The Monticellonian., 1915-06-17
THIRTEENTH EPISODE
THE DEVIL woRsalpERs


 Elaine was seated in the drawin. room with Aunt Josephine one after noon. when her lawyer. Perry Ben nett. dropped in unexpectedly.
 He had hardly greeted them wher the butler. Jennings fa hiS usual i'm passive manner announced thst Aunt Josephine wzS wanted e the tele phone
 No sooner were Eialze ard Bennett alone th&z E1zfzs. enraiEs to him. ex claimed:
 Last night I dreamed that father cane to re and told me that if would give ID Kennedy and put my trust in you. would find the Clutch ing Hand. l don't know what to think of it.
 Bennett, who had been listening in- tently. moved over nearer to Elaine and bent over her.
 Elaine" he said in a low tone, his remarkable eyes looking straight into her own, you must know that I love you. Then give me the right to pro tect you. It was your fathers dearest wish, believe. that we should marry. Let me share your dangers and l swear that sooner or later there will be an end to the Clutching Hand. Give me your answer, Elaine,' he urged, "and make me the happiest man in all the world"
 Elaine listened, and not unsympa- thetically, as Bennett continued to plead for her answer.
 Wait little while-until tomor- row." she replied finally.
 Let it be as you wish, then, ' agreed Bennett quietly.
 He took her hand and kissed it pas sionately.
 An instant later Aunt Josephine re- turned. Elaine, unstrung by what had happened, excused herself and went into the library.
 Involuntarily, her mind travelled back over the rapid succession of events of the past few weeks and the part that she had thought, at least, Kennedy had come to play in her life.
 Then she thought of their recent misunderstanding. Might there not be some simple explanation of it, aft CT all, which she had missed? What should she do?
 She solved the problem by taking up the telephone and asking for Ken nedy's number.
 I was chatting with Craig in his laboratory, and, at the same time, was watching him in his experimental work. Just as call came on the tele- phone, he was pouring some nitro hydroclsloric acid into test tube to complete reaction.
 The telephone tinkled and he laid down the bottle of acid on his desk, while he moved few steps to answer the call.
 Whoever the speaker was. Craig seemed deeply interested. and, not knowing who was talking on the wire. was eager to learn whether it was anyone connected with the case of the Clutching Hand.
 ..Yes, this is Mir. Kennedy" I heard Craig say.
 moved over toward him and whis- pered eagerly, Is there anything new?"
 A little impatient at being interrupt. ed. Kennedy waved me off. It oc. cured to me that he might need a pad and pencil to make a note of some information. and I reached over the desk for them.
 As l did so my ar1n inadvertently struck the bottle of acid, knocking it over on the top of the desk Its con tents streamed out saturating the tele- phone wires before could prevent it. In trying to right the bottle my hand came in contact with the acid which burned like liquid fire, and l cried out in pain.
 Craig hastily laid down the re- ceiyer, seized me and rushed me to the back of the laboratory, where he drenched my hand with a neutraliz- ing liquid.
 He bound up the wounds caused by the acid, which proved to be slight, after all, and then returned to the tele- phone.
 To his evident annoyance. he dis covered that the acid had burned through the wires and cut of all con. nection.
 
 At the other end of the line, Elaine was listening impatiently for re. sponse to her first eager words of in- quiry. She was astonished to find,