The Washington herald., 1915-12-26
Copyright. lsl5l


Five thousand pounds for a
consulting feel" exclaimed his visitor
mo. not 'pounds-guineas."
But that's preposterous"
Magnum pointedly turned his back
and called loudly through an open
door into his range of private labora-
tories:
Got that combustion analysis I'm
ished." ..
From twenty yards diffident, al
mos: inaudible voice murmured
something about "only the weighing
of the coz bulbs"
Hurry" shouted Magnum, and
then turned again to his prospective
client with rather the air of school
master about to demonstrate an ele-
mentary proposition in geometry for
the fifteenth time to a particularly
dense dunderhead.
Magnum knew his own value as a
scientific consultant. and had none of
the usual scientists modesty about
him. His manner was brusque and
rough-edged to the point of boorish-
ness, and no one would have put up
with such incivility had it not been
for his internal clevernesS in his spe-
cial field. In the City of London he
stood as the undisputed head of his
profession. In age he was anywhere
from forty to fifty; in appearance he
was lean and wiry and as hard as
nails, with struggling mustache and
short beard of a sandy red, and a
huge bald head covered with knobs
and bumps like the bare, stony sum-
NIT of a kopje. He acknowledged no
front name-callcd and signed himself
Magnum, like a peer or prince. He
was a bachelor with dwelling place
on the Plumstead
marshes.
Turning to his visitor, Sir Julian
Boyd, he sketched out the situation
with series OF taps on the table
from the horn spatula he held in his
hand:
"Ycu and your family are suffering
from mysterious form of poisoning.
You've consulted doctors and they
can't place it. You've had the water
analysed, the milk analyzed, the
whole of your food analyzed. Moth
ing found wrong with them. Mean
while you're all tied up with these
gastric pains"
Sir Julian did at that moment vince
and pass his hand fcelingly over his
ample lower waistcoat.
and if you don't trace the source
,f the trouble, you'll soon be order
ng your coffins. If it's not worth |
i've thousand guineas to you to have
he problem cleared up. you put a
heap value on your health"
But would you guarantee to solve !
he mystery"
"If the problems solvable, I'll solve
t. If l take up your case, my repu-
atoms at stake. What better guar
ntec could you have?" demanded
1agnum truculently.
Sir Julian caved in before this
authoritativencss. VERY
rell," said he. 81 put the case in
our hands"
Magnum passed him pen and ink.
Gross the check to my bank
he replied, for he made it a
usiness rule to get his fees in ad-
ancc.
Sir Julian Boyd's town house oc-
upicd d most desirable position ia
ing Hyde Park. 1t was ono OF the
cry few houses in Park Lane which
re detached and surrounded by
arden. In the buying OF it, he had
ad spirited auction duel with
,ardiff collicry owner who also want
d the site for his town residence.
;oyd, bringing up financial guns
rom the Kimberly diamond field,
ad beaten him down and erected a
plcndid mansion.
Magnum drove there in the even
ng with the young fellow whose diff
dent voice had answered something
bout "CO2 bulbs" This young
velshman-Iyer Meredith by name {
was his chiefs right hand. Mag 7
um himself was the organizing brain t
nd tho commercial acumen of the i
rn, but he was too hasty of tenn i
cramcnt to be fitted for the detailed c
ork OF scientific analysis, which re-
uires the manual technique OF viz {
1850 pianist and the patience of a
&C worker. v
The young fellow was very shy, S
Fry modest, very diffident-stam- i
ering and suffering if he had to I
,cak to a client, and blushing hor- c
bly, if he had TO make conversation v
ith a woman. He looked up to
Lagnum as master, a protector, and t
being of immeasurablc powots. f
The taxi conveying them arrived | [