The Murder MEGAPACK ™: 23 Classic and Modern Tales of Crime and Murder by Talmage Powell & Rufus King & James Holding & Seabury Quinn & James B. Hendryx

Author:Talmage Powell & Rufus King & James Holding & Seabury Quinn & James B. Hendryx [Powell, Talmage]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: mystery, detective, murder, noir, crime
ISBN: 9781479405909
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2015-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

“I had your prescription filled by the best druggist in New York City.”

“I know. You said that before. Now an autopsy might help with a diagnosis?”

“No, Doctor Murdock. A thousand times no. It is bad enough to have my guests suffer without cutting them to pieces after they are dead. Diagnose all you want on them while they are alive, but after death, I beg you to respect their cold, pallid forms. But come, let us finish the meal. I want to show Mr. Hubler my place.”

* * * *

For several hours, the two men rode slowly on horseback through the woods. Hubler expressed his continual astonishment at the large number of birds and animals and their apparent tameness.

“It is nothing to wonder at,” explained his host. “I do not hunt myself and I let no one else hunt on my property. As a result, even the deer have become tame. It seems cruel to kill just for the sake of killing. Of course, they kill each other. The birds eat insects and the weasels eat the birds and now and then one of the big wildcats catches a rabbit or a very young fawn, but that is just the natural course of events. I used to hunt when I was a boy, but after Mother died in my arms, I have never been able to pull a trigger.”

Through the dying day, they rode, and at last, almost in the darkness, came back to the house. An Irishman was waiting for them on a third horse. It seemed that he was to take the horses back to the stable, some miles from the house.

Once inside, Cecil grew rather proud and expansive. He took delight in showing Hubler through the different rooms, the library, the picture gallery, and a small but complete laboratory for electrical experimentation. At last, he came to a little room. It was empty except for a large mass of wire and iron in the center of the room, reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

“That,” said Cecil, “is something that I am especially proud of. It is an electromagnet, probably as large and powerful a magnet as there is in the world. If it could touch iron, it would probably be able to lift at least four tons at a load. It can attract iron particles at a distance of twenty feet. In fact, I had to have this part of the house built without iron nails; otherwise, it would have pulled the floor apart. It is very simple in construction and most of the time is inert, dead. But if a button is pressed at a distant part of the house and the electric current turned on, it becomes instantly alive and functions perfectly. It is very similar to the electromagnet I have at the mills, but this one is even more powerful. I thought that you would like to see it. It might help you with the story, the story you came up here to write.

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