The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 192: what you’re looking at

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

188 THE ARGOSY. a rickety kitchen chair. The table was loaded with bottles, test tubes, and sci- entific apparatus. Flush with the wall at the end of the room were two wide, shallow iron doors, secured by a combination lock. ‘““ And odd room certainly,” said Dr. Armitage, answering Allan’s unspoken criticism, “ but then I am an odd sort of man; a combination of extreme indo- lence and extraordinary energy. The fits alternate so rapidly that a room adapted to both was a positive neces- sity. “At one minute I am extended in one of these exceedingly comfortable chairs, reading a novel; the next—my coat is off, and I am hard at work among those bottles and retorts. But come—lI cannot let you go without par- taking of my hospitality. I have some whisky here which connoisseurs tell me is a dream.” He pointed to a table on which stood a cut-glass decanter, a siphon, and two tall glasses. “You were expecting a visitor?” Al- lan hazarded. | The other shot a sharp glance at him. ‘“‘ A friend of mine disappointed me,” he said. “I grew tired of waiting for him, and was taking a turn in the fresh air to work off my annoyance when I met with the accident which procured me the pleasure of your acquaintance. “And now kindly assist me to that chair. Thank you. And wheel up that one for yourself. No, not that, the one with the high back. You will find it ever so much more comfortable.” Allan complied, and his host, having compounded a couple of long drinks, took a copious draft from his glass. “ Confess now,” he said, laughing, and looking shrewdly into his guest’s face. “A suspicion flashed across your mind that the whisky might be hocused.” Allan warmly repudiated any such notion, but the flush which mounted to his forehead belied his words. Partly to hide his confusion and partly to back up his denial, he drank some of his “high ball,” and found that it fully deserved the encomiums bestowed upon it. ‘ “T hope you find that chair comfort- able,” the doctor remarked. e OUgle “Very much so,” Allan replied. “One of the most comfortable I ever sat in.” “It is an invention of my own,” the other went on. “I amuse myself by inventing things sometimes, and that chair 1s one of my successes. I am thinking of taking out a patent for it. “You will observe that the arms are continued down to meet that foot-rest at the bottom, and that by pressing the knees against them it is possible to ob- tain a complete relaxation of the other muscles. Then again, by a simple me- chanical contrivance, it can be adjusted to any angle. Allow me to show ou.”’ The little man rose with some diffi- culty and hobbled to Allan’s side. “Let us suppose,” he continued, “that you are tired of that position and wish to assume a more horizontal attitude. I have simply to touch this button, and ” There was a faint click, and from the foot-rest a hinged steel shutter leaped, hissing like a snake, and, darting up a cunningly concealed groove in the arms, fastened itself about Allan’s neck and pinned him to the back of the chair. So sudden was the shock that for several seconds Mortimer could do nothing but stare, open mouthed, at his little host, who had taken a step back- ward and was regarding him with an evil smile. Then, with a mighty heave, he tried to liberate himself from his narrow prison. Once—twice—thrice he exerted all the power of arms, legs, and shoulders, but in vain. Had he been screwed down in his coffin, he could not have more thoroughly realized his own helpless- ness. The doctor laughed; a low, vibrant laugh that made the flesh crawl. “ Believe me,” he said, “ you are tir- ing yourself unnecessarily. Hercules himself could not get out of that chair.” “Release me at once,” Allan cried, his face purple with rage and exertion. “What is the meaning of this folly? ” The little doctor walked deliberately to a bureau, every vestige of lameness having vanished, opened a drawer, took out a cigar, lit it, and after inhaling COMRRIC LOO COL