CHAPTER IV
"But Mr. Herbert won't see anyone, sir," protested Blair.
"Tell Mr. Herbert, please, that unless I can see him immediately hisbail-bond will be withdrawn," directed The Thinking Machine.
He stood waiting in the hall while Blair went up the stairs. DickHerbert took the card impatiently and glanced at it.
"Van Dusen," he mused. "Who the deuce is Van Dusen?"
Blair repeated the message he had received below.
"What does he look like?" inquired Dick.
"He's a shrivelled little man with a big yellow head, sir," repliedBlair.
"Let him come up," instructed Dick.
Thus, within an hour after he had talked to Mr. Meredith, The ThinkingMachine met Dick Herbert.
"What's this about the bail-bond?" Dick inquired.
"I wanted to talk to you," was the scientist's calm reply. "That seemedto be the easiest way to make you believe it was important, so----"
Dick's face flushed crimson at the trick.
"Well, you see me!" he broke out angrily. "I ought to throw you down thestairs, but--what is it?"
Not having been invited to a seat, The Thinking Machine took one anywayand settled himself comfortably.
"If you will listen to me for a moment without interruption," he begantestily, "I think the subject of my remarks will be of deep personalconcern to you. I am interested in solving this Randolph plate affairand have perhaps gone further in my investigation than anyone else. Atleast, I know more about it. There are some things I don't happen toknow, however, that are of the greatest importance."
"I tell you----" stormed Dick.
"For instance," calmly resumed the scientist, "it is very important forme to know whether or not Harry Meredith was masked when he came intothis room last Thursday night."
"Suddenly he stopped and turned upon The ThinkingMachine"]
Dick gazed at him in surprise which approached awe. His eyes were widelydistended, the lower part of his face lax, for the instant; then hiswhite teeth closed with a snap and he sat down opposite The ThinkingMachine. Anger had gone from his manner; instead there was a pallor ofapprehension in the clean-cut face.
"Who are you, Mr. Van Dusen?" he asked at last. His tone was mild, evendeferential.
"Was he masked?" insisted the scientist.
For a long while Dick was silent. Finally he arose and paced nervouslyback and forth across the room, glancing at the diminutive figure of TheThinking Machine each time as he turned.
"I won't say anything," he decided.
"Will you name the cause of the trouble you and Meredith had inHarvard?" asked the scientist.
Again there was a long pause.
"No," Dick said finally.
"Did it have anything to do with theft?"
"I don't know who you are or why you are prying into an affair that, atleast on its face, does not concern you," replied Dick. "I'll saynothing at all--unless--unless you produce the one man who can and shallexplain this affair. Produce him here in this room where I can get myhands on him!"
The Thinking Machine squinted at the sturdy shoulders with admiration inhis face.
"Did it ever happen to occur to you, Mr. Herbert, that Harry Meredithand his father are precisely of the same build?"
Some nameless, impalpable expression crept into Dick's face despite anapparent fight to restrain it, and again he stared at the small man inthe chair.
"And that you and Mr. Meredith are practically of the same build?"
Tormented by unasked questions and by those emotions which hadcompelled him to silence all along, Dick still paced back and forth. Hishead was whirling. The structure which he had so carefully guarded wastumbling about his ears. Suddenly he stopped and turned upon TheThinking Machine.
"Just what do you know of this affair?" he asked.
"I know for one thing," replied the scientist positively, "that you were_not_ the man in the automobile."
"How do you know that?"
"That's beside the question just now."
"Do you know who _was_ in the automobile?" Dick insisted.
"I can only answer that question when you have answered mine," thescientist went on. "Was Harry Meredith masked when he entered this roomlast Thursday night?"
Dick sat staring down at his hands, which were working nervously.Finally he nodded.
The Thinking Machine understood.
"You recognised him, then, by something he said or wore?"
Again Dick nodded reluctantly.
"Both," he added.
The Thinking Machine leaned back in his chair and sat there for a longtime. At last he arose as if the interview were at an end. There seemedto be no other questions that he desired to ask at the moment.
"You need not be unnecessarily alarmed, Mr. Herbert," he assured Dick ashe picked up his hat. "I shall act with discretion in this matter. I amnot representing anyone who would care to make it unpleasant for you. Imay tell you that you made two serious mistakes: the first when you sawor communicated with Mr. Randolph immediately after the plate was stolenthe second time, and again when you undertook something which properlybelonged within the province of the police."
Herbert still sat with his head in his hands as The Thinking Machinewent out.
It was very late that night--after twelve, in fact--when HutchinsonHatch called on The Thinking Machine with excitement evident in tone,manner, and act. He was accustomed to calling at any hour; now he foundthe scientist at work as if it were midday.
"The worst has happened," the reporter told him.
The Thinking Machine didn't look around.
"Detective Mallory and two of his men saw Miss Meredith this eveningabout nine o'clock," Hatch hurried on, "and bully-ragged her into aconfession."
"What sort of a confession?"
"She admitted that she was in the automobile on the night of the balland that----"
"Mr. Herbert was with her," the scientist supplied.
"Yes."
"And--what else?"
"That her own jewels, valued at twenty thousand dollars, were amongthose found in Herbert's possession when he was arrested."
The Thinking Machine turned and looked at the reporter, just casually,and raised his hand to his mouth to cover a yawn.
"Well, she couldn't do anything else," he said calmly.