"I depend on you to see to that," - "but you must not continually re-enact the scene in imagination, In the morning the Doctor will come here to bring me my camera, microscope, and a few things Ishall require " - and he passed me a list he had written."If you have slept well you can be of considerable service, and may accompany him - if not, you must remain quietly at his house."With this he turned to me, and said: "She is making a condenser of herself, Doctor, and will soon break through the insulation.Sparks will be dangerous - you must secure the brush effect." He spoke quickly, and used electrical terms, that she might not understand him, but either he failed of his purpose, or the observation she immediately made was a strange coincidence.I believe she understood, for, while young women educated by their mothers are usually ignorant upon all the more masculine subjects, those who have long been their father's companions are ever prone to startle one with the most unexpected flashes of intelligence."I am in rather a high state of tension now," she said, turning calmly to Maitland; "but when alone the expression which has been denied me here will afford relief." Maitland glanced at her quickly, and then at me, and I knew he was wondering if she had understood.
Then he said: "It is getting late.I shall expect you to sleep well and to come in the morning.Please say to the servants as you go that I shall stay here all night, and that no one must enter without permission.Good-night." She held out her hand to him, but made no reply; then she fervently kissed her father's lips, and together we left the chamber of death.
CHAPTER IV
Death speaks with the tongue of Memory, and his ashen hand reaches out of the great unknown to seize and hold fast our plighted souls.
What Maitland's reason was for spending the night with the dead body of Darrow, or how he busied himself until morning, I do not know.
Perhaps he desired to make sure that everything remained untouched, or, it may be, that he chose.this method of preventing Gwen from performing a vigil by the body.I thought this latter view very probable at the time, as I had been singularly impressed with the remarkable foresight my friend had displayed in so quickly and adroitly getting Gwen away from everything connected with her father's sad and mysterious death.
Arriving at my house my sister took an early opportunity to urge upon Gwen a glass of wine, in which I had placed a generous sedative.
The terrible tension soon began to relax, and in less than half an hour she was sleeping quietly.I dreaded the moment when she should awake and the memory of all that had happened should descend like an avalanche upon her.I told my sister that this would be a critical moment, cautioning her to stay by Gwen and to give her, immediately upon her arising, a draught I had prepared for the purpose of somewhat deadening her sensibilities.I arose early, and went to Maitland's laboratory to collect the things he desired.When Ireturned Gwen was awake, and to my intense gratification in even a better condition than I had dared to hope.
It was quite late when we reached her house, and Maitland had evidently been at work several hours.He looked sharply at Gwen when she entered, and seemed much pleased at her condition."You have obeyed my instructions, I see, and slept," he said, as he gave her his hand."Yes," she replied, "I was very tired, and the doctor's cordial quite overcame me;" and she cast an inquiring glance at the network of white string which Maitland had stretched across the carpet, dividing it into squares like an immense checker-board.In reply to her questioning look, he said: "French detectives are the most thorough in the world, and I am about to make use of their method of instituting an exhaustive search.Each one of the squares formed by these intersecting strings is numbered, and represents one square foot of carpet, the numbers running from one to two hundred and eighty-eight.Every inch of every one of these squares I shall examine under a microscope, and anything found which can be of any possible interest will be carefully preserved, and its exact location accurately marked upon this chart I have prepared, which, as you will see, has the same number of squares as the room, the area of each square being reduced from one square foot to one square inch.You will note that I have already marked the location of all doors, windows, and furniture.The weapon, if there be one, may be very minute, but if it be on the floor we may be assured the microscope will find it.The walls of the room, especially any shelving projections, and the furniture, I shall examine with equal thoroughness, though I have now some additional reasons for believing the weapon is not here.""Have you discovered anything new?" Gwen exclaimed, unable to control the excitement caused by this last remark."You must pardon me,"Maitland rejoined, "if I ask you and the Doctor a question before replying." She nodded assent, and he continued: "I wish to know if you agree with me that we shall be more likely to arrive at a solution of the problem before us if we keep our own counsel than if we take the officers of the law, or, for that matter, anyone else, into our confidence.You undoubtedly noticed how carefully M.
