Isabel Ostrander

“ Terhune's tone fell again to a monotone.
"My first word is: 'Creveling.'"
"Suicide," responded Waverly doggedly after a moment's deliberation. He glanced covertly at Cutter and wet his thick lips with the tip of his tongue. ”

“ McCarty's tone sounded the depths of scorn. "There's an old ladies' home I've been contributing to for years in memory of my mother, with never a soul of my own to get the benefit of it, but I'm thinking 'twill be just the place for you, my lad!"
"Old woman or no!" Dennis retorted doggedly. "I'm taking no chances with Terhune and his devilments!"
McCarty shrugged.
"It's little worry you need to have about Mr. Terhune; 'tis only the brain he tries his little experiments on so you're perfectly safe!" ”

“ Terhune rose and towered above the frail, dapper figure in the chair. "You have been unfortunate in your speculations in Wall Street for years and when your brother died and his will appointed you the guardian of his daughter and her two hundred thousand dollars, you were on the brink of ruin. Her money tided you over that crisis but you continued to speculate with it until little by little you lost it all. You were at your wit's end, for she would soon have come of age and demanded the accounting you could not give, when Creveling came along and wanted to marry her. ”

“ Waverly turned with a subdued guffaw and a joking aside to Nicholas Cutter, but the latter did not respond and the gravity of his face remained unbroken as he advanced and seated himself at one end of the row of chairs. Waverly dropped into the next with O'Rourke beside him, then Alexander, Inspector Druet and McCarty, with Dennis bringing up at the farther end. Bassett entered only to efface himself silently behind the screen and Terhune took the chair at one side, drawing a sheaf of papers from his pocket.
"You will see merely a series of numbers on the screen," he began. ”

“ The vibrations of the voice, as you see now while I am speaking, cause that little flame on the needle to flicker, diminishing with the lowered degrees of a single tone and rising with its upward trend. ”

“ In a tonoscope there are only eighteen thousand holes which form merely an octave. Do you follow me?"
McCarty was studying the apparatus closely but Dennis nodded.
"Yes, sir," he said somewhat uncertainly. "I'm quite a ways behind but I misdoubt I'll catch up when I see it actually working on the screen. And we don't have to hold any little bulbs nor wires nor anything?"
"No, merely to listen and watch. I shall not ask you nor McCarty to take any more active part in to-night's test."
"But just how does this work, Mr. Terhune?" McCarty asked. ”

“ Terhune responded, unmoved. "I have only one more word to suggest to you and that is 'alibi.'"
"It's one word too many, you pettifogging meddler!" Waverly sprang from his chair. "You claim that this is only a scientific experiment and under cover of it you dare to insult people with a lot of infernal insinuations and innuendoes you haven't the nerve to come out with openly! Try this grand stand play of yours on some other sucker ”

“ Before it an upright brass arm held a needle pointer tipped with a tiny flickering flame.
"Look at that, now!" exclaimed Dennis, impressed. "And this vibrat—what you said, sir—what does it do?"
"It projects the vibrations of the human voice upon the screen out there, much in the manner of the motion picture machine," responded Terhune. ”

“ If I've only to watch the screen he can start the show whenever he wants.—What was it he said about an association test? What kind of an association is it? Are we all supposed to be members of the club?"
"No, you loon!" McCarty responded with a low chuckle. "He means the association of one word to another; he mentions a word and you tell what it brings up in your mind, what it means to you."
"If it's education he wants he could buy a dictionary for the meaning of words," Dennis remarked. "That is, providing he could pick out one that had the answer in he wanted ”

“ Terhune?" asked Inspector Druet earnestly as he led him aside. "The pistol that killed Creveling is down at Headquarters, you know. Have you one witness who can testify that Alexander was near the Creveling house at the time of the shooting? Remember his standing in the community! Have you any proof at all against him?" ”