I
was gullible, an inventor, not a business man. I should have come to you
before I fled the country, I suppose. Say no more about it, for I
forgive you from the bottom of my heart."

But Brent insisted on explaining that at least he had had a desire to
right the great wrongs.

"I can remember it all now," he continued. "I was about to make
restitution when a man connected with the company--I am sure now that he
was an adventurer, a crook, in the pay of Balcom, although Balcom
probably tried to hide it--came to me. His name, as I remember it, was
Flint. I was about to write a letter that showed that it was my
intention to right a wrong, when--something interrupted me and--the rest
I can't remember."

Quentin, who had been standing behind the chair, now drew from his
pocket a piece of paper which he handed to Brent.

"Yes--that is it," cried Brent, excitedly, taking it, and spreading it
out before them. "See!"

It was a note addressed to Quentin Locke and read:

I have done you a great wrong about which you know
nothing, but for which I will make amends--

"It was broken off," exclaimed Brent, making a sad effort to recollect
what had happened. "I don't remember how. But this Flint had been
telling me something about an iron monster. He had a model--said he had
seen the real thing in Madagascar, that it had a human brain, that it
walked and fought, that it had strength and life--but no conscience. He
hinted that the thing would do me harm if I persisted in a course that I
had determined for myself of giving back to inventors we had robbed the
things of which we had robbed them. I did not believe him. I thought the
thing absurd, and started to write the note, going a step farther than I
had ever threatened Balcom."

Quentin, Doctor Q, and Zita exchanged glances as Eva's father resumed
his narrative.

"Then I felt a choking sensation at my throat. I remember the effrontery
of Flint's laughing at me, in a maudlin sort of way, and then--a blank.
The next I recall was just now--Eva gazing at me with a worried
expression in her dear eyes. I called to her and kissed her, tried to
comfort her. Then I saw you, Locke, and Zita."

Peter Brent, from the time he and Flint had been overcome by the fumes
from the candelabra until he received the antidote and recognized his
daughter, had not known a thing!

As they talked there were many matters the two aged men discovered while
they pieced together the happenings of