ything!"

* * * * *

It seemed to Parker that there was something sinister in the manner
and speech of Dr. von Stein. The Dance of Death! Did that music have a
meaning? Impossible! It was only his own sick mind that was allowing
such thoughts to come to him.

"Anything that will help," he murmured.

"You have noticed that copper bowl?" Von Stein did not wait for a
reply. "The misty appearance inside and underneath it is given by
thousands upon thousands of minute platinum wires. When it is in use a
slight electrical current is passed through it, varying in power
according to the rate of vibration needed. That instrument, my dear
sir, is a transmitter of thought. I may call it the microphone of the
mind. I can tune in on any mind in the world, by experimenting up and
down the vibration range to determine the susceptibility of the
particular person. The human mind does not need an amplifier, as the
radio receiving set does. Rather, it acts as its own amplifier, once
having received the thought. I invented one, however, to prove that it
could be done. I equipped Heinrich with it and in half an hour by
suggestion reduced him to his present state of docile stupidity. I
have, Mr. Parker, the means of moving people to do my bidding!"

* * * * *

Von Stein stopped abruptly, as though for emphasis and to allow his
astounding statements to take effect. Parker sat stunned, struggling
to grasp all the implications of what he had just heard. Suddenly they
became clear. He saw events in order, and in relation to each other.

"So that's how it was with Cordelia Lyman!" he cried hoarsely, leaning
forward. "And it was you who had that money from Fleming Proctor!"

"You are not unintelligent," remarked Dr. von Stein. "Better that
science should have the Lyman money than a few old women of no
particular use. As for Proctor, he was a fool. I would have protected
him."

"And my pictures ... my book...."

"I can cure you, Mr. Parker. _If I will!_"

"And anyone is at the mercy of this man!" groaned Parker.

"Not absolutely, I'm sorry to say," said the doctor. "The action of
thought on the human consciousness is exactly like that of sound on
the tuning fork. When the mind is tuned right, we'll say for
illustration, the lower vibrations are not picked out of the ether.
But as few minds are tuned right, and as all vary from time to time,
I'm practically omnipotent."