fore. At
last the mechanician and his affairs became known to the society, as the
affairs of the society had become known to the mechanician, and, instead
of shooting him as one who knew too much for their safety, they were
struck with his faculty for silence, and thought they might be able to
make use of him.'

'To be sure,' said Abner Power.

'Next, like friend Bunyan, I saw in my dream that denunciation was
the breath of life to this society. At an earlier date in its history,
objectionable persons in power had been from time to time murdered, and
curiously enough numbered; that is, upon the body of each was set a mark
or seal, announcing that he was one of a series. But at this time the
question before the society related to the substitution for the dagger,
which was vetoed as obsolete, of some explosive machine that would be
both more effectual and less difficult to manage; and in short, a large
reward was offered to our needy Englishman if he would put their ideas
of such a machine into shape.'

Abner Power nodded again, his complexion being peculiar--which might
partly have been accounted for by the reflection of window-light from
the green-baize table-cloth.

'He agreed, though no politician whatever himself, to exercise his wits
on their account, and brought his machine to such a pitch of perfection,
that it was the identical one used in the memorable attempt--' (Dare
whispered the remainder of the sentence in tones so low that not a mouse
in the corner could have heard.) 'Well, the inventor of that explosive
has naturally been wanted ever since by all the heads of police in
Europe. But the most curious--or perhaps the most natural part of my
story is, that our hero, after the catastrophe, grew disgusted with
himself and his comrades, acquired, in a fit of revulsion, quite a
conservative taste in politics, which was strengthened greatly by the
news he indirectly received of the great wealth and respectability of
his brother, who had had no communion with him for years, and supposed
him dead. He abjured his employers and resolved to abandon them;
but before coming to England he decided to destroy all trace of his
combustible inventions by dropping them into the neighbouring lake at
night from a boat. You feel the room close, Mr. Power?'

'No, I suffer from attacks of perspiration whenever I sit in a
consecrated edifice--that's all. Pray go on.'

'In carrying out this project, an explosion occurred, just a