CHAPTER IX

AFTER FIVE YEARS

Four men sat in the clubroom, at their ease in the luxurious leather
chairs, smoking and talking earnestly. Near the center of the room stood
a huge mahogany table. On its top, directly in the glare of light from
an electrolier overhead, was spread a large black silk handkerchief. In
the center of this handkerchief lay a heavy gold band--a woman's
wedding-ring.

An old-fashioned valise stood near a corner of the table. Its sides were
perforated with small brass-rimmed holes; near the top on one side was a
small square aperture covered with a wire mesh through which one might
look into the interior. Altogether, from the outside, the bag looked
much like those used for carrying small animals.

As it lay on the table now its top was partly open. The inside was
brightly lighted by a small storage battery and electric globe, fastened
to the side. Near the bottom of the bag was a tiny wire rack, held
suspended about an inch from the bottom by transverse wires to the
sides. The inside of the bag was lined with black plush.

On an arm of the Doctor's chair lay two white tin boxes three or four
inches square. In his hand he held an opened envelope and several letter
pages.

"A little more than five years ago to-night, my friends," he began
slowly, "we sat in this room with that"--he indicated the ring--"under
very different circumstances." After a moment, he went on:

"I think I am right when I say that for five years the thought uppermost
in our minds has always been that ring and what is going on within one
of its atoms."

"You bet," said the Very Young Man.

"For five years now we have had the ring watched," continued the Doctor,
"but Rogers has never returned."

"You asked us here to-night because you had something special to tell
us," began the Very Young Man, with a questioning look at the valise and
the ring.

The Doctor smiled. "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't mean to be
aggravating."

"Go ahead in your own way, Frank," the Big Business Man put in. "We'll
wait if we have to."

The Doctor glanced at the papers in his hand; he had just taken them
from the envelope. "You are consumed with curiosity, naturally, to know
what I have to say--why I have brought the ring here to-night.
Gentlemen, you have had to restrain that curiosity less than five
minutes; I have had a far greater curiosity to endure--and restrain--for
over five years.

"When Rogers left us on his last journey