‘I am sorry,’ Lavendale murmured mendaciously.

In a few minutes they received an urgent summons. They found Mr. Moreton waiting 杭州油压毛推 in a large, open car below. He had quite recovered his temper. His face, indeed, shone with the benign expression of a child on its way to a treat.

‘Miss de Freyne and Mr. Lavendale, you can sit by my side,’ he ordered. ‘Jimmy, you get up in front. The man knows where to go.’

They swung round and in a few minutes turned into Central Park. At a spot where the road curved rather abruptly, the car came to a standstill. Mr. Moreton stepped out. From his pocket he drew a small skein of what seemed to be white silk, and a tiny instrument with a dial face and perforated with several holes.

‘Hold that,’ he directed Lavendale.

The latter obeyed. Mr. Moreton drew the thread of white silk backwards and forwards through one of the apertures in the instrument, the finger on the dial face mounting all the time from zero. When it reached 杭州足浴保健 a certain figure he drew it out, and, stooping down, stretched it across the path from the hedge to the curbstone. Then he glanced up and down and around the corner. The park was almost deserted and there were only a few loungers in sight. From the small bag which he had brought with him in the car, Mr. Moreton next produced a square black box with a handle in the side, and a pair of black indiarubber gloves which he hastily donned. Then, with the box in his hand, he turned the handle which protruded from its side. A queer, buzzing little sound came from the interior, a sound which, low though it was, thrilled Lavendale from its utter and mysterious novelty. It was a sound such as he had never imagined, a sound like the grumblings of belittled and imprisoned thunder. The finger on the dial moved slowly. When it had reached a 杭州spa男子会所 certain point, Mr. Moreton paused. He clasped the machine tightly in his hands. The mutterings still continued, and from a tiny opening underneath came little flashes of blue fire. The inventor stepped into the car, motioning the others to follow him, and gave an order to the driver. They backed to a spot by the side of the road, about a hundred yards away from where the thread of white silk lay stretched across the pavement. Mr. Moreton gripped the instrument in his rubber-clad hand and leaned back in the car, his eyes fixed upon the corner. His expression had become calmer, almost seraphic.

‘We shall see now,’ he promised them, smiling, ‘another land of dance. There is only one thing I should like to point out. The little instrument I hold in my hand now is adjusted to any distance up to two hundred yards. By turning the 杭州龙凤419论坛 handle a dozen more times, the distance could be increased to a mile, and more in proportion. The length of my silk-covered wire is immaterial. It could stretch, if desired, from here to Broadway. Now watch.’

They all sat with their eyes fastened upon the corner of the pathway. A slight uneasiness which Lavendale in particular had felt, was almost banished by a thrilling sense of expectancy. Suddenly a portly figure appeared, a policeman whom they had passed soon after entering the park. He approached with his hands behind him, walking in ruminating fashion. Suddenly, as his foot touched the thread, he came to a halt. There was something unnatural in his momentarily statuesque attitude. Then, before their eyes he seemed to stiffen, fell like a log on his right side, with his head in the roadway. His helmet rolled a few feet 杭州美容院排行榜 away. The man remained motionless. Lavendale sprang to his feet but Mr. Moreton pushed 杭州下城区不正规的足浴店 him back.

‘That is of no consequence,’ he said softly. ‘Wait for a moment.’

Lavendale even then would have obeyed his instinct and jumped from the car, but his limbs seemed powerless. A man and a girl, arm in arm, appeared round the corner. Suzanne stood up. A strange, hysterical impulse seized her and she tried to shout. Her voice sounded like the feeblest whimper. The two lovers, as their feet touched the thread, seemed suddenly to break off in their conversation. It was as though the words themselves were arrested upon their lips, as though all feeling and movement had become paralyzed. Then they, too, stiffened and fell in the same direction. A park-keeper, who had seen the collapse of the policeman, came running across the road, shouting 杭州养生spa馆 all the time, and an automobile which had been crawling along, increased its 杭州男士养生spa会所 speed and raced to the spot. Mr. Moreton touched a button in the instrument which he was holding. The thunder died away and the blue flashes ceased. Suzanne leaned back in the car; her cheeks were as pale as death. Lavendale bent over her.

‘It’s all right, Suzanne,’ he assured her. ‘Sit here while I go down. There is nothing wrong with those people really. It’s just another of Mr. Moreton’s little jokes.’

Nevertheless, when Lavendale’s feet touched the ground he gave a little cry, for the earth seemed quaking around him. Mr. Moreton, who was walking by his side, patted him on the shoulder.

‘Steady, my boy! Steady!’ he said. ‘You see, the whole of the earth between here and that little thread of white silk is heavily charged. You feel, don’t you, as 杭州丝袜养生会所 though the ground were rising up and were going to hit you in the chin. I’ve 杭州油压好的地方 grown used to it. There goes poor Jimmy. Dear me, he hasn’t the nerve of a chicken!’

Young Moreton fell over in a dead faint. Lavendale set his teeth and staggered on. A little crowd was already gathering around the three prostrate bodies as they drew near.

‘You see,’ Mr. Moreton explained reassuringly, ‘I have broken the connection now. Nothing more will happen.’

‘What of those three—the policeman, the man and the girl?’ Lavendale faltered.