LONDON
C. ARTHUR PEARSON, LIMITED
HENRIETTA STREET, W.C.
1916
| PAGE | ||
| I. | The Unknown Quantity | 7 |
| II. | The Armless Man | 19 |
| III. | The Tomtom Clue | 33 |
| IV. | The Case of Sir Alister Moeran | 43 |
| V. | The Kiss | 63 |
| VI. | The Goth | 73 |
| VII. | The Last Ascent | 88 |
| VIII. | The Terror by Night | 97 |
| IX. | The Tragedy at the "Loup Noir" | 113 |
Professor William James Maynard was ina singularly happy and contented mood ashe strolled down the High Street after a longand satisfactory interview with the solicitor tohis late cousin, whose sole heir he was.
It was exactly a month by the calendar sincehe had murdered this cousin, and everythinghad gone most satisfactorily since. The fortunewas proving quite as large as he had expected,and not even an inquest had been held uponthe dead man. The coroner had decided thatit was not necessary, and the Professor hadagreed with him.
At the funeral the Professor had been theprincipal mourner, and the local paper had commentedsympathetically on his evident emotion.This had been quite genuine, for the Professorhad been fond of his relative, who had alwaysbeen very good to him. But still, when anold man remains obstinately healthy, when[8]his doctor can say with confidence that he isgood for another twenty years at least, andwhen he stands between you and a large fortunewhich you need, and of which you can makemuch better use in the cause of science and thepursuit of knowledge, what alternative is there?It becomes necessary to take steps. Therefore,the Professor had taken steps.
Looking back to-day on that day a monthago, and the critical preceding week, the Professorfelt that the steps he had taken had beenas judicious as successful. He had set himselfto solve a problem in higher mathematics. Hehad found it easier to solve than many he wasobliged to grapple with in the course of hisstudies.
A policeman saluted as the Professor passed,and he acknowledged it with the charmingold world courtesy that made him so populara figure in the town. Across the way was thedoctor who had certified the cause of death.The Professor, passing benevolently on, wasglad he had now enough money to carry out hisprojects. He would be able to publish at oncehis great work on "The Secondary Variationof the Differential Calculus," that hitherto hadlanguished in manuscript. It would make asensation, he thought; there was more than onegenerally acc