Evening star., 1925-04-05
Continued from Yesterdays Starr

league, as we passed him, stepped
into the rear behind me, and we ali
! three marched from the room.
We walked a short way down the
| corridor. and a door was flung open.
| The servants stood aside for me to
! enter and closed the door gently be-
! hind me. An instant later l heard
the key turn softly in the lock
I examined the room into which
| had been conducted. 1t seemed to be
! a servants bedroom. There was no
window, but only skylight high up
| in the roof, too small to admit man.
| The room was very tall and narrow,
so that its height greatly exceeded
| its breadth. 1t was barely furnished,
a small wooden bed, a chair and a
table We're all 1t contained. Round
the four walls, at a short distance
| from the ceiling, was a shelf sup
! ported on iron brackets, on which
| stood various pots and jars.
l sat down on the bed and thought
! things over. If Fritz took taxi, he
could, in about 20 minutes or half
| an hour, reach the Pension de la
Refine, enter my room, discover that
| the document was not there, and re-
| turn. Then. apparently, l should
nave the pleasure of a further inter
view with the professor, and l had
| more than suspicion that he and his
/ confederates would stick at nothing
| to obtain from me the information
| they desired.
At this point my eye fell upon a
small quarto volume bound in vellum,
| lying anonymously on the deal
| table of the attic. 1 picked 1t up
| and found 1t to be an exquisite bibe-
lot containing some really beautiful
| reproductions of some of the more
famous pictures, which depict the
death by torture of the early saints
together with what appeared to be
complete history of the art of tor
| ture as practiced not only in Europe
during the Middle Ages, but in China
and Persia and among the savages
| of Polynesia.
The various methods were de-
scribed with great erudition and In
amazing detail, apparently by an
author who loved his subject, and the
book was illustrated with zest and
particularly. Some of the tortures /
recognized as having been taken from
medieval pictures, such as the tor
lures of the rope and the brazier and
the peine forte ct dure dear to the
ancient judicial system of France
Others were more esoteric, such as
the Chinese torture of the seven gates
or the careful impaling practiced by
certain tribes of Eastern Mongolia
fhe artist had been especially skill
ful in conveying the great agony of
the sufferers, whose limbs and faces,
hideousiy twisted, registered forcibly
the screaming protest of mutilated
nesh and exposed nerves
l was still examining the book
when the door opened and the Pro-
fessor entered. He was alone, and,
for all l could see, unarmed. My
first instinct was to grapple with
him. but he met me with a smile.
which seemed at the same time to
| divine my impulse and to rebuke its
folly. He sat down companionably in
the vacant chair.
"A man in your position, my Eng
lsh friend" he said, should only
employ violence as the last expedient.
Particularly" he sarcastically added.
"as YOU are at present merely await
ing your release. Fritz will find a
certain document at your hotel and
you will give me a solemn promise
to say nothing that might cause your
poor dear grandmother to regret her
hospitality. Then we shall just shake
hands and part company.
That's all very WE'LL" l grumbled.
But how can / be sure that you will
be as good as your word. I'm pretty
sure that some of you-Karl Won
Emmerich, for instance-would much
prefer to cut my throat and have
done with it,"
Karl would certainly prefer it,"
said the Professor. Your Uncle
Fritz would probably favor it, too,
and even Schreckermann would ap-
preciate the very distinct advantages
of such a course. But l am sentf-
mentalist, Mr.. Preston, like all my
countrymen, and in my youth 1 form
ed an attachment for your admirable
country, which recent historical
bIunders have failed to destroy.
should hate to be needlessly harsh
toward an EnGlishman. countryman
of Kelvin. | was at Cambridge, Mr..
Preston, with your wonderful j. j.
quite the greatest man of science
shall ever meet. Such memories are
not easily ignored 1t was sad day
for me- Mr.. Preston. when England
so foolishly decided to send her
armies to the Continent. l foresaw
the whole terrible tragedy-my own
country and yours exhausted with
untold hardships and suffering, left
at last to make their final reckoning
with France the ancient incorrigible
militarist of Europe. determined
never to forgive either the country
which attacked her or the country
which sprang to her assistance.
You will realize" he concluded,
that I am moved by no national
animosity toward England. and /
hone you will believe that l feel no
personal animosity toward yourself
On the contrary, Mr.. Preston, L nave
taken rather a fancy to you
I listened to this strange discourse
with amazement, wondering TO what
on earth it was leading.
I was not left long in doubt. The
Professor leaned gently forward.
Now, Mr. Preston" he said, will
y6u not tell me, please, where you
have put the document?
II have told you time and again.
I stubbornly rejoined. The docu-
ment is at my hotel.
The Professor sighed
81 am sorry he said. II had hoped
that a little friendly persuasion
would have induced you to take me
into your confidence.
at my hotel" I repeated, firmly.
The professor rose.
well. l hope you are right he
said Should Fritz fail to find
certain document at the Pension de
Ia Refine we shall be obliged to take
other steps. 1 have, as l nave sald,
taken a fancy to you, Mr.. Preston,
but l never allow my personal likes
and dislikes to interfere with my
duties as public servant. snail,
in fact, be obliged to lnnlct upon you
a certain amount of physical neon
yenience. 1 find that the human VIII
is subject to much the same laws as
material substances. Individual speci-
mems vary according to kind and
quality; but just as every oil mas
it's flash point, so every individual
will has limit beyond which 1T is
powerless to resist the application
of tests which are purely physicai.
At this particular moment You are
rather fine fellow, Mr.. Preston, but
IN baIf on bour we can reduce you