Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/195

. I have just further verified it by the matter of the Bobine Whisperer. While I have given not a little of my time and thought to the working out of such a device, there is, at present, no such thing in existence!"

"And that ain't all!" announced Sadie.

"What else?" asked the indifferent-eyed Kestner.

"As I tried to tell yuh b'fore, the guy's gotta dictaphone planted in that bunch o' roses there!"

"He's got a—"

Kestner, instead of re-echoing the rest of that sentence, suddenly sprang to his feet. He leaned over the table, pushed back the loose cluster of dark crimson buds, stared there for a second or two and then sat down again.

"So that's his game!" he ejaculated. Then before either Wilsnach or Sadie could speak, he was on his feet again.

"Quick!" he cried to Wilsnach, as he leaned over the vase and with one fierce jerk freed the annunciator from its wires. "They've heard every word we've been saying! Get the waiter! Go right to the kitchen if you have to!"

"Couldn't it be done more quietly, as he comes back, and—"