mself in the social scale, had
filled him with such an exalted conviction of his merits that it was
extremely difficult for the world to treat him with justice--the standard
of that notion depending so much upon the patience of the individual.
The Professor had genius, but lacked the great social virtue of
resignation.

"Intellectually a nonentity," Ossipon pronounced aloud, abandoning
suddenly the inward contemplation of Mrs Verloc's bereaved person and
business. "Quite an ordinary personality. You are wrong in not keeping
more in touch with the comrades, Professor," he added in a reproving
tone. "Did he say anything to you--give you some idea of his intentions?
I hadn't seen him for a month. It seems impossible that he should be
gone."

"He told me it was going to be a demonstration against a building," said
the Professor. "I had to know that much to prepare the missile. I
pointed out to him that I had hardly a sufficient quantity for a
completely destructive result, but he pressed me very earnestly to do my
best. As he wanted something that could be carried openly in the hand, I
proposed to make use of an old one-gallon copal varnish can I happened to
have by me. He was pleased at the idea. It gave me some trouble,
because I had to cut out the bottom first and solder it on again
afterwards. When prepared for use, the can enclosed a wide-mouthed,
well-corked jar of thick glass packed around with some wet clay and
containing sixteen ounces of X2 green powder. The detonator was
connected with the screw top of the can. It was ingenious--a combination
of time and shock. I explained the system to him. It was a thin tube of
tin enclosing a--"

Ossipon's attention had wandered.

"What do you think has happened?" he interrupted.

"Can't tell. Screwed the top on tight, which would make the connection,
and then forgot the time. It was set for twenty minutes. On the other
hand, the time contact being made, a sharp shock would bring about the
explosion at once. He either ran the time too close, or simply let the
thing fall. The contact was made all right--that's clear to me at any
rate. The system's worked perfectly. And yet you would think that a
common fool in a hurry would be much more likely to forget to make the
contact altogether. I was worrying myself about that sort of failure
mostly. But there are more kinds of fools than one can guard against.
You can't expect a detonator to be absolutely fo