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I told Poissan I was a professor in the university and that I would bring one of our younger trustees, the son of the banker, T. Pierpont Spencer, who might put some capital into his scheme. Now, Jameson, while I'm finishing up my work here, run over to the apartment and get my automatic revolver. I may need it to-night. I have communicated with Andrews, and he will be ready.
As I looked at the bluish-yellow flames they gradually changed to a beautiful purple, and a sickish sweet odour filled the room. The furnace roared at first, but as the vapors increased it became a better conductor of the electricity, and the roaring ceased. In almost no time the mass of iron scraps became molten. Suddenly Poissan plunged the cast-iron cup into the seething mass.
Spencer gently Francois we shall come to the large ones presently." "One moment, Professor Poissan," interrupted Craig; "let your assistant break them out while I stand over him." "Impossible. You would not know when you saw them. They are just rough stones." "Oh, yes, I would." "No, stay where you are. Unless I attend to it the diamonds might be ruined."
"I felt sure of it the moment I looked up Poissan and found that he was a manufacturer of electric furnaces. Don't you remember the famous Lemoine case in London and Paris?" "Yes, but Lemoine was a fakir of the first water;" said Andrews. "Do you think this man is, too?" "That's what I'm going to find out to-night before I take another step," said Craig.
Kahan, but do not let them know you suspect them of anything. Let me run down this Poissan clue. In other words, leave the case entirely in my hands in other respects. Let me know any new facts you may unearth, and some time to-morrow I shall call on you, and we will determine what the next step is to be. Good night. I want to thank you for putting me in the way of this case.
Quickly in the darkness Kennedy attached the ends of the wires to the curious little coil I had seen him working on in the laboratory, and we proceeded down the hall to the rooms occupied by Poissan, Kennedy had allowed for the wire to reach from the elevator-shaft up this hall, also, and as he walked he paid it out in such a manner that it fell on the floor close to the wall, where, in the darkness, it would never be noticed or stumbled over.
As the smoke cleared I expected to see Poissan and Francois lying on the floor. Instead, Craig had fired at the lock of the door. He had shattered it into a thousand bits. Andrews and his men were running down the hall. "Curse you!" muttered Poissan as he banged the now useless lock, "who let those fellows in? Are you a wizard?"
Or do you think we shall die quietly in some hospital as a certain New York banker did last year after he had watched an alchemist make silver out of apparently nothing!" The effect on Poissan was terrible. He advanced toward Kennedy, the veins in his face fairly standing out. Shaking his forefinger, he shouted: "You know that, do you? You are no professor, and this is no banker.
"No trouble at all," she replied graciously, though I could see she was intent on every word and motion of Kennedy and Andrews. Kennedy stopped the car at a drug-store a few blocks away and asked for the business telephone directory. In an instant, under chemists, he put his finger on the name of Poissan "Henri Poissan, electric furnaces, William St.," he read.
When he had finished he said: "Now you can ask me your questions, while I heat and anneal this little contrivance. I see you are bursting with curiosity." "Well, did you see Poissan?" I asked. Kennedy continued to heat the wire-covered porcelain. "I did, and he is going to give me a demonstration of his discovery to-night." "His discovery!"
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