shut, and sat down.
"There," she said, "we are quite safe from interruption, Professor Seigfried; but I must request you not to move from your chair."
"I have no intention of doing so," murmured the old man. "Who sent you? You said you would tell me. I think you owe me an explanation."
"I think you owe me one," replied the girl. "As I told you before, no one sent me. I came here entirely of my own accord, and I shall endeavour to make clear to you exactly why I came. Some time ago there occurred in this city a terrific explosion—"
"Where? When?" exclaimed the old man, placing his hands on the arms of his chair, as if he would rise to his feet.
"Sit where you are," commanded Jennie firmly, "and I shall tell you all I can about it. The Government, for reasons of its own, desires to keep the fact of this explosion a secret, and thus very few people outside of official circles know anything about it. I am trying to discover the cause of that disaster."
"Are you—are you working on behalf of the Government?" asked the old man eagerly, a tremor of fear in his quavering voice.
"No. I am conducting my investigations quite independently of the Government."
"But why? But why? That is what I don't understand."
"I would very much rather not answer that question."
"But that question—everything is involved in that question. I must know why you are here. If you are not in the employ of the Government, in whose employ are you?"
"If I tell you," said Jennie with some hesitation, "will you keep what I say a secret?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" cried the scientist impatiently.
"Well, I am in the service of a London daily newspaper."
"I see, I see; and they have sent you here to publish broadcast over the world all you can find out of my doings. I knew you were a spy the moment I saw you. I should never have let you in."
"My dear sir, the London paper is not even aware of your existence. They have not sent me to you at all. They have sent me to learn, if possible, the cause of the explosion I spoke of. I took some of the débris to Herr Feltz to analyze it, and he said he had never seen gold, iron, feldspar, and all that, reduced to such fine, impalpable grains as was the case with the sample I left with him. I then asked him who in Vienna knew most about explosives, and he gave me your address. That is why I am here."
"But the explosion—you have not told me when and where it occurred!"
"That, as I have said, is a Government secret."
"But you stated you are not in the Government employ, therefore it can be no breach of confidence if you let me have full particulars."
"I suppose not. Very well, then, the explosion occurred after midnight on the seventeenth in the vault of the Treasury."
The old man, in spite of the prohibition, rose uncertainly to his feet.
Jennie sprang up and said menacingly, "Stay where you are!"
"I am not going to touch you. If you are so suspicious of every move I make, then go yourself and bring me what I want. There is a map of Vienna pinned against the wall yonder. Bring it to me."
Jennie proceeded in the direction indicated. It was an ordinary map of the city of Vienna, and as Jennie took it down she noticed that across the southern part of the city a semi-circular line in pencil had been drawn. Examining it more closely, she saw that the stationary part of the compass had been placed on the spot where stood the building which contained the Professor's studio. She paid closer attention to the pencil mark and observed that it passed through the Treasury building.
"Don't look at that map!" shrieked the Professor, beating the air with his hands. "I asked you to bring it to me. Can't you do a simple action like that without spying about?"
Jennie rapidly unfastened the paper from the wall and brought it to him. The scientist scrutinized it closely, adjusting his glasses the better to see, then deliberately tore the map into fragments, numerous and minute. He rose—and this time Jennie made no protest—went to the window, opened it, and flung the fluttering bits of paper out into the air, the strong wind carrying them far over the roofs of Vienna. Closing the casement, he came back to his chair.
"Was—was anyone hurt at this explosion?" he asked presently.
"Yes, four men were killed instantly, a dozen were seriously injured and are now in hospital."
"Oh, my God—my God!" cried the old man, covering his face with his hands, swaying from side to side in his chair like a man tortured with agony and remorse. At last he lifted a face that had grown more pinched and yellow within the last few minutes.
"I can tell you nothing," he said, moistening his parched lips.
"You mean that you will tell me nothing, for I see plainly that you know everything."
"I knew nothing of any explosion until you spoke of it. What have I to do with the Treasury or the Government?"
"That is just what I want to know."
"It is absurd. I am no conspirator, but a man of learning."
"Then you have nothing to fear, Herr Seigfried. If you are innocent, why are you so loth to give me any assistance in this matter?"
"It has nothing to do with me. I am a scientist—I am a scientist. All I wish is to be left alone with my studies. I have nothing to do with governments or newspapers, or anything belonging to them."
Jennie sat tracing a pattern on the dusty floor with the point of her parasol. She spoke very quietly:—
"The pencilled line which you drew on the map of Vienna passed through the Treasury building; the centre of the circle was this garret. Why did you draw that pencilled semi-circle? Why were you anxious that I should not see you had done so? Why did you destroy the map?"
Professor Seigfried sat there looking at her with dropped jaw, but he made no reply.
"If you will excuse my saying so," the girl went on, "you are acting very childishly. It is evident to me that you are no criminal, yet if the Director of Police had been in my place he would have arrested you long ago, and that merely because of your own foolish actions."
"The map proved nothing," he said at last, haltingly, "and besides, both you and the Director will now have some difficulty in finding it."
"That is further proof of your folly. The Director doesn't need to find it. I am here to testify that I saw the map, saw the curved line passing through the Treasury, and saw you destroy what you thought was an incriminating piece of evidence. It would be much better if you would deal as frankly with me as I have done with you. Then I shall give you the best advice I can—if my advice will be of any assistance to you."
"Yes, and publish it to all the world."
"It will have to be published to all the world in any case, for, if I leave here without full knowledge, I will simply go to the police office and there tell what I have learned in this room."
"And if I do speak, you will still go to the Director of the Police and tell him what you have discovered."
"No, I give you my word that I will not."
"What guarantee have I of that?" asked the old man suspiciously.
"No guarantee at all except my word!"
"Will you promise not to print in your paper what I tell you?"
"No, I cannot promise that!"
"Still, the newspaper doesn't matter," continued the scientist. "The story would be valueless to you, because no one would believe it. There is little use in printing a story in a newspaper that will be laughed at, is there? However, I think you are honest, otherwise you would have promised not to print a line of what I tell you, and then I should have known you were lying. It was as easy to promise that as to say you would not tell the Director of Police.