Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 7, 1928 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

154 He left her with a whimsical grin meant to conceal his true state of mind. At home Ward shut himself up in his private suite which included a well equipped laboratory. It had been used jointly by him and his father. Now it was never entered, excepting by him- self and his valet. From the radio transmitter here he would broadcast his speech to-morrow evening. He had his dinner sent up to him that night, and did not retire till long after midnight. All the radio world -vas ‘waitin for this first speech of the new head of the International Company. The fact that it was his first speech was enough to guarantee general interest. It was augmented by expectation that he would make some important revelations regarding the long awaited new model televisor at a popular price. And then this spectacular threat of death and his heroic act had swelled the universal eagerness to hear his voice, almost to an epidemic frenzy. But Edison Ward slept calmly that night, the whole matter dismissed from his mind, though a few hours before he ‘had expected this to be like the last at- tempt to sleep before execution. He spent the forenoon reading his speech before a stop watch in the privacy of his office and cutting it into the pre- scribed limit of fifteen minutes allowed for delivery. That done, he devoted himself to other matters for the rest of the day. The afternoon papers played up his coming speech with big heads, and added speculations on its nature as if this brief announcement of his were the annual message of the President of the United States. And so, a little before nine o’clock, Eastern Standard Time, U. S. A., the vast audience of radio fans the world over sat down at their radios to hear about: this latest marvel of scientific inventive genius that was about to be placed in the hands of all, even the ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. poorest—to complete the annihilation of distance and—as the lunatic bomb thrower had said—of privacy. The hour was most convenient for some, who could enjoy this thrill with their coffee after dinner. In the the- aters plays were to be suspended brief- ly for the satisfaction of their au- diences. But as the radio waves pro- gressed around the globe through the successive time belts, it meant that millions of listeners in were kept up after midnight. In millions of other homes they arose long before day- break, while millions of others pre- pared to enjoy Ward’s speech with their dinners, and for many more mil- lions it broke in on their day’s business. In the Ward home was not the least enthusiastic part of his audience. ‘The servant staff were gathered in their own dining room before their own radio as the only means of hearing their master’s voice from the floor above. But Haskins, the butler, and Whit- ley, the valet, were perched at the head of the back stairs, where they could hear the radio and at the same time keep their eyes on the door to Ward’s suite. Haskins had privately kept his eye as closely as possible on his master while he was in the house, ever since he heard of the death threat. He suf- fered a morbid fear that somehow a lunatic might break into Ward’s pres- ence even in the privacy of his home. As a further precaution, the gar- dener and assistant were taking turns patrolling the grounds, particularly under the windows opening off young Ward’s suite. At length the voice of the announcer introduced Edison Ward in brief but flowery terms. Then came Mr. Ward’s voice, so familiar to his household, though heard for the first time by most of his great audience. There was no trace of hesitation or embarrassment in his smooth-flowing salutation to his far-flung hearers, CORNICLOOOLK (E@)