
could remove him quietly. He paid the notes from
the university reserve, just raised, upon my promise
to make it up. David had lost all speculating in stocks.
I could not pay this tremendous amount in cash at
once ; but the books were to be audited. Lawrie, who
had expected immediate repayment from me, would
not even once present a false statement. In our argu-
ment his heart gave out — I did not know it was weak
— and he collapsed in his chair — dead."
Dr. Reiland groaned, wringing his hands.
" Oh, Professor Reiland ! " Mrs. Branower cried
now. " He has not told everything. I — I had fol-
lowed him ! "
" You followed him ? " Trant cried. " Ah, of
course I "
" I thought — I told him," the wife burst on, " this
had happened by Providence to save David ! "
" Then it was you who suggested to him to leave
the stiletto letter opener in Lawrie's hand as an evi-
dence of suicide ! " .
Branower and his wife both stared at Trant in fresh
terror.
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THE MAN IN THE ROOM 35
" But you, Mr. Branower," Tnint went on, " not
being a woman with a precious brother to save, could
not think of making a wound. You thouj^t of the
gas. Of course ! But it was inexcusable in me not to
test for Mrs. Branower's presence. It was her odd
mental association of a perpetrator with the news of
the suspected suicide that first aroused my suspicions."
He turned as though the matter were finished; but
met Dr. Joslyn's perplexed eyes. The end attained
was plain; but to the president of the university the
road by which they had come was dark as ever.
Branower had taken his wife into another room. He
returned.
*' Dr. Joslyn," said Trant, " it is scientifically im-
possible — as any psychologist will tell you — for a
person who associates the first suggested idea in two
and one-half seconds, like Margaret, to substitute an-
other without almost doubling the time interval.
" Observe Margaret's replies. ' Iron ' followed
' steal ' as quickly as ' cat ' followed ' dog.' ' Silver,'
the thing a woman first thinks of in connection with
burglary, was the first association she had with ' thief.'
No possible guilty thought there. No guilty secret
connected with her father prevented her from associat-
ing, in her regular time, some girl's secret with Alice
Seaton next door. I saw her innocence at once and
continued questioning her merely to avoid a more
formal examination of the others. I rasped my chair
over the floor to disturb her nerves, therefore, and got
you into the test.
" The first two tests of you. Dr. Joslyn, showed that
you had no association with the notes. The date half
36 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
of them came due meant nothing to you. ' October '
suggested only recitations and ' fourteenth ' pennitted
you to associate simply the succeeding day in an en-
tirely unsuspicious time, I substituted Mr. Branower.
I had explained this system as getting results from
persons with poor mental resistance. I had not men-
tioned it as even surer of results when the person
tested is in full control of his faculties, even suspicious
and trying to prevent betraying himself. Mr. Bran-
ower clearly thought he could guard himself from giv-
ing me anything. Now notice his replies.
" The twenty-fifth, the day most of the notes were
due, meant so much that it took double the time, be-
fore he could drive cut his first suspicious association,
merely to say ' twenty -sixth.' I told you I suspected
his wife was at least cognizant of something wrong.
It took him twice the necessary time to say ' Cora '
after ' wife ' was mentioned. He gave the first asso-
ciation, but the chronoscope registered mercilessly that
he had to think it over. ' Wound ' then brought the
remarkable association ' no ' at the end of four and six-
tenths seconds. There was no wound ; but something
had made it so that he had to think it over to see if it
was suspicious. When I first saw that dagger let-
ter opener on Dr. Lawrie's desk, I thought that if a
man were trying to make it seem suicide, he must at
least have thought of using the dagger before the gas.
Now note the next test, ' Harrison.' Any innocent
..man, not overdoing it, would have answered at once
the name of the Harrison immediately in all our minds.
Mr. Branower thought of him first, of course, and
I
THE MAN IN THE ROOM 37
could have answered in two seconds. To drive out
that and think of President Harrison so as to give a
seemingly ' innocent ' association, ' Cleveland,' took
him over five seconds. I then went for the hold of this
Harrison, probably, upon Mrs. Branower. I tried for
it twice. The second trial, ' brother,' made him think
again for five seconds, practically, before he couJd de-
cide that sister was not a guilty word to give. As
the first words ' blow ' only brought ' wind ' in two
seconds and ' strike ' suggested ' labor ' at once, I knew
he could not have struck Dr. Lawrie a blow ; and my
last words showed, indeed, that Lawrie probably col-
lapsed before him. And I was done."
Dr. Joslyn was pacing the room with rapid steps.
" It is plain. Branower, you offer nothing in your de-
fense ? "
" There is nothing."
" There is much. The university owes a great debt
to your father. The autopsy will show conclusively
that Dr. Lawrie died of heart failure. The other facts
are private with ourselves. You can restore this
money. Its absence I will reveal only to the trus-
tees- I shall present to them at the same time your
resignation from the board."
He turned to Trant. " But this secrecy, young man, .
will deprive you of the reputation you might have
gained through the really remarkable method you used
throu^ this investigatioa"
" It makes no difference," Trant answered, " if you
will give me a short leave from the university. As I
mentioned to Dr. Reiland yesterday, the prosecuting at-
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38 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
torney of Chicago was murdered two weeks ago. Six-
teen men — one of them surely guilty — are held ; but
the criminal cannot be picked among them. I wish
to try the scientific psychology again. If I succeed, I
shall resign and keep after crime — in the new way I "
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THE FAST WATCH
Police Captain Crowley — red-headed, alert, brave
— stamped into the North Side police station an hour
later than usual and in a very bad temper. He glared
defiantly at the row of patrolmen, reporters, and busy-
bodies, elbowed aside his desk sergeant without a word,
and slammed into his private office. The customary
pile of morning papers, flaying him in stinging front-
page columns, covered his desk. He glanced them
over, grunting; then swept them to the floor and let
himself drop heavily into his chair.
" He's got to be guilty I " The big fist struck the
table top desperately. " It's got to be," the hoarse
voice iterated determinedly — "him!" He had
checked the last word as the door swung open, only
to utter it more forcibly as he recognized the desk
sergeant.
" Kanlan, eh, Ed?" the desk sergeant ventured.
" You have him at Harrison Street station again the
boys tell me,"
" Yes, we have him."
" You got nothing out of him yet? "
" No, nothing — yet ! "
"But you think it's him?"
"Who said anything about thinking?" Crowley
glanced to see that the door was shut " I said it's
39
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40 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
got to be him! And — it's got to, whether or no,
ain't it?"
A month before, Randolph Bronson — the city pros-
ecuting attorney for whose unpunished murder Crow-
ley was under fire — had dared to try to break up
and send to the penitentiary the sixteen men who
formed the most notorious and dangerous gambling
" ring " in the city. It grew certain that some of the
sixteen would stick at nothing to put the prosecutor
out of the way. The chief of police particularly
charged Crowley, therefore, to see to Bronson's safety
in the North Side precinct, where the young attor-
ney boarded. But Crowley had failed; for within
twelve days of the warning, early one morning, Bran-
son had been found dead a block from his boarding
house — murdered. Crowley had been unable to fix
a clew upon a single one of the sixteen. He had con-
fidently arrested them all at once, but after his stiffest
" third degree " had to release them. Now, in des-
peration, he had rearrested Kanlan.
" Sure," said the desk sergeant, " Kanlan or some
one's got to be guilty soon — whether or no. But if
you ain't got the goods on Kanlan yet, maybe you'd
want to talk to a lad that's waiting in front."
"Who is he? What does he know?"
" Trant's his name — from the university, he says.
And he says he can pick our man."
" What is he — student ? "
" He says some sort of perfesser."
" Professor ! " Crowley half turned away.
" Not that kind, Ed." The desk sergeant bent one
arm and tapped his biceps. " He's got plenty of this;
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THE FAST WATCH 41
and he's got hair, too " — the sergeant glanced at Crow-
ley's red head — " as red as any, Cap."
" Send him in."
Crowley looked up quickly at Trant when he en-
tered. He saw a young man with hair indeed as
thick and red as his own; and with a figure, for his
more medium height, quite as muscular as any police
officer's. He saw that the young man's blue-gray
eyes were not exact mates — that the ri^t was quite
noticeably more blue than the other, and under it was
a small, pink scar which reddened conspicuously with
the sli^test flush of the face.
"Luther Trant, Captain Crowley," Trant intro-
duced himself. " For two years I have been conduct-
ing experiments in the psychological laboratory of the
imiversity — "
"Psycho — Lord! Another clairvoyant!"
" If the man who killed Bronson is one of Ihe
sixteen men you suspect, and you will let me
examine them, properly, I can pick the murderer at
once."
" Examine them properly I Saints in Heaven, son 1
Say ! that gang needed a stiff drink all round when we
were through examining them ; and never a word or a
move gave a man away I "
" Those men — of course not I " Trant returned
hotly. " For they can hold their tongues and their
faces, and you looked at nothing else I But while you
were examining them, if I, or any other trained psy-
chologist, had had a galvanometer contact against the
palms of their hands, or — "
"A palmist, Lord preserve us I" Crowley cried.
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42 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Say ! don't ever think we needed you. We got our
man yesterday — Kanlan — and we'll have a confes-
sion out of him by night. Sergeant ! " he called, as the
door opened to admit a man, " do you know what you
let in — a palmist ! " But it was not the sergeant who
entered. " A-ah I Inspector Walker I "
" Morning, Crowley," Trant heard the- quiet re-
sponse behind him as he turned. A giant in the uni-
form of an inspector of police almost filled the door-
way.
" Come with me, young man," he said. " Miss Al-
lison was passing with me outside here and we heard
some of what you've been saying. We'd like to hear
more."
Trant looked up at the intelligent face and followed.
A young woman was waiting outside the door. As the
inspector pointed Trant toward a quiet room in the
rear of the building, she followed. Inspector Walker
fastened the door behind them. The girl had seated
herself beside the table in the center, and as she turned
to Trant she raised her veil above her brown, curling
hair, and pinned it over her hat. He recognized her at
once as the girl to whom Bronson had become engaged
barely a week before he had been killed. On her had
fallen all the horrors as well as the grief of Bronson'S.
murder, and Trant did not wonder that the shadow
of that event was visible in her sweet iicp:' But he
read there also another look — a look of apprehension
and defiance.
" I was coming in with Inspector Walker to see
Captain Crowley," the girl explained to Trant, "when
I overheard you telling him that you think this — Kan-
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THE FAST WATCH 43
Ian — couldn't have killed Mr. Bronson. I hope this
is so."
Trant looked to Walker. " Miss Allison's father
was Judge Allison, the truest man who ever sat on the
bench in this city," Walker responded. " His daugh-
ter knows she must not try to prevent us from pun-
ishing a man who murders; but neither of us wants
to believe Kanlan is the man — for good reasons.
Now, what was that you were telling Crowley?"
" I was trying to tell Captain Crowley of a simple
test which must prove Kanlan's guilt or innocence at
once, and, if necessary, then 6nd the guilty man. I
have been conducting experiments to register and meas-
ure the effects and reactions of emotions. A person
under the influence of fear or the stress of guilt must
always betray signs. A hardened man can control all
the signs for which the police ordinarily look ; he can
control his features, prevent his face flushing notice-
ably. But no man, however hardened or trained to
control himself, can prevent many minute changes
which by scientific means are measurable and betray
him hopelessly. No man, however on his guard — to
take the simplest test — can control the sweat glands
in the palms of his hands, which always moisten under
emotion."
"A scared man sweats; that's so," Walker as-
sented.
" So psychologists have devised a simple way of
registering the emotions shown through the glands i-i
the palms of the hand," Trant continued, " by means
of the galvanometer. I have one in the box I left with
the desk sergeant It is merely a device for meas-
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44 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
uring the varying strength of an ordinaiy electric cur-
rent The man tested holds in each band a contact
metal wired to the battery. When he grasps them a
weak and imperceptible current passes through his body
or — if his hands are very dry — perhaps no current
at all. He is then examined and confronted with
circumstances or objects connected with the crime.
If he is innocent, the objects have no significance in
his mind, and cause no emotioa His face betrays
none; neither can his hands. But if he is guilty,
though he still manages to control his face, he can-
not prevent the moisture from flowii^ from the
glands in his palms. Understand me ; I do not mean
an amount of moisture noticeable to the eye, but it is
'enough to make an electric contact through the metals
which he holds — enough to register very plainly upon
the galvanometer, whose moving needle, traveling in
the scale, betrays him pitilessly! "
The inspector shook his head skeptically.
" I recognize that this is new to you," said Trant.
" But I am telling you no theory. Using the galva-
nometer properly, we can this morning determine —
scientifically and irrefutably — whether or not Kanlan
killed Mr. Bronson, and later, if it is not he, which of
the others is the assassin. May I try it?"
Miss Allison, more white than before, had risen,
and laid her hand upon Trant's sleeve.
" Oh, try it, Mr. Trant ! " she cried. " Try — try
anything which can stop them from showing through
this gambler, Kanlan, and Mrs. Hawtin that Mr. Bron-
son — " She broke off, and turned to the inspector.
Walkw was looking Trant over again. The psychol-
Dgitiz^dbv Google
" Oh, try it, Mr. Trant! " she cried. " Try - try anything "
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THE FAST WATCH 45
ogist faced the police officer eagerly. " I can't believe
it's Kanlan." said Walker.
Until now Trant had been impressed chiefly by the
hi^ bulk of the inspector, but as Walker spoke of
the gambler whom Crowley, to save his own face, was
trying to " railroad " to execution, Trant saw in the
inspector something approaching sentimentality. For
he was that common anomaly of the police depart-
ment, an officer bom and tn-ed amoag the criming he
is set to watch.
" I'll talK you to Kanlan," the inspector granted at
last. " As things are going with him, you can't hurt,
and maybe you can help. Everyone knows Kanlan
wotild have pat out Bronson ; but i\ot — I am certain
— that way. I was bom in the basement opposite
Kanlan's. If Mr. Bronson had been attacked in
broad day, with a detective on each side of him and all
of them had been beaten up or killed, I'd have been
the first to step over to Kanlan and say, ' Jake, you're
wanted.' But Bronson was not caught that way. The
man that killed him waited till the house was quiet,
until- Crowley's guards were asleep, and then somehow
or other — how is a bigger mystery than the mwder
itself — got him out alone in the street at two o'clock
in the morning, and struck him dead from a dark door-
way.
" But I'm not taking yon to Kanlan only to help
save him from Crowley." Walker straightened sud-
denly as his eyes met the girl's. " It's to help Miss
Allison, too. For the only clew Crowley or anyone
else has to the man who murdered Bronson is in con-
nection with the means of getting Bronson out of the
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46 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
house that way. Crowley has discovered that a Mrs.
HawtiD, whom Kanlan can control through her gam-
bling debts to him, is living a few doors beyond the
place where Bronson's body was found. Crowley
claims he can show Mrs. Hawtin was a friend of Bron-
son's, and — " The inspector hesitated, glancing at
the girL
"Captain Crowley's case," said Miss Allison, fin-
ishing, *' is based on the charge that after Randolph —
Mr. Bronson — had returned to his rooms from seeing
me that evening, he went out again two hours later to
answer a summons from this ~^ this Mrs. Hawtin. So
long as Captain Crowley can convict some one for this
crime, they seem, to care nothing how they slander
and blacken the name of the man who is killed — as
little as they care for those left who — love him."
" I see," said Trarrt. His eyes rested a moment
upon the inspector, then again upon the girl. It sur-
prised him to feel, as his eyes met hers that short
moment, how suddenly this problem, which he had set
himself to solve, had changed from a scientific exam-
ination and selection of a guilty man to the saving —
though through the same science — of the reputati<Mi
of a man no longer able to defend himself, and the
honor of a woman devoted to that man's memory.
" But before I can examine Kanlan, or help you
in any other way. Miss Allison," he explained gently,
" I must be sure of my facts. It is not too much to
ask you to go over them with me? No, Inspector
Walker," he anticipated the big police officer's objec-
tion as Walker started to speak, " if I am to help Miss
Allison, I cannot spare her now,"
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THE FAST WATCH 47
" Please do not, Mr. Trant," the girl begged bravely.
"Thank you. Mr. Bronson, I believe, was still
boarding on Superior Street at a bachelor's boarding
house ? "
" Yes," the girl replied. " It is kept by Mrs.
Mitchell, a very respectable widow with a little boy.
Randolph had boarded with her for six years. She
had once been in great trouble and he was kind to her.
He often spoke of how she gave him motherly care."
" Motherly? " Trant asked. " How old is she? "
" Twenty-seven or eight, I should think."
" Thank you. How long had you known Mr. Bron-
son, Miss Allison? "
" A little over two years,"
" Yes; and intimately, how long? "
" Almost from the first."
" But you were not engaged to him until just the
week before his death? "
"Yes; our engagement was not made known till
just two days before his — death."
" Inspector Walker, how long before Mr. Bronson
was killed was any of the ' ring ' likely to put him out
of their way? "
" For two weeks at least."
" It fits Crowl^'s case, of course, as well as — any
other," said Trant, thoughtfully, " that two days after
the announcement of his engagement was the first time
anyone could actually catch him alone. But it is worth
noting, inspector. Mr. Bronson called upon you that
evening, Miss Allison? Everything was as usual be.
tween you ? "
" Entirely, Mr. Trant Of course we both recog-
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45 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
nized the constant danger he was in. I knew how and
why he had to be guarded. His regular man, from the
dty detail, had been with him all day downtown; and
Captain Crowley's man came with him to our house,
Mr. Bronson went back to his boarding house with
him precisely at half past ten."
" He reached the boarding house," Inspector Walker
took up the account, " a little before eleven and went
at once to his room. At twelve-thirty the last boarder
came in. Crowley's man immediately chained the
front door and made all fast He went to the kitchen
to get something to eat, he says, and may have fallen
asleep, though he denies it However, until after
Bronson's body was found, we have made certain, there
was no alarm inside or out."
" There is no doubt that Mr. Bronson was in the
house when it was locked up? "
" None. The last boarder, as he went to his rocon,
saw Bronson sitting at his table going over some pa-
pers. He was still dressed but said he was going to
bed immediately. An hour and a half later — with
no clew as to how he went out, with no discoverable
reason for his going out except that given by Crow-
ley — a patrolman found Bronson's body on the side-
walk a block east of his boarding house. He had
been struck in the forehead and killed instantly by a
man who must have waited fSr him in the vestibule
of a little electro-plating shop." '
"Must have, inspector?" Trant questioned.
" Yes ; he chose this shop doorway because it was
the darkest place in the block."
"At what time was that — exactly?" Trant inter-
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THE FAST WATCH 49
rapted. "The papers say the attack was made ten
minutes after two o'clock — that the watch in his
pocket was broken and stopped by his fall at exactly
ten minutes after twa Is that correct?"
" Yes," the inspector replied. " The watch stopped
at 2.10; but, in spite of that, the exact time of the
murder must have been nearer two than ten minutes
later, for Mr. Bronson's watch was fast."
"What?" Trant cried. "You say his watch was
fast? I had not heard of that! "
" It was noticed two days ago," the inspector ex-
plained, "that the record shows that the patrolman
who found Bronson's body rang up from the nearest
patrol box at five minutes after two. If the attack
was made just before, the watch must have been at
least ten minutes fast, so we have the time, after all,
only approximately."
" I see." Trant turned to the girl. " It is strange.
Miss Allison, that a man like Mr. Bronson carried an
incorrect watch,"
" He did not. It was always right."
"Was it right that evening?"
"Why, yes. I remember that he compared his
time with our clock before leaving."
Trant leaped up, excitedly. " What ? What ?
But still," he calmed himself, " whether at two or ten
minutes after two, the main question is the same.
You, too. Miss Allison, can you give no possible rea-
son why Mr. Bronson might have gone out?"
"I have tried a thousand times in these terrible
two weeks to think of some reason, but I cannot. Our
house is in a different direction than that he took.
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so THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
The car line to the city is another way. He knew no
one in that direction — except Mrs. Hawtin."
" You knew that he knew her?"
"Of course, Mr. Trantl He had convicted her
once for shoplifting, but, like everyone whom his
place had made him punish, he watched her afterwards,
and, when she tried to be honest, he helped her as he
had helped a hundred like her — men and women —
though his enemies tried to discredit and disgrace him
by accusing him of untrue motives. Oh, Mr, Trant,
you do not know — you cannot understand — what
shadows and pitfalls surround a man in the position
Mr. Bronson held. That is why, though for two years
we had known and loved each other, he waited so
long before asking me to marry him. I am thankful
that he spoke in time to give me the right to defend
him now before the world! They took his life; they
shall not take his good name ! 'No ! No ! They shall
not I Help me, Mr. Trant, if you can — help me ! "
" Inspector Walker ! " said Trant tensely, " I under-
stand that all of the sixteen men of the ring claimed
alibis. Was Kanlan's one of the best or the worst? "
The inspector hesitated. " One of the worst," he re-
plied, unwillingly. " I am sorry to say, the very .
worst."
To his surprise, Trant's eyes blazed triumphantly.
" Miss Allison," said ht, quietly and decidedly, " I had
not expected till I had tested Kanlan to be able to as-
sure you that he is not guilty. But now I think I am
safe in promising it — provided you are sure that Mr.
Bronson's watch was right when he left you that night.
And, Inspector Walker, if you are also certain that
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Tim Past Watch si
the murderer waited in the vestibule of that electro-
plating shop, it will be soon, indeed, that we can give
Crowley a better — or rather a worse — man to send
to trial in Kanlan's place."
Again Trant was conscious that the giant inspector
was estimating not the incomprehensible statement he
had made, but Trant himself. And again Walker
seemed satisfied.
"When can I go with you to Harrison Street to
prove this, inspector?"
" I shall see Miss Allison home, and meet you at
Harrison Street in an hour."
" You will let me know the result of the test at
once, Mr. Trant?"
" At once. Miss Allison." Trant took his hat and
dashed from the station.
Harrison Street police station, Chicago, is headquar-
ters of the first police division in the third city of the
world. But neither London nor New York, the two
larger cities, nor Paris, whose population of two mil-
lion and a half Chicago is now passing, possesses a
police division more complex, diverse, and puzzling in
the cosmopolitan diversity of the persons arrested than
this first of Chicago.
But from all the dozen diversities brought to the
Harrison Street station daily, for two weeks none had
challenged in interest the case against Jake Kanlan,
the racing man and gambler, rearrested and held for
the murder of Bronson. Trant appreciated this as,
with his galvanometer and batteries in a suit case, he
pushed his way among patrolmen, detectives, reporters,
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52 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
and the curious into the station. But at once he
caught sii^t of the giant inspector. Walker.
" You're late." Walker led him into a side room.
" I've been putting in the time telling Sweeny here,"
Walker introduced him to one of the two men within,
" and Captain Crowley, how you mean to work your
scheme. We've been waiting for you an hourl "
" I'm sorry," Trant apologized. " I have been go-
ing over the files of the papers just before and after
the murder. And I must admit. Captain Crowley,"
Trant conceded, " that Kanlan had as strong a reason
as any for wanting Bronson out of the way. But 1
found one remarkably significant thing. You have
seen it?" He pulled a folded newspaper from his
pocket and handed it to them. " I mean this para-
graph at the bottom of the front page."
The captain read it eagerly, then leaned back and
laughed. " Sure, I saw it," he derided. " It's that
old Johanson fake, Sweeny — and he thought it was
a clew! " The inspector took the paper.
" Threatener of Bronson Breaks Jail " was the
heading, and under it was this short paragraph :
James Johanson, the notorious Stockyards murderer,
whom City Attorney Bronson sent up for life three years
ago, escaped from the penitentiary early this morning and
is thought by the officials to be making his way to this city.
His trial will be remembered for the dramatic and spec-
tacular denunciation of the Prosecuting Attorney by the
convicted man upon his condemnation, and his threat to free
himself and "do for" Bronson.
" You see the date of the paper? " said Trant. " It
is the five o'clock edition of the evening before Bron-
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THE FAST WATCH 53
son was murdered ! Johanson is reported escaped and
at once Bronson is killed."
Crowley snickered patronizingly. " So you thought,
before your palmistry, you could string us with that ? "
he jeered. " You might better have kept us waiting a
^ittle longer, young man, and you'd have found out
that Johanson couldn't have done it, for he never es-
caped. It was a slip of a sneak thief, Johnson, that
escaped, and he was on his way back to Joliet before
night. The News got the name wrong, that's all,
son."
" I was quite able to find that out, too, before com-
ing here. Captain Crowley," Trant said quietly, " both
that Johanson never escaped and that all evening pa-
pers except the News had the name correctly. Even
the News corrected its accoimt in its later edition.
And I did not say that Johanson himself had anything
to do with it. But either you must claim it a strange
coincidence that, within eight hours after a report was
current in the city that Johanson had broken out and
was coming to murder Bronson, Bronson was actually
murdered, or else you miwt admit the practical cer-
tainty that the man waiting to murder Bronson saw
this account, and, not knowing it was incorrect, chose
that night to kill the attorney, so as to lay it to Johan-
son." , He picked up his suit case. " But come, let
us test Kanlan."
" I haven't told Jake what you're going to do to
him," Walker volunteered, as he led the three to the
cells below. Sweeny, at Crowley's nod, had brought
with him a satchel from the upper office.
Trant had trained himself to avoid definite expeda-
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54 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
tion; yet as he faced the man within he felt a momen-
tary surprise. For at first he could see in Kanlan only
a portly, quiet man, carelessly dressed in clothes a
knowing tailor had cut. But as his eyes saw clearer
he perceived that the portliness was not of flesh but ft f
huge muscles, thinly coated with fat, that the plump^
olive-skinned cheeks concealed a square, fighting jaw,
and that his quiet was the loll of the successful, city-
bred animal, bound l^ no laws but his own — but an
animal powerful enough to prefer to fight fair. His
heavy lids lifted to watch listlessly as Trant opened
his suit case and took out the instruments for the
test.
The galvanometer consisted merely of a little dial
with a needle arranged to register on a scale an electric
current down to hundredths of a milUampere. Trant
attached two wires to the binding posts of the instru-
ment, the circuit including a single cell battery. Each
wire connected with a simple steel cylinder electrode.
With one held in each hand, and the palms of the hands
slightly dampened to perfect the contact, a light cur-
rent passed through the body and swung the delicate
needle over the scale to register the change in the cur-
rent. Walker, and even Captain Crowley, saw more
clearly now how, if it was a fact that moisture must
come from the glands tn the pahn of the hand under
emotion, the changes in the amount of the current pass-
ing through the person holding the electrodes must reg-
ister upon the dial, and the subject be unable to conceal
his emotional change when confronted with guilty ob-
jects. Kanlan, comprehending nothing, but assured
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THE FAST WATCH 55
by Walker's nod that the test was fair, put out his
hands for the electrodes.
" You're wrong, friend," he said, quietly. " 1 don't
know your game. But I ain't afraidj if it's on the
square. Of course, I ain't sorry he's dead, but — I
didn't do it ! "
Trant glanced quickly at the dial. A current, so
"' very slight that he knew it must be entirely imper-
ceptible to Kanlan, registered upon the scale ; and hav-
ing registered it, the needle remained steady.
" Watch it ! " he commanded ; then checked himself.
" No ; wait." He felt in his pocket. Removing the
newspaper which he had there, still folded at the ac-
count of the escape of the convict Johanson, he looked
about for some place to put it, and then laid it upon
Kanlan's knee. He took a little phial from his pocket,
uncorked it as if to oil the mechanism about the gal-
vanometer, but spilled it on the floor. The stifling,
sickening odor of banana oil pervaded the cell ; and as
Kanlan smiled at his clumsiness, Trant took his watch
from his pocket and — with the gamester still watching
him curiously — slowly set it forward an hour.
The needle of the galvanometer dial, in plain view of
all, waited steady in its place. The young psychologist
glanced at it satisBedly.
"Well, what's the matter with the show?" Crow-
ley jeered, impatiently. " Commence."
" Commence, Captain Crowley? " Trant raised him-
self triumphantly. " I have finished it" They stared
at him as though distrusting his sanity. " You have
seen for yourself the needle stand steady in place,"
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56 THE, ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Trant continued. " Inspector Walker " — he turned to
the friendly superior officer as he recognized the hope-
lessness of explaining to Crowley — " I understood, of
course, when I asked you to bring me here that, even
if my test should prove conclusive to me, yet I coflid
scarcely hope to have the police yet accept it. I shal^
let Miss Allison know that Kanlan can have had no
possible connection with the crime against Mr. Bron-
son; but I understand that I can clear Kanlan in the
eyes of the police only by giving Captain Crowley,"
Trant bowed to that astounded officer, " the real mur-
derer in his place."
" You say you have made the test, Trant? " Walker
challenged, in stupefaction. But before Trant could
answer, Crowley pushed him aside, rou^ly, and
stooped to the satchel which Sweeny had brought.
"Of course he hasn't, Walker!" he answered, dis-
gustedly, " He don't dare to, and is throwing a
bluflF. But I'll show him, with his own machine, too,
if there's anything to it at all I " The captain stooped
and, pulling from the opened valise a photograph of
the spot where the murder was committed, he dashed
it before Kanlan's face. Instantly, as both the cap-
tain and inspector turned to Trant's galvanometer
needle, the little instrument showed a reaction. Up it
crept, higher and higher, over the scale of the dial, as
the sweat, surprised by the guilty picture from the
gambler's hands, made the contact with the electrodes
in his palms and the current flowed through his body.
" See ! So it wasn't all a He I " Crowley pointed
triumphantly to the instrument. He stooped again
to the satchel and put a photograph of the body of the
THE FAST WATCH 57
murdered attorney before the suspect's eyes. The
'stolid Kanlan still held the muscles of his face firm
and no flush betrayed him ; but again, as Crowley,
Sweeny, and Walker excitedly stared at the galvanom-
eter needle it jumped and registered the stronger
current. Crowley, with a victorious grant, lifted the
blood-stained coat of the murdered attorney and
rubbed the sleeve against Kanlan's cheek. At this,
and again and again with each presentation of objects
connected with the crime, the merciless little galva-
nometer showed an ever-increasing reaction. Trant
shrugged his shoulders.
" Jake, we got the goods on you now ! " Crowley
took the gambler's chin roughly between his tough
fists and pushed back his head until the uneasy eyes
met his own. " You'd best confess. You killed
him!"
" 1 did not ! " Kanlan choked.
" You're a liar I You killed him. I knew it, any-
way. If you were a nigger you'd have been lynched
before this ! "
For the first time since Crowley took the test into
his own hands, Trant, watching the galvanometer
needle, started in surprise. He gazed suddenly at
Kanlan's olive face, surmounted by his curly black
hair, and smiled. The needle had jumped up higher
again, completing Crowley's triumph. They filed out
of the cell, and back to the little office.
" So I proved him on your own machine," Crowley
rejoiced openly, " you four-flushing patent palmist ! "
" You've proved, Captain Crowley," Trant returned
quietly, " what I already knew, that in your previous
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58 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
examinations with Kanlan, and probably with the rest
also, you have ruined the value of those things you
have there for any proper test, by exhibiting them
with threats again and again. That was why I had to
make the test I did, I tell you once more that Kan-
lan is not the murderer of Bronson. And I am glad to
be able to tell Miss Allison the same thing, as I prom-
ised her, at the very earliest moment." He picked up
the telephone receiver and gave the Allisons' number.
But suddenly the receiver was wrenched from his
hand.
" Not yet," Inspector Walker commanded. " You'll
tell Miss Allison nothing until we know more about
this case."
" I don't ask you to release Kanlan yet, inspector,"
Trant said quietly. Crowley laughed offensively.
" That is, not until I have proved for you the proper
man in his place." He drew a paper from his pocket.
" I cannot surely name him yet ; but picking the most
likely of them from what I read, I advise you to re-
arrest Caylis."
Crowley, throwing himself into a chair, burst into
loud laughter. " He chose Caylis, Sweeny, did you hear
that?" Crowley gasped. "That's in the same class
as the rest of your performance, young fellow. Say,
I'm sorry not to be able to oblige you," he went on,
derisively, " but, you see, Caylis was the only one of
the whole sixteen who couldn't have killed Bronson;
for he was with me — talking to me — in the station,
from half past one that morning, half an hour before
the murder, till half past two, a half hour after ! "
Trant sprang to his feet excitedly. "He was?"
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE FAST WATCH 59
he cried. *' Why didn't you tell me that before? In-
spector Walker, I said a moment ago that I could not
be sure which of the other fifteen killed Bronson; but
now I say arrest CayMs — Caylis is the murderer I "
Captain Crowley and Sweeny stared at him again,
as if believing him demented.
" I would try to explain, Inspector Walker," said
Trant, "but believe me, I mean no offense when I
say that I think it would be absolutely useless now.
But — " he hesitated, as the inspector turned coldly
away. " Inspector Walker, you said this morning you
knew Kanlan from his birth. How much negro blood
is there in him?"
" How did you know that? " cried Walker, staring
at Trant in amazement. " He's always passed for
white. He's one eighth nigger. But not three people
know it. Who told you ? "
"The galvanometer," Trant replied, quietly, "the
same way it told me that he was innocent and Crow-
ley's test useless. Now, will you rearrest Caylis at
once and hold him till I can get the galvanometer on
him?"
" I will, young fellow! " Walker promised, still star-
ing at him. " If only for that nigger blood."
But Crowley had one more shot to make. " Say,
you," he interrupted, " you threw a bluff about an
hour back that the man who killed Bronson got the
idea from the News. Sweeny, here, has been having
these fellows shadowed since weeks before the mur-
der. Sweeny knows what papers they read." He
turned to the detective. " Sweety, what paper did
Kanlan always read ? "
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6o THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" The News."
" And Caylis — what did he never read? "
" The News," the detective answered.
" Well, what have you for that now, son? " Crowley
swung back.
" Only thanks. Captain Crowley, for that additional
help. Inspector Walker, I am willing to rest my case
against Caylis upon the fact that he was with Crow-
ley at two o'clock. That alone is enough to hang him,
and not as an accessory, but as the principal who him-
self struck the blow. But as there obviously was an
accessory — and what Crowley has just said makes
it more certain — perhaps I had better make as sure
of that accessory, and also get a better answer for the
real mystery, which is why and how Bronson left his
house and went in that direction at that time in the
morning, before I give Miss Allison the news for
which she is waiting."
He took his hat and left them staring after him.
An hour later Trant jumped from a North Side
car and hurried down Superior Street. Two blocks
east of the car line he recognized from the familiar
pictures in the newspapers the frescoed and once fash-
ionable front of the Mitchell boarding house, where
Bronson had lived. He was seeing it for the first
time, but with barely more than a curious glance, he
went on toward the place, a block east, where the
attorney's body had been found. He noted carefully
the character of the buildings on both sides of the
street.
There was a grocery, between two old mansions;
. " U;.t.z=dbv Google
THE FAST WATCH 6l
beyond the next house a cigar store; then another
boarding house, and the electroplater's shop before
which the body was found. The Httle shop, smelling
strongly of the oils and acids used in the electroplater's
trade, was of one story. Trant noted the convenient
vestibule flush with the walk, and the position of the
street lamp which would throw its li^t on anyone
approaching, while concealing with a dark shadow one
waiting in the vestibule.
The physical arrangement was all as he had seen
it a score of times in the newspapers ; but as he stared
about, the true key to the mystery of Bronson's death
came to him magnified a hundred times in its in-
tensity. Who waited there in that vestibule and strudc
the blow which slew Bronson, he had felt from the
first would be at once answerable under scientific in-
vestigation. But the other question, how could the
murderer wait so confidently there, knowing that
Bronsop would come out of his house alone at that
time of the night and pass that way, was less simple
of solution.
He glanced beyond the shop to the house where,
Inspector Walker had told him, the questionable Mrs.
Hawtin lived. Beyond that he saw a sign — that
of a Dr. O'Connor. He swung about and returned
to the house where Bronson had boarded.
" Tell Mrs. Mitchell that Mr. Trant, who is work-
ing with Inspector Walker, wishes to speak with her,"
he said to the maid, and he had a moment to estimate
the parlor before the mistress of the house entered.
A white-faced, brown-eyed little boy of seven, with
pallid cheeks and golden hair, had fled between the
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62 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
portieres as Trant entered. The room was not at all
typical of the boarding house. Its omatnent and its
arrangement showed the Imprint of a decided, if not
cultivated, feminine personality. The walls lacked the
usual faded family portraits, and there was an entire
absence of ancient knickknacks to give evidence of a
past gentility. So he was not surprised when the mis-
tress of this house entered, pretty after a spectacular
fashion, impressing him with a quiet reserve of pas-
sion and power.
" I am iUways ready to see anyone who comes to
help poor Mr. Bronson," she said.
The little boy, who had fled at Trant's approach,
ran to her. But even as she sat with her arms about
the child, Trant tried in vain to cloak her with that
atmosphere of motherliness of which Miss Allison had
spoken.
" I heard so, Mrs. Mitchell," said Trant. " But as
you have had to tell the painful details so many times
to the police and the reporters, I shall not ask you for
them again."
" Do you mean," she looked up quickly, " that you
bring me news instead of coming to ask it? "
" No, I want your help, but only in one particular.
You must have known Mr. Bronson's habits and needs
more intimately than any other person. Recently )'0u
may have thought of some possible reason for his
going out in that manner and at that time, other than
that held by the police."
" Oh, I wish I could, Mr. Trant ! " the woman cried.
"But I cannot!"
.. *' I saw the sign of a doctor — Doctor O'Connor —
'■' Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE FAST WATCH 63
just beyond the placf where he was killed. Do you
think it possible that he was going to Doctor O'Con-
nor's, or have you never thought of that? "
" I thought of that, Mr. Trant," the woman re-
turned, a little defiantly. " I tried to hope, at first,
that that might be the reason for his going out. But,
as I had to tell the detectives who asked me of that
some time ago, I know that Mr. Bronson so intensely
disliked Doctor O'Connor that he could not have been
going to him, no matter how urgent the need. Be-
sides, Doctor Carmeachal, who always attended him,
lives around this comer, the other way." She indi-
cated the direction of the car line.
" I see," Trant acknowledged, thoughtfully. " Yet,
if Mr. Bronson disliked Doctor O'Connor, he must
have met him. Was it here?" He leaned over and
took the hand of the pallid little boy. " Perhaps Doc-
tor O'Connor comes to see your son? "
" Oh, yes, Mr. Trant I " the child put in eagerly.
" Doctor O'Connor always comes to see me. I like
Doctor O'Connor."
" Still, I agree with you, Mrs. Mitchell," Trant
raised his eyes calmly to meet the woman's suddenly
agitated ones, " that Mr. Bronson could scarcely have
been going to consult Doctor O'Connor for himself in
such a fashion and at — half past one."
" At two, Mr. Trant," the woman corrected.
" Ten minutes after, to be exact, if you mean when
the watch was stopped ! " The woman arose sud-
denly, with a motion sinuous as that of a startled tiger.
It was as though in the quiet parlor a note of passion
and alarm had been struck. Trant bowed quietly aj
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t
64 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
she rang lor the maid to show him out. But when
he was alone with the maid in the hall his eyes flashed
suddenly.
"Tell me," he demanded, swiftly, "the ni^t Mr.
Bronson was killed, was there anything the matter
with the telephone?"
The girl hesitated and stared at him queerly.
"Why, yes, sir," she said. "A man had to come
next day to fix it."
" The break was on the inside — I mean, the man
worked in the house? "
"Why — yes, sir." The maid had opened the
door. Trant stopped with a smothered exclamation
and picked up a newspaper just delivered. He spread
it open and saw that it was the five o'clock edition of
the News.
" This is Mrs. Mitchell's paper," he demanded, *' the
one she always reads? "
" Why, yes, sir," the girl answered again.
Trant paused to consider. " Tell Mrs, Mitchell
everything I asked you," he decided finally, and hur-;
ried down the steps and back to the police statioa
In the room where the desk sergeant told him In-
spector Walker was awaiting him Trant found both
Crowley and Sweeny with the big officer, and a fourth
man, a stranger to him. The stranger was slight and
dark. He had a weak, vain face, but one of startling
beauty, with great, lazy brown eyes, filled with child-
like innocence. He twisted his mustache and meas-
ured Trant curiously, as the blunt, red-headed young
man entered.
" So this is the fellow," he asked Crowley, deri-
THE FAST WATCH 65
sively, " that made you think I sent a double to talk
with you while I went out to do Bronson? "
" Will you have Caylis taken out of the room for
a few moments, inspector? " Trant requested, in reply.
The inspector motioned to Sweeny, who led out the
prisoner,
" Where's your accessory ? " asked Crowley, grin-
ning.
" I'll tell you presently," Trant put him off. " I
want to test Caylis without his knowing anything un-
usual is being tried. Captain Crowley, can we have
the brass-knobbed chair from your office ? "
" What for? " Crowley demanded.
*' I will show you when I have it."
At Walker's nod Crowley brought in the chair. It
was a deep, high-backed, wooden chair, with high
anns; and on each arm was a brass knob, so placed
that a person sitting in the chair would almost inevita-
bly place his palms over them. As the captain brought
in the chair, Trant opened his suit case and took out
his galvanometer, batteries and wires. Cutting oflF the
cylinder electrodes which Kanlan had held in his hands
during the test of that morning, Trant ran the wires
under each arm of the chair and made a contact with
each brass knob. He connected them with the bat-
tery, which he hid under the chair, and with the gal-
vanometer dial, which he placed behind the chair upon
a table, concealing it behind his hat.
He seated himself in the chair and grasped the
knobs in his palms. With his hands dry no percep-
tible current passed through his body from knob to
Jcnob to register upon the dial
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66 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Scare me I " he suddenly commanded the in-
spector.
"What?" Walker bent his brows.
" Scare me, and watch the needle."
Walker, half comprehending, fumbled in the
drawer of a desk, straightened suddenly, a cocked re-
volver in his hand, and snapped it at Trant's head. At
once the needle of the galvanometer leaped across the
scale, and Crowley and Walker both stared.
" Thank you, inspector," said Trant as he rose from
the chair. " It works very well ; you see, my palms
couldn't help sweating when you snapped the gun at
me before I appreciated that it wasn't loaded. Now,
we'll test Caylia as we did Kanlan."
The inspector went to the door, took Caylis from
Sweeny, and led him to the chair.
" Sit down," he said, " Mr. Trant wants to talk to
you."
The childlike, brown eyes, covertly alert and watch-
ful, followed Trant, and CayJis nervously grasped the
two inviting knobs on the arms of his chair. Walker
and Crowley, standing where they could watch both
Trant and the galvanometer dial, saw that the needle
stood where it had stood for Trant before Walker
put the revolver to his head.
Trant quietly took from his pocket the newspaper
containing the false account of Johanson's escape, and,
looking about as though for a place to put it — as he
had done in his trial of Kanlan- — laid it, with the
Johanson paragraph uppermost, in Caylis's lap^
Walker smothered an exclamation; Crowley looked
up startled. The needle — which had remained so
THE FAST WATCH 67
still when the paper was laid upon Kanlan's knee —
had jumped across the scale.
Caylis gave no sign ; his hands still grasped the brass
knobs neiTously ; his face was quiet and calm. Trant
took from his pocket the little phial reBlled with
banana oil and emptied its contents on the floor as he
had done that morning. Again Walker and Crowley,
with startled eyes, watched the needle move. Trant
took his watch from his pocket, and, as in the morning,
before Caylis's face he set it an hour ahead.
" What are all these tricks ? " said Caylis, contemp- ,
tuously.
But Walker and Crowley, with Hushed faces bent
above the moving needle, paid no heed. Trant posted
himself between Caylis and the door.
" You see now," Trant cried, triumphantly, to the
police officers, "the difference between showing the
false account of the escape of Johanson to an innocent
man, and showing it to the man whom it sent out to
do murder. You see the difference between loosing
the stench of banana oil before a man who associates
nothing with it, and before the criminal who waited in
the vestibule of the electro-plater's shop and can never
in his life smell banana oil again without its bringing
upon him the fear of the murderer. You see the dif-
ference, too, Captain Crowley, between setting a watch
forward in front of a man to whom it can suggest noth-
ing criminal, and setting it an hour ahead tn front of
the man who, after he had murdered Bronson — not
at two, but a little after one — stooped to the body
and set the watch at least an hour fast, then rushed in
to talk coolly with you, in order to establish an in-
68 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
contestable alibi for the time he had so fixed for the
murder I "
Police Captain Crowley, livid with the first flash
of fear that the murderer had made of him a tool,
swung threateningly toward Caylis. For a moment,
as though stiffened by the strain of following the ac-
cusation, Caylis had sat apparently paralyzed. Now
in the sudden change from his absolute security to
complete despair, he faced Crowley, white as paper ;
then, as his heart began to pound again, his skin
turned to purple. His handsome, vain face changed
to the face of a demon; his childlike eyes flared; he
sprang toward Trant. But when he had drawn the
two police officers together to stop his rush, he turned
and leaped for a window. Before he could dash it
open. Walker's powerful hand clutched him back.
" This, I think," Trant gasped, and controlled him-
self, as he surveyed the now weak and nerveless pris-
oner, " should convince even Captain Crowley. But
it was not needed, Caylis. From the time Mrs. Mitch-
ell showed you the report of Johanson's escape in the
News and you thought you could kill Bronson safely,
and you got her to send him out to you, until you had
struck him down, set his watch forward and rushed to
Crowley for your alibi, my case was complete."
" She — she " — Caylis's hands clenched —
"peached on me — but you — got her?" he shouted
venge fully.
Walker and Crowley turned to Trant in amaze-
ment.
"Mrs. Mitchell?" they demanded.
"Yes — your wife, Caylis?" Trant pressed
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THE FAST WATCH 69
" Yes, my wife, and mine," the man hissed de-
fiantly, " eight years ago back in St. Louis tiH, till this
cursed Bronson broke up the gang and sent me over
the road for three years, and she got to thinking be
must be stuck on her and might marry her, because
he helped her, until — until she found out I"
" Ah ; I thought she had been your wife when I saw
you, after the boy; but, of course — " Trent checked
himself as he heard a knock on the door.
" Miss Allison is in her carnage outside sir," the of-
ficer who had knocked saluted Inspector Walker.
" She has come to see you, sir. She says you sent no
word." Walker looked from the cringing Caylis to
Trant.
" We do not need Caylis aiiy lot^r, inspector," said
Trant. " I can tell Miss Allison all the facts now,
if you wish to have her hear them."
The door, which shut behind Crowley and his pris-
oner, reopened almost immediately to admit the in-
spector, and Miss Allison. With her fair, sweet face
flushed with the hope which had taken the place of the
white fear and defiance of the momii^, Trant barely
knew her.
" The inspector tells me, Mr. Trant," she stretched
out both her hands to him, " that you have good news
for me — that Kanlan was not guilty — and so Ran-
dolph was not going out as — as they said he was
when they killed him."
"No; he was not I" Trant returned, triumphantly,
" He was going instead on an errand of mercy. Miss
Allison, to summon a doctor for a little child whom
he had been told was suddenly and dangerously ill.
TO THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
The telephone in the house had been broken, so at
the sudden summons he dashed out, without remem-
bering his danger. I am glad to be able to tell you of
that fine, brave thing when I must tell you, also, the
terrible truth that the woman whom he had helped
and protected was the one who, in a fit of jealousy,
when she found he had merely meant to be kind to
her, sent him out to his death."
"Mrs. Mitchell?" the girl cried in horror. "Oh,
not Mrs. Mitchell ! "
" Yes, Mrs. Mitchell, for whom he had done so
much and whose past he protected, in the noblest way,
even from you. But as she was the wife of the crim-
inal we have just caught, I am glad to believe this
man played upon her old passions, so that for a while
he held his old sway over her and she did his bidding
without counting the consequences.
" I told you this morning. Inspector Walker, that
I could not explain to you my conclusions in the test of
Kanlan. But I owe you now a full explanation. You
will recall that I commented upon the fact that the
crime which was puzzling you was committed within
so short a time after the knowledge of Mr. Bronson's
engagement became known, that I divined a possible
connection. But that, at best, was only indirect. The
first direct thing which struck me was the circum-
stance that the man waited in the vestibule of the
electro-plater's shop. I was certain that the very
pungent fruit-ether odor of banana oil ■^— the thinning
material used by electro-platers in preparing their
lacquers — must be forever intimately connected with
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THE FAST WATCH 7'
the crime in the mind of the man who waited io that
yestibule. To no one else could that odor con-
nect itself with crime. So I knew that if I cotdd
test all sixteen men it would be child's play to pick the
murderer. But such a test was cumbersome. And
the next circumstance you gave me made it unneces-
sary. I mean the fact of the ' fast watch ' which.
Miss Allison was able to tell me, could not have
been fast at all. I saw that the watch must therefore
have been set forward at least ten minutes, probably
much longer. Who, between half past ten and two,
could have done this, and for what reason? The one
convincing possibility was that the assassin had set
it forward, trusting it would not be found till morn-
ing, and his only object could have been to establish
for himself an alibi — for two o'clock.
" I surprised you, therefore, by assuring you, even
before I saw Kanlan, that he was innocent, because
Kanlan had no -alibi whatever. I proved his inno-
cence to my own satisfaction by exhibiting before him
without exciting any emotional reaction at all, the
report in the News which, I felt fairly sure, must have
had something to do with the crime; by loosing the
smell of banana oil, and setting forward a watch in
his presence. The objects which Crowley used had
been so thoroughly connected with the crime in Kan-
lan's mind that — though he is innocent — they caused
reactions to which I paid no attention, except the one
reaction which, at Crowle/s threat, told me of Kan-
lan's negro blood. As for the rest, they merely
scared Kanlan as jrour pistol scared me, and as they,
bvGoogIc '
72 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
would have scared any innocent man under the same
conditions. My own tests could cause reactions only
in the guilty man.
" That man, I think you understand now," Trant
continued rapidly, "I was practically sure of when
Crowley told me of Caylis's alibi. You have just
seen the effect upon him of the same tests I tried on
Kanlao, and the conclusive evidence the galvanometer
gave. The fact that Caylis himself never read the
News only contributed to my certainty that another
person was concerned, a person who could have either
decoyed or sent Mr. Bronson out. So I went to
the place, found the doctor's sign just beyond, dis-
covered that that doctor treated, not Bronson, but the
little Mitchell boy, that the telephone had been broken
inside the house that evening to furnish an excuse for
sending Bronson out, and that Mrs. Mitchell reads
the News."
" The Mitchell woman sent him out, of course,"
Walker checked him almost irritably. " Six blocks
away — 'Crowley ought to have her by now."
Miss Allison gathered herself together and arose.
She clutched the inspector's sleeve. " Inspector Walk-
er, must you — " she faltered.
" None of us is called upon to say how she shall be
punished, Miss Allison," Trant said, compassionately.
" We must trust all to the twelve men who shall try
these two." But to her eyes, searching his, Trant
seemed to be awaiting something. Suddenly the tele-
phone rang. Walker took up the receiver. " It's
Crowl^," he cried. " He says Mrs. Mitchell skipped
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE FAST WATCH 73
— cleared. You could have taken her," he accused
Trant, " but you let her go! "
Trant stood watching the face of Miss Allison, un-
moved. The desk sergeant burst in upon them.
" Mrs. Mitchell's outside, inspector I She said
she's come to give herself up 1 "
" You counted upon that, I suppose," Walker turned
again upon Trant. " But don't do it again," be
warned, " for the sake of what's before youl "
.dbv Google
THE RED DRESS
" Another morning; and nothing! Three days gone
and no word, no sign from her ; or any mark of weak-
ening! '*
The powerful man at the window clenched his hands.
Then he swung about to face his confidential secre-
tary and stared at her uncertainly. It was the tenth
time that morning, and the fiftieth time in the three
days just gone, that Walter Eldredge, the young presi-
dent of the great Chicago drygoods house of Eld-
redge and Company, had paused, incapable of contin-
uing business.
" Never mind that letter. Miss Webster," he com-
manded. " But tell me again — are you sure that no
one has come to see me, and there has been no mes-
sage, about my wife — I mean about Edward — about
Edward?"
" No ; no one, I am sure, Mr. Eldredge ! "
" Send Mr. Murray to me ! " he said.
" Raymond, something more effective must be
done ! " he cried, as his brother-in-law appeared in the
doorway. " It is impossible for matters to remain
longer in this condition ! " His face grew gray. " I
am going to put it into the hands of the police ! "
" The police ! " cried Murray. " After the way the
papers treated you and Isabel when you married?
74
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE RED DRESS 75
You and Isabel in the papers again, and the police
making it a public scandal I Surely there's still some
private way ! Why not this fellow Trant. You must
have followed in the papers the way he got immediate
action in the Bronson murder mystery, after the police
force was at fault for two weeks. He's our man for
this sort of thing, Walter t Where can we get his ad-
dress? "
" Try the University Club," said Eldredge.
Murray lifted the desk phone. *' He's a member ;
he's there. What shall I tell him, " Eldredge him-
self took up the conversation.
" Yes! Mr. Trant? Mr. Trant, this is Walter El-
dredge, of Eldredge and Company. Yes; there is a
private matter — something has happened in my fam-
ily; I cannot tell you over the phone. If you. could
come to me here. . . . Yesl It is criminal."
His voice broke. " For God's sake come and help
me ! "
Ten minutes later a boy showed Trant into the
young president's private room. If the psychologist
had never seen Walter Eldredge's portrait in the pa-
pers he could have seen at a glance that he was a man
trained to concentrate his attention on large matters;
and he as quickly recognized that the pale, l;igh-bred,
but weak features of Eldredge's companion belonged
to a dependent, subordinate to the other.
Eldredge had sprung nervously to his feet and
Trant was conscious that he was estimating him with
the acuteness of one accustomed to judge another
quickly and to act upon his judgment. Yet it was
Murray who spoke first.
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76 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Mr. Eldredge wished to apply to the police this
morning, Mr. Trant," he explained, patronizingly, " in
a matter of the most delicate nature ; but I — I am
Raymond Murray, Mr. Eldredge's brother-in-law —
persuaded him to send for you. I did this, trusting
quite as much to your delicaty in guarding Mr. El-
dredge from public scandal as to your ability to help us
directly. We understand that you are not a regular
private detective."
" I am a psychologist, Mr. Eldredge," Trant re-
plied to the older man, stifling his irritation at Mur-
ray's manner. " I have merely made some practical
applications of simple psychological experiments, which
should have been put into police procedure years ago.
Whether I am able to assist you or not, you may be
sure that I will keep your confidence."
" Then this is the case, Trant" Murray came to
the point quickly. " My nephew, Edward Eldredge,
Walter's older son, was kidnaped three days ago."
" What ? " Trant turned from one to the other in
evident astonishment
" Since the Whitman case in Ohio," continued Mur-
ray, " and the Bradley kidnaping in St. Louis last
week — where they got the description of the woman
but have caught no one yet — the papers predicted an
epidemic of child stealing. And it has begun in Chi-
cago with the stealing of Walter's son! " i
" That didn't surprise me — that the boy may be
missing," Trant rejoined. " But it surprised me, Mr,
Eldredge, that no one has heard of it ! Why did you
not at once give it the greatest publicity ? Why have
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE RED DRESS J7
you not called in the police? What made you wait
three days before calling in even me?"
" Because the family," Murray replied, " have
known from the first that it was Mrs. Eldredge who
had the child aMucted."
"Mrs. Eldredgef" Trant cried incredulously.
" Your wife, sir? " he appealed to the older man.
" Yes, Mr. Trant," Eldredge answered, miserably.
" Then why have you sent for me at all? "
" Because in three, days we have gained nothing
from her," the brother-in-law replied before Eldredge
could answer. " And, from the accounts of your abU-
ity, we thought you could, in some way, learn from her
where the child is concealed."
The young president of Eldredge and Company was
twisting under the torture of these preliminaries. But
Trant turned curiously to Murray. " Mrs. Eldredge
is not your sister?"
" No ; net the present Mrs. Eldredge. My sister.
Walter's first wife, died six years ago, when Ed-
ward was born. She gave her life for the boy whom
the second Mrs. Eldredge — " he remembered himself
as Eldredge moved quickly.
" Isabel, my second wife, Mr. Trant," Eldredge
burst out in the bitterness of having to explain to a
stranger his most intimate emotion, " as I thought all
the world knew, was my private secretary — my ste-
nographer — in this office. We were married a little
over two years ago. If you remember the way the
papers treated her then, you will understand what it
would mean if this matter became public! The
Dgitiz^dbv Google
78 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
boy — " he hesitated. " I suppose I must make the
circumstances plain to you. Seven years ago I mar-
ried Edith Murray, Raymond's sister. A year later
she died. About the same time my father died, and
I had to take up the business. Mrs. Murray, who was
in the house at the time of Edith's death, was good
enough to stay and take charge of my child and my
household."
"And Mr, Murray? He stayed too?"
" Rasmiond was in college. Afterwards he came
to my house, naturally. Two years ago I married my
second wife. At Mrs. Eldredge's wish, as much as
my own, the Murrays remained with us. My wife
appreciated even better than I that her training had
scarcely fitted her to take up at once her social duties':
the newspapers had prejudiced society against her, so
Mrs. Murray remained to introduce her socially."
" I see — for over two years. But meanwhile Mrs.
Eldredge had taken charge of the child ? "
" My wife was — not at ease with the boy." El-
dredge winced at the direct question. " Edward liked
her, but — I found her a hundred times crying over
her incompetence with children, and she was contented
to let Mrs. Murray continue to look after him. But
after her own son was born — "
" Ah ! " said Trant, expectantly,
" I shall conceal nothing. After her own son was
born, I am obliged to admit that Mrs. Eldredge's at-
titude changed. She became insistent to have charge
of Edward, and his grandmother, Mrs. Murray, still
hesitated to trust Isabel. But finally I agreed to give
my wife charge of everything and complete control
L);.I....J by Google
THE RED DRESS 79
over Edward. If all went well, Mrs. Murray was to
reopen her old home and leave us, when — it was
Tuesday afternoon, three days ago, Mr. Trant — my
wife took Edward, with her maid, out in the motor.
It was the boy's sixth birthday. It was almost the
first time in his life he had left the house to go any
distance without his grandmother. My wife did not
bring him back.
" Why she never brou^t him back — what hap-
pened to the boy, Mr. Trant," Eldredge stooped to a
private drawer for papers, " I wish you to determine
for yourself from the evidence here. As soon as I
saw how personal a matter it was, I' had my secretary.
Miss Webster, take down the evidence of the four peo-
ple who saw the child taken away : my chauffeur, Mrs.
Eldredge's maid, Miss Hendricks and Mrs. Eldredge.
The chauffeur, Morris, has been in my employ for
five years. I am confident that he is truthful. More-
over, he distinctly prefers Mrs. Eldredge over every-
one else. The maid, Lucy Carew, has been also singu-
larly devoted to my wife. She, too, is truthful,
"The testimony of the third person — Miss Hen-
dricks — is far the most damaging against my wife.
Miss Hendricks makes a direct and inevasive charge ;
it is practical proof. For I must tell you truthfully,
Mr. Trant, that Miss Hendricks is far the best edu-
cated and capable witness of all. She saw the whole
affair much nearer than any of the others. She is a
person of irreproachable character, a rich old maid,
living with her married sister on the street corner
where the kidnaping occurred. Moreover, her testi-
mony, though more elaborate, is substantiated in every
Dgitiz^dbv Google
8o THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
important particular by both Morris and Lucy Carew."
Eldredge handed over the first pages.
" Against these, Mr. Trant, is this statement of —
my wife's. My home faces the park, and is the second
house from the street corner. There is, however, no
driveway entrance into the park at this intersecting
street. There are entrances a long block and a half
away in one direction and more than two blocks in
the other. But the winding drive inside the park ap-
proaches the front of the house within four hundred
feet, and is separated from it by the park green-
sward."
" I understand." Trant took the pages of evidence
eagerly. Eldredge went to the window and stood
knotting the curtain cord in suspense. But Murray
crossed his legs, and, lighting a cigarette, watched
Trant attentively. Trant read the testimony of the
chauffeur, which was dated by Eldredge as taken
Tuesday afternoon at five o'clock. It "read thus:
Mrs. Eldredge herself called to me about one o'clock to
have the motor ready at half -past two. Mrs. Eldredge
and her maid and Master Edward came down and got in.
We went through the park, then down the Lake Shore
Drive almost to the river and turned back. Mrs. Eldredge
told me to return more slowly; we were almost forty min-
utes returning where we had been less than twenty coming
down. Reaching the park, she wanted to go slower yet.
She was very nervous and undecided. She stopped the ma-
chine three or four times while she pointed out things to Mas-
ter Edward. She kept me winding in and out the different
roads. Suddenly she asked me the time, and I toM her it
was just four; and she told me to go home at once. But
on the curved park road in front of the bouse and about
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE- RED DRESS 8l
four hundred feet away from it, I "killed" tny engine.
I was some minutes starting it Mrs. Eldredge kept ask-
ing how soon we could go on; but I could not tell her.
After she bad asked me tbree or four times, she opened the
door and let Master Edward down. I thought he was com-
ing around to watch me — a number of other boys had been
standing about me just before. But she sent him across the
park lawn toward the house. I was busy with my engine.
Half a minute later the maid screamed. She jumped down
and grabbed me. A woman was making off with Master
Edward, running with him up the cross street toward the
car line. Master Edward was crying and fighting. Just
then my engines started. The maid and I jumped into the
machine and went around by the park driveway as fast as
we could to the place where the woman had picked up Mas-
ter Edward. This did not take more than two minutes, but
the woman and Master Edward had disappeared, Mrs.
EWredge pointed out a boy to me who was running up the
street, but when we got to him it was not Master Edward.
We went all over the neighborhood at high speed, but we
did not find him. I think we might have found him if Mrs.
Eldredge had not first sent us after the other boy. I did
not see the wMnan who carried off Master Edward very
plainly. She was small.
Eldredge swung about and fixed on the young
psychologist a look of anxious inquiry. But without
comment, Trant picked up the testimony of the maid.
It read :
Mrs. Eldredge told me after luncheon that we were going
out in the automobile with Master Edward. Master Ed-
ward did not want to go, because it was his birthday and he
bed received presents from his grandmother with which he
wanted to play. Mrs. Eldredge — who was excited — made
him come. We went through the park and down the Lake
Shore Drive and came back again. It seemed to me that
82 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Mrs. Eldredge was getting more excited, but I thought that
it was because this was the first time she had been out with
Master Edward. But when we had got back atniast to the
house the automobile broke down, and she became more ex-
cited still. Finally she said to Master Edward that he
would better ^t out and run home, and she helped him out
of the car and he started. We could see him all the way,
and could see right Axp to the front steps of the house. But
before he got there a wornrn came mmiiH^ aroHnd the cor-
ner and started to run away with him. He screamed, and
I screamed, too, and took hold of Mrs. Eldredge's arm and
pointed. But Mrs. Eldredge just sat stilt and watched.
Then I jumped up, and Mrs. Eldredge, who was shaking all
over, put out her hand. But I got past her and jumped
out of the automobile. I screamed again, and grabbed the
chauffeur, and pointed. Juat then the engine started. We
both got back into the automobile and went around by the
driveway in the park. All this happened as fast as you can
think, hut we did not see either Master Edward or the
woman. Mrs. Eldredge did not cry or take on at all. I am
sure she did not scream when the woman picked up Master
Edward, but she kept on being very much excited. I saw
the woman who carried Master Edward off very plainly.
She was a small blond, and wore a hat with violet-colored
£owers in it and a violet-colored tailor-made dress. She
looked like a lady.
Trant laid the maid's testimony aside and looked up
quickly.
" There is one extremely important thing, Mr. El-
dredge," he said. " Were the witnesses examined sep-
arately? — that is, none of them heard the testimony
given by any other?"
" None of them, Mr. Trant"
Then Trant picked up the testimony of Miss Hen-
dricks, which read as follows:
L);.l...^ by Google
THE RED DRESS 83
It so happened that I was looking out of the library win-
dow — though I do not often look out at the window for
fear people will think I am watching them — when I saw
the automobile containing Mrs. Eldredge, Edward, the maid,
and the chaufFeur stop at the edge of the park driveway
opposite the Eldredge home. The chauffeur descended and
began doing something to the front of the car. But Mrs.
Eldredge looked eagerly around in all directions, and finally
toward the street comer on which our house stands; and
almost immediately I noticed a woman harrying down the
cross street toward the comer. She had evidently just de-
scended from a street car, for she came from the direction
of the car line; and her haste made me understand at once
that she tvas late for some appointment. As soon as Mrs.
Eldredge caught sight of the woman she lifted Edward from
the automobile to the ground, and pushed him in the woman's
direction. She sent him across the grass toward her. At
first, however, the woman did not catch sight of Edward.
Then she saw the automobile, raised her hand and made a
signal. The signal was returned by Mrs. Eldredge, who
pointed to the child. Immediately the woman ran forward,
pulled Edward along in spite of his struggles, and ran to-
ward the car line. It all happened very quickly. I am con-
fident the kidnaping was prearranged between Mrs. Eldredge
and the woman. I saw the woman plainly. She was small
and dark. Her face was marked by smallpox and she looked
like an Italian She wore a flat hat with white feathers, a
gray coat, and a black skirt
" You say you can have no doubt of Miss Hen-
dricks' veracity ? " asked Trant.
Eldredge shook his head, miserably. "I have
known Miss Hendricks for a ntunber of years, and I
should as soon accuse myself of falsehood. She came
running over to the house as soon as this had hap-
pened, and it was from her account that I first learned,
by Google
84 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
throu^ Mrs. Murray, that scmething had occurred."
Trant's glance fell to the remaining sheets in his
hand, the testimony of Mrs. Eldredge; and the psy-
chologist's slightly mismated eyes — blue and gray —
flashed suddenly as he read the following:
I had gone with Edward for a ride in the park to cele-
brate his birthday. It was the first lime we had been out
together. We stopped to look at the flowers and the ani-
mals. My husband had not told me that he expected to be
home from the store early, but Edward reminded me that
on his birthday his father always came home in the middle
of the afternoon and brought him presents. The time passed
quickly, and I was surprised when I learned that it was al-
ready four o'clock. I was greatly troubled to think that
Edward's father might be awaiting him, and we hurried
back as rapidly as possible. We had almost reached the
house when the engine of the automobile stopped. It took
a very long time to fix it, and Edward was all the time
growing more excited and impatient to see his father. It
was only a short distance across the park to the bouse,
which we could see plainly. Finally I lifted Edward out
of the machine and told him to run across the grass to the
house. He did so, but he went very slowly. I motioned
to him to hurry. Then suddenly I saw the woman coming
toward Edward, and the minute I saw her I was frightened.
She came toward him slowly, stopped, and talked with him
for quite a long time. She spoke loudly — I couW hear her
voice but I could not make out what she said. Then she
took his hand — it must have been ten minutes after she
had first spoken to him. He struggled with her, but she
pulled him after her. She went rather slowly. But it took
a very long time, perhaps fifteen minutes, for the motor to
gn around by the drive; and when we got to the spot Ed-
ward and the woman had disappeared. We looked every-
where, but could not find any trace of them, and she would
have had time to go a considerable distance —
Cioot^lc
THE RED DRESS 85
Trant looked up suddenly at Eldredge who had
left his position by the window and over Trant's shoul-
der was reading the testimony. His face was gray.
" I asked Mrs. Eldredge," the husband said, piti-
fully, " why, if she suspected the woman from the first,
and so much time elapsed, she did not try to prevent
the kidnaping, and — she would not answer me 1 "
Trant nodded, and read the final paragraph of Mrs.
Eldredge's testimony :
The woman who took Edward was unusually large — a
very big woman, not stout, but tall and big. She was very
dark, with black hair, and she wore a red dress and a hat
with red flowers in it
The psychologist laid down the papers and looked
from one to the other of his companions reflectively.
" What had happened that afternoon before Mrs.
Eldredge and the boy went motoring?" he asked
abruptly.
" Nothing out of the ordinary, Mr. Trant," said
Eldredge. "Why do you ask that?"
Trant's fingertip followed on the table the last
words of the evidence. " And what woman does Mrs.
Eldredge know that answers that description — ' un-
usually large, not stout, but tall and big, very dark,
with black hair?'"
" No one," said Eldredge.
" No one except," young Murray laughed frankly,
"ray mother. Trant," he said, contemptuously,
" don't start any false leads of that sort ! My mother
was with Walter at the time the kidnaping took
place ! "
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86 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHEft TRANT
" Mrs. Murray was with me," Eldredge assented,
" from four till five o'clock that aftemooa She has
nothing to do with the matter. But, Trant, if you
see in this mass of accusation one ray of hope that
Mrs. Eldredge is not guilty, for God's sake give it to
me, for I need it I"
The psycholc^st ran his fingers through his red hair
and arose, strongly affected by the appeal of the white-
lipped man who faced him. " I can give you more
than a ray of hope, Mr. Eldredge," he said, " I am
almost certain that Mrs. Eldredge not only did not
cause your son's disappearance, but that she knows
absolutely nothing about the matter. And I am
nejirly, though not quite, so sure that this is not a case
of kidnaping at all 1 "
" What, Trant ? Man, you can't tell me that from
that evidence ? "
" I do, Mr. Eldredge ! " Trant returned a little
defiantly, " Just from this evidence ! "
" But, Trant," the husband cried, trying to grasp the
hope this stranger gave him against all his better rea-
son, " if you can think that, why did she describe
everything — the time, the circumstance, the size and
appearance of the woman and even the color of her
dress — so differently from all the rest? Why did
she lie when she told me this, Mr. Trant ? "
" I do not think she Hed, Mr. Eldredge."
" Then the rest lied and it tr a conspiracy of the
witnesses against her?"
" No ; no one Hed, I think. And there was no con-
spiracy. That is my inference from the testimony
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE RED DRESS 87
and the one other fact we have — that there had been
no demand for ransom."
Eldredge stared at him almost wildl/. His brother-
in-law moved up beside him.
" Then where is my son, and who has taken him? "
"I cannot say yet," Trant answered. There was
a knock on the door.
" You asked to have everything personal brought
to you at once, Mr. Eldredge," said Miss Webster,
holdit^ out a note. " This just came in the ten
o'clock delivery." Eldredge snatched it from her —
a soiled, creased envelope bearing a postmark of the
Lake View substation just west of his home. It was
addressed in a scrawling, illiterate hand, and conspicu-
ously marked personal. He tore it open, caught the
import of it almost at a ^nce ; then with a smothered
cry threw it on the desk in front of Murray, who read
it aloud.
Yure son E. is safe, and we have him where he is not in
J dangir. Your wife has not payed us the money she prom-
I ised us for taking him away, and we do not consider we are
I bound any longer by our bargain with her. If you will put
Ithe money she promised (one hund. dollars) on the seat be-
Fhind Lincoln's statue in tiie Park tonight at ten thurty (be
r exact) you will get yure son E. back. Look out for trub-
ble to the boy if you notify the police,
N. B. — If you try to make any investigation about this
case our above promiss will not be kept.
" Well, Trant, what do you say now? " asked Mur-
ray.
"That it was the only thing needed," Trant an-
bv Google
88 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
swered, triumphantly, " to complete my case. Now, I
am sure I need only go to your house to make a short
examination dV Mrs. Eldredge and the case against
her I"
He swung about suddenly at a stifled exclamation
behind him, and found himself looking into the white
face of the private secretary; but she turned at once
and left the office. Trant swung back to Murray.
" No, thank you," he said, refusing the proffer of the
paper. " I read from the marks made upon minds
by a crime, not from scrawls and thumbprints upon
paper. And my means of reading those marks are
fortunately in my possession this morning. No, I do
not mean that I have other evidence upon this case
than that you have just given me, Mr. Eldredge,"
Trant explained. " I refer to my psychological ap-
paratus which, the express company notified me, ar-
rived from New York this morning. If you will let
me have my appliance delivered direct to your house
it win save much time."
"I will order it myself 1" Eldredge took up the
telephone and quickly arranged the delivery,
" Thank you," Trant acknowledged. " And if you i
will also see that I have a photograph, a souvenir ^
postal, or some sort of a picture of every possible lo-
cality within a few blocks of your house you will
probably help in my examination greatly. Also," he
checked himself and stood thoughtfully a moment,
" will you have these words " — he wrote " Armenia,
invitation, inviolate, sedate" and "pioseer" upon a
paper — " carefully lettered for me and brou^t to
your house?"
« L);.i....jbvGooglc
THE RED DRESS 89
" What ? " Eldredge stared at the list in astonish-
ment. He looked up at Trant's direct, intelligent feat-
ures and checked himself. " Is there not some mis-
take in that last word, Mr. Trant? ' Pioseer ' is not
a word at all."
" I don't wish it to be," Trant replied. His glance
fell suddenly on a gaudily lithographed card — an ad-
vertisement showing the interior of a room. He tcwA
it from the desk.
" This will be very helpful, Mr, Eldredge," he said.
" If you will have this brought with the other cards
I think that will be all. At three o'clock, then, at
your house?"
He left them, looking at each other in perplexity.
He stopped a moment at a newspaper office, and then
returned to the University Club thoughtfully. By the
authority of all precedent procedure of the world, he
recognized how hopelessly the case stood against the
stepmother of the missing child. But by the author-
ity of the new science — the new knowledge of hu-
manity — which he was laboring to establish, he felt
certain he could save her.
Yet he fully appreciated that he could accomplish
nothing until his experimental instruments were de-
livered. He must be content to wait until he could
test his belief in Mrs, Eldredge's innocence for him-
self, and at the same time convince Eldredge conclu-
sively. So he played billiards, and lunched, and was
waiting for the hour he had set with Eldredge, when
he was summoned to the telephone. A man who said
he was Mrs. Eldredge's chauffeur, informed him that
# L);.i....jbvGooglc
90 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Mrs. Eldredge was in the motor before the club and
she wished to speak with him at once.
Trant immediately went down to the motor.
The single woman in the curtained limousine had
drawn back into the farthest corner to avoid the
glances of passersby. But as Trant came toward the
car she leaned forward and searched his face anx-
iously.
She was a wonderfully beautiful woman, though
her frail face bore evidences of long continued anxiety
and of present excitement. Her hair was unusually
rich in color; the dilated, defiant eyes were deep and
flawless; the pale cheeks were clear and soft, and the
trembling lips were curved and perfect. Trant, be-
fore a word had been exchanged between them, recog-
nized the ineffable appeal of her persQnality.
" I must speak with you, Mr. Trant," she said, as
the chauffeur at her nod, opened the door of the car.
" I cannot leave the motor. You must get in."
Trant stepped quietly into the limousine, filled with
the soft perfume of her presence. The chauffeur
closed the door behind him, and at once started the car.
" My husband has consulted you, Mr. Trant, re-
garding the — the trouble that has come upon us, the
— the disappearance of his son, Edward," she asked.
" Why do you not say at once, Mrs. Eldredge, that
you know he has consulted me and asked me to come
and examine you this afternoon? You must have
learned it through his secretary."
The woman hesitated. " It is true," she said nerv-
• ously. " Miss Webster telephoned me. I see that
you have not forgotten that I was once my husband's
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THE RED DRESS 91
stenograj^er, and — I still have friends in his of-
fice."
" Then there is something you want to tell me that
you cannot tell in the presence of the others? "
The woman turned, her large eyes meeting his with
an almost frightened expression, but she recovered
herself immediately. " No, Mr. Trant ; it is because
I know that he — my husband — that no one is mak-
ing any search, or trying to recover Edward — except
through watching me."
" That is true, Mrs. Eldredge," the psychologist
helped her.
"You must not do that too, Mr. Trant!" she
leaned toward him appcalingly. " You must search
for the boy — my husband's boy! You must not
waste time in questioning me, or in trying me with
your new methods I That is why I came to see you —
to tell you, on my word of honor, that I know nothing
of it!"
"I should feel more certain if you would be frank
with me," Trant returned, " and tell me what hap-
pened on that afternoon before the child disappeared."
" We went motoring," the woman replied,
" Before you went motoring, Mrs. Eldredge," the
psychologist pressed, "what happened?"
She shrank suddenly, and turned upon him eyes
filled with unconquerable terror. He waited, but she
did not answer.
" Did not some one tell you," the psychologist
took a shot half in the dark, "or accuse you that
you were taking the child out in order to get rid of
him?" V
92 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
The woman fell back upon the cushions, chalk-white
and shuddering.
" You have answered me," Trant said quietly. He
glanced at her pityingly, and as she shrank from him,
he tingled with an unbidden sympathy for this beau-
tiful womaa " But in spite of the fact that you
never brought the boy back," Trant cried impetuously,
" and in spite of — or rather because of all that is so
dark against you, believe me that I expect to clear
you before them all ! " He glanced at his watch. " I
am glad that you have been taking me toward your
home, for it is almost time for my appointment with
your husband."
The car was running on the street bounding the park
on the west. It stopped suddenly before a great stone
house, the second from the intersecting street
Eldredge was running down the steps, and in a
moment young Murray came after him. The husband
opened the door of the limousine and helped his wife
tenderly up the steps. Murray and Trant followed
him together. Eldredge's second wife — though she
could comprehend nothing of what lay behind Trant's
assurance of help for her — met her husband's look
with eyes that had suddenly grown bright. Murray
stared from the woman to Trant with disapproval.
He nodded to the psychologist to follow him into El-
dredge's study on one side; but there he waited for
his brother-in-law to return to voice his reproach.
" What have you been saying to her, Trant? " El-
dredge demanded sternly as he entered and shut the
door.
" Only what I told you this morning," the psy-
THE RED DRESS 93
chologist answered — " that I believe her innocent.
And after seeing what relief it brou^t her, I can not
be sorry 1 "
" You can't ? " Eldredge rebuked. " I can I When
I called you in you had the ri^t to tell me whatever
you thought, however wild and without ground it was.
It could not hurt me much. But now you have en-
couraged my wife still to hold out against us — still
to defy us and to deny that she knows anything when
— when, since we saw you, the case has become only
more conclusive against her. We have just discov-
ered a most startling confirmation of Miss Hendrick's
evidence. Raymond, show him 1 " he gestured in sorry
triumph.
Young Murray opened the library desk and pulled
out a piece of newspaper, which he put in Trant's
hand. He pointed to the heading. " You see, Trant,
it is the account of the kidnaping in St. Louis which
occurred just before Edward was stolen."
All witnesses describe the kidnaper as a short, dark
woman, marked with smallpox. She ware a gray coat and
black skirt, a hat with white feathers, and appeared to be an
Italian.
" I knew that. It exactly corresponds with the
woman described by Miss Hendricks," Trant rejoined.
" I was aware of it this morning. But I can only re-
peat that the case has turned more and more conclu-
sively in favor of Mrs. Eldredge."
" Why, even before we recognized the woman de-
scribed by Miss Hendricks the evidence was conclu-
sive against Isabel!" Murray shot back. "Listen!
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94 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
She was nervously excited all that day; when the
woman snatched Edward, Isabel did nothing. She
denies she signaled the woman, but Miss Hendricks
saw the signal. Isabel says the automobile took fif-
teen minutes making the circuit in the park, which is
ridiculous! But she wants to give an idea in every
case exactly contrary to what really occurred, and the
other witnesses are agreed that the run was very
quick. And most of all, she tried to throw us off
in her description o£ the woman. The other three
are agreed that she was short and slight. Isabel de-
clares she was large and tall. The testimony of the
chauffeur and the maid agrees with Miss Hendricks'
in every particular — except that the maid says the
woman was dressed in violet. In that one particular
she is probably mistaken, for Miss Hendricks' de-
scription is most minute. Certainly the woman was
not, as Isabel has again and again repeated in her
efforts to throw us off the track, and in the face of
all other evidence, clothed in a red dress ! "
" Very well summarized ! " said Trant. " Ana-
lyzed and summarized just as evidence has been ten
million times in a hundred thousand law courts since
the taking of evidence began. You could convict Mrs.
Eldredge on that evidence. Juries have convicted
thousands of other innocent people on evidence less
trustworthy. The numerous convictions of innocent
persons are as black a shame to-day as burnings and
torturings were in the Middle Ages ; as tests by fire and
water, or as executions for witchcraft. Courts take
evidence to-day exactly as it was taken when Joseph
was a prisoner in Egypt. They hang and imprison
THE RED DRESS 95
on grounds of ' precedent ' and ' common sense.'
They accept the word of a witness where its truth
seems likely, and refuse it where it seems otherwise.
And, having determined the preponderance of evi-
dence, they sometimes say, as you have just said of
Lucy Carew, ' though correct in everything else, in
this one particular fact our truthful witness is mis-
taken.' There is no room for mistakes, Mr. Eldredge,
in scientific psychology. Instead of analyzing evi-
dence by the haphazard methods of the courts, we can
analyze it scientifically, exactly, incontrovertibly — we
can select infallibly the true from the false. And that
is what I mean to do now," he added, " if ray appara-
tus, for which you telephoned this morning, has come,"
" The boxes are in the rear hall," Eldredge replied,
" I have obtained over a hundred views of the locality,
and the cards you requested me to secure are here
too."
"Good! Then you will get together the witnesses?
The maid and the chauffeur I need to see only for a
moment. I will question them while you are sending
for Miss Hendricks."
Eldredge rang for the butler. "Bring in those
boxes which have just come for Mr. Trant," he com-
manded. " Send this note to Miss Hendricks " —
he wrote a few lines swiftly — "and tell Lucy and
Morris to come here at once."
He watched Trant curiously while he bent to his
boxes and began taking out his apparatus. Trant
first unpacked a varnished wooden box with a small
drop window in one end. Opposite the window was a
rack upon which cards or pictures could be placed.
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gS THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
They could then be seen only through the drop-win-
dow. This window worked like the shutter of a cam-
era, and was so controlled that it could be set to re-
main open for a fixed time, in seconds or parts of
a second, after which it closed automatically. As
Trant set this up and tested the shutter, the maid and
chauffeur came to the door of the library. Trant ad-
mitted the girl and shut the door.
" On Tuesday afternoon," he said to her, kindly,
" was Mrs. Eldredge excited — very much excited —
before you came to the place where the machine broke
down, and before she saw the woman who took Ed-
ward away?"
" Yes, sir," the girl answered. " She was more
excited than I'd seen her ever before, all the after-
noon, from the time we started."
The young psychologist then admitted the chauffeur,
and repeated his question.
" She was most nervous, yes, sir ; and excited, sir,
from the very first," the chauffeur answered.
" That is all," said Trant, suddenly dismissing both,
then turning without expression to Eldredge. "If
Miss Hendricks is here I will examine her at once."
Eldredge went out, and returned with the little old
maid. Miss Hendricks had a high-bred, refined and
delicate face; and a sweet, though rather loquacious,
manner. She acknowledged the introduction to Trant
with old-fashioned formality.
" Please sit down, Miss Hendricks," said Trant,
motioning her to a chair facing the drop-window of
the exposure box. " This little window will open and
Stand open an instant. I want you to k>ok in and read
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THE RED DRESS 97
the word that you will see." He dropped a card
quickly into the rack.
" Do not be surprised," he begged, as she lotted
at the drop-window curiously, "if this examination
seems puerile to you. It is not really so; but only
unfamiliar in this country, yet. The Germans have
carried psychological work further than any one in
this nation, though the United States is now awaken-
ing to its importance." While speakii^, he had lifted
the shutter and kept it raised a moment
" It must be very interestir^," Miss Hendricks com-
mented. " That word was ' America,' Mr. Trant."
. Trant changed the card quickly. " And I'm glad
to say, Miss Hendricks," he continued, while the
maiden lady watched for the next word, interested,
" that Americans are taking it up intelligently, not
servilely copying the Germans I "
" That word was ' imitation,' Mr. Trant I " said
Miss Hendricks.
" So now much is being done," Trant continued,
again shifting the card, " in the fifty psychological
laboratories of this country throu^ painstaking ex-
periments and researches."
"And that word was 'investigate!'" said Miss
Hendricks, as the shutter lifted and dropped again.
" That was quite satisfactory. Miss Hendricks,"
Trant acknowledged. " Now look at this please."
Trant swiftly substituted the lithograph he had picked
up at Eldredge's office. " What was that. Miss Hen-
dricks? "
" It was a colored picture of a room with several
people in it"
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98 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
. " Did you see the boy in the picture. Miss Hen-
dricks ? "
" Why — yes, of course, Mr. Trant," the woman
answered, after a little hesitation.
" Good. Did you also see his book? "
" Yes ; I saw that he was reading."
" Can you describe him? "
" Yes ; he was about fifteen years old, in a dark suit
with a brown tie, black-haired, slender, and he sat in
a comer with a book on his knee."
" That was indeed most satisfactory ! Thank you.
Miss Hendricks." Trant congratulated and dismissed
her. " Now your wife, if you please, Mr. Eldredge."
Eldredge was curiously turning over the cards
which Trant had been exhibiting, and stared at the
young psychologist in bewilderment. But at Trant's
words he went for his wife. She came down at once
with Mrs. Murray. Though she had been described to
him, it was the first time Trant had seen the grand-
mother of the missing boy; and, as she entered, a
movement of admiration escaped him. She was taller
even than her son — who was the tallest man in the
room — and she had retained surprisingly much of
the grace and beauty of youth. She was a majestic
and commanding figure. After settling her charge in
a chair, she turned solicitously to Trant.
" Mr. Eldredge tells me that you consider it neces-
sary to question poor Isabel again," she said. " But,
Mr. Trant, you must be careful not to subject her to
any greater strain than is necessary. We all have
told her that if she would be entirely frank with us
we would make allowance for one whose girlhood has
THE RED DRESS »
been passed in poverty which obliged her to work for
a living."
Mrs. Eldredge shrank nervously and Trant turned
to Murray. " Mr. Murray," he said, " I want as lit-
tle distraction as possible during my examination of
Mrs. Eldredge, so if you will be good enough to bring
in to me from the study the automatograph — the
other apparatus which I took from the box — and
then wait outside till I have completed the test, it will
assist me greatly. Mrs. Murray, you can help me if
you remain."
Young Murray glanced at his mother and complied.
The automatograph, which Trant set upon another ta-
ble, was that designed by Prof. Jastrow, of the
University of Wisconsin, for the study of involuntary
movements. It consisted of a plate of glass in a light
frame mounted on adjustable brass legs, so that it could
be set exactly level. Three polished glass balls, three-
quarters of an inch in diameter, rested on this plate;
and on these again there rested a very light plate of
glass. To the upper plate was connected a simple sys-
tem of levers, which carried a needle point at their
end, so holding the needle as to travel over a sheet of
smoked paper.
While Trant was setting up this instrument Mrs,
Eldredge's nervousness had greatly increased. And
the few words which she spoke to her husband and
Mrs. Murray — who alone remained in the room —
showed that her mind was filled with thoughts of the
missing child. Trant, observing her, seemed to
change his plan suddenly and, instead of taking Mrs.
Eldredge to the new instrument, he seated her in the
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100 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
chair in front of the drop-window. He explained
gently to the trembling woman that he wanted her to
read to him the words he exposed ; and, as in the case
of Miss Hendricks, he tried to put her at ease by
speaking of the test itself.
" These word tests, Mrs. Eldredge, will probably
seem rather pointless. For that matter all proceed-
ings with which one is not familiar must seem point-
less; even the proceedings of the national legislature
in Washington seem pointless to the spectators in the
gallery." At this point the shutter lifted and exposed
a word. "What was the word, please, Mrs. El-
dredge?"
" ' Sedate,' " the woman faltered.
" But though the tests seem pointless, Mrs. El-
dredge, they are not really so. To the trained investi-
gator each test word is as full of meaning as each
mark upon the trail is to the backwoodsman on the
edge of civilization. Now what word was that? " he
questioned quickly, as the shutter raised and lowered
agaia
The woman turned her dilated eyes on Trant.
" That — that," she hesitated — " I could make it out
only as ' p-i-o-s-e-e-r,' " she spelled, uneasily. " I do
not know any such word."
" I shall not try you on words any longer, Mrs.
Eldredge," Trant decided. He took his stop-watch in
his hand. " But I shall ask you to tell me how much
time elapses between two taps with my lead pencil on
the table. Now!"
" Two minutes," the woman stammered.
Eldredge, who, observing what Trant was doing,
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THE RED DRESS lOI
had taken his own watch frcon his pocket and timed
the brief interval, stared at Trant in astonishment.
But without giving the wife time to compose herself,
Trant went on quickly:
" Look again at the little window, Mrs. Eldredge.
I shall expose to you a photograph ; and i( you are to
help me recover your husband's son, I hope you can
recognize it Who was it?" the psychologist de-
manded as the shutter dropped.
" That was a photograph of Edward I " the woman
cried. " But I never saw that picture before ! " She
sat back, palpitating with uneasiness.
Mrs. Murray quickly took up the picture which had
just been recognized as her grandson. " That is not
Edward, Mr. Trant," she said.
Trant laid a finger on his lips to silence her.
" Mrs. Murray," he said in quick appeal, " I wished,
as you probably noted, to use this instrument, the auto-
matograph. a moment ago: I will try it now. Will
you be good enough to test it for me? Merely rest
your fingers lightly — as lightly as you please — upon
this upper glass plate." Mrs. Murray complied, will-
ingly. " Now please hold your hand there while I
lay out these about you." He swiftly distributed the
photographic views of the surrounding blocks which
Eldredge had collected for him.
Mrs. Murray watched him curiously as he placed
about a dozen in a circle upon the table ; and, almost
as swiftly, swept them away and distributed others in
their place. Again, after glancing at her hand to see
that it was held in position, he set out a third lot, his
eyes fixed, as before, on the smoked paper under the
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102 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
needle at the end of the levers. Suddenly he halted,
looked keenly at the third set of cards and, without a
word, left the room. In an instant he returned and
after a quick, sympathetic glance at Mrs. Eldredge,
turned to her husband.
" I need not examine Mrs. Eldredge further," he
said. " You had better take her to her room. But
before you go, he grasped the woman's cold hand
encouragingly, " I want to tell " you, Mrs. Eldredge,
that I have every assurance of having the boy back
within a very few minutes, and I have proof of your
complete innocence. No, Mrs. Murray," he forbade,
as the older woman started to follow the others. " Re-
main here." He closed the door after the other and
faced her. " I have just sent your son to get Edward
Eldredge from the place on Clark Street just south of
Webster Avenue where you have been keeping him
these three days."
" Are you a madman? " the powerful woman cried,
as she tried to push by him, staring at him stonily.
" Really it is no use, madam." Trant prevented
her. "Your son has been a most unworthy confed-
erate from the first; and when I had excluded him
from the room for a few moments and spoke to him
of the place which you pointed out to me so definitely,
it frightened him into acquiescence. I expect him
back with the boy within a few minutes: and mean-
while — "
"What is that?" Eldredge had stepped inside the
door.
" I was just telling Mrs. Murray," said Trant, " that
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.d by Google
, THE RED DRESS I03
I had sent Raymond Murray after your son in the
place where she has had him concealed."
"What — what?" the father cried, incredulously,
staring into the woman's cold face.
" Oh, she has most enviable control of herself,"
Trant commented. " She will not believe that her son
has gone for Edward until he brings him back. And
I might say that Mrs. Murray probably did not make
away with the boy, but merely had him kept away,
after he had been taken."
Mrs. Murray had reseated herself, after her short
struggle with Trant; and her face was absolutely de-
void of expression. " He is a madman 1 " she said,
calmly.
" Perhaps it will hasten matters," suggested Trant,
" if I explain to you the road by which I reached this
conclusion. As a number of startling cases of kid-
naping have occurred recently, the very prevalent fear
they have aroused has made it likely that kidnaping
will be the first theory in any case even remotely re-
sembling it. In view of this I could accept your state-
ment of kidnaping only if the circumstances made it
conclusive, which they did not. With the absence of
any demand for a real ransom they made it impossible
even for you to hold the idea of kidnaping, except
by presuming it a plot of Mrs. Eldredge's.
" But when I began considering whether this could
be her plan, as charged, I noted a singular incon-
sistency in the attitude of Raymond Murray. He
showed obvious eagerness to disgrace Mrs. Eldredge,
but for some reason — not on the surface — was most
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104 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
actively 0[q)osed to police interference and the pub-
licity which would most thoroughly carry out his ob-
ject. So I felt from the first that he, and perhaps his
mother — who was established over Mrs. Eldredge in
her own home, but, by your statement, was to leave if
Mrs. Eldredge came into charge of things — knew
something which they were concealing. This much I
saw before I read a word of the evidence.
" The evidence of the maid and the chauffeur told
only two things — that a small woman rushed into the
park and ran off with your son; and that your wife
was in an extremely agitated condition. The maid
said that the woman was blond and dressed in violet ;
and I knew, when I had read the evidence of other
witnesses, that that was undoubtedly the truth."
Eldredge, pacing the rug, stopped short and opened
his lips; but checked himself.
" Without Miss Hendricks' testimony there was
positively nothing against your wife in the evidence
of the chauffeur and the maid. I then took up Miss
Hendricks' evidence and had not read two lines before
I saw that — as an accusation against your wife, Mr.
Eldredge — it was worthless. Miss Hendricks is one
of those most dai^rous persons, absolutely truthful,
and — absolutely unable to tell the truth! She
showed a common, but hopeless, state of suggestibility.
Her first sentence, in which she said she did not often
look out of the window for fear people would think
she was watching them, showed her habit of confus-
ing what she saw with ideas that existed only in her
own mind. Her testimony was a mass of unwar-
ranted inferences. She saw a woman coming from
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THE RED DRESS 105
the direction of the car line, so to Miss Hendricks ' it
was evident that she had just descended irom a car.'
The woman was hurrying, so 'she was late for an
appointment' ' As soon as she caught sight of the
woman ' Mrs. Eldredge lifted Edward to the ground.
And so on through a dozen things which showed the
highest susceptibility to suggestion. You told me that
before telling her story to you she had told it to Mrs.
Murray. Miss Hendricks had rushed to her at once:
the bias and suggestions which made her testimony
apparently so damning against your wife cotild only
have come from Mrs. Murray."
Eldredge's ^nce shot to his mother-in-law. But
Trant ran on rapidly. "I took up your wife's evi-
dence ; and though apparently entirely at variance with
the others, I saw at once that it really corroborated
the testimony of the nurse and the chauffeur."
"Her evidence confirmed?" Eldredge demanded,
brusquely.
" Yes," Trant replied ; " to the psychologist, who
understood Mrs. Eldredge's mental condition, her
evidence was the same as theirs. I had already seen
for myself, by the aid of what you had told me, Mrs.
Eldredge's position in this household, after leaving
your ofiice to become your wife. On entering your
house, she was brought face to face with a woman
already in control here — a strong and dominant
woman, who had immense influence over you.
Everything told of a struggle between these women
— slights, obstructions, merciless criticisms, of which
your wife could not complain, which had brought her
close to nervous prostration. You remember that ira-
Io6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
mediately after reading her statement I asked you
what particular thing had occurred just before she
went motoring to throw her into that noticeably ex-
citable condition described by the maid and the
chauffeur. You said nothing had happened. But I
was certain even then that there had been something
, — I know no_w that Mrs. Murray had put a climax
to her persecution of your wife by charging that Mrs.
Eldredge was taking the boy out to get rid of him
— and my knowledge of psychology told me that,
allowing for Mrs. Eldredge's hysterical condition,
she had stated in her evidence the same things that
the maid and the chauffeur had stated. It is a fact
that in her condition of hypersesthesia — a condition
readily brought on not only in weak women, but
sometimes in strong men, l^ excitement and excessive
nervous strain — her senses would be highly over-
stimulated. Barely hearing the sound of the woman's
voice, she would honestly describe her as speaking in
■ a loud tone.
" All time intervals would also be greatly prolonged.
It truly seemed to her that the child took a long time
to cross the grass and that the woman talked with him
several minutes, instead of seconds. The sensation
of a similarly long time elapsing after the woman
took the boy's hand gave her the impression of a long
struggle. She would honestly believe that it took the
automobile fifteen minutes to make the circuit of the
park. When you asked your wife why, if so much
time elapsed, she tried to do nothing, she was unable to
answer ; for no time was wasted at all.
" But most vital of all, I recognized her description
THE RED DRESS 107
of the woman as wearing a red dress as most con-
clusive confinnation of the maid's testimoi^ and a
final proof, not that Mrs. Eldredge was trying to mis-
lead you, but that she was telling the truth as well as
she could. For it is a oMnmon psychological fact that
in a hysterical condition red is the color most com-
monly seen subjectively : the sensation of red not only
persists in hysteria, when other color semations dis-
appear, but it is common to have it take the place of
another color, especially violet. It was discovered
and recorded over thirty years ago that, in excessive
excitability known psychologically as hypersesthesia,
all colors are lifted in the spectrum scale and, to the
overexcited retina, the shorter waves of violet may
give the sensation of the longer ones producing red.
So what to you seemed an intentional contradiction
was to me the most positive and complete assurance of
your wife's honesty.
" And finally, to be consistent with this condition,
I knew that if her state was due to expectation of
harm to herself or the child from any unusually large,
dark woman, she would see the woman in her excite-
ment, as large and dark. For it is one of the com-
monest facts known to the psychologist that our senses
in excitement can be so influenced by our expectation
of any event that we actually see things, not as they
are, but as we expect them to be. So when you told
me that Mrs. Murray answered the description given
by Mrs. Eldredge, all threads of the skein had led to
Mrs. Murray.
" Now, as it was clear to me that Mrs. Murray
herself had used Miss Hendricks' easy suggestibility
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lo8 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
to prejudice her evidence against Mrs. Eldredge, Mrs.
Murray could not herself have believed that Mrs. El-
dredge had taken the boy away. So, since the Mur-
rays were making no search, they must have soon
found out where the boy was and were satisfied that
he was safe and that they could produce him, after
they had finished ruining Mrs. Eldredge,
" Therefore I was in a position to appreciate Mrs.
Murray's ridiculous letter when it came, with its pain-
fully misspelled demand for an absurdly small ransom
that would not be refused for a moment, as the object
of the letter was only to make the final move in the
case against Mrs. Eldredge and enable them to return
the boy. So far, it is clear?" Trant checked his
rapid explanation.
Still Eldredge stared at the set, defiant features of
his mother-in-law ; and made no reply.
"I appreciated thoroughly that I must prove aQ
this," Trant then shot on rapidly. " You, Mr. El-
dredge, discovered that Miss Hendricks' description of
the woman tallied precisely with the published descrip-
tion of the St. Louis kidnaper, without appreciating
that the description was in her mind. With her high
suggestibility she substituted it for the woman she
actually saw as unconsciously — and as honestly —
as she substituted Mrs. Murray's suggestions for her
own observations.
" But perhaps you' can appreciate it now. You saw
how I showed her the word ' Armenia ' and spoke of
the United States to lead her mind to substitute
'America' to prove how easily her mind substituted
acts, motions and everything at Mrs. Murray's sugges-
THE RED DRESS 109
tion. I had only to speak of 'servilely copying' to
have her change ' invitation ' into ' imitatioa' A mere
mention of researches made her think she saw 'in-
vestigate,' when the word was ' inviolate.' Finally,
after showing her a picture in which there were two
women and a man, but no boy, she stated, at my slii^t
suggestion, that she saw a boy, and even described him
for me and told me what he was doing. I had proved
beyond cavil the utter worthlessness of evidence given
l^ this woman, and dismissed her,"
" I followed that 1 " Eldrcdge granted.
Trant continued : " So I tested your wife to show
that she had not su^estibility, like Miss Hendricks —
that is, she could not be made to say that she saw
* senate ' instead of ' sedate ' by a mere mention of the
national legislature at the time the word was shown;
nor would she make over ' pioseer ' into * pioneer,'
under the suggestion of backwoodsman. But by get-
ting her into an excitable condition with her mind
emotionally set to expect a picture of the missing boy,
her excited mind at the moment of perception altered
the picture of the totally different six-year-old ^ioy I
showed her into the picture of Edward, as readily as
her highly excited senses — fearit^ for herself and
for the boy through Mrs. Murray — altered the
woman she saw taking Edward into an emotional sem-
blance of Mrs. Murray.
" I had understood it as essential to clear your wife
as to find the boy — whom I appreciated could be in
no danger. So I made the next test with Mrs. Mur-
ray. This, I admit, depended largely upon chance.
I knew, of course, that she must know where the boy
ComW
no THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
was and that probably her son did too. The place
was also probably in the vicinity. The automato-
graph is a device to register the slightest and most
involuntary motions. It is a basic psychol<^cal fact
that there is an inevitable muscular impulse toward
any object which arouses emotion. If one spreads a
score of playing cards about a table and the subject
has a special one in mind, his hand on the automato-
graph will quickly show a faint impulse toward the
card, althou^ the subject is entirely unaware of it
So I knew that if the place where the boy was kept
was shown in any of the pictures, I would get a re-
action from Mrs. Murray; which I did — with the
result, Mr. Eldredge," Trant went to the window and
watched the street, expectantly, ''that Mr. Raymond
Murray ts now bringing your son around the comer
and — "
But the father had burst from the room and toward
the door. Trant heard a cry of joy and the stumble
of an almost hysterical woman as Mrs. Eldredge
rushed down the stairs after her husband. He turned
as Mrs. Murray, taking advantage of the excitement,
endeavored to push past him.
"You are leaving the house?" he asked. "But
tell me first," he demanded, " how did the boy come
to be taken out of the park? Had the boys whom
the chauffeur said stopped around his car anything to
do with it?"
" They were a class which a kindergarten teacher — ■
a new teacher — had taken to see the animals," the
woman answered, coldly.
"Ah I So one of them was left behind — the one
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THE RED DRESS I i I
whom they saw running and mistook for Edward —
and the teacher, running back, took Edward by mis-
take. But she must have discovered her mistake when
she rejoined the others."
" Only after she got on the car. There one of my
former servants recognized him and took him to her
home."
" And when the servant came to tell you, and you
understood how Miss Hendricks' suggestibility had
played into your hands, the temptation was too much
for you, and you made this last desperate attempt to
discredit Mrs. Eldredge. I seel " He stood back and
let her by.
Raymond Murray, after bringing back the boy, had
disappeared. In the hall Eldredge and his wife bent
over the boy, the woman completely hysterical in the
joy of the recovery, laughing and crying alternately.
She caught the boy to her frantically as she stared
wildly at a woman ascending the steps.
" The woman in red — the woman in red ! " she
cried suddenly.
Trant stepped to her side quickly. " But she
doesn't look big and dark to you now, does she?" he
asked. " And see, now," he said, trying to calm her,
" the dress is violet again. Yes, Mr. Eldredge, this,
I believe, is the woman in violet — the small blond
woman who took your boy from the park by mistake
— as I will explain to you. She is coming, undoubt-
edly, in response to an advertisement that I put in
The Journal this noon. But we do not require her
help now, for Mrs. Murray has told me all."
The maidj Lucy Carew, ran suddenly up the hall
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112 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"Mrs. Murray and Mr. Murray are leaving the
house, Mr. Eldredge! " she cried, bewilderedly.
"Are they?" the master of the house returned.
He put his arm about its mistress and together they
took the boy to his room.
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THE PEIVATB BAKK PUZZLE
" Planning to rob us? "
" I am sure of it 1 "
"But I don't understand, Gordon 1 Who? How?
What are they planning to rob?" the young acting-
president of the bank demanded, sharply. /
" The safe, Mr. Howell — the safe I " the qld cashier
repeated. " Some one inside the bank is planning to
rob it I "
" How do you know ? "
" I feel it ; I know it. I am as certain of it as though
I had overheat'd the [dot being made 1 But I cannot tell
you how I know. Put an extra man on guard here to-
night," the old man appealed, anxiously, " for I am
certain that some one in this office means to enter the
safe! "
The acting-president swung his chair away from
the anxious little man before him, and glanced quickly
through the glass door of his private office at the
dozen clerks and tellers busy in the big room who suf-
ficed to carry on the affairs of the little bank.
It was just before noon on the last Wednesday in
November, in the old-established private banking house
of Henry Howell & Son, on La Salle Street; and it
was the beginning of the sixth week that young How-
ell had been running the bank by himself. For the
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114 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRAUT
first two or three weeks, since his father's rheu-
matism suddenly sent him to Carlsbad, the business of
the bank had seemed to go on as smoothly as usual.
But for the last month, as young Howell himself
could not deny, there had been a difference.
" A premonition, Gordon ? " Howell's brown eyes
scrutinized the cashier curiously. " I did not know
your nerve had been so shaken 1 "
"Call it premonition if you wish," the old cashier
answered, almost wildly. " But I have warned you !
If anything happens now you cannot hold me to blame
for it. I know the safe is going to be entered ! Why
else should they search my waste-basket? Why was
my coat taken? Who took my pocketbook? Who
just to-day tried to break into my old typewriter
desk?"
" Gordon! Gordon! " Tlie young man Juinped to
his feet with an expression of relief, " You need a
vacation! I know better than anybody how much
has happened in the last two months to shake and dis-
turb you ; but if you attach any meaning to those insig-
nificant incidents you must be going crazy! "
The cashier tore himself from the other's grasp and
left the office. Young Howell stood looking after
him in perplexity an instant, then glanced at his watch
and, taking up his overcoat, hastened out. He had a
firm, well-built figure, a trifle stout; his expression,
step, and all his bearing was usually quick, decisive,
cheerful. But now as he passed into the street his
step slowed and his head bent before the puzzle which
his old cashier had just presented to him.
After walking a block his pace quickened, however,
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THE PftlVATfi BAKK PUZZLE II5
and he turned abruptly into a great office building
towering sixteen stories from the street. Halting for
an instant before the building directory, he took the
express elevator to the twelfth floor and, at the end
of the hall, halted again before an office door upon
which was stenciled in clear letters :
" LUTHER TRANT, PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGIST."
At the call to come in, he opened the door and
found himself facing a red-haired, broad-shouldered
young man with blue-gray eyes, who had looked up
from a delicate instrument which he was adjusting
upon his desk. The young banker noted, half un-
consciously, the apparatus of various kinds — dials,
measuring machines and clocks, electrical batteries
with strange meters wired to them, and the dozen
delicate machines that stood on two sides of the room,
for his conscious interest was centered in the quiet but ■
alert young man'that rose to meet him.
" Mr. Luther Trant ? " he questioned.
" Yes."
" I am Harry Howell, the ' son ' of Howell &
Son," the banker introduced himself. " I heard of you,
Mr. Trant, in connection with the Bronson murder;
but more recently Walter Eldredge told me something
of the remarkable way in which you apply scientific
psychology, which has so far been recognized only in
the universities, to practical problems. He made no
secret to me that you saved him from wrecking the
whole happiness of his home. I have come to ask you
to do, perhaps, as much for me,"
L);.i....jbvGoog[c
Il6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
The psychologist nodded.
" I do not mean, Mr, Trant," said the banker, drop-
ping into the chair toward which Trant directed him,
*' that our home is in danger, as Eldredge's was. But
our cashier — " The banker broke off. " Two
months ago, Mr. Trant, our bank suffered its first
defauh, under circumstances which affected the
cashier very strongly. A few weeks later father had
to go to Europe for his health, leaving me with old
Gordon, the cashier, in charge of things. Almost im-
mediately a series of disorders commenced, little an-
noyances and persecutions against the cashier. They
have continued almost daily. They are so senseless,
contemptible, and trivial that I have disregarded them,
but they have shaken Gordon's nerve. Twenty min-
utes ago he came to me, trembling with anxiety, to
tell me that they mean that one of the men in the of-
fice is trying to rob the safe. I feel confident that it
is only Gordon's nervousness ; but in the absence of my
father I feel that I cannot let the matter go longer un-
explained."
" What are these apparently trivia! things which
have been going on for the last month, Mr. Howell ? "
Trant asked.
" They are so insignificant that I am almost ashamed
to tell you. The papers in Gordon's waste-basket have
been disturbed. Some one takes his pads and blotters.
His coat, which hangs on a hook in his office, disap-
peared and was brought back again. An old pocket-
book that he keeps in his desk, which never contains
anything of importance, has been taken away and
J!>rought back in the same manner. Every thing, dis-
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 1 17
turbed has been completely valueless, the sole object
being apparently to plague the man. But it has
shaken Gordon amazingly, incomprehensibly. And
this morning, when he found some one had been trying
to break into an old typewriter desk in his office —
though it was entirely empty, even the tj^rewriter hav-
ing been taken out of it two days ago — he went abso-
lutely to pieces, and made the statement about robbing
the safe which I have just repeated to you."
" That is very strange," said Trant, thoughtfully.
" So these apparently senseless tricks terrorize your
cashier I He was not keeping anything in the type-
writer desk, was he? "
" He told me not," Howell answered. " Gordon
might conceal something from me ; but he would not
lie."
" Tell me," Trant demanded, suddenly, " what was
the defalcation in the bank, which, as you just men-
tioned, so greatly affected your cashier just before
your father left for Europe? "
" Ten thousand dollars was taken ; in plain words
stolen outright by young Robert Gordon, the cashier's
— William Gordon's — son."
" The cashier's son I " Trant replied with interest,
" His only son," Howell confirmed. " A boy about
twenty. Gordon has a daughter older. The boy
seemed a clean, straightforward fellow like his father,
who has been with us forty years, twenty years our
cashier; but something was different in him under-
neath, for the first tirfle he had the chance he stole
from the bank."
"And the particulars? " Trant requested quickly.
Ii8 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" There are no especial particulars ; it was a per-
fectly clear case against Robert," the banker replied,
reluctantly. " CXir bank has a South Side branch on
Cottage Grove Avenue, near Fifty-first Street, for the
use of storekeepers and merchants in the neighbor-
hood. On the 29th of September they telephoned us
that there was a sudden demand for currency resem-
bling a run on the bank. Our regular messenger, with
the officer who accompanies him, was out; so Gordon
called his son to carry the money alone. It never
occurred to either father or myself, or, of course, to
Gordon, not to trust to the boy. Gordon himself got
the money from the safe — twenty- four thousand dol-
lars, fourteen thousand in small bills and ten thou-
sand in two small packets of ten five-hundred-dollar
bills apiece. He himself counted it into the bag,
locked it, and sealed it in. We all told the boy that we
were sending him on an emergency call and to rush
above all things. Now, it takes about thirty-five min-
utes to reach our branch on the car; but in spite of
being told to hurry, young Gordon was over an hour
getting there; and when the officers of the branch
opened his bag they found that both packets of five-
hundred-dollar bills — ten thousand dollars — had
been taken out ^stolen! He had fixed up the lock,
the seal of the bag, somehow, after taking the money."
"What explanation did the boy make?" Trant
pressed, quiclcly.
" None. He evidently depended entirely upon the
way he fixed up the lock and seal."
"The delay?"
"The cars, he said." . .
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 119
" You said a moment ago that it was impossible that
your cashier would lie to you. Is it absolutely out of
the question that he held back the missing bills ? "
" And ruined his own son, Mr. Trant ? Impossible !
But you do not have to take my opinion for that The
older Gordon returned the money — all of it — though
he had to mortgage his home, which was all he had,
to make up the amount. Out of regard for the father,
who was heartbroken, we did not prosecute the boy.
It was kept secret, even from the employees of the
bank, why he was dismissed, and only the officers yet
know that the money was stolen. But you can see
how deeply all. this must have affected Gordon, and
it may be enough to account fully for his nervousness
under the petty annoyances which have been going on
ever since."
" Annoyances," cried Trant, " which began almost
immediately after this first defalcation in forty years I
That may, or may not, be coincidence. But, if it is
convenient, I would like to go with you to the bank,
Mr. Howell, at once ! " The young psychologist
leaped to his feet ; the banker rose more slowly.
It was not quite one o'clock when the two young men
entered the old building where Howell & Son had had
their offices for thirty-six years. Trant hurried on
directly up to the big banking room on the second
floor. Inside the offices the psychologist's quick eyes,
before they sought individuals, seemed to take stock
of the furnishings and equipment of the place. The
arrangement of all was staid, solid, old-fashioned.
Many of the desks and chairs, and most of the other
equipment, seemed to date back as far as the founding
120 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
of the bank by the senior Howell three years after
the great Chicago fire. The clerks' and tellers' cages
were of the heavy, overelaborate brass scroll work
of the generation before ; the counters of thick, almost
potf(ierons, mahogany, now deeply scored, but not dis-
colored. And the massive safe, set into a rear wall,
especially attracted Trant's attention. He paused be-
fore its open door and curiously inspected the com-
plicated mechanism of revolving dials, lettered on their
rims, which required to be set to a certain combination
of letters in order to open it.
" This is still good enough under ordinary condi-
tions, I dare say," he commented, as he turned the
barrels experimentally; "but it is rather old, is it
not?"
" It is as old as the bank and the building," Howell
answered. " It is one of the Rittenhouse six-letter
combination locks; and was built in, as you see, in
'74 when they put up this building for us. Just about
that time, I believe, the Sargent time lock was in-
vented ; but this was still new, and besides, father has
always been very conservative. He lets things go on
until a real need arises to change them; and in thirty-
six years, as I told you at your office, nothing has
happened to worry him particularly about this safe."
" I see. The combination, I suppose, is a word? "
"Yes; a word of six letters, changed every Mon-
day,"
"And given to — "
" Only to the cashier."
"Gordon, that is," Trant acknowledged, as he
turned away and appeared to take his first interest in
THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 121
any of the employees of the bank, " the man alone in
the cashier's room over there?" The psychologist
pointed through the open door of the room at his right
to the thin, strained figure bent far over his desk.
He was the only one of all the men about the bank who
seemed not to have noticed the stranger whom the
acting-president had brought with him to inspect the
safe.
" Yes ; that is Gordon ! " the president answered,
caught forward quickly by something in the manner,
or the posture, of the cashier. "But what is he
doing? What is the matter with him now?" He
hurried toward the old man through the open door.
Trant followed him, and they could see over the
cashier's shoulder, before he was conscious of their
presence, that he was arranging and fitting together
small scraps of paper. Then he jerked himself up in
his chair, trembling, arose, and faced them with blood-
less lips and cheeks, one tremulous hand pressed guilt-
ily upon the papers, hiding them.
" What is the matter? What are you doing, Gor-
don?" Howell said in surprise.
Trant reached forward swiftly, seized the cashier's
tliin wrist and lifted his hand forcibly from the desk.
The scraps were five in number and upon them, as
Gordon had arranged them, were printed in pencil
merely meaningless equations. The first, which was
Written on two of the scraps, read:
43$=8o.
The second, torn into three pieces, was even more
enigmatical, reading:
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122 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
35=8 ?$
But the pieces appeared to be properly put together ;
and Trant noted that, besides the two and three pieces
fitting, all the scraps evidently belonged together, and
had originally formed a part of a large sheet of paper
which had been torn and thrown away.
" They are nothing — nothing, Mr. Howell I " The
old man tried to wrench his hand away, staring in
terror at the banker. " They are only scraps of paper
which I found. Oh, Mr. Howell, I warned you this
morning that the bank is in danger. I know that now
better than everl But these," he grew still whiter,
"are nothing!"
Trant had to catch the cashier's hand again, as he
tried to snatch up the scraps. "Who is this man,
Mr. Howell ? " Gordon turned indignantly to the
yoimg banker.
" My name is Trant Mr. Howell came to me
this morning to advise him as to the things which have
been terrifying you here in this office. And, Mr. Gor-
don," said Trant, sternly, " it is perfectly useless for
you to tell us that these bits of paper have no mean-
ing, or that their meaning is unknown to you. But
since you will not explain the mystery to us, I must go
about the matter in some other way."
" You do not imagine, Mr. Trant," the cashier fell
back into his chair as though the psychologist had
struck him, " that I have any connection with the
plot against the bank of which I warned Mr, How-
ell!"
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 123
" 1 am quite certain," Trant answered, firmly, " that
if a plot exists, you have some connection with
it. Whether your connection is innocent or guilty I
can determine at once by a short test, if you will sub-
mit to it."
Gordon's eyes met those of the acting-president in
startled terror, but he gathered himself together and
arose.
" Mr. Howell knows," he said, hollowly, " how mad
an accusation you are making. But I will submit to
your test, of course,"
Trant took up a blank sheet of paper from the desk
and drew on it two rows of geometric figures in rapid
succession, like these:
V
'^
v^
He handed the sheet to the cashier, who stared at
it in wondering astonishment
" Look at these carefully, Mr. Gordon," Trant took
out his watch, " and study them till I tell you to stop.
Stop now ! " he commanded, " and draw upon the pad
on your desk as many of the figures as you can." .
The cashier and the acting-president stared into
Trent's face with increasing amazement ; then the- '
cashier asked to see Trant's sheets again and drew
from memory, after a few seconds, two figures, thus :
* L);.....jbvGoogLc
124 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TEANT
"Thank you," said Trant, tearing the sheet from
the pad without pving either time to question him.
He closed the office door carefully and returned with
his watch in his hand.
" You can hear this tick ? " He held it about eight-
een inches from Gordon's ear.
" Of course," the cashier answered.
" Then move your finger, please, as long as you
hear it."
The cashier began moving his finger. Trant put
the watch on the desk and stepped away. For a mo-
ment the finger stopped ; but when Trant spoke again
the cashier nodded and moved his finger at the ticks.
Almost immediately it stopped again, however; and
Trant returned and took up his watch.
" I want to ask you one thing more," he said to the
weary old man. " I want you to take a pencil and
write upon this pad a series of numbers from one up
as fast as you care to, no matter how much more rap-
idly I count. You are ready ? Then , one, two,
three — " Trant counted rapidly in a clear voice up to
thirty.
" 1-2-3-4-10-11-12-19-20-27-28 — " the cashier
wrote, and handed the pad to Trant.
" Thank you. This will be all I need, except these
pieces," said Trant, as he swept up the scraps which
the cashier had been piecing together.
Gordon started, but said nothing. His gray, anx-
' " L);.i....jbvGooglc
THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 12$
ious eyes followed them, as the banker preceded Trant
from the cashier's room into his private office.
"What is the meaning of all this, Mr. Trant?"
Howell closed the door and swung round, excitedly.
" If Gordon is connected with a plot against the bank,
and that in itself is unbelievable, why did he warn me
the bank was in danger? "
" Mr. Gordon's connection with, what is going on is
perfectly innocent," Trant answered. " I have just
made certain of that I " He had seated himself be-
fore Howell's desk and was spreading out the scraps
of paper which he had taken from Gordon. " But tell
me. Was not Gordon once a stenographer, or did he
not use a typewriter at least?"
" Well, yes," Howell replied, impatiently. " Gor-
don was private secretary to my father twenty years
ago; and, of course, used a typewriter. It was his
old tnachine, which he always kept and still used oc-
casionally, that was in his desk which, as I told you,
was broken into this morning,"
" But the desk was empty — even the machine had
been taken from it I "
" Gordofl took it home only a day or so ago. His
daughter is taking up typewriting and wanted it to
practice upoa"
" In spite of the fact that it must be entirely out of
date? " Trant pressed. " Probably it was the last of
that pattern in this office?"
" Of course," Howell rejoined, still more impa-
tiently. "The others were changed long ago. But
what in the world has all this to do with the question
whether some one is planning to rob us? "
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126 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"It has everything to do, Mr. Howell!" Trant
leaped to his feet, his eyes flashing with sudden com-
prehension. " For what you have just told me makes
it certain that, as Gordon warned you, one of your
clerks is planning to enter your safe at the first op-
portunity! Gordon knows as little as you or I, at
this moment, which of your men it is; but he is as
sure of the fact itself as I am, and he has every reason
to know that there is no time to lose in detecting the
plotter."
" What is that? What is that? Gordon is right? *'
The banker stared at Trant in confusion, then as-
serted, skeptically : " You cannot tell that from those
papers, Mr. Trant I "
"I feel very certain of it indeed, and — just from
these papers. And more than that, Mr. Howell,
though I shall ask to postpone explaining this until
later, I may say from this second paper here," Trant
held up the series of numbwrs which the cashier had
written, " that this indicates to me that it is entirely
possible, if not actually probable, that Gordon's son
did not steal the money for the loss of which he was
disgraced! "
The banker strode up and down the room, excitedly.
" Robert Gordon not guilty ! I understood, Trant,
that your methods were surprising. They are more
than that; they arc incomprehensible. I cannot im-
agine how you reach these conclusions. But," he
looked into the psychologist's eyes, " I see no alterna-
tive but to put the matter completely in your hands,
and for the present to do whatever you say."
" There is nothing more to be done here now," said
THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 127
Trant, gathering up the papers, " except to give me
Gordon's home address."
" Five hundred and thirty-seven Leavenworth
Street, on the South Side."
" I will come back to-morrow after banking hours.
Meanwhile, as Gordon warned you, put an extra guard
over the bank to-night. I hope to be able to tell you
all that underlies this case when I have been to Gor-
don's home this evening, and seen his son, and " —
Trant turned away — "that old typewriting machine
of his."
He went out, the banker staring after him, per-
plexed.
Trant knew already that forty years of service for
the little bank of Howell & Son had left Gordon still
a poor man; and he was ndt surprised when, at seven
o'clock that night, he turned into Leavenworth Street,
to find Number 537 a typical " small, comfortable
home," put up twenty years before in what had then
been a new real estate subdivision and probably pur-
chased by Gordon upon the instalment plan. Gor-
don's daughter, who opened the door, was a black-
haired, gray-eyed girl of slender figure. She had the
air of the housekeeper, careful and economical in the
administration of her father's moderate and unin-
creasing means. But a look of more direct responsi-
bility upon her face made Trant recollect, as he gavri
his name and stepped inside, that since her brother's
default and her father's sacrifice to make it up, this
girl herself was going out to help regain the owner-
Mp_ of the little home.
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128 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Father is upstairs lying down," she explained, so-
licitously, as she showed Trant into the living room.
" But I can call him," she offered, reluctantly, " if it
is on business of the bank."
" It is on business of the bank," Trant replied.
" But there is no need to disturb your father. It was
your brother I came to see."
TTie girl's face went crimson. " My brother is no
longer connected with the bank," she managed to an-
swer, miserably. " I do not think he would be will-
ing — I think I could not prevail upon him to talk to
anyone sent by the bank."
" That is unfortunate," said Trant, frankly, " for
in that case my journey out here goes half for noth-
ing. I was very anxious to see him. By the way,
Miss Gordon, what luck are you having with your
typewriting? "
The girl drew back surprised.
" Mr. Howell told me about you," Trant explained,
" when he mentioned that your father had taken his
old typewriter home for you to practice upon."
" Oh, yes ; dear father 1 " exclaimed the girl. " He
brought it home with him one ni§^t this week. But
it is quite out of date — quite useless. Besides, I had
hired a modern one last week."
" Mr. Howell interested me in that old machine.
You have no objection to my seeing it? "
" Of course not." The girl looked at the young
psychologist with growing astonishment " It is ri^t
here." She led the way through the hall, and opened
the door to a rear room. Throu^ the doorway Trant
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 129
could see in the little room two typewriting machines,
one new and shiny, the other, under a cover, old and
battered.
" Say! what do you want?" A challenging voice
brought Trant around swiftly to face a scowling boy
clattering down stairs.
" He wants to look at the typewriter, Robert," the
girl explained.
Trant looked the boy over quietly. He was a clean-
looktng chap, quietly dressed and resembling his
father, but was of more powerful physique. His face
was marred by sullen brooding, and in his eyes there
was a settled flame of defiance. The psychologist
turned away, as though determined to finish first his
inspection of the typewriter, and entered the room.
The boy and the girl followed.
" Here, you ! " said Robert Gordon, harshly, as
Trant laid his hand on the cover of the old machine,
" that's not the typewriter you want to look at. This
is the one." And he pointed to the newer of the
two.
" It's the old one I want to see," answered Trant.
The boy paled suddenly, leaped forward and seized
Trant by the wrist. " Say I Who are you, anyway ?
What do you want to see that machine for? " he de-
manded, hotly. " You shall not see it, if I can help
it I"
"Whatl" Trant faced him in obvious astonish-
ment. " You I You in that ! That alters matters ! "
William Gordon had appeared suddenly in the door-
way, his face as white as his son's. Robert's hand
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130 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
fell from Trant's wrist. The dazed old man stood
watching Trant, who slowly uncovered and studied the
keyboard of the old writing machine.
" What does this mean, Mr. Trant ? " Gordon fal-
tered, holding to the door frame for support.
" It means, Mr. Gordon " — Trant straightened, his
eyes flashing in full comprehension and triumph —
" that you must keep your son in to-night, at what-
ever cost, Mr. Gordon ! And bring him with you to-
morrow morning when you come to the bank. Do not
misunderstand me." He caught the old man as he
tottered. " We are in time to prevent the robbery you
feared at the bank. And I hope — I still hope — to
be able to prove that your son had nothing to do with
the loss of the money for which he was dismissed,"
With that he left the house.
Half an hour before the hank of Howell & Son
opened the next mortiing, Trant and the acting-presi-
dent stepped from the president's private office into the
main banking room.
" You have not asked me," said Howell, " whether
there was any attempt on the bank last night. I had
a special man on watch, as you advised, but no at-
tempt was made."
" After seeing young Gordon last night," Trant an-
swered, " I expected none,"
The banker looked perplexed; then he glanced
quickly about and saw his dozen clerks and tellers in
their places, dispatching preliminary business and
preparing their accounts. The cashier alone had not
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 131
yet arrived. The acting-president called them all to
places at the desks.
" This gentleman," he explained, " is Mr. Trant, a
psychologist. He has just asked me, and I am going
to ask you, to cooperate with him in carrying out a
very interesting psychological test which he wants to
make on you as men working in the bank."
" As you all probably have seen in newspapers and
magazine articles," Trant himself took up the ex-
planation, as the banker hesitated, " psychologists, and
many other investigators, are much interested just now
in following the influences which employments, or
business of various kinds, have upon mental character-
istics. I want to test this morning the normal ' first
things' which you think of as a class constantly asso-
ciated with money and banking operations durii^ most
of your conscious hours. To establish your way of
thinking as a class, I have asked Mr. Howell's per-
mission to read you a short list of words; and I ask
you to write down, on hearing each of these words,
the first thing that connects itself with that word in
your minds. Each of you please take a piece of paper,
sign it, and number it along one edge to correspond
with the numbers of the words on my list."
There was a rustling of paper as the men, nodding,
prepared for the test. Trant took his list from his
pocket.
" I am interested chiefly, of course," he continued,
" in following psychologically the influence of your
constant association with money. For you work sur-
rounded by money. Every dick of the Remington
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132 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
typevariters about you refers to money, and their shift
keys are pushed most often to make the dollar mark.
The bundles of money around you are not marked in
secret writing or symbols, but plainly with the amount,
five hundred dollars or ten thousand dollars written on
the wrapper. Behind the combination of the safe lies
a fortune always. Yet money must of necessity be-
come to you — psychologically — a mere commodity;
and the majority of the acts which its transfer and
safekeeping demand must grow to be ahnost mechan-
ical with you; for the mechanical serves you in two
ways: First, in the routine of your business, as, for
instance, with a promissory note, wliich to you means
a definite interval — perhaps sixty days — so that you
know automatically without looking at your calendars
that such a note drawn on September zgth would be'
due to-day. And second, by enabling you to run
through these piles of bills with no more emotion than
if you were looking for scraps in a waste-basket, it
protects you from temptation, and is the reason why
an institution such as this can run for forty years
without ever finding it necessary to arrest a thief. I
need not tell you that both these mental attitudes are
of keen interest to psychologists. Now, if you will
write — "
Watch in hand, Trant read slowly, at regular inter-
vals, the words on his list :
1 — reship
2 — ethics
3 — Remington
A Stifled exclamation made him lift his eyes, and he
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 133
saw HoweU, who before had appeared merely curious
about the test, looking at him in astonishment. Trant
smiled, and continued:
4 — shift key
5 — secret writing
6 — combination
7 — waste-basket
8 — ten thousand
9 — five hundred
10 — September 39th
11 — promissory note
12 — arrest
" That finishes it 1 Thank you all I " Trent
looked at Howell, who nodded to one of the clerks to
take up the papers. The banker swiftly preceded
Trant back to his private office, and when the door
was closed turned on him abruptly.
"Who told you the combination of the safe?" he
demanded. " You had our word for this week and
the word for the week before. That couldn't be
chance. Did Gordon tell you last night?"
"You mean the words 'reship' and 'ethics'?"
Trant replied. " No ; he didn't tell me. And it was
not chance, Mr. Howell." He sat down and spread
out rapidly his dozen papers. " What — ' rifles ' ! "
he exclaimed at the third word in one of the first papers
he picked up. " And way off on ' waste-basket ' and
'shift key,' too!" He glanced over all the list rap-
idly and laid it aside. "What's this?" Something
caught him quickly again after he had sifted the next
half dozen sheets. " * Waste-basket ' gave him trouble,
too?" Trant stared, thoughtfully. "And think of
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!34 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
ten thousand ' windows ' and five hundred ' doors ' ! "
He put that paper aside also, glanced through the rest
and arose.
" I asked Mr. Gordon to bring his son to the bank
with him this morning, Mr. Howell," he said to his
client, seriously. " If he is there now please have him
come in. And, also, please send for," he glanced again
at the name on the first paper he had put aside, " Byron
Ford!"
Gordon had not yet come; but the door opened a
moment later and a young man of about twenty-five,
dapper and prematurely slightly bald, stood on the
threshold. " Ah, Ford ! " said Howell, " Mr. Trant
asked to see you."
" Shut the door, please, Mr. Ford," Trant com-
manded, " and then come here ; for I want to ask you,"
he continued without warning as Ford complied, " how
you came to be preparing to enter Mr. Howell's
safe ? "
" What does he mean, Mr. Howell? " the clerk ap-
pealed to his employer, with admirable surprise.
" For the past month. Ford," Trant replied, di-
rectly, " you have been trying to get the combination
of the safe. Several times you probably actually got
it, but couldn't make it out, till you got it again this
week and at last you guessed the key to the cipher
and young Gordon gave you the means of reading it 1
Why were you going to that trouble to get the com-
bination if you were not going to rob the bank? "
" Rob the bank 1 I was not going to rob the bank I "
the clerk cried, hotly.
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE I35
" Isn't yoyng Gordon out there now, Mr. Howell? "
Trant turned to the wondering banker quickly.
" Thank you ! Gordon," he said to the cashier's son
who came in, reluctantly, " I have just been question-
ing Ford, as perhaps you may guess, as to why you
and he have gone to so much trouble to learn the
combination of the safe. He declares that it was not
with an intention to rob. However, I think, Mr.
Howell," Trant swung away from the boy to the
young banker, suggestively, " that if we turn Ford
over to the police — "
" No, you shan't I " the boy burst in. " He wasn't
going to rob the safe! And you shan't arrest him
or disgrace him as you disgraced me I For he was
only — only — "
"Only getting the combination for you?" Trant
put in quickly, " so you could rob the bank your-
self!"
" Rob the bank? " the boy shouted, less in control
of himself than before as he faced Howell with
clenched fists and flushed face. "Rob nothing I He
was only helping me so I could take back from this
bank what it stole from my father — the ten
thousand dollars it stole from him, for the money I
never lost. I was going to take ten thousand dollars
— not a cent more or less! And Ford knew it, and
thought I was right I "
Trant interrupted, quietly : " I am sure you are
telling the truth, Gordon ! "
" You mean you are sure they meant only to take
the ten thousand?" the banker asked, dazed.
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136 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Yes ; and also that young Gordon did not steal the
ten thousand dollars which was made up by his
father," Trant assured.
" How can you be sure of that? " Howel! charged.
" Send for Carl Shaffer, please ! " Trant requested,
glancing quickly at the second sheet he had put aside.
"What! Shaffer?" Howell questioned, as he com-
plied.
"Yes; for he can tell us, I think — you can tell,
can't you, Shaffer," Trant corrected, as, at Howell's
order, a short, stout, and overdressed clerk came in
and the door shut behind him, " what really hap-
pened to the twenty five-hundred-dollar bills which
disappeared from the bank on September 29th ? You
did not know, when you found them in Gordon's
waste-basket, that they were missed or — if they were
— that they had brought anyone into trouble. You
have never known, have you," Trant went on, merci-
lessly, watching the eyes which could no longer meet
his, " that old Gordon, the cashier, thought he had
surely locked them into the dispatch bag for his son,
and that when the boy was dismissed a little later he
was in disgrace and charged as a thief for stealing
those bills? You have not known, have you, that a
black, bitter shadow has come over the old cashier
since then from that disgrace, and that he has had to
mortgage his home and give all his savings to make
up those twenty little slips of green paper you ' found '
in his room that morning t But you've counted the
days, almost the hours, since then, haven't you ?
You've counted the days till you could feel yourself
safe and be sure that no one would call for them?
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 137
Well, we call for them now I Where are they, Shaf-
fer? You haven't spent or lost them?"
The clerk stood with eyes fixed on Trant, as if
fascinated, and could make no reply. Twice, and
then again as Trant waited, he wet his lips and c^ned
them.
" I don't know what you are talking about," he
faltered at last
" Yes you do, Shaffer," Trant rejoined quickly.
" For I'm talking of those twenty five-hundred-doUar
bills which you ' found ' in Gordon's waste-basket on
September 29th — sixty days ago, Shaffer I And,
through me, Mr. Howell is giving you a chance to
return the money and have the bank present at your
trial the extenuating circimistances," he glanced at
Howell, who nodded, " or to refuse and have the bank
prosecute you, to the extent of its ability, as a thief ! "
" I am not a thief ! " the clerk cried, bitterly. " I
found the money! It you saw me take it, if you
have known all these sixty days that I had it," he
swung in his desperation toward the banker, " you
are worse than I ami Why did you let me keep it?
Why didn't you ask me for it? "
" We are asking you for it now, Shaffer," said
Trant, catching the clerk by the arm, "if you still
have it"
The clerk looked at his employer, standing speech-
less before him, and his head sank suddenly.
" Of course I have it," he said, sullenly. " You
know I have itl"
Howell stepped to the door and called in the bank's
special police ofl5cer. Dgtz-dbvGooQlc
138 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" You will go with Mr. Shaffer," he said to the
burly man, "who will bring back to me here ten
thousand dollars in bills. You must be sure that he
does not get away from you, and — say nothing about
it."
When the door had closed upon them he turned to
the others. " As to you, Ford — "
" Ford has not yet told us," Trant interrupted,
" how he came to be in the game with Gordon."
" I got him in I " young Gordon answered, boldly.
"He — he comes to see — he wants to marry my
sister. I told him how they had taken our house from
us and were sending my sister to work and — and I
got him to help me."
"But your sister knew nothing of this?" Trant
asked.
It brought a flush to both their cheeks. " No ; of
course not ! " the boy answered.
Howell opened the door to the next office. "Go
in there, and wait for me," he commanded. He took
out his handkerchief and wiped the perspiration from
his hands as he faced Trant alone. " So that was
what happened to the money! And what Gordon
knew, and was hiding from me, was that his son meant
to rob the bank!"
" No, Howell," Trant denied. " Gordon did not
know that."
" Then what was he trying to hide ? Is there an-
other secret in this amazing affair?"
" Yes ; William Gordon's secret ; the fact that your
cashier is no longer efficient; that he is getting old.
and his memory has left him so that he cannot rcroem-
THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 139
ber during the week, even for a day, the single com-
bination word to open the safe."
" What do you mean? " Howell demanded.
" I will tell you all It seemed to me," Trant ex-
plained, " when first you told me of the case, that the
cause of the troubles to the cashier was the effort of
some one to get at some secret personal paper which
the cashier carried, but the existence of which, for
some reason, Gordon could not confess to you. It
was clear, of course, from the consistent search made
of the cashier's coat, pocketbook, and private papers
that the person who was trying to get it believed that
Gordon carried it about with him. It was clear, too,
from his taking the blotters and pads, that the paper
— probably a memorandum of some sort — was often
made out by Gordon at the office ; for if Gordon wrote
in pencil upon a pad and tore of? the first sheet, the
other man could hope to get an impression from the
next in the pad, and if Gordon wrote in ink, he might
get an obverse from the blotters. But besides this,
from the fact that the waste-baskets were searched,
it was clear that the fellow believed that the paper
would become valueless to Gordon after a time and
he would throw it away.
" So much I could make out when you told me the
outlines of the case at my office. But I could make
absolutely nothing, then, of the reason for the at-
tempt to get into the typewriter desk. You also told
me then of young Gordon's trouble ; and I commented
at once upon the coincidence of one trouble coming
so soon after the other, though I was obviously unable
to even guess at the connection. But even then I was
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I40 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
not ccHivinced at all that the mere fact that Gordon
and you all thought he had locked twenty-four thou-
sand dollars into the bag he gave his son made it cer-
tain — in view of the fact that the seal was unbroken
when it was opened with but fourteen thousand dol-
lars in it at the branch bank. When !■ asked you
about that, you replied that old Gordon was unques-
tionably hfiine^ and that he put all the money into the
satchel; that is, he thought he did or intended to,
but you never questioned at all whether he was able
to."
"Able to, Trant?" Howell repeated.
" Yes ; able to," Trant reafHrmed. " I mean in
the sense of whether his condition made it a certainty
that he did what he was sure he was doing. I saw,
of course, that you, as a banker, could recognize but
two conditions in your employee; either he was hon-
est and the money was put in, or he was dishonest and
the money was withheld. But, as a psychologist, I
could appreciate that a man might very well be honest
and yet not put in the money, though he was sure he
did.
" I went to your office then, already fairly sure that
Gordon was making some sort of a memorandum there
which he carried about for a while and then threw
away; that, for some reason, he could not tell you
of this ; but that some one else was extremely anxious
to possess it. I also wished to investigate what I
may call the psychological possibility of Gordon's not
having put in the ten thousand dollars as he thought
he did ; and with this was the typewriter-desk episode,
of which I could make nothing at alL
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 141
"You told me that Gordon had warned you that
trouble threatened the safe ; and when I saw that it
was a simple combination safe with a six-letter word
combination intrusted to the cashier, it came to me
convincingly at once that Gordon's memorandum
might well be the combination of the safe. If he had
been carrying the weekly word in his head for twenty
years, and now, mentally weakened by the disgrace
of his son, found himself unable to remember it, I
could appreciate how, with his savings gone, his home
mortgaged, untrained in any business but banking,
he would desperately conceal his condition from you
for fear of losing his position.
" Obviously he would make a memorandum of
the combination each week at the office and throw
away the old one. This explained clearly why some
one was after it; but why that one should be after
the old memorandimi, and what the breaking open
of the typewriter desk could have had to do with it, I
could not see at first, even after we surprised him
with his scraps of paper. But F made three short
tests of him. The first, a simple test of the psychol-
ogists for memory, made by exhibiting to him a half«
dozen figures formed by different combinations of the
same three lines, proved to me, as he could not repro-
duce one of these figures correctly, that he had need
of a memorandum of the combination of the safe.
The other two tests — which are tests for attention —
showed that, besides having a failing memory, his
condil^ as regards attention was even worse.
Gordon lost the watch ticks, which I asked him to
mark with his finger, twice within forty-five seconds.
142 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
And, whereas any person with normal ' attention '
can write correctly from one to thirty while counting
aloud from one to fifty, Gordon was incapable of
keeping correctly to his set of figures under my very
slight distraction.
" I assured myself thus that he was incapable of
correctly counting money under the distraction and
excitement such as was about him the morning ot
tlie ' run ' ; and I felt it probable that the missing
money was never put into the bag, and must either
have been lost in the bank or taken by some one else.
As I set myxU, then,' to puzzling out the mystery of
the scraps which I took from Gordon, I soon saw
that the writing '42$=8o' and '35=8?$,' which
seemed perfectly • senseless equations, might not be
equations at all, but secret writing instead, made up
of six symbols each, the number of letters in your
combination. Besides the numbers, the other three
symbols were common ones in commercial correspond-
ence. Then, the attack on, old Gordon's typewriter
desk. You told me he had been a stenographer ; and
■ — it flashed to me.
" He had not dared to write the combination in
plain letters ; so he had hit on a very simple, but also
very ingenious, cipher. He wrote the word, not in let-
ters, but in the figures and symbols which accompanied
each letter on the keyboard of his old typewriting
machine. The cipher explained why the other man
was after the old combination in the waste-basket,
hoping to get enough words together so he coul^ figure
them out, as he had been doing on the scraps of paper
which Gordon found. Till then Gordon might have
THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 143
been in doubt as to the meaning of the annoyances;
but, finding those scraps, after the breaking open of his
old desk, left him in no doubt, as he warned you."
" I see! I see! " Howell nodded, intently.
" The symbols made no word upon the typewriters
here m your office. Before I could be sure, I had to
see the cashier's old machine, which Gordon — begin-
ning to fear bis secret was discovered — had taken
home. When I saw that machine, ' 43$=8o,' by the
mere change of the shift key, gave me ' reship,' and
* 35^8?$ ' gave me ' ethics,' two words of six letters,
as I had expected ; but, to my surprise, I found that
young Gordon, as well as the fellow still in the bank,
was concerning himself strangely with his father's
cipher, and I had him here this morning when I made
my test to find out, first, who it was here in the bank
that was after the combination; and, second, who,
if anyone, had taken the missing bills on September
29th.
" Modern psychology gave me an easy method of
detecting these two persons. Before coming here
this morning I made up a list of words which must
necessarily connect themselves with their crimes in the
minds of the man who had plotted against the safe
and the one who had taken the bills. ' Reship ' and
* ethics ' were the combination words of the safe for
the last two weeks. ' Remington ' suggested ' type-
writer ' ; ' shift key,' ' combination,' ' secret writing,'
and ' waste-basket ' all were words which would di-
rectly connect themselves with the attempt upon the
safe. ' Ten thousand,' ' five hundred,' * September
29th' referred to the stealing of the bills. 'Arrest,'
144 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
with its association of ' theft,' would trouble both men.
" You must have seen, I think, that the little speech
I made before giving the test was not merely what it
pretended to be. That speech was an excuse for me
to couple together and lay particular emphasis upon
the natural associations of certain words. So I
coupled and emphasized the natural association of
' safe ' with ' combination,' ' scraps ' with waste-
basket,' ' dollars ' with ' ten thousand,' and so on. In
no case did I attempt by my speech to supplant in any-
one's mind his normal association with any one of
these words. Obviously, to all your clerks the asso-
ciations I suggested must be the most common, the
most impressive; and I took care thus to make them,
finally, the most recent. Then I could be sure that if
any one of them refused those normal associations
upon any considerable number of the words, that per-
son must have ' suspicious ' connection with the crime
as the reason for changing his associations. I did
not care even whether he suspected the purpose of my
test To refuse to write it would be a confession of
his guilt. And' I was confident that if he did write it
he could not refrain from chan^ng enough of these
associations to betray himself.
" Now, the first thing which struck me with Ford's
paper was that he had obviously erased his first words
for ' reship ' and ' ethics ' and substituted others.
Everyone else treated them easily, not knowing them
to be the combination words. Ford, however, wrote
something which didn't satisfy him as being ' inno-
cent ' enough, and wrote agaiiL There were no ' nor-
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 145
mal ' associations for these words, and I had sug-
gested tione. But note the next.
" Typewriter was the cotnmon, the most insistent
and recent association for ' Remington ' for all —
except Ford. It was for him, too, but any typewriter
had gained a guilty association in his mind. He was
afraid to put it down, so wrote ' rifles.' ' Shift key,'
the next word, of course intensified his connection with
the crime; so he refused to write naturally, as the
others did, either ' typewriter ' or ' dollar mark,' and
wrote 'trigger' to give an unsuspicious appearance.
' Secret writing ' recalled at once the ' symbols ' which
I had suggested to him, and which, of course, were
in his mind anyway ; but he wrote ' cable code ' — not
in itself entirely unnatural for one in a bank. The
next word, ' combination,' to everyone in a bank, at all
times — particularly if just emphasized — suggests its
association, ' safe ' ; and every single one of the others,
who had no guilty connection to conceal, so associated
it. Ford went out of his way to write ' monopoly.'
And his next association of ' rifle,' again, with ' waste-
basket ' is perhaps the most interesting of all. As he
had heen searching the waste-basket for ' scraps ' he
thought it suspicious to put down that entirely natural
association; but scraps recalled to him those scraps
bearing ' typewriter ' symbols, and, avoiding the word
typewriter, he substituted for it his innocent associa-
tion, ' rifle.'
" The next words on my list were those put in to
betray the man who had taken the money — Shaffer.
* Ten thousand,' the amount he had taken, si^gested
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.146 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
dollars to him, of course ; but he was afraid to write
dollars. He wanted to appear entirely unconnected
with any ' ten thousand dtdlars ' ; so he wrote ' doors.'
At ' five hundred ' Shaffer, with twenty stolen five-
hundred dollar bills in his possession, preferred to ap-
pear to be thinking of five hundred ' windows.' ' Sep-
tember 29th,' the day of the theft, was burned into
Shaffer's brain, so, avoiding it, he wrote 'last year.'
' Promissory note ' in the replies of most of your
clerks brought out the natural connection of ' sixty
days ' suggested in my speech, but Shaffer — since it
was just sixty days since he stole — avoided it, pre-
cisely as both he and Ford, fearing arrest as thieves,
avoided — and were the only ones who avoided — the
tine of least resistance in my last word. And the
evidence was complete against them ! "
Howell was staring at the lists, amazed. " I see 1
I seel " he cried, in awe. " There is only one thing."
He raised his head. " It is clear here, of course, now
that you have e3q)Iained it, how you knew Shaffer
was the one who took the money; but, was it a guess
that he found it in the waste-basket ? "
" No ; rather a chance that I was able to determine
it," Trant replied. " All his associations for the early
words, except one, are as natural and easy as anyone
else's, for these were the words put in to detect Ford.
But for some reason, ' waste-basket ' troubled Shaffer,
too. Suj^osing the money was lost by old Gordon
in putting it into the bag, it seemed more than prob-
able that Shaffer's disturbance over this word came
from the fact that Gordon had tossed the missing bills
into the waste-basket"
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THE PRIVATE BANK PUZZLE 147
There was a knock on the door. The special police
officer of the bank entered with Shaffer, who lai^ a
package on the desk.
" This is correct, Shaflfer," Howell acknowledged
as he ran quickly through the bills. He stepped to
the door. " Send Mr. Gordon here," he commanded.
" You were in time to save Gordon and Ford,
Trant," the banker continued. " I shall merely dis-
miss Ford. Shaffer is a thief and must be punished.
Old Gordon — "
He stopped and turned quickly as the old cashier
entered without knocking.
" Gordon," said the acting-president, pointing to the
packet of money on the de»k, " I have sent for you to
return to you this money — the ten thousand dollars
which you gave to the bank — and to tell you that your
son was not a thief, though this gentleman has just
saved us, I am afraid, from making him one. In sav-
ing the boy, Gordon, he had to discover and reveal to
me that you have worn yourself out in our service.
But, I shall see that you can retire when father re-
turns, with a proper pension."
The old cashier stared at his young employer dully
for a moment ; his dim eyes dropped, uncomprehend-
ing, to the packet of money on the desk. Then he
came forward slowly, with bowed head, and took it.
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THE MAN HIGHER UP
The first real blizzard of the winter had burst upon
New York from the Atlantic. For seventy-two hours
— as Rentland, file clerk in the Broadway offices of
the American Commodities Company, saw from the
record he was making for President Welter — no ship
of any of the dozen expected from foreign ports had
been able to make the Company's docks in Brooklyn,
or, indeed, had been reported at Sandy Hook. And
for the last five days, during which the weather bu-
reau's storm signals had stayed steadily set, no steamer
of the six which had finished unloading at the docks
the week before had dared to try for the open, sea
except one, the Elizabethan Age, which had cleared the
Narrows on Monday night.
On land the storm was scarcely less disastrous to
the business of the great importing company. Since
Tuesday morning Rentland's reports of the car and
train-load consignments which had left the warehouses
daily had been a monotonous page of trains stalled.
But until that Friday morning. Welter — the big, bull-
necked, thick-lipped master of men and money — had
borne all the accumulated trouble of the week with
serenity, almost with contempt. Only when the file
clerk added to his report the minor item that the
3,000-ton steamer, Elizabethan Age, which had cleared
148
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THE MAN HIGHER UP 149
On Monday night, had been driven into Boston, some-
thing suddenly seemed to " break " in the inner office.
Rentland heard the president's secretary telephone to
Brooklyn for Rowan, the dock superintendent; he
heard Welter's heavy steps going to and fro in the
private office, his hoarse voice raised angrily ; and soon
afterwards Rowan blustered in, Rentland could no
longer overhear the voices. He went back to his own
private office and called the station master at the
Grand Central Station on the telephone.
" The seven o'clock train from Chicago? " the clerk
asked in a guarded voice. " It came in at 10.30, as
expected? Oh, at 10.10! Thank you." He hung
up the receiver and opened the door to pass a word
with Rowan as he came out of the president's office.
■ " They've wired that the Elisabethan Age couldn't
get beyond Boston, Rowan," he cried curiously.
" The hooker I " The dock superintendent
had gone strangely white ; for the imperceptible frac-
tion of an instant his eyes dimmed with fear, as he
stared into the wondering face of the clerk, but he
recovered himself quickly, spat offensively, and
slammed the door as he went out. Rentland stood
with clenching hands for a moment; then he glanced
at the clock and hurried to the entrance of the outer
office. The elevator was just bringing up from the
street a red-haired, blue-gray-eyed young man of me-
dium height, who, noting with a quick, intelligent
glance the arrangement of the offices, advanced di-
rectly toward President Welter's door. The chief
clerk stepped forward quickly.
"You are Mr. Trant?"
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ISO THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Yes."
" I am Rentland. This way, please." He led the
psychologist to the little room bdiind the files, where
he had telephoned the moment before.
" Your wire to me in Chicago, which brought me
here," said Trant, tumii^ from the inscription " File
Clerk " on the door to the do^ed, decisive features
and wiry form of his client, " gave me to understand
that you wished to have me investigate the disappear-
ance, or death, of two of your dock scalecheckers. I
suppose you were actii^ for President Welter — of
whom I have heard — in sending for me ? "
" No," said Rentland, as he waved Trant to a seat.
" President Welter is certainly not troubling himself
to that extent over an investigation."
" Then the company, or some other officer? " Trant
questioned, with increasing curiosity,
" No; nor the company, nor any other officer in it,
Mr. Trant." Rentland smiled. " Nor even am I, as
file clerk of the American Commodities Company,
overtroubling myself about those checkers," he leaned
nearer to Trant, confidentially, " but as a special agent
for the United States Treasury Department I am ex-
tremely interested in the death of one of these men,
and in the disappearance of the other. And for that
I called you to help me."
" As a secret agent for the Government ? " Trant
repeated, with rapidly rising interest.
" Yes; a spy, if you wish to call me, but as truly in
the ranks of the enemies to my country as any Nathan
Hale, who has a statue in this city. To-day the ene-
mies are the big, corrupting, thieving corporations
THE MAN HIGHER UP 151
like this company; and appreciating that, I am not
ashamed to be a spy in their ranks, commissioned by
the Government to catch and condemn President Wel-
ter, and ar^ other oflScers involved with him, for sys-
tematically stealing from the Government for the past
ten years, and for probable connivance in the murder
of at least one of those two checkers so that the com-
pany might continue to steal."
" To steal ? How ? "
" Customs frauds, thefts, smuggling — anything you
wish to call it. Exactly what or how, I can't tell;
for that is part of what I sent for you to find out. For
a number of years the Customs Department has sus-
pected, upon circumstantial evidence, that the enor-
mous profits of this company upon the thousand and
one things which it is importing and distributing must
come in part from goods they have got through with-
out paying the proper duty. So at my own suggestion
I entered the employ of the company a year ago to
get track of the method. But after a year here I was
almost ready to give up the investigation in despair,
when Ed Landers, the company's checker on the docks
in scale house No. 3, was killed — accidentally, the
coroner's jury said. To me it looked suspiciously like
murder. Within two weeks Morse, who was ap-
pointed as checker in his place, suddenly disappeared.
The company's officials showed no concern as to the
fate of these two men ; and my suspicions that some-
thing crooked might be going on at scale house No. 3
were strengthened ; and I sent for you to help me to
get at the bottom of things."
" Is it not best then to begin by giving me as fully;
152 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
as possible the details of the employment of Morse and
Landers, and also of their disappearance? " the young
psychologist suggested.
" I have told you these things here, Trant, rather
than take you to some safer place," the secret agent
replied, "because I have been waiting for some one
who can tell you what you need to know better than I
can. Edith Rowan, the stepdaughter of the dock su-
perintendent, knew Landers well, for he boarded at
Rowan's house. She was — -or is, if he still lives —
engaged to Morse. It is an unusual thing for Rowan
himself to come hfcre to see President Welter, as he
did just before you came; but every morning since
. Morse disappeared his daughter has come to see Wel-
ter personally. She is already waiting in the outer
office." Opening the door, he indicated to Trant a
light-haired, overdressed, nervous girl twisting about
uneasily on the seat outside the president's private
office.
" Welter thinks it policy, for some reason, to see
her a moment every morning. But she always comei?
out almost at once — ■ crying."
" This is interesting," Trant commented, as he
watched the girl go into the president's office. After
only a moment she came out, crying. Rentland had
already left his room, so it seemed by chance that he
and Trant met and supported her to the elevator, and
over the slippery pavement to the neat electric coup€
which was standing at the curb. ■
" It's hers," said Rentland, as Trant hesitated before
helping the girl into it. " It's one of the things I
wanted you to see. Broadway is very slippery. Miss
THE MAN HIGHER UP 153
Rowan. You will let me see you home again this
morning? This gentleman is Mr. Trant, a private
detective. I want him to come along with us."
The girl acquiesced, and Trant crowded into the
httle automolNle. Rentland turned the coupe skillfully
out into the swept path of the street, ran swiftly down
Fifth Avenue to Fourteenth Street, and stopped three
streets to the east before a house in the middle of the
block. The house was as narrow and cramped and
as cheaply constructed as its neighbors on both sides.
It had lace curtains conspicuous in every window, and
impressive statuettes, vases, and gaudy bits of bric-a-
brac in the front rooms.
" He told me again that Will must still be off
drunk; and Will never takes a drink," she spoke to
them for the first time, as they entered the Kttle sittii^
room.
" ' He ' is Welter," Rentland explained to Trant.
" ' Will ' is Morse, the missing man. Now, Miss
Rowan, I have brought Mr. Trant with me because I
^ have asked him to help me find Morse for you, as X
promised ; and I want you to tell him everything you
can about how Landers was killed and how Morse
disappeared."
" And remember," Trant interposed, " that I know
very little about the American Commodities Com-
pany."
"Why, Mr. Trant," the girl gathered herself to-
gether, "you cannot help knowing something about
the company! It imports almost everything — to-
bacco, sugar, coffee, wines, olives, and preserved fruits,
oils, and all sortg of table delicacies, from all over tb^
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154 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
world, even from Borneo, Mr. Trant, and from Mada-
gascar and New Zealand. It has big warehouses at
the docks with millions of dollars' worth of goods
stored in them. My stepfather has been with the
compat^ for years, and has charge of all that goes on
at the docks,"
"Including the weighing?"
" Yes; everything on which there is a duty when it
is taken off the boats has to be weighed, and to do this
there are big scales, and for each one a scale house.
When a scale is beii^ used there are two men in the
scale house. One of these is the Government weigher,
who sets the scale to a balance and notes down the
weight in a book. The other man, who is an em-
ployee of the company, writes the weight also in a
book of his own; and he is called the company's
checker. But though there are half a dozen scales, al-
most everything, when it is possible, is unloaded in
front of scale No. 3, for that is the best berth for
ships."
"And Landers?"
" Landers was the company's checker on scale No. 3.
Well, about five weeks ago I began to see that Mr.
Landers was troubled about something. Twice a
queer, quiet little man with a scar on his cheek came
to see him, and each time they went up to Mr. Lan-
ders's room and talked a long while. Ed's room was
over the sitting room, and after the man had gone I
could hear him walking back and forth — walking and
walking until it seemed as though he would never stop.
I told father about this man who troubled Mr. Lan-
ders, and he asked him about it, but Mr. Landers flew
THE MAN HIGHER UP i^5
into a rage and said it was nothing of importance.
Then one night — it was a Wednesday — everybody
stayed late at the docks to finish tmloadit^ the steamer
Covailo. About two o'clock father got home, but Mr.
Landers had not been ready to come with him. He
did not come all that night, and the next day he did
not come home.
" Now, Mr. Trant, they are very careful at the ware-
houses about who goes in and out, because so many
valuable things are stored there. On one side the
warehouses open onto the docks, and at each end they
are fenced off so that you cannot go along the docks
and get away from them that way ; and on the other
side they open onto the street through great driveway
doors, and at every door, as long as it is open, there
stands a watchman, who sees everybody that goes in
and out. Only one door was open that Wednesday
night, and the watchman there had not seen Mr. Lan-
ders go out. And the second night passed, and he did
not come home. But the next morning, Friday morn-
ing," the girl caught her breath hysterically, " Mr,
Landers's body was found in the engine room back
of scale house No, 3, with the face crushed in hor-
ribly!"
"Was the engine room occupied?" said Trant,
quickly, " It must have been occupied in the daytime,
and probaWy on the night when Landers disappeared,
as they were unloading the Covailo. But on the night
after which the body was found — was it occupied
tfut night?"
" I don't know, Mr, Trant. I think it could not
have been, for after the verdict of the coroner's jury,
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IS6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
which was that Mr. Landers had been killed by some
part of the machinery, it was said that the accident
must have happened either the evening before, just
before the engineer shut ofiF his engines, or the first
thing that morning, just after he had started them;
for otherwise somebody in the engine room would have
seen it"
" But where had Landers been all day Thursday,
Miss Rowan, from two o'clock on the second night
before, when your father last saw him, until the acci-
dent in the engine room ? "
"It was supposed he had been drunk. When his
body was found, his clothes were covered with 6bers
from the coffee-sacking, and the jury supposed he had
been sleeping off his liquor in the coffee warehouse
during Thursday. But I had known Ed Landers for
almost three years, and in all that time I never knew
him to take even one drink."
" Then it was' a very unlikely supposition. You
do not believe in that accident. Miss Rowan? " Trant
said, brusquely.
The girl grew white as paper. " Oh, Mr. Trant,,
I don't know! I did believe in it,. But since Will —
Mr. Morse — has disappeared in exactly the same
way, under exactly the same circumstances, and
everyone acts about it exactly the same way — "
" You say the circumstances of Morse's disappear-
ance were the same?" Trant pressed quietly when she
was able to proceed.
"After Mr. Landers had been found dead," said
the girl, pulling herself together again, " Mr. Morse,
who had been diecker in one of the other scale houses,
THE MAN HIGHER UP 157
was made checker on scale No. 3. We were suqiriaed
at that, for it was a sort of promotion, and father
did not like Will; he had been greatly displeased at
our engagement. Will's promotion made us very
happy, for it seemed as though father must be chang-
ing his opinion. But after Will had been checker on
scale No. 3 only a few days, the same queer, quiet
little man with the scar on his cheek who had begun
coming to see Mr. Landers before he was killed began
coming to see Will, tool And after he began coming.
Will was troubled, terribly troubled, I could see; but
he would not tell me the reason. And he expected,
after that man began coming, that something would
happen to him. And I know, from the way he acted
and spoke about Mr. Landers, that he thought he
had not been accidentally killed. One evening, when I
could see he had been more troubled than ever before,
he said that if anything happened to him I was to go
at once to his boarding house and take charge of every-
thing in his room, and not to let anyone into the room
to search it until I had removed everything in the
bureau drawers; everything, no matter how useless
anything seemed. Then, the very next night, five
days ago, just as while Mr. Landers was checker,
everybody stayed overtime at the docks to finish un-
loading a vessel, the Elisabethan Age. And in the
morning Will's landlady called me on the phone to
tell me that he had not come home. Five days ago,
Mr. Trantl And since then no one has seen or heard
from him; and the watchman did not see him crane
out of the warehouse that night just as he did not see
Ed Landers."
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158 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"What did you find in Morse's bureau?" asked
Trant
" I found nothing,"
" Nothing? " Trant repeated. " That is impossible.
Miss Rowan! Think again! Remember he warned
you that what you found might seem trivial and use-
less."
The girl, a little defiantly, studied for an instant
Trant's clear-cut features. Suddenly she arose and
ran from the room, but returned quickly with a strange
little implement in her hand.
It was merely a bit of wire, straight for perhaps
three inches, and then bent in a half circle of five or
six inches, the bent portion of the wire beii^ wound
carefully with stout twine, thus :
\J
"Except for his clothes and some blank writing
paper and envelopes that was absolutely the only thing
in the bureau. It was the only thing at all in the only
locked drawer."
Trant and Rentland stared disappointedly at this
strange implement, which the girl handed to the psy-
chologist.
" You have shown this to your stepfather. Miss
Rowan, for a possible explanation of why a company
checker should be so solicitous about such a thing as
this?" asked Trant.
" No," the girl hesitated. " Will had told me not to
say anything; and I told you father did not like Will.
THE MAN HIGHER UP 159
He had made up his mind that I was to marry Ed
Landers. In most ways father is kind and generous.
He's kept the coupe we came here in for mother and
me for two years ; and you see," she gestured a little
proudly about the bedecked and badly furnished rooms,
" you see how he gets everything for us. Mr. Lan-
ders was most generous, too. He took me to the thea-
ters two or three times every week — always the best
seats, too. I didn't wanKto go, but father made me.
I preferred Will, though he wasn't so generous."
Trant's eyes returned, with more intelligent scru-
tiny, to the mysterious implement in his hand.
" What salary do checkers receive, Rentland ? " he
asked, in a low tone.
" One hundred and twenty-five dollars a month."
"And her father, the dock superintendent — how
much?" Trant's expressive glance now jumping
about from one gaudy, extravagant trifle in the room
to another, cau^t a glimpse again of the electric
coupe standing in the street, then returned to the tiny
bit of wire in his hand.
" Three thousand a year," Rentland replied.
"Tell me. Miss Rowan," said Trant, "this imple-
ment — have you by any chance mentioned it to Presi-
dent Welter?"
" Why, no, Mr. Trant."
"You are sure of that? Excellent! Excellent!
Now the queer, quiet little man with the scar on his
cheek who came to see Morse ; no one could tell you
anything about him? "
" No one, Mr. Trant; but yesterday Will's landlady
told me that a man has come to ask for Will every
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l6o THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
forenoon since he disappeared, and she thinks this may
be the man with the scar, though she can't be sure, for
he kept the collar of his overcoat up about his face.
She was to telephone me if he came again."
" If he comes this morning," Trant glanced quickly
at his watch, " you and I, Rentland, might much bet-
ter be waiting for him over there."
The psychologist rose, putting the faent, twine-wound
bit of wire carefully into his pocket; and a minute later
the two men crossed the street to the house, already
known to Rentland, where Morse had boarded. The
landlady not only allowed them to wait in her little
parlor, but waited with them until at the end of an
hour she pointed with an eager gesture to a short man
in a big ulster who turned sharply up the front steps.
" That's him — see ! " she exclaimed.
" That the man with the scar ! " cried Rentland.
" Well ! I know him."
-He made for the door, caught at the ulster and
pulled the little man into the house by main force.
" Well, Dickey ! " the secret agent challenged, as the
man faced him in startled recognition. " What are
you doing in this case? Trant, this is Inspector
Dickey, of the Customs Office," he introduced the of-
ficer.
" I'm in the case on my own hook, if I know what
case you're talking about," piped Dickey. " Morse,
eh ? and the American Commodities Company, eh ? " ■
" Exactly," said Rentland, brusquely. " What were
you calling to see Landers for? "
" You know about that ? " The little man looked up
sharply. '* Well, six weeks ago Landers came tQ me
THE MAN HIGHER UP l6l
and told me he had something to sell ; a secret system
for beating the customs. But before we got to terms,
he began losing his nerve a little ; he got it back, how-
ever, and was going to tell me when, all at once, he dis-
appeared, and two days later he was dead 1 That made
it hotter for me ; so I went after Morse. But Morse
denied he knew anything. Then Morse disappeared,
too."
" So you got nothing at all out of them? " Rentland
interposed.
" Nothing I could use. Landers, one time when he
was getting up his nerve, showed me a piece of bent
wire — with string around it — in his room, and began
telling me something when Rowan called him, and
then he shut up."
" A bent wire I " Trant cried, eagerly. " Like
this? " He took from his pocket the implement given
him by Edith Rowan. " Morse had this in his room,
the only thing in a locked drawer."
" The same thing! " Dickey cried, seizing it. " So
Horse had it, too, after he became checker at scale
No. 3, where the cheating is, if anywhere. The very
thing Landers started to explain to me, and how they
cheated the customs with it. I say, we must have it
now, Rentland! We need only go to the docks and
watch them while they weigh, and see how they use it,
and arrest them and then we have them at last, eh, old
man ? " he cried in triumph. " We have them at last ! "
" You mean," Trant cut in upon the customs man,
"that you can convict and jail perhaps the checker, or
a foreman, or maybe even a dock superintendent — as
usual. But the men higher up — the big men who are
I62 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LITTHER TRANT
really at the bottom of this business and the only ones
worth getting — will you catch them? "
" We must take those we can get," said Dickey
sharply.
Trant laid his hand on the little officer's arm.
" I am a stranger to you," he said, " but if you have
followed some of the latest criminal cases in Illinois
perhaps you know that, using the methods of modern
practical psychology, I have been able to get results
where old ways have failed. We are front to front
now with perhaps the greatest problem of modem
criminal catching, to catch, in cases involving a great
corporation, not only the little men low down who
perform the criminal acts, but the men higher tq^ who
conceive, or connive at the criminal scheme. Rent-
land, I did not come here to convict merely a dock
foreman; but if we are going to reach anyone higher
than that, you must not let Inspector Dickey excite
suspicion by prying into matters at the docks this after-
noon 1 "
" But what else can we do? " said Rentland, doubt-
fuUy.
" Modern practical psychology gives a dozen possi-
ble ways for proving the knowledge of the man higher
up in this corporation crime," Trant answered, " and
I am considering which is the most practicable. Only
tell me," he demanded suddenly ; " Mr. Welter I have
heard is one of the rich men of New York who make
it a fad to give largely to universities and other insti-
tutions ; can you tell me with what ones he may be most
closely interested? "
" I have heard," Rentland replied, " that he is one of
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THE MAN HIGHER UP 163
the patrons of the Stuyvesant School of Science. It
is probably the most fashionably patroned institution in
New York; and Welter's name, I know, figures with
it in the newspapers."
"Nothing could be better I" Trant exclaimed.
" Kuno Schmalz has his psychological laboratory there.
I see my way now, Rentland ; and you will hear from
me early in the afternoon. But keep away from the
docks I" He turned and left the astonished customs
officers abruptly. Half an hour later the young psy-
chologist sent in his card to Professor Schmalz in
the laboratory of the Stuyvesant School of Science.
The German, broad-faced, spectacled, beaming, him-
self came to the laboratory door.
" Is it Mr. Trant — the young, apt pupil of my old
friend, Dr. Reiland ? " he boomed, admiringly. " Ach !
luck is good to Reiland! For twenty years I, too,
have shown them in the laboratory how fear, guilt,
every emotion causes in the body reactions which can
be measured. But do they apply it? Pouf I No! it
remains to them all impractical, academic, because I
have only nincompoops in my classes ! "
" Professor Schmalz," said Trant, following him
into the laboratory, and glancing from one to another
of the delicate instruments with keen interest, " tell me
along what line you are now working,"
" Ach ! I have been for a year now experimenting
with the plethysmograph and the pneumograph. I
make a taste, I make a smell, or I make a noise to ex-
cite fueling in the subject ; and I read by the plethysmo-
graph that the volume of blood in the hand decreases
under the emotions and that the pulse quickens; and
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I64 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
by the pneumograph I read that the breathing is easier
or quicker, depending on whether the emotions are
pleasant or unpleasant. I have performed this year
more than two thousand of those experiments."
" Good! I have a problem in which you can be of
the very greatest use to me ; and the plethysmograph
and the pneumograph will serve my purpose as well as
any other instrument in the laboratory. For no mat-
ter how hardened a man may be, no matter how im-
possible it may have become to detect his feelings in
his face or bearing, he cannot prevent the volume of
blood in his hand from decreasing, and his breathing
from becoming different, under the influence of emo-
tions of fear or guilt. By the way, professor, is Mr.
Welter familiar with these experiments of yours? "
" What, he ! " cried the stout German. " For why
should I tell him about them? He knows nothing.
He has bought my time to instruct classes ; he has not
bought, py chiminey 1 everything — even the soul Gott
gave me ! "
" But he would be interested in them? "
" To be sure, he would be interested in them! He
would bring in his automobile three or four other fat
money-makers, and he would show me off before them.
He would make his trained bear — that is me —
dance ! "
" Good ! " cried Trant again, excitedly, " Profes-
sor Schmalz, would you be willing to give a little exhi-
bition of the plethysmograph and pneumograph, this
evening, if possible, and arrange for President Weher
to attend it?"
The astute German cast on him a quick glance ol in-
THE MAN HIGHER UP 165
terrogation. " Why not ? " he said. " It malces noth--
ing to me what purpose you will be carrying out ; no,
py chimineyl not if it costs me my position of trained
bear; because I have confidence in my psychology that
it will not make any innocent man suffer I "
" And you will have two or three scientists present
to watch the experiments? And you will allow me to
be there also and assist? "
" With great pleasure."
" But, Professor Schmalz, you need not introduce
me to Mr, Welter, who will think I am one of your
assistants."
" As you wish about that, pupil of my dear old
friend."
" Excellent I " Trant leaped to his feet " Pro-
vided it is possible to arrange this with Mr. Welter,
how soon can you let me know ? "
" Ach ! it is as good as arranged, I tell you. His
vanity will arrange it if I assure the greatest pub-
licity — "
" The more publicity the better."
" Wait! It shall be fixed before you leave here."
The professor led the way into his private study,
telephoned to the president of the American Commodi-
ties Company, and made the appointment without
trouble.
A few minutes before eight o'clock that evening
Trant again mounted rapidly the stone steps to the
professor's laboratory. The professor and two others,
who were bending over a table in the center of the
room, turned at his entrance. President Writer had
i66 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TftANT
not yet arrived. The your^ psychologist acknowl-
edged with pleasure the introduction to the two scien-
tists with Schmalz. Both of them were known to him
by name, and he had been following with interest a
series of experiments which the elder, Dr. Annerly,
had been reporting in a psychological journal. Then
he turned at once to the apparatus on the table.
He was still examining the instruments when the
noise of a motor stopping at the door warned him of
the arrival of President Welter's party. Then the
laboratory door opened and the party appeared. They
also were three in number; stout men, rather ob-
trusively dressed, in jovial spirits, with strong faces
flushed now with the wine they had taken at dinner.
" Well, professor, what fireworks are you going to
show us to-night?" asked Welter, patronizingly.
" Schmalz," he explained to his companions, " is the
chief ring master of this circus."
The bearded face of the German grew purple under
Welter's jokingly overbearing manner ; but he turned
to the instruments and began to explain them. The
Marey pneumograph, which the professor first took up,
consists of a very thin flexible brass plate suspended by
a cord around the neck of the person imder examina-
tion, and fastened tightly against the chest by a cord
circling the body. On the outer surface of this plate
are two small, bent levers, connected at one end to the
cord around the body of the subject, and at the other
end to the surface of a small hollow drum fastenal to
the plate between the two. As the chest rises and
falls in breathing, the levers press more and less upon
the surface of the drum; and this varying pressure
L);.I....J by Google
THE MAN HIGHER UP 167
on the air inside the drum is transmitted from the
drum through an air-tight tube to a Uttle pencil which
it drops and lifts. The pencil, as it rises and falls,
touching always a sheet of smoked paper traveling over
a cylinder on the recording device, traces a line whose
rising strokes represent accurately the drawing of air
into the chest and whose falling represents its ex-
pulsion.
It was clear to Trant that the professor's rapid ex-
planation, though plain enough to the psychologists
already familiar with the device, was only partly un-
derstood by the big men. It had not been ejqJained
to them that changes in the breathing so slight as to
be imperceptible to the eye would be recorded unmis-
takably by the moving pencil.
Professor Schmalz turned to the second instrument.
This was a plethysmograph, designed to measure the
increase or decrease of the size of one finger of a per-
son under examination as the blood supply to that fin-
ger becomes greater or less. It consists primarily of a
small cylinder so constructed that it can be fitted over
the finger and made air-tight. Increase or decrease
of the size of the finger then increases or decreases the
air pressure inside the cylinder. These changes in the
air pressure are transmitted through an air-tight tube
to a delicate piston which moves a pencil and makes
a line upon the record sheet just under that made by
the pneumograph. The upward or downward trend
of this line shows the increase or decrease of the blood
supply, while the smaller vibrations up and down re-
cord the pulse beat in the finger.
There was still a third pencil touching the record
l68 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
sheet above the other two and wired electrically to a
key like that of a telegraph instrument fastened to the
table. When this key was in its normal position this
pencil made simply a straight line upon the sheet ; but
instantly when the key was pressed down, the line
broke downward also.
This third instrument was used merely to record on
the sheet, by the change in the line, the point at which
the object that aroused sensation or emotion was dis-
played to the person undergoing examination.
The instant's silence which followed Schmalz's rapid
explanation was broken by one of Welter's companions
with the query :
" Well, what's the use of all this stuff, anyway? "
"AchI" said Schmalz, bluntly, "it is interesting,
curioufi ! I will show you,"
" Will one of you gentlemen," said Trant, quickly,
"permit us to make use of him in the demonstra-
tion? "
" Try it, Jim," Welter laughed, noisily.
" Not I," said the other. " This is your circus."
" Yes, indeed it's mine. And I'm not afraid of it.
Schmalz, do your worst I " He dropped laughing into
the chair the professor set for him, and at Schmalz's
direction unbuttoned his vest. The professor hung
the pneumograph around his neck and fastened it
tightly about the big chest. He laid Welter's fore-
arm in a rest suspended from the ceiling, and attached
the cylinder to the second finger of the plump hand.
In the meantime Trant had quickly set the pencils to
bear upon the record sheet and had started the cylinder
on which the sheet traveled under them.
Cioot^lc
THE MAN HIGHER UP 169
"You see, I have prepared for you." Schmalz
lifted a napkin from a tray holding several little
dishes. He took from oqe of these a bit of caviar and
laid it upon Welter's tongue. At the same instant
Trant pushed down the key. The pencils showed a
slight commotion, and the spectators stared at this
record sheet:
mvwwwwvv\
"Ahl" exclaimed Schmalz, "you do not like
caviar."
" How do you know that? " demanded Welter.
" The instruments show that at the unpleasant taste
you breathe less freely — not so deep. Your finger,
as under strong sensation or emotion, grows smaller,
and your pulse beats more rapidly."
"By the Lord! Welter, what do you think of
that ? " cried one of his companions ; " your finger gets
smaller when you taste caviar 1 "
It was a joke to them. Boisterously laughing, they
tried Welter with other food upon the tray; they
lighted for him one of the black cigars of which he
was most fond, and watched the trembling pencils
write the record of his pleasure at the taste and smell.
Through it all Trant waited, alert, watchful, biding
the time to carry out his plan. It came when, having
exhausted the articles at hand, they paused to find
some other means to carry on the amusement. The
young psychologist leaned forward suddenly.
Cioot^lc
170 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" It is no great ordeal after all, is it, Mr. Welter? "
he said, " Modern psychology does not put its sub-
jects to torture like" — he halted, meaningly — "a
prisoner in the Elisabethan Agel "
Dr. Ann^ly, bending over the record sheet, uttered
a startled exclamation. Trant, glancing keenly at him,
straighened triumphantly. But the young psycholo-
gist did not pause. He took quickly from his pocket
a photograph, showing merely a heap of empty coffee
sacks piled carelessly to a height of some two feet along
the inner wall of a shed, and laid it in front of the
subject. Weher's face did not alter; but again the
pencils ■ shuddered over the moving paper, and the
watchers stared with astonishment. Rapidly remov-
ing the photograph, Trant substituted for it the bent
wire given him by Miss Rowan. Then for the
,last time he swung to the instrument, and as his eyes
caught the wildly vibrating pencils, they flared with
triumph. V,
, President Welter rose abruptly, but not too hiir-
riedly. " That's about enough of this tomfoolery," he
said, with perfect self-ppssession.
His jaw hzA imperceptibly squared to the watchful
determination of the prize fighter driven into his cor-
ner. His cheek still held the ruddy glow of health;
but the wine flush had disappeared from it, and he was
perfectly sober.
Trant tore the strip of paper from the instrument,
and numbered the last three reactions I, 2, 3. This is
the way the records looked :
bv Google
Dgitiz^dbv Google
bv Google
THE MAN HIGHER UP 17I
fYVWwmwmW\
Record made when Welter saw the photograph of a htap
of coffee sacks.
^[/yi/U^T/VVVVV\A'VV^^
Record made lohen the spring was shovm to Welter.
In each of these diagrams the single break in the upper line
shows the point at ivhich an object or words expected to arouse
emotion are presented. The wavy line just below it is the record
of the subject's breathing. The irregular line at the bottom indi-
cates the alteration of the sise of the subjecfs Anger as the
blood supply increases or decreases.
bv Google
172 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"Amazing I" said Dr. Annerly. "Mr. Wdter, I
am curious to know what associations jrou have with
that photograph and bent wire, the sight of which
aroused in you such strong emotioa"
By immense self-control, the president of the Amer-
ican Commodities Compai^ met his eyes fairly.
" None," he answered.
"Impossible! No psychologist, knowing how this
record was taken, could look at it without feelir^ ab-
solutely certain that the photograph and spring caused
in you such excessive emotion that I am tempted to
give it, without further words, the name of ' intense
fright I ' But if we have inadvertently surprised a
secret, we have no desire to piy into it further. Is it
Dotso, Mr. Trant?"
At the name President Welter whirled suddenly.
" Trant 1 Is your name Trant?" he demanded.
" Well, I've heard of yoa" His eyes hardened. " A
man like you goes just so far, and then — somebody
stops himi"
"As they stopped Landers?" Traot inquired.
" Gime, we've seen enough, I guess," said President
Welter, including for one instant in his now frankly
menacing gaze both Trant and Professor Schmalz; he
turned to tiie door, closely followed by his companions.
And a moment later the quick explosions of his auto-
mobile were heard. At the sound, Trant seized sud-
denly a large envelope, dropped into it the photograph
and wire he had just used, sealed, signed, and dated it,
signed and dated also the record from the instnmients,
and hurriedly banded all to Dr. Annerly.
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE MAN HIGHER UP 173
" Doctor, I trust this to you," he cried, excitedly.
" It will be best to have them attested hy all three of
you. If possible get the record photograph to-night,
and distribute the photographs in safe places. Above
all, do not let the record itself out of your hands until
I come for it It is important — extremely impor-
tant I As for me, I have not a moment to lose I "
The your^ psychologist sped down the stone steps
of the laboratory three at a time, ran at top speed to
the nearest street comer, turned it and leaped into a
waiting automobile. "The American Commodities
Company's docks in Brooklyn," he shouted, " and never
mind the speed limits! "
Rentland and the chauffeur, awaiting him in the ma-
chine, galvanized at his coming.
"Hot work?" the customs's agent asked.
" It may be very hot ; but we have the start of him,"
Trant replied as the car shot ahead. " Welter him-
self is coming to the docks to-night, I think, by the look
of bim I He left just before me, but must drop his
friends first He suspects, now, that we know; but
he cannot be aware that we know that they are un-
loading to-night. He probably counts on our waiting
to catch them at the cheating to-morrow morning. So
he's going over to-night himself, if I size him up right,
to order it stopped and remove all traces before we
can prove anything. Is Dickey waiting i" "
" When you give the word he is to take us in and
catch them at it If Welter himself comes, as you
think, it will not change the glan?" Rentland replied.
Dgitiz^dbv Google
174 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Not at all," said Trant, " for I have him already.
He will deny everything, of course, but it's too late
now!""*
The big car, with unchecked speed, swung down
Broadway, slowed after a twenty-minutes' run to cross
the Brooklyn Bridge, and, turning to the left, plunged
once more at high speed into the narrower and less
well-kept thoroughfares of the Brooklyn water front.
Two minutes later it overtook a little electric coupe,
bobbing excitedly down the sloping street As they
passed it, Trant caught sight of the illuminated num-
ber hanging at its rear, and shouted suddenly to the
chauffeur, who brought the big motor to a stop a hun-
dred feet beyond. The psychologist, leaping down,
ran into the road before the little car.
" Miss Rowan," he cried to its single occupant, as it
came to a stop. " Why are you coming over here at
this time to-night? "
" Oh, it's you, Mr. Trant I " She opened the door,
showing relief in the recognition. " Oh, I'm so wor-
ried. I'm on my way to see father; for a telegram
just came to him from Boston ; mother opened it, and
told me to take it to him at once, as it was most im-
portant. She wouldn't tell me what it was about, but
it excited her a great deal. Oh, I'm so afraid it must
be about Will and that was why she wouldn't tell me."
"From Boston?" Trant pressed quickly. Having
her confidence, the girl nervously read the telegram
aloud by the light of the coupe's side lamps. It read :
Police have taken your friend out of our hands; look
out for trouble. Wilson.
** Who IS Wilson? " Trant demanded.
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE MAN HIGHER UP 175
" I am not sure it is the man, but the captain of the
Elisabetkan Age is a friend of father's named Wil-
son!"
" I can't help you then, after all," said Trant, spring-
ing back to his powerful car. He whispered a word
to the chauffeur which sent it driving ahead through
the drifts at double its former speed, leaving the little
electric coupe far behind. Ten minutes later Rent-
land stopped the motor a block short of a great lighted
doorway which suddenly showed in a length of dark,
lowering buildings which lay beside the American Com-
modities Company's Brooklyn docks.
" Now," the secret agent volunteered, " it is up to me
to find Dickey's ladder t "
He guided Trant down a narrow, dark court which
brought them face to face with a blank wall; against
this wall a light ladder had been recently placed. As-
cending it, they came into the dock inclosure. Descend-
ing again by a dozen rickety, disused steps, they
reached a darker, covered teamway and hurried along
it to the docks. Just short of the end of the open dock
houses, where a string of arc lamps threw their white
and flickering light upon the huge, black side of a
moored steamer, Rentland turned into a little shed, and
the two came suddenly upon Customs Officer Dickey,
"This one next to us," the little man whispered,
eagerly, to Trant, as he grasped his hand, " is the scale
house where whatever is being done is done — No. 3."
In and out of the yawning gangways of the steamer
before them struggling lines of sweating men were
wheeling trucks loaded with bales of tobacco. Trant
looked first to the left, where the bales disappeared into
176 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the tobacco warehouse ; then to the right, where, close .
at hand, each truck-load stopped momentarily on a scale
platform in front of the low shed which bore the num-
ber Dickey indicated in a large white figure.
"Who's that?" asked Trant, as a small figure,
hardly five feet tall, cadaverous, beetle-browed, with
cold, malignant, red-Udded eyes passed directly under
the arc tight nearest them.
" Rowan, the dock superintendent I " Dickey whis-
pered.
" I knew he was small," Trant returned with sur-
prise, " but I thought surely he must have some fist to
be the terror of these dock laborers."
" Wait 1 " Rentland, behind them, motioned.
A bloated, menadi^ %ure had suddenly swung clear
of the group of dock laborers — a roustabout, goaded
to desperation, with a fist raised against his puny su-
perior. But before the blow bad fallen another fist,
huge and black, struck the man over Rowan's shoulder
with a hammer. He fell, and the dock superintendent
passed on without a backward glance, the giant negro
who had struck the blow following in his footsteps like
a dog.
"The black," Rentland explained, "is Rowan's
bodyguard. He needs him."
" I see," Trant replied. " And for Miss Rowan's
sake I am glad it was that way," he added, enigmat-
ically.
Dickey had quietly opened a door on the OKJOsite
side of the shed; the three slipped quickly through it
and steiqKd unobserved around the corner of the cof-
fee wardiouse to a long, dark, and narrow space. On
THE MAN HIGHER UP 177
one side of them was the rear wall of scale house No.
3, and on the other the engine room where Landers's
body had been fovmd. The single window in the rear
of No. 3 scale house had been whitewashed to prevent
anyone from looking in from that side; but in spots
the whitewash had fallen off in flakes. Trant put his
eye to one of these clear spots in the glass and looked in.
The scale table, supported on heavy posts, extended
across almost the whole front of the house, behind a
low, wide window, which permitted those seated at the
table to see all that occurred on the docks. Toward
the right end of the table sat the Government weigher ;
toward the left end, and separated from him by al-
most the whole length of the table, sat the company
checker. They were the only persons in the scale
house. Trant, after his first rapid survey of the scene,
fixed his eye upon the man who had taken the place
which Landers had held for three years, and Morse for
a few days afterwards — the company checker. A
truck-load of tobacco bales was wheeled on to the
scales in front of the house.
"Watch his left knee," Trant whispered quickly
into Dickey's ear at the pane beside him, as the bal-
ance was being made upon the beam before them. As
he spoke, the Government weigher adjusted the balance
and they saw the left leg of the company checker
pressed hard against the post which protected the scale
rod at his end. Both men in the scale house then read
aloud the weight and each entered it in the book on the
table in front of him. A second truckful was wheeled
on to the scale; and again, just as the Government
weigher fixed his balances, the company checker, so
CumW
t7& THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
inconspicuously as to make the act undiscoverable by
anyone not looking for that precise move, repeated the
c^Kratioa With the next tnuik they saw it again.
The psychologist turned to the others. Rentland, too,
had been watching through the pane and nodded his
satisfaction.
Immediately Trant dashed open the door of the scale
house, and threw himself bodily upon the checker.
The man resisted ; they struggled. While the
customs men protected him, Trant, wrenching some-
thing from the post beside the checker's left knee,
rose with a cry of triumph. Then the psycholo-
gist, warned by a cry from Rentland, leaped quickly to
one side to avoid a blow from the giant negro. His
quickness saved him; still the blow, glancing along his
cheek, hurled him from his feet. He rose immedi-
ately, blood flowing from a superficial cut upon his
forehead where it had struck the scale-house wall. He
saw Rentland covering the negro with a revolver, and
the two other customs men arresting, at pistol point,
the malignant little dock superintendent, the checker,
and the others who had crowded into the scale house.
"You see!" Trant exhibited to the customs offi-
cers a bit of bent wire, wound with string, precisely
like that the girl had given him that morning and he
had used in his test of Welter the hour before. " It •
was almost exactly as we knew it must be! This
spring was stuck through a hole in the protecting post
so that it prevented the balance beam from rising prop-
erly when bales were put on the platform. A little
pressure just at that point takes many pounds from
each bale weighed. The checker had only to move
THE MAN HIGHER UP 179
his knee, in a way we would never have noticed if we
were not watching for it, to work the scheme by which
they have been cheating for ten years I But the test
of this affair," he glanced at the qiiickly collecting
crowd, " can beat be settled in the office."
He ledthe way, the customs men taking their pris-
oners at pistol point. As they entered the office,
Rowan 6rst, a girl's cry and the answering oath of her
father told Trant that the dock superintendent's daugh-
ter had arrived. But she had been almost overtaken
by another powerful car; for before Trant could speak
with her the outer door of the office opened violently
and President Welter, in an automobile coat and cap,
entered.
" Ah ! Mr. Welter, you got here quickly," said
Trant, meeting cahnly his outraged astonishment at
the scene. " But a little too late,"
" What is the matter here? " Welter governed his
voice commandingly. " And what has brought you
here, from your phrenology? " he demanded, contemp-
tuously, of Trant.
" The hope of catching red-handed, as we have just
cau^t them, your company checker and your dock
superintendent defrauding the Government," Trant re-
turned, " before you could get here to stop them and
remove evidences."
"What raving idiocy is this?" Welter replied, still
with excellent moderation. " I came here to sign some
necessary papers for ships clearing, and you — "
" I say we have caught your men red-handed," Trant
repeated, " at the methods used, with your certain
knowledge and under your direction, Mr. Welter, to
ComW
l8o THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
steal systematically from the United States Govern-
ment for — probably the last ten years. We have un-
covered the means by which your company checker at
scale No. 3, which, because of its position, probably
weighs more cargoes than all the other scales together,
has been lessening the apparent weights upon which
you pay duties."
" Cheating here under my direction? " Welter now
bellowed indignantly. " What are you talking about ?
Rowan, what is he talking about?" he demanded,
boldly, of the dock superintendent ; but the cadaverous
little man was unable to brazen it out with him.
" You need not have looked at your dock superin-
tendent Just then, Mr. Wetter, to see if he would stand
the racket when the trouble comes, tor which you have
been paying him enough on the side to keep him in
electric motors and marble statuettes. And you can-
not try now to disown this crime with the regular pres-
ident-of-corporation excuse, Mr. Welter, that you never
knew of it, that it was all done without your knowledge
by a subordinate to make a showing in his department ;
and do not expect, either, to escape so easily your cer-
tain complicity in the murder of Landers, to prevent
him from exposing your scheme and — since even the
American Commodities Company scarcely dared to
have two ' accidental deaths ' of checkers in the same
month — the shanghaiing of Morse later."
" My complicity in the death of Landers and the
disappearance of Morse? " Welter roared.
" I said the murder of Landers," Trant corrected.
"For when Rentland and Dickey tell to-morrow be-
fore the grand jury how Landers was about to dis-
THE MAN HIGHER UP l8i
close to the Customs Department the secret of the
cheating in weights; how he was made afraid by
Rowan, and later was about to tell anyway and was
prevented only by a most sudden death, I think murder
will be the word brought in the indictment And I
said shanghaiing of Morse, Mr. Welter. When we
remembered this morning that Morse had disappeared
the night the Elizabethan Age left your docks and you
and Rowan were so intensely disgusted at its having
had to put into Bostcm this morning instead of going
on straight to Sumatra, we did not have to wait for
the chance information this evening that Captain Wil-
son is a friend of Rowan's to deduce that the missing
checker was put aboard, as confirmed by the Boston
harbor police this afternoon, who searched the ship
under our instructions." Trant paused a moment;
again fixed the now trembling Welter with his eye,
and continued : " I charge your certain complicity in
these crimes, along with your certain part in the cus-
toms frauds," the psychologist repeated. " Undoubt-
edly, it was Rowan who put Morse out of the way
upon the Elizabethan Age. Nevertheless, you knew
that he was a prisoner upon that ship, a fact which
was written down in indelible black and white by my
tests of you at the Stuyvesant Institute two hours ago,
when I merely mentioned to you 'a- prisoner in the
Elizabethan Age.'
" I do not charge that you, personally, were the one
who murdered Landers; or even that Rowan himself
did ; whether his negro did, as I suspect, is a matter
now for the courts to decide upon. But that you un-
doubtedly were aware that he was not killed accident-
l82 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
ally in the engine room, but was killed the Wednesday
night before and his body hidden under the coffee bags,
as I guessed from the fibers of coffee sacking on his
clothes, was also registered as mercilessly hy the psy-
chological machines when I showed you merely the pic-
ture of a pile of coffee sacks.
" And last, Mr. Welter, you deny knowledge of the
cheating which has been going on, and was at the bot-
tom of the other crimes. Well, Welter," the psy-
chologist took from his pocket the bent, twine-wound
wire, "here is the 'innoccDt' little thing which was
the third means of causing you to register upon the
machines such extreme and inexplicable emotion; or
rather, Mr. Welter, it is the companion piece to that,
for this is not the one I showed you, the one given
to Morse to use, which, however, he refused to make
use of; but it is the very wire I took to-night from the
hole in the post where it bore against the balance beam
to cheat the Government. When this is made public
to-morrow, and with it is made public, too, and at-
tested by the scientific men who witnessed them, the
diagram and explanation of the tests of you two hours
ago, do you think that you can deny longer that this
was ail with your knowledge and direction?"
The big, bull neck of the president swelled, and his
hands clenched and reclenched as he stared with gleam-
ing eyes into the face of the young man who thus
challenged him.
"You are thinking now, I suppose, Mr. Welter,"
Trant replied to his glare, " that such evidence as that
directly against you cannot be got before a court. I
am not so sure of that. But at least it can go before
THE MAN HIGHER UP 183 ,,
the public to-morrow morning in the papers, attested
by the signatures of the scientific men who witnessed
the test. It has been photographed by this time, and
the photographic copies are distributed in safe places,
to be produced with the original on the day when the
Government brings criminal proceedings against you.
If I had it here I would show you how complete, how
merciless, is the evidence that you knew what was
being done. I would show you how at the point
marked i on the record your pulse and breathing quick-
ened with alarm under my suggestion ; how at the point
marked 2 your anxiety and fear increased; and how
at 3, when the spring by which this cheating had been
carried out was before your eyes, you betrayed your-
self uncontrollably, unmistakably. How the volume
of blood in your second finger suddenly diminished, as
the current was thrown back upon your heart; how
your pulse throbbed with terror; how, though unmoved
to outward appearance, you caught your breath, and
your laboring lungs struggled under the dread that
your wrongdoing was discovered and you would be
branded — as I trust you will now be branded, Mr.
Welter, when the evidence in this case and the testi-
mony of those who witnessed my test are produced
before a jury — a deliberate and scheming thief! "
" — — you I " The three words escaped from
Welter's puffed lips. He put out his arm to push aside
the customs officer standing between him and the door.
Dickey resisted.
" Let him go if he wants to ! " Trant called to the
officer. " He can neither escape nor hide. His money
holds him under bond ! "
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l84 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
The officer stepped aside, and Welter, without an-
other word, went into the hall. But when his face was
no longer visible to Trant, the hanging pouches under
his eyes grew leaden gray, his fat lips fell apart loosely,
his step shuffled; his mask had fallen!
" Besides, we need all the men we have, I think,'*
said Trant, turning back to the prisoners, " to get these
to a safe place. Miss Rowan," he turned then and
put out his hand to steady the terrified and weeping
girl, " I warned you that you had probably better not
come here to-night. But since you have come and
have had pain because of your stepfather's wrong-
doings, I am glad to be able to give you the additional
assurance, beyond the fact, which you have heard, that
your fiance was not murdered, but merely put away on
board the Elizabethan Age; that he is safe and sound,
except for a few bruises, and, moreover, we expect
him here any moment now. The police were bringing
him down from Boston on the train which arrives at
ten."
He went to the window and watched an instant, as -
Dickey and Rentland, having telephoned for a patrol,
were waiting with their prisoners. Before the patrol
wagon appeared, he saw the bobbing lanterns of a
lurching cab that turned a corner a block away. As
it stopped at the entrance, a police officer in plain
clothes leaped out and helped after him a young man
wrapped in an overcoat, with one arm in a sling, pale,
and with bandaged head. The girl uttered a cry, and
sped through the doorway. For a moment the psy-
chologist stood watching the greeting of the lovers.
He turned back then to the sullen prisonei^ i
THE MAN HIGHER UP 185
" But it's some advance, isn't it, Rentland," he
asked, "not to have to try such poor devils alone;
but, at last, with the man who makes the millions and
pays them the pennies — the man hi^er up ? "
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE
Tramp — tramp — tramp — tramp — tramp!
For three nights and two days the footsteps had
echoed through the great house almost ceaselessly.
The white-haired woman leaning on a cane, paus-
ing again in the upper hall to listen to them, started,
impulsively, for the tenth time that morning toward
her son's door; but, recognizing once more her utter
inability to counsel or to comfort, she wiped her tear-
filled eyelids and Hmped painfully back to her own
room. The aged negress, again passing the door,
pressed convulsively together her bony hands, and
sobbed pityingly; she had been the childhood nurse
of this man whose footsteps had so echoed for hours
as he paced bedroom, library, hall, museimi, study —
jQost frequently of all the little study — in his grief
and turmoil of spirit.
Tramp — tramp — tramp — tramp I
She shuffled swiftly down the stairs to the big,
luxurious morning room on the floor below, where
a dark-eyed girl crouched on the couch listening to
his footsteps beating overhead, and listening so
strangely, without a sign of the grief of the mother
or even the negro nurse, that she seemed rather study-
ing her own absence of feeling with perplexity and
doubt
i86 L);.i....jbvGoog[c
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 187
Tramp — tramp — tramp — tramp !
"Ain' yo' sorry for him, Miss Iris?" the negress
said.
" Why, Ulame, I — I — " the girl seemed struggUng
to call up an emotion she did not feel. " I know
I ought to feel sorry for him."
"An" the papers? Ain' yo' sorry, honey, dem pa-
pers is gone — buhned up ; dem papers he thought so
much of — all buhned by somebody?"
"The papers? — the papers, Ulame?" the girl ex-
claimed in bewilderment at herself. "Oh — oh, I
know it must be terrible to him that they are gone;
but I — I can't feel so sorry about them! "■
"Yo' can't?" The negress stiffened with anger.
" An' he tol' me, too, this mo'nin, now you won't
many him next Thursday lak' yo' promised — since
— since yo' foun' dat little green stone ! Why is dat
— since yo' foun' dat little green stone?"
The sincere bewilderment deepened in the girl's
face. " I don't know why, Ulame — I tell -you truly,"
she cried, miserably, "I don't know any reason why
that stone — that stone should change me so t * Oh,
I can't understand it myself; but I know it is so.
Ever since I've seen that stone I've known it would
be wrong to marry him. But I don't know whyl "
" Den I do! " The old negress's eyes blazed wildly.'
" It's a'caze yo' is voodoo! Yo is voodoo! An' it's
all my faul'. Oh yas — yas it is!" She rocked.
" For yo'se had the ma'k ever since yo'se been a chile ;
the ma'k of the debbil's claw! But I nebber tole
Marse Richard till too late. But hit's so ! Hifs so !
The debbil's ma'k is on yo' left shoulder, ^d the
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l88 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
green stone is de cha'm dat is come to make yo' break
Marse Richard's heart t "
" Ulame ! Oh I Oh I " the girl cried.
" Ulame I Ulame I " a deeper, firm and controlled
voice checked them both as the man, whose steps had
sounded overhead the moment before, stood in the
doorway.
He was a strikingly well-born, good-looking man
of thirty-six, strongly set up, muscular, with the body
of an athlete surmounted by the broad-browed head
of a student. But bis skin, indescribably bronzed by
the tropic sun during many expeditions to Central
America, showed now an underhue of sodden gray;
and the thin, red veins which shot his keen, blue eyes,
the tenseness of his well-shaped mouth, the pulse vis-
ibly beating in his temples, the slight trembling of the
usually firm hands, all gave plain evidence of some
active grief and long-continued strain ; but at the same
time bore witness to the self-control which held his
emotion in check.
The negress, quieted and rebuked by his words,
shufHed out as he entered; and the girl drew herself
up quickly to a sitting posture, rearranging her hair
with deft pats.
" You must not mind Ulame! " He crossed to her
and held her hand steadyingly for an instant. "Or
think that I shall ask you anything more except —
you have not altered your decision. Iris?" he asked,
gently.
The girl shook her head.
" Then I will not even ask that again, my — Iris,"
be caught himself. "If you will give me the proper
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 189
form for recalling our wedding invitations, I will send
it at once to Chicago. As to the gifts that have been
already received — will you be good enough also to
look up the convention under these circumstances?"
He caught his breath. " I thought I heard the door
bell a moment ago, Iris. Was there scone one for
me?"
" Yes, Anna went to the door." The prl motioned
to a maid who for five minutes had been hovering
about the hall, afraid to go to him with the card she
held upon a silver tray.
"Ah I I was expecting him." He took the card.
" Where is he? In the library? "
" Yes, Dr. Pierce."
He crushed the card in his hand, touched tenderly
with his finger tips Iris's pale cheek, and with the
same regular step crossed the hall to the library. A
compact figure rose energetically at his coming.
" Mr. Trant? " asked Pierce, carefully closing the
door behind him and measuring with forced collect-
edness his visitor, who seemed slightly surprised. " I
need not apologize to you for my note asking you to
come to me here in Lake Forest this morning. I un-
derstand that with you it is a matter of business. But
I thank you for your promptness. I have heard of
you from a number of sources as a psychologist who
has applied laboratory methods to the solution of —
of mysteries — of crimes; not as a police detective, Mr.
Trant, but as a — a — "
" Consultant," the psychologist suggested.
"Yes; a consultant. And I badly need a con-
sultant, Mr. Trant" Pierce dropped into the nearest*
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igo THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
chair. " You must pardon me. I am not quite my-
self this morning. An event — or, rather events —
occurred here last Wednesday afternoon which, though
I have endeavored to keep my feeling under control,
have affected me perhaps even more than I myself
was aware ; for I noticed your surprise at sight of me,
which can only have been occasioned by some strange-
ness in my appearance which these events have
caused."
" I was surprised," the psychologist admitted, " but
only because I expected to see an older man. When
I received your note last evening, Dr. Pierce, I, of
course, made some inquiries in regard to you. I
found you spoken of as one of the greatest living
authorities on Central American antiquities, especially
the hieroglyphic writing on the Maya ruins in Yu-
catan; and as the expeditions connected with your
name seemed to cover a period of nearly sixty years,
I expected to find you a man of at least eighty."
" You have confused me with my father, who died
in Izabal, Guatemala, in 1895. Our names and our
line of work being the same, our reputations are often
confused, especially as he never published the results
of his work, but left that for me to do. I have not
proved a worthy trustee of that bequest, Mr. Trantl"
Pierce added, bitterly. He arose in agitation, and be-
gan again his mechanical pacing to and fro.
"The events of Wednesday had to do with this
trust left you by your father? " the psychologist asked.
" They have destroyed, obliterated, blotted out that
trust," Pierce replied. " All the fruits of my father's
life work and my own, too, absolute^ without pur-
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 191
pose, meaning, excuse or explanation of any sort!
And more than that — and this is the reason I have
asked you to advise me, Mr. Trant, instead of putting
the matter into the hands of the police — with even
less apparent reason and without her being able to
give an explanation of any sort, the events of last
Wednesday have had such an effect upon my ward.
Iris, to whom I was to be married next Thursday, that
she is no longer able to think of marrying me. She
clearly loves me no longer, though previous to Wed-
nesday no one who knew us could have the slightest
question of her affection for me; and indeed, though
previously she had been the very spirit and soul of
my work, now she seems no longer to care for its
continuance in any way, or to be even sorry for the
disaster to it."
He paused in painful agitation. " I must ask your
pardon once more," he apologized. " Before you can
comprehend any of this I must explain to you how
it happened. My father began his study of the Maya
hieroglyphics as long ago as 1851. He had had as a
young man a very dear friend named James Clarke,
who in 1848 took part tn an expedition to Chiapas.
On this expedition Clarke became separated from his
companions, failed to rejoin them, and was never
heard from again. It was in search of him that my
father in 1850 first went to Central America; and
failing to fmd Clarke, who was probably dead, he
returned with a considerable collection of the Maya
hieroglyphs, which had strongly excited his interest.
Between 1851 and his death my father made no less
than twelve different expeditions to Central America
193 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
in search of more hieroglyphs; but in that whole
time he did not publish more than a half dozen short
articles regarding his discoveries, reserving all for a
book which he intended to be a monument to his
labors. His passion for perfection prevented him
from ever completing that book, and, on his death-
bed, he intrusted its completion and publication to
me. Two years ago I began preparii^ it for the
stenograjrfier, and last week I had the satisfaction of
feeling that my work was nearly finished. The ma-
terial consisted of a huge mass of papers. They con-
tained chapters written by niy father which I am in-
capable of rewriting; tracings and photographs of the
inscriptions which can be duplicated only by years of
labor; original documents which are irreplaceable;
notes of which I have no other copies. They rep-
resented, as you yourself have just said, almost sixty
years of continuous labor. Last Wednesday after-
noon, while X was absent, the whole mass of these
papers was taken from the cabinet where I kept them,
and burned — or if not burned, they have comj^etely
vanished."
He stopped short in his walk, turned on Trant a
face which had grown suddenly livid, and stretched
out his hands.
" They were destroyed, Trant — destroyed 1 Mys-
teriously, inexplicably, purposelessly!" his helpless in-
dignation burst from his constraint. " The destruc-
tion of papers such as these could not possibly have
benefited anyone. They were without value or inter-
est except to scientists ; and as to envious or malicious
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 1^3
enemies, I have not one, man or woman — least of all
a woman ! "
" ' Least of all a woman? ' " Trant repeated quickly.
" Do you mean by that that you have reason to believe
a woman did it?"
"Yes; a woman! They all heard her! But — I
will tell you everything I ean. Last Wednesday after-
noon, as I said, I was in Chicago. The two maids
who look after the front part of the house were also
out ; they are sisters and had gone to the funeral of a
brother."
" Leaving what others in the house ? " Trant In-
terrupted the rapid current of his speech with a quick
gesture.
" My mother, who has hip trouble and cannot go
up- or downstairs without help; my ward, Iris Pierce,
who had gone to her room to take a nap and was so
sound asleep upon her bed that when they went for
her twenty minutes later she was aroused with diffi-
culty; my old colored nurse, Ulame, whom you must
have seen pass through here a moment ago; and the
cook, who was in the back part of the house. The
gardener, who was the only other person anywhere
about the place, had been busy in the conservatory,
but about a quarter to three went to sweep a light
snowfall from the walks. Fifteen minutes later my
mother in her bedroom in the nortli wing heard the
door bell; but no one went to the door."
"Why was that?"
"Besides my mother, who was helpless, and Iris
who was in her room, only the cook and Ulame, as
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194 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
I have just said, were in the house, and each of them,
expecting the other to answer, waited for a second
ring. It is certain that neither went to the door."
" Then the bell did not rii^ again? "
" No ; it rang only once. Yet almost immediately-
after the ringing the woman was inside the house;
for my mother heard her voice distinctly and — "
" A moment, please I " Trant stopped him, " In
case the person was not admitted at the front d^pr,
which I assume was locked, was there any other pos-
sibility ? "
"One other. The door was locked; but, the day
before, the catch of one of the French windows open-
ing upon the porch had been bent so that it fastened
insecurely. The woman could easily have entered
that way."
"But the fact of the catch would not be evident
from outside — it would be known only to some one
familiar with the premises ? "
" Yes."
" Now the voice your mother heard — it was a
strange voice ? "
"Yes; a very shrill, excited voice of a child or a
woman — she could not be sure which — but entirely
strange to her."
" Shrill and excited, as if arguing with some one
else?"
"No; that was one remarkable part of it; she
seemed rather talking to herself. Besides there was
no other voice,"
" But in spite of its excited character, your mother
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 195
could be sure it was the voice of a stranger? " Trant
pressed with greater precision.
" Yes, My mother has been confined to her room
so much that her abiUty to tell a person's identity by
the sound of the voice or footsteps has been immensely
developed. There could be no better evidence than
hers that this was a strange voice and that it was in
the sou^ wing. She thought at first that it was the
voice^ijf a frightened child. Two or three loud
screams were uttered by the same voice, and were re-
peated at intervals during all that followed. There
was noise of thumping or pounding, which I believe
to have been occasioned in opening the study door.
Then, after a brief interval, came the noise of break-
ing glass, and, at the end of another short interval,
a smell of burning."
"The screams continued?"
" At intervals, as I have said. My mother, when
the screams first reached her, hobbled to the electric
bell which communicates from her room to the serv-
ants' quarters and rang it excitedly. But it was sev-
eral minutes before her ringing brought the cook up
the back stairs."
" But the screams were still going on? "
" Yes. Then they were joined in the upper hall
by Ulame."
"They still heard screams?"
" Yes ; the three women crouched at the head of
the stairs listening to them. Then Ulame ran to the
rear window and called the gardener, who had almost
finished sweeping the rear walks; and the cook, cross-
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196 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
ing the hall to the second floor of the south wing,
aroused Iris, whom, as I said, she found so soundly
asleep that she was awakened with difficulty. My
mother and I hav€ rooms in the north wing. Iris and
Ulame in the south. Iris had heard nothing of the
disturbance, and was amazed at their account of it.
They were joined by the gardener, and the four who
were able descended to the first floor together. The
cook ran immediately to the front door, "which, she
found, remained closed and locked with its spring
lock. The others went straight on into the south
wing, where she at once followed them. They found
the museum filled with an acrid haze of smoke, and
the door of the study closed. They could still hear
through the closed door the footsteps and movements
of the woman in the study."
"But no more screams?" asked Trant.
" No, only footsteps, which were plainly audible
to all four. You can imagine, Trant, that with three
excited women and the gardener, who is not a cour-
ageous man, several moments were wasted in listening
to these sounds and in discussion. Then the gardener
pushed open the door. The glass front of the cabinet
in which my papers were kept had been broken, and
a charred mass, still smoking, in the center of the
composition floor of the study was all that we could
find of the papers which represented my father's and
my own life work, Mr. Trant. The woman whose
footsteps only the instant before had been heard in
the study by Iris and the gardener besides the others,
had completely disappeared, in spite of the fact that
there was no possible place for a woman, or even a
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 197
child, to conceal herself in the study, or to leave it
except by the door which the others entered ! "
" And they found no other marks or indications
of the person's presence except those you have men-
tioned ? "
" No, Mr. Trant, they found — at that time • — ab-
solutely none," Pierce replied, slowly. " But when I
returned that night and myself was able to go over
the room carefully with Iris, I found — this, Mr.
Trant," he thrust 3 hand into his pocket, and ex-
tended it with a solitary little egg-shaped stone gleam-
ing ilpon his palm — " this, Mr. Trant," he repeated,
staring at the little, blazing crystal egg as though
fascinated, " the mere sight of which cast such an
extraordinary 'spell' upon my ward, Iris, that, after
these two days, trying to puzzle it out sanely myself,
I was unable to bear the strain of it a moment longer,
and wrote you as I did last night, in the hope that
you — if anyone — might be able to advise me."
" So this is the little green stone I " Trant took it
carefully from his client's palm and examined it.
" The little green stone of which the negress was
speaking to Miss Iris when you came in I You re-
member the door was open I "
" Yes ; that is the little green stone ! " Pierce cried.
" The chalchihuitl stone ; the green turquoise of Mex-
ico. The first sight of it struck Iris dumb and dull-
eyed before me and started this strange, this baffling,
inexplicable apathy toward me I Tell me, how can
this be ? "
" You would hardly have called even me in, I pre-
sume," Trant questioned quietly, "if you thought it
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198 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
possible that this stone," he handed it back, " told her
who was in the room and that it was a woman who
could come between you and your ward ? "
" Scarcely, Mr. Trant! " Pierce flushed. " You can
dismiss that absolutely. I told you a moment ago,
when trying to think who could have come to ruin .
my work, that I have no enemy — least of all a woman .*.
enemy. Nor have I a single woman intimate, even a
friend, whom Iris could possibly think of in that
way."
" Will you take me, then, to the rooms where these ,
things happened ? " Trant rose abruptly. Jfc
" This is the way the woman must have come,"
Pierce indicated as he pointed Trant into the hall and
let him see the arrangement of the house before he
led him oa
The young psychologist, from his exterior view
of the place, had already gained some idea of the in-
terior arrangement; but as he followed Pierce from
the library down the main hall, he was impressed anew
by the individuality of the rambling structure. The
main body of the house, he saw, had evidently been
built some forty or fifty years ago, before Lake Forest
had become the most fashionable and wealthy suburb
to the north of Chicago ; but the wings had been added
later, one apparently to keep pace with the coming of
the more pretentious country homes about it, the other
more particularly to provide place for exhibiting the
owner's immense collection of Central American cu-
riosities.
So the wide entrance hall, running half-way through
the house, divided at the center into the hallways
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE t^
of the two wings. At the entrance to the north wing,
the main stairs sprang upward in the graceful sweep
of southern Colonial architecture; while, opposite, the
hall' of the south wing was Mocked part way'down
.by a heavy wall vjkh but one flat-topped opening.
" A fire wall, Mr. Trant, and automatic closing fire
doors," Pierce explained, as they passed through them.
"This portion of the south wing, which we call the
museum wing, is a late addition, absolutely fireproof."
" It was from the top of the main stairs, if I have
; understood you correctly," Trant glanced back as he
■ passed Ihrough the doorway, " that the women heard
the screams. But this stair," he pointed to a narrow
flight of steps which wound upward from a little
anteroom beyond the flat-topped opening, " this is cer-
tainly not what you called the back stairs. Where
does this lead? "
" To the second floor of the museum wing, Mr.
Trant."
" Ah ! Where Miss Pierce, and," he paused reflect-
ively, " the colored nurse have their bedrooms."
" Exactly."
They crossed the anteroom and entered the museum.
A ceiling higher in the museum than in any other part
of the house gave space for high, leaded, clear-glass
windows. Under them, ranged on pedestals or fas-
tenet* tc the wall were original carvings or plaster
casts of the grotesque gods of the Maya mythology;
death's-heads symbolic of their cruel religion, and
tabtnets of stone and wooden implements and earthen
vessels, though by far the greater number of the spec-
imens were reproductions of hieroglyphic inscriptions,
200 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
each separate glyph forming a whimsical square car-
touche.
But the quick glance of the psychologist passed
all these almost without noting, and centered itself
upon an object in the middle of the room. On a low
pedestal stood one of the familiar Central American
stones of sacrifice, with grooved channels to carry
away the blood, and rounded top designed to bend
backward the body of the himian victim while the
priest, with one quick cut, slew him; and before it,
staring at this stone, as though no continuance of
familiarity could make her unaffected by it, stood the
slender, graceful, dark-haired, dark-skinned girl of
whom the psychologist had caught just a glimpse
through the door of the morning room when he en-
tered.
" My ward. Miss Pierce, Mr. Trant," Pierce intro-
duced them as she turned. " Mr. Trant is here to
make an investigation into the loss of my papers.
Iris,"
" Oh ! " said the girl, without interest, " then I'll
not interrupt you. I was only looking for Ulame.
Mr. Trant," she smiled brightly at the psychologist,
"don't you think this room is beautiful in the mom- ,
ing sunlight ? "
" Come, Trant," Pierce passed his hand across his
forehead, as he gazed at the girl's passionless face,
" the study is at the other end of the museum." But
the psychologist, with his gray eyes narrowing with
interest, his red hair rumpled by an energetic gesture,
stood an instant observing her ; and she flushed deeply.
" I know why it Is you look at me in that way,
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 201
Mr. Trant," she said, simply. "I know, of course,
that a woman has burned Richard's papers, for I
saw the ashes; besides I myself looked for the papers
afterwards and could not find them. You are think-
ing that I believe there is something between Richard
and the woman who took this revenge because we
were g^ing to be married ; but it is not so — I know
Richard has never cared for any other woman than
myself. There is something I do not understand.
Why, loving Richard as I did, did I not care at all
about the papers ? Why, since I saw that little green
stone, am I indifferent whether he loves me in that
way or not? Why do I feel now that I cannot marry
him? Has the stone bewitched me — the stone, the
stone, Mr. Trant I It seems crazy to think such a
thing, though I know no other reason; and if I said
so, no one — least of all you, Mr. Trant, a man of
science — would believe me ! "
" On the contrary, Miss Pierce, you will find that
I will be the first, not the last, to recognize that the
stone could exercise upon you precisely the influence
you have described ! "
"What is that? What is that?" Pierce ex-
claimed in surprise.
" I would rather see the study, if you please, Dr.
Pierce," Trant bowed kindly to the girl as he turned
to his client, " before being more explicit."
" Very well," Pierce pushed open the door and en-
tered, clearly more puzzled by Trant's reply than
before. The study was long and narrow, running
across the whole end of the south wing; and, like the
museum, had plain burlap-covered walls without curve
202 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
or recess of any sort; and like the museum, also, it
was lighted hy high, leaded windows above the cases
and shelves. The single door was the one through
wWch they had entered; and the furniture consisted
only of a desk and table, two chairs, and — along the
wafts — cabinets and cases of drawers and pigeon-
holes whose fronts carried labels denoting their con-
tents. To furnish protection from dust, the cabinets
all were provided with sliding glass doors, locking
with a key. The floor of the study was of the same
fireproof composition as that of the museum, and a
black smudge near its center still showed where the
papers had been burned. The room had neither fire-
place nor closet.
" There is surely no hiding place for anyone here, '■
and we must put that out of the question," the young
psychologist commented when his eye had taken in
these details.
Then he stepped directly to the cabinet against the
end wall, whose broken glass showed that it was the
one in which the papers had been kept, and laid his
hand upon the sliding door. It slipped backward and
forward in its grooves easily.
" The door is unlocked," he said, with slight sur-
prise. " It certainly was not unlocked at the time the
glass was broken to get at the papers? "
" No," Pierce answered, " for before leaving for
Chicago that Wednesday, I carefully locked all the
cabinets and put the key in the drawer of my desk
where it is always kept. But that is not the least sur-
prising part of this affair, Mr. Trant. For when Iris
and the servants entered the room, the cabinet had
THE CHALCHfflUITL STONE 203
been unlocked and the key lay on the floor in front of
it, I can account for it only by the supposition that
the woman, having first broken the glass in order to
get at the papers, afterwards happened upon the Isey
and unlocked the cabinet in order to avoid repeatedly
reaching through the jagged edges of the glass."
" And did she also break off this brass knob which
was used in sliding the door back and forth, or had
that been done previously ? " inquired the psycholo-
gist.
" It was done at the same time, in attempting to
open the door before the glass was broken, I sup-
pose."
Trant picked up the brass knob, which had been
laid on the top of the cabinet, and examined it at-
tentively. It had been secured by a thin bolt through
the frame of the door, and in coming loose, the
threads of the bolt, which still remained perfectly
straight, had been stripped off, letting the nut fall
inside the cabinet.
" This is most peculiar," he commented — " and in-
teresting." Suddenly his eyes flashed comprehension.
" Dr. Pierce, I am afraid your explanation does not
account for the condition of the cabinet" He swung
about, minutely inspecting the room anew, and with
a sharp and comprehensive glance measuring the
height of the windows.
" You were certainly correct in saying that no child
or woman could escape from this room in any other
way than by the door, Dr. Pierce," he exclaimed.
" But could not a man — a man more tall and lithe
and active than either you or I — make his escape
204 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
through one of those windows and drop to the walk
below without hann ? "
" A man, Trant? Yes; of course, that is possible,"
Pierce agreed, impatiently. " But why consider the
possibility of a man's escape, when there was no
question among those who heard the cries that th^
came from a woman or a child I "
" The screams came from a woman," Trant replied.
" But not necessarily the footsteps that were heard
from the other side of the door. No, Dr. Pierce; the
condition of this room indicates without any question
or doubt that not one, but two persons were present
here when these events occurred — one so familiar
with these premises as to know where the key to the
cabinets was to be found in your desk; the other so
unfamiliar with them as not even to know that the
doors of the cabinets were sliding, not swinging doors,
since it was in attempting to pull the door outward
like a swinging door that the knob was broken off,
as is shown by the condition of the bolt which would
otherwise have been bent. And the person whose
footsteps were heard was a man, for only a man could
have escaped through the window, as that person
unquestionably must have done."
" But I do not see how you help things by adding
a man's presence here to the other," Pierce protested.
" It simply complicates matters, since it furnishes us
no solution as to how the woman escaped! "
But the psychologist, without heeding him, dropped
into a chair beside the table, rested his chin upon his
hands, and his eyes grew filmy with the concentration
of thought
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 205
" She may have been helped through the window by
the man," he said, finally, " but it is not probable.
We have no proof that the woman was in the study
when the footsteps were heard, for the screams had
stopped; and we have unquestionable proof that this
tight-fitting ■ door was opened after the papers had
been fired, if, as you told me, when Miss Pierce and
the others reached the museum they found it filled
with smoke. Now, Dr. Pierce," he looked up sharply,
" when you first spoke to me of the loss of these pa-
pers, you said they had been ' burned or vanished.*
Why did you say vanished? Had you .any reason
for supposing they had not been burned? "
" No real reason," Pierce answered after a mo-
ment's hesitation. " The papers, which I had divided
by subjects into tentative chapters, were put together
with wire clips, each chapter separately, and I found
no wire clips among the ashes. But it was likely the
papers would not bum readily without taking the clips
off. After taking off the clips, she — they," he cor-
rected himself — " may very well have carried them
away. It is too improbable to believe that they
brought with them other papers, with the plan of
burning them and pving the appearance of having
destroyed the real ones."
" That would certainly be too improbable a sup-
position," Trant agreed, and again became deeply
thoughtful.
" A remarkable, a startlingly interesting case ! " he
raised his eyes to his client's, but hardly as though
speaking to him. " It presents a problem with which
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206 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
modem scientific psychology — and that alone —
could possibly be competent to deal.
" I saw, of course. Dr. Pierce, that I surprised you
when a moment ago I assured your ward that I — as
a psychologist — would be the first to believe that the
chalchihuitl stone could exercise over her the mysteri-
ous influence you all have noted. But I am so con-
fident of the fact that this stone could influence her,
and I am so sure that its influence is the key to this
case, that I want to ask you what you know about the
chalchihuitl stone; what beliefs, superstitions, or
charms, however fantastic, are popularly connected
with the green turquoise. It is a Mexican stone, you
said ; and you, if anyone, must know about it."
" As an archasologist, I have long been familiar
with the chalchihuitl stone, of course," Pierce replied,
gazing at his young adviser with uneasiness and per-
plexity, " as the ceremonial marriage stone of the
ancient Aztecs and some still existing tribes of Central
America, By them it is, I know, frequently used
in religious rites, bearing a particularly important part,
for instance, in the wedding ceremony. Though its
exact significance and association is not known, I am
safe in assuring you that it is a stone with which
many savage superstitions and spells are to be con-
nected."
He smiled, deprecatingly ; but Trant met his eyes
seriously.
" Thank you ! Can you tell me, then, whether any
peculiarity in your ward has been noted previous to
this, which could not be accounted for? "
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE . 207
"No; none — ever!" Pierce affirmed confidently,
" though her experience in Central America previoiis
to her coming under our care must certainly have been
most unusual, and would account for some peculiarity
— if she had any."
" In Central America, Dr. Pierce? " Trant repeated
eagerly.
" Yes," Pierce hesitated, dubiously ; " perhaps I
ought to tell you, Mr. Trant, how Iris came to be a
member of our family. On the last expedition which
ray father made to Central America, and on which I
accompanied him as a young man of eighteen, an
Indian near Copan, Honduras, told us of a wonderful
white child whom he had seen living among an iso-
lated Indian tribe in the mountains. We were in-
terested, and went out of our way to visit the tribe.
We found there, exactly as he had described, a little
white girl about six years old as near as we could
guess. She spoke the dialect of the Indians, but two
or three English words which the sight of us brought
from her, made us believe that she was of English
birth. My father wanted to take her with us, but
the Indians angrily refused to allow it.
" The little girl, however, had taken a fancy to me,
and when we were ready to leave she announced her
intention of going along. For some reason which I
was unable to fathom, the Indians regarded her with
a superstitious veneration, and though plainly unwill-
ing to let her go, they were afraid to interfere with
her wishes. My father intended to adopt her, but he
died before the expedition returned. I brought the
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208 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
child home with me, and under my mother's care she
has been educated. The ruime Iris Pierce was given
her by my mother."
" You say the Indians regarded her with venera-
tion ? " Trant exclaimed, with an oddly intent glance
at the sculptured effigies o£ the monsterlike gods
which stood on the cases all about. " Dr. Pierce,
were you exact in saying a moment ago that your
ward, since she has been in your care, has exhibited
no peculiarities? Was the nurse, Ulame, mistaken
in what I overheard her saying, that Miss Pierce has
on her shoulder the mark," his voice steadied soberly,
" of the devil's claw? "
" Has she the ' mark of the devil's claw'? " Pierce
frowned with vexation. " You mean, has she an
anaesthetic spot on her shoulder through which at
times she feels no sensation? Yes, she has; but I
scarcely thought you cared to hear about 'devil's
claws.'
" Ulame also told me," Pierce continued, " that the
existence of this spot denotes in the possessor, not
only a susceptibility to ' controls ' and ' spells,' but
also occult powers of clairvoyance. She even sug-
gested that my ward could, if she would, tell me who
was in the room and burned my papers. Do you
follow her beliefs so much farther? "
"I follow not the negress, but -modem scientific
psychologists, Dr. Pierce," Trant replied, bluntly, " in
the belief, the knowledge, that the existence of the
anaesthetic spcrt called the ' devil's claw ' shows in its
possessor a condition which, under peculiar circum-
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STOiJE 209
stances, may become what is popularly called clair-
voyant.
" Dr. Pierce, an instant ago you spoke — as an
archarologist — of the exploded belief in witchcraft;
but please do not forget that that belief was at one
time widespread, almost universal. You speak now
— as an educated man — with equal contempt of clair-
voyance; but a half-hour's ride down Madison or
Halsted Street, with an eye open to the signs in the
second-story windows, will show you how widespread
to-day is the belief in clairvoyance, since so many
persons gain a living by it. If you ask me whether
I believe in witchcraft and clairvoyance, I will tell
you I do not believe one atom in any infernal power
of one person over another; and so far as anyone's
being able to read the future or reveal in the past
matters which they have had no natural means of
knowing, I do not believe in clairvoyance. But if you
or I believed that any widespread popular conception
such as witchcraft once was and clairvoyance is to-
day, can exist without having somewhere a basis of
fact, we should be holding a belief even more ridicu-
lous than the negro's credulity!
" I am certain that no explanation of what hap-
pened in this house last Wednesday and since can be
formed, except by recognizing in it one of those com-
paratively rare authentic cases from which the popular
belief in witchcraft and clairvoyance has sprung; and
I would rest the solution of this case on the ability
of your ward, under the proper circumstances, to tell
us who was in this room last Wednesday, and what
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210 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the influence is that has been so strangely exercised
over her by the chalchihuiti stone I "
The psychologist, after the last word, stood with
sparkling eyes, and Hps pressed together in a straight,
defiant line.
"Iris tell! Iris!" Pierce excitedly exclaimed, when
the door opened behind him, and his ward entered.
" Here is the form you asked me for, Richard,"
she said, handing her guardian a paper, and without
showing the least curiosity as to what wap going on
between the two men, she went out again.
Pierce's eyes followed her with strange uneasiness
and perplexity; then fell to the paper she had given
him.
" It is the notice of the indefinite postponement of
our wedding, Trant," he explained. " I must send it
to the Chicago papers this afternoon, unless — un-
less — " he halted, dubiously.
" Unless the ' spell ' on Miss Pierce can be broken
by the means I have just spoken of? " Trant smiled
slightly as he finished the sentence for him. " If I
am not greatly mistaken. Dr. Pierce, your wedding
will still take place. But as to this notice of its post-
ponement, tell me, how long before last Wednesday,
when this thing happened, was the earliest announce-
ment of the wedding made in the papers? "
" I should say two weeks," Pierce replied in sur-
prise.
" Do you happen to know, Dr. Pierce — you are,
of course, well known in Central America — whether
the announcement was copied in papers circulating
there?"
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 211
" Yes ; I have heard from several friends in Cen-
tral America who had seen the news in Spanish
papers."
" Excellent I Then it is most essential that the no-
tice of this postponement be made at once. If you
will allow me, I will take it with me to Chicago this
afternoon; and if it meets the eye of the person I
hope, then I trust soon to be able to introduce to you
your last Wednesday's visitor."
"Without — Iris?" Pierce asked nervously.
" Believe me, I will do everythir^ in my power to
spare Miss Pierce the experience you seem so unwill-
ing she should undergo. But if it proves to be the
only means of solving this case, you must trust me to
the extent of letting me make the attempt." He
glanced at his watch. " I can catch a train for Chi-
cago in fifteen minutes, and it will be the quickest
way to get this notice in the papers. I will let you
hear from me again as soon as necessary. I can find
my own way out."
He turned sharply to the door, and, as Pierce made
no effort to detain him, he left the study.
The surprising news of the sudden " indefinite post-
ponement" of the romantic wedding of Dr. Pierce,
the Central American archaeologist, to the ward whom
he had brought from Honduras as a child, was made
in the last editions of the Chicago evening papers
which reached Lake Forest that night ; and it was re-
peated with fuller comments in both the morning and
afternoon papers of the next day. But to Pierce's
increasing anxiety he heard nothing from Trant until
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212 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the second morning, and then it was merely a telephone
message asking him to be at home at three o'clock that
afternoon and to see that Miss Pierce was at home
also, but to prevent her from seeing or hearing any
visitors who might call at that hour. At ten minutes
to three, Pierce himself, watching nervously at the
window, saw the young psycholt^st approaching the
house in company with two strangers, and himself ad-
mitted them.
" Dr. Pierce, let me introduce Inspector Walker of
the Chicago Police," Trant, when they had been ad-
mitted to the library, motioned to the larger of his
companions, a well-proportioned giant, who wore his
black serge suit with an awkwardness that showed a
greater familiarity with blue broadcloth and brass but-
tons. " This other gentleman," he turned to the very
tall, slender, long-nosed man, with an abnormally nar-
row head and face, coal black hair and sallow skin,
whom Trant and the officer had half held between
them, " calls himself Don Canonigo Penol, though I
do not know whether that is his real name. He
speaks English, and I believe he knows more than
anyone else about what went on in your study last
Wednesday." A momentary flash of white teeth un-
der Penol's mustache, which was neither a smile nor a
greeting, met Pierce's look of inquiry, and he cast
uneasy glances to right and left out of his small crafty
eyes. "But as Penol, from the moment of his ar-
rest, has flatly refused to make any statement regard-
ing the loss of your papers or the chalchihuitl stone
which has sO strangely influenced your ward," Trant
continued, " we have been obliged to bring him here
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 213
in hope of getting at the truth through the means I
mentioned to you day before yesterday."
" The means you mentioned day before yesterday? "
echoed Pierce, as he spun round and faced Trant with
keen apprehension; and it was plain to the psycholo-
gist from the gray pallor and nervous trembling of the
man that his anxiety and uncertainty had not been
lessened, but rather increased by their former conver-
sation. " You refer, I presume, to your plan to gain
facts from her through — through clairvoyance I "
" I saw Mr. Trant pick the murderer in the Bronson
case," Inspector Walker intervened confidently, " in a
way no police officer had ever heard of ; and I've fol-
lowed him since. And if he says he can get an ex-
planation here by clairvoyance, I believe him I " The
quiet faith of the huge officer brought Pierce to a
halt.
" For the sake of her happiness and your own. Dr.
Pierce," Trant urged.
" Oh, I don't know — I don't know ! " Pierce
pressed his hands to his temples in indecision. " I
confess this matter is outside my comprehension. I
have spoken again to the persons who recommended
me to you, and they, like Inspector Walker, have
only repeated that I can have absolute confidence in
you ! "
" It is now three o'clock," Trant began, brusquely.
" Five minutes after," said the Inspector.
" Five minutes makes no difference. But it is ab-
solutely necessary, Dr. Pierce, that if we are to make
this test we begin it at once ; and I can scarcely under-
take it without your consent. It requires that the gen-
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214 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
eral look of the rooms and the direction of the sun-
light should be the same as at three o'clock last
Wednesday afternoon. Dr. Pierce, will you bring
your ward to me in the study? "
He turned to his client with quiet confidence as
though all were settled. " Inspector Walker and
Penol will remain here — the Inspector already knows
what I require of him. I noticed a clock Saturday
over the desk in the study and heard it strike the hour ;
you have no objection to my turning it back ten or
fifteen minutes. Pierce? And before you go, let me
have the chalchihuitl stone ! "
For a moment Pierce, with his hands still pressed
against his temples, stood looking at Trant in per-
plexity and doubt ; then, with sudden resolution, he
handed him the chalchihuitl stone and went to get his
ward. A few minutes later he led her into the study
where the psychologist was awaiting them alone.
Pierce's first glance was at the clock, which he saw
had been turned back by Trant to mark five minutes
to three.
" Good afternoon, Miss Pierce," Trant set a chair
for her, with its back to the clock, as she acknowledged
his salutation ; then continued, conversationally :
" You spoke the other day of the morning sunlight in
these rooms, but I have been thinking that the after-
noon sunlight, as it gets near three o'clock, is even
more beautiful. One can hardly imagine anything
occurring here which would be distasteful or unpleas-
ant, or shocking — "
The giri's eyes filled with a vague uneasiness, and
turned toward Pierce, who, not knowing what to ex-
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 215
pect, leaned against the table watching her with
strained anxiety; and at sight of him the half formed
uneasiness of her gaze vanished. Trant rose sharply,
and took Pierce by the arm.
" You must not look at her ao, Dr. Pierce," he com-
manded, tensely, " or you will defeat my purpose. It
will be better if she does not iTven see you. Sit down
at your desk behind her."
When Pierce had seated himself at the desk, con-
vulsively grasping the arms of his chair, Trant glanced
at the clock, which now marked two minutes of three,
and hastily returned to the girL He took from his
pocket the chalchihuitl stone which Pierce had given
him, and at sight of it the girl drew back with sud-
den uneasiness and apprehension.
" I know you have seen this stone before, Miss
Pierce," Trant said, significantly, " for you and Dr.
Pierce found it. But had you never seen it before
then? Think! Its color and shape are so unique
that I believe one who had seen it could never forget
it. It is so peculiar that it would not surprise me to
know that it has a very special significance! And it
has ! For it is the chalchihuitl stone. It is found in
Central America and Mexico; the Aztecs used it in
celebrating marriage — in Central America, where
there are Indians and Spaniards; tall, slender, long-
nosed Spaniards, with coal black hair and sallow skins
and tiny black mustaches — Central America, where
all those sculptured gods and strange inscriptions are
found, which the papers were about that were de-
stroyed one afternoon here in this study! "
As he spoke the clock struck three ; and at the sound
2l6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the girl uttered a gasp of uncontrollable terror, then
poised herself, listening expectantly. Almost with the
last stroke of the clock the door bell rang, and the girl
shrunk suddenly together.
"Tall, dark, slender Spaniards," Trant continued;
but stopped, for the girl was not heeding him. White
and tense, she was listening to footsteps which were
approaching the study door along the floor of the mu-
seum. The door opened suddenly,' and Don Canon-
igo Penol, pushed from behind by the stem inspector
of police, appeared on the threshold.
The girl's head had fallen back, her eyes had turned
upward so that she seemed to be looking at the ceiling,
but they were blank and sightless ; she lay, rather than
sat, upon the chair, her clenched hands close against
her sides, her whole attitude one of stony rigidity.
" Iris ! Iris ! " cried Pierce in agony.
" It is no use to call," the psychologist's outstretched
hand prevented Pierce from throwing himself on his
knees beside the girl, " she cannot hear you. She
can hear no one unless they speak of the chalchihuitl
stone and Central America, and, I hope, the events
which went forward in this house last Wednesday.
The chalchihuitl stone I The chalchihuitl stone I
She hears that, doesn't she? "
A full half minute passed while the psychologist,
anxiously bending over the rigid body, waited for an
answer. Then, as though by intense effort, the stony
lips parted and the answer came, " Yes! " Pierce fell
back with a cry of amazement; the inspector of police
straightened, astonished; the stolid face of Don
Canonigo Penol was convulsed all at once with a Uv-
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 217
ing terror and he slipped from the poUceman's hold
and fell, rather than seated himself, in a chair.
" Who is it that is speakir^? " asked Trant in the
same steady tone.
" Isabella Clarke," the voice was clearer, but high-
pitched and entirely different from Iris's. The psy-
chologist started with surprise.
" How old is Isabella? " he asked after a moment.
" She is young '^ a little girl — a child I " the voice
was stronger still.
" Does Isabella know of Iris Pierce? "
" Yes."
" Can she see Iris last Wednesday afternoon at three
o'clock?"
" Yes."
"What is she doing?"
" She is in the library. She went upstairs to take
a nap, but she could not sleep and came down to get a
book."
A long cry from some distant part of the house — ■
a shriek which set vibrating the tense nerves of all in
the little study — suddenly startled them. Trant
turned sharply toward the door; the others, petrified
in their places, followed the direction of his look.
Through the open door of the study and the arched
opening of the anteroom, the foot of the main stairs
was discernible; and, painfully and excitedly descend-
ing them, was a white-haired woman leaning on a cane
and on the other side supported by the trembling
negress.
" Richard, Richard ! " she screamed, " that woman
is in the house — in the study ! I heard her voice —
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2l8 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the voice of the woman who bumed your papers I "
"It is my mother!" Pierce, suddenly coming to
himself, turned with starii^ eyes on Trant and darted
from the study. He returned an instant later and
closed the door behind him.
" Trant," he faltered, " my mother says that the
voice that she — that we all — have just heard is the
voice of the woman who was in the study Wednes-
day."
The psychologist impatiently stopped the excited
man with a gesture. " You still see Iris ? "
" Yes," the answer came, after a considerable
pause.
" She has not left the library? Tell us what she is
doing."
" She turns toward the clock, which is striking three.
The door bell rings. Both the maids are out, so Iris
lays down her book and goes to the door. At the
door is a tall, dark man, all alone. He is a Spaniard
from the mountains in Honduras, and his name is
Canonigo Penol."
An indrawing of his breath, sharp almost as a whis-
tle, brought the gaze of all upon Penol ; but the eyes
of the Spaniard, starting in superstitious terror from
his livid face, saw only the girl.
" Penol is not known to Iris, but he has come to
see her. She is surprised. She leads him to the
library. His manner makes her uneasy," the voice,
now uninterrupted by Trant's questions, went on with
great rapidity. " He asks her if she remembers that
she lived among Indians. Iris remembers that. He
asks if she remembers that before that she lived with
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THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 219
white men — an American and some Spaniards —
who were near and dear to her. Iris cannot remem-
ber. He asks if she remembers him — Penol, His
speech frightens her. He says : ' Once an American
went to Central America with an expedition, and got
lost from his companions. He crossed rivers ; he was
in woods, jungles, mountains; he was near dying. A
Spaniard found him. The Spaniard was poor — poor.
He had a daughter.
" ' The American, whose name was James Clarke,
loved the daughter and married her. He did not
want ever to go back to the United States; he was
mad — mad with love, and mad about the ancient
carved statues of Centra! America, the temples and
inscriptions. He would sit all day in front of an in-
scription making marks on a paper, and afterwards
he would tear the paper up. They had a daughter.
Canonigo repeats many times that they were very
poor. They had only one white servant and a hun-
dred Indians. Sickness in the mountains killed the
old Spaniard. In another year sickness killed the
wife also. Now the American was all alone with his
baby daughter and one white servant and the Indians.
Then sickness also took hold of him. He was trou-
bled about his daughter; he trusted no one; he
would drag himself in the night in spite of his sickness
to see that no one had done harm to her.
" ' The American was dying. He proposed to the
young Spaniard many things; finally he proposed that
he marry the little girl. There was no priest, and the
American was mad; mad about ancient times and
dead, vanished peoples, and more mad because he
220 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
was dying f and he married them after the old custom
of the Aztecs, with the chachihuitl stone and a bird
feather, while they sat on a woven mat with the cor-
ners of their garments tied together — the young
Spaniard and the little girl, who was four years old.
Afterwards her father died, and that night the Span-
iard all alone buried him : and when toward morning
he came back he found only a few Indians too old to
travel. The others, frightened of the mad dead man,
had gone, taking the little girl with them.' "
" What does Iris do when she hears that ? " asked
Trant.
" It begins to revive memories in Iris," the voice
answered quickly ; " but she says bravely, ' What is
that to me? Why do you tell me about it?' 'Be-
cause,' says Canonigo Penol, ' I have the chalchihuitl
stone which bears witness to this marriage! ' And as
he holds it to her and it flashes in the sun, just as it
did when they held it before her when her clothes were
tied to his on the mat, she remembers and knows that
it is so ; and that she is married to this man I By the
flash of the chalchihuitl stone in the sun she remembers
and she knows that the rest is true I "
"And then?" Trant pressed,
" She is filled with horror. She shrinks from
Canonigo. She puts her hands to her face, because
she loved Dr. Pierce with her whole heart — ■"
" O God ! " cried Pierce.
" She cries out that it is not so, though she knows
it is the truth. She dashes the stone from his hand
and pushes Canonigo from her. He is unable to find
the stone ; and seeing the sculptured gods and the in-
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 221
scriptions about the room, he thinks it is these by
which Dr. Pierce is able to hold her against him. So
now he says that he will destroy these pictures and
he will have her. Iris screams. She runs from
Canonigo to the study. She shuts the door upon him,
as he follows. She sets a chair against it. Canonigo
is pushing to get in. But she gets the key to the cab-
inet from the desk and opens the cabinet.
" She takes out the papers, but there is no place
to hide them before he enters. So she opens the
drawer, but it is full of worthless papers. She takes
out enough of the old papers to make room for the
others, which she puts in the bottom of the drawer
underneath the rest. The old papers she puts into the
cabinet above, closing the cabinet ; but she had no time
to lock it. Canonigo has pushed the door open. He
has found the stone and tries to show it to her again;
but again she dashes it from his hand. He rushes
straight to the cabinet, for he has seen from the tree
where the papers are kept. The cabinet is unlocked,
but he tries to pull the door to him. He pulls off the
knob. Then he smashes the glass with his foot; he
begins burning the worthless papers. So Iris has
done all she can and runs from him to her room. She
is exhausted, fainting. She falls upon the bed — "
The voice stopped suddenly. Pierce had sprung
to her with a cry, and putting his arms about her for
support, spoke to her again and again. But she neither
moved nor spoke to his entreaties, and seemed entirely
insensible when he touched her. He leaped up, fac-
ing Trant in hostile demand, but still kept one arm
about her,
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323 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" What is this you have done to her now? " he cried.
" And what is this you have made her say? "
But the psychologist now was not watching either
the girl or his client. His eyes were fixed upon the
face of Canonigo Penol, shot with red veins and livid
spots of overpowering terror.
" So, Don Canonigo Penol," Trant addressed him,
"that was the way of it? But, man, you could
scarcely have been enough in love with a girl four
years old to take this long and expensive trip for her
nineteen years later. Was there property then, which
belonged to her that you wanted to get? "
Canonigo Penol heard the question, though he did
not look at his questioner. His eyes, starting from
bis head, could still see only the stony face of the girl
who, thus unconsciously, under the guidance of the
psychologist, had accused him in a manner which filled
him with superstitious terror. Palpitating, convulsed
with fright, with loose lips shaking and knees which
would not bear his weight, he slipped from his chair
and crawled and groveled on the floor before her.
"Oh, speak not — speak not again!" he shrieked.
" I will tell all I I lied ; the old Spaniard was not
poor — he was rich I But she can have all ! I aban-
don all claim I Only let me go from here — let rne
leaveher!"
" First we will see exactly what damage you ha*«
done," Trant answered. " Dr. Pierce," he turned col-
lectedly to his client, " you have just heard the true
account of last Wednesday afternoon."
" You want me to believe that she let him in — she
Dgitiz^dbv Google
"Oh, speak not^speak'not again!" he shrieked. '-I will ,
teUall. Hied" CoO'^lc
bv Google
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 223
was here and did that?" Pierce cried. "You think
that was all real and — true I "
" Look in the drawer she indicated, and see if she
was able, indeed, to save the papers as she said."
Mechanically and many times looking back at
Trant's compelling face. Pierce went to the cabinet,
stooped and, pulling out the drawer, tossed aside a
mass of scattering papers on the top and rose with
a bundle of manuscripts held together with wire clips.
He stared at them almost stupidly, then, coming to
himself, sorted them through rapidly and with- amaze-
ment.
" They are all here 1 " he cried, astounded. " They
are intact. But what — what trick is this, Mr.
Trant?"
" Wait I " Trant motioned him sharply to be silent.
" She is about to awake I Inspector, she must not
find you here, or this other," and seizing Penol by one
arm, while the inspector seized the other, he pushed
him from the room, and closed the study door upon
them both. Then he turned to the girl, whose more
regular breathing and lessening rigidity had warned
him that she was coming to herself.
Gently, peacefully, as those of a child wakening
from sleep, her eyes opened; and with no knowledge
of all that in the last half hour had so shaken those
who listened in the little study, with no realization even
that an interval of time had passed, she replied
to the first remark that Trant had made to her when
she entered the room ;
" Yes, indeed, Mr. Trant, the afternoon sun is beau-
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224 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
tiful; but I like these rooms better in the morning."
" You will not mind, Miss Pierce," Trant answered
gently, without heeding Pierce's gasp of surprise, and
hiding him from the girl's sight with his body, as he
saw Dr. Pierce could not restrain his emotion, " if I
ask you to leave us for a little while. I have some-
thing to talk over with your guardiaiL"
She rose, and with a bright smile left them.
"Trant! Trant!" cried Pierce.
• " You will understand better. Dr. Pierce," said the
psychologist, " if I explain this to you from its be-
ginning with the fact of the ' devil's claw,' which was
where I myself began this investigation.
" You remember that I overheard Ulame, the negro
nurse, speak of this characteristic of Miss Pierce.
You, like most educated people to-day, regarded it
simply as an anassthetic spot — curious, but without
extraordinary significance. I, as a psychologist, rec-
ognized it at once as an evidence, first pointed out by
the French scientist, Charcot, of a somewhat unusual
and peculiar nervous disposition in your ward. Miss
Iris,
" The anaesthetic spot is among the most important
of several physical evidences of mental peculiarity
which, in popular opinion, marked out its possessors
through all ages as ' different ' from other people. In
some ages and countries they have been executed as
witches ; in others, they have been deified as saints ;
they have been regarded as prophets, pythonesses, sib-
yls. ' clairvoyants.' For in some respects their mental
life is more acute than that of the mass of man-
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 22$
kind, in others it is sometimes duller; and they are
known to scientists as ' hystericals.'
" Now, when you gave me your account, Dr.
Pierce, of what had happened here last Wednesday,
it was evident to me at once that, if any of the persons
in the house had admitted the visitor who rang the
bell — and this seemed highly probable because the
bell rang only once, and would have been rung again
if the visitor had not been admitted — the door could
only have been opened by Miss Iris. For we have
evidence that neither the cook nor Ulame answered
the bell ; and moreover, all of those in the house, except
Miss Iris, had stood together at the top of the stairs
and listened to the screams from below.
" Following you into the study, then, I found plain
evidence, as I pointed out to you at the time, that two
persons had been there, one a man ; one perfectly fa-
miliar with the premises, the other wholly unfamiliar
with them. I had also evidence, from the smoke in
the museum, that the study door had been open after
the papers were lighted, and I saw that whoever came
out of the study could have gone up the anteroom stairs
to the second floor of the south wing, but could not
have passed out through the main hall without being
seen by those listening at the top of the stairway. All
these physical facts, therefore, if uncontradicted by
stronger evidence, made it an almost inevitable con-
clusion that Miss Iris had been in the study."
" Yes, yes I " Pierce agreed, impatiently, " if you ar-
range them in that order! "
"In contradiction of this conclusion," Trant went
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226 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
on rapidly, " I had three important pieces of evidence.
First, the statenient of your mother that the voice she
heard was that of a strange woman ; second, the fact
that Miss Iris had gone to her room to take a nap and
had been found asleep there on the bed by Ulame ;
third, that your ward herself denied with evident hon-
esty and perfect frankness that she had been present,
or knew anything at all of what had gone on in the
study. I admit that without the evidence of the an-
aesthetic spot — or even with it, if it had not been for
the chalchihuitl stone — I should have considered this
contradictory evidence far stronger than the other.
" But the immense and obvious influence on Miss
Iris of the chalchihuitl stone, when you found it to-
gether — an influence which she could not account for,
but which nevertheless was sufficient to make her
refuse to marry you — ^kept me on the right track.
For it made me certain that the stone must have been
connected with some intense emotional experience un-
dergone by your ward, the details of which she no
longer remembered."
" No longer remembered I " exclaimed Pierce, in-
credulously. " When it had happened only the day
before I "
" Ah I " Trant checked him quickly. " You are do-
ing just what I told you a moment ago the anaesthetic
spot had warned me against; you are judging Miss
Iris as though she were like everybody else ! I, as a
psychologist, knew that having the mental disposition
that the ansesthetic spot indicated, any such intense
emotion, any such tragedy in her life as the one I
imagined, was connected with the chalchihuitl stone, .
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 227
might be at once forgotten; as you see it was, for
when Uiame aroused her only a few moments later
she no longer remembered any part of it.
" You look incredulous, Dr. Pierce I I am not tell-
ing you anything that is not well authenticated, and a
familiar fact to men of science. If you want cor-
roboration, I can only advise you to trace my state-
ment through the works on psychology in any well-
furnished library, where you will find it confirmed by
hundreds of specific instances. With a mental dispo-
sition like Miss Iris's, an emotion so intense as that
she suffered divides itself oflf from the rest of her con-
sciousness. It is so overpowering that it cannot con-
nect itself with her daily life ; ordinary sights and
sounds cannot call it back to memory. It can be awak-
ened only by some extraordinary means such as those
I used when, as far as I was able, I reproduced for
her benefit just now here in your study all the sights
and sounds of last Wednesday afternoon that pre-
ceded and attended her interview with Canonigo
PenoL"
" It seems impossible, Mr. Trant," Pierce pressed
his hands to his eyes dazedly. " But I have seen it
with my own eyes ! "
" The sudden sleep into which she had fallen before
Ulame aroused her, and the fact that the voice your
mother heard seemed to her a strange one," Trant
continued, " added strength to my conclusion, for both
were only additional evidences of the effect of an in-
tense emotion on a disposition such as Miss Iris's.
Now, what was this emotional experience so closely
connected with the chalchihuitl stone that the sight of
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228 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the stone was able to recall it, with a dulling feeling
of fear and apathy to her emotions, without being in
itself able to bring recollection to her conscious mind,
I could only conjecture.
" But after learning from you that while a child
she had lived among Central American Indians, and
discovering that the chalchihuitl stone was a cere-
moniai stone of savage religious rkes — particularly
the marriage rite — I could not help but note the re-
markable coincidence that the man who brought the
chalchihuitl stone appeared precisely at the time he
would have come if he had learned from newspapers
in Central America of the girl's intended marriage.
As the most probable reason for his coming, consid-
ering the other circumstances, was to prevent the wed-
ding, I thought the easiest way to lay hands upon him
and establish his identity was to publish at once the
notice that the wedding had been postponed, which, if
he saw it, would make him confident he had accom-
plished his object and draw him here again. Draw
him it did, last night, into the arms of Walker and
myself, with a Lake Forest officer along to make the
arrest legal."
" I see! X see! Go on! " Pierce urged intently.
"But though I caught him," Trant continued, "1
could not gain the really important facts from him by
questioning, as I was totally unaware of the particulars
which concerned Miss Iris's — or rather Isabella
Clarke's — parentage and self-exiled father. But I
knew that, by throwing her into the true ' tran<£ '
which you have just witnessed — a hysterical condition
known as monoideic somnambulism to psychologists —
THE CHALCHIHUITL STONE 229
she would be forced to recall and tell us in detail of the
experiences which she had passed through in that con-
dition, precisely as the persons possessed of the ' devil's
claw ' who were burned and tortured as witches in the
Middle Ages had the ability sometimes to go into
trances where they knew and told of things which
they were not conscious of in their ordinary state;
precisely as certain clairvoyants to-day are often able
to tell correctly certain things of which they could
seem to have no natural knowledge.
" As for Miss Iris, there is now no reason for appre-
hension. Ordinarily, in case conditions might arise
which would remind her so strongly of the events that
took place here last Wednesday, she would be thrown
automatically into the condition she was in this after-
noon when she gave us her narrative. She would then
repeat all the particulars rapidly aloud, as you have
heard her give them ; or she would act them out dra-
matically, going through all the motions of her flight
from Penol, and her attempt to save your papers. And
each reminder being made more easy by the one before,
these ' trances ' as you call them, would become more
and more frequent,
" But knowing now, as you do, all the particulars of
what happened, you have only to recount them to her,
repeating them time after time if necessary, until she
normally remembers them and you have drawn the two
parts of her consciousness back again into one. She
will then, except to the psychologist, be the same as
other people, and will show no more peculiarity in
the rest of her life than she had already shown in that
part of it she has passed in your household. My work
, Google
230 THE ACHIEVEMEN'fS OF LUTHER TRANT
here, I think, is done," the psychologist rose abruptly,
and after grasping the hand which Pierce eagerly and
thankfully stretched out to him, he preceded him
through the doorway.
In the high-ceilinged museum, which blazed red with
the light of the setting sun, they came upon Iris, stand-
ing again in absorbed contemplation of the sacrificial
stone. She turned and smiled pleasantly at them, with
no sign of curiosity; but Pierce, as he passed, bent
gently and kissed her lips.
.dbv Google
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES
Stephen Sheppard, big game shot and all-around
sportsman, lay tensely on his side in bed, watching
for the sun to rise out of Lake Michigan. When the
first crest of that yellow rim would push clear of the
grim, gray horizon stretching its great, empty half
circle about the Chicago shore, he was going to make
a decision — a decision for the life or for the death
of a young man ; and as he personally had always cared
for that man more than for any other man so much
younger, and as his neice, who was the chief person
left in the world that Sheppard loved, also cared for
the man so much that she would surely marry him if
he were left alive, Sheppard was not at all anxious for
that day to begin.
The gray on the horizon, which had been becoming
alarmingly pale the last few moments as he stared at
it, now undeniably was spread with purple and pink
from behind the water's edge. Decide he must, he
knew, within a very few minutes or the rising sun
would find him as faltering in his mind as he was the
night before when he had given himself till daybreak
to form his decision. The sportsman shut his teeth
determinedly. No matter how fruitless the hours of
darkness when he had matched mercy with vengeance ;
no matter how hopeless he had found it during the
331
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232 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
earlier moments of that slow December dawn to say
whether he would recognize that his young friend had
merely taken the law into his own hands and done
bare justice, and therefore the past could-be left bur-
ied, or whether he must return retribution upon that
young man and bring back all that hidden and forgot-
ten past — all was no matter; he must decide now
within five minutes. For it was a sportsman's com-
pact he had made with himself to rise with the sun
and act one way or the other, and he kept compacts
with himself as obstinately and as unflinchingly as a
man must who has lived decently a long life alone,
without any employment or outside discipline.
Now the great, crimson aurora shooting up into the
sky warned him that day was close upon him ; now
the semi-circle of gray waters was bisected by a broad
and blood red pathway ; now white darts at the aurora's
center foretold the coming of the sun. He swung
his feet out of bed and sat up — a stalwart, rosy, ob-
stinate old man, his thick, white, wiry hair touseled
in his indecision — and, reaching over swiftly, snatched
up a loose coin which lay with his watch and keys
upon the table beside his bed.
" I'll give him equal chances anyway," he satisfied
himself as he sat on the edge of the bed with the coin
in his hands. " Tails, he goes free, but heads, he —
hangs 1 "
Then waiting for the first direct gleam of the sun
to give him his signal, he spun it and put his bare foot
upon it as it twirled upon the floor.
" Heads ! " He removed his foot and looked at it
without stooping. He pushed his feet into the slippers
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 233
beside his bed, threw his dressing-gown over his shoul-
ders, went directly to the telephone and called up the
North Side PoUce Station.
"I want you to arrest Jim Tyler — James Tyler
at the Alden Gub at oncel " he commanded abruptly.
" Yes ; that's it. What charge ? What do I care what
charge you arrest him on — auto speeding — anything
you want — only get him I " The old sportsman spoke
with even sharper brevity than usuaL " Look him
up and I'll come with my charges against him soon
enough. See here; do you know who this is, speak-
ing? This is Steve Sheppard. Ask your Captain
Crowley whether I have to swear to a warrant at this
time in the morning to have a man arrested. All
right I
" That starts it I " he reco^ized grimly to himself,
as he slammed down the receiver. The opposition at'
the police station had given the needed drive to his
determination. " Now I'll follow it throu^ Be-
ginning with that fellow — Trant," he recollected, as
he found upon his desk the memorandum which he
had made the night before, in case he should decide
this way.
"Mr. Trant; you got my note of last night?" he
said, a little less sharply, after he had called the num-
ber noted as Trant's room address at his club. " I
am Stephen Sheppard — brother of the late Neal
Sheppard. I have a criminal case and — as I wrote
you I might — I want your help at once. If you
leave your rooms immediately, I will call for you at
your office before eight; I want you to meet a train
with me at eight-thirty. Very well! " ,-, ,
234 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
He rang for his man, then, to order his motor and
to tell him to bring coffee and rolls to his room, which
he gulped down while he dressed. Fifteen minutes
later he jumped onto the front seat of his car, dis-
placing the chauffeur, and himself drove the car rap-
idly down town.
A crisp, sharp breeze blew in upon them from the
lake, scattering dry, rare flakes of snow. It was a
clear, perfect day for the first of Deconber in Chicago.
But Stephen Sheppard was oblivious to it. In the
northern woods beyond the Catuida boundary line the
breeze would be sharper and cleaner that day and smell
less of the streets and — it was the very height of
his hunting season for big game in those woods! Up
there he would still have been shooting, but as the
papers had put it, " the woods had taken their toll "
again this year, and his brother's life had been part of
that toll.
"Keal Sheppard's Body Found in the Woods!"
He read the headlines in the paper which the boy
thrust into his face, and he slowed the car at the Rush
Street bridge. " Victim of Stray Shot Being Brought
to Chicago." Well! That was the way it was
known I Stephen Sheppard released his brake, with
a jerk; crossed the bridge and, eight minutes later,
brought up the car with a sharper shock before the
First National Bank Building.
He had never met the man he had come to see —
had heard of him only through startling successes in
the psychological detection of crime with which this
comparative youth, fresh from the laboratory of a
university and using methods new to the criminals and
U;.t.z=dbv Google
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 233
their pursuers alike, had startled the public and the
wiser heads of the police. But finding the door to
Trant's office on the twelfth floor standing open, and
the psychologist himself taking off his things, Shep-
pard first stared over the stocky, red-haired youth, and
then clicked his tongue with satisfaction.
" It's lucky you're early, Mr. Trant," he approved
Muffly. " There is short enough time as it is, before
we meet the train." He had glanced at the clock as
he spoke, and pulled off his gloves without ceremony.
" You look like what I expected — what I'd heard you
were. Now — you know me?"
" By reputation, at least, Mr. Sheppard," Trant re-
plied. " There has been enough tn the papers these
last two weeks, and as you spoke of yourself over the
telephone just now as the brother of the late Neal
Sheppard, I suppose this morning's report is correct
That is, your brother has finally been found In the
woods — dead ? "
" So you've been following it, have you? "
" Only in the papers. ' I saw, of course, that Mr.
Neal Sheppard was missit^ from your hunting party
in Northern Ontario two weeks ago," Trant replied.
" I saw that you had been unable to find him and had
given him up for drowned in one of the lakes or dead
in the woods, and therefore you had come home the
first of the week to tell his daughter. Then this morn-
ing I saw Mr. Chapin and your guide, whom you had
left to keep up the search, had reported they found
him — 'killed, apparently, by a stray shot."
" I see. I told Chapin to give that out till he saw
me, no matter how he found him." Sheppard tossed
236 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
his fur cap upon Trant's flat-topped desk before him
and slapped his heavy gloves, one after the other, be-
side it.
" You mean that you have private information that
your brother was not shot accidentally?" Trant
leaned over his desk intently.
" Exactly. But I've not come to mince matters
with you, Trant. He was murdered, man, — mur-
dered I "
" Murdered? I imderstand then! " Trant straight-
ened back.
" No, you don't," his client contradicted bluntly.
" I haven't come to ask you to find the murderer for
me. I named him to the police and ordered his arrest
before I called you this morning. He is Jim Tyler;
and, as I know he was at his club, they must have him
by this time. There's mighty little psychology in this
case, Trant, But if I'm going to hang young Jim,
I'm going to hang him quick — for it's trot a pleasant
job; and I have called for you merely to hear the
proofs that Chapin and the Indian are bringing —
they've sent word only that it is murder, as I sus-
pected — so that when we put those proofs into the
hands of the state's attorney, they can finish Jim
quick — and be done with it I "
"Tyler?" Trant leaned quickly toward his client
again, not trying now to conceal his surprise.
" Young Tyler, your shooting-mate and your partner
in the new Sheppard-Tyler Gun Company? "
" Yes, Tyler," the other returned brusquely, but
rising as he spoke, and turning his back upon the
pretext of closing the transom. " My shooting-mate
L);.I....J by Google
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 237
for the last three years and I guess he's rather more
than my partner in the gun company ; for, to tell the
truth, it was for him I put up the money to start the
business. And there are more reasons than that for
making me want to let him go — though he shot my
brother. But those reasons — I decided this morning
— are not enough this late in the day ! So I decided
also to hold back nothing — to keep back nothing of
what's behind this crime, whoever it hurts I I said
1 haven't come to mince matters with you, Trant.
Well — I shan't!"
He turned back Irota the transom, and glanced
once more swiftly at the clock.
" I shall be very glad to go over the evidence for
you, Mr, Sheppard," Trant acquiesced, following the
older man's glance ; " and as you have come here half
an hour before we need start to meet the train — "
" Just so," the other interrupted bluntly. " I am
here to tell you as much as I am able before we meet
the others. That's why I asked you if you knew me.
So now — exactly how much do you know about me,
Trant?"
" I iraow you are a wealthy man — a large holder
of real estate, the papers say, which has advanced
greatly in value ; and I know — this is from the papers
too — that you belong to a coterie of men who have
grown up with the city, — old settlers of thirty years'
standing."
" Quite right. Neal and I came here broke —
without a cent, to pick up what we could in Chi-
cago after the fire. And we made our fortunes then,
easx — or easily, as I've learned to say, now," he
238 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
smiled to himself grimly, " by buying up lots about
the city when they were cheap and everybody scared
and selling them for a song, and we had only to hold
them until they made us rich. I am now a rich old
bachelor, Trant, hunting in season and trap-shooting
out, and setting up Jim Tyler in the gun business be-
tween times. The worst that was said about Neal was
his drinking and bad temper ; for Leigh, his dau^ter,
goes as well as anybody else in her circle ; and even
young Jim Tyler has the run of a dozen clubs. That's
all good, respectable and satisfactory, isn't it? And
is that all you know? "
" That's all," replied Trant curtly.
" Never heard of Sheppard's White Palace, did
you? Don't know that when you speak to one of
those old boys of thirty years ago — the coterie, you
called them — about Mr. Stephen Sheppard, the
thought that comes into his head is, 'Oh! you mean
Steve Sheppard, the gambler 1' Thirty years ago,
more or less, we were making our money to buy
those lots in a liquor palace and gambling hell — Neal
and I and Jim Tyler's father — old Jim."
" There were more than just Neal and old Tyler and
me, though," he burst on, pacing the length of the
rug beside Trant's desk and not looking at his con-
sultant at all. " There were the Findlays besides —
Enoch, who was up in the woods with us, he gets his
picture in the paper every six months or so for pay-
ing a thousand dollars for a thousand-year-old cent
piece; and Enoch's brother, and Chapin, whom we're
going to meet in a few minutes. We ran a square
game — as square as any; understand that! But we
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 239
had every other devilment that comes even to a square
gambling house in a wide open town — fights, suicide,
and — murder."
He broke off, meetii^ Trant's quick and question-
ing glance for a fraction of an instant with a steely
ghtter of his gray-green eyes.
"Sure — murder I" he repeated with rougher de-
fiance. " Men shot themselves and, a good deal
oftener, shot each other in our house or somewhere
else, on account of what went on there. But we
got things passed up a deal easier in those days, and
we seldom bothered ourselves about a little shooting
till — well, the habit spread to us. I mean, one night
one of us — Len Findlay it was — was shot under
conditions that made it certain that one of us other
five — Tyler, or Chapin, or Enoch Findlay, his
brother, or Neal, or I, must have shot him. You
see, a pleasant thing to drop into our happy family!
Made it certain only to us, of course; we got it passed
up as a suicide with the police. And that wasn't all ;
for as soon afterward as it was safe to have another
* suicide,' old Jim Tyler was shot ; and this time we
knew it was either Enoch Findlay or — I told you I
wouldn't mince matters — or Neal. That broke up
the game and the partnership — "
" Wait, wait ! " Trant interrupted. " Do you mean
me to understand that your brother shot Tyler? "
" I mean you to understand just what I said," the
old man's straight hps closed tightly under his short
white mustache ; " for I've seen too much trouble
come out of just words to be careless with them.
Either Enoch or Neal shot Jim; I don't know which."
240 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" In retaliation, because lie thought Ty}et had shot
Len Findlay?"
"Perhaps; but I never thought so, and I don't
think so now," Sheppard returned decisively. " For
old Jim Tyler was the least up to that sort of thing
of ar^r of us — a tongue-tied, inoffensive old fellow
— and he was dealer in our games; but outside of
that Jim didn't have nerve enough to handle his own
money. But for some reason Neal seemed sure it was
old Jim who had shot Len, and he made Enoch Find-
lay believe it, too. So, no matter who actually fired
the bullet, it was NeaL Well, it was up to me to look
after old Jim's widow and his boy. That was neces-
sary; for after Jim was dead, I found a funny thing.
He had taken his share with the rest of us in the profits
of the game ; and the rest of us were getting rich by
that time — for we weren't any of us gamblers ; not
in the way of playir^ it back into the game, that is ;
but though I had always supposed that Jim was buy-
ing his land like the rest — and his widow told me
so, too — I found nothing when he was dead!"
"But you implied just now," Trant put in again
quickly, " that Tyler might have had someone else in-
vesting for him. Did you look into that at the
time?"
" Yes ; I asked them all, but no one knew anything.
But we're coming to that," the old man answered im-
patiently. " I wanted you to see how it was that I
began to look after young Jim and take an interest
in him and do things for him till — till he became
what he was to me. Neal never liked my looking
after the boy from the first; we quarreled about it
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 241
time and again, and especially after young Jim began
growing up and Neal's girl was growing up, too ; and
a year or so ago, when he began seeing that Leigh
was caring for young Jim more than for anyone else,
in spite of what he said, Neal hated the boy worse.
He forbade him his house; and he did a good many
other things against him, and the reason for all of
it even I couldn't make out imtil this last hunt."
The old sportsman stood still now, picked up his
fur cap and thoughtfully began drawing on his big
gloves.
" We had gone up this year, as of course you know
from the papers, into the Ontario reserve, just north
of the Temagami region, for deer and moose. The
season is good there, but short, closing the middle of
November. Then we were going to cross into Que-
bec where the season stays till January. Young Jim
Tyler wasn't with us, for this hunt was a sort of
exclusive fixture just for the old ones, Neal and I,
Findlay and Chapin. But this time, the second day
in camp, young Jim Tyler comes running in upon us
— or rather, in on me, for I was the only one in camp
that day, laid up with a bad ankle. He had his gun
with him, one of our new Sheppard-Tylers which we
were all trying out for the first time this year. But
he hadn't followed us for moose. He'd come to see
Neal. For the people that had bought his father's
old house had been tearing it down to make room for
a business building, and they'd found some papers
between the floors which they'd given to young Jim,
and that was what sent him after us, hot after Neal.
He showed them to me ; and^I understood.
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242 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"You see, the only real d>jectton that Neal had
been able to keep against young Jim was that he was
a pauper — penniless but for me. And these papers
Jim had were notes and memorandum which showed
why Jim was a pauper and who had made him that,
and how Neal himself had got the better half of old
Jim's best properties. For the papers were private
notes and memoranda of money that old Jim Tyler
had given Neal to invest in land for him; among
them, a paper in Neal's writing acknowledging old
Jim's half interest in Neal's best lots. Then there
were some personal memorandum of Tyler's stuck
with these, part of which we couldn't make out, ex-
cept that it had to do with the shooting of Len Find-
lay ; but the rest was clear — showed clear that, just
before he was shot, old Jim Tyler had become afraid
of Neal and was trying to make him convert his pa-
pers into regular titles and take his things out of
Neal's hands.
" I saw, of course, that young Jim must know every-
thing then ; so the only thing I could do was to stop
him from hunting up Neal that morning and in that
mood with a gun in his hand. But he laughed at me ;
said I ought to know he hadn't come to kill Leigh's
father, but only to force a different understanding
then and there; and his gun might come in handy —
but he would keep his head as well as his gun. But
he didn't. For though he didn't find Neal then, he
came across Findlay and Chapin and blurted it all out
to them, so that they stayed with him till he promised
to go home, which he didn't do either; for one of our
Indians, coming up the trail early next morning with
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 243
supplies, met him only half a dozen miles from camp.
Jim said he'd laid up over night because of the snow-
storm, but didn't come back to camp because he didn't
want to see Neal after the promise he'd made. And
there had been a big snow that night. Chapin and
Findlay didn't get in till all hours because of it ; Chapin
about eleven, Findlay not till near two, dead beat out
from tramping through the new snow ; and Neal — he
never got in at all.
" I stayed four days after that looking for Neal ;
but we couldn't find him. Then I left Chapin with
the Indians to keep on searching, while I came down,
more to see Jim, you understand, than to break the
news to Leigh. Jim admitted he'd stayed near camp
till the next morning but denied he'd even seen Neal,
and denied it so strongly that he fooled me into giv-
ing him the benefit of the doubt until last ntg^t ; and
then Chapin wired me they had found Neal's body,
and to meet them with a detective, as they have plain
evidence against young Jim that he murdered my
brother t "
The old man stopped suddenly, and his eyes shifted
from Trant to the clock. " That's all," he concluded
abruptly. " Not much psychology in that, is there ?
My car is waiting down stairs."
He pulled the fur cap down upon his ears, and
Trant had time only to throw on his coat and catch
his client in the hall, as Sheppard walked toward the
elevators. The chauffeur, at sight of them, opened
the limousine body of the car, and Sheppard got in
with Trant, leaving the man this time to guide the
car through the streets.
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244 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" There's where the Palace stood ; Neal owns the
Jot still, and has made two re-buildings on it," he mo-
tioned toward a towering office structure as the car
slowed at the Clark Street crossing. Then, as they
stopped a moment later at the Polk Street Station,
he laid a muscuhir hand upon the door, drove it open
and sprang out, leaving Trant inside. The clock in
the tower showed just half past eight, and he hurried
into the train shed. Ten minutes later he reappeared,
leading a plump, almost roly-poly man, with a round
face, fiery red from exposure to the weather, who
was buttoned from chtn to shoe tops in an ulster and
wore a fur cap like his own. Behind them with
noiseless, woodland tread glided a full-blooded Indian,
in corduroy trousers and coat blotched with many
forest stains, carrying carefully a long leather gun-
case and cartridge belt.
" This is Chapin, Trant," Sheppard introduced them,
having evidently spoken briefly of the psychologist
to Chapin in the station ; " and McLain," he motitmed
toward the Indian,
He stepped after them into the limousine, and as
the car jerked and halted through the crowded city
streets back toward his home, he lifted his eyes to the
round-faced man opposite him.
" Where was it, Chapin? " he asked abruptly.
" In Bowton's mining shack, Steve."
"What I what!"
" You say the body was found in a miner's cabin,
Mr. Chapin," the psychologist broke in, in crisp
tones. "Do you mean the miners live in the cabin
and carried him in there after he was shot? "
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 245
"-No, it is an abandoned mine, Mr, Trant. He was
in the deserted cabin when shot down — shot like a
dog, Steve ! "
" For God's sake, let's drop this till we get to the
house ! " Sheppard burst out suddenly, and Trant fell
back, still keenly observant and attentive, while the
big car swept swiftly through the less crowded streets.
Only twice Sheppard leaned forward, with forced
calmness and laconic comment, to point out some sight
to the Indian; and once he nodded absently when,
passing a meat shop with deer hung beside its doors,
the Indian — finding this the first object on which he
dared to comment — remarked that the skins were be-
ing badly torn. Then the motor stopped before twin,
stately, gray-stone houses facing the lake, where a
single broad flight of steps led to two entrance doors
which bore ornate door plates, one the name of Ste-
phen, the other Neal, Sheppard.
Sheppard led the way through the hall into a wide,
high trophy and smoking-room which occupied a bay
of the first floor back of the dining-room, and him-
self shut the door firmly, after Chapin and Trant and
the Indian, still carefully carrying the gun-case, had
entered,
" Now tell me," he commanded Chapin and the
Indian equally, " exactly how you found him."
" Neal had plainly taken refuge in the cabin from
the snowstorm, Steve," Chapin replied almost com-
passionately. " He was in his stocking feet, and his
shooting-coat and cartridge-belt still lay on the straw
in one of the bunks where he had been sleeping. The
man, it seems clear, entered through the outer door
246 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
of the mess cabin, which opens into the bunk-room
through a door at its other end. Neal heard him,
we suppose, and pickit^ up his shoes and gun, went
to see who it was; and the man, standing near the
outer door, shot him down as he came through the
other — four shots, Steve; two missed."
" Four shots, and in the cabin ! " Sheppard turned
to the Indian almost in appeal; but at McLain's nod
his square chin set firmly. " You were right in tele-
graphing me it was murder! "
" Two hit — ■ one here ; one here," the Indian touched
his right shoulder and then the center of his fore-
head.
" How do you know the man who shot him stood by
the outer door? " Trant interrupted.
" McLain found the shells ejected from his rifle,"
Chapin answered ; and the Indian took from his pocket
five cartridges — four empty, one still loaded. " Man
shooting kill with four shots and throw last from mag-
azine there beside it," he explained. " Not have need
it. I find on floor with empty shells."
" I see." Sheppard took the shells and examined
them tensely. He went to his drawer and took out a
single fresh cartridge and ccmipared it carefully with
the empty shells and the unfired cartridge the Indian
had found with them, before, he handed them, still
more tensely, to Trant. "They are all Sheppard-
Tyler's, Trant, which we were just trying out for the
first time ourselves. No one else had them, no one
else could possibly have them, besides ourselves, but
Jiml But the gun-case, Chapin," he turned toward
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THE EMPTY CAyTRIDGES 247
the burden the Indian had carried. " Why have you
brought that ? "
" It's just Neal's gun that we found in his hand,
Steve," Chapin replied sympathetically, "and his
cartridge-belt that was in the bunk,"
The Indian unstrapped the case and took out the
gun. Then he took from another pocket a single
empty shell, this time, and four full ones, three of
which he put into the magazine of the rifle, and ex-
tended it to Chapin.
" Neal had time to try twice for Ji — for the other
fellow, Steve," Chapin explained, " for he wasn't
killed till the fourth shot. But Neal's first shell," he
pointed to the pierced primer of the cartridge he had
taken from the Indian, " missed fire, you see ; and he
was hit so hard before he could shoot the other," he
handed over the shell, '* that it must have gone wild.
Its recoil threw the next cartridge in place all right,
as McLain has it now," he handed over the gun, " but
Neal couldn't ever pull the trigger on it then."
" I see." Sheppard's teeth clenched tight again, as
he examined the faulty cartridge his brother had tried
to shoot, the empty shell, and the three cartridges left
intact in the rifle. He handed them after the others
to Trant. And for an instant more his green-gray
eyes, growing steadily colder and more merciless,
watched the silent young psychologist as he weighed
again and again and sorted over, without comment,
the shells that had slain Neal Sheppard ; and weighed
again in his fingers the one the murderer had not
needed to use. Then Trant turned suddenly to the
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248 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
cartridge-belt the Indian held, and taking out one shell
compared it with the others.
"They are different?" he said inquiringly.
" Only that these are full metal-patched bullets,
like the one I showed you from the drawer, while
those in Neal's belt are soft-nosed," Sheppard an-
swered immediately. " We had both kinds in camp,
for we were making the first real trial of the new gun ;
but we used only the soft-nosed in hunting. They are
Sheppard-Tyler's, Trant — all of them; and that is
the one important thing and enough of itself to settle
the murderer ! "
" But can you understand, Mr. Sheppard, even if
the man who shot the four shells found he didn't need
the fifth," — the young psychologist held up the single,
unshot shell which the Indian had found near the door
— "why he should throw it there? And more partic-
ularly I can't make out why — " He checked himself
and swung from his client to the Indian as the per-
plexity which had filled his face when he first handled
the shells gave way to the quick flush of energetic
■action.
" Suppose this were the mess-room of the cabin.
McLain," he gestured to the trophy-room, as he shot
out his question ; " can you show me how it was ar-
ranged and what you found there? "
" Yes, yes ; " the Indian turned to the end wall and
pointed, " there the door to outside ; on floor near it,
four empty shells, one full one." He stalked to a
corner at the opposite end. " Here door to bunk-
room. Here," he stopped and touched his fingers to
the floor, " Neal Sheppard's shoes where he drop
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 249
them. Here," he rose and touched the wall in two
spots about the height of a man's head above the floor,
" bullet hole, and bullet hole, when he miss."
" What ! what I " cried Trant, " two bullet holes
above the shoes ? "
"Yes; so."
" And the body — that lay near the shoes ? "
" Oh, no; the body here! " the Indian moved along
the end wall abnost to the other corner. " One shell
beside it that miss fire, one empty shell. Neal Shep-
pard's matchbox — that empty, too — on floor.
Around body burned matches."
" Burned matches around the body? " Trant echoed
in still greater excitement.
"Yes; and on body."
"On it?"
"Yes; man, after he shot, go to him and bum
matches — I think — to see him dead."
" Then they must have shot in the dark! " Trant's
excited face flushed red with sudden and complete
comprehension. " Of course, dolt that I was 1 With
these shells in my hand, I should have guessed it!
That is as plain a reason for this peculiar distribution
of the shells as it is for the matches which, as the
Indian says, the man must have taken from your
brother's match-box to look at him and make sure he
was dead." He had whirled to face his client. " It
was all shot in the dark."
" Shot in the dark I " Sheppard echoed. He seemed
to have caught none of the spirit of his young adviser's
new comprehension; but, merely echoing his words,
had turned from him and stared steadily out of the
2SO THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
window to the street; and as he stared, thinking of
his brother shot down in darkness by an unseen enemy,
his eyes, cold and merciless before, began to glow
madly with his slow but — once aroused — obstinate
and pitiless anger.
" Mr. Trant; " he turned back suddenly, " I do not
deny that when I called for you this morning, instead
of getting a detective from the city police as Chapin ex-
pected, it was not to hang Jim Tyler, as I pretended,
but with a determination to give him every chance
that was coming to him after I had to go against him.
But he gave Neal none — none I — and it's no matter
what Neal did to his father; I'm keeping you here
now to help me hang him I And Chapin I when I
ordered Tyler's arrest, I told the police I'd prefer
charges against him this morning, but he seems im-
patient. He's coming here with Captain Crowley
from the station now," he continued with short, sharp
distinctness. " So let him in, Chapin — I don't care
to trust myself at the door — Jim's come for it, and
— I'll let him have it ! "
" You mean you are going to charge him with mur-
der now, before that officer, Mr. Shej^rd?" Trant
moved quickly before his client, as Chapin obediently
went toward the door. "Don't," he warned tersely.
"Don't? Why?"
" The first bullet in your brother's gun that failed
■ — the other three — the one which the other fellow
did not even try to shoot," Trant enumerated ahnost
breathlessly, as he heard the front door open. " Do
they mean nothing to you? "
And putting between his strong even teeth the car-
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 251
tridge with its primer pierced which had failed in
Neal Sheppard's gun, he tore out the bullet with a
single wrench and held the shell down. " See ! it
was empty, Mr. Sheppard! That was the first one
in your brother's gun! That was why it didn't go
oflf! And this — the last one the other man had, the
one he didn't even try to shoot," Trant jerked out
the bullet from it too with another wrench of his
teeth — "was empty as well. See! And the other
man knew it ; that was why he didn't even try to shoot
it, but ejected it on the floor as it was ! "
"How did you guess that? And how did you
know that the other cartridge, the one Jim — the
other fellow — didn't even try to fire — wasn't
loaded, too?" Sheppard now checked short in sur-
prise, stupefied and amazed, gazed, with the othei*
white-haired man and the Indian, at the empty shells.
But Trant went on swiftly: " Are Sheppard-Tyler
shells so poorly loaded, Mr. Sheppard, that two out
of ten of them are bad? And not only two, but this
— and this — and this," at each word he dropped
on the table another shell, "the three left in your
brother's rifle. For these others are bad — unloaded,
too! So that even if he had been able to pull the
trigger on them, they would have failed like the first ;
and I know that for the same reason that I know
about the first ones. Five out of ten shells of Shep-
pard-Tyler loading ' accidentally ' with no powder in
them. That is too much for you — for anyone —
to believe, Mr. Sheppard ! And that was why I said
to' you a moment ago, as I say again, don't charge
that young man out there with murder ! "
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252 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
"You mean," Sheppard gasped, "that Jim did not
kill Neal?"
" I didn't say that," Trant returned sharply. " But
yoiu* brother was not shot down in cold-blooded mur-
der; I'm sure of that! Whether Jim Tyler, or an-
other, shot him, I can not yet say ; but I hope soon to
prove. For there were only four men in the woods
who had Sheppard-Tyler guns ; and he must have been
shot either by Tyler, or Findlay, or Chapin, or — to
open all the possibilities — by yourself, Mr. Shep-
pard I " the psychologist continued boldly.
" Who? Me? " roared Chapin in fiery indignation.
"What — what's that you're saying?" The old
sportsman stood staring at his young adviser, half in
outrage, half in astonishment.
Then, staring at the startling display of the empty
shells — whose meaning was as yet as incomprehensi-
ble to him as the means by which the psychologist had
so suddenly detected them — and dazed by Trant's
sudden and equally incomprehensible defense of young
Tyler after he had detected them, he weakened. " I
— I'm afraid. I don't understand what you mean,
Mr. Trant ! " he said helplessly ; then, irritated by his
own weakness, he turned testily toward the door: " I
wonder what is keeping them out there?"
" Mr. Trant says," Chapin burst out angrily, " that
either you or I is as likely to have shot Neal as young
Jim! But Mr. Trant is crazy; we'll have young
Jim in here and prove it ! " and he threw open the
door.
But it was not young Tyler, but a girl, tall and
blond, with a lithe, straight figure almost like a boy's,
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 253
but with her fine, clear-cut features deadly pale, and
with her gray eyes — straight and frank, like Shep-
pard's, but much deeper and softer — full of grief and
terror, who stood first in the doorway.
" Leigh ! So it was you keeping them out there !
Leigh," her uncle's voice trembled as he spoke to the
girl, " what are you doing here? "
"No; what are you doing, uncle?" the girl asked
in clear, fearless tones. "Or rather, I mean, what
have Mr. Chapin and this guide and this — this gen-
tleman," she looked toward Trant and the gun Shep-
pard had handed him, " come here for this morning?.
And why have they brought Jim here — this way?"
She moved aside a little, as though to let Trant see
behind her the set and firm, but also very pale, features
of young Tyler and the coarser face of the red-haired
police officer. " I know," she continued, as her uncle
still stood speechless, " that it must have something
to do with my father; for Jim could not deny it But
what — what is it," she appealed again, with the ter-
ror gleaming in her eyes which told, even to Trant,
that she must half suspect, " that brings you all here
this way this morning, and Jim too? "
" Run over home again, my dear," the uncle stooped
and kissed her clumsily. " Rim back home now, for
you can't come ia"
" Yes ; you'll go back home now, won't you,
Lei^? " Tyler touched her hand.
" Perhaps you had better let Miss Sheppard in for
a moment first, Mr. Tyler," Trant su^ested. " For,
in regard to what she seems to fear, I have only en-
couragement for her."
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254 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" You mean you — " Tyler's pale, defiant lips parted
impulsively, but he quickly checked himself.
" I am not afraid to ask it, Jim," the girl this time
sought his fingers with her own. " Do you mean
you — are not here to try to connect Jim with the
— disappearance of my father? "
" No, Miss Sheppard," Trant replied steadily, while
the eyes of the two older men were fixed upon him
scarcely less intently than the girl's; "and I have
asked you to come in a moment, because I feel safe in
assuring you that Mr. Tyler can not have been con-
nected with the disappearance of your father in the
way they have made you fear. And more than that,
it is quite possible that within a few moments I will
be able to prove that he is clear of any connection with
it whatever — quite possible, Miss Sheppard. That
was all I wanted to tell you."
"Who are you?" the girl cried. "And can you
make my uncle believe that, too? Do you think I
haven't known, uncle, what you thought when Jim
went up there after you and — father was lost? I
know that what you suspect is impossible; but," she
turned to Trant again, " can you make my uncle be-
lieve that, too?"
" Your uncle, though he seemed to forget the fact
a moment ago, has retained me precisely to clear Mr.
Tyler from the circtmistantial evidence that seemed so
conclusive against him," said Trant, with a warning
glance at the amazed Sheppard, " and I strongly hope
that I will be able to do so."
"Oh, I did not understand! I will wait upstairs,
then," the girl turned from Trant to Sheppard in be-
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 255
wilderment, touched Tyler's arm as she brushed by
him in the door, and left them.
-' Thank you for your intention in making it easier
for her — whoever you are — even if you have to
take it back later," Tyler said grimly to the psychol-
ogist. " But since Crowley has told me," he turned
now to Sheppard, " that it was you who ordered him
to arrest me at the club this morning, I suppose, now
that Leigh is gone, that means that you have found
your brother shot as he deserved and as you expected
and — you think I did it! "
" Morning, Mr. Sheppard," the red-haired police
captain nodded. " Morning, Mr. Trant ; giving us
some more of the psycho-palmistry? Considerable
water's gone past the mill since you put an electric
battery on Caylis, the Bronson murderer, and proved
him guilty just as we were getting ready to send Kan-
Ian up for the crime. As for this young man," he
motioned with his thumb toward Tyler, " I took him in
because Mr. Sheppard asked it; but as Mr. Sheppard
didn't make any charge against him, and this Tyler
wanted to come up here, I brought him on myself, not
hearing from Mr. Sheppard. I suppose now it's Mr.
Neal Sheppard's death, after seeing the morning papers
and hearing the young lady."
" Just so. Captain Crowley," said Trant brusquely,
" but we'll let Mr, Sheppard make his charge or not
make it, just as he sees fit, after we get through with
the little test we're going to carry out. And I am
greatly mistaken, if, after we are through, he will
bring any such charge as you have suggested. But
come in, Captain; I am glad that you are here. ^The
2S6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
test I am going to make may seem so trivial to these
gentlemen that I am glad to have a practical man like
yourself here who has seen more in such a test as the
one I am going to make now, than can appear on the
surface."
" ' More than appears on the surface ' is the word,
Mr. Trant," the captain cried impulsively. " Mr.
Sheppard, it's myself has told you about Mr. Trant
before; and I'll back anything he does to the limit,
since I see him catch the Bronson murderer, as I just
told you, by a one-cell battery that would not ring a
door belL"
" I shall ask you to bear that in mind, if you will,
Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Chapin," the psychologist
smiled slightly as he looked about the room, and then
crossed over to the mantel and took from it five of the
six small stone steins with silver tops which stood
there. " Particularly as I have not here even the regu-
lar apparatus for the test, but must rather improvise.
If I had you in my offices or in the psychological labor-
atory fitted with that regular apparatus I could prove
in an instant which of you, if any, was the one who
shot these four cartridges to kill Neal Sheppard, and
discarded this fifth," he touched again the shells on the
table. " But, as I said, I hope we can manage here."
"Which of us?" Chapin echoed. "So you're
going to try me, too? " He raised a plump fist and
shook it angrily under Trant's nose. " You think I
did it?"
" I didn't say so, Mr. Chapin," Trant replied pacifi-
catingly. " I said there were excellent chances that
Mr. Tyler was not the one who did the shooting; so if
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 257
that is so, it must have been done by one of the othftf
men who carried Sheppard-Tyler rifles. I thought of
you merely as one of those ; and as the test I am about
to try upon Mr. Tyler would be as simple and efficient
a test to determine your connection — or lack of con-
nection — with this shooting, I shall ask you to take
it after Mr. Tyler, if necessary."
He raised the tops of the steins, as he spoke, peered
into them to see they were empty ; then put into hiff
pocket the good shell which he had taken from the
belt the Indian had given him, and picked up the five
little covered cups again.
" As I have a stop second hand to my watch, Mr.
Stieppard," he continued," all I need now is some
shot — ordinary bird shot, or small shot of any size."
" Shot? " Sheppard stared at the steins crazily, but
catching Captain Crowley's equally uncomprehending
but admiringly confident eyes, he nodded, " of course.
You will find all the shot you can want in the gun
cabinet in the corner."
Trant crossed to the cabinet and opened the drawer.
He returned in less than a minute, as they stood ex-
changing curious glances, and placed five steins in a
row on the table before him.
" Please take up the middle one now, Mr. Tyler,"
he requested, as he took out his watch. " Thank you.
Now the one to the right of it; and tell me, is it the
same weight as the other, or heavier, or lighter? "
"The same weight or lighter — perhaps a little
lighter," Tyler answered readily. " But what of It?
What is this? " he asked curiously,
"Take up the middle stein again." Trant, disre-
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258 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
garding his question, glanced at the time interval on
his watch ; " the first stein you picked up, Mr. Tyler ;
and then take up the remaining three in any order, and
tell me, as quickly as you can, whether they seem the
same weight, tighter or heavier to you. Thank you,"
he acknowledged noncommittally again, as Tyler ac-
quiesced, his wonder at so extraordinary a test in-
creasing.
The psychologist glanced over the list of answers
he had noted on a slip of paper with the time taken for
each. Then he gathered up the five steins without
comment and redistributed them on the table.
" It looks bright for you, Mr. Tyler," he commented "
calmly; "but I will ask you to go over the stops
again ; " and a second, and then a third time, he made^
Tyler take up all five steins in turn and tell him wh^iAP
each seemed the same weight, lighter or heavier jhan
the first he handled. i
" What's all this tomfoolery with steins got A do
with who shot Neal Sheppard?" Chapin blurtdrout
contemptuously. But when he turned for concurance
to Stephen Sheppard, he found the old sportsidB's
anxious gaze again fixed on the intent face of^e
police captain who once before, by his own admiseion,
had seen Trant pick a murderer by incomprehensible
work, and his own contempt as well gave place to ap-
prehensive wonder at what might \v^ behinij this asp-
parently childish experiment. ■
"You ask what this means, Mr. Chapin?" Trant
looked up as he finished his notes. " It has made me
certain that Mr. Tyler, at least, is guiltless of the crime
of which he has been suspected. As to who shot Neal
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" What's all this tomfoolery with steins gol lo do with who shot
Neal Sheppard?" Chapin blurted out conlempluously
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 259
Sheppard, if you will kindly take up those steins just
as you have seen him do, perhaps I can tell you."
For the fraction of an instant Chapin halted ; then,
as under direct gaze of the psychologist, he reached
out to pick up the first stein in the test, whose very
seeming triviality made it the more incomprdiensible
to him, the sweat broke out on the backs of his hands ;
but he answered stoutly:
" That's heavier; the same; this lighter; and this the
same agaia"
And again : " The same ; heavier ; lighter ; the same I
Now, what's the answer? "
"That my feeling which you forced upon tne to
make me choose you — I admit it — for the role you
were so willing to assign to Tyler, Mr. Chapin, would
probably have made me waste valuable time, if I had
not been able to correct it, scientifically, as easily as
I confinned my other feeling in Tyler's favor. For
there can be no question now that you had no more
to do with the shooting of Neal Sheppard than he had.
I must make still another test to determine the man
who fired these shots."
" You mean you want to try met " Sheppard de-
manded, uneasy and astounded.
" I would rather test the other man first, Mr. Shep-
pard ; the fourth man who was in the woods with you,"
Trant corrected calmly.
" Findlayf"
The psychologist, as he looked around, saw in the
faces of Sheppard, Chapin, and young Tyler alike, in-
dignant astonishment.
" You don't know Findlay, Mr. Trant," Sheppard
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I
260 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
said roughly, losing confidence again In spite of Crow-
ley; " or you would understand that he is the last man
among us who could be suspected. Enoch is a regular
hermit — what they call a ' recluse ' I Only once a
year are we able to get him to tear himself away from
his musty old house and his collections of coins, and
then only for old sake's sake, to go to the north woods
with us. Your crazy test with the steins has led you
a long way off the track if you think it's Findlay."
" It has led me inevitably to the conclusion that, if
it was one of you four men, it was either Findlay or
yourself, Mr. Sheppard," Trant asserted firmly.
" You yourself know best whether it is necessary to
test him."
Sheppard stared at the obstinate young psychologist
for a full minute. " At least," he said finally with
the same roughness, " we can keep young Jim still in
custody." He looked at the police officer, who nodded.
Then he went to the house telephone on the wall, spoke
shortly into it, and turned :
" ril take you to Findlay, Trant. I've called the
motor."
Five minutes later the little party in the trophy-
room broke up — Tyler, under the watch of Captain
Crowley, going to the police station, but as yet with-
out charge against him; Chapin going about his own
business; Trant and his client speeding swiftly down
the boulevard in the big motor.
" You want to stop at your office, I suppose," Shep-
pard asked, " for you haven't brought the steins you
used in your test with us? "
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 261
" Yes — but no," Trant suddenly recollected ; " you
have mentioned once or twice that Findlay is a col-
lector of coins — a numismatist,"
" The craziest in Chicago."
" Then if you'll drop me for a minute at Swift and
Walton's curio shop in Randolph Street that will be
enough."
Sheppard glanced at his young adviser wonderingly ;
and looked more wonderingly still when Trant came
out from the curio shop jingling a handful of silver
coins, which he showed quietly.
"They're silver florins of one of the early Swiss
states," he exclaimed ; " borrowed of Swift and Wal-
ton, by means of a deposit, and guaranteed to make a
collector sit up and take notice. They'll get me an
interview with Mr. Findlay, I hope, without the need
of an introduction. So i£ you will point out the house
to me and let me out a block or so from it, I will go
in firtt."
" And what do you want me to do? " asked Shep-
pard, startled.
"Come in a few minutes later; meet him as you
would naturally. Your brother's body has been
found; tell him about it. You suspect young Tyler;
tell him that also. Maybe he can help you. You need
not recognize me until I see I want you ; but my work,
I trust, will be done before you get there."
"Enoch Findlay help me?" queried Sheppard in
perplexity. " You mean help me to trace Neal's
murderer. But it is you who said because, against
all reason, you suspect Enoch, Mr. Trant, that we have
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262 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
-come here I For there's the house," he pointed. And
Trant, not making any answer, leaped out as the car
was slowing, and left him.
The big old Michigan avenue dwelling, Trant saw at
a glance, was in disrepair; but from inattention, the
psychologist guessed, not from lack of money. The
maid who opened the door was a slattern. The hall,
with its mingled aroma of dust and cooking, spoke elo-
quently of the indifference of the house's chief occu-
pant ; and the musty front room, with its coin cases and
curios, was as unlike the great light and airy " den "
where Stephen Sheppard hung his guns and skins and
antlers, as the man whom Trant rose to greet was un-
like his friend, the hale and ruddy old sportsman.
As Trant looked over this man, whose great height
— six feet four or five inches — was reduced at least
three inches by the studious stoop of his shoulders ; as
he took note of his worn and careless clothing ^ d his
feet forced into bulging slippers ; as he saw the parch-
ment skin, and met the eyes, so light in color that the
iris could scarcely be detected from the whites, tike
the unpainted eyes of a statue, he appreciated the sur-
prise that Findlay's former partners, Sheppard and
Chapin, had experienced at the suggestion that this
might be the murderer.
" I shall ask only a little of your time, Mr. Find-
lay," Trant put his hand into his pocket for his coins,
as though the proffered hand of the other had been
extended for them. " I have come to ask your esti-
mate, as an expert, upon a few coins which I have re-
cently picked up. I have been informed that you can
better advise me as to their value than any other col-
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 263
lector in Chicago. My coins seem to be of the early
Swiss states."
" Early Swiss coins are almost as rare as Swiss
ships in the present day, sir." Findlay took the round
bits of silver with the collector's intense absorption,
which made him forget that he had not even asked
his visitor's name. " And these are exceptionally rare
and interesting pieces. I have never seen but one
other of these which I am fortunate enough to pos-
sess. They are all the same, I see," he sifted them
swiftly one after the other into his palm. " But —
what's this — what's this?" he cried with sudden dis-
appointment as he took the top ones up separately for
more individual examinatiorL " I hope you have not
paid too great a price for these." He went to one of
his cases and, opening it, took out an exact duplicate
of Tract's coin, " For see ! " he weighed the two ac-
curaUiy in his fingers ; " this first one of yours com-
pareSr most favorably with this specimen of mine,
which is unquestionably genuine. But this — this —
this and this ; ah, yes ; and this, too " — he sorted over
the others swiftly and. picked out five — " are certainly
lighter and I'm afraid they are counterfeit. But
where are my scales? "
"Liglger?" Trant repeated, in apparent bewilder-
ment.
" The correct coin, you see," the collector replied,
tossing his own silver pieces into his scales, " should be
over 400 grains — almost an ounce. But these," he
placed the ten pieces one after the other on the bal-
ance, too absorbed to notice the ringing of the door
bell, " the five I feared for, are quite Hght — twenty
264 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
grains at least, you see?" He reweighed them once
more, carefully.
" That is certainly most interesting." Trant grimly
looked up at the expert as though trying to deny a
disappointment. " But it is quite worth having the
five coins light, to witness the facility with which an
expert like yourself can pick them out, unerringly,
without fail — barely twenty grains diflEerence in four
hundred."
He looked up, still betraying only astonishment.
But Findlay's face, after the first flush of his collec-
tor's absorption, had suddenly grown less cordial.
"I did not get your name, sir," he started; then
turned, at the opening of the door behind him, to face
Stephen Sheppard.
" Findlay I " the sportsman cried, scarcely waiting
for the servant who had admitted him to vanish, and
not appearing to notice Trant at all " They've found
Neal's body ! In Bowton's mining shack — murdered,
Enoch, murdered! We'll have young Jim Tyler up
for it I Unless," he hesitated, and looked at Trant,
and added, as though the compelling glance of the
psychologist constrained him to it, " unless you know
something that will help him, Enoch • "
" Hush, Steve ! Hush I " the coin collector fell back
upon the chair, beside his desk, with an anxious glance
at the psychologist. " I have a man here." He gath-
ered himself together. *' And what is it possible that
I could tell to save young Jim? "
" You might tell why, Mr. Findlay," TrS^it saj
sharply, nerving himself for the coming struggle, " fi
ice
lat 1
,dbvGoo;
^^
«
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 265
I know already how you shot Neal Sheppard your-
self!"
But no struggle came.
" What — you ? " Findlay burst from his pale lips ;
then caught the recognition of this stranger in Shep-
pard's face and fell back — trapped.
He clasped his hands convulsively together and
stretched them out before him on the desk. In his
cheek something beat and beat with ceaseless pulse.
"Murdered, Steve?" the latent fire seemed fanned
in Findlay at last. " But first " — he seemed to check
something short on his lips — "who are you? And
why," he turned to Trant, "why did you come to me
with those coins? I mean — how much do you
know ? "
" I am retained by Mr. Sheppard in this case,"
Trant replied, " and only turned coin collector to prove
how you picked out those shells with which you shot
Neal Sheppard. And I know enough more to know
that you could not have murdered him in any right
sense, and enough to assure you that, if you tell how
you shot him to save young Tyler, you can count on
me for competent confirmation that it was not mur-
der."
But the tall, gaunt man, bent in his chair, seemed
scarcely to hear the psychologist's words or even to be
conscious, longer, of his presence. When he lifted
his eyes, they gave no sign as they swept by Trant's
figure. Findlay saw only his old partner and friend.
" But jrou shot him, Enoch ? How and why ? "
"How?" the Adam's apple worked in Findlay's
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266 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
throat, and the words seemed wrenched from his lips
as though their weight were a burden too heavy for
him longer to bear. " How, Steve? I shot him as he
shot Len, my brother, thirty years ago I "
" Then it was Neal that shot Len and — and started
the murder among us? " the old sportsman in his turn
sought tremblingly for a seat. " For all these years
I have known in my heart that it was done by Neal;
but, Enoch, you didn't shoot him now because he shot
Len — thirty years ago I "
" No, not because he shot Len ; but because he made
me kill — made me murder old Jim Tyler for it!
Now do you understand ? Neal shot Len, my brother ;
and for that, perhaps I should not have shot Neal
when, at last, I found it out thirty years later. But
for that murder he did himself, he made me murder
poor old Jim Tyler, my best friend 1 So I shot him
as he made me shoot Jim Tyler. It was both or none !
Neal would be alive to-day, if Jim was! "
" Neal shot Len and made you shoot old Jim Tyler
for it?"
" Yes ; I shot him, Steve ! I shot old Jim — old
Jim, who was the truest friend to me of you all! I
shot old Jim, whose bed I'd shared — and for these
thirty years old Jim has never left me. There are
men like that, Steve, who do a thing in haste, and then
can't forget. For I'm one of them. I was no kind
of a man for a murderer, Steve ; I was no man for the
business we were in. Len led me — led me where I
ought never to have gone, for I hadn't nerve like he
and you and Neal had I Then Len was shot, and Neal
came to me and told me old Jim had done it. I was
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 26;
wild, Steve — wild, for I'd had a difference with Jim
and I knew Jim had had a difference with Len — over
me. So I believed it! But I had no gun. 1 never
carried one, you know. Neal gave me one and told
me to go and shoot him, or Jim'd shoot me, too. And
I shot old Jim — shot him in the back ; that's the kind
of man I was — no nerve. I couldn't face him when
I did it. But I've faced him often enough since, God
knows ! By night and by day ; by foul weather or by
fair weather ; for old Jim and I have got up and gone
to bed together ever since — thirty years. And it's
made me what I am — you see, I never had the nerve.
I told you ! "
■'But Neal, Enoch? How did you come to shoot
Neal two weeks ago — how did all that make you?"
Sheppard urged excitedly.
" I'm telling you ! Those two weeks ago — two
weeks ago to-day, young Jim came up into the woods
red hot ; for he had the papers he showed you showing
Neal had cheated him out of money. He met Chapin
and me, too, and told us and showed us the papers.
There was one paper there that didn't mean anything
to young Jim or to you or to Chapin, or to anyone else
that didn't know old Jim intimately — old Jim had
his own way of putting things — but it meant a lot to
me. For all these years I've been telling you about — ■
all these years I've been carrying old Jim with me,
getting up and lying down with him, and whenever
he came to me, I'd been saying to him, ' I know, Jim,
I killed you ; but it was justice ; you killed my brother ! '
But that paper made me know different. It made me
know it wasn't old Jim that killed Len, Steve ; it was
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368 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Neal — and Jim knew it ; and that was why Neal set
me on Jim and made me kill him; because Jim knew
iti That was like Neal, wasn't it, Steve? Never
do anything straight, Neal wouldn't, when he could
do it crooked I He wanted to get rid of old Jim — he
owed him money and was afraid of htm now, for Jim
knew he'd killed Len — and he saw a safe way to make
me do it So then at last I knew why old Jim had
never left me, but had been following me all these
years — always with me ; and I never let on to Chapin.
I just went to look for Neal. ' This time,' said I to
myself, ' it's justice I ' And — I found hira sitting on
a log, with his gun behind him, a little drunk — for he
always carried a flask with htm, you know — and
whistling. I couldn't face him any more than I could
Jim, and I came up behind him. Three times I took
a bead on Neal's back, and three times I couldn't pull
the trigger — for he never stopped whistling, and I
knew if I shot him then I'd hear that whistling all my
life — and the third time he turned and saw me. He
must have seen the whole thing on my face; I can't
keep anything. But he had nerve, Neal did. 'Oh,'
he says, ' it's Enoch Findlay, the murderer, shooting
in the back as usual.' ' I'm what you made me,' says
I, ' but you'll never make any difference to another
man ! ' ' Give me a chance,' says Neal. ' Don't shoot
me sitting^ ' Neal had nerve," I tell you — I never
had any; but that time for once in my life, I got it
' Get up,' says I, ' and take your gun ; you'll have as
fair a chance as I will.' But that wasn't quite true.
I never had Neal's nerve — I didn't have it even then
But I've always been a better shot than him; I've never
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 269
drunk; and he hasn't been steady for years. So I
knew I still had the advantage ; and NeaJ knew it, too ;
but he doesn't let on.
" ' Thank you, Enoch,' he says. * Now I'll kill you,
of course ; but while I'm doing it, maybe you'll hit me
— no knowing ; and I don't care to have a soft-nose
bullet mushroom inside of me. Besides, wouldn't
you rather have a clean hole — you've seen what the
soft-noses do to the deerl' 'It's all we've got,' says
I ; but I guess he had me on that then. For I had seen
the game hit by soft-nose bullets; and if I had to have
him around with a bullet hole in him after I'd killed
him, I wanted a clean bullet hole anyway — not the
other kind. ' Have you got the other kind? ' I said.
' I'll go to camp and get some,' he answered. I don't
know what was in me ; I had my nerve that day — for
the first and only time in my life. I guess it was that,
Steve, and it was a new feeling and I wanted to enjoy
it. I knew there was some devilment in what he said ;
but I wanted to give him every chance — yes, I en-
joyed giving the chance for more crookedness to him
before I finished him ; for I knew I was going to finish
him then.
" ' All right,' I said, ' I'll wait for you in the clear-
ing by Bowton's mining shack ' ; for I saw in his eyes
that he was afraid not to come back to me; and I
watched him go, and went over to Bowton's and sat
down with my back against the shanty, so he couldn't
come up and shoot me from behind, and waited. It
was dark and cloudy; he was gone four hours, and
before he got back it began to snow. It got so
that you couldn't see ten feet in that blizzard; but I
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270 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
sat outside in the snow till Neal came back ; then we
went into the shack togetlier and agreed to wait till
it was over — no man on earth could have done any
shooting in that storm then, and we knew we couldn't
get back to camp till it was over. We sat there in the
shack, and looked at each other. Night came, and
we were still looking; only now we couldn't see each
other any longer, but sat waiting to hear the other
moving — only neither of us moved. Then we did —
slowly and carefully. Sometimes I sat in one place,
sometimes in another, for I didn't want him to know
just where I was for fear he'd shoot. But he was
afraid to shoot first; for if he missed, I'd see him by
the flash and get him, sure. It kept on snowing.
Once Neal said, ' We'll settle this thing in the morn-
ing.' 'All right,' says I — but moved again, for I
thought he would surely shoot then.
" I kept wondering when my nerve would go, but it
stayed by me, and I tell you I enjoyed it ; he moved
more often than I did. For the first time in my life
I wasn't afraid of Neal Sheppard ; and he was afraid
of me. He laid down in one of the bunks and I could
hear him turning from side to side ; but he didn't dare
to sleep any, and I didn't either. Then he said, ' This
is hell, ain't it! ' ' If it is,' I said, * it's a taste of what
you're going to get after!' After I'd shot him, I
meant. Then he said, ' I want to sleep, and I can't
sleep' while you're living ; let's settle this thii^ now ! '
"'In the dark?' I asked. 'Not if I can find a
light,' he says, and I promised not to shoot him while
he lit a match — I had none. He lit one and looked
for a j)iece of candle, but couldn't find any. Then I
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 27I
said, ' If you want to do it in the dark, I'm agree-
able ' ; for I'd been thinking that maybe it was only
because of the dark, now, that I had my nerve, and
maybe when daylight came and I could see him, I
might be afraid of him. So we agreed to it.
" He felt for me in the dark, and held out five
shells. We'd agreed in the afternoon to fight at fifty
paces with five shells each — steel-patched bullets —
and shoot till one killed. So he counted out five in
his hand and offered them to me, keeping the other
five for himself. I felt the five he gave me. They
were full metal-patched, all right ; the kind for men to
fij^t with; they'd either kill or make a clean wound.
But something about htm — and I knew I had to be
looking for devilment — made me suspicious of him.
' What are your five,' I said at a venture; ' soft -nose?
Are you going to use sporting lead on me ? ' ' They're
the same as yours,' he said; but I got more sus-
picious. ' Let's trade, then,' I said. ' Feel the steel
on them, then,' he handed me one. I felt; and it
was metal-patched, all right; but then I knew what
was the bottom of his whole objection to the bul-
lets; his shell was heavier than mine. Mine were
lighter; they were unloaded; I mean they had no
powder. He knew the powder we use was so little
compared to the weight of the case and bullet it could
easily pass all right ; no one could spot the difference —
no one, except one trained like me ; and I was sure he
never thought I could. It all flashed across me ten
times quicker than that as soon as I felt his cartridges ;
but I said nothing. I told you I had my nerve that
night. For the same second my plan flashed to me,
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a/a THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
too; my plan to turn his own trick against him and
not let him know t So I gave him back his shell ; let
him think it was aU rig^t ; but I knocked all ten, his
and mine, on the floor.
" Then we had to get down and look for them on
the floor. I knew I could pick out the good from the
bad easy ; but he — well, whenever I found a light one,
I left it ; but when I found a heavy one, I kept it. I
got four good ones so easy and quick that he never
guessed I was picking them; he was fumbhng — I
could almost feel him sweat — trying to be sure he
was getting good shells. He got one, by accident, be-
fore I found it; so I had to take one bad one; but I
knew he had four bad, though he himself couldn't
know anything about that. Then we loaded the guns,
and went out into the big ro<»n of the cabin, and
backed away from each other.
" I backed as quick as I could, but he went slower.
I did that so I could hear his footsteps, and I listened'
and knew just about where he was. We didn't either
one of us want to fire first, for the other one would see
his flash and fire at it. But after I had waited as long
as I could and knew that he hadn't moved because I
heard no footsteps, I fired twice — as fast as I could
pull the tri^er — where I heard him last; and from
just the opposite comer from where I last heard him,
I heard the click of his rifle — the hammer falling on
one of his bad shells, or it might have been the last
for me. I didn't see how he could have got there
without my knowing it ; but I didn't stop to think of
that. I just swung and gave it to him quick — two
shots again, but not so quick but that — between them
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THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 273
— his hammer struck his good shell and the bullet
banged through the wall behind me. But then I gave
him my fourth shot — straight ; for his hammer didn*t
even click again. Besides, I heard him fall I waited
a long time to see if he moved ; but he didn't. I threw
the bad cartridge out of my gun, and went over and
felt for him. I got the matchbox and lit matches and
saw he was dead ; and I saw, too, how he had got in
that comer without me hearing. He was in his stock-
ings ; he had taken oiT his shoes and sneaked from the
comer where I first shot for him, so he would have
killed me if I hadn't seen to it that he had the bad shells
he fixed for'me. It struck a sort of a shiver to me to
see that — to see him tricky and fighting foul to the
end. But that was like Neal, wasn't it, Steve? That
was like him, clear to the last, looking for any unfair
advantage he could take? That's how and why I
killed Neal, Steve — and this time it was justice,
Steve! .For Neal had it coming 1 Steve, Steve 1
didn't Neal have it coming? "
He stretched out his hands to his old friend, the
brother of the man he had killed, in pitiable appeal ;
and as the other rose, with his face working with in-
decision and emotion, Trant saw that the question he
had asked and the answer that was to be given were
for those two alone, and he went out and left them.
The psychologist waited at the top of the high stone
entrance steps for several minutes before Sheppard
" joined him and stood drinking in great breaths of the
cold December air as though by its freshness to restore
his nervous balance.
" I do not know what your decision is, Mr. Shep-
274 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
pard," said the younger man finally, " as to what will
be done in the matter. I may tell you that the case
had already given me independent confirmation of Mr.
Findlay's remarkable statement in the important last
particulars. So it will be no surprise to me, and I
shall not mention it, if I am never called on by you
to bear witness to the very full confession we have just
heard."
"Confession?" Sheppard started. " Findlay does
not regard It a confession, Mr. Trant, but as his de-
fense ; and I — I rather think that during the last few
minutes I have been looking at it in that light"
He led the way toward the automobile, and as they
stepped into it, he continued : " You have proved com-
pletely, Mr. Trant, all the assertions you made at my
house this morning, but I am still guessing how the
means you used could have made you think of Findlay
as the man who killed Neal — the one whom I would
have least suspected."
" You know already," Trant answered, " what led
me to the conclusion that your brother was killed in the
dark; and that it was certainly not a murder, but a
duel, or, at least, some sort of a formal fight between
two men, had occurred to me with compelling sug-
gestiveness as soon as the Indian showed to me the
intact shells — all with full metal-patched bullets,
though these were not carried by you for game and no
other such shells were found in your brother's belt.
And not only were the intact shells with steel-patcheJ
bullets, but the shots fired were also steel-patched bul-
lets, as the Indian noticed from their holes through the
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 275
logs. So here were two men with five metal-patched
shells apiece firing at each other.
" It still more strongly suggested some sort of a duel
to me," the psychologist continued, " when they told us
the singularly curious fact that two of the bullets had
pierced the wall directly above the place where your
brother's shoes stood. This could reasonably be ex-
plained if I held my suspicion that the men had fought
a duel in the dark — shooting by sound ; but I could
not even guess at any other explanation which was not
entirely fantastic. And when I discovered immedi-
ately afterwards that, of the ten- special shells which
these men seemed to have chosen to fire at each other,
five had been unloaded, it made the fact final to me ;
for it was utterly absurd to suppose that of the ten
shells to be shot under such circumstances, five —
just one half — would have been without powder
by accident. But I am free to confess," Trant con-
tinued frankly, " that I did not even guess at the
true explanation of that — for I have accepted Mr.
Findlay's statement as correct. I had accounted for
it by supposing that, in this duel, the men more con-
sciously chose their cartridges and that the duel was
a sort of repeating rifle adaptation of two men duel-
ing with one loaded and one unloaded pistol. In
the essential fact, however, I was correct and that
was that the men did choose the shells; so, granting
that, it was perfectly plain that one of the men had
been able to clearly discriminate between the loaded
and the unloaded shells, and the other had not. For
not only did the one have four good shells to the
"■■ • Dgitiz^dbv Google
276 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Other's one — in itself an abnost convincing figure —
but the man with four did not even try to shoot his
bad shell, while it appeared that the other had tried
to shoot his bad one first Now as there was not the
slimiest difference to the eye between the bad and good
shells and — that which made it final — the duel was
fought in the dark, the discrimination which one man
had and your brother did not, could only have been an
ability for fine discrimination in weight,"
"I see I " Comprehension dawned curiously upon
Sheppard's face.
" For the bullet and the case of those special shells
of yours, Mr. Sheppard," the psychologist continued
rapidly, " were so heavy — wei^iing together over
three hundred grains, as I weighed them at your gun
cabinet — and the smokeless powder you were trying
was of such exceptional power that you had barely
twenty grains in a cartridge; so the difference in
weight between one of those full shells and an empty
one was scarcely one-fifteenth — an extremely difficult
difference for one without special deftness to detect
in such delicate weights. It was entirely indistinguish-
able to you; and also apparently so to Mr. Chapin,
though I was not at first convinced whether it was
really so or not. However, as I have trained myself
in laboratory work to fine differences — a man may
work up to discriminations as fine as one- fortieth — I
was able to make out this essential difference at once.
"This reduced ray case to a single and extremely
elementary consideration: could young Tyler have
picked out those shells in the dark and shot Neal Shep-
' pard with them. If he could, then I could take up the
L);.i....jbvGooglc
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 27;
circumstantial evidence against him, which certainly
seemed strong. But if he could not, then I had merely
to test the other men who carried Sheppard-Tyler
rifles and were gone from camp the night your brother
was shot, as well as young Tyler — though that cir-
cumstance seemed to have been forgotten in the case
against Tyler."
"I see ! " Sheppard cried again. " So that was
what you were doing with the steins and shot I But
how could you tell that from the steins? "
" I was making a test, as you understand now, Mr.
Sheppard," Trant explained, " to determine whether
or not Tyler — and after him, Mr. Chapin — could
have distinguished easily between a loaded shell weigh-
ing something over 320 grains and one without the 20
odd grains of smokeless powder; that is, to find if
either could discriminate differences of no more than
one-fifteenth in such a small weight. To test for this
in the laboratory and with the proper series of experi-
ment weights, I should have a number of rubber
blocks of precisely the same size and appearance, but
graded in weight from 300 grains to something over
320 grains. If I had the subject take up the 300 grain
weight and then the others in succession, asking him
to call them heavier or lighter or the same weight,
and then made him go over all the weights again in a
different order, I could have as accurately proved his
sense of weight discrimination as an oculist can prove
the power of sight of the eyes, and with as little possi-
bility of anyone fooling me. But I could not arrange
a proper series of experiment weights of only 300
grains without a great deal of trouble ; and it was not .
Dgitiz^dbv Google
27^ THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
necessary for me to do so. For under the c^ration
of a well-known psychological principle called Weber's
Law, I knew that the same ratio of discrimination be-
tween weights holds pretty nearly constant for each
individual, whether the experiment is made with
grains, or ounces, or pounds. In other words, if a
person's 'threshold of difference' — as his power of
weight discrimination is called — is only one-tenth in
grains, it is the same in drams or ounces; and if he
can not accurately determine whether one stein weighs
one-fifteenth more than another, neither can he pick
out the heavier shell if the difference is only one-fif-
teenth. So I merely had to take five of your steins,
fill the one I used as a standard with shot till it
weighed about six ounces, or loo drams. The other
steins I weighted to 105, 107, 108. no drams respec-
tively; and by mixing them up and timing both Ty-
ler's and Chapin's answers so as to be sure they were
answering their honest, first impressions of the weights
of the steins and were not trying to trick me, I found
that neither could consistently tell whether the steins
that weighed one-twentieth, one-fifteenth or even the
steins which weighed one-twelfth more were heavier,
lighter or the same as the standard stein ; and it was
only when they got the one which weighed 1 10 drams
and was one-tenth heavier that they were always
right So I knew."
"I see I I see ! " Sheppard cried eagerly. " Then
the coins you took to Findlay were — "
" Weights to try him in precisely the same sense,"
Trant continued. " Only they approximated much
more closely the weights of the bullets and had, in-
L);.I....J by Google
THE EMPTY CARTRIDGES 279
deed, even finer differences in weight. Five were
genuine old florins weighing 400 grains, while the
other five were light twenty grains or only one-twen-
tieth ; yet Findlay picked them out at once from the
others, as soon as he compared them, without a mo-
ment's hesitation,"
" Simple as you make it out now, young man,"
Sheppard said to his young adviser admiringly, " it
was a wonderful bit of work. And whether or not it
would have proved that you were needed to save Ty-
ler's life, you have certainly saved me from making the
most serious criminal charge against him; and you
have spared him and my niece from starting their
lives together under the shame and shadow of the
public knowledge of hiy brother's past. I am going
now, of course, to see that Jim is freed and that even
the suspicion that my brother was not killed acci-
dentally in the woods, gets no further than Captain
Crowley. I can see to that I And you, Mr. Trant — "
" I have retained the privilege, fortunately, Mr.
Sheppard," Trant interrupted, " since I am unoiKcial,
of judging for myself when justice has been done.
And I told you that the story we have just heard satis-
fied me as the truth. My office is in the next block.
You will leave me there? "
.dbv Google
THE AXTOH LETTERS
The sounds in her dressing-room had waked her
just before five. Ethel Waldron could still see, when
she closed her eyes, every single, sharp detail of her
room as it was that instant she sprang up in bed,
with the cry that had given the alarm, and switched
on the electric tight. Instantly the man had shut the
door; but as she sat, strained, staring at it to reopen,
the hands and dial of her clock standing on the mantel
beside the door, had fixed themselves upon her retina
like the painted dial of a jeweler's dummy. It could
have been barely five, therefore, when Howard Ax-
ton, after hfs first swift rush in her defense had found
the window which had been forced open; had picked
up the queer Turkish dagger which he found broken
on the sill, and, crying to the girl not to call the police,
as it was surely " the same man " — the same man, he
meant, who had so inexplicably followed him around
the world — had rushed to his room for extra cart-'
ridges for his revolver and run out into the cold sleet
of the March morning.
So it was now an hour or more since Howard had
run after the man, revolver in hand ; and he had not
reaM)eared or telephoned or sent any word at all of his
safety. And however much Howard's life in wild
lands had accustomed him to seek redress outside the
280
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE AXTON LETTERS 281
law, hers still held the city-bred impulse to appeal to
the police. She turned from her nervous pacing at
the window and seized the telephone from its hook;
but at the sound of the operator's voice she remem-
bered again Howard's injunction that the man, when-
ever he appeared, was to be left solely to him, and
dropped the receiver without answering. But she re-
sented fiercely the advantage he held over her which
must oblige her, she knew, to obey him. He had told
her frankly — threatened her, indeed — that if there
was the slightest publicity given to his homecoming
to marry her, or any further notoriety made of the
attending circumstances, he would surely leave her.
At the rehearsal of this threat she straightened and
threw the superfluous dressing gown from her shoul-
ders with a proud, defiant gesture. She was a
straight, almost tail girl, with the figure of a more
youthful Diana and with features as fair and flawless
as any younger Hera, and in addition a great depth of
blue in very direct eyes and a crowning glory of thick,
golden hair. She was barely twenty-two. And she
was not used to having any man show a sense of ad-
vantage over her, much less threaten her, as Howard
had done. So, in that impulse of defiance, she was
reaching again for the telephone she had just dropped,
when she saw through the fog outside the window the
man she was waiting for — a tall, alert figure hasten-
ing toward the house.
She ran downstairs rapidly and herself opened the
door to him, a fresh flush of defiance flooding over
her. Whether she resented it because this man, whom
she did not love but must marry, could appear more
282 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the assured and perfect gentleman without collar, or
scarf, and with bis clothes and boots spattered with
mud and rain, than any of her other friends could
ever appear; or whether it was merely the confident,
insolent smile of his full lips behind his small, close-
clipped mustache, she could not tell. At any rate she
motioned him into the library without speaking; but
when they were alone and she had closed the door,
she burst upon him.
"Well, Howard? WeU? Welt, Howard?"
breathlessly.
" Then you have not sent any word to the police,
Ethel?"
" I was about to — the moment you came. But —
I have not — yet," she had to confess.
" Or to that ■ — " he checked the epithet that was on
his lips — " your friend Caryl ? "
She flushed, and shook her head.
He drew his revolver, " broke " it, ejecting the cart-
ridges carelessly upon the table, and threw himself
wearily into a chair. " I'm glad to see you understand
that this has not been the sort of aflEair for anyone else
to interfere in I"
" Has been, you mean ; " the girl's face went white ;
"you — you caught him this time and — and killed
him, Howard?"
" Killed him, Ethel ? " the man laughed, but ob-
served her more carefully. "Of course I haven't
killed him — or even caught him. But I've made ray-
self sure, at last, that he's the same fellow that's been
trying to make a fool of me all this year — that's been
after me, as I wrote you. And if you remember my
THE AXTON LETTERS 283
letters, even you — I mean even a girl brought up in
a city ought to see how it's a matter of honor with
me now to settle with him alone 1 "
"If he is merely trying to 'make a fool of you,'
as you say — yes, Howard," the girl returned hotly.
" But from what you yourself have told me of him,
you know he must be keeping after you for some seri-
ous reason I Yes; you know it! I can see itl You
can't deny it I "
"Ethel — what do you mean by that?"
" I mean that, if you do not think that the man
who has been following you from Calcutta to Cape
Town, to Chicago, means more than a joke for you to
settle for yourself ; anyway, / know that the man who
has now twice gone through the things in my room, is
something for me to go to the police about I "
" And have the papers flaring the family scandal
again?" the man returned. "I admit, Ethel," he
conceded, carefully calculating the sharpness of his
second sting before he delivered it, "that if you or I
could call in the police without setting the whole pack
of papers upon us again, I'd be glad to do it, if only
to- please you. But I told you, before I came back,
that if there was to be any more airing of the family
affairs at all, I could not come; so if you want to
press the point now, of course I can leave you," he
gave the very slightest but most suggestive glance
about the rich, luxurious furnishings of the great
room, " in possession."
" You know I can't let you do that! " the girl flushed
scarlet. " But neither can you prevent me from mak-
ing the private inquiry I spoke of for myself I " She
284 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
went to the side of the room and, in his plain hearing,
took down the telephone and called a number without
having to look it up.
" Mr. Caryl, please," she said. " Oh, Henry, is it
you? You can take me to your — Mr. Trant, wasn't
that the name — as soon as you can now. . . .
Yes; I want you to come here. I will have my
brougham. Immediately! " And still without an-
other word or even a glance at Axton, she brushed by
him and ran up the stairs to her room.
He had made no effort to prevent her telephoning;
and she wondered at it, even as, in the same impetus of
reckless anger, she swept up the scattered letters and
papers on her writing desk, and put on her things to
go out. But on her way downstairs she stopped sud-
denly. The curl of his cigarette smoke through the
open library door showed that he was waiting just in-
side it. He meant to speak to her before she went
out. Perhaps he was even glad to have Caryl come
in order that he might speak his say in the presence
of both of them. Suddenly his tobacco's sharp, dis-
tinctive odor sickened her. She turned about, ran
upstairs again and fled, almost headlong, down the
rear stairs and Out the servants' door to the alley.
The dull, gray fog, which was thickening as the
morning advanced, veiled her and made her unrecog-
nizable except at a very few feet ; but at the end of
the alley, she shrank instinctively from the glance of
the men passing until she made out a hurrying .form
of a man taller even than Axton and much broader.
She sprang toward it with a shiver of relief as she saw
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE AXTON LETTERS 285
Henry Caryl's light hair and recognized his even, open
features.
" Ethel ! " he caught her, gasping his surprise.
"You here? Why—"
" Don't go to the house ! " She led him the op-
posite way. " There is a cab stand at the comer. Get
one there and take me — take me to this Mr. Trant.
I will tell you everything. The man came again last
night. Auntie is sick in bed from it. Howard still
says it is his affair and will do nothing. I had to
come to you."
Caryl steadied her against a house-wall an instant ;
ran to the corner for a cab and, returning with it, half
lifted her into it.
Forty minutes later he led her into Trant's recep-
tion-room in the First National Bank Building; and
recognizing the abrupt, decisive tones of the psycholo-
gist in conversation in the inner office, Caryl went to
the door and knocked sharply.
■ "I beg your pardon, but — can you possibly post-
pone what you are doing, Mr. Trant?" he questioned
quickly as the door opened and he faced the sturdy
and energetic form of the red-haired young psycholo^
gist who, in six months, had made himself admittedly
the chief consultant in Chicago on criminal cases.
" My name is Caryl. Henry Howell introduced me
to you last week at the club. But ! am not presum-
ing upon that for this interruption. I and — my
friend need your help badly, Mr. Trant, and immedi-
ately. I mean, if we can not speak with you now, we
may be interrupted — unpleasantly."
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286 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Caryl had moved, as he spoke, to hide the girl be-
hind him from the sight of the man in the inner office,
who, Caryl had seen, was a police officer. Trant
noted this and also that Caryl had carefully refrained
from mentioning the girl's name.
" I can postpone this present business, Mr. Caryl,"
the psychologist replied quietly. He closed the door,
but reopened it almost instantly. His official visitor
had left through the entrance directly into the hall;
the two young clients came into the inner room.
"This is Mr. Trant, Ethel," Caryl spoke to the
girl a little nervously as she took a seat. " And, Mr.
Trant, this is Miss Waldron. I have brought her to
tell you of a mysterious man who has been pursuing
Howard Axton about the world, and who, since Axton
came home to her house two weeks ago, has been
threatening her."
"Axton — Axton!" the psychologist repeated the
name which Caryl had spoken, as if assured that Trant
must recognize it. "Ah! Of course, Howard Ax-
ton is the son ! " he frankly admitted his clearing recol-
lection and his comprehension of how the face of the
girl had seemed familiar. " Then you," he addressed
her directly, " are Miss Waldron, of Drexel Boule-
vard ? "
"Yes; I am that Miss Waldron, Mr. Trant," the
girl replied, flushing red to her lips, but raising her
head proudly and meeting his eyes directly. " The
step-daughter — the daughter of the second wife of
Mr. Nimrod AxtotL It was my mother, Mr. Trant,
who was the cause of Mrs. Anna Axton getting a
divorce and the complete custody of her son from
THE AXTON LETTERS 287
Mr. Axton twenty years ago. It was my mother who,
just before Mr. Nimrod Axton's death last year, re-
quired that, in the will, the son — the first Mrs. Axton
was then dead — should be cut oflE absolutely and en-
tirely, without a cent, and that Mr. Axton's entire es-
tate be put in trust for her — my mother. So, since
you doubtless remember the reopening of all this again
six months ago when my mother, too, died, I am now
the sole heir and legatee of the Axton properties of
upwards of sixty millions, they tell me. Yes; I am
that Miss Waldron, Mr. Trant 1 "
" I recall the accounts, but only vaguely — from the
death of Mr. Axton and, later, of the second Mrs.
Axton, your mother, Miss Waldron," Trant replied,
quietly, "though I remember the comment upon the
disposition of the estate both times. It was from the
pictures published of you and the accompanying com-
ment in the papers only a week or two ago that I
recognized you. I mean, of course, the recent com-
ments upon the son, Mr. Howard Axton, whom you
have mentioned, who has come home at last to contest
the will."
" You do Miss Waldron an injustice — all the pa-
pers have been doing her a great injustice, Mr. Trant,
Caryl corrected quickly. " Mr. Axton has not come
to contest the will."
"No?"
" No. Miss Waldron has had him come home, at
her own several times repeated request, so that she
may turn over to him, as completely as possible, the
whole of his father's estate I If you can recall, in
any detail, the provisions of Mr. Axton's will, you
288 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
will appreciate, I believe, why we have preferred to
let the other impression go uncorrected. For the sec-
ond Mrs. Axton so carefully and completely cut off all
possibility of any of the property being transferred in
any form to the son, that Miss Waldron, when she
went to a lawyer to see how she could transfer it to
Howard Axton, as soon as she had come into the
estate, found that her mother's lawyers had provided
against every possibility except that of the heir mar-
rying the disinherited son. So she sent for him, of-
fering to establish him into his estate, even at that
cost."
"You mean that you offered to marry him?"
Trant questioned the girl directly again. " And he
has come to gain his estate in that way?"
"Yes, Mr. Trant; but you must be fair to Mr.
Axton also," the girl replied. " When I first wrote
him, almost a year ago, he refused point blank to con-
sider such an offer. In spite of my repeated letters
it was not till six weeks ago, after a shipwreck in
which he lost his friend who had been traveling with
him for some years, that he would consent even to
come home. Even now I — I remain the one urging
the marriage."
The psychologist looked at the girl keenly and
questioningly.
" I need scarcely say how little urging he would
need, entirely apart from the property," Caryl flushed,
" if he were not gentleman enough to appreciate —
partly, at least — Miss Waldron's position. I — her
friends, I mean, Mr. Trant — have admitted that he
appeared at first well enough in every way to permit
THE AXTON LETTERS 289
the possibility of her marrying him if she considers
that her duty. But now, this mystery has come up
about the man who has been following him — the man
who appeared again only this morning in Miss Wal-
dron's room and went through her papers — "
" And Mr. Axton cannot account for it? " the psy-
chologist helped him.
"Axton won't tell her or anybody else who the
man is or why he follows him. On the contrary, he
has opposed in every possible way every inquiry or
search made for the man, except such as he chooses
to make for himself. Only this morning he made a
threat against Miss Waldron if she attempted to strni-
mon the police and ,' take the man out of his hands ' ;
and it is because I am sure that he will follow us here
to prevent her consulting you — when he finds that
she has come here — that I asked you to see us at
once."
" Leave the details of his appearance this morning
to the last then," Trant requested abruptly, " and tell
me where you first heard of this man following Mr.
Axton, and how? How, for instance, do you know
he was following him, if Mr. Axton is so reticent
about the affair?"
" That is one of the strange things about it, Mr.
Trant " — the girl took from her bosom the bundle of
letters she had taken from her room — "he used to
write to amuse me with him, as you can see here.
I told you I wrote Mr. Axton about a year ago to
come home and he refused to consider it. But after-
wards he always wrote in reply to my letters in the
half -serious, friendly way you shall see. These four
U;.t.z=dbv Google
290 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
letters I brought you are almost entirely taken up with
his adventures with the mysterous maa He wrote
on typewriter, as you see " — she handed them over —
" because on his travels he used to correspond regu-
larly for some of the London syndicates."
"London?"
" Yes ; the first Mrs. Axton took Howard to Eng-
land with her when he was scarcely seven, immediately
after she got her divorce. He grew up there and
abroad. This is his first return to America. I have
arranged those letters, Mr. Trant," she added as the
psychologist was opening them for examination now,
" in the order they came."
" I will read them that way then," Trant said, and
he glanced over the contents of the first hastily; it
was postmarked at Cairo, Egypt, some ten months be-
fore. He then re-read more carefully this part of it :
But a strange and startling incident has happened since
my last letter to you. Miss Waldron, which Ixithers me con-
siderably. We are, as you will see by the letter paper, at
Shepbeard's Hotel in Cairo, but could not, after our usual
custom, get communicating rooms. It was after midnight,
and the million noises of this babel-town had finally died into
a hot and breathless stillness. I had been writing letters,
and when through I put out the lights to get rid of their heat,
lighted instead the small night lamp I carry with me, and
still partly dressed threw myself upon the bed, without,
however, any idea of going to sleep before undressing. As
I lay there I heard distinctly soft footsteps come down the
corridor on which my room opens and stop apparently in
front of the door. They were not, I judged, the footsteps
of a European, for the walker was either barefooted or wore
soft sandals. I ttuned my head toward the door, expecting
a knock, but none followed. Neither did the door open,
THE AXTON LETTERS 291
thouj^b I had not yet locked it. I was on the point of ris-
ing to see what was wanted, when it occurred to me that it
was probably not at my door that the steps had stopped but
at the door directly opposite, across the corridor. Without
doubt my opposite neighbor had merely returned to his room
and his footsteps had ceased to reach my ears when he en-
tered and closed his door behind him. I dozed oiT. But
half an hour later, as nearly as I can estimate it, I awoke
and was thinking of the necessity for getting undressed and
into bed, when a slight — a very slight rustling noise at-
tracted my attention. I listened intently to locate the direc-
tion of the sound and determine whether it was inside the
room or out of it, and then heard in connection with it a
slighter and more regular sound which could be nothing
else than breathing. Some living creature. Hiss Waldron,
was in my room. The sounds came from the direction of
the table by the window. I turned my head as silently as 1
was able, and was aware that a man was holding a sheet of
paper under the light of the lamp. He was at the table
going through the papers in my writing desk. But the very
slight noise I had made in turning on the bed had warned
him. He rose, with a hissing intake of the breath, his feet
pattered softly and swiftly across the floor, my door creaked
under his hand, and he was gone before I could jump from
the bed and intercept him. I ran out into the hallway, but
it was empty. I listened, but could hear no movement in
any of the rooms near me. I went back and examined the
writing desk, but found nothing missing; and it was plain
nothing had been touched except some of my letters from
you. But, before finally going to bed, you may well believe,
I locked my door carefully; and in the morning I reported
the matter to the hotel office. The only description I could
give of the intruder was that he had certainly worn a tur-
ban, and one even larger it seemed to me than ordinary.
The hotel attendants had seen no one coming from or enter-
ing my corridor that night who answered this description.
The turban and the absence of European shoes, of course,
determined him to have been an Egyptian, Turk or Arab.
292 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
But what Egyptian, Turk or Arab could have entered 1117
rooiD with any other object than robbery — which was cer-
tainly not the aim of my intruder, for the valuables in the
writing desk were untouched. That same afternoon, it is
true, I had had an altercation amounting almost to a quarrel
with a Bedouin Arab on my way hack from Heliopolis; but
if this were he, why should he have taken revenge on my
writing desk instead of on me? And what reason on earth
can any follower of the Prophet have had for examining
with such particular attention my letters from you? It was
so decidedly a strange thing that I have taken all this space
to tell it to you — one of the strangest sort of things I've
had in all my knocking about; and Lawler can make no more
of it than I."
" Who is this Lawler who was with Mr. Axton
then?" Trant looked up interestedly from the last
page of the letter.
" I only know he was a friend Howard made in
London — an interesting man who had traveled a
great deal, particularly in America. Howard was
lonely after his mother's death; and as Mr, Lawler
was about his age, they struck up a friendship and
traveled together."
" An English younger son, perhaps? "
" I don't know anything else except that he had
been in the English army — in the Royal Sussex regi-
ment — but was forced to give up his commission on
account of charges that he had cheated at cards.
Howard always held that the charges were false ; but
that was why he wanted to travel."
" You know of no other trouble which this Lawler
had?"
" No, none."
" Then where is he now? "
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THE AXTON LETTERS 293
" Dead."
" Dead? " Trant's face fell.
" Yes ; he was the friend I spoke of that was lost —
drowned in the wreck of the Gladstone just before
Howard started home."
Trant picked up the next letter, which was dated
and postmarked at Calcutta.
" Miss Waldron, I have seen him again," he reaA " Who,
you askP My Moslem friend with a taste for your corre-
spondence. You see, I can again joke about it; but really
it was only last night and I am still in a perfect funk. It
was the same man — I'll swear it — shoeless and turbaned
and enjoying the pleasant pursuit of going through my
writing desk for your letters. Did he follow us down the
Red Sea, across the Indian Ocean — over three thousand
miles of ocean travel? I can imagine no other explanation
— for I would take oath to his identity — the very same
man I saw at Cairo, but now here in this Great Eastern
Hotel at Calcutta, where we have two rooms at the end of
the most noisome corridor that ever caged the sounds and
odors of a babbling East Indian population, and where the
doors have no locks. I had the end of a trunk against my
door, notwithstanding the fact that an Indian servant I have
hired was sleeping in the corridor outside across the door-
way, but it booted nothing; for Lawler in the next room
had neglected to fasten his door in any way, trusting to his
servant, who occupied a like strategic position outside the
threshold, and the door between our two rooms was open.
I had been asleep in spite of everything — in spite of the
snores and stertorous breathing of a floorful of sleeping
.humans, for the partitions between the rooms do not come
within several feet of the ceiling; in spite of the distant
bellowing of a sacred bull, and the nearer howl of a very
far from sacred dog, and a jingling of elephant bells which
were set off intermittently somewhere close at hand when-
ever some living thing in their neighborhood — animal or
294 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
human — shifted its position. I was awakened^ at least I
believe it was this which awakened me — by a creaking of
the floor boards in my room, and, with what seemed a cause-
less, but was certainly one of the most oppressive feelings
of chilling terror I have ever experienced, I started upright
in my bed. He was there, again at my writing desk, and
rustling the papers. For an instant I remained motionless ;
and in that instant, alarmed by the slight sound I had made,
he fJed noiselessly, pattered through the door between the
rooms and loudly slammed it shut, slammed Lawless outer
door behind him, and had ^ne. I crashed the door open,
ran across the creaking floor of the other room — where
Lawler, awakened by the slamming of the doors, had
whisked out of bed — and opened the door into the corridor.
Lawler's servant, aroused, but still dazed with sleep, blub-
bered that he had seen no one, though the man must have
stepped over his very body. A dozen other servants, sleep-
ing before their masters' doors in the corridor, had awakened
likewise, but cried out shrilly that they had seen no one.
Lawler, too, though the noise of the man's passage had
brought him out of bed, had not seen him. When I exam-
ined my writing desk I found, as before at Cairo, that noth-
ing had been taken. The literary delight of looking over
your letters seems to be all that draws him — of course, I
am joking; for there must be a real reason. What it is
that he is searching for, why it is that he follows me, for
he has never intruded on anyone else so far as I can learn,
I would like to know — I would like to know — I would like
to know 1 The native servants asked in awe-struck whispers
whether I noticed if his feet were turned backwards ; for it
seems they believe that to be one of the characteristics of
a ghost. But the man was flesh and blood — I am sure of
it ; and I am bound that if he comes again I will leahi bis
object, for I sleep now with my pistol under my pillow, and
next time — I shall shoot I"
Trant, as he finished the last words, looked up sud-
denly at Miss Waldron, as though about to astc a ques-
THE AXTON LETTERS 295
tion or make some comment, but checked rtimself, and
hastily laying aside this letter he picked up the next
one, which bore a Cai* Town date line ;
" My affair with my mysterious visitor came almost to a
conclusion last night, for except for a careless mistake of
tny own I should have bagged him. Isn't it mystifying, be-
wildering — yes, and a little terrifying — he made his ap-
pearance here last night in Cape Town, thousands of miles
away from the two other places I had encountered him;
and he seemed to have no more difficulty in entering the
house of a Cape Town correspondent, Mr, Arthur Emsley,
where we are guests, than he had before in entering public
hotels, and when discovered he disappeared as mysteriously
as ever. -This time, however, he took some precautions.
He had moved my night lamp so that, with his body in
shadow, he could still see the contents of my desk; but I
could hear his shoulders rubbing on the wall and located
him exactly, I slipped my hand noiselessly for my re-
volver, but it was gone. The slight noise I made in search-
ing for it alarmed him, and he ran. I rushed out into the
hall after him. Mr. Emsley and Lawler, awakened by the
breaking of the glass, had come out of their rooms. They
had not seen him, and though we searched the house he had
disappeared a^ inexplicably as the two other times. But I
have learned one thing: It is not a turban he wears, it is
his coat, which he takes off and wraps around his head to
hide his face. An odd disguise; and the possession of a
coat of that sort makes it probable he is a European. I
know of only two Europeans who have been in Cairo, Cal-
cutta and Cape Town at the same time we were — both
travelers like ourselves; a guttural young German named
Schultz, a freight agent for the Nord Deutscher Lloyd,
and a nasal American named Walcott, who travels for
the Seric Medicine Co. of New York. I shall keep
an eye on both of them. For, in my mind at least, this af-
fair has come to be a personal and hitter contest between
the unknown and myself. I am determined ndt.onl^lito
296 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
know who diis man is and what is the object of his visits,
but to settle with him the score which I now have against
him. I shall shoot him next time he comes as mercilessly
as I would a rabid dog; and I should have shot him this
time except for my own careless mistake through which I
had let my revolver slip to the floor, where I found it. By
the bye, we sail for. home — that is, England — next week
CHI the steamer Gladstone, but, I am sorry to say, without my
English servant, Beasley. Poor Beasley, since these mys-
terious occurrences, has been bitten with superstitious ter-
ror; the man is in a perfect fright, thinks I am haunted, and
docs not dare to embark on the same ship with me, for he
believes that the Gladstone will never reach England in
safety if I am aboard. I shall discharge him, of course,
but furnish him with his transportation home and leave him
to follow at his leisure if he sees fit"
" This is the first time I have heard of another man
in their party who might possibly be the masquerader.
Miss Waldron; " Trant swung suddenly in his revolv-
ing chair to face the girl agaia " Mr. Axton speaks
of him as his English servant — I suppose, from that,
he left England with Mr. Axton."
" Yes, Mr. Trant."
" And therefore was present, though not mentioned,
at Cairo, Calcutta and Cape Town?"
" Yes, Mr. Trant ; but he was dismissed at that time
by Mr. Axton and is now, and also was, at the mys-
terious man's next appearance, in the Charing Cross
Hospital in London. He had his leg broken by a
cab; and one of the doctors there wrote Mr. Axton
two days ago telling him of Beasley's need of assist-
ance. It could not have been Beasley."
" And there was no one else with Mr. Axton, except
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THE AXTON LETTERS 297
his friend Lawler who, you say, was drowned in a
wreck?"
" No one else but Mr. Lawler, Mr. Trant ; and
Howard himself saw him dead and identified him, as
you will see in that last letter."
Trant opened the envelope and took out the en-
closure interestedly; but as he unfolded the first page,
a printed sheet dropped out. He spread it upon his
desk — a page from the London Illustrated News
showing four portraits with the caption, " Sole sur-
vivors of the ill-fated British steamer Gladstone,
wrecked off Cape Blanco, January 24," the first por-
trait bearing the name of Howard Axton and show-
ing the determined, distinctly handsome features and
the full lips and deep-set eyes of the man whom the
girl had defied that morning.
" This is a good portrait? " Trant asked abruptly.
" Very good, indeed," the girl answered, " though
it was taken almost immediately after the wreck for
the News. I have the photograph from which it was
made at home. I had asked him for a picture of him-
self in my last previous letter, as my mother had de-
stroyed every picture, even the early pictures, of him
and his mother."
Trant turned to the last letter.
" Wrecked, Miss Waldron. Poor Beasley's prophecy of
disaster has come only too true, and I suppose he is already
congratulating himself that he was 'warned' by my mys-
terious visitor and SO escaped the fate that so many have
suffered, including poor Lawler, Of course you will have
seen all about it in the staring headlines of some newspaper
long before this reaches you. I am glad that when found
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298 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
I was at once identified, though still unconscious, and my
name listed first among the very few survivors, so that you
were spared the anxiety of waiting for news of me. Only
four of us left out of that whole shipload t I had final proof
this morning of poor Lawler's death by the finding of his
body.
" I was hardly out of bed when a mat^^ little man — a
German trader — came to tell me that more bodies had been
found, and, as I have been called upon in every instance to
aid in identification, I set out with him down the beach at
once. It was almost impossible to realize that this blue and
silver ocean glimmering under the blazing sun was the
same white-frothing terror that had swallowed up all my
companions of three days before. The greater part of the
bodies found that morning had been already carried up the
beach. Among those remaining on the sand the first we
came upon was that of Lawler. Tt lay upon its side at the
entrance of a ragged sandy cove, half buried in the sand,
which here was white as leprosy. His cars, the sockets of
his eyes, and every interstice of his clothing were filled with
this white and leprous sand by the washing of the waves;
his pockets bulged and were distended with it."
"What! What!" Trant clutched the letter from
the desk in excitement and stared at it with eyes flash-
ing with interest. ,
" It is a horrible picture, Mr. Trant," the girl shud-
dered,
" Horrible — yes, certainly," the psychologist as-
sented tensely; "but I was not thinking of the hor-
ror," he checked himself.
"Of what, then?" asked Caryl pointedly.
But the psychologist had already returned to the let-
ter in his hand, the remainder of which he read with
intent and ever-increasing interest:
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THE AXTON LETTERS 299
" Of course I identified him at once. His face was calm
and showed no evidence of his last bitter struggle, and I am
glad his took was thus peaceful. Poor Lawlerl If the
first part of his life was not all it should have been — as in-
deed he frankly told me — he atoned for all in his last hour;
for undoubtedly, Miss Waldron, Lawter gave his life for
mine.
" I suppose the story of the wreck is already all known
to you, for our one telegraph wire that binds this isolated
town to the outside world has been laboring for three days
under a load of messages. You know then that eighteen
hours out of St. Vincent fire was discovered among the
cargo, that the captain, confident at first that the fire would
be got under control, kept on his course, only drawing in
somewhat toward the African shore in case of emergency.
But a very heavy sea rising, prevented the fire-fighters from
doing efficient work among the cargo and in the storm and
darkness the Gladstone struck several miles to the north of
Cape Blanco on a hidden reef at a distance of over a
mile from the shore.
" On the night it occurred I awakened with so strong a
sense of something being wrong that I rose, partly dressed
myself, and went out into the cabin, where I found a white-
faced steward going from door to door arousing the passen-
gers. Heavy smoke was billowing up the main companion-
way in the light of the cabin lamps, and the pitching and
reeling of the vessel showed that the sea had greatly in-
creased. I returned and awoke Lawler, and we went out
on deck. The sea was a smother of startling whiteness
through which the Gladilotie was staggering at the full
power of her engines. No flame as yet was anywhere vis-
ible, but huge volumes of smoke were bursting from every
opening in the fore part of the vessel. The passengers, in
a pale and terrified group, were kept together on the after
deck as far as possible from the fire. Now and then some
pallid, staring man or woman would break through the guard
and rush back to the cabin in search of a missing loved one
or valuables. Lawler and I determined that one of us mult
300 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
return to the stateroom for our money, and Lawler suc-
cessfully made the attempt He returned in ten minutes
with my money and papers and two life preservers. But
when I tried to put on my life preserver I found it to be
old and in such a condition as made it useless. Lawler then
took off the preserver that he himself had on, declaring
himself to be a much better swimmer than I — which I
knew to be the case — and forced me to wear it This life
preserver was all that brought me safely ashore, and tbe
lack of it was, I believe, the reason for Lawlcr's death.
Within ten minutes afterward the flames burst tbrou{^ the
forward deck — a red and awful banner which the fierce
wind flattened into a fan-shaped sheet of fire against the
night — and the Gladstone struck with terrific force, throw-
ing everything and everybody flat upon the deck. The bow
was raised high upon the reef, while the stem with its mad-
dened living freight began to sink rapidly into the swirl of
foaming waters. The first two boats were overfilled at once
in a wild rush, and one was stove immediately against the
steamer's side and sank, while the other was badly damaged
and made only about fifty yards' progress before it went
down also. The remaining boats all were lowered from the
starboard davits, and got away in safety; but only to cap-
size or be stove upon the reef. Lawler and I found placea
in the last boat — the captain's. At the last moment, just
as we were putting off, the fiery maw of the Gladstone
vomited out the scorched and half-blinded second engineer
and a single stoker, whom we took in with difGculty. There
was but one woman in our boat— ^-a fragile, illiterate Dutch-
woman from the neighborhood of Johannesburg — who had
in her arms a baby. How strange that of our boatload
those who alone survived should be the Dutchwoman, but
without her baby; the engineer and stoker, whom the fire
bad already partly disabled, and myself, a very indifferent
swimmer — while the strongest among us all perished! Of
what happened after leaving the ship I have only the most
indistinct recollection. I recall the swamping of our boat,
and cruel white waters that rushed out of the night to en-
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THE AXTON LETTERS 30i
gulf us ; I recall a bliud and painful struggle against a power
infinitely greater than my own — a stru^le which seemed
interminable; for, as a matter of fact, I must have been in
the water fully four hours and the impact of the waves
alone beat my flesh almost to a jelly; and I recall the com-
ing of daylight, and occasional glimpses of a shore which
seemed to project itself suddenly above the sea and then
at once to sink away and be swallowed by it I was found
unconscious on the sands — I have not the faintest idea how
I got there — and I was identified before coming to myself
(it may please you to know this) by several of your letters
which were found in my pocket At present, with my three
rescued companions — whose names even I probably never
should have known if the Gladstone bad reached England
safely — I am a most enthralling center of interest to the
white, black and parti-colored inhabitants of this region;
and I am writing this letter on an antiquated typewriter be-
longing to the smallest, thinnest, baldest little American
that ever left his own dooryard to become a missionary,"
Tratit tossed aside the last page^nd, with eyes Hash-
ing with a deep, glowing fire, he glanced across in-
tensely to the girl watching him; and his hands
clenched on the table, in the constraint of his eager-
ness.
"Why — what is it, Mr. Trant?" the girl cried.
" This is so taken up with the wreck aiwl the death
of Lawler," the psychologist touched the last letter,
" that there is hardly any more mention of the mys-
terious man. But you said, since Mr. Axton has
come home, he has twice appeared and in your room,
Miss Waldroa Please give me the details."
"Of his first appearance — or visit, I should say,
since no one really saw him, Mr. Trant," the girl re-
plied, still watching the psycholo^st with wonder,
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3oa THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" I can't tell you much, I'm afraid. When Mr. Ax-
ton first came h<Mne, I asked him about this mysterious
friend; and he put me off with a laugh and merely
said he hadn't seen much of him since he last wrote.
But even then I could see he wasn't so easy as he
seemed. And it was only two days after that — or
nights, for it was about one o'clock in the morning —
that I was wakened by some sound which seemed to
crane from my dressing-room. I turned on the light
in my room and rang the servant's belL The butler
came almost at once and, as he is not a courageous
man, roused Mr. Axton before opening the door to
my dressing-room. They found no one there and
nothing taken or even disturbed except my letters in
my writing desk, Mr. Trant. My aunt, who has been
taking care of me since my mother died, was aroused
and came with the servants. She thought I must have
imagined everything; but I discovered and showed
Mr. Axton that it was his letters to me that had ap-
peared to be the ones the man was searching for. I
found that two of them had been taken and every
other typewritten letter in my desk — and only those
— had been opened in an apparent search for more
of his letters. I could see that this excited him ex-
ceedingly, though he tried to conceal it from me ; and
immediately afterwards he found that a window on
the first floor had been forced, so some man had come
in, as I said."
"Then last night."
" It was early this morning, Mr. Trant, but still
very dark — a little before five o'clock. It was so
damp, you know, that I had not opened the window
THE AXTON lETTERS 303
in my bedroom, which is close to the bed; but had
opened the windows of my d):%ssing-room, and so left
the door between open. It had been closed and locked
before. So when I awoke, I could «ee directly into
my dressing-room."
"Clearly?" .
" Of course not at all clearly. But my writing-
desk is directly opposite my bedroom door; and in a
sort of silhouette agarnst my shaded desk light, which
he was using, I could see his figure — a very vague,
monstrous looking figure, Mr. TranL Its lower part
seemed plain enough ; but the upper part was a form-
less blotch. I confess at first that enough of my
girl's fear for ghosts came to me to make me see him
as, a headless man, until I remembered how Howard
had seen and described him — with a coat wrapped
round his head. As soon as I was sure of this, I
pressed the bell-button again and this time screamed,
too, and switched on my light. But he slammed the
door between us and escaped. He went through an-
other window he had forced on the lower floor with a
queer sort of dagger-knife which he had broken and
left on the sill. And as soon as Howard saw this,
he knew it was the same man, for it was then he
ordered me not to interfere. He made off after him,
and when he came back, he told me he was sure it was
the same man."
" This time, too, the man at your desk seemed rum-
maging for your correspondence with Mr, Axton?"
" It seemed so, Mr. Trant."
" But his letters were all merely personal — like
these letters you have given me ? "
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304 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
" Yes."
"Amazing I" Trant leaped to his feet, with eyes
flashing now with unrestrained fire, and took two or
three rapid turns up and down the office. " If I am to
believe the obvious inference from these letters. Miss
Waldron — coupled with what you have told me — I
have not yet come across a case, an attempt at crime
more careful, more cold-blooded and, witball, more
- surprising! "
"A crime — an attempt at crime, Mr, Trant?"
cried the white and startled girl. " So there was cause
for my belief that something serious underlay these
mysterious appearances?"
" Cause ? " Trant swui^ to face her. " Yes, Miss
Waldron — criminal cause, a crime so skillfully car-
ried on, so assisted by unexpected circumstance that
you — that the very people against whom it is aimed
have not so much as suspected its existence."
" Then you think Howard honestly believes the man
still means nothing? "
"The man never meant 'nothing,' Miss Waldron;
but it was only at first the plot was aimed against
Howard Axton," Trant replied. " Now it is aimed
solely at you ! '*
The girl grew paler.
"How can you say that so surely, Mr. Trant?"
Caryl demanded, " without investigation?"
" These letters are quite enough evidence for what
I say, Mr. Caryl," Trant returned. "Would you
have come to me unless you had known that my train-
ing in the methods of psychology enabled me to see
L);.i....jbvGoog[c
THE AXTON LETTERS 305
causes and motives in such a case as this which others,
untrained, can not see?
" You have nothing more to tell me which might be
of assistance?" he faced the girl again, but turned
back at once to Caryl. "Let me tell you then, Mr,
Caryl, that I am about to make a very thorough in-
vestigation of this for you. Meanwhile, I repeat : a
definite, daring crime was planned first, I believe,
against Howard Axton and Miss Waldron; but now
— I am practically certain — it is aimed against Miss
Waldron alone. But there cannot be in it the slightest
danger of intentional personal hurt to her. So neither
of you need be uneasy while I am taking time to obtain
full proof — "
" But, Mr. Trant," the girl interrupted, " are you
not going to tell me — you must tell me — what the
criminal secret is that these letters have revealed to
you ? "
" You must wait, Miss Waldron," the psychologist
answered kindly, with his hand on the doorknob, as
though anxious for the interview to end, " What I
conld tell you now would only terrify you and leave
you perplexed how to act while you were waiting to
hear from me. No; leave the letters, if you will, and
the page from the Illustrated News," he said sud-
denly, as the girl began gathering up her papers.
" There is only one thing more. You said you ex-
pected an interruption here from Howard Axton, Mr.
Caryl. Is there still a good chance of his coming here
or — must I go to see him ? "
" Miss Waldron telephoned to me, in his presence,
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3o6 THE ACHtEVEMENtS OF LUTHER TRANT
to take her to see yoa Afterwards she left the house
without his knowledge. As soon as he finds she has
gone, he will look up your address, and I think you
may expect him."
" Very good. Then I must set to work at once ! "
He shook hands with both of them hurriedly and al-
most forcing them out his door, closed it behind them,
and strode back to his desk. He picked up immedi-
ately the second of the four letters which the girl had
given him, read it through again, and crossed the cor-
ridor to the opposite office, which was that of a public
stenographer.
" Make a careful oopy of that," he directed, " and
bring it to me as soon as it is 6nished."
A quarter of an hour later, when the copy had been
brou^t him, he compared it carefully with the orig-
inal. He put the copy in a drawer of the desk and
was apparently waiting with the four originals before
him when he heard a knock on his door and, opening
it, found that his visitor was again young Caryl.
" Miss Waldron did not wish to return home at
once; she has gone to see a friend. So I came back,"
he explained, " thinking you might make a fuller state-
ment of your suspicions to me than you would in Miss
Waldron's presence."
"Fuller in what respect, Mr. Caryl?"
The young man reddened.
" I must tell you — though you already may have
guessed — that before Miss Waldron inherited the
estate and came to believe it her duty to do as she has
done, there had been an — understandii^ between us,
Mr. Trant. She still has no friend to look to as she
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THE AXTON LETTERS 307
looks to me. So, if you mean that you have discov-
ered through those letters — though God knows how
you can have done it — anything in Axton which
shows him unfit to marry her, you must tell me! "
" As far as Axton's past goes," Tract replied, " his
letters show him a man of high type — moral, if I
may make a guess, above the average. There is a
most pleasing frankness about him. As to making
any further explanation than I have done — but good
Lord! what's that?"
The door of the office had been dashed loudly open,
and its still trembling frame was filled by a tall, very
angry young man in automobile costume, whose highly
colored, aristocratic looking features Trant recognized
immediately from the print in the page of the Illus-
trated London News.
" Ah, Mr. Caryl here too ? — the village busy-
body ! " the newcomer sneered, with a slight accent
which showed his English education. " You are in-
suflFerably mixing yourself in my affairs," he contin-
ued, as Caryl, with an effort, controlled himself and
made no answer. " Keep out of them 1 That is my
advice — take it ! Does a woman have to order you
off the premises before you can understand that you
are not wanted? As for you," he swung toward
Trant, " you are Trant, I suppose ! "
" Yes, that is my name, Mr. Axton," replied the
psychologist, leaning against his desk.
The other advanced a step and raised a threatening
finger. "Then that advice is meant for you, too. I
want no police, no detectives, no outsider of any sort
interfering in this matter. Make no mistake; it will
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308 THE ACHffiVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
be the worse for anyone who pushes himself in I I
came here at once to take the case out of your hands,
as soon as I found Miss Waldron had come here.
This is strictly my affair — keep out of it I "
" You mean, Mr. Axton, that you prefer to investi-
gate it personally? " the psychologist inquired.
" Exactly — investigate and punish I "
" But you cannot blame Miss Waldron for feeling
great anxiety even on your account, as your personal
risk in making such an investigation will be so im-
mensely greater than anyone's else would be."
"My risk?"
"Certainly; you may be simply playing into the
hand of your strange visitor, by pursuing him unaided.
Any other's risk, — mine, for instance, if I were to
take up the matter — would be comparatively slight,
beginning perhaps by questioning the nig^twatchmen
and stableboys in the neighborhood with a view to
learning what became of the man after he left the
house; and besides, such risks are a part of my busi-
ness."
Axton halted. "I had not thought of it in that
light," he said reflectively.
" You are too courageous — foolishly courageous,
Mr. Axton." ^
" Do you mind if I sit down ? Thank you. You
think, Mr. Trant, that an investigation such as you
suggest, would satisfy Miss Waldron - — make her
easier in her mind, I mean? "
" I think so, certainly."
" And it would not necessarily entail calling in the
police ? You must appreciate how I shrink from pub-
THE AXTOK LETTERS 309
Hcity — another story concerning the Axton family
exploited in the daily papers! "
" I had no intention of consulting the police, or of
calling them in, at least until I was ready to make the
arrest."
" I must confess, Mr. Trant," said Axton easily,
" that I find you a very different man from what I
had expected. I imagined an uneducated, somewhat
brutal, perhaps talkative fellow; but I find you, if I
may say so, a gentleman. Yes, I am tempted to let
you continue your investigation — on the lines you
have suggested,"
" I shall ask your help."
" I will help you as much as is in my power."
" Then let me begin, Mr. Axton, with a question —
pardon me if I open a window, for the room is rather
warm — I want to know whether you can supplement
these letters, which so far are the only real evidence
against the man, by any further description of him,"
and Trant, who had thrown open the window beside
him, undisturbed by the roar that filled the office from
the traffic-laden street below, took the letters from his
pocket and opened them one by one, clumsily, upon the
desk.
" I am afraid I cannot add anything to them, Mr.
Trant"
" We must get on then with what we have here,"
the psychologist hitched his chair near to the window
to get a better light on the paper in his hand, and his
cuff knocked one of the other letters off the desk onto
the windowsill. He turned, hastily but clumsily, and
touched, but could not grasp it before it slipped from
310 tHE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the sill out into the air. He sprang to his feet with
an exclamation of dismay, and dashed from the room.
Axton and Caryl, rushing to the window, watched the
paper, driven by a strong breeze, flutter down the
street utitil lost to sight among wagons ; and a minute
later saw Trant appear below them, bareheaded and
excited, darting in and out among vehicles at the spot
where the paper had disappeared ; but it had been
carried away upon some muddy wagon-wheel or re-
duced to tatters, for he returned after fifteen minutes'
search disheartened, vexed and empty handed.
" It was the letter describing the second visit," he
exclaimed disgustedly as he opened the door, " It
was most essential, for it contained the most minute
description of the man of all. I do not see how I can
manage well, now, without it."
" Why should you ? " Caryl said in surprise at the
evident stupidity of the psychologist. " Surely, Mr.
Axton, if he can not add any other details, can at
least repeat those he had already given."
"Of course!" Trant recollected. "If you would
be so good, Mr. Axton, I will have a stenographer
take down the statement to give you the least trou-
ble."
*' I will gladly do that," Axton agreed ; and, when
the psychologist had summoned the stenographer, he
dictated without hesitation the following letter:
" The second time that I saw the man was at Calcutta, in
the Great Eastern Hotel. He was the same man I had seen
at Cairo — shoeless and turbaned; at least I believed then
that it was a turban, but I saw later, at Cape Town, that
it was his short brown coat wrapped round his head and
U;.t.z=d by Google
THE AXTON LETTERS 3II
tied by the sleeves under his chin. We had at the Great
Eastern two whitewashed communicating rooms opening off
a narrow, dirty corridor, along whose whitewashed walls at
a height of some two feet from the floor ran a greasy smudge
gathered from the heads and shoulders of the dark-sViiined,
white-robed native servants who spent the nights sleeping
or sitting in front of their masters' doors. Though Lawler
and I each had a servant also outside his door, I dragged a
trunk against mine after closing it — a useless precaution,
as it proved, as Lawler put no trunk against his — and
though I see now that I must have been moved by some
foresight of danger, I went to sleep afterward quite peace-
fully. I awakened somewhat later in a cold and shuddering
fright, oppressed by the sense of some presence in my room
— started up in bed and looked about. My trunk was still
against the door as I had left it; and besides this, I saw
at first only the furniture of the room, which stood as when
I had gone to sleep — two rather heavy and much scratched
mahogany English chairs, a mahogany dresser with swing-
ing mirror, and the spindle-legged, four-post canopy bed on
which I lay. But presently, I saw more. He was there —
a dark shadow against the whitewashed wall beside the flat-
topped window marked his position, as he crouched beside
my writing desk and held the papers in a bar of white moon-
light to look at them. For an instant, the sight held me
motionless, and suddenly becoming aware that he was seen,
he leaped to his feet — a short, broad-shouldered, bulky man
— sped across the blue and white straw matting into Law-
ler's room and drove the door to behind him. I followed,
forcing the door open with my shoulder, saw Lawler just
leaping out of bed in his pajamas, and tore open Lawler's
corridor door, through which the man had vanished. He
was not in the corridor, though 1 inspected it carefully, and
Lawler, though be had been awakened by the man's passage,
had not seen him. Lawler's servant, pretty well dazed with
sleep, told me in blank and open-mouthed amazement at my
question, that he had not seen him pass; and the other
white-draped Hindoos, gathering about me from the doors
312 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
in front of which they had been asleep, made the same state-
ment None of these Hindoos resembled in the least the
man I had seen, for I looked them over carefully one by
one with this in mind. When I made a light in my room
in order to examine it thoroughly, I found nothing had been
touched except the writing desk, and even from that noth-
ing had been taken, although the papers had been disturbed.
The whole affair was as mysterious and inexplicable as the
man's first appearance had been, or as his subsequent ap-
pearance proved; for though I carcfi^y questioned the hotel
employ^ in the morning I could not learn that any such
man bad entered or gone out from the hotel."
"That is very satisfactory indeed;" Trant's grati-
fication was evident in his tone, as Axton finished.
" It will quite take the place of the letter that was lost.
There is only one thing more — so far as I know now
— in which you may be of present help to me, Mr.
Axton. Besides your friend Lawler, who was
drowned in the wreck of the Gladstone, and the man
Beasley — who. Miss Waldron tells me, is in a Lon-
don hospital — there were only two men in Cape
Town with you who had been in Cairo and Calcutta at
the same time you were. You do not happen to
know what has become of that German freight agent,
Schultz?"
" I have not the least idea, Mr. Trant."
" Or Walcott, the American patent medicine man? "
"I know no more of him than of the other.
Whether either of them is in Chicago now, is precisely
what I would like to know myself, Mr. Trant ; and I
hope you will be able to find out for me."
" I will do my best to locate them. By the way,
Mr. Axton, you have no objection to my setting a
bv Google
THE AXTON LETTERS 313
watch over your family home, provided I employ a
man who has no connection with the police ? "
" With that condition I think it would be a very
good idea," Axton assented. He waited to see whether
Trant had anything more to ask him; then, with a
look of partially veiled hostility at Caryl, he went
out.
The other followed, but stopped at the door.
"We — that is, Miss Waldron — will hear from
you, Mr. Trant? " he asked with sudden distrust — " I
mean, you will report to her, as well as to Mr. Ax-
ton?"
"Certainly; but I hardly expect to have anything
for you for two or three days."
The psychologist smiled, as he shut the door behind
Caryl. He dropped into the chair at his desk and
wrote rapidly a series of telegrams, which he addressed
to the chiefs of police of a dozen foreign and Amer-
ican cities. Then, more slowly, he wrote a message
to the Seric Medicine Company, of New York, and
another to the Nord Deutscher Lloyd.
The first two days, of the three Trant had specified
to Caryl, passed with no other event than the installing
of a burly watchman at the Axton home. On the
third night this watchman reported to Miss Waldron
that he had seen and driven off, without being able to
catch, a man who was trying to force a lower window;
and the next morning — within half an hour of the
arrival of the Overland Limited from San Francisco
— Trant called up the Axton home on the telephone
with the news that he thought he had at last positive
proof of the mysterious man's identity. At least, he
314 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
had with him a man whom he wanted Mr. Axton to
see. Axton replied that he would be very glad to see
the man, if Trant would make an appointment In
three quarters of an hour at the Axton home, Trant
answered; and forty minutes later, having first tele-
phoned young Caryl, Trant with his watchman, es-
corting a stranger who was broad-shoiddered, weasel-
eyed, of peculiarly alert and guarded manner, reached
the Axton doorstep. Caryl had so perfectly timed his
arrival, under Trant's instructions, that he joined them
before the bell was answered.
Trant and Caryl, leaving the stranger under guard
of the watchman in the hall, found Miss Waldron and
Axton in the moming-room.
"Ahl Mr. Caryl again?" said Axton sneerin^y.
" Caryl was certainly not the man you wanted me to
see, Trant I"
"The man is outside," the psychologist replied.
"But before bringing him in for identi6cation I
thought it best to prepare Miss Waldron, and perhaps
even more particularly you, Mr. Axton, for the sur-
prise he is likely to occasion."
"A surprise?" Axton scowled questioningly.
"Who is the fellow? — or rather, if that is what you
have come to find out from me, where did you get him,
Trant?"
" That is the explanation I wish to make," Trant
replied, with his hand still upon the knob of the door,
which he had pushed shut behind him. " You will
recall, Mr. Axton, that there were but four men whom
we know to have been in Cairo, Calcutta, and Cape
Town at the same time you were. These were Law-
THE AXTON LETTERS 315
ler, your servant Beasley, the Gennan Schultz, and
the American Walcott. Through the Seric Medicine
Company I have positively located Walcott ; he is now
in Australia. The Nord Deutscher Lloyd has given
me equally positive assurance regarding Schultz.
Schultz is now in Bremea Miss Waldron has ac-
counted for Beasley, and the Charing Cross Hospital
corroborates her; Beasley is in London. There re-
mains, therefore, the inevitable conclusion that either
there was some other man following Mr. Axton —
some man whom Mr. Axton did not sec — or else that
the man who so pried into Mr. Axton's correspondence
abroad and into your letters. Miss Waldron, this last
week here in Chicago, was — Lawler; and this I be-
lieve to have been the case."
" Lawler ? " the girl and Caryl echoed in amaze-
ment, while Axton stared at the psychologist with in-
creasing surprise and wonder. "Lawler?"
" Oh ! I see," Axton all at once smiled contemp-
tuously. " You believe in ^osts, Trant — you think
it is Lawler's ghost that Miss Waldron saw ! "
" I did not say Lawler's ghost," Trant replied a
Httte testily. " I said Lawler's self, in flesh and blood.
I am trying to make it plain to you," Trant took from
his pocket the letters the girl had given him four days
before and indicated the one describing the wreck,
" that I believe the man whose death you so minutely
and carefully describe here in this letter as Lawler,
was not Lawler at all! "
"You mean to say that I didn't know Lawler?"
Axton laughed loudly — "Lawler, who had been my
companion in sixteen thousand miles of travel? " , -'
*^ Ciooglc
3i6 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Trant turned as though to reopen the door into
the hall; then paused once more and kindly faced the
girl
" I know. Miss Waldron," he said, " that you have
believed that Mr. Lawler has been dead these six
weeks; and it is only because I am so certain that the
man who is to be identified here now will prove to be
that same Lawler that I have thought best to let you
know in advance."
He threw open the door, and stood back to allow
the Irish watchman to enter, preceded by the weasel-
faced stranger. Then he closed the door quickly be-
hind him, locked it, put the key in his pocket, and spun
swiftly to see the effect of the stranger upon Axton.
That young man's face, despite his effort to control
it, flushed and paled, flushed and went white again;
but neither to Caryl nor the girl did it look at all Uke
the face of one who saw a dead friend alive agaia
" I do not know him ! " Axton's eyes glanced
quickly, furtively about. " I have never seen him be-
fore! Why have you brought him here? This is
not Lawler ! "
" No ; he is not Lawler," Trant agreed ; and at his
signal the Irishman left his place and went to stand
behind Axton. "But you know him, do you not?
You have seen him before ! Surely I need not recall
to you this special officer Bums of the San Francisco
detective bureau ! That is right ; you had better keep
hold of him, Sullivan; and now, Burns, who is this
man? Do you know him? Can you tell us who he
is?"
" Do I know him? " the detective laughed. " Can I
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE AXTON LETTERS 317
tell you who he is? Well, rather! That is Lord
George Albany, who got into Claude Shelton's boy
in San Francisco for $30,000 in a card game; that
is Mr. Arthur Wilmering, who came within a hair of
turning the same trick on young Stuyvesant in New
York; that — first and last — is Mr. George Lawler
himself, who makes a specialty of cards and rich men's
sons! "
"Lawler? George Lawler?" Caryl and the girl
gasped again.
" But why, in this affair, he used his own name,"
the detective continued, " is more than I can see ; for
surely he shouldn't have minded another change."
"He met Mr. Howard Axton in London," Trant
suggested, " where there was still a chance that the
card cheating in the Sussex guards was not forgotten,
and he might at any moment .meet someone who
recalled his face. It was safer to tell Axton all about
it, and protest innocence."
" Howard Axton? " the girl echoed, recovering her-
self at the name. "Why, Mr Trant; if this is Mr.
Lawler, as this man says and you believe, then where
is Mr. Axton — oh, where is Howard Axton ? "
" I am afraid. Miss Waldron," the psychologist re-
plied, " that Mr. Howard Axton was undoubtedly lost
in the wreck of the Gladstone. It may even have
been the finding of Howard Axton's body that this
man described in that last letter."
" Howard Axton drowned ! Then this man — "
" Mr. George Lawler's specialty being rich men's
sons," said the psychologist, " I suppose he joined com-
pany with Howard Axton because he was the son of
CumW
3l8 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Nimrod Axtoa Possibly he did not know at first
that Howard had been disinherited, and he may not
have found it out until the second Mrs. Axlon's death,
when the estate came to Miss Waldron, and she
created a situation which at least promised an c^por-
tunity. It was in seekii^ this opportunity. Miss
Waldron, among the intimate family affairs revealed
in your letters to Howard Axton that L^wler was
three times seen by Axton in his room, as described
in the first three letters that you showed to me. That
was it, was it not, Lawler? "
The prisoner — for the attitude of Sullivan and
Bums left no doubt now that he was a prisoner —
made no answer.
" You mean, Mr. Trant," the eyes of the horrified
girl turned from Lawler as though even the sight of
him shamed her, " that if Howard Axton had not been
drowned, this — this man would have come anyway? "
" I cannot say what Lawler's intentions were if the
wreck had not occurred," the psychologist replied.
" For you remember that I told you that this attempted
crime has been most wonderfully assisted by circum-
stances. Lawler, cast ashore from the wreck of the
Gladstone, found himself — if the fourth of these let-
ters is to be believed — identified as Howard Axtoa
even before he had regained consciousness, by your
stolen letters to Howard which he had in his pocket
From that time on he did not have to lift a finger,
beyond the mere identification of a body — possibly
Howard Axton's — as his owa Howard had left
America so young that identification here was im-
possible unless you had a {>ortrait; and Lawler un-
THE AXTON LETTERS 3I9
doubtedly had learned from your letters that you had
no picture of Howard. His own picture, published
in the News over Howard's name, when it escaped
identification as Lawter, showed him that the game
was safe and prepared you to accept him as Howard
without question. He had not even the necessity of
counterfeiting Howard's writing, as Howard had the
correspondent's habit of using a typewriter. Only
two possible dangers threatened him. First, was the
chance that, if brought in contact with the police, he
might be recognized. You can understand, Miss
Waldron, by his threats to prevent your consulting
them, how anxious he was to avoid^this. And second,
that there might be something in Howard Axton's
letters to you which, if unknown to him, might lead
him to compromise and betray himself in his relations
with you. His sole mistake was that, when he at-
tempted to search your desk for these letters, he
clumsily adopted once more the same disguise that
had proved so perplexing to Howard Axtoa For he
could have done nothing that would have been more
terrifying to you. It quite nullified the eflfect of the
window he had fixed to prove by the man's means
of exit and entrance that he was not a member of the
household. It sent you, in spite of his objections and
threats, to consult me; and, most important of all,
it connected these visits at once with the former ones
described in Howard's letters, so that you brou^t the
letters to me — when, of course, the nature of the
crime, though not the identity of the criminal, was at
once plain to me."
"I see it was plain; but was it merely from these
320 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
letters — these typewritten letters, Mr. Trant?" cried
Caryl incredulously.
" From those alone, Mr. Caryl," the psychologist
smiled slightly, "through a most elementary, primer
fact of psychology. Perhaps you would like to know,
I-awler," Trant turned, still smiling, to the prisoner,
" just wherein you failed. And, as you will probably
never have another chance such as the one just ^st
for putting the information to practical use— even if
you were not, as Mr. Burns tells me, likely to retire
for a number of years from active life — I am willing
to tell you."
The prisoner turned on Trant his face — now grown
livid — with an expression of almost superstitious
questioning.
" Did you ever happen to go to a light opera with
Howard Axton, Mr. Lawler," asked Trant, " and find
after the performance that you remembered all the
stage-settings of the piece but could not recall a tune
— you know you cannot recall a tune, Lawler — while
Axton, perhaps, could whistle all the tunes but could
not remember a costume or a scene? Psychologists
call that difference between you and Howard Axton a
difference in ' memory types.' In an almost masterly
manner you imitated the style, the tricks and turns
of expression of Howard Axton in your letter to Miss
Waldron describing the wreck — not quite so well in
the statement you dictated in my office. But you
could not imitate the primary difference of Howard
Axton's mind from yours. That was where you
failed.
" The change in the personality of the letter writer
THE AXTON LETTERS ^21
might easily have passed unnoticed, as it passed Miss
Waldroo, had not the letters fallen into the hands of
one who, like myself, is interested in the manifesta-
tions of mind. For different minds are so constituted
that inevitably their processes run more easily along
certain channels than along others. Some minds have
a preference, so to speak, for a particulat type of
impression; they remember a sight that they have
seen, they forget the sound that went with it ; or they
remember the sound and forget the sight. There are
minds which are almost wholly ear-minds or . eye-
minds. In minds of the visual, or eye, type, all
thoughts and memories and imaginations will consist
of ideas of sight; if of the auditory type, the impres-
sions of sound predominate and obscure the others.
"The first three letters you handed me, Miss
Waldron," the psychologist turned again to the girl,
" were those really written by Howard Axton. As I
read through them I knew that I was dealing with
what psychologists call an auditory mind. When, in
ordinary memory, he recalled an event he remembered
best its sounds. But I had not finished the first page
of the fourth letter when I came upon the description
of the body lying on the sand — a visual memory so
clear and so distinct, so perfect even to the pockets
distended with sand, that it startled and amazed me —
for it was the first distinct visual memory I
had found. As I read on I became certain that
the man who had written the first three let-
ters — who described a German as guttural and
remembered the American as nasal — could never
have written the fourth. Would that first man
322 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
— the man who recalled even the sound of his mid-
night visitor's shoulders when they rubbed against the
wall — fail to remember in his recollection of the ship-
wreck the roaring wind and roaring sea, the screams
of men and v/omtn, the crackling of the fire? They
would have been his clearest recollection. But the
man who wrote the fourth letter recalled most clearly
that the sea was white and frothy, the men were pallid
and staring I"
" I see 1 I see 1 " Caryl and the girl cried as, at the
psychologist's bidding, they scanned together the let-
ters he spread before them.
"The subterfuge by which I destroyed the second
letter of the set, after first making a copy of it — "
"You did it on purpose? What an idiot I wasl"
exclaimed Caryl.
" Was merely to obviate the possibility of mistake,"
Trant continued, without heeding the interruption.
" The statement this man dictated, as it was given in
terms of ' sight,' assured me that he was not Axton.
When, by means of the telegraph, I had accounted for
the present whereabouts of three of the four men he
might possibly be, it became plain that he must be
Lawler. And finding that Lawler was badly wanted
in San Francisco, I asked Mr. Burns to come on and
identify him.
" And the stationing of the watchman here was a
blind also, as well as his report of the man who last
night tried to force the window ? " Caryl exclaimed.
Trant nodded. He was watching the complete dis-
solution of the swindler's eflfrontery. Trant had
appreciated that Lawler had let him speak on uninter-
The axton letters 3^3
rupted as though, after the psychologist had shown his
hand, he held in reserve cards to beat it. But his
attempt to sneer and scoff and contemn was so weak,
when the psychologist was through, that Ethel
Waldron — almost as though to spare him — arose
and motioned to Trant to tell her, whatever else he
wished, in the next room.
Trant followed her a moment obediently ; but at the
door he seemed to recollect himself.
" I think there is nothing else now, Miss Waldron,"
he said, "except that I believe I can spare you the
reopening of your family affairs here. Bums tells me
there is more than enough against him in California to
keep Mr. Lawler there for some good time. I will go
with him, now," and he stood aside for Caryl to go,
in his place, into the next room.
.dbv Google
THE ELEVENTH HOUR
On the third Sunday in March the thermometer
dropped suddenly in Chicago a Utile after ten in the
evening, A roaring storm of mingled rain and snow,
driven by a riotous wind — wild even for the Great
Lakes in winter — changed suddenly to sleet, which
lay in liquid slush upon the walks. At twenty minutes
past the hour, sleet and slush had both begun to
freeze. Mr. Luther Trant, hastening on foot back to
his rooms at his club from north of the river where
he had been taking tea, observed — casually, as he
observed many things — that the soft mess underfoot
had coated with tough, rubbery ice, through which the
heels of his shoes crunched at every step while his
toes left almost no mark.
But he noted this then only as a hindrance to his
haste. He had been taking the day " off " away from
both his office and his club; but fifteen minutes before,
he had called up the club for the first time that day
and had learned that a woman- — a wildly terrified
and anxious woman — had been inquirit^ for him at
intervals during the day over the telephone, and that a
special delivery letter from the same source had been
awaiting him since six o'clock. The psychologist,
suddenly stricken with a sense of guilt and dereliction,
had not waited for a cab.
324
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 325
As be hurried down Michigan Avenue now, he was
considering how affairs had changed with him in the
last six months. Then he had been a callow assistant
in a psychological laboratory. The very professor
whom he had served had smiled amusedly, almost
derisively, when he had declared his belief in his own
powers to apply the necromancy of the new psychology
to the detection of crime. But the delicate instru-
ments of the laboratory — the chronoscopes, kymo-
graphs, plethysmographs, which made visible and re-
corded unerringly, unfalteringly, the most secret
emotions of the heart and the hidden workings of the
brain ;, the experimental investigations of Freud and
Jung, of the German and French scientists, of Mun-
sterberg and others in America — had fired him with
the belief in them and in himself. In the face of mis-
understanding and derision, he had tried to trace the
criminal, not by the world-old method of the marks he
had left on things, but by the evidences which the
crime had left on the mind of the criminal himself.
And so well had he succeeded that now he could not
leave his club even on a Sunday, without disappointing
somewhere, in the great-pulsating city, an appeal to
him for help in trouble. But as he turned at the
comer into the entrance of the club, he put aside
this thought and faced the doormaa
" Has she called again? "
"The last time, sir, was at nine o'clock. She
wanted to know if you had received the note, and
said you were to have it as soon as you came in."
The man handed it out — a plain, coarse envelope,
with the red two-cent and the blue special delivery
326 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF UTTHER TRANT
stamp stuck askew above an uneven line of great,
unsteady characters addressing the envelope to Trant
at the club. Within it, ten lines spread this wild
appeal across the paper :
"// Mr. Trant mtl do — for some one un-
known to hint — the greatest fottible service
— to save perhaps a life-' a life I I beg him
to come to Ashland Avenue between seven
and nine o' dock to-night t Eleven I For God's
take come — between seven and nine! Later
will be too late. Eleven! I tell you it may be
worse than useless to come after eleven! So
for GotTs sake — if you are human — help me!
You will be expected.
" W. Newberry."
The psychologist glanced at his watch swiftly. It
was already twenty-five minutes to eleven !
Besides the panic expressed by the writii^ itself,
the broken sentences, the reiterated appeal, most of
all the strange and disconnected recurrence three times
in the few short lines of the word eleven — which
plainly pointed to that hour as the last at which help
mi|^t avail — the characters themselves, which were
the same as those on the envelope, confirmed the
psychologist's first impression that the note was writ-
ten by a man, a young man, too, despite the havoc that
fear and nervelessness had played with him.
" You're sure it was a woman's voice on the
phone? " he asked quickly,
" Yes, sir; and she seemed a lady."
Trant hastily picked up the telephone on the desk ;
"Hello! Is this the West End Police Station? This
U;.t.z=dbv Google
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 327
is Mr. Trant. Can you send a plain-clothes man and
a patrolman at once to Ashland Avenue? . . .
No; I don't know what the trouble is, but I under-
stand it is a matter of life and death; that's why I
want to have help at hand if I need it. Let me know
who you are sending."
He^tood impatiently tapping one heel against the
other, while he waited for the matter to be adjusted at
the police station, then swung back to receive the
name of the detective: "Yes, . . . You are
sending Detective Siler? Because he knows the
house? . . . Oh, there has been trouble there
before? ... I see. . . . Tell him to hurry.
i will try and get there myself before eleven."
He dashed the receiver back on to the hook, caught
his coat collar close again and ran swiftly to claim a
taxicab which was just bringing another member up
to the club.
The streets were all but empty; and "into the
stiffening ice the chains on the tires of the driving
wheels bit sharply; so it still lacked ten minutes of
the hour, as Trant assured himself by another quick
glance at his watch, when the chauffeur checked the
motor short before the given number on Ashland
Avenue, and the psychologist jumped out.
, The vacant street, and the one dim light on the
first floor of the old house, told Trant the police had
not yet arrived.
The porticoed front and the battered fountain with
cupids, which rose obscurely from the ice-crusted sod
of the narrow lawn at its side, showed an attempt
at fashion. In the rear, as well as Trant could see
328 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
it in the indistinct glare of the street lamps, the
building seemed to fall away into a single rambling
story.
As the psychology rang the bell and was admitted,
he saw at once that he had not been mistaken in
believing that the cab which had passed his motor only
an instant before had come from the same house ; for
the mild-eyed, white-haired little man, who opened
the door almost before the bell had stopped ringing,
had not yet taken off his overcoat. Behind him, in
the dim light of a shaded lamp, an equally placid,
white-haired little woman was laying off her wraps;
and their gentle faces were so completely at variance
with the wild terror of the note that Trant now held
between his fingers in his pocket, that he hesitated
before he asked his question :
" Is W. Newberry here? "
" I am the Reverend Wesley Newberry," the little
man answered. " I am no longer in the active service
of the I^rd ; but if it is a case of immediate necessity
and I can be of use — "
"No, no!" Trant checked him. "I have not
come to ask your service as a minister, Mr. New-
berry. I am Luther Trant. But I see I must ex-
plain," the psychologist continued, at first nonplused
by the little man's stare of perplexity, which showed
no recognition of the name, and then flushing with the
sudden suspicion that followed. "To-night when I
returned to my club at half-past ten, I was informed
that a woman — apparently in great anxiety — had
been trying to catch me all day; and had finally re-
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 329
ferred me to this special delivery letter which was
delivered for me at six o'clock." Traot extended it
to the staring little minister. " Of course, I can see
now that both telephone calls and note may have been
a hoax; but — in Heaven's name I What is the mat-
ter, Mr. Newberry?"
The two old people had taken the note between
them. Now the little woman, her wraps only half
removed, had dropped, shaking and pale, into the
nearest chair. The little man had lost his placidity
and was shuddering in uncontrolled fear. He seemed
to shrink away ; but stiffened bravely.
"A hoax? I fear not, Mr. Trant!" The man
gathered himself together. "This note is not from
me; but it is, I must not deceive myself, undoubtedly
from our son Walter — Walter Newberry. This writ-
ing, though broken beyond anything I have seen from
him in his worst dissipations is undoubtedly his.
Yet Walter is not here, Mr. Trant I I mean — I
mean, he should not be here! There have been
reasons — we have not seen or heard of Walter for
two months. He can not be here now — surely he
can not be here now, unless — unless — my wife and
I went to a friend's this evening; this is as thou^ the
writer had known we were going out! We left at
half-past six and have only just returned. Oh,
it is impossible that Walter could have come here!
But Martha, we have not seen Adele!" The livid
terror grew stronger on his rosy, simple face as he
turned to his wife. " We have not seen Adele,
Martha, since we came in! And this gentleman tells
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330 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
us that a woman in great trouble was sending for hint
If Walter had been here — be strong, Martha; be
stroi^l But come — let us look together I "
He had turned, with no further word of explana-
tion, and pattered excitedly to the stairs, followed by
his wife and Trant.
"Adele! Adele!" the old man cried anxiously,
knocking at the door nearest the head of the stairs ;
and when he received no answer, he flung the door
open.
" Dreadful I Dreadful 1 " he wrung his hands, white
bis wife sank weakly down upon the upper step, as
she saw the room was empty. " There is something
very wrong here, Mr. Trant I This is the bedroom of
my daughter-in-law, Waiter's wife. She should be
here, at this hour I My son and his wife are sepa-
rated and do not live together. My son, who has
been unprincipled and uncontrollable from his child-
hood up, made a climax to his career of dissipation
two months ago by threatening the life of his wife be-
cause she refused — because she found it impossible
to live longer with him. It was a most painful affair ;
the police were even called in. We forbade Walter
the house. So if she called to you because he was
threatening her again, and he returned here to-nig^t to
carry out his threat, then Adele — Adele was indeed
in danger!"
" But why should he have written me that note? "
Trant returned crisply. " However — ■ if we believe
the note at all — there is surely now no time to lose,
Mr. Newberry. We must search the entire house at
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 33I
once and make sure, at least, that Mrs. Walter New-
berry is not in some other part of it) "
" You are right — quite right! " the little man pat-
tered rapidly from door to door, throwing the rooms
open to the impatient scrutiny of the psychologist;
and while they were still engaged in this search upon
the upper floor, a tall clock on the landing of the
stairs struck eleven 1
So strongly had the warning of the note impressed
Trant that, at the signal of the hour, he stopped
short ; the others, seeing him, stopped too, and stared
at him with blanched faces, while all three appre-
hensively strained their ears for some sound which
mi^t mark the note's fulfillment. And scarcely had
the last deep stroke of the hour ceased to resound in
the hall, when suddenly, sharply, and without other
warning, a revolver shot rang out, followed so swiftly
by three others that the four reports rang almost
as one through the silent house. The little woman
screamed and seized her husband's arm. His hand,
in turn, hung upon Trant. The psychologist, turn-
ing his head to be surer of the direction of the sound,
for an instant more stared indecisively; for though
the shots were plainly inside the house, the echoes
made it impossible to locate them exactly. But al-
most immediately a fifth shot, seeming louder and
more distinct in its separateness, startled them again.
" It is in the billiard room I " the wife shrieked,
with a woman's quicker location of indoor sounds.
The little minister ran to seize the lamp, as Tram
turned toward the rear of the house. The woman
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333 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
started with them; but at that instant the doorbell
rang furiously; and the wonun stopped in trembling
confusion. The psychologist pushed her husband on,
however; and taking the lamp from the elder man's
shaking hand, he now led Newberry into the one-
story addition which formed the back part of the
house. Here he found that the L shaped passs^
into which they ran, opened at one end apparently on
to a side porch. Newberry, now taking the lead.
hurried down the other branch of the passage past a
door which was plainly that of a kitchen, came to an-
other further down the passage, tried it, and recoiled
in fresh bewilderment to find it locked.
"It is never locked — never I Scmiething dreadful
must have been happening in here!" he wrung his
hands again weakly.
" We must break it down then! " Trant drew the
little man aside, and, bracing himself against the op-
posite wall, threw his shoulder against it once —
twice, and even a third time, ineffectixally, till a uni-
formed patrolman, and another man in plain clothes,
coming after them with Mrs. Newberry, added their
weight to Trant's, and the door crashed open.
A blast of air from the outside storm instantly blew
out both the lamp in Trant's hand and another which
had been burning in the room. The woman screamed
and threw herself toward some object on the floor
which the flare of the failing lights had momentarily
revealed; but her husband caught in the darkness at
her wrist and drew her to him. Siler and the patrol-
man, swearing softly, felt for matches and tried vainly
in the draft to relight the lamp which Trant had
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 333
thrust upon the table; for the psychologist had dashed
to the window which was letting in the outside stonn,
stared out, then closed it and returned to light the
lamp, which belonged in the rocan, as the plain-clothes
man now lit the other.
J This room which Mrs. Newberry had called the
billiard room, he saw then, was now used only for
storage purposes and was littered with the old rubbish
which accumulates in every house; but the arrange-
ment of the discarded furniture showed plainly the
room had recently been fitted for occupancy as well
as its means allowed. That the occupant had taken
care to conceal himself, heavy sheets of brown paper
pasted over the panes of all the windows — includit^
that which Trant had found open — testified; that the
occupant had been well tended, a full tray of food —
practically untouched — and the stubs of at least a
hundred cigarettes flung in the fireplace, made plain.
These thin^ Trant appreciated only after the first
swift glance which showed him a huddled figure with
its head half under a musty lounge which stood fur-
thest from the window. It was not the body of a
woman, but that of a man not yet thirty, whose rather
handsome face was marred by deep lines of dissipa-
tion. The mother's shuddering cry. of recognition
had showed that this was Waiter Newberry.
Trant knelt beside the officers working over the
body ; the blood had been flowing from a bullet wound
in the temple, but it had ceased to flow. A small, sil-
ver-mounted automatic revolver, such as had been
recently widely advertised for the protection of
women, lay on the floor dose by, with the sheila which ^
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334 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
had been ejected as it was fired. The psychologist
straightened.
" We have come too late," he said simply to the
father. " It was necessary, as he foresaw, to get
here before eleven, if we were to help him ; for he is
dead. And now — " he checked himself, as the little
woman clutched her husband and buried her face in
his sleeve, and the little man stared up at him with
a chalky face — "it will be better for you to wait
somewhere else till we are through here."
" In the name of mercy, Mr. Trant ! " Newberry
cried miserably, as the psychologist picked up a lamp
and lighted the two old people into the hall, " what is
this terrible thing that has happened here? What is
it — Oh, what is it, Mr. Trant ? And where — where
is Adele? "
" I am here, father; I am here! " a new voice broke
clearly and calmly through the confusion, and ' the
light of Trant's lamp fell on a slight but stately girl
advancing down the hallway. "And you," she said
as composedly to the psychologist, though Trant could
see now that her self-possession was belied by the
nervous picking of her fingers at her dress and her
paleness, which grew greater as she met his eyes,
" are Mr. Trant — and you came too late ! "
"You are — Mrs. Walter Newberry?" Trant re-
turned. " You were the one who was calling me up
this morning and this afternoon?"
"Yes," she said. "I was his wife. So he is'
dead ! "
She took no heed of the quick glance Trant flashed
to assure himself that she spoke in this way before she
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 335
could have seen the body from her place in the hall ;
and she turned calmly still to the old man who was
clinging to her crying nervously now, " Adelel Adelel
Adele!"
" Yes, dear father and dear mother I " she began
compassionately. " Walter came back — " she broke
off suddenly; and Trant saw her grow pale as death
with staring eyes fixed over his shoulder on Siler,
who had come to the doorway. " You — you brought
the police, Mr. Trant 1 I — I thought you had noth-
ing to do with the police 1 "
" Never mind that," the plain-clothes man checked
Trant's answer. " You were saying your husband
came home, Mrs. Newberry — then what?"
"Then — but that is all I know; I know nothing
whatever about it."
■ " Your shoes and skirt are wet, Mrs. Newberry,"
the plain-clothes man pointed significantly.
"I — I heard the shots I " she cau^t herself up
with admirable self-control. " That was all. I ran
over to the neighbors' for help; but I could get no
one."
" Then you'll have a chance to make your statement
later," Siler answered in a business-like way. " Just
now you'd better look after your father and mother."
He took the lamp from Trant and held it to light
them down the hall, then turned swiftly to the patrol-
man: " She is going upstairs with them; watch the
front stairs and see that she does not go out. If she
comes down the back stairs we can see her."
As the patrolman went out, the plain-clothes man
turned back into the room, leaving the door ajat so
336 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
that the rear stairs were visible. " These husband
and wife cases, Mr. Trant," he said easily. " You
think — and the man thinks, too — the woman will
stand everything ; and she does — till he does one more
thii^ too much, and, all of a sudden, she lets him
have itl"
"Don't you think it's a Kt premature," the psy-
choI<^st suggested, " to assume that she killed him? "
"Didn't you see how she shut up when she saw
me?" Siler's eyes met Trant's with a flash of op-
position. " That was because she recognized me and
knew that, having been here last time there was trou-
ble, I knew that he had been threatening her. It's a
dnchi Regular minister's son, he was; the old man's
a missionary, you know ; spent his life till two years
ago trying to turn Chinese heathens into Christians.
And this Walter — our station blotter'd be black with
his doings; only, ever since he made China too hot to
hold him and the old man brought him back here,
everything's been hushed up on the old man's account.
But I happen to have been here before; and all win-
ter I've known there'd be a killing if he ever came
back. Hell I I tell you it was a relief to me to see
it was him on the floor when that door went down.
There are no powder marks, you see," the officer led
Trant's eyes back to the wound in the head of the
form beside the lounge. " He could not have shot
himself. He was shot from farther off than he could
reach. Besides, it's on the left side."
" Yes ; I saw," Trant replied.
" And that little automatic gun," the officer stooped
now and picked up the pistol that lay on the floor be-
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 337
side the body, " is hers. I saw it the last time I was
called in here."
" But how could he have known — if she shot him
— that she was going to kill him just at eleven?"
Trant objected, pulling from his pocket the note,
which old Mr. Newberry had returned to htm, and
handing it to Siler. "He sent that to me; at least,
the father says it is in his harxlwriting."
" You mean," Siler's eyes rose slowly from the pa-
per, " that she must have told him what she was going
to do — premeditated murder? "
" I mean that the first fact which we have — and
which certainly seems to me wholly incompatible with
anything which you have suggested so far — is that
Walter Newberry foresaw his own death and set the
hour of its accomplishment; and that his wife — it
is plain at least to me — when she telephoned so often
for me to-day, was trying to help him to escape from
it Now what are the other facts?" Trant went on
rapidly, paying no attention to the obstinate glance in
the eyes of the officer. " I distinctly heard five shots
— four together and then, after a second or so, one.
You heard five?"
" Yes."
"And five shots," the psychologist's quick glances
had been taking in the fnier details of the room, " are
accounted for by the bullet holes — one through the
lower pane of the window I found open, which shows
it was down and closed during the shooting, as there
is no break in the upper half ; one on the plaster there
to the side; one under the moulding there four feet
to the right; and one more, in the plaster almost as
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338 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
far to the left The one that killed him makes five."
" Exactly I " Siter followed Trant's indication tri-
umphantly, "the fifth in his head I The first four
went off in their struggle ; and then she got away and,
with the fifth, shot him."
" But the shells," Trant continued ; " for that sort
of revolver ejects the shells as they are fired — and I
see only four. Where is the fifth? "
" You're trying to fog this thing all up, Mr.
Trant."
" No ; I'm trying to clear it. How could anyone
have left the room after the firing of the last shot?
No one could have gone through the door and not
been seen by us in the hall; besides the door was
bolted on the inside," Trant pointed to the two bolts.
" No one could have left except by the window —
this window which was open when we came in, but
which must have been closed when one, at least, of the
shots was being fired. You remember I went at once
to it and looked out, but saw nothing."
Trant re-crossed the room swiftly and threw the
window open, intently re-examining it. On the out-
side it was barred with a heavy grating, but he saw
that the key to the grating was in the lock.
" Bring the lamp," he said to the plain-clothes man;
and as Siler screened the flame against the wind —
" Ah ! " he continued, " look at the ice cracked from
it there — it must have been swung open. He must
have gone out this way ! "
" He? " Siler repeated.
The plain-clothes man had squeezed past Trant, as
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 339
the grating swung back, and lamp in hand had let him-
self easily down to the ice-covered walk below the win-
dow, and was holding his light, shielded, just above
the ground. " It was she," he cried triumphantly — ■
"the woman, as I told you! Look at her marks
here ! " He showed by the flickering light the double,
sharp tittle semi-circles of a woman's high heels cut
into the ice ; and, as Trant dropped down beside him,
the police detective followed the sharp little heel
marks to the side door of the house, where they turned
and led into the kitchen entry.
" Premature, was I — eh ? " Siler triumphed lacon-
ically. " We are used to these cases, Mr. Trant ; we
know what to expect in 'em."
Trant stood for an instant studying the sheet of ice.
In this sheltered spot, freezing had not progressed so
fast as in the open streets. Here, as an hour before
on Michigan Avenue, he saw that his heels and those
of the police officer at every step cut through the
crust, while their toes left no mark. But except for
the marks they themselves had made and the crescent
stamp of the woman's high heels leading in sharp,
clear outline from the window to the side steps of the
house, there were no other imprints. Then he fol-
lowed the detective into the side door of the house.
In the passage they met the patrolman. " She came
down stairs just now," said that officer briskly, " and
went in here."
Siler laid his hand on the door of the Httle sitting-
room the patrolman indicated, but turned to speak a
terse command to the man over his shoulder; "Go
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340 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
back to that room and see that things are kept as they
are. Look for the fifth shell We got four; find the
other!"
Then, with a warning elance at Trant, he pushed
the door open, "*^''tt
The girl faced the two'^catoOT as they entered; but
the whiteness of her lips showeb Trant, with swift
appreciation, that She could bear no more and was
reaching the end of her restraint.
" You've had a Httle while to think this over, Mrs.
Newberry," the plain-clothes man said, not unkindly.
" and I guess you've seen it's best to make a cwn
breast of it. Mr. Walter Newberry has been in that
room quite a while — the room shbws it — though his
father and mother seem not to Imve known about it."
" He " — she hesitated, then answered^uddenly and
collectively, " he had been there six daj'S. j .
" You started to tell us about it," Trant helped her.
" You said ' Walter came home ' — but, what brought
him here? Did he come to see you? "
" No ; " the girl's pale cheeks suddenly burned blood
red and went white again, as she made her decision.
" It was fear — deadly fear that drove him here ; but
I do not know of what."
"You are going to tell us all you know, are you
not, Mrs. Newberry?" the psychologist urged quietly
— " how he came here ; and particularly how both he
and you could so foresee his death that you summoned
me as you did ! "
" Yes ; yes — I will tell you," the girl clenched and
unclenched her hands, as she gathered herself together.
" Six nights ago, Monday night, Mr. Trant, Walter
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 341
came here. It was after midnight, and he did not
ring the bell, but waked me by throwing pieces of
ice and frozen sod against my window. I saw at once
that something was t^ matter with him ; so I went
down and talked to ijm tfcrou^ the closed door —
the side door here ; fo^ was afraid at first to let him
in, in spite of his ffwnises not to hurt me. He told
me his very life was :n danger — and he had no other
place to go ; and he must hide here — hide ; and I must
not let anyone — even his mother or father — know
he had come back; that I was the only one he could
trust! So — he was my husband — and I let him
in! •h/
"I started to rutkfrom him, when I had opened
the door; for /I was afraid — afraid; but he ran at
once into thf sld billiard-room — the store room there
— and trit the locks of the door and the window
gratings," the sensitive voice ran on rapidly, " and
then threw himself all sweating cold on the lounge
there, and went to sleep in a stupor. I thought at
first it was another frenzy from whiskey or — or
opium. And I stayed there. But just at morning
when he woke up, I saw it wasn't that — but it was
fear — fear — fear, such as I'd never seen before.
He rolled off the couch and half hid under it till I'd
pasted brown paper over the window panes — there
were no curtains. But he wouldn't tell me what he
was afraid of.
" He got so much worse as the days went by that
he couldn't sleep at all; he walked the floor all the
time and he smoked continually, 50 that nearly every
day I had to slip out and get him cigarettes. He got
34^ THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
more and more afraid of every noise outside and of
every little sound within; and it made him so much
worse when I told him I had to tell someone else —
even his mother — that I didn't dare to. He said other
people were sure to find out that he was there, then,
and they would kill him — kill him I He was always
worst at eleven — eleven o'clock at night ; and he
dreaded especially eleven o'clock Sunday night —
though I couldn't find out what or why!
" I gave him my pistol — the one — the one you
saw on the floor in there. It was Friday then; and
he had been getting worse and worse all the time.
Eleven o'clock every night I managed to be with him ;
and no one found us out. I was glad I gave him the
pistol until this — until this morning. I never
thought till then that he might use it to kill himself;
but this morning — Sunday morning, when I came to
him, he was talking about it — denying it ; but I saw
it was in his mind ! ' I shan't shoot myself ! ' I heard
him saying over and over again, when I came to the
door. ' They can't make me shoot myself I I shan't !
I shan't ! ' — over and over, like that And when he
had let me in and I saw him, then I knew — I knew he
meant to do it! He asked me if it wasn't Sunday;
and went whiter when I told him it was! So then I
told him he had to trust someone now; this couldn't
go on; and I spoke to him about Mr. Trant; and he
said he'd try him ; and he wrote the letter I mailed
you — special delivery — so you could come when his
father and mother were out — but he never once let
go my pistol ; he was wild — wild with fear. Every
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 343
time I could get away to the telephone, I tried to get
Mr. Trant; and the last time I got back — it was
awful! It was hardly ten, but he was walking up
and down with my pistol in his hand, whispering
strange things over and over to himself, saying most
of anything, ' No one can make me do it 1 No one
can make me do it — even when it's eleven — even
when it's eleven I ' — and staring — staring at his
watch which he'd taken out and laid on the table ;
staring and staring so — so that I knew I must get
someone before eleven — and at last I was running
next door for help — for anyone — for anythii^ —
when — when I heard the shots — I heard the shots ! "
She sank forward and buried her face in her hands;
rent by tearless sobs. Her fingers, white from the
pressure, made long marks on her cheeks, showing
livid even in the pallor of her face. But Siler pursed
his lips toward Trant, and laid his hand upon her
arm, sternly.
" Steady, steady, Mrs. Newberry ! " the plain-
clothes man warned. " You can not do that now I
You say you were with your husband a moment be-
fore the shooting, but you were not in the room when
he was killed?"
"Yes; yes! " the woman cried,
" You went out the door the last time ? "
" The door ? Yes ; yes ; of course the door I Why
not the door?"
" Because, Mrs. Newberry," the detective replied
impressively, " just at, or a moment after, the time
of the shooting, a woman left that room by the win-
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344 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
dow — unlocked the grating and went out the win-
dow. We have seen her marks. And you were that
woman, Mrs. Newberry I "
The giri gasped and her eyes wavered to Trant;
but seeing no help there now, she recovered herself
quickly.
"Ofcoursel Why, of course! " she cried. "The
last time I went out, I did go out the window I It was
to get the neighbors — didn't I tell you ? So I went
out the window 1 "
"Yes; we know you went out the window, Mrs.
Newberry," Siler responded mercilessly. " But we
know, too, you did not even start for the neighbors.
We have traced your tracks on the ice straight to the
side door and into the house 1 Now, Mrs. Newberry,
you've tried to make us believe that your husband
killed himself. But that won't dot Isn't it a Kttle
too strange, if you left by the window while your hus-
band was still alive, that he let the window stay open
and the grating unlocked? Yes; it's altogether too
strange. You left him dead; and what we want to
know — and I'm asking you straight out — is bow
you did it?"
" How I did it ? " the girl repeated mechanically ;
then with sharp agony and starting eyes: "How /
did it ! Oh, no, no, I did not do it ! I was there — I
have not told all the truth! But when I saw you," her
horrified gaze resting on Siler, " and remembered you
had been here before when he — he threatened me,
my only thought was to hide for his sake and for
theirs," she indicated the room above, where she had
taken her husband's parents, " that he had tried to
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 34$
carry out his threat. For before he killed himself,
he tried to kill me! That's how he fired those first
four shots. He tried to kill me first I "
" Welt, we're getting nearer to it," Siler approved.
" Yes ; now I have told you all ! " the girl cried.
" Oh, I have now — ■ I have ! The last time he let me
in, it was almost eleven — eleven! He had my pis-
tol in his hand, waiting — waiting 1 And at last he
cried out it was eleven; and he raised the pistol and
shot straight at me — with the face — the face of a
demon with fear. It was no use to try to speak to
him, or to get away ; I fell on my knees before him,
just as he shot at me again and again — aiming
straight, not at my eyes, but at my hair ; and he shot
again! But again he missed me; and his face — his
face was so terrible that — that I covered my own
face as he aimed at me again, staring always at my
hair. And that time, when he shot, I heard him fall
and saw — saw that he bad shot himself and he was
dead!
" Then I heard your footsteps coming to the door ;
and I saw for the first time that Walter had opened
the window before I came in. And — all without
thinking of anything except that if I was found there
everybody would know he'd tried to kill me, I took up
the key of the grating from the table where he had
laid it, and went out 1 "
" I can't force you to confess, if you will not, Mrs.
Newberry," Siler said meaningly, "though no jury,
after they learned how he had threatened you, would
convict you if you pleaded self-defense. We know
he didn't kill himself; for he couldn't have fired that
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346 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
shot! And the case is complete, I think," the detec-
tive shot a finally triumphant glance at Trant, " unless
Mr. Trant wants to ask you something more."
"I do!" Trant quietly spoke for the first time.
" I want to ask Mrs. Newberry — since she did not
actually see her husband fire the last shot that killed
him — whether she was directly facing him as she
knelt. It is most essential to know whether or not
her head was turned to one side."
"Why, what do you mean, Mr. Trant?" the girl
looked up wonderingly ; for his tone seemed to prom-
ise he was coming to her defense.
" Suppose he might have shot himself before her, as
she says — what's the difference whether she heard
him with her head straight or her head turned?" the
police detective demanded sneeringly.
" A fundamental difference in this case, Siler,"
Trant replied, " if taken in connection with that other
most important factor of all — that Walter Newberry
foretold the hour of his own death. But answer me,
Mrs. Newberry — if you can be certaiiL"
"I — certainly I can never forget how I crouched
there with every muscle strained. I was directly fac-
ing him," the girl answered,
" That is very important I " The psychologist took
a rapid turn or two up and down the room. " Now
you told us that your husband, during the days he was
shut up in that room, talked to himself ahnost contin-
uously. Toward the end, you say, he repeated over
and over again such sentences as ' No one can make me
do it ! ' Can you remember any others ? "
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 347
" I couldn't make much out of anything else, Mr.
Trant," the girl replied, after thinking an instant.
" He seemed to have hallucinations so much of the
time."
" Hallucinations? "
" Yes ; he seemed to think I was singing to him —
as I used to sing to him, you know, when we were
first married — and he would catch hold of me and
say, 'Don't — don't — don't sing!' Or at other
times he would clutch me and tell me to sing low —
sing low I "
"Anything else?"
" Nothing else even so sensible as that," the girl
responded. " Many things he said made me think he
had lost his mind. He would often stare at me in an
absorbed way, looking me over from head to foot, and
say, " Look here ; if anyone asks you — anyone at
all — whether your mother had large or small feet,
say small — never admit she had large feet, or you'll
never get ia Do you understand? ' "
"What?" The psychologist stood for several mo-
ments in deep thought ; then his eyes flashed suddenly
with excitement. " What ! " he cried again, clutching
the chair-back as he leaned toward her. " He said
that to you when he was absorbed? "
" A dozen times at least, Mr. Trant," the girl re-
plied, staring at him in startled wonder.
"Remarkable! Yes; this is extraordinary!"
Trant strode up and down excitedly. " Nobody could
have hoped for so fortunate a confirmation of the evi-
dence in this remarkable case. We knew that Wal-
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348 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
ter Newberry foresaw his own death; now we actu-
alty get from him himself, the key — the possibly
complete explanation of his dai^r — "
" Explanation! " shouted the police detective.
" I've heard no explanation! You're throwing an im-
pressive bluflf, Mr. Trant ; but I've heard nothing yet
to make me doubt that Newberry met his death at
the hands of his wife; and I'll arrest her for his mur-
der!"
" I can't prevent your arresting Mrs. Newberry,"
Trant swung to look the police officer between the
eyes hotly. " But I can tell you — if you care to hear
it — how Walter Newberry died I He was not shot
by his wife; he did not die by his own hand, as she
believes and has told you. The fifth shot — you have
not found the fifth shell yet, Siler; and you will not
find it, for it was not fired either by Walter Newberry
or his wife. As she knelt, blinding her eyes as she
faced her husband, Mrs. Newberry could not know
whether the fifth shot sounded In front or behind her.
If her head was not turned to one side, as she says
it was not, then — and this is a simple psychological
fact, Siler, though it seems to be unknown to you —
it would be impossible for her to distinguish between
sounds directly ahead and directly behind. It was
not at her — at her hair — that her husband fired
the four shots whose empty shells we foimd, but over
her head at the window directly behind her. And it
was through this just opened window that the fifth
shot came and killed him — the shot at eleven o'clock
— which he had foreseen and dreaded ! "
*' You must think I'm easy, Mr. Trant," said the
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 349
poKce officer derisively. " You can't dear her ' by
dra^ng into this business some third person who
never existed. For there were no marks, and marks
would have been left by anybody who came to the
window 1 "
"Marks!" Trant echoed. "If you mean marks
on the window-sill and floor, I cannot show jfou any.
But the murderer did leave, of course, one mark which .
in the end will probably prove final, even to you, Siler.
The shell of the fifth shot is missing because he car-
ried it away in his revolver. But the bullet — it will
be a most remarkable coincidence, Siler, if you find
that the bullet which killed young Nevyberry was the
same as the four we know were shot from his wife's
little automatic revolver!"
" But the ice — the ice under the window I "
shouted the detective, " You saw for yourself how
her heels and ours cut through the crust ; and you saw
that there were no other heel marks, as there must have
been if anyone had stood outside the window to look
through it, or to fire through it, as you say! "
" When you have reached the point, Siler," said
Trant, more quietly, " where you can think of some
class of men who would have left no heel marks but
who could have produced the effect on young New-
berry's mind which his wife has described, you will
have gone far toward the discovery of the real mur-
derer of Walter Newberry. In the meantime, I have
clews enough ; and I hope to find help, which cannot
be given me by the city police, to enable me to bring
the murderer to justice. I will ask you, Mrs. New-
berry," he glanced toward the girl, "to let me have
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350 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
a (Aotc^raph of your husband, or " — he hesitated,
unable to tell from her manner whether she had beard
him — "I will stop on my way out to ask his photo-
grai^ from his father."
He glanced once more from the detective to the
pale girl, who, since she received notice of her arrest,
bad stood as though cut from marble, with small
hands tightly clenched and blind eyes fixed on vacancy ;
then he left them.
The next morning's papers, which carried startling
headlines of the murder of Walter Newberry,
brought Police Detective Siler a feeling of satisfaction
with his own work. The detective, it is true, had been
made a little doubtful of his own assumptions by
Trant's confident su^estlon of a third person as the
murderer. But he was reassured by the newspaper
accounts, though they contained merely an elaboration
of his own theory of an attack by the missionary's dis-
sipated son on his wife and her shooting him in self-
defense, which Siler had successfully impressed not
only on the police but on the reporters as well.
Even the discovery on the second morning that the
bullet which had now been taken from young New-
berry's body was of .38 calibre and,' as Trant had
predicted, not at all similar to the steel .32 calibre
bullets shot by the little automatic pistol which had
belonged to young Mrs. Newberry, did not disturb
the police officer's self-confidence, though it obviously
weakened the case against the wife. And when, on
the day following, Siler received orders to report at
an hour when he was not ordinarily on duty at the
West End Police Station, where Mrs. Newberry was
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 351
still held under arrest, he pushed open, with an air
of importance, the door of the captain's room, to
which the sharp nod of the desk sergeant had di-
rected him.
The detective's first glance showed him the room's
three occupants — the huge figure of Division Inspec-
tor of Police Walker, lolling in the chair before the
captain's desk; a slight, dark man — unknown to
Siler — near the window ; and Luther Trant at the
end of the room busy arranging a somewhat compli-
cated apparatus.
Trant, with a short nod of greeting, at once called
Siler to his aid.
With the detective's half-suspicious, half-respectfuI
assistance, the psychologist stretched across the end
of the room a white sheet about ten feet long, three
feet high, and divided into ten rectangles by nine verti-
cal lines. Opposite this, and upon a table about ten
feet away, he set up a small electrical contrivance, con-
sisting of two magnets and wire coils supporting a
small, round mirror about an inch in diameter and so
delicately set upon an axis that it turned at the slight-
est current coming to the coils below it. In front
of this little mirror Trant placed a shaded electric
lamp in such a position that its light was reflected
from the mirror upon the sheet at the end of the room.
Then he put down a carbon plate and a zinc plate at
the edge of the table; set a single cell battery under
the table; connected the battery with the coils con-
trolling the mirror, and connected them also with the
zinc and carbon plates.
" I suppose," Siler burst out finally with growing
352 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
curiosity which even the presence of the inspector
could not restrain, " I haven't got any business to ask
what all this machinery is for? "
" I was about to e3q>tain," Trant answered.
The psychologist rested his hands lightly on the
plates upon the table ; and, as he did so, a slight and,
in fact, imperceptible current passed throuf^ him from
the battery; but it was enough to slightly move the
light reflected upon the screen.
"This apparatus," the psychologist continued, as
he saw even Walker stare strat^y at this result, " is
the newest electric psychometer — or 'the soul ma-
chine,' as it is already becoming popularly known.
It is made after the models of Dr. Peterson, of Co-
lumbia University, and of the Swiss psychologist
Jung, of Zurich, and is probably the most delicate and
efficient instrument there is for detecting and regis-
tering human emotion — such as anxiety, fear, and
the sense of guilt Like the galvanometer which you
saw me use to catch Caylis, the Bronson murderer, in
the first case where I worked with the police, Inspec-
tor Walker," the psychologist turned to his tall friend,
" this psychometer — which is really an improved and
much more spectacular galvanometer — is already in
use by physicians to get the truth from patients when
they don't want to tell it. No man can control the
automatic reflexes which this apparatus was particu-
larly designed to register when the subject is examined
with his hands merely resting upon these two plates !
As you see," he placed his hands in the test position
again, " these are arranged so that the very slight cur-
rent passing through my arms — so sli^t that I catt-
THE ELEVfiMTtt HOUR 353
not feel it at all — moves that mirror and swings the
reflected light upon the screen according to the
amount of current coming through me. As you see
now, the light stays almost steady in the center of the
screen, because the amount of current coming through
me is very slight, as I am not under any stress or emo-
tion of any sort. But if I were confronted suddenly
with an object to arouse fear — if, for instance, it
reminded me of a crime I was trying to conceal — I
might be able to control every other evidence of my
fright, but I could not control the involuntary sweat-
ing of my glands and the automatic changes in the
blood pressure which allow the electric current to
flow more freely through me. The light would then
register immediately the amotmt of my emotion by the
distance it swung along the screen. But I will give
you a much more perfect demonstration of the instru-
ment," the psychologist concluded, while all three ex-
amined it with varying degrees of interest and respect,
" during the next half hour while I am makit^ the
test that I have planned to determine the murderer of
Walter Newberry."
" You mean," cried Siler, " you are going to test
the woman?"
" I might have thought it necessary to test Mrs.
Newberry," Trant answered, " if the evidence at the
house of the presence of a third person who was the
murderer had not been so plain as to make any test
of her useless."
"Then you — you still stick to that?" Siler de-
manded derisively.
" Thanks to Mr. Ferris, who is a special agent of the
354 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
United States government," Trant motioned to the
slight, dark man who was the fourth member of the
party, " I have been able to fix upon four men, one of
whom, I feel absolutely certain, shot and killed young
Newbeny through the window of the billiard-room
that night Inspector Walker has had all four ar-
rested and brought here. Mr. Ferris's experience and
thorou^ knowledge enabled me to lay my hands on
them much more easily than I had feared, though I
was able to go to him with information which would
have made their detection almost certain sooner or
later."
"You mean information you got at the house?"
asked Siler, less derisively, as he caught the attentive
attitude of the Inspector.
" Just so, Siler ; and it was as much at your dis-
posal as mine," Trant replied. " It seemed to mean
nothing to you that Walter Newberry knew the hour
at which he was to die — which made it seem more
like an execution than a murder ; or that in his terror
he raved that ' he would not do it — that they could
not make him do it ' — plainly meaning commit sui-
cide. Perhaps you don't know that it is an Oriental
custom, under certain conditions, to allow a man who
has been sentenced to death, the alternative of carry-
ing out the decree upon himself before a wrtain day
and hour that has been decided upon. But certainly
his ravings, as told us by his wife, ought to have given
you a clew, if you had heard only that sentence which
she believed an injunction not to sing loudly, but which
was in reality a name — Sing lo 1 "
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 355
"Then — it was a Chinaman!" cried Siler, as-
tounded.
" It could hardly have been any other sort of man,
Siler. For there is no other to whom it could be
commended as a matter of such vital importance
whether his mother had small feet or large, as was
shown in the other sentence Mrs. Newberry repeated
to us. But to a Chinaman that fact is of prime im-
portance; for it indicates whether he is of low birth,
when his mother would have had large feet, or of
high, in which case his women of the last generation
would have had their feet bound and made artificially ,
smaller. It was that sentence that sent me to Mr.
Ferris."
"I see — I see ! " exclaimed the crest-fallen detec-
tive. " But if it was a Chinaman, then, even with
that thing," he pointed to the instrument Trant had
just finished arranging, "you'll never get the truth
out of him. You can't get anything out of a China- .
man! Inspector Walker will tell you that! "
" I know, Siler," Trant answered, " that it is ab-
solutely hopeless to expect a confession from a China-
man; they are so accustomed to control the obvious
signs of fear, guilt, the slightest trace or hint of emo-
tion, even under the most rigid examination, that it
had come to be regarded as a characteristic of the
race. But the new psychology does not deal with
those obvious signs; it deals with the involuntary re-
actions in the blood and glands which are common to
all men alike — even to Chinamen 1 We have in
here," the psychologist looked to the door of an inner
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356 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER. TRANT
room, "the four Chinamen — Wong Bo, Billy Lee,
Sing Lo, and Sin Chung Ming.
" My first test is to see which of them — if any —
were acquainted with Waher Newberry; and next
who, if any of them, knew where he lived. For this
purpose I have brought here Newberry's photo-
graph and a view of his father's house, which I had
taken yesterday." He stooped to one of his suit-cases,
and took out first a dozen photographs of young men,
among them Newberry's; and about twenty views of
different houses, among which he mixed the one of
the Newberry house. " If you are ready, inspector,
I will go ahead with the test."
The psychologist threw open the door of the inner
room, showing the four Celestials in a stolid group,
and summoned first Wong Bo, who spoke English.
Trant, pushing a chair to the table, ordered the
Oriental to sit down and place his hands upon the
plates at the table's edge before him. The Chinaman
obeyed passively, as if expecting some sort of torture.
Immediately the li^t moved to the center of the
screen, where it had moved when Trant was touching
the plates, then kept on toward the next line beyond.
But as Wong Bo's first suspicious excitement — which
the movement of the light betrayed — subsided as he
felt nothing, the light returned to the center of the
screea
"You know why you have been brought here,
Wong Bo? " Trant demanded of the Chinaman.
" No," the Chinaman answered shortly, the light
moving six inches as he did so.
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE ELEVENTH HOXTO 357
" You know no reason at all why you should be
brought here?"
" No," the Chinaman answered calmly again, while
the light moved about six inches. Trant waited till
it returned to its nonnal position in the center of
the screen.
" Do you know an American named Paul Tobin,
Wong Bo?"
" No," the Chinaman answered. This time the
light remained stationary.
" Nor one named Ralph Murray? "
" No." Still the light stayed stationary.
" Hugh Larkin, Wong Bo? "
" No." Cabnly again, and with the lig^t quiet in
the center of the screen.
"Walter Newberry?" the psychologist asked in
precisely the same tone as he had put the preceding
question.
"No," the Chinaman answered laconically again;
but before he answered and almost before the name
was off Trant's lips, the light — which had stayed al-
most still at the recital of the other names — jumped
quickly to one side across the screen, crossed the first
division line and moved on toward the second and
stayed there. It had moved over a foot! But the
face of the Oriental was as quiet, patient, and im-
passive as before. The psycholopst made no com-
ment; but waited for the light slowly to return to
its nonnal position. Then he took up his pile of
portrait photographs.
"You say you do not know any of these men,
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358 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
Wong Bo," Trairt said quietly, but with the effect of
sending the light swinging half the distance again,
" You may know them, but not by name, so I want
you to look at these pictures." Trant showed him
the first. " Do you know that man, Wong Bo? "
" No,"- the Chinaman answered patiently. Trant
glanced quickly to see that the light stayed steady;
then showed him four more pictures of young men,
getting the same answer and precisely the same efifect
He showed the sixth picture — the photograph of
Walter Newberry.
"You know him?" Trant asked precisely in the
same tone as the others.
" No," Wong Bo answered with precisely the same
patient impassiveness. Not a muscle of his face
changed nor an eyelash quivered ; but as soon as Trant
had displayed this picture and the Chinaman's eyes
fell upon it, the light on the screen again jumped a
space and settled near the second line to the left I
Trant put aside the portraits and took up the pic-
tures of the houses. He waited again till the It^t
slowly resumed its central position on the screen.
" You have never gone to this house, Wong Bo? "
he showed a large, stone mansion, not at all like the
Newberry's.
" No," the Chinaman replied, impassive as ever.
The light remained steady.
"Nor to this — or this — or this?" Trant showed
three more with the same result. "Nor this?" he
displayed now a rear view of the Newberry house.
" No," quietly again ; but, as when Newberry's
name was mentioned and his picture shown, the li^t
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THE ELEVENTH HOUR 359
swung swiftly to one side and stood trembling, again
a foot and a half to the left of its normal position
when shown the other pictures!
" That will do for the present," Trant dismissed
Wot^ Bo. " Send him back to his cell, away from
the others," he said to Walker, with flashing eyes.
" We will try the rest — in turn I "
And rapidly, and with precisely the same questions
and test he examined Billy Lee and Sing Lo. Each
man made precisely the same denials and in the same
manner as Wong Bo, but to the increasing wonder
and surprise of Walker and the utter astonishment of
Siler, for each man the light stayed steady when they
were asked if they knew the other Americans named ;
while for each the light swung suddenly wide and
trembling when Walter Newberry's name was men-
tioned and when his picture was shown. And for
Sing Lo also — precisely as for Wong Bo — the light
wavered suddenly and swung, quivering, a foot and a
half to the left when they were shown the Newberry
home.
" Bring in Sin Chimg Ming! " the psychologist com-
manded with subdued fire shining in his eyes; but
he hid all signs of excitement himself, as the govern-
ment agent handed the last Oriental over to him.
Trant set the yellow hands over the plates and started
his questions in the same quiet tone as before. For
the first two questions the light moved three times,
as it had done with the others — and as even Ferris
and Siler now seemed to be expecting it to move —
only this time it seemed even to the police officers to
swing a little wider. And at Walter Newberry's
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360 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
name, for the first time in any of the tests, it crossed
the second dividing line at the first impulse; moved
toward the third and stayed there.
Even Siler now waited with bated breath, as Trant
took up his pile of pictures; and, as he came to the
picture of the murdered man and the house where he
had lived, for the second and third time in that single
test the light — stationary when Sin Chung Ming
glanced at the other photographs — trembled across
the screen to the third dividing line. For the others
it had moved hardly eighteen inches, but when Sin
Chung Ming saw the pictured face of the murdered
man it had swung almost three feet.
" Inspector Walker," Trant drew the giant officer
aside, "this is the man, I think, for the final test.
You will carry it out as I arranged with you? "
" Sin Chung Ming," the psychologist turned back
to the Chinaman swiftly, as the inspector, without
comment, left the room, " you have been watching the
little light, have you not? You saw it move? It
moved when you lied. Sin Chung Mingl It will
always move when you lie. It moved when you said
you did not know Walter Newberry; it moved when
you saw his picture, and pretended not to know it;
it moved when you saw the picture of his house, which
you said you did not know ! Look how it is moving
now, as you grow afraid that you have betrayed your
secret to us now. Sin Chung Ming — as you have and
will," Trant pointed to the swinging light in triumph.
A low knock sounded on the door; but Trant,
watching the light now slowly returning to its normal
place, waited an instant more. Then he himself
Dgitiz^dbv Google
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 361
rapped gently on the table. The door to the next
room — directly opposite the Chinaman's eyes —
swung slowly open; and through it they could see
the scene which Trant and the inspector had prepared.
In the middle of the floor knelt young Mrs. Newberry,
her back toward them, her hands pressed against her
face; and six feet beyond a man stood, facing her.
Ferris and Siler looked in astonishment at Trant, for
there was no meaning in this scene to them at first
Then Siler remembered suddenly, and Ferris guessed,
that such must have been the scene in the billiard
room that night at the Newberry's ; thus it must have
been seen by the man who tired through the window
at young Newberry that night — and to him, but to
that man only — it would bring a shock of terror.
And appreciating this, they stared swiftly, first at the
Chinaman's passionless and immobile face; then at
the light upon the screen and saw it leap across bar
after bar. And, as the Chinaman saw it, and knew
that it was betraying him, it leaped and leaped again;
swung wider and wider ; until at last the impassiveness
of the Celestial's attitude was for an instant broken,
and Sin Chung Ming snatched his hands from the
metal plates.
" I had guessed that anyway. Sin Chung Ming,"
Trant swiftly closed the door, as Walker returned to
the room, " for your feeling at sound of Walter New-
berry's name and the sight of his picture was so much
deeper than aity of the rest. So, it was you that fired
the shot, after watching the house with Sing Lo and
Wong Bo, as their fright when they saw the picture
of the house showed, while Billy Lee was not needed at
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362 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
the house that night and has never seen it, though he
knew what was to be done. That is all I need of
you now, Stn Chung Ming; for I have learned what
I wanted to kndw."
As the fourth of the Chinamen was led away to
his cell, Trant turned back to Inspector Walker and
Siler.
" I must acknowledge my debt to Mr. Ferris," he
said with a glance toward the man of whom he spoke,
'* for help in solving this case, without which I could
not have brought it to a conclusion without giving
much more time to the investigation. Mr. Ferris, as
you already know. Inspector Walker, as special agent
for the Government, has for years been enga^d in
the enforcement of the Chinese exclusion laws. The
sentence repeated to us by Mrs. Newberry, in which
her husband, deHrious with fright, seemed warning
some one that to acknowledge that his mother had
large feet would prevent him from ' getting in,'
seemed to me to establish a connection between young
Newberry's terror and an evasion of the exclusion
laws. I went at once to Mr. Ferris to test this idea,
and he recognized its application at once.
"As the exclusion laws against all but a very small
class of Chinese are being more strictly enforced than
ever before, there has been a large and increasing
traffic among the Chinese in bogus papers to procure
entry into this country of Chinese belonging to the
excluded classes. And in addition to being supplied
with forged official papers for entry, as Ferris can
tell you, the applicants of the classes excluded are
supplied with regular ' coaching papers ' so that they
bv Google
bv Google
THE ELEVENTH HOUR 363
can correctly answer the questions asked them at San
Francisco or Seattle. The injunction to 'say your
mother had small feet ' was recognized at once by
Ferris as one of the instructions of the 'coaching
paper ' to get a laborer entered as a man of the mer-
chant class.
" Mr. Ferris and I together investigated the career
of Walter Newberry after his return from China,
where he had spent nearly the whole of his life, and
we were able to establish, as we expected we might,
a connection between him and the Sing Lo Trading
Company — a Chinese company which Mr. Ferris had
long suspected of dealing in fraudulent admission
papers, though he had never been able to bring hotat
to them any proof. We found, also, that young New-
berry had spent and gambled away much more
money in the last few months than he had legitimately
received. And we were able to make certain that this
money had come to him through the Sing Lo Com-
pany, though obviously not for such uses. As it is
not an uncommon thing for Chinese engaged in the
fraudulent bringing in of their countrymen to confide
part of the business to unprincipled Americans —
especially as all papers have to be vised by American
consuls and disputes settled in American courts — we
became certain that young Newberry had been-serving
the Sing Lo Company in this capacity. It was plain
that he had diverted a large amount of money from
the ends for which the members of the Sing Lo
Company had intended it to be used and his actions
as described by his wife, made it equally certain that
he bad been sentenced by the members of the Compai^
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364 THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF LUTHER TRANT
to death, and given the Oriental alternative of com-
mitting suicide before eleven o'clodc on Sunday night,
or elie the company would take the carrying out of the
sentence into their own hands. Now whether it will
be possible to convict all four of the Chinamen we had
here for complicity in his murder, or whether Sin
Chung Ming, who fired the shot will be the only one
tried, I do not know. But the others, in any case,
will be turned over to Mr. Ferris for prosecution for
their evasions of the exclusion laws."
" Exclusion laws! " exclaimed the pant inspector —
" Mr. Ferris can look after his exclusion laws if he
wants. What we want, Trant, is to convict these
men for the murder of Walter Ne*berry ; and know-
ing what we do now, we will get a confession out of
them some way ! "
" I doubt whether, under the circumstances, any
force could be brought to bear that would extort any
formal confession frcon these Chinamen," the Govern-
ment agent shook his head. " They would lose their
' face ' and with it all reputation among their country-
men."
But at this instant the door of the room was
dashed open and the flushed face of the desk sergeant
appeared before them.
"Inspector!" he cried sharply, "the chink's dead!
The last one. Sin Chung Ming, choked himself as
soon as he was alone in his cell! "
The inspector turned to Trant who looked to Ferris,
first, in his surprise.
"What? Ah — I seel" the immigration officer
comprehended after an instant " He considered
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