by Robert Barr
CHAPTER XVI. JENNIE VISITS A MODERN WIZARD IN HIS MAGIC ATTIC.
When Jennie entered the carriage in which her friend was waiting, theother cried, "Well, have you seen him?" apparently meaning the Directorof Police.
"No, I did not see him, but I talked with him over the telephone. I wishyou could have heard our conversation; it was the funniest interview Iever took part in. Two or three times I had to shut off the instrument,fearing the Director would hear me laugh. I am afraid that before thisbusiness is ended you will be very sorry I am a guest at your house. Iknow I shall end by getting myself into an Austrian prison. Just thinkof it! Here have I been 'holding up' the Chief of Police in thisImperial city as if I were a wild western brigand. I have beenterrorizing the man, brow-beating him, threatening him, and he theperson who has the liberty of all Vienna in his hands; who can have medragged off to a dungeon-cell any time he likes to give the order."
"Not from the Palace Steinheimer," said the Princess, with decision.
"Well, he might hesitate about that; yet, nevertheless, it is too funnyto think that a mere newspaper woman, coming into a city which containsonly one or two of her friends, should dare to talk to the Chief ofPolice as I have done to-night, and force him actually to beg that Ishall remain in the city and continue to assist him."
"Tell me what you said," asked the Princess eagerly; and Jennie relatedall that had passed between them over the telephone.
"And do you mean to say calmly that you are going to give that man theright to use the astounding information you have acquired, and allow himto accept complacently all the _kudos_ that such a discovery entitlesyou to?"
"Why, certainly," replied Jennie. "What good is the _kudos_ to me? Allthe credit I desire I get in the office of the _Daily Bugle_ in London."
"But, you silly girl, holding such a secret as you held, you could havemade your fortune," insisted the practical Princess, for the principleswhich had been instilled into her during a youth spent in Chicago hadnot been entirely eradicated by residence in Vienna. "If you had gone tothe Government and said, 'How much will you give me if I restore to youthe missing gold?' just imagine what their answer would be."
"Yes, I suppose there was money in the scheme if it had really been asecret. But you forget that to-morrow morning the Chief of Police wouldhave known as much as he knows to-night. Of course, if I had gone aloneto the Treasury vault and kept my discovery to myself, I might, perhaps,have 'held up' the Government of Austria-Hungary as successfully as I'held up' the Chief of Police to-night. But with the Director watchingeverything I did, and going with me to the chemist, there was nopossibility of keeping the matter a secret."
"Well, Jennie, all I can say is that you are a very foolish girl. Hereyou are, working hard, as you said in one of your letters, merely tomake a living, and now, with the greatest nonchalance, you allow afortune to slip through your fingers. I am simply not going to allowthis. I shall tell my husband all that has happened, and he will makethe Government treat you honestly; if not generously. I assure you,Jennie, that Lord Donal--no, I won't mention his name, since you protestso strenuously--but the future young man, whoever he is, will not thinkthe less of you because you come to him with a handsome dowry. But herewe are at home; and I won't say another word on the subject if it annoysyou."
When Jennie reached her delightful apartments--which looked even moreluxuriantly comfortable bathed in the soft radiance that now floodedthem from quiet-toned shaded lamps than they did in the more garishlight of day--she walked up and down her sitting-room in deepmeditation. She was in a quandary--whether or not to risk sending acoded telegram to her paper was the question that presented itself toher. If she were sure that no one else would learn the news, she wouldprefer to wait until she had further particulars of the Treasurycatastrophe. A good deal would depend on whether or not the Director ofPolice took anyone into his confidence that night. If he did not, hewould be aware that only he and the girl possessed this importantpiece of news. If a full account of the discovery appeared in the nextmorning's _Daily Bugle_, then, when that paper arrived in Vienna, oreven before, if a synopsis were telegraphed to the Government, as it wasmorally certain to be, the Director would know at once that she was thecorrespondent of the newspaper whom he was so anxious to frighten outof Vienna. On the other hand, her friendship with the Princess vonSteinheimer gave her such influence with the Chief's superiors, that,after the lesson she had taught him, he might hesitate to make any moveagainst her. Then, again, the news that to-night belonged to two personsmight on the morrow come to the knowledge of all the correspondents inVienna, and her efforts, so far as the _Bugle_ was concerned, would havebeen in vain. This consideration decided the girl, and, casting off allsign of hesitation, she sat down at her writing table and began thefirst chapter of the solution of the Vienna mystery. Her openingsentence was exceedingly diplomatic: "The Chief of Police of Vienna hasmade a most startling discovery." Beginning thus, she went on to detailsof the discovery she had that day made. When her account was finishedand codified, she went down to her hostess and said,--
"Princess, I want a trustworthy man, who will take a long telegram tothe central telegraph office, pay for it, and come away quickly beforeanyone can ask him inconvenient questions."
"Would it not be better to call a Dienstmanner?"
"A Dienstmanner? That is your commissionaire, or telegraph messenger?No, I think not. They are all numbered and can be traced."
"Oh, I know!" cried the Princess; "I will send our coachman. He will beout of his livery now, and he is a most reliable man; he will not answerinconvenient questions, or any others, even if they are asked."
To her telegram for publication Jennie had added a private despatch tothe editor, stating that it would be rather inconvenient for her if hepublished the account next morning, but she left the decision entirelywith him. Here was the news, and if he thought it worth the risk,he might hold it over; if not, he was to print it regardless ofconsequences.
As a matter of fact, the editor, with fear and trembling, held the newsfor a day, so that he might not embarrass his fair representative, butso anxious was he, that he sat up all night until the other papers wereout, and he heaved a sigh of relief when, on glancing over them, hefound that not one of them contained an inkling of the informationlocked up in his desk. And so he dropped off to sleep when the day wasbreaking. Next night he had nearly as much anxiety, for although the_Bugle_ would contain the news, other papers might have it as well, andthus for the second time he waited in his office until the other sheets,wet from the press, were brought to him. Again fortune favoured him, andthe triumph belonged to the _Bugle_ alone.
The morning after her interview with the Director of Police, Jennie,taking a small hand-satchel, in which she placed the various bottlescontaining the different dusts which the chemist had separated, wentabroad alone, and hailing a fiacre, gave the driver the address ofProfessor Carl Seigfried. The carriage of the Princess was always atthe disposal of the girl, but on this occasion she did not wish to beembarrassed with so pretentious an equipage. The cab took her into astreet lined with tall edifices and left her at the number she hadgiven the driver. The building seemed to be one let out in flats andtenements; she mounted stair after stair, and only at the very top didshe see the Professor's name painted on a door. Here she rapped severaltimes without any attention being paid to her summons, but at last thedoor was opened partially by a man whom she took, quite accurately,to be the Professor himself. His head was white; and his face deeplywrinkled. He glared at her through his glasses, and said sharply, "Younglady, you have made a mistake; these are the rooms of Professor CarlSeigfried."
"It is Professor Carl Seigfried that I wish to see," replied the girlhurriedly, as the old man was preparing to shut the door.
"What do you want with him?"
"I want some information from him about explosives. I have been toldthat he knows more about explosives than any other man living."
"Quite right--he does. What t
hen?"
"An explosion has taken place producing the most remarkable results.They say that neither dynamite nor any other known force could have hadsuch an effect on metals and minerals as this power has had."
"Ah, dynamite is a toy for children!" cried the old man, opening thedoor a little further and exhibiting an interest which had, up to thatmoment, been absent from his manner. "Well, where did this explosiontake place? Do you wish me to go and see it?"
"Perhaps so, later on. At present I wish to show you some of itseffects, but I don't propose to do this standing here in thepassageway."
"Quite right--quite right," hastily ejaculated the old scientist,throwing the door wide open. "Of course, I am not accustomed to visitsfrom fashionable young ladies, and I thought at first there had beena mistake; but if you have any real scientific problem, I shall bedelighted to give my attention to it. What may appear very extraordinaryto the lay mind will doubtless prove fully explainable by scientists.Come in, come in."
The old man shut the door behind her, and led her along a dark passage,into a large apartment, whose ceiling was the roof of the building.At first sight it seemed in amazing disorder. Huge as it was, it wascluttered with curious shaped machines and instruments. A twistedconglomeration of glass tubing, bent into fantastic tangles, stood ona central table, and had evidently been occupying the Professor'sattention at the time he was interrupted. The place was lined withshelving, where the walls were not occupied by cupboards, and everyshelf was burdened with bottles and apparatus of different kinds.Whatever care Professor Seigfried took of his apparatus, he seemed tohave little for his furniture. There was hardly a decent chair in theroom, except one deep arm-chair, covered with a tiger's skin, in whichthe Professor evidently took his ease while meditating or watching theprogress of an experiment. This chair he did not offer to the younglady; in fact, he did not offer her a seat at all, but sank down onthe tiger's skin himself, placed the tips of his fingers together, andglared at her through his glittering glasses.
"Now, young woman," he said abruptly, "what have you brought for me?Don't begin to chatter, for my time is valuable. Show me what you havebrought, and I will tell you all about it; and most likely a very simplething it is."
Jennie, interested in so rude a man, smiled, drew up the least decrepitbench she could find, and sat down, in spite of the angry mutteringsof her irritated host. Then she opened her satchel, took out the smallbottle of gold, and handed it to him without a word. The old manreceived it somewhat contemptuously, shook it backward and forwardwithout extracting the cork, adjusted his glasses, then suddenly seemedto take a nervous interest in the material presented to him. He rose andwent nearer the light. Drawing out the cork with trembling hands, hepoured some of the contents into his open palm. The result was startlingenough. The old man flung up his hands, letting the vial crash into athousand pieces on the floor. He staggered forward, shrieking, "Ah, meinGott--mein Gott!"
Then, to the consternation of Jennie, who had already risen in terrorfrom her chair, the scientist plunged forward on his face. The girl haddifficulty in repressing a shriek. She looked round hurriedly for a bellto ring, but apparently there was none. She tried to open the door andcry for help, but in her excitement could neither find handle nor latch.It seemed to be locked, and the key, doubtless, was in the Professor'spocket. She thought at first that he had dropped dead, but the continuedmoaning as he lay on the floor convinced her of her error. She bent overhim anxiously and cried, "What can I do to help you?"
With a struggle he muttered, "The bottle, the bottle, in the cupboardbehind you."
She hurriedly flung open the doors of the cupboard indicated, and founda bottle of brandy, and a glass, which she partly filled. The old manhad with an effort struggled into a sitting posture, and she held theglass of fiery liquid to his pallid lips. He gulped down the brandy, andgasped, "I feel better now. Help me to my chair."
Assisting him to his feet, she supported him to his arm-chair, when heshook himself free, crying angrily, "Let me alone! Don't you see I amall right again?"
The girl stood aside, and the Professor dropped into his chair, hisnervous hands vibrating on his knees. For a long interval nothing wassaid by either, and the girl at last seated herself on the bench she hadformerly occupied. The next words the old man spoke were, "Who sent youhere?"
"No one, I came of my own accord. I wished to meet someone who had alarge knowledge of explosives, and Herr Feltz, the chemist, gave me youraddress."
"Herr Feltz! Herr Feltz!" he repeated. "So he sent you here?"
"No one sent me here," insisted the girl. "It is as I tell you. HerrFeltz merely gave me your address."
"Where did you get that powdered gold?"
"It came from the _debris_ of an explosion."
"I know, you said that before. Where was the explosion? Who caused it?"
"That I don't know."
"Don't you know where the explosion was?"
"Yes, I know where the explosion was, but I don't know who caused it."
"Who sent you here?"
"I tell you no one sent me here."
"That is not true, the man who caused the explosion sent you here. Youare his minion. What do you expect to find out from me?"
"I expect to learn what explosive was used to produce the result thatseemed to have such a remarkable effect on you."
"Why do you say that? It had no effect on me. My heart is weak. I amsubject to such attacks, and I ward them off with brandy. Some day theywill kill me. Then you won't learn any secrets from a dead man, willyou?"
"I hope, Professor Seigfried, that you have many years yet to live, andI must further add that I did not expect such a reception as I havereceived from a man of science, as I was told you were. If you have noinformation to give to me, very well, that ends it; all you have to dois to say so."
"Who sent you here?"
"No one, as I have repeated once or twice. If anyone had, I would givehim my opinion of the errand when I got back. You refuse, then, to tellme anything about the explosive that powdered the gold?"
"Refuse? Of course I refuse! What did you expect? I suppose the man whosent you here thought, because you were an engaging young woman and Ian old dotard, I would gabble to you the results of a life's work. Oh,no, no, no; but I am not an old dotard. I have many years to live yet."
"I hope so. Well, I must bid you good morning. I shall go to someoneelse."
The old man showed his teeth in a forbidding grin.
"It is useless. Your bottle is broken, and the material it contained isdissipated. Not a trace of it is left."
He waved his thin, emaciated hand in the air as he spoke.
"Oh, that doesn't matter in the least," said Jennie. "I have severalother bottles here in my satchel."
The Professor placed his hands on the arms of his chair, and slowlyraised himself to his feet.
"You have others," he cried, "other bottles? Let me see them--let me seethem!"
"No," replied Jennie, "I won't."
With a speed which, after his recent collapse, Jennie had not expected,the Professor ambled round to the door and placed his back againstit. The glasses over his eyes seemed to sparkle as if with fire. Histalon-like fingers crooked rigidly. He breathed rapidly, and wasevidently labouring under intense excitement.
"Who knows you came up to see me?" he whispered hoarsely, glaring ather.
Jennie, having arisen, stood there, smoothing down her perfectly fittingglove, and answered with a calmness she was far from feeling,--
"Who knows I am here? No one but the Director of Police."
"Oh, the Director of Police!" echoed the Professor, quite palpablyabashed by the unexpected answer. The rigidity of his attitude relaxed,and he became once more the old man he had appeared as he sat in a heapin his chair. "You will excuse me," he muttered, edging round towardsthe chair again; "I was excited."
"I noticed that you were, Professor. But before you sit down again,please unlock that door."
"
Why?" he asked, pausing on his way to the chair.
"Because I wish it open."
"And I," he said in a higher tone, "wish it to remain locked until wehave come to some understanding. I can't let you go out now; but I shallpermit you to go unmolested as soon as you have made some explanation tome."
"If you do not unlock the door immediately I shall take this machine andfling it through the front window out on the street. The crashing glasson the pavement will soon bring someone to my rescue, Professor, and, asI have a voice of my own and small hesitation about shouting, I shallhave little difficulty in directing the strangers where to come."
As Jennie spoke she moved swiftly towards the table on which stood thestrange aggregation of reflectors and bent glass tubing.
"No, no, no!" screamed the Professor, springing between her and thetable. "Touch anything but that--anything but that. Do not disturb it aninch--there is danger--death not only to you and me, but perhaps to thewhole city. Keep away from it!"
"Very well, then," said Jennie, stepping back in spite of her endeavourto maintain her self-control; "open the door. Open both doors andleave them so. After that, if you remain seated in your chair, Ishall not touch the machine, nor shall I leave until I make theexplanations you require, and you have answered some questions thatI shall ask. But I must have a clear way to the stair, in case youshould become excited again."
"I'll unlock the doors; I'll unlock both doors," replied the old mantremulously, fumbling about in his pockets for his keys. "But keep awayfrom that machine, unless you want to bring swift destruction on usall."
With an eagerness that retarded his speed, the Professor, constantlylooking over his shoulder at his visitor, unlocked the first door, thenhastily he flung open the second, and tottered back to his chair, wherehe collapsed on the tiger skin, trembling and exhausted.
"We may be overheard," he whined. "One can never tell who may sneakquietly up the stair. I am surrounded by spies trying to find out what Iam doing."
"Wait a moment," said Jennie.
She went quickly to the outer door, found that it closed with a springlatch, opened and shut it two or three times until she was perfectlyfamiliar with its workings, then she closed it, drew the inner doornearly shut, and sat down.
"There," she said, "we are quite safe from interruption, ProfessorSeigfried; but I must request you not to move from your chair."
"I have no intention of doing so," murmured the old man. "Who sent you?You said you would tell me. I think you owe me an explanation."
"I think you owe me one," replied the girl. "As I told you before,no one sent me. I came here entirely of my own accord, and I shallendeavour to make clear to you exactly why I came. Some time ago thereoccurred in this city a terrific explosion--"
"Where? When?" exclaimed the old man, placing his hands on the arms ofhis chair, as if he would rise to his feet.
"Sit where you are," commanded Jennie firmly, "and I shall tell you allI can about it. The Government, for reasons of its own, desires to keepthe fact of this explosion a secret, and thus very few people outsideof official circles know anything about it. I am trying to discover thecause of that disaster."
"Are you--are you working on behalf of the Government?" asked the oldman eagerly, a tremor of fear in his quavering voice.
"No. I am conducting my investigations quite independently of theGovernment."
"But why? But why? That is what I don't understand."
"I would very much rather not answer that question."
"But that question--everything is involved in that question. I must knowwhy you are here. If you are not in the employ of the Government, inwhose employ are you?"
"If I tell you," said Jennie with some hesitation, "will you keep what Isay a secret?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" cried the scientist impatiently.
"Well, I am in the service of a London daily newspaper."
"I see, I see; and they have sent you here to publish broadcast overthe world all you can find out of my doings. I knew you were a spy themoment I saw you. I should never have let you in."
"My dear sir, the London paper is not even aware of your existence. Theyhave not sent me to you at all. They have sent me to learn, if possible,the cause of the explosion I spoke of. I took some of the _debris_ toHerr Feltz to analyze it, and he said he had never seen gold, iron,feldspar, and all that, reduced to such fine, impalpable grains as wasthe case with the sample I left with him. I then asked him who in Viennaknew most about explosives, and he gave me your address. That is why Iam here."
"But the explosion--you have not told me when and where it occurred!"
"That, as I have said, is a Government secret."
"But you stated you are not in the Government employ, therefore it canbe no breach of confidence if you let me have full particulars."
"I suppose not. Very well, then, the explosion occurred after midnighton the seventeenth in the vault of the Treasury."
The old man, in spite of the prohibition, rose uncertainly to his feet.
Jennie sprang up and said menacingly, "Stay where you are!"
"I am not going to touch you. If you are so suspicious of every moveI make, then go yourself and bring me what I want. There is a map ofVienna pinned against the wall yonder. Bring it to me."
Jennie proceeded in the direction indicated. It was an ordinary map ofthe city of Vienna, and as Jennie took it down she noticed that acrossthe southern part of the city a semi-circular line in pencil had beendrawn. Examining it more closely, she saw that the stationary part ofthe compass had been placed on the spot where stood the building whichcontained the Professor's studio. She paid closer attention to thepencil mark and observed that it passed through the Treasury building.
"Don't look at that map!" shrieked the Professor, beating the air withhis hands. "I asked you to bring it to me. Can't you do a simple actionlike that without spying about?"
Jennie rapidly unfastened the paper from the wall and brought it to him.The scientist scrutinized it closely, adjusting his glasses the betterto see, then deliberately tore the map into fragments, numerous andminute. He rose--and this time Jennie made no protest--went to thewindow, opened it, and flung the fluttering bits of paper out into theair, the strong wind carrying them far over the roofs of Vienna. Closingthe casement, he came back to his chair.
"Was--was anyone hurt at this explosion?" he asked presently.
"Yes, four men were killed instantly, a dozen were seriously injured andare now in hospital."
"Oh, my God--my God!" cried the old man, covering his face with hishands, swaying from side to side in his chair like a man tortured withagony and remorse. At last he lifted a face that had grown more pinchedand yellow within the last few minutes.
"I can tell you nothing," he said, moistening his parched lips.
"You mean that you _will_ tell me nothing, for I see plainly that youknow everything."
"I knew nothing of any explosion until you spoke of it. What have I todo with the Treasury or the Government?"
"That is just what I want to know."
"It is absurd. I am no conspirator, but a man of learning."
"Then you have nothing to fear, Herr Seigfried. If you are innocent, whyare you so loth to give me any assistance in this matter?"
"It has nothing to do with me. I am a scientist--I am a scientist. AllI wish is to be left alone with my studies. I have nothing to do withgovernments or newspapers, or anything belonging to them."
Jennie sat tracing a pattern on the dusty floor with the point of herparasol. She spoke very quietly:--
"The pencilled line which you drew on the map of Vienna passed throughthe Treasury building; the centre of the circle was this garret. Why didyou draw that pencilled semi-circle? Why were you anxious that I shouldnot see you had done so? Why did you destroy the map?"
Professor Seigfried sat there looking at her with dropped jaw, but hemade no reply.
"If you will excuse my saying so," the girl went on, "you are actingver
y childishly. It is evident to me that you are no criminal, yet ifthe Director of Police had been in my place he would have arrested youlong ago, and that merely because of your own foolish actions."
"The map proved nothing," he said at last, haltingly, "and besides, bothyou and the Director will now have some difficulty in finding it."
"That is further proof of your folly. The Director doesn't need to findit. I am here to testify that I saw the map, saw the curved line passingthrough the Treasury, and saw you destroy what you thought was anincriminating piece of evidence. It would be much better if you woulddeal as frankly with me as I have done with you. Then I shall give youthe best advice I can--if my advice will be of any assistance to you."
"Yes, and publish it to all the world."
"It will have to be published to all the world in any case, for, if Ileave here without full knowledge, I will simply go to the police officeand there tell what I have learned in this room."
"And if I do speak, you will still go to the Director of the Police andtell him what you have discovered."
"No, I give you my word that I will not."
"What guarantee have I of that?" asked the old man suspiciously.
"No guarantee at all except my word!"
"Will you promise not to print in your paper what I tell you?"
"No, I cannot promise that!"
"Still, the newspaper doesn't matter," continued the scientist. "Thestory would be valueless to you, because no one would believe it. Thereis little use in printing a story in a newspaper that will be laughedat, is there? However, I think you are honest, otherwise you would havepromised not to print a line of what I tell you, and then I should haveknown you were lying. It was as easy to promise that as to say you wouldnot tell the Director of Police. I thought at first some scientificrival had sent you here to play the spy on me, and learn what I wasdoing. I assure you I heard nothing about the explosion you speak of,yet I was certain it had occurred somewhere along that line which I drewon the map. I had hoped it was not serious, and begun to believe it wasnot. The anxiety of the last month has nearly driven me insane, and, asyou say quite truly, my actions have been childish." The old man in hisexcitement had risen from his chair and was now pacing up and down theroom, running his fingers distractedly through his long white hair, andtalking more to himself than to his auditor.
Jennie had edged her chair nearer to the door, and had made no protestagainst his rising, fearing to interrupt his flow of talk and againarouse his suspicions.
"I have no wish to protect my inventions. I have never taken out apatent in my life. What I discover I give freely to the world, but Iwill not be robbed of my reputation as a scientist. I want my name to godown to posterity among those of the great discoverers. You talked justnow of going to the police and telling them what you knew. Foolishcreature! You could no more have gone to the central police officewithout my permission, or against my will, than you could go to thewindow and whistle back those bits of paper I scattered to the winds.Before you reached the bottom of the stairs I could have laid Viennain a mass of ruins. Yes, I could in all probability have blown up theentire Empire of Austria. The truth is, that I do not know the limit ofmy power, nor dare I test it."
"Oh, this is a madman!" thought Jennie, as she edged still nearer to thedoor. The old man paused in his walk and turned fiercely upon her.
"You don't believe me?" he said.
"No, I do not," she answered, the colour leaving her cheeks.
The aged wizard gave utterance to a hideous chuckle. He took from one ofhis numerous shelves a hammer-head without the handle, and for a momentJennie thought he was going to attack her; but he merely handed themetal to her and said,--
"Break that in two. Place it between your palms and grind it to powder."
"You know that is absurd; I cannot do it."
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because it is of steel."
"That is no reason. Why can't you do it?"
He glared at her fiercely over his glasses, and she saw in his wild eyeall the enthusiasm of an instructor enlightening a pupil.
"I'll tell you why you can't do it; because every minute particle ofit is held together by an enormous force. It may be heated red-hotand beaten into this shape and that, but still the force hangs on astenaciously as the grip of a giant. Now suppose I had some substance,a drop of which, placed on that piece of iron, would release the forcewhich holds the particles together--what would happen?"
"I don't know," replied Jennie.
"Oh, yes you do!" cried the Professor impatiently; "but you are likeevery other woman--you won't take the trouble to think. What wouldhappen is this. The force that held the particles together would bereleased, and the hammer would fall to powder like that gold you showedme. The explosion that followed, caused by the sudden release of thepower, would probably wreck this room and extinguish both our lives. Youunderstand that, do you not?"
"Yes, I think I do."
"Well, here is something you won't understand, and probably won'tbelieve when you hear it. There is but one force in this world and butone particle of matter. There is only one element, which is the basis ofeverything. All the different shapes and conditions of things that wesee are caused by a mere variation of that force in conjunction withnumbers of that particle. Am I getting beyond your depth?"
"I am afraid you are, Professor."
"Of course; I know what feeble brains the average woman is possessedof; still, try and keep that in your mind. Now listen to this. I havediscovered how to disunite that force and that particle. I can, witha touch, fling loose upon this earth a giant whose strength isirresistible and immeasurable."
"Then why object to making your discovery public?"
"In the first place, because there are still a thousand things and moreto be learned along such a line of investigation. The moment a manannounces his discoveries, he is first ridiculed, then, when the truthof what he affirms is proven, there rise in every part of the worldother men who say that they knew all about it ten years ago, and willprove it too--at least, far enough to delude a gullible world; in thesecond because I am a humane man, I hesitate to spread broadcast aknowledge that would enable any fool to destroy the universe. Then thereis a third reason. There is another who, I believe, has discovered howto make this force loosen its grip on the particle--that is Keely, ofPhiladelphia, in the United States--"
"What! You don't mean the Keely motor man?" cried Jennie, laughing."That arrant humbug! Why, all the papers in the world have exposed hisridiculous pretensions; he has done nothing but spend other people'smoney."
"Yes, the newspapers have ridiculed him. Human beings have, since thebeginning of the world, stoned their prophets. Nevertheless, he hasliberated a force that no gauge made by man can measure. He has beenboastful, if you like, and has said that with a teacupful of water hewould drive a steamship across the Atlantic. I have been silent, workingaway with my eye on him, and he has been working away with his eye onme, for each knows what the other is doing. If either of us discovershow to control this force, then that man's name will go down toposterity for ever. He has not yet been able to do it; neither have I.There is still another difference between us. He appears to be able toloosen that force in his own presence; I can only do it at a distance.All my experiments lately have been in the direction of makingmodifications with this machine, so as to liberate the force withinthe compass, say, of this room; but the problem has baffled me. Theinvisible rays which this machine sends out, and which will penetratestone, iron, wood, or any other substance, must unite at a focus, andI have not been able to bring that focus nearer me than something overhalf a mile. Last summer I went to an uninhabited part of Switzerlandand there continued my experiments. I blew up at will rocks and boulderson the mountain sides, the distances varying from a mile to half a mile.I examined the results of the disintegration, and when you came in andshowed me that gold, I recognized at once that someone had discoveredthe secret I have been trying to fathom for the
last ten years. Ithought that perhaps you had come from Keely. I am now convinced thatthe explosion you speak of in the Treasury was caused by myself. Thismachine, which you so recklessly threatened to throw out of the window,accidentally slipped from its support when I was working here sometime after midnight on the seventeenth. I placed it immediately as yousee it now, where it throws its rays into mid-air, and is consequentlyharmless; but I knew an explosion must have taken place in Viennasomewhere within the radius of half a mile. I drew the pencilledsemi-circle that you saw on the map of Vienna, for in my excitementin placing the machine upright I had not noticed exactly where it hadpointed, but I knew that, along the line I had drawn, an explosion musthave occurred, and could only hope that it had not been a serious one,which it seems it was. I waited and waited, hardly daring to leave myattic, but hearing no news of any disaster, I was torn between theanxiety that would naturally come to any humane man in my positionwho did not wish to destroy life, and the fear that, if nothing hadoccurred, I had not actually made the discovery I thought I had made.You spoke of my actions being childish; but when I realized that I hadmyself been the cause of the explosion, a fear of criminal prosecutioncame over me. Not that I should object to imprisonment if they wouldallow me to continue my experiments; but that, doubtless, they would notdo, for the authorities know nothing of science, and care less."
In spite of her initial scepticism, Jennie found herself graduallycoming to believe in the efficiency of the harmless-looking mechanism ofglass and iron which she saw on the table before her, and a sensation ofhorror held her spellbound as she gazed at it. Its awful possibilitiesbegan slowly to develop in her mind, and she asked breathlessly,--"Whatwould happen if you were to turn that machine and point it towards thecentre of the earth?"
"I told you what would happen. Vienna would lie in ruins, and possiblythe whole Austrian Empire, and perhaps some adjoining countries wouldbecome a mass of impalpable dust. It may be that the world itself woulddissolve. I cannot tell what the magnitude of the result might be, forI have not dared to risk the experiment."
"Oh, this is too frightful to think about," she cried. "You must destroythe machine, Professor, and you must never make another."
"What! And give up the hope that my name will descend to posterity?"
"Professor Seigfried, when once this machine becomes known to the world,there will be no posterity for your name to descend to. With the presenthatred of nation against nation, with different countries full of thoseunimprisoned maniacs whom we call Jingoes--men preaching the hatred ofone people against another--how long do you think the world will lastwhen once such knowledge is abroad in it?"
The Professor looked longingly at the machine he had so slowly andpainfully constructed.
"It would be of much use to humanity if it were but benevolentlyemployed. With the coal fields everywhere diminishing, it would supply amotive force for the universe that would last through the ages."
"Professor Seigfried," exclaimed Jennie earnestly, "when the Lordpermits a knowledge of that machine to become common property, it is Hiswill that the end of the world shall come."
The Professor said nothing, but stood with deeply wrinkled brow, gazingearnestly at the mechanism. In his hand was the hammer-head which he hadpreviously given to the girl; his arm went up and down as if he wereestimating its weight; then suddenly, without a word of warning, heraised it and sent it crashing through the machine, whose splinteringglass fell with a musical tinkle on the floor.
Jennie gave a startled cry, and with a low moan the Professor struggledto his chair and fell, rather than sat down, in it. A ghastly palloroverspread his face, and the girl in alarm ran again to the cupboard,poured out some brandy and offered it to him, then tried to pour it downhis throat, but his tightly set teeth resisted her efforts. She chafedhis rigid hands, and once he opened his eyes, slowly shaking his head.
"Try to sip this brandy," she said, seeing his jaws relax.
"It is useless," he murmured with difficulty. "My life was in theinstrument, as brittle as the glass. I have--"
He could say no more. Jennie went swiftly downstairs to the office of aphysician, on the first floor, which she had noticed as she came up.
The medical man, who knew of the philosopher, but was not personallyacquainted with him, for the Professor had few friends, went up thesteps three at a time, and Jennie followed him more slowly. He met thegirl at the door of the attic.
"It is useless," he said. "Professor Seigfried is dead; and it is mybelief that in his taking away Austria has lost her greatest scientist."
"I am sure of it," answered the girl, with trembling voice; "but perhapsafter all it is for the best."
"I doubt that," said the doctor. "I never feel so like quarrelling withProvidence as when some noted man is removed right in the midst of hisusefulness."
"I am afraid," replied Jennie solemnly, "that we have hardly reached astate of development that would justify us in criticizing the wisdom ofProvidence. In my own short life I have seen several instances where itseemed that Providence intervened for the protection of His creatures;and even the sudden death of Professor Seigfried does not shake mybelief that Providence knows best."
She turned quickly away and went down the stairs in some haste. At theouter door she heard the doctor call down, "I must have your name andaddress, please."
But Jennie did not pause to answer. She had no wish to undergocross-examination at an inquest, knowing that if she told the truth shewould not be believed, while if she attempted to hide it, unexpectedpersonal inconvenience might arise from such a course. She ran rapidlyto the street corner, hailed a fiacre and drove to a distant part of thecity; then she dismissed the cab, went to a main thoroughfare, took atramcar to the centre of the town, and another cab to the Palace.