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Page 64
"You are not feeling well to-night, father," she said at length.
"M. Godin has been here during my absence."
"M. Godin!" I exclaimed half aloud, catching at the stovepipe lest
I should fall from the stove. "So our rival is hot upon the scent,
--probably even ahead of us. How on earth--" But I did not finish
the exclamation. My seizure of the pipe upon my side of the
partition had produced an audible vibration of that portion extending
over the heads of my neighbours. The young girl's quick ear had
detected the sound and she had ceased speaking and fastened her eyes
suspiciously upon the aperture through which I was gazing. It seemed
to me as if she must see me, yet I dared not move. After a little
she seemed reassured and continued: "I knew he had been here. You
are always this way after his visits. Why, of late, does he always
come when I am away?" The question seemed innocent enough, yet the
man to whom it was addressed turned crimson and then as pale as
ashes. When he spoke the effort his self-control cost him was
terribly apparent.
"We have private business, dear," he said, "private business." He
hesitated a moment and again his eyes wore the wild look I had first
noticed. "I am selling him something," he continued, "very dear to
me--as dear as my heart's blood, and I expect to get enough for it
to guard you from want."
"And you, father?" the young girl questioned fervently. I thought
I noticed a tremor run through his frame, as drawing her face down
to his, he said, kissing her, "Me? Never mind me, Puss; this cancer
here will take care of me."
She made no reply, but turned away to hide the tears that sprang to
her eyes. As she did so she raised her face toward me. I have
never been considered particularly sympathetic,--that is, no more
than the average,--but there was something in the expression of her
face that went to my heart like a knife. I felt as if I were about
to sob with her. I do not know what it was that so aroused my
sympathies. We are, I fancy, more apt to feel for those whose beauty
is like to the ideals we have learned to love, than we are to be
moved by the suffering of those whose looks repel us,--and this may
have had something to do with my condition,--for the young girl was
radiantly beautiful,--yet it could hardly have been the real cause
of it.
So rapt was I in the sympathetic contemplation of her that I did not
see Maitland's entrance or realise I was observed till he plucked me
by the coat and motioned me to get down. I did so and he told me
he had rented the rooms, and laid before me the plan he meant to
pursue.
As soon as he had ceased speaking I said to him: "George, you are
undoubtedly on the right track. The man in there is the one we are
looking for, fast enough, but I am afraid we are a bit too late."
"Too late!" he exclaimed in a tone that I feared might be overheard.
"What the mischief do you mean?"
"I mean," I replied, "that M. Godin is already upon the scene."
In the next ten seconds Maitland turned all colours and I edged
nearer to him, expecting him to fall, but he did not.
"M. Godin!" he ejaculated at length. "How in the name of all the
gods at once--Doc, he's all they claim for him, and as fascinating
as he is clever;" at which last remark a heavy cloud passed over
Maitland's face. "Come," he continued listlessly, "you may as well
tell me all you know about it."
I then confided to him what I had heard and ended by asking him
what he proposed to do.
"Do?" he replied. "There is but one thing I can do, which makes
the choice decidedly easy," and he set his jaws together with a
determined expression, the meaning of which I knew full well.
"I shall camp right here," he said, " till I learn all I wish to
know of our neighbours yonder. I have already provided myself with
instruments which will enable me to note every movement they make,
indeed to photograph them, if necessary, and to hear and record
every word they utter. You look surprised, but it is easily done.
I will place my lenses there at the chink through which you were
gazing and bring the image down into my camera obscura by a prism
arranged for total internal reflection. As for the hearing, that
is easier yet. I will carefully work away the plaster on this
side to-night till I get through to the paper covering their wall.
This I will leave intact to use as a diaphragm. I have then only
to fasten my carbon to it, and, behold, we have a microphone or
telephone--whichever you choose to call it. All I have to look
out for is that I get it high enough to avoid the danger of the
paper being accidentally broken from the other side, and that I
work quietly while removing the plaster. I shall, of course, cover
it with a bit of black felt to prevent our light from showing, and
to deaden any sounds from this side. This will enable us to hear
all that goes on in the other room, but this may not be enough.
We may need a phonographic record of what transpires.
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