Jennie Baxter, Journalist

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"If you will have the kindness to inform me what your business is,
madame, we will have pleasure in attending to it without disturbing Herr
Director."

"I must communicate with the Director in person. The Princess von
Steinheimer is in her carriage outside, and I do not wish to keep her
waiting." At mention of the Princess the officer bestirred himself and
became tremendously polite.

"I shall call the Director at once, and he will be only too happy to
wait upon you."

"Oh, have you a telephone here? and can I speak with him myself without
being overheard?"

"Certainly, madame. If you will step into this room with me, I will call
him up and leave you to speak with him."

This was done, and when the Chief had answered, Jennie introduced
herself to him.

"I am Miss Baxter, whom you were kind enough to escort through the
Treasury building this afternoon."

"Oh, yes," replied the Chief. "I thought we were to postpone further
inquiry until to-morrow."

"Yes, that was the arrangement; but I wanted to say that if my plans are
interfered with; if I am kept under surveillance, I shall be compelled
to withdraw from the search."

A few moments elapsed before the Chief replied, and then it was with
some hesitation.

"I should be distressed to have you withdraw; but, if you wish to do so,
that must be a matter entirely for your own consideration. I have my
own duty to perform, and I must carry it out to the best of my poor
ability."

"Quite so. I am obliged to you for speaking so plainly. I rather
surmised this afternoon that you looked upon my help in the light of an
interference."

"I should not have used the word interference," continued the Chief;
"but I must confess that I never knew good results to follow amateur
efforts, which could not have been obtained much more speedily and
effectually by the regular force under my command."

"Well, the regular force under your command has been at work several
weeks and has apparently not accomplished very much. I have devoted part
of an afternoon and evening to the matter, so before I withdraw I should
like to give you some interesting information which you may impart to
the Government, and I am quite willing that you should take all the
credit for the discovery, as I have no wish to appear in any way as your
competitor. Can you hear me distinctly?"

"Perfectly, madame," replied the Chief.

"Then, in the first place, inform the Government that there has been no
robbery."

"No robbery? What an absurd statement, if you will excuse me speaking so
abruptly! Where is the gold if there was no robbery?"

"I am coming to that. Next inform the Government that their loss will
be but trifling. That heap of _debris_ which you propose to cart away
contains practically the whole of the missing two hundred million
florins. More than one-third of the heap is pure gold. If you want to
do a favour to a good friend of yours, and at the same time confer a
benefit upon the Government itself, you will advise the Government to
secure the services of Herr Feltz, so that the gold may be extracted
from the rubbish completely and effectually. I put in a word for Herr
Feltz, because I am convinced that he is a most competent man. To-night
his action saved you from dismissal to-morrow, therefore you should be
grateful to him. And now I have the honour to wish you good-night."

"Wait--wait a moment!" came in beseeching tones through the telephone.
"My dear young lady, pray pardon any fault you have to find with me, and
remain for a moment or two longer. Who, then, caused the explosion, and
why was it accomplished?"

"That I must leave for you to find out, Herr Director. You see, I am
giving you the results of merely a few hours' inquiry, and you cannot
expect me to discover everything in that time. I don't know how the
explosion was caused, neither do I know who the criminals are or were.
It would probably take me all day to-morrow to find that out; but as I
am leaving the discovery in such competent hands as yours, I must curb
my impatience until you send me full particulars. So, once again,
good-night, Herr Director."

"No, no, don't go yet. I shall come at once to the station, if you will
be kind enough to stop there until I arrive."

"The Princess von Steinheimer is waiting for me in her carriage outside,
and I do not wish to delay her any longer."

"Then let me implore you not to give up your researches."

"Why? Amateur efforts are so futile, you know, when compared with the
labours of the regular force."

"Oh, my dear young lady, you must pardon an old man for what he said in
a thoughtless moment. If you knew how many useless amateurs meddle in
our very difficult business you would excuse me. Are you quite convinced
of what you have told me, that the gold is in the rubbish heap?"

"Perfectly. I will leave for you at the office here the analysis made by
Herr Feltz, and if I can assist you further, it must be on the distinct
understanding that you are not to interfere again with whatever I may
do. Your conduct in going to Herr Feltz to-night after you had left me,
and commanding him not to give me any information, I should hesitate
to characterize by its right name. When I have anything further to
communicate, I will send for you."

"Thank you; I shall hold myself always at your command." This telephonic
interview being happily concluded, Jennie hurried to the Princess,
stopping on her way to give the paper containing the analysis to the
official in charge, and telling him to hand it to the Director when he
returned to his desk. This done, she passed out into the night, with the
comfortable consciousness that the worries of a busy day had not been
without their compensation.

CHAPTER XVI.

JENNIE VISITS A MODERN WIZARD IN HIS MAGIC ATTIC.

When Jennie entered the carriage in which her friend was waiting, the
other cried, "Well, have you seen him?" apparently meaning the Director
of Police.

"No, I did not see him, but I talked with him over the telephone. I wish
you could have heard our conversation; it was the funniest interview I
ever took part in. Two or three times I had to shut off the instrument,
fearing the Director would hear me laugh. I am afraid that before this
business is ended you will be very sorry I am a guest at your house. I
know I shall end by getting myself into an Austrian prison. Just think
of it! Here have I been 'holding up' the Chief of Police in this
Imperial city as if I were a wild western brigand. I have been
terrorizing the man, brow-beating him, threatening him, and he the
person who has the liberty of all Vienna in his hands; who can have me
dragged off to a dungeon-cell any time he likes to give the order."

"Not from the Palace Steinheimer," said the Princess, with decision.

"Well, he might hesitate about that; yet, nevertheless, it is too funny
to think that a mere newspaper woman, coming into a city which contains
only one or two of her friends, should dare to talk to the Chief of
Police as I have done to-night, and force him actually to beg that I
shall remain in the city and continue to assist him."

"Tell me what you said," asked the Princess eagerly; and Jennie related
all that had passed between them over the telephone.

"And do you mean to say calmly that you are going to give that man the
right to use the astounding information you have acquired, and allow him
to accept complacently all the _kudos_ that such a discovery entitles
you to?"

"Why, certainly," replied Jennie. "What good is the _kudos_ to me? All
the credit I desire I get in the office of the _Daily Bugle_ in London."

"But, you silly girl, holding such a secret as you held, you could have
made your fortune," insisted the practical Princess, for the principles
which had been instilled into her during a youth spent in Chicago had
not been entirely eradicated by residence in Vienna. "If you had gone to
the Government and said, 'How much will you give me if I restore to you
the missing gold?' just imagine what their answer would be."

"Yes, I suppose there was money in the scheme if it had really been a
secret. But you forget that to-morrow morning the Chief of Police would
have known as much as he knows to-night. Of course, if I had gone alone
to the Treasury vault and kept my discovery to myself, I might, perhaps,
have 'held up' the Government of Austria-Hungary as successfully as I
'held up' the Chief of Police to-night. But with the Director watching
everything I did, and going with me to the chemist, there was no
possibility of keeping the matter a secret."

"Well, Jennie, all I can say is that you are a very foolish girl. Here
you are, working hard, as you said in one of your letters, merely to
make a living, and now, with the greatest nonchalance, you allow a
fortune to slip through your fingers. I am simply not going to allow
this. I shall tell my husband all that has happened, and he will make
the Government treat you honestly; if not generously. I assure you,
Jennie, that Lord Donal--no, I won't mention his name, since you protest
so strenuously--but the future young man, whoever he is, will not think
the less of you because you come to him with a handsome dowry. But here
we are at home; and I won't say another word on the subject if it annoys
you."

When Jennie reached her delightful apartments--which looked even more
luxuriantly comfortable bathed in the soft radiance that now flooded
them from quiet-toned shaded lamps than they did in the more garish
light of day--she walked up and down her sitting-room in deep
meditation. She was in a quandary--whether or not to risk sending a
coded telegram to her paper was the question that presented itself to
her. If she were sure that no one else would learn the news, she would
prefer to wait until she had further particulars of the Treasury
catastrophe. A good deal would depend on whether or not the Director of
Police took anyone into his confidence that night. If he did not, he
would be aware that only he and the girl possessed this important
piece of news. If a full account of the discovery appeared in the next
morning's _Daily Bugle_, then, when that paper arrived in Vienna, or
even before, if a synopsis were telegraphed to the Government, as it was
morally certain to be, the Director would know at once that she was the
correspondent of the newspaper whom he was so anxious to frighten out
of Vienna. On the other hand, her friendship with the Princess von
Steinheimer gave her such influence with the Chief's superiors, that,
after the lesson she had taught him, he might hesitate to make any move
against her. Then, again, the news that to-night belonged to two persons
might on the morrow come to the knowledge of all the correspondents in
Vienna, and her efforts, so far as the _Bugle_ was concerned, would have
been in vain. This consideration decided the girl, and, casting off all
sign of hesitation, she sat down at her writing table and began the
first chapter of the solution of the Vienna mystery. Her opening
sentence was exceedingly diplomatic: "The Chief of Police of Vienna has
made a most startling discovery." Beginning thus, she went on to details
of the discovery she had that day made. When her account was finished
and codified, she went down to her hostess and said,--

"Princess, I want a trustworthy man, who will take a long telegram to
the central telegraph office, pay for it, and come away quickly before
anyone can ask him inconvenient questions."

"Would it not be better to call a Dienstmanner?"

"A Dienstmanner? That is your commissionaire, or telegraph messenger?
No, I think not. They are all numbered and can be traced."

"Oh, I know!" cried the Princess; "I will send our coachman. He will be
out of his livery now, and he is a most reliable man; he will not answer
inconvenient questions, or any others, even if they are asked."

To her telegram for publication Jennie had added a private despatch to
the editor, stating that it would be rather inconvenient for her if he
published the account next morning, but she left the decision entirely
with him. Here was the news, and if he thought it worth the risk,
he might hold it over; if not, he was to print it regardless of
consequences.

As a matter of fact, the editor, with fear and trembling, held the news
for a day, so that he might not embarrass his fair representative, but
so anxious was he, that he sat up all night until the other papers were
out, and he heaved a sigh of relief when, on glancing over them, he
found that not one of them contained an inkling of the information
locked up in his desk. And so he dropped off to sleep when the day was
breaking. Next night he had nearly as much anxiety, for although the
_Bugle_ would contain the news, other papers might have it as well, and
thus for the second time he waited in his office until the other sheets,
wet from the press, were brought to him. Again fortune favoured him, and
the triumph belonged to the _Bugle_ alone.

The morning after her interview with the Director of Police, Jennie,
taking a small hand-satchel, in which she placed the various bottles
containing the different dusts which the chemist had separated, went
abroad alone, and hailing a fiacre, gave the driver the address of
Professor Carl Seigfried. The carriage of the Princess was always at
the disposal of the girl, but on this occasion she did not wish to be
embarrassed with so pretentious an equipage. The cab took her into a
street lined with tall edifices and left her at the number she had
given the driver. The building seemed to be one let out in flats and
tenements; she mounted stair after stair, and only at the very top did
she see the Professor's name painted on a door. Here she rapped several
times without any attention being paid to her summons, but at last the
door was opened partially by a man whom she took, quite accurately,
to be the Professor himself. His head was white; and his face deeply
wrinkled. He glared at her through his glasses, and said sharply, "Young
lady, you have made a mistake; these are the rooms of Professor Carl
Seigfried."

"It is Professor Carl Seigfried that I wish to see," replied the girl
hurriedly, as the old man was preparing to shut the door.

"What do you want with him?"

"I want some information from him about explosives. I have been told
that he knows more about explosives than any other man living."

"Quite right--he does. What then?"

"An explosion has taken place producing the most remarkable results.
They say that neither dynamite nor any other known force could have had
such an effect on metals and minerals as this power has had."

"Ah, dynamite is a toy for children!" cried the old man, opening the
door a little further and exhibiting an interest which had, up to that
moment, been absent from his manner. "Well, where did this explosion
take place? Do you wish me to go and see it?"

"Perhaps so, later on. At present I wish to show you some of its
effects, but I don't propose to do this standing here in the
passageway."

"Quite right--quite right," hastily ejaculated the old scientist,
throwing the door wide open. "Of course, I am not accustomed to visits
from fashionable young ladies, and I thought at first there had been
a mistake; but if you have any real scientific problem, I shall be
delighted to give my attention to it. What may appear very extraordinary
to the lay mind will doubtless prove fully explainable by scientists.
Come in, come in."

The old man shut the door behind her, and led her along a dark passage,
into a large apartment, whose ceiling was the roof of the building.
At first sight it seemed in amazing disorder. Huge as it was, it was
cluttered with curious shaped machines and instruments. A twisted
conglomeration of glass tubing, bent into fantastic tangles, stood on
a central table, and had evidently been occupying the Professor's
attention at the time he was interrupted. The place was lined with
shelving, where the walls were not occupied by cupboards, and every
shelf was burdened with bottles and apparatus of different kinds.
Whatever care Professor Seigfried took of his apparatus, he seemed to
have little for his furniture. There was hardly a decent chair in the
room, except one deep arm-chair, covered with a tiger's skin, in which
the Professor evidently took his ease while meditating or watching the
progress of an experiment. This chair he did not offer to the young
lady; in fact, he did not offer her a seat at all, but sank down on
the tiger's skin himself, placed the tips of his fingers together, and
glared at her through his glittering glasses.

"Now, young woman," he said abruptly, "what have you brought for me?
Don't begin to chatter, for my time is valuable. Show me what you have
brought, and I will tell you all about it; and most likely a very simple
thing it is."

Jennie, interested in so rude a man, smiled, drew up the least decrepit
bench she could find, and sat down, in spite of the angry mutterings
of her irritated host. Then she opened her satchel, took out the small
bottle of gold, and handed it to him without a word. The old man
received it somewhat contemptuously, shook it backward and forward
without extracting the cork, adjusted his glasses, then suddenly seemed
to take a nervous interest in the material presented to him. He rose and
went nearer the light. Drawing out the cork with trembling hands, he
poured some of the contents into his open palm. The result was startling
enough. The old man flung up his hands, letting the vial crash into a
thousand pieces on the floor. He staggered forward, shrieking, "Ah, mein
Gott--mein Gott!"

Then, to the consternation of Jennie, who had already risen in terror
from her chair, the scientist plunged forward on his face. The girl had
difficulty in repressing a shriek. She looked round hurriedly for a bell
to ring, but apparently there was none. She tried to open the door and
cry for help, but in her excitement could neither find handle nor latch.
It seemed to be locked, and the key, doubtless, was in the Professor's
pocket. She thought at first that he had dropped dead, but the continued
moaning as he lay on the floor convinced her of her error. She bent over
him anxiously and cried, "What can I do to help you?"

With a struggle he muttered, "The bottle, the bottle, in the cupboard
behind you."

She hurriedly flung open the doors of the cupboard indicated, and found
a bottle of brandy, and a glass, which she partly filled. The old man
had with an effort struggled into a sitting posture, and she held the
glass of fiery liquid to his pallid lips. He gulped down the brandy, and
gasped, "I feel better now. Help me to my chair."

Assisting him to his feet, she supported him to his arm-chair, when he
shook himself free, crying angrily, "Let me alone! Don't you see I am
all right again?"

The girl stood aside, and the Professor dropped into his chair, his
nervous hands vibrating on his knees. For a long interval nothing was
said by either, and the girl at last seated herself on the bench she had
formerly occupied. The next words the old man spoke were, "Who sent you
here?"

"No one, I came of my own accord. I wished to meet someone who had a
large knowledge of explosives, and Herr Feltz, the chemist, gave me your
address."

"Herr Feltz! Herr Feltz!" he repeated. "So he sent you here?"

"No one sent me here," insisted the girl. "It is as I tell you. Herr
Feltz merely gave me your address."

"Where did you get that powdered gold?"

"It came from the _debris_ of an explosion."

"I know, you said that before. Where was the explosion? Who caused it?"

"That I don't know."

"Don't you know where the explosion was?"

"Yes, I know where the explosion was, but I don't know who caused it."

"Who sent you here?"

"I tell you no one sent me here."

"That is not true, the man who caused the explosion sent you here. You
are his minion. What do you expect to find out from me?"

"I expect to learn what explosive was used to produce the result that
seemed to have such a remarkable effect on you."

"Why do you say that? It had no effect on me. My heart is weak. I am
subject to such attacks, and I ward them off with brandy. Some day they
will kill me. Then you won't learn any secrets from a dead man, will
you?"

"I hope, Professor Seigfried, that you have many years yet to live, and
I must further add that I did not expect such a reception as I have
received from a man of science, as I was told you were. If you have no
information to give to me, very well, that ends it; all you have to do
is to say so."

"Who sent you here?"

"No one, as I have repeated once or twice. If anyone had, I would give
him my opinion of the errand when I got back. You refuse, then, to tell
me anything about the explosive that powdered the gold?"

"Refuse? Of course I refuse! What did you expect? I suppose the man who
sent you here thought, because you were an engaging young woman and I
an old dotard, I would gabble to you the results of a life's work. Oh,
no, no, no; but I am not an old dotard. I have many years to live yet."

"I hope so. Well, I must bid you good morning. I shall go to someone
else."

The old man showed his teeth in a forbidding grin.

"It is useless. Your bottle is broken, and the material it contained is
dissipated. Not a trace of it is left."

He waved his thin, emaciated hand in the air as he spoke.

"Oh, that doesn't matter in the least," said Jennie. "I have several
other bottles here in my satchel."

The Professor placed his hands on the arms of his chair, and slowly
raised himself to his feet.

"You have others," he cried, "other bottles? Let me see them--let me see
them!"

"No," replied Jennie, "I won't."

With a speed which, after his recent collapse, Jennie had not expected,
the Professor ambled round to the door and placed his back against
it. The glasses over his eyes seemed to sparkle as if with fire. His
talon-like fingers crooked rigidly. He breathed rapidly, and was
evidently labouring under intense excitement.

"Who knows you came up to see me?" he whispered hoarsely, glaring at
her.

Jennie, having arisen, stood there, smoothing down her perfectly fitting
glove, and answered with a calmness she was far from feeling,--

"Who knows I am here? No one but the Director of Police."

"Oh, the Director of Police!" echoed the Professor, quite palpably
abashed by the unexpected answer. The rigidity of his attitude relaxed,
and he became once more the old man he had appeared as he sat in a heap
in his chair. "You will excuse me," he muttered, edging round towards
the chair again; "I was excited."

"I noticed that you were, Professor. But before you sit down again,
please unlock that door."

"Why?" he asked, pausing on his way to the chair.

"Because I wish it open."

"And I," he said in a higher tone, "wish it to remain locked until we
have come to some understanding. I can't let you go out now; but I shall
permit you to go unmolested as soon as you have made some explanation to
me."

"If you do not unlock the door immediately I shall take this machine and
fling it through the front window out on the street. The crashing glass
on the pavement will soon bring someone to my rescue, Professor, and, as
I have a voice of my own and small hesitation about shouting, I shall
have little difficulty in directing the strangers where to come."

As Jennie spoke she moved swiftly towards the table on which stood the
strange aggregation of reflectors and bent glass tubing.

"No, no, no!" screamed the Professor, springing between her and the
table. "Touch anything but that--anything but that. Do not disturb it an
inch--there is danger--death not only to you and me, but perhaps to the
whole city. Keep away from it!"

"Very well, then," said Jennie, stepping back in spite of her endeavour
to maintain her self-control; "open the door. Open both doors and
leave them so. After that, if you remain seated in your chair, I
shall not touch the machine, nor shall I leave until I make the
explanations you require, and you have answered some questions that
I shall ask. But I must have a clear way to the stair, in case you
should become excited again."

"I'll unlock the doors; I'll unlock both doors," replied the old man
tremulously, fumbling about in his pockets for his keys. "But keep away
from that machine, unless you want to bring swift destruction on us
all."

With an eagerness that retarded his speed, the Professor, constantly
looking over his shoulder at his visitor, unlocked the first door, then
hastily he flung open the second, and tottered back to his chair, where
he collapsed on the tiger skin, trembling and exhausted.

"We may be overheard," he whined. "One can never tell who may sneak
quietly up the stair. I am surrounded by spies trying to find out what I
am doing."

"Wait a moment," said Jennie.

She went quickly to the outer door, found that it closed with a spring
latch, opened and shut it two or three times until she was perfectly
familiar with its workings, then she closed it, drew the inner door
nearly shut, and sat down.

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