Evening star., 1922-06-22
THE ELIXIR OF LIFE
By Arthur B. Reeve.
One of The Stars Weekend Fiction Series
Each story complete in three installments.

wish you would find that valet. Ed
ward. / want to talk to him"
| I found him at last. a clean-cut
young fellow of much above average
| intelligence.
There are some things I have not
yet got clearly, Edward" began Ken
\ nedy. Now where was the body,
exactly. when you opened the door,"
| Edward pointed out the exact spot,
near the side of the kitchen toward
the door leading out to the breakfast
room and opposite the icebox.
| And the door to the side street?"
asked Kennedy to all appearances
very favorably impressed by the
young man. :.
1T was locked. SIR" he answered
positively.
| Kennedy was quite apparently con-
sidering the honesty and faithful
! ness of the servant. At last he lean
ed over and asked quietly, Can 1
| trust you?"
The frank. "Yes," of the young fell
| 10 was convincing enough.
! What 1 want" pursued Kennedy,
! rs to have some one inside this
house who can tell me as much. as
he can see of the visitors. the mes
| sengers that come here this morning.
! 1t will be an act of loyalty to your
| employer, so that you need have no
\ fear about that"
Edward bowed and left us. While
III had been seeking him Kennedy
had telephoned hastily to his labora-
| tory and had found one of his stu
dents there. He had ordered him to
! bring down an apparatus which he
| described. and some other material.
/ While we waited Kennedy sent
! word to Pitts that he wanted to see
him alone for a few minutes.
The instrument appeared to be a
| rubber bulb and cuff with rubber
bag attached to the inside From 1T
ran a tube which ended in another
; graduated glass tube with thin line
of mercury in it like a thermometer.
Craig adjusted the thing over the
brachial artery Of Pitts. just above
1.-THE elbow.
1T may be little uncomfortable:
Mr.. Pitts" he apologized. but it will
be for only a few minutes.
Pressure through the rubber bulb
Ishut of the artery so that KENNEDY
could no longer feel the pulse at the
wrist AS he worked l began to see
what he was after. The reading on
the graded scale of the height of the
column of mercury Indicated. knew.
blood pressure: This time. as ne
worked. I noted also the f1abby skin
of Pitts as we'll as the small ana
sluggish pupils of his eyes.
He completed his test in silence and
excused himself. although as he went
back to the kitchen l was burning
with curiosity.
| What was it, l asked. w nat oio
you discover?
That" he replied. was a sphyg-
momanometer. something like the
sphygmograph which We used once
in another case. Normal blood pres
sure is 125 millimeters. Mr: h,IG pitts
shows a high pressure. very high.
The large life insurance companies
are now using this instrument. They
would tell you that high pressure
like that indicates apopleNy MT.
| Pitts, young as he really is. is actu-
L
! $ that a man is as old as his arteries
pitts has hardening of the arteries.
osclerosis-perhapS other heart
land kidney troubles-in short, pre-
senility.'
! Craig paused. then added senten-
ltiously as il to himself: You have
heard the latest theories about old
age. that it is due to microoic pol
sons secreted in the intestines and
penetrating the intestinal walls
Well. in premature senlilts m snu;tv tae
onIy mental acuteness is not so i'm
paired"
iaeain. The student had also bfousno
down to Kennedy number OF sterll-
lied microscope slides and test tubes
Land from here and there in the
masses of blood spots Kennedy was
taking and preserving samples. ne
ialso took samples of the various
| foods, when ne preSefNeu III ehS S
iliZed tubes.
Joined US cautiously
Has anything happened?" asked
Craig.
Pitts" whispered the valet.
What did she do with it,!
Tore it up"
"And the pieces?'
she must have hidden them some
where"
See if you can get them
Edward nodded and left
Yes" / remarked after he had
gone" cit does seem as if the thing
to do was to get on the trail OF
person bearing wounds or some kind.
: / notice, for one thing. Craig. that
Edward shows no such marks, nor
does any one else in the house, SO far
as I can. see. If it were an inside
! job / fancy Edward at least could
! clear himself. The point is to find
the person with a bandaged hand or
|, plastered face"
Kennedy assented, but his mind was
on another subject. Before we go
we must see Mrs. Pitts alones II we
can" he said, simply:
In answer to his inquiry through
one of the servants she sent down
; word that she would see US imme-
diatey in her sitting room. The
; events of the morning had quite
naturally upset her and she-'was, IL
anything. even paler than when we
saw her before.
suppose you are aware of the physi-
cal condition of your husband?"
1t seemed little abrupt to- me at
first, but he intended it to be. why"
she asked, with real alarm, "is he
so very badly?"
pretty badly" remarked Kennedy,
! mercilessly, observing the effect of
his words $50 badly. I fear. that it
would not require much more excite
ment like today's to bring on an at
ftack of apoplexy I should advse
t YOU to take especial care Of him, Mrs.
Following his eyes, tried to de-
termine whether the agitation of the
woman before us was genuine or not.
t It certainly looked so. But then, I
5 knew that she had beer, an actress
before her marriage. Was she acting
what do you mean?" she asked,
! trsMuiouS'Pfi sMrs Pitts" replied Kennedy
Quickly, observing still the play OF
t emotion on her delicate features
"some one, I believe, either regularly
> in or employed in this house or who
had a ready means Of access to 1t
] must have entered that kitchen last
= night. For what purpose I can leave
t you to Judge. But Sam surprised
E the intruder there, and was killed for
t his faithlessenss."
{ Her startled look told plainly that
t though she might have suspected
r something of the sort she did not
. think that any one else suspected
e 81 can't imagine who 1t could be
| unless II might be one of the SER