Herbert Jenkins

“ He looked round him. Instinctively he thought of flight. He felt that he was the culprit, the passionate, eager creature in the dock his accuser.
“Am I the man?” he heard the prisoner persisting. “Am I?”
“N-no,” he faltered in a voice he would have sworn was not his own.
“You say that the prisoner is not the man who entered your flat during the early hours of this morning?” questioned the magistrate.
“No, sir, he is not,” replied Conti wearily, miserably. What had happened? Was he a failure?
“Please explain what happened,” ordered the magistrate. Conti did so. ”

“ He was conscious even of the dramatic possibilities of the situation.
“Turn round and face the wall, quick!” he rapped out. The sallow face vanished, and in its place reappeared the tonsured scalp. Carefully covering with his revolver the unfortunate Bindle, whose first effort at burglary seemed likely to end so disastrously, Professor Conti slipped out of bed and, without removing his eyes from his visitor's back, sidled toward a small chest at the other side of the room. This he opened, and from it took a pair of handcuffs, a property of his profession. ”

“ The police had confirmed, on the telephone, the story of a man having given himself up, and the whole adventure was, in the argot of Fleet Street, “hot stuff.”
By half past eleven the papers were selling in the streets, and the Professor was on his way to the police-court. He had been told the case would not come on before twelve. As his taxi threaded its way jerkily westward, he caught glimpses of the placard of the noon edition of The Evening Mail, bearing such sensational lines as “The Hypnotized Burglar,” “Professor Conti and the Burglar,” “An Amazing Capture,” “Burglar Hypnotized.” ”

“ His wits, Bindle argued, were of little or no use in the furniture-removing business, where mediocrity formed the standard of excellence. There would never be a Napoleon of furniture-removers, but there had been several Napoleons of crime. If a man were endowed with genius, he should also be supplied with a reasonable outlet for it. ”

“ He was scientific, and believed in his own powers as he believed in nothing else on earth. He had achieved some sort of success. It was not what he had hoped for; still, it was a living. It gave him food and raiment and a small bachelor flat—he was a bachelor, all self-made men are—in a spot that was Kensington, albeit West Kensington. ”

“ He had been a brave little man in his fight with adverse conditions. Years before, chance had thrown across his path a doctor whose hypnotic powers had been his ruin. Tommy Wilkins had shown himself an apt pupil, and there opened out to his vision a great and glorious prospect. ”

“ For a moment the Professor pondered, then, as if coming to a sudden determination, he told Bindle to replace the articles in his pockets and dismissed him.
Having bolted the door, Professor Conti returned to his bedroom. For half an hour he sat in his nondescript costume, smoking cigarettes. He was thoroughly satisfied with the night's work. It had been ordained that his flat should be burgled, and he, Sylvanus Conti, professor of hypnotism and mesmerism, seizing his opportunity, had diverted to his own ends the august decrees of Providence. He pictured Mr. ”

“ At that moment Professor Sylvanus Conti entered the court, smiling and alert. He looked quickly toward the dock to see if his case had come on, and was relieved to find that his last night's visitor was not there. He feared being late. The magistrate cleared his throat and addressed the prisoner—
“You are harming your case by this exhibition. If a mistake has been made, you have nothing to fear ”

“ The keys were obviously those of the outer door of a block of mansions and the door of a flat. If they were returned, the reward was two shillings and sixpence, which would bring up the day's takings to seven shillings and sixpence. If, on the other hand, the keys were retained for the purpose of— At that moment Bindle's eye caught sight of a ticket upon a stall littered with old locks and keys, above which blazed and spluttered a paraffin. torch. “Keys cut while you wait,” it announced. ”