Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat

the glittering phantasmagoria of the city, stretching away below like a fire-

ight in New York is always a real home-coming to me. And this is New York, isn

ge friend and now a prosperous

d about Broadway, to see us at home. I wonder whether you noticed any change?' he went on

moon. The table illuminations, and the row of electric lights which ran along the parapet, seemed strangely insignificant. Everywhere was

n no mistaking it. Wherever you went, in the streets or the restaurants, you could see the writing in the faces of the people, a sort of dumb repression of feeling, just as though they were trying to get through the task of every-day life because they had to, eating and drinking

dded under

st week,' he remarked. 'Over here, of course, the whole thing to us is sim

le sighed, 'we shall have t

vard theories cr

ne doesn't need to brood, though. There's plenty of real life buzzing

ted. 'I guess I was conceited enough to

you know it, but apart from that I want you to

d, a little dubiously. 'He isn't the

now?' Laven

for months,' Moreton replied, 'but the pap

ational reports about his new di

t time I saw him, that the thing he'd been working at, off and on, for the last thirty years, was in his hands at last, perfect. He's through with inventing-that'

ed. 'He was seventy-two last year, wasn't he?

y lately, and they were all terrified down a

ticulars about this las

I know nothing whatever about it. All I can promise is that I'll take you up to Riverside Drive and do my best to boost you

position at the Embassy, perhaps as important

Do you remember those discussions you

e last seven years in the diplomatic atmosphere of Paris, of London and Berlin. I tell you soberly that anything I felt and believed in those days, I fee

g clothes were of old-fashioned cut and he wore only a little wisp of black tie. His grey beard was cut in the fashion of a century ago, his bushy hair was long and unkempt. His companion

h they'd come out of the

risen slowly

Ambrose,' he remarked. 'This is what you

n to say that

reton

t Bessie,' he said. 'I m

mbrace from the lady. Lavendale could hear, every now and then, scraps of their conversation. Towards its close, his fri

of my year at Harvard. Uncle, Lavendale has just returned from Europe and he was talking to me about you. He is

ith the elderly couple,

Mr. Moreton obs

itted. 'I think one of your own newspapers here declared

eton exclaimed irritably. 'Don't t

at,' Lavendale said simply. 'Are you going to give any dem

s questioner with a little tw

f a very select company to-morrow morning. The scientific world can wait, but I am going to set the minds of the newspaper people at rest. I am going to sh

the names of the principal papers into a bottle and drew lots; the reporters who came down to Jersey State agreed to that-you two, your aunt and a you

soon as they had resumed their places, Lavendale leane

ngth of this. The very night I arrive, too! Whoever heard of such luck! I do

on admitted. 'We certainly w

who's going to be there,

le orchestra behind was playing a familiar waltz. Suzanne and he had danced it together one night in London. He was for a moment oblivious of the whole gamut of his surroundings. The world closed in upon him. He heard her voice, felt th

Turkish c

less choice and climb

e, weren't you?' J

iend n

nd a great deal t

*

broad stone piazza, at the back of Mr. Moreton's mansion in Riverside Drive. It was here that Lavendale received one of the surprises of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Moreton were reclining in low wicker chairs, and between them, a miracle of daintiness in her white linen cost

xclaimed. 'Why,

was some response to his joy shining out of her eyes, but i

t why not? Men and women have travelled many times

ng placidly upon them, mutely approving of this unexpected romance. The great inventor turned him ro

good reasons I desired to keep my discovery to myself a little longer, but I know that I am beaten, and these gentlemen, or rather the power which they represent, have been too many for me. My country household has been honeycombed with spies. My medical man, my gardener, the assistants in my laboratory, have every one of them been made the objects of subtle and repeated attempts at bribery. Young Mr. Lavendale, let me tell you this-the Press of America to-day is the one undeniable f

One of them, a well-set-up, handsome y

upon us. We represent, to use his own words, the undeniable force, and to do it we have to forget that we ar

what seemed to be fine wire in his hand, he made his way to the further end of the broad balcony which completely encircled the house, and carefully stretched a length of the wire from the edge of the building to the stone balustrade. As soon as he had accomplished this, he drew from

there, will you, J

at the small instrument which lay concealed between them. Footsteps were heard approaching around the side of the house, and a coloured servant in livery, carrying a tray in his hand, appeare

ordered, in a voice which seeme

ew pushed. Again there were footsteps. A third servant, with a box of cigars, appeared, gave a little exclamation at the extraordinary sight before him, stepped forward on to the wire, leapt up till his head almost touched the sloping portico, and commenced throwing the cigars into the air and catching them. Mr. Moreton glanced from the three performers towards his little audience. The expression on their faces was absolutely indescribable. Meanwh

ncers, imported from the Winter Gardens at grea

lt slipped into its place. From behind the glass he turned

ournalist who had spoken

her. The trio of entertainers were redoubling n

andidly, 'but what a story! We'd better get along and write i

d man inquired, 'of Mr. Moret

amed placid

ear Ned has used about you gentlemen of the Press worrying him down at Lakeside d

acquaintance suggested, 'w

bours, made a collective bow and disappeared. The newspaper men still lin

y they worried him down at New Jersey has pretty well driven him crazy. Don't try him any more this morning, if

. The little company reluctantly dispersed. Lavendale and Suzanne were on the point of followin

United States departed

dear,' his wife cal

rs in to luncheon,'

lly. 'He has hated the sight of company lately, but I did feel real uncomfortable at sending you away without any offer of hospital

vendale and Suzanne fell a little way

asked eagerly. 'What did you com

n that you are. Monsieur Senn, the great electrician, has been working on the same lines as Moreton for years, and he persuaded me to get a letter from the American A

nce or twice,'

's always a chanc

re glad to see

ueeze. Then Mrs. Moreton turn

ing-room with Jimmy, Mr. Lavendale,' she

the stories which would appear in the evening editions. Underneath his hilarity, however, Lavendale more than once fancied that he noted signs of an immense tension. Sometimes, in the middle of a conversation, the great inventor would break off as though he ha

g way to see nothing, y

vendale replied politely, 'and, after all, I neve

ying?' Mr. Moreton

'that you had learnt at last the secret of handling electric

they?' Mr. Moreton obse

it. A great scientific man whom I met only a few days before I left England, however-Sir Hu

f his skin was disfigured by dark red, almost purple patches. His eyes we

orant numskull, a dabbler, a blind follower in

fe murmured anxiously from

urned to one o

s,' he ordered. 'I have had my little joke,' he went on, as t

rvously but with apparent appetite. As soon as the meal was over he commence

his hostess, 'that he is really

om every one who talks about inventions and electricity. You put his back up, you know

avendale murmur

ting in a large, open car below. He had quite recovered his temper. His face

sit by my side,' he ordered. 'Jimmy, you

bruptly, the car came to a standstill. Mr. Moreton stepped out. From his pocket he drew a small skein of

' he direct

ck box with a handle in the side, and a pair of black indiarubber gloves which he hastily donned. Then, with the box in his hand, he turned the handle which protruded from its side. A queer, buzzing little sound came from the interior, a sound which, low though it was, thrilled Lavendale from its utter and mysterious novelty. It was a sound such as he had never imagined, a sound like the grumblings of belittled and imprisoned thunder. The finger on the dial moved slowly. When it had reached a certain point, Mr. Moreton paused. He clasped the

hold in my hand now is adjusted to any distance up to two hundred yards. By turning the handle a dozen more times, the distance could be increased

y had passed soon after entering the park. He approached with his hands behind him, walking in ruminating fashion. Suddenly, as his foot touched the thread, he came to a halt. There was something unnatural in his momentarily statuesque attit

uence,' he said softl

the thread, seemed suddenly to break off in their conversation. It was as though the words themselves were arrested upon their lips, as though all feeling and movement had become paralyzed. Then they, too, stiffened and fell in the same direction. A park-keeper, who had seen the collapse of the policeman, came running across the

le I go down. There is nothing wrong with those people r

a little cry, for the earth seemed quaking around him. Mr. Mo

white silk is heavily charged. You feel, don't you, as though the ground were rising up and were going to h

s teeth and staggered on. A little crowd was already gath

ssuringly, 'I have broken the connec

oliceman, the man and the

back. They had reached now the

worth while, after all. You have seen the Hamlin Trio in their Jugglers' Dance, and you have seen here in the sunshi

his veins. He turned almost fiercely upon his compa

hat they are real

Moreton assured him sweetly, 'could never

who seemed to be a doctor rose to his

' he pronounced sombrely. 'Th

reton, who held out his h

e a witness upon the spot. I shall be obliged, doctor, if you will take the bodies of thes

ng about their deat

or smiled in a s

had been twenty miles away, with my instrument properly regulated, there would still be a million dead lying here. I am Moreton-Ned Moreton, the inventor, you know, doctor. I can strip the univ

back to the car, and a few minutes later he was driven off, seated between them, smoking a cigar, the picture of amiabi

an you be a woman now for t

white, but some latent force seemed to hav

begged. 'I can liste

ed, 'to drive to the docks. The Ma

s though she failed to understan

d a skein of the thread in

She leaned over and kissed him fir

declared. 'Do not be afraid.

es!' he pro

r the first time, in the security of Lavendale's state-room, their new treasures-the black, camera-like instrument, the smaller one, with its dial fa

ing his arm, 'we have but to learn

the city fade into an evening mist. They saw the lights shoot out from the Statue of Liberty and felt the ocean breeze on their ch