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brought. “Sce what the editor has to say.”
“This is the district attorney’s office,” said
Carton a moment later when he got the number,
“You just called me.”
“I called you?” asked the editor, nonplused.,
“About a rumor current in Wall Street.”
“Rumor? No, sir. It must be some mistake.”
“I guess 0. Sorry to have troubled you.
Good-by.”
Carton looked from one to the other of us.
“You see,” he said in disgust, ““there it is again,
That's the sort of thing that has been going on
all day. How do 1 know what that fellow is
doing now—perhaps using my name?"”
1 had no answer to his implied query as to who
was the “ Wolf” and what he might be upto. As for
Kennedy, while he showed plainly that he had his
suspicions which he expected to confirm absolute
ly, he did not care to say anything about them yet.
“Two can play at* wolf," " he said quietly, calling
up the headquarters of Dorgan's organization.
I wondered what he would say, but was dis
appointed to find that it was a merely trivial
conversation about some inconsequential thing,
as though Kennedy had merely wished to get in
touch with the “silent boss” Next he called up
the sanitarium to which Murtha had been com
mitted and after posing as Murtha's personal
physician managed to have the rules relaxed to
the extent of exchanging a few sentences with him.
“How did he seem —irrational? ” asked Carton
with interest, for I don't think the district at
torney had complete confidence in the commonly
announced cause of Murtha's enforced retirement.
Kennedy shook his head doubtfully. “Sounded
pretty far gone,” was all he said, turning over the
pages of the telephone-book for another number.
This time it was Kahn whom he called up,
and he had some difficulty kocating him, for Kahn
had two offices and was busily engaged in pre
paring a defence to the charges preferred against
him for the jury fixing epicode
Among others whom he called up was Lang
horne, and the conversation with him was as
perfunctory as possible, consisting merely in
repeating his name, followed by an apology from
Kennedy for “calling the wrong number.”
In each cawe, Craig was carcful to have his
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little recording instrument working, taking down
every word that was uttered and when he had
finished he detached it, looking at the cylinder
with unconcealed satisfaction.
“I'm going up to the laboratory again,” he
announced, as Carton looked at him inquiringly.
“The investigation that 1 have in mind will
take time, but I shall hurry it along as fast as I
possibly can. I don’t want any question about
the accuracy of my conclusions.”
We leit Carton who promised to meet us late
in the afternoon at the laboratory, and started
up-town. Instead, however, of going up directly
Craig stopped in an uptown detective agency
which he employed sometimes to do routine mat
ters for him and left an order for the shadowing
of Mrs. Ogleby.
The rest of the day he spent in making micro
photographs of the phonograph cylinder and
studying them very attentively under his high
powered lens.
Toward the close of the afternoon the first
report of the shadow who had been “trailing”
Mrs. Ogleby came in. We were not surprised to
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tea-room in the middle of the afternoon and that
they had talked long and earnestly. What did
surprise us, though, was the shadow’s report that
he had crossed the trail of someone else shadowing
her.
Kennedy made no comment, though 1 could
sce that he was vitally interested. What was the
significance of the added mystery? Someone else
had an interest in watching her movements. At
once | thought of Dorgan. Could he have known
of the intimacy of his guest at the Gastron dinner
with Langhorne, rather than with Murtha with
whom she had gone? Suddenly another expla
nation occurred to me. What was more likely
than that Martin Ogleby should have heard of
his wife's escapade? He would certainly learn
now to his surprise of her meeting with Lang
home. What would happen then?
Kennady had about finished with his micro
photographic work and was checking it over to
satisfy himsell of the results, when Carton as
be had promised, dropged in on us.
“What are you doing now?” he asked curi-
ously, looking at the prints and paraphernaliascat
tered about. “By the way, I've been inquiring
into the commitment of Murtha to that sanita
rium for the insane. On the surface it all seems
perfectly regular. It appears that, unknown even
to many of his most intimate friends, he has been
suffering from a complication of diseases, the re
sult of his high life, and they have at last affected
his brain, as they were bound to do in time.
Still, T don't like his ‘next friends’ in the case.
One is his personal physician—l don't know much
about him. But Dorgan is one of the others.”
“We'll have to look into it,” agreed Kennedy.
“Meanwhile, would you like to know who your
“Wolf” is that has been spreading rumors about
broadcast? "
“1 would indeed,” exclaimed Carton cagerly.
“You were right about the statement I issued.
It had no more effect than so many unspoken
words. The fellow has kept right on. He even
had the nerve to call up Miss Ashton in my name
and try to find out whether she had any trace of
the missing Betty Blackwell. How do you sup
pose they found out that we were looking for her?”
“Not a very difficult thing,” replied Kennedy.,
“Miss Ashton must have told several organiza
tions, and the grafters always watch such socie
ties pretty closely,. What did she say?”
“Nothing,” answered Carton. “I had thought
that they might try something of the sort and
fortunately 1 warned her to disregard any tele-
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me. We agreed on a little secret formula, a sort
of password, to be used, and 1 flatter myself that
the ‘Woll” won't be able to accomplish much in
that direction. You say you have a due? How
did you get it?"”
Kennedy picked up one of the microphoto
graphs which showed an enlargemnt of the marks
on the phonograph cylinder. He showed it to
us and we gazed curiously at the enigmatic
markings, greatly magnified. To me, it looked
like a collection of series of lines. By close scru
tiny 1 was able to make out that the lines were
wavy and more o less continuous, being made up
of collections of finer lineslines within lines, as
it were.
An analysis of their composition showed that
the center of the larger lines was composed of three
continuous series of markings which looked for
all the world like the impressions of an endless
straight series of molar teeth, under the lens,
Flanking these three tooth-like impressions were
other lines above and below, varying in width
and in number, I should say, about four, both
above and below the tooth-like impressions,
When highly magnified, one could distinguish
roughly parallel parts of what at even a low mag
nification looked like a single line.
“1 have been studying voice analysis lately,”
explained Kennedy, “particularly with reference
to the singing voice. Mr. Edison has made
thousands and thousands of studies of voices
to determine which is scientifically perfect for
singing. That side of it did not interest me par
ticularly. 1 have been seeking to use the dis
covery rather for detective purposes.”
He paused and with a fine needle traced out
some of the lines on the photographs before us.
“That,” he went on, “is a highly magnified
photograph of a minute section of the phono
graphic record of the voice that called you up,
Carton, as editor of the ‘Wall Street Record.’
The upper and lower lines, with long regular
waves, are formed by a voice with no overtones.
Those three broader lines in the middle, with
rhythmic ripples, show the overtones.”
Carton and 1 followed, fascinated by the mi
nuteness of his investigation and knowledge.
“You see,” he explained, “when a voice or
a passage of music sounds or is sung before a
phonograph, its modulations received upon the
diaphragm are written by the needle point upon
the surface of the cylinder or disc in a series of
fine waving or zigzag lines of infinitely varying
depth and breadth.
“Close familiarity with such records for about
forty years has taught Mr. Edison the precise
meaning of each slightest variation in the lines.
I have taken up and elaborated his idea. By
examining them under the microscope one can
analyze each tone with mathematical accuracy
and can almost hear it—just as a musician read
ing the score of a song can almost hear the notes ™
“Wonderful,” ejaculated Carton. “And you
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