and shrieked in his insane way
as he rocked back and forth in bed. He was fighting his own conscience,
and kept pushing some unseen thing from him as he shook in a paroxysm of
fright.

The front-door bell rang and Balcom entered. He was suave in manner, but
this time he seemed a little excited as he gave his hat and stick to the
butler.

"Tell Miss Brent I must see her at once," he ordered.

As the butler turned to mount the stairs, Balcom reached his hand up and
rubbed his shoulder as though he were in pain. Perhaps the gesture meant
nothing, but a keen observer would have noticed that his arm did not
move with the freedom that one would expect of a man of his frame and
build. As he rubbed his shoulder his eyes followed the butler up the
stairs and his lips tightened. He watched him until he was out of sight,
then turned and entered the library.

As Balcom entered the library the door-bell rang and the three ambulance
men who had been overpowered by the emissaries of the Automaton entered.
Balcom approached them and hasty explanations were forthcoming. In his
suave manner he quieted the most noisy of the trio, who by this time had
found the strait-jacket from which Locke had just released himself.

"This looks like a put-up job to me," growled the driver, as he
confronted Balcom, holding the strait-jacket toward him. "And I believe
you know something about it."

"My dear man, I am the person who telephoned for you to come for my
stricken partner," said Balcom, "and I still insist that he is in dire
need of treatment."

As he spoke Eva entered the library in time to hear him. She was
followed by Locke.

"My father shall not be taken from this house," she cried, in reply to
Balcom's orders to the attendants.

As she spoke she turned toward Locke and looked at him for his
acquiescence. He quietly nodded toward her in an assuring manner, and as
he did so one might have noticed Balcom's face cloud up with evil
purpose. He was thinking of this young whipper-snapper and his
interference with his plans. As he stood meditating he noticed that
Locke was looking at him, so he turned toward the young chemist and his
whole expression changed. A bland smile crept across his face as he
spoke.

"I was only suggesting that my partner be taken to an institution,
because I believed that he would receive better treatment there." He
addressed Locke, but looked toward Eva as he did so. "Miss Brent should
have trust in me. I h