CHAPTER VI
THE SERUM DIAGNOSIS
We paid our check and Kennedy and I sauntered in the direction Sherburnehad taken, finding him ultimately in the cafe, alone. Without furtherintroduction Kennedy approached him.
"So--you are a detective?" sneered Sherburne superciliously, elevatinghis eyebrows just the fraction of an inch.
"Not exactly," parried Kennedy, seating himself beside Sherburne. Thenin a tone as if he were willing to get down, without furtherpreliminary, to business, seemingly negotiating, he asked: "Mr.Sherburne, may I ask just what it is on which you base your claim onMrs. Seabury? Is it merely meeting her here? If that is so you must knowthat it amounts to nothing--now."
The two men faced each other, each taking the other's measure.
"Nothing?" coolly retorted Sherburne. "Perhaps not--in itself.But--suppose--I--had--"
He said the words slowly, as he fumbled in his fob pocket, then cut themshort as he found what he was looking for. Safely, in the palm of hishand, he displayed a latch-key, momentarily, then with a taunting smiledropped it back again into the fob pocket.
"Perhaps she gave it to me--perhaps I was a welcome visitor in herapartment," he insinuated. "How would she relish having that told toMr. Seabury--backed up by the possession of the key?"
I could not help feeling that for the moment Kennedy was checkmated.Sherburne was playing a desperate game and apparently held the key,however he got it, as a trump card.
"Thank you," was all that Kennedy said, as he rose. "I wanted to knowhow far you could go. Perhaps we can meet you halfway."
Sherburne smiled cynically. "All the way," he said quietly, as we leftthe cafe.
In silence Kennedy left the hotel and jumped into a cab, directing thedriver to the laboratory, where he had asked Mrs. Seabury to wait forhim. We found her there, still much agitated.
Hastily Craig explained to her how he had saved the situation, but hermind was too occupied over something else to pay much attention.
"I--I can't blame you, Professor Kennedy," she cried, choking down a sobin her voice, "but I have just discovered--he has told me that it iseven worse than I had anticipated."
We were both following her closely, the incident of the latch-key stillfresh in mind.
"Some time ago," she hurried on, "I missed my latch-key. I thoughtnothing of it at the time--thought perhaps I had mislaid it. But todayhe told me--just after the dance, even while I was making him think Iwould pay him the money, because--because I liked him--he told me he hadit. The brute! He must have picked my handbag!"
Her eyes were blazing now with indignation. Yet as she looked at usboth, evidently the recollection of what had just happened cameflooding over her mind, and she dropped her head in her hands inhelpless dismay at the new development.
Craig pulled out his watch hastily. "It is about six, Mrs. Seabury," hereassured. "Can you be here at, say, eight?"
"I will be here," she murmured pliantly, realizing her own helplessness.
She had scarcely closed the door when Craig seized the telephone, andhurriedly tried to locate Seabury himself.
"Apparently no trace of him yet," he fumed, as he hung up the receiver."The first problem is how to get that key."
Instantly I thought of Dunn's secret service girl. Kennedy shook hishead doubtfully. "I'm afraid there is no time for that," he answered."But will you attend to that end of the affair for me, Walter? I havejust a little more work here at the laboratory before I am ready. Idon't care how you do it, but I want you to convey to Sherburne thewelcome news that Mrs. Seabury is prepared to give in, in any way he maysee fit, if he will call her up here at eight o'clock."
Kennedy had already plunged back among his beakers and test tubes, andwith these slender instructions I sallied forth in my quest ofSherburne. I had little difficulty in locating him and delivering mymessage, which he received with a satisfaction that invited assault andbattery and mayhem. However, I managed to restrain myself and rejoinCraig in the laboratory, shortly after seven o'clock.
I had scarcely had time to assure Kennedy of the success of my mission,when we were surprised to see the door open and Seabury himself appear.
His face was actually haggard. Whether or not he had believed thehastily concocted story of Kennedy at the Vanderveer, his mind had notceased to work on the other fears that had prompted his coming to us inthe first place.
"I've been trying to locate you all over," greeted Craig.
Seabury heaved a sigh and passed his hand, with its familiar motion,over his forehead. "I thought perhaps you might be able to find outsomething from this stuff," he answered, unwrapping a package which hewas carrying. "Some samples of the food I've been getting. If you don'tfind anything in this, I've others I want tested."
As I looked at the man's drawn face, I wondered whether in fact theremight be something in his fears. On the surface, the thing did indeedseem to place Agatha Seabury in a bad light. At the sight of the key inSherburne's possession I had grasped at the straw that he might haveconceived some diabolical plan to get rid of Seabury for purposes of hisown. But then, I reasoned, would he have been so free in showing the keyif he had realized that it might cast suspicion on himself? I was forcedto ask myself again whether she might, in her hysterical fear ofexposure by the adroit blackmailer, have really attempted to poison herhusband.
It was a desperate situation. But Kennedy was apparently ready to meetit, though he seemed to take no great interest in the food samplesSeabury had just brought.
Instead he seemed to rely wholly on the tests he had already begun withthe peculiar tissue I had seen him boiling and the blood serum derivedfrom Seabury himself.
Without a word he took three tubes from the incubator, in which I hadseen him place them some time before, and, as they stood in a rack,indicated them lightly with his finger.
"I think I can clear part of this mystery up immediately," he began,speaking more to himself than to Seabury and myself. "Here I have atested dialyzer in which has been placed a half cubic centimeter of pureclear serum. Here is another dialyzer with the same amount of serum, butno tissue, such as Mr. Jameson has seen me place in this first one. Hereis still another with the tissue in distilled water, but no blood serum.I have placed all the dialyzers in tubes of distilled water and all arecovered with a substance known as toluol and corked to keep them fromcontamination."
Kennedy held up before us the three tubes and Seabury gazed on them witha sort of fascination, scarcely believing that in them in some way mightbe contained the verdict on the momentous problem that troubled his mindand might perhaps mean life or death to him.
Carefully Kennedy took from each tube a few cubic centimeters of thedialyzate and into each he poured a little liquid from a tiny vial whichI noticed was labelled "Ninhydrin."
"This," he explained as he set down the vial, "is a substance whichgives a colorless solution with water, but when mixed with albumins,peptones, or amino-acids becomes violet on boiling. Tube number threemust remain colorless. Number two may be violet. Number one mayapproximate number two or be more deeply colored. If one and two areabout the same I call my test negative. But if one is more deeplycolored than two, then it is positive. The other tube is the control."
Impatiently we waited as the three tubes simmered over the heat. Whatwould they show? Seabury's eyes were glued on them, his hand tremblingin the presence of some unknown danger.
Slowly the liquid in the second tube turned to violet. But more rapidlyand more deeply appeared the violet in number one. The test waspositive.
"What is it?" gasped Seabury hoarsely, leaning over close.
"This," exclaimed Kennedy, "is the famous Abderhaldentest--serum-diagnosis--discovered by Professor Emile Abderhalden ofHalle. It rests on the fact that when a foreign substance comes into theblood, the blood reacts, with the formation of a protective fermentproduced as a result of physiologic and pathologic conditions.
"For instance," he went on, "a certain albumin always produces a
certainferment. Presence in the blood stream of blood-foreign substances callsforth a ferment that will digest them and split them into molecules. Theforces of nature form and mobilize directly in the blood serum.
"Let me get this clearly. Albumin cannot pass through the pores of ananimal membrane, since the individual molecules are too large. If,however, the albumin is broken up by a ferment-action, then themolecules become small enough to pass through."
Seabury was listening like a man on whom a stunning blow was about todescend.
"Thus we can tell," proceeded Kennedy, "whether there is such a fermentin blood serum as would be produced by a certain condition, for when theferment is there blood from the individual possessing it will digest asimilar proteid in a dialyzing thimble kept at body temperature.
"Why," cried Kennedy, swept along by the wonder of the thing, "this testopens up a vista of alluring and extensive possibilities. The humanorganism actually diagnoses its own illnesses automatically. It isinfinitely more exact, more rapid, and more certain than all that humanart can attain. Each organ contains special ferments in its cells in themost subtle way attuned to the molecular condition of the particularcell substance and with complete indifference to other cells.
"Don't you see? It diagnoses at the very first stage. You take a smallquantity of blood, derive the serum, then introduce a piece of tissuesuch as you wish to find out whether it is diseased or not. The thing isof overwhelming importance. One can discover a condition even before theorgan itself shows it outwardly. It means a new epoch in medicine. Asfor me, I call it the new 'police service' of the organism--working withperfect, scientific accuracy."
"Wh-what do you find?" reiterated Seabury.
"I have made tests for about everything I can suspect," returnedKennedy, taking the tubes and pouring the liquid from number two intonumber one until they were equalized in color, thus testing them, whilewe watched every action closely.
"You see," he digressed, "to get the two the same shade I have to dilutethe first by the second. Now, the dialyzers are not permeable toalbumin. Therefore the violet color indicates that the blood serum inthis case contains ferments which the body is making to split up someforeign substance in the blood, such as I suspected and obtained fromthe hospital. The test is positive. Mr. Seabury, how long have you feltas you say that you do?"
"Several weeks," the man returned weakly.
"That is fortunate," cried Kennedy, "fortunate that it has not beenseveral months."
He paused, then added the startling statement, "Mr. Seabury, I can findno evidence here of poison. As a matter of fact, the wonderfulAbderhalden test shows me that you have one of the most common forms ofinternal disease that occur for the most part in persons at or aftermiddle life, about the age of fifty, more common in men than in women--adisease which taken in time, as it has been revealed by this wonderfultest, may be cured and you may be saved--an incipient cancer of thestomach."
Kennedy paused a moment and listened. I fancied I heard someone in thehall. But he went on, "The person whom you suspect of poisoning you--"
There came a suppressed scream from the door, as it was flung open andAgatha Seabury stood there, staring with fixed, set eyes at Kennedy,then at her husband. Mechanically I looked at my watch. It was preciselyeight. Kennedy had evidently prolonged the test for a purpose.
"The person whom you suspected," he repeated firmly, "is innocent!"
A moment Agatha stood there, then as the thing dawned on her, sheuttered one cry, "Judson!"
She reeled as Kennedy with a quick step or two caught her.
Seabury himself seemed dazed.
"And I have--" he ejaculated, then stopped.
Kennedy raised his hand. "Just a moment, please," he interrupted, as heplaced Mrs. Seabury in a chair, then glanced hastily at his watch.
She saw the motion and seemed suddenly to realize that it was nearingthe time for Sherburne to call up. With a mighty effort she seemed togrip herself. She had just been shocked to know that she was chargedunjustly. But had she been cleared from one peril only to fall a victimto another--the one she already feared? Was Sherburne to escape, afterall, and ruin her?
The telephone tinkled insistently. Kennedy seized the receiver.
"Who is it?" we heard him ask. "Mr. Sherburne--oh yes."
Mrs. Seabury paled at the name. I saw her shoot a covert glance at herhusband, and was relieved to see that his face betrayed as yet norecognition of the name. She turned and listened to Kennedy, strainingher ears to catch every syllable and interpret every scrap of theone-sided conversation.
Quickly Craig had jammed the receiver down on a little metal base whichwe had not noticed near the instrument. Three prongs reaching upwardfrom the base engaged the receiver tightly, fitting closely about it.Then he took up a watch-case receiver to listen through, in place of theregular receiver.
"Sherburne, you say?" he repeated. "H. Morgan Sherburne?"
Apparently the voice at the other end of the wire replied ratherpeevishly, for Kennedy endeavored to smooth over the delay. We waitedimpatiently as he reiterated the name. Why was he so careful about it?The moments were speeding fast and Mrs. Seabury found the suspenseterrific.
"Must pay--we'll never get anything on you?" Craig repeated after a fewmoments further parley. "Very well. I am commissioned to meet you therein ten minutes and settle the thing up on those terms," he concluded ashe clapped the regular receiver back on its hook with a hasty good-byand faced us triumphantly.
"The deuce I won't get anything. I've got it!" he exclaimed.
Judson Seabury was too stunned by the revelation that he had a cancer tofollow clearly the maze of events.
"That," cried Kennedy, rising quickly, "is what is known as thetelescribe--a new invention of Edison that records on a speciallyprepared phonograph cylinder all that is said--both ways--over atelephone wire. Come!"
Ten minutes later, in a cab that had been waiting at the door, we pulledup at the Vanderveer.
Without a word, leaving Judson Seabury and his wife in the waiting cab,Craig sprang out, followed by me, as he signaled.
There was Sherburne, brazen and insolent, in the cafe as we entered,from a rear door, and came upon him before he knew it, our friend,Dunn, whom we had met in the lobby, hovering concealed outside, ready tocome to our assistance.
In a moment Kennedy was at Sherburne's elbow, pinching it in the mannerfamiliar to international crooks.
"Will you tell me what your precise business is in this hotel?" shot outCraig before Sherburne could recover from his surprise.
Sherburne flushed and flared--then became pale with rage.
"None of your damned insolence!" he ground out, then paused, cutting thenext remark short as he gritted, "What do you mean? Shall I send a waximpression of that key--"
Kennedy had quickly flashed the cylinder of the telescribe before hiseyes and instinctively Sherburne seemed to realize that with all hiscare in using typewriters and telephones, some kind of record of hisextortion had been obtained.
For a moment he crumpled up. Then Kennedy seized him by the elbow,dragging him toward a side door opposite that at which our cab wasstanding.
"I mean," he muttered, "that I have the goods on you at last and you'llget the limit for blackmail through this little wax cylinder if you somuch as show your face in New York again. I don't care where you go, butit must be by the first train. Understand?"
A moment later we returned to the cab, where it had pulled up in theshadow, away from the carriage entrance.
"You--you'll forgive me--for my--unjust suspicions--Agatha?" we heard avoice from the depths of the cab say.
Kennedy pulled me back in time not to interrupt a muffled "Yes."
Craig coughed.
As he reached a hand in through the cab door to bid good-night to thereunited couple, I saw Mrs. Seabury start, then turn and drop into herhandbag the key which Kennedy had extracted from Sherburne's pocket inthe _melee_ and now conveyed back to her in the handshake.