CHAPTER VI
THE SECRET OF THE NEW ARMOUR-PLATES
"I wonder if that fellow is aware of his danger?" remarked Ray, speakingto himself behind the paper he was reading before the fire in New StoneBuildings, one afternoon not long after we had returned from Scotland.
"What fellow?" I inquired.
"Why Professor Emden," he replied. "It seems that in a lecture at theLondon Institution last night, he announced that he had discovered a newprocess for the hardening of steel, which gives it no less than eighttimes the resisting power of the present English steel!"
"Well!" I asked, looking across at my friend, and then glancing at Vera,who had called and was seated with us, her hat still on, and a charmingfigure to boot.
"My dear fellow, can't you see that such an invention would be of theutmost value to our friends the Germans? They'd use it for thearmour-plates of their new navy."
"H'm! And you suspect they'll try and obtain Emden's secret--eh?"
"I don't suspect, I'm confident of it," he declared, throwing aside thepaper. "I suppose he's a bespectacled, unsuspicious man, like allscientists. _The Times_ is enthusiastic over the discovery--declaringthat the Admiralty should secure it at once, if they have not alreadydone so. It's being made experimentally at Sheffield, it seems, and hasbeen tried in secret somewhere out near the Orkneys. Admiralty expertsare astounded at the results."
"Who is Emden?" I asked. "Just look at 'Who's Who?' It's by your elbow,old chap."
Ray proceeded to search the fat red book of reference, and presentlyexclaimed:
"It seems he's a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very distinguishedchemist, and a leading authority on electro-metallurgy and ferro-alloys.He has improved upon the Kjellin furnace as installed at Krupp's atEssen, and at Vickers, Sons, and Maxim's at Sheffield, and by thisimprovement, it seems, has been able to invent the new steel-makingprocess."
"If he has improved upon any of the machinery or processes at the Kruppworks," remarked Vera, glancing across at me, "then, no doubt, ourfriends across the North Sea will endeavour to filch the secret fromhim."
"Yes," I agreed, "he certainly ought to be warned of his danger. As soonas Hartmann sees the announcement in the papers, there's certain to be adesperate attempt to get hold of the secret."
"That mustn't be allowed, my dear fellow," Ray exclaimed. "With suchsteel as this the British Navy will have a splendid and distinctadvantage over that of our friend 'William the Sudden.' This is a greatand important secret which England must keep at all hazards."
"Certainly," declared Vera. "Really, Ray, you ought to see ProfessorEmden and have a chat with him."
"His address is given at Richmond," was my friend's reply, "but I haveto go up to Selkirk early to-morrow, and shall be away nearly a week."
"Then shall I run down and see him this evening?" I suggested. Andagreeing with my idea, he wrote the address for me. Then we made a cupof tea for Vera, who always delighted in the rough-and-ready bachelordomof a barrister's chambers. Afterwards Ray took his fiancee home to heraunt's, while I went back to my rather dismal lodgings in GuilfordStreet, Russell Square.
At nine o'clock that evening I rang at a pleasant, good-sized, modernhouse, which overlooked the beautiful Terrace Gardens and the riverlying deep below at Richmond--a house which, perhaps, commanded thefinest view within twenty miles of London.
The door was upon that main road which leads from the town up to the"Star and Garter," but the frontage faced the Gardens. The dark-eyedmaid who opened the door informed me that the Professor was at home,and took my card upstairs. Then, a few moments later, I was ushered upto a cosy den, the study of a studious man, where I found thedistinguished scientist standing in expectation, with his back to thefire.