uld
not make these answers without betraying myself?"

"I'm sure you could not."

"Then if I stood the test you would believe me innocent?"

The magistrate reflected a moment. "I should be forced to believe one of
two things," he said; "either that you are innocent or that you are a man
of extraordinary mental power. I don't believe the latter so--yes, I should
think you innocent."

"Let me understand this," laughed the prisoner; "you say over a number of
words and I answer with other words. You note the exact moment when you
speak your word and the exact moment when I speak mine, then you see how
many seconds elapse between the two moments. Is that it?"

"That's it, only I have a watch that marks the fifths of a second. Are you
willing to make the test?"

"Suppose I refuse?"

"Why should you refuse if you are innocent?"

"But if I do?"

The magistrate's face hardened. "If you refuse to-day I shall know how to
_force_ you to my will another day. Did you ever hear of the third degree,
Groener?" he asked sharply.

As the judge became threatening the prisoner's good nature increased.
"After all," he said carelessly, "what does it matter? Go ahead with your
little game. It rather amuses me."

And, without more difficulty, the test began, Hauteville speaking the
prepared words and handling the stop watch while Coquenil, sitting beside
him, wrote down the answered words and the precise time intervals.

First, they established Groener's average or normal time of reply when
there was no emotion or mental effort involved. The judge said "milk" and
Groener at once, by association of ideas, said "cream"; the judge said
"smoke," Groener replied "fire"; the judge said "early," Groener said
"late"; the judge said "water," Groener answered "river"; the judge said
"tobacco," Groener answered "pipe." And the intervals varied from four
fifths of a second to a second and a fifth, which was taken as the
prisoner's average time for the untroubled thought process.

"He's clever!" reflected Coquenil. "He's establishing a slow average."

Then began the real test, the judge going deliberately through the entire
list which included thirty important words scattered among seventy
unimportant ones. The thirty important words were:

1. NOTRE DAME. 16. DETECTIVE.
2. EYEHOLE. 17. BRAZIL.
3. WATCHDOG. 18. CANARY BIRD.
4. PHOTOGRAPHER. 19. ALICE