It even had an odor--like some old
chest which a clipper captain had used to bring back elegant spices
from his voyages in the China Trade. The house faced the campus. The girls could see it, going to classes,
and it reminded them of afternoons they had spent there, sitting in
straight-backed chairs, all on their best behavior, while a wood fire
burned merrily on the shining brass andirons in the white fireplace. Mrs. Carr was such a strait-laced innocent old dear! But her innocence
was all to the good--it was no trouble at all to pull the wool over her
eyes. And she did tell the quaintest stories with the most screamingly
funny, completely unconscious points. And she did serve the nicest
gingerbread with her cinnamon tea. A light came on in the hall, casting a pattern of gentle illumination
through the New England fanlight onto the scrollwork of the porch. The
six-paneled white door below the fanlight opened. "I'm going, Flora," Mr. Carr called. "Your bridge partners are a bit
tardy, aren't they?" "They'll be here soon." The silvery voice floated down the hall. "Good-by, Linthicum." He closed the door. Too bad he had to miss the bridge. But the paper
they were going to hear on the Theory of Primes would undoubtedly be
interesting, and one couldn't have everything. His footsteps sounded on
the pebbly walk with its edging of tiny white flowers, like old lace. Then they reached the concrete and slowly died away. Somewhere at the rear of the house a car drew up. There was the sound
of something being lifted, then heavy, plodding footsteps. A door at
the back of the house opened, and for a moment against the oblong of
light a man could be seen carrying in a smaller figure whose position
suggested the presence of certain restraints. Then that door closed,
too, and for a while longer there was silence, while the breezes played
with the oak leaves. With thriftless waste of rubber, a luxurious black automobile jerked to
a stop in front. Mrs. Gunnison stepped out. "Hurry up, Evelyn," she said. "You've made us late again. You know how
she hates that." "I'm coming as fast as I can," replied her companion plaintively,
emerging from the car. As soon as the six-paneled door swung open, the faded, spicy odor
became more apparent. "You're late, dears," came the silvery, laughing voice. "But I'll
forgive you this once, because I've a surprise for you. Come with me." *       *       *       *       *

They followed the frail figure in rustling, faintly hissing silk into
the living room. Just beyond the bridge table, with its embroidered
cover and two cut-glass dishes of sweets, stood Norman Saylor. In the
mingled lamplight and firelight, his face was expressionless. "Since Tansy is unable to come," said Mrs. Carr, "he's agreed to make a
fourth. Isn't that a nice surprise? And isn't it very nice of Professor
Saylor?" Mrs. Gunnison seemed to be gathering her courage. "I'm not altogether
sure that I like the arrangement," she said finally. "Since when did it matter whether you liked something or not?" came the
answer, sharp as a whiplash. Mrs. Carr was standing very straight. "Sit
down, all of you!" When they had taken their places around the bridge table, Mrs. Carr ran
through a deck, flipping out certain cards. When she spoke her voice
was as sweet and silvery as ever. "Here are you two, my dears," she said, placing the queens of diamonds
and clubs side by side. "And here is Professor Saylor." She added the
king of hearts to the group. "And here am I." She placed the queen
of spades so that it overlapped all three. "Off here to the side is
the queen of hearts--Tansy Saylor. Now what I intend to do is this." She moved the queen of hearts so that it exactly covered the queen of
spades. "You don't understand? Well, it isn't what it looks like, and
neither of you is especially bright. You'll understand in a moment. Professor Saylor and I have just had an ever so interesting talk," she
went on. "All about his work. Haven't we, Professor Saylor?" He nodded. "He's made some of the most fascinating discoveries. It seems that
there are laws governing the things that we women have been puttering
with. Men are so clever in some ways, don't you think? "He's been good enough to tell all those laws to me. You'd never dream
how much easier and safer it makes everything--and more efficient. Efficiency is so very important these days. Why, already Professor
Saylor has made something for me--I won't tell you what it is, but
there's one for each of you and one for someone else. They aren't
presents, because I'll keep them all. And if one of you should do
something naughty, they'll make it ever so easy for me to whisk part of
you away--you know what part. "And now something is going to happen that will enable Professor Saylor
and I to work together very closely in the future--how closely you
could never imagine. You're to help. That's why you're here. Open the
dining-room door, Norman." *       *       *       *       *

It was an old-fashioned sliding door, gleaming white. Slowly he pushed
it aside. "There," said Mrs. Carr. "My second surprise. I'm full of surprises
tonight." The body was lashed to a chair. From over the gag, the eyes of Tansy
Saylor glared at them with impotent hate and a trapped fear. Evelyn Sawtelle half rose, stifling a scream. "You needn't get hysterics, Evelyn," said Mrs. Carr sharply. "It's got
a soul in it now." Evelyn Sawtelle sank back, lips trembling. Mrs. Gunnison's face had grown pale, but she set her jaw firmly and
put her elbows on the table. "I don't like it," she said. "It's too
open--too risky." "I am able to take chances I wouldn't have taken a week ago, dear,"
Mrs. Carr said sweetly. "In this matter your aid and Evelyn's is
essential to me. Of course, you're perfectly welcome not to help, if
you don't want to. Only I do hope you understand the consequences." Mrs. Gunnison dropped her eyes. "All right," she said. "But let's be
quick about it." "I am a very old woman," began Mrs. Carr, with tantalizing slowness,
"and I am very fond of life. It has been a little dispiriting for me
to think that mine is drawing to a close. And, for reasons I think you
understand, I have something more to fear in death than most persons. "But now it seems that I am once more going to experience all those
things that an old woman looks upon as forever lost. The unusual
circumstances of the last two weeks have helped a great deal, in
preparing the ground. Professor Saylor has helped a little. And you, my
dears, are going to help, too. You see, it's necessary to build up a
certain kind of tension, and only people with the right background can
do that, and it takes at least four of them. Professor Saylor--he has
such a brilliant mind!--tells me that it's very much like building up
electrical tension, so that a spark will be able to jump a gap. Only
in this case the gap will be from where I am sitting to, there"--and
she pointed at the bound figure. "And there will be two sparks.