came of him?" asked Clewe.

"My light frightened him," he said, "and the wind took him over into the
woods. I thought, as you were comin' home so soon, I wouldn't do nothin'
more. You had better attend to him yourself."

"Very good," said Clewe. "I'll do that."

The home of Roland Clewe, a small house plainly furnished, but good
enough for a bachelor's quarters, stood not half a mile from the
station, and near it were the extensive buildings which he called his
Works. Here were laboratories, large machine-shops in which many men
were busy at all sorts of strange contrivances in metal and other
materials; and besides other small edifices there was a great round
tower-like structure, with smooth iron walls thirty feet high and
without windows, and which was lighted and ventilated from the top.
This was Clewe's special workshop; and besides old Samuel Block and such
workmen as were absolutely necessary and could be trusted, few people
ever entered it but himself. The industries in the various buildings
were diverse, some of them having no apparent relation to the
others. Each of them was expected to turn out something which would
revolutionize something or other in this world, but it was to his
lens-house that Roland Clewe gave, in these days, his special attention.
Here a great enterprise was soon to begin, more important in his eyes
than anything else which had engaged human endeavor.

When sometimes in his moments of reflection he felt obliged to consider
the wonders of applied electricity, and give them their due place in
comparison with the great problem he expected to solve, he had his
moments of doubt. But these moments did not come frequently. The day
would arrive when from his lens-house there would be promulgated a great
discovery which would astonish the world.

During Roland Clewe's absence in Germany his works had been left under
the general charge of Samuel Block. This old man was not a scientific
person; he was not a skilled mechanic; in fact, he had been in early
life a shoemaker. But when Roland Clewe, some five years before, had put
up his works near the little village of Sardis, he had sent for Block,
whom he had known all his life and who was at that time the tenant of a
small farm, built a cottage for him and his wife, and told him to take
care of the place. From planning the grounds and superintending fences,
old Sammy had begun to keep an eye upon builders and mechanics; and,
being a very shrewd