Allison's many admirers who did this thing?"
Craig asked suddenly.

I turned from Wyndham to Craig, wondering. What did he mean? Everyone
had accepted that theory of the case so far. No one had questioned it.
But, with his words, it suddenly dawned on me that it was by no means
the only theory.

Before Craig could go on, there came a startled cry from one of the
ladies.

"Oh--he did it--he did it!"

Anita Allison had fainted.

Dean Allison was at his sister's side in a moment.

"Here--let me get her out into the fresh air," he cried.

Wyndham had started up at the words and the two men were facing each
other over the girl who had already discovered the secret, but had kept
it locked in her breast.

"Walter--lock that door," rang out Craig's voice mercilessly.

I backed up, my whole weight against it, and turned the key.

"I know the gossip of Wall Street now," shot out Kennedy hurriedly,
facing the crowd who were all on their feet. "Today I have visited a
number of speculative young gentlemen of Briar Lake, including Mr.
Wyndham.

"The truth is that Miss Allison's fortune was gone--dissipated in an
unsuccessful bear raid on the market in which others have shared--and
lost.

"If she had married, it meant an accounting and surrendering of her full
control of her fortune. You have done this dastardly crime, Dean
Allison, to keep your sister in ignorance of the loss and to save your
own miserable reputation!"

CHAPTER XXV

THE DEMON ENGINE

"Perpetual motion sounds foolish, I'll admit. But, Professor Kennedy,
this Creighton self-acting motor does things I can't explain."

Craig looked perplexed as he gazed from Adele Laidlaw, his young and
very pretty client, to me. We had heard a great deal about the young
lady, one of the wealthiest heiresses of the country. She paused a
moment and looked at us, evidently thinking of the many schemes which
people had devised to get her money away from her.

"Really," she went on, "I haven't a friend to whom I can go, except Mr.
Tresham--no one on whom I can rely for advice in a case of this kind."

Several times, I recollected, there had been rumors that she was engaged
to Leslie Tresham, who had been the lawyer for her father before his
death. The rumors had always been denied, however, though I am sure it
was not Tresham's fault.

"You see," she continued, as Craig still said nothing, "father was of a
mechanical turn of mind; in fact so was the whole f