Eddie's bench, play with the magnet and watch him at work. I lit up
again and stepped out.

I could see Barbara gather some nails, screws and loose pieces of iron,
hold a bit of board over them, and trail the magnet back and forth along
its top. Though a half inch of wood intervened, the metal trash on the
bench followed the magnet to and fro. I got nothing out of that except
that Barbara was still a child, playing like a child, till I looked up
suddenly to find that she had ceased the play, brought her feet up to
curl them under her in the familiar Buddha pose, while the busy hands
were dropped and folded before her. Her rebellion of yesterday
evening--and now her taking up the concentration unasked--she wouldn't
want me to notice what she was doing; I ducked out of sight. I had
walked up and down that yard a half dozen times more, when over me with
a rush came the significance of those moving bits of iron, trailing a
magnet on the other side of a board. Three long steps took me to the
door.

"Hughes," I shouted, "I'm taking my machine now. Be back directly."

The man grunted without turning around. I had forgotten Barbara, but as
I was climbing into the roadster, I heard her jump to the floor and
start after me.

"Mr. Boyne! Wait! Mr. Boyne!"

I checked and sat grinning as she came up, the magnet in her hand. I
reached for it.

"Give me that," I whispered. "Want to go along and see me use it?"

"No--no--" in hushed protest. "You're making a mistake, Mr. Boyne."

"Mistake? I saw what you did in there. Said you never would again--then
went right to it! You sure got something this time! Girl--girl! You've
turned the trick!"

"Oh, _no_! You mustn't take it like that, Mr. Boyne. This is nothing--as
it stands. Just a single unrelated fact that I used with others to
concentrate on. Wait. Do wait--till Worth comes back, anyhow."

"All right." I felt that our voices were getting loud, that we'd talked
here too long. No use of flushing the game before I was loaded. "First
thing to do is to verify this." I felt good all over.

"Yes, of course," she smiled faintly. "You would want to do that." And
she climbed in beside me.

I drove so fast that Barbara had no chance to question me, though she
did find openings for remonstrating at my speed. I dashed into the
driveway of the Gilbert place and came to an abrupt stop at the doors of
the garage. And right away I bumped up against my first check. I gripped
the magnet,