The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1907-11-22

nous increase Of scientific knowledge.
1t is only silly sentiment that does not
have 1t your own way William. I
will forego the experiment. It is OBJ
vious that II the body is to be found
there must be no traces Of anything
Of the sort. There would be a post
norton, of course"
Then what do you propose, Guest?"
LET me smoke for a moment and
think"
He sat silent for two or three min
utes, with the heavy eyelids almost
yelling the large, bister-colored eyes.
Then he looked up. His smile was
SO horrible in its cunning that
Gouldesbrough made an involuntary
shrinking movement. But it was a
movement dictated by the nerves and
not by the conscious brain, for, dread
full as was the thing Guest was about
to say, there was something in Sir
William Gouldesbrough's mind which
was more dreadful still.
1.-THE body shall be found" Guest
said, I'm the river, somewhere down
Mapping way, anywhere in the dense
ly populated districts of the docks. 1t
shall be dressed in common clothes.
When it is discovered and Identified
I know how to arrange a certain 1den-
tifcation-it will be assumed that
Rathbone simply went down to the
49, N>-A If~4~4 Thn~A hoyn
been cases known where reputable
citizens have suddenly disappeared
from their surroundings Of their own
free will, and dropped into the lowest
kind of life for no explanable s
De Quincy mentions such . case In
n of his essays"
Good. But how q It b done?
We can't carry a body to Mapping In
q brown paper parcel"
"Of course not. But has It not &C.
Cured to you that we are close to the
Regents canal? l haven't worked
out the details; they will shape them
selves later on. But there are plenty
of barges always going up and down
the canal. Certainly we can do the
thing; it is only a question of money.
We have an unlimited command OF
money. But listen. Our body is still
alive. 1t will be quite easy for us,
with u knowledge, to treat this l1v-
ing body with certain preparations
and in such a way that when 1t is
dead it will present all the appear
ance Of having been killed by excess
in some drug. The post-mortem will
disclose it. II we keep 1t alive during
a month from from now we can make
It a morphia maniac to all appear
ance We can inject anything we
like into this Rathbone and make him
q slave TO ONE drug, whether he
likes it or not"
mo, Guest. The really expert pa
biologist would discover It. 1t couldn't
be done in a month. 1t might In six"
1.-THE really expert pathologist won't
perform the post-mortem, William.
There are only ten in London! Some
local doctor of the police will apply
the usual tests and discover exactly
what we wish him to discover. He
will analyze a corpse. He won't syn
thesize a history of the corpse. Only
ten men in England could do that
with certainty. And you and are
two of those ten, though 1t Is many
years ago since we gave up that sort
OF work for physics. So you see your
object will be doubly served. The
actual death will be proved and the
fellows life be discredited, while the
apparently true reason OF his disap-
pearance will be revealed"
Sir William looked steadily at his
assistant. "Your brain is wonderfully
~sunicient," he said. 1T is extraordin-
ary how it withstands the ravages Of
alcohol. Really, my dear Wilson, you
are a remarkable man. All you say
is quite excellent. And. meanwhile.
I have a proposal to make"
He suddenly rose from his chair,
and his eyes began to blaze with in
sane passion. He shook with it: his
whole face was Transformed In his
turn he became abnormal. And just
@ the famous man had thought Of the
lesser . moment or two ago-had re-
garded him coldly. and spoken of him.
TO him, a q mind diseased-so now
the lesser. stimulated to spurious san
ity for the moment, saw the light Of
mania In his chiefs eyes.
Guest raw the swift and terrible
drop into the horrible and the gro-
tesque. He realized that for a brief
moment hs was master Of the situa-
ton.
Tell me, William" he said. land
what II your idea?"
Gouldesbrough stopped. He turned
toward his questioner and shook q
long. threatening arm at him.
why" he Said. all this time the
man Rathbone has known why
We are keeping him in prison. He
has never seen mo, but day by day
You have descended to his cell. caught
him up In the tolls OF the chains
which he wears, and hoisted him On
to the couch. And all this time. when
you have fitted the cap upon his head.
the mar has known nothing Of the
reasons. l I'M going down to tell him
that every thought which has been