the door, and did not project at all. This mouthpiece
tapered all around inside, and terminated in a keyhole which was
rubber-lined. On the other side of this keyhole was a hard surface,
padded with rubber, but having just opposite the mouth of the keyhole a
small orifice extending through to a metal surface. That metal surface
was a section of one of the most powerful horseshoe magnets ever
invented in the United States, and was to be imbedded in the woodwork of
the door.

It was a huge thing, reaching nearly across the door, and warranted to
pull toward it anything magnetic of reasonable dimensions. The keyhole
was all the design of Simpson, the electric part of the affair all the
invention of Hastings. Combined, they made something beautiful and
wonderful.

A key was made and magnetized so thoroughly that never before was a
piece of iron so yearningly full of the electric fluid. The whole thing
was adjusted against the wall of the room, and then the men brought in
the magnetized key to ascertain if their invention would work in
practice. Simpson was carrying the key. No sooner had he entered the
door than something began to pull him toward the magnet. He walked
sideways, like a crab, resistingly, and could not help himself; and
then, just as he had nearly reached the bell-shaped keyhole, he was
whirled around, as is the end child in a school playground when they are
playing "crack-the-whip," fairly in front of the keyhole, and literally
hurled toward it, while the key shot fiercely into the lock. But there
was not a sound; the rubber cushion had obviated that.

Well, to say that those two young men were delighted would be to use but
one of the commonplace, everyday, decent conversational expressions of
the English language. They were simply wild.

Since their latest conversation Jason B. Grampus had engaged in no
further communication with Simpson. He thought it best to avoid all
relations with the young man who could jest on serious occasions; and
yet underlying his upper strata of thought was a dim and undefined
impression that he would hear from that young man again. He did.

The morning after the perfection of the invention Simpson called upon
Mr. Grampus and calmly, coldly, and dignifiedly announced that his lock
was complete, and that he was now about to install it in the Grampus
front door. He suggested to Mr. Grampus that to avoid any encounters
which might be embarrassing, the latter should suddenly dis