"There was an article in last month"s _The Present Century_ by Sir Kelper Jevons ent.i.tled "The Dangers of Longevity." Did you read it?"
enquired Malcolm Sage.
"I did."
"I read it too," broke in Sir John Dene, who had hitherto remained an interested listener, as he sat twirling round between his lips the still unlit cheroot. "A pretty dangerous business it seems to me, this monkeying about with people"s glands."
"It called attention to the danger of any interference with Nature"s carefully-adjusted balances between life and death," continued Malcolm Sage, who had returned to the serpent which now sported a pair of horns, "and was insistent that the lengthening of human life could result only in harm to the community. Do you happen to know if Professor McMurray had seen this?"
"He had." Sir Jasper leaned forward to knock the ashes from his pipe into the copper tray on Malcolm Sage"s table. "We talked of it during dinner that evening. His contention was that science could not be constricted by utilitarianism, and that Nature would adjust her balances to the new conditions."
"But," grumbled Sir John Dene, "it wouldn"t be until there had been about the tallest kind of financial panic this little globe of misery has ever seen."
"The article maintained that there would be an intervening period of chaos," remarked Malcolm Sage meditatively, as he opened a drawer and took from it a copy of _The Present Century_. "I was particularly struck with this pa.s.sage," he remarked:
""It is impossible to exaggerate the extreme delicacy of the machinery of modern civilization," he read. "Industrialism, the food-supply, existence itself are dependent upon the death-rate.
Reduce this materially and it will inevitably lead to an upheaval of a very grave nature. For instance, it would mean an addition of something like a million to the population of the United Kingdom each year, over and above those provided for by the normal excess of births over deaths, and _it would be years before Nature could readjust_ her balances.""
Malcolm Sage looked across at Sir Jasper, who for some seconds remained silent, apparently deep in thought.
"I think," he said presently, with the air of a man carefully weighing his words, "that McMurray was inclined to under-estimate the extreme delicacy of the machinery of modern civilization. I recall his saying that the arguments in that article would apply only in the very unlikely event of someone meeting with unqualified success. That is to say, by the discovery of a serum that would achieve what the Spaniards hoped of the Fountain of Eternal Youth, an instantaneous transformation from age to youth."
"A sort of Faust stunt," murmured Sir John Dene.
Sir Jasper nodded his head gravely.
For some minutes the three men sat silent, Sir Jasper gazing straight in front of him, Sir John Dene twirling his cheroot between his lips, his eyes fixed upon the bald dome-like head of Malcolm Sage, whose eyes were still intent upon his horned reptile, which he had adorned with wings. He appeared to be thinking deeply.
"It"s up to you, Mr. Sage, to get on the murderer"s trail," said Sir John Dene at length, with the air of a man who has no doubt as to the result.
"You wish me to take up the case, Sir John?" enquired Malcolm Sage, looking up suddenly.
"Sure," said Sir John Dene as he rose. "I"ll take it as a particular favour if you will. Now I must vamoose. I"ve got a date in the city." He jerked himself to his feet and extended a hand to Malcolm Sage. Then turning to Sir Jasper, who had also risen, he added, "You leave it to Mr. Sage, Sir Jasper. Before long you won"t see him for dust. He"s about the livest wire this side of the St. Lawrence," and with this enigmatical a.s.surance, he walked to the door, whilst Malcolm Sage shook hands with Sir Jasper.
II
"Johnnie," said Miss Norman, as William Johnson entered her room in response to a peremptory call on the private-telephone, "Inspector Carfon is to honour us with a call during the next few minutes. Give him a chair and a copy of _The Sunday at Home_, and watch the clues as they peep out of his pockets. Now buzz off."
William Johnson returned to his table in the outer office and the lurid detective story from which Miss Norman"s summons had torn him.
He was always gratified when an officer from Scotland Yard called; it seemed to bring him a step nearer to the great crook-world of his dreams. William Johnson possessed imagination; but it was the imagination of the films.
A quarter of an hour later he held open the door of Malcolm Sage"s private room to admit Inspector Carfon, a tall man, with small features and a large forehead, above which the fair hair had been sadly thinned by the persistent wearing of a helmet in the early days of his career.
"I got your message, Mr. Sage," he began, as he flopped into a chair on the opposite side of Malcolm Sage"s table. "This McMurray case is a teaser. I shall be glad to talk it over with you."
"I am acting on behalf of Sir Jasper Chambers," said Malcolm Sage.
"It"s very kind of you to come round so promptly, Carfon," he added, pushing a box of cigars towards the inspector.
"Not at all, Mr. Sage," said Inspector Carfon as he selected a cigar.
"Always glad to do what we can, although we are supposed to be a bit old-fashioned," and he laughed the laugh of a man who can afford to be tolerant.
"I"ve seen all there is in the papers," said Malcolm Sage. "Are there any additional particulars?"
"There"s one thing we haven"t told the papers, and it wasn"t emphasised at the inquest." The inspector leaned forward impressively.
Malcolm Sage remained immobile, his eyes on his finger-nails.
"The doctor," continued the inspector, "says that the professor had been dead for about forty-eight hours, whereas we _know_ he"d eaten a dinner about twenty-six hours before he was found."
Malcolm Sage looked up slowly. In his eyes there was an alert look that told of keen interest.
"You challenged him?" he queried.
"Ra-_ther_," was the response, "but he got quite ratty. Said he"d stake his professional reputation and all that sort of thing."
Malcolm Sage meditatively inclined his head several times in succession; his hand felt mechanically for his fountain-pen.
"Then there was another thing that struck me as odd," continued Inspector Carfon, intently examining the end of his cigar. "The professor had evidently been destroying a lot of old correspondence.
The paper-basket was full of torn-up letters and envelopes, and the grate was choc-a-bloc with charred paper. That also we kept to ourselves."
"That all?"
"I think so," was the reply. "There"s not the vestige of a clue that I can find."
"I see," said Malcolm Sage, looking at a press-cutting lying before him, "that it says there was a remarkable change in the professor"s appearance. He seemed to have become rejuvenated."
"The doctor said that sometimes "death smites with a velvet hand."
He was rather a poetic sort of chap," the inspector added by way of explanation.
"He saw nothing extraordinary in the circ.u.mstance?"
"No," was the response. "He seemed to think he was the only one who had ever seen a dead man before. I wouldn"t mind betting I"ve seen as many stiffs as he has, although perhaps he"s caused more."
Then as Malcolm Sage made no comment, the inspector proceeded.
"What I want to know is what was the professor doing while the door was being broken open?"
"There were no signs of a struggle?" enquired Malcolm Sage, drawing a cottage upon his thumbnail.
"None. He seems to have been attacked unexpectedly from behind."
"Was there anything missing?"
"We"re not absolutely sure. The professor"s gold watch can"t be found; but the butler is not certain that he had it on him."