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The Thinking Machine Collected Stories Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Thinking Machine Collected Stories novel. A total of 234 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : THE THINKING MACHINE.Collected Stories by Jacques Futrelle.ABOUT THE AUTHOR.Jacques Futr
THE THINKING MACHINE.Collected Stories by Jacques Futrelle.ABOUT THE AUTHOR.Jacques Futrelle (1875-1912) was born in Georgia on April 9th, the son of an Atlanta teacher. He began to write for the Atlanta Journal at age 18, and moved on to the New York Her
- 1 THE THINKING MACHINE.Collected Stories by Jacques Futrelle.ABOUT THE AUTHOR.Jacques Futrelle (1875-1912) was born in Georgia on April 9th, the son of an Atlanta teacher. He began to write for the Atlanta Journal at age 18, and moved on to the New York Her
- 2 Professor Van Dusen did not speak again. The train pulled into Springfield at nine-twenty. Hatch followed the scientist without a word into a cab."Schuyler's candy store," quickly commanded The Thinking Machine. "Hurry."The cab ru
- 3 "A person in a cataleptic condition is singularly impervious to injury," replied the scientist. "There is of course a chance of suffocation, but a great deal of air may enter a trunk.""And the candy?" Hatch asked."Yes, t
- 4 "Not unless you entered it with tools prepared to get out," said Dr. Ransome.The Thinking Machine was visibly annoyed and his blue eyes snapped."Lock me in any cell in any prison anywhere at any time, wearing only what is necessary, and I&#
- 5 Again the astonished glances were exchanged. This last request was the height of absurdity, so they agreed to it. These things all being attended to, The Thinking Machine was led back into the prison from which he had undertaken to escape."Here is Ce
- 6 The jailer took the wriggling, squirmy rodent and flung it down on the floor violently. It gave one squeak and lay still. Later he reported the incident to the warden, who only smiled.Still later that afternoon the outside armed guard on Cell 13 side of t
- 7 Then he told the warden all about it."Plan number two fails," said the warden, smiling grimly. "First a cipher, then bribery."When the jailer was on his way to Cell 13 at six o'clock, again bearing food to The Thinking Machine, he
- 8 He was still clinging to the warden, and that official threw his arms off roughly. Then for a time he stood looking at the cowering wretch, who seemed possessed of all the wild, unreasoning terror of a child."Look here, Ballard," said the warden
- 9 The Thinking Machine paused just a fraction of a second."No," he said."Well, do you make it?" asked the warden. He was prepared to believe anything."That's my business," again said the prisoner.The warden glared at the e
- 10 The warden picked up the special delivery letter carelessly, and then began to open it."When I read this I want to tell you gentlemen something about how -- Great Caesar!" he ended, suddenly, as he glanced at the letter. He sat with mouth open,
- 11 "Tooth powder and polished shoes, yes, but not money," replied the warden."Anything is dangerous in the hands of a man who knows how to use it," went on The Thinking Machine. "I did nothing that first night but sleep and chase rat
- 12 "Then I heard a shriek from a cell above me. I knew instantly that some one had overheard, and when I heard you coming, Mr. Warden, I feigned sleep. If you had entered my cell at that moment that whole plan of escape would have ended there. But you p
- 13 "Perhaps you carried corrosive sublimate in your pocket. I didn't find any; but perhaps you once carried it. I tore out the coat pocket in which I found the cigars and subjected it to the test. At sometime there had been corrosive sublimate, in
- 14 Regardless of the mother, Evelyn ran to the telephone and notified the police. They responded promptly, three detectives and two uniformed officers. The threatening letter was placed in their hands, and one of them laid its contents before his chief by &#
- 15 "Find anything?" asked Hatch, finally.The Thinking Machine shook his head impatiently."It's amazing," he exclaimed petulantly, like a disappointed child."It is," Hatch agreed, cheerfully.The Thinking Machine turned and w
- 16 "Have man located in Lynn and trace of baby. Come quick, if possible, to --- Hotel. Hatch."IV.The Thinking Machine answered the telegraphic summons immediately, but instead of elation on his face there was another expression-possibly surprise. O
- 17 "I really don't know. I should think so.""Will you please have Miss Barton, or someone else, find those stockings and see if all the pairs like this are complete," instructed The Thinking Machine.Wonderingly, Mrs. Blake gave the o
- 18 "And the monkey. What is it doing?""Hanging by its tail to a blue tree with a coconut in its hands," replied the reporter. The humor of the situation was beginning to appeal to him."And about the baby crying?" the scientist a
- 19 "Frankly I will say that I could see no possible explanation of the affair until the day you and I were talking to Mrs. Blake and I stood looking out of the library window. Then it all flashed on me instantly. I went out and satisfied myself. When I
- 20 Miss Devan had a soft, soothing voice, and as she talked it was broken at times by what seemed to be a sob. Her face was flushed a little, and she emphasized her points by a quick clasping and unclasping of her daintily gloved hands."My father, or ra
- 21 "Something like that, possibly $800,000.""Where is this will now?""I understand in the hands of my father's attorney, Mr. Sloane.""When is it to be read?""It was to have been read today, but there has been
- 22 "Not unless-unless--""John Stockton! Why did he take it?" blurted Hatch.There was a little resigned movement of the girl's hands, a movement which said, "I don't know.""He told me, too," said Hatch indigna
- 23 "I suppose he never used a fountain pen?" asked The Thinking Machine."Not that I know of," the girl replied. "I have one," and she took it out of a little gold fascinator she wore at her bosom.The scientist pressed the point
- 24 There was a little dramatic pause as Miss Devan entered and Stockton arose from his seat. The Thinking Machine glanced from one to the other. He noted the pallor of the girl's face and the frank embarra.s.sment of Stockton "What is it?" ask
- 25 "I-I don't know," she stammered. "Surely you don't think that I--""Mr. Hatch, 'phone at once for an ambulance and then see if it is possible to get Detective Mallory here immediately. I shall give Miss Devan into cu
- 26 VI."First, Mr. Hatch," The Thinking Machine resumed, as he drew out and spread on a table the letter which had been originally placed in his hands by Miss Devan, "the question of whether there was a cipher in this letter was to be definitel
- 27 "Stockton made his secret visit to the house that night to get what was in that vault without her knowledge. He knew of its existence. His father had probably told him. The thing that appeared on page seven of the family Bible was in all probability
- 28 "What sort of a ghost was it?""Oh, it was a man ghost, about nine feet high, and he was blazing from head to foot as if he was burning up," said the constable. "He had a long knife in his hand and waved it at 'em. They didn&#
- 29 "Too bad you didn't notice the handwriting-that is, whether it seemed to be a man's or a woman's.""I think, under the circ.u.mstances, I would be excused for omitting that," was the reply."You said you heard somethi
- 30 The speaker paused a moment and relighted his cigarette."Next morning my great-grandfather was found unconscious and badly injured on the veranda of the house. His skull had been fractured. In the house a man was found dead. No one knew who he was; n
- 31 Hatch shook his head."It isn't a spook, of course," the broker went on, with a nervous smile; "but-but I'm sorry I went. I don't think probably I shall have the work done there as I thought."They slept only fitfully and
- 32 "What's the next move?" asked Hatch."I'm going to find the jewels," was the startling reply."Find them?" Hatch repeated."Certainly."They entered the house through the kitchen and the scientist squinted thi
- 33 "Do you think that necessary?" asked Weston."It is-absolutely," was the emphatic response.Weston left them after awhile. Hatch wondered where he had gone, but no information was forthcoming. In a general sort of way he knew that The Th
- 34 "Obviously those reflections had been made on something, probably a mirror as the most perfect ordinary reflecting surface. Yet he actually pa.s.sed through the spot where he had seen the apparition and had not struck a mirror. He found himself in an
- 35 On the following morning the card appeared again, with only three words, as before: One million dollars!Abruptly the aged millionaire wheeled around to face Walpole, who sat regarding him oddly."It came the same way, sir," the seedy little secretary exp
- 36 "Nerves," he said. "Overwork, and no recreation.""But, doctor, I have no time for recreation!" the old millionaire whined. "My business--""Time!" Doctor Anderson growled indignantly. "You're seventy years old, and you're worth fifty million d
- 37 "You believe, then," Hatch demanded, "that Walpole is innocent?""I believe nothing of the sort," snapped the scientist. "He's probably guilty. If we find no bullet mark, I'm merely saying what sort of man we must look for.""But-but how do you k
- 38 "The first five days were bad enough-short rations, little or no water, no sleep, and all that; but what came after was h.e.l.l! At the end of that fifth day there were only five of us-Ordway and me, the woman and child, and another man. I don't know wh
- 39 "It's perfectly incomprehensible," he said. "It's precisely as if I, full grown, had been born into a world of which I knew nothing except its language. The ordinary things, chairs, tables and such things, are perfectly familiar, but who I am, where
- 40 II.When John Doane of Nowhere-to all practical purposes-left the home of The Thinking Machine he bore instructions of divers kinds. First he was to get a large map of the United States and study it closely, reading over and p.r.o.nouncing aloud the name o
- 41 "It may be that when he comes to he will have recovered him memory, and in that event he will have absolutely no recollection whatever of you and me," explained The Thinking Machine.Doane moved a little at last, and under a stimulant the color began to
- 42 "Well, well, well!" he exclaimed at last. Then again: "Well, well!""What is it?""See here," and The Thinking Machine took the hundred-dollar bills in his own hands. "These bills, perfectly new and crisp, were issued by the Blank National Bank of
- 43 "What were the circ.u.mstances, exactly?" asked Hatch."I'm a traveling man," Manning explained. "I go everywhere. A friend gave me a card to the Lincoln Club in Pittsburg and I went there. There were five or six of us playing poker, among them Mr.-M
- 44 "His health has been bad for some time and recently he gave up active business," said the woman. "Previously he was connected with a bank.""When did you see him last?""Six weeks ago. He left the house one day and I have never heard from him since.
- 45 "Anything important?" asked Doane, anxiously."Yes," said the scientist, and he slipped a finger beneath the flap of the envelope. "It's clear now. It was an engaging problem from first to last, and now--"He opened the telegram and glanced at it; th
- 46 "There are shades of emotion intuition, call it what you will, so subtle that it is difficult to express them in words. As I had instinctively a.s.sociated Harrison with Bell's present condition I instinctively a.s.sociated this woman with Harrison. For
- 47 "I don't want his devotion!" blazed Miss Farrar. "The mere sight of him is intolerable to me. It's all just like-like I was being sold to him. It's perfectly hideous, and I won't-I won't-I won't!"Defiance melted into tears of anger and mortifica
- 48 Then for a time The Thinking Machine sat with fingertips pressed idly together, squinting blankly at the ceiling."While a motive is never absolutely essential to the solution of any criminal problem," he observed after awhile, "it will frequently indic
- 49 "Oh, I see what you mean. Shot from the outside. No, there was no hole."The brow of the scientist had been smooth and unruffled as the summer sea; but now the minute corrugations which Hatch knew so well appeared again, and he sat silent for a time."Wh
- 50 It was an hour after closing time. Dunston was just pulling on his coat when he saw West come out of his private office with the money to put it away in the big steel safe which stood between depositors and thieves. The cas.h.i.+er paused a moment to allo
- 51 President Fraser called Professor Van Dusen-The Thinking Machine-and talked for a moment through the 'phone. Then he turned back to West."He'll come," he said, with an air of relief. "I was able to do him a favor once by putting an invention on the m
- 52 "Yes," said the reporter. The bank officials exchanged wondering looks."Also, Mr. Hatch," and the scientist squinted with his strange eyes straight into the face of the cas.h.i.+er, "go to the home of Mr. West, here, see for yourself his laundry mark
- 53 "And the others?" asked The Thinking Machine.Generally there was acquiescence, and as the men came forward the scientist searched them, perfunctorily, it seemed. Nothing! At last there remained three men, Dunston, West and Fraser. Dunston came forward,
- 54 He finished the test he had under way, then left the little laboratory and went into the hall leading to the sitting-room, where unprivileged callers awaited his pleasure. He sniffed a little as he stepped into the hall. At the door of the sitting-room he
- 55 "Because I understood you were making the investigation for the bank," she responded, unhesitatingly, "and I dreaded the notoriety of telling the police.""If this William Dineen is at large you believe he did this?""I am almost positive.""Thank y
- 56 "Next I asked for the handkerchief. Mr. Fraser asked me into his office to look at it. I saw a woman-Miss Clarke it was-in there and declined to go. Instead, I examined the handkerchief outside. I don't know that my purpose there can be made clear to yo
- 57 MYSTERY OF THE SCARLET THREAD.I.The Thinking Machine-Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D, LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., scientist and logician-listened intently and without comment to a weird, seemingly inexplicable story. Hutchinson Hatch, repo
- 58 "Turned on full," was the reply."Were both the doors of the room locked?""Both, yes.""Any cotton, or cloth, or anything of the sort stuffed in the cracks of the window?""No. It's a tight-fitting window, anyway. Are you trying to make a mystery o
- 59 "Any other entrance to the bas.e.m.e.nt except this way-and you could see anyone coming here this way I suppose?""Sure I could see 'em. There's no other entrance to the cellar except the coal hole in the sidewalk in front.""Two big electric lights
- 60 "Here, I believe, is the real clew to the problem," he explained to Hatch. "What does it seem to be?"Hatch examined it closely."I should say a strand from a Turkish bath robe," was his final judgement."Possibly. Ask some cloth expert what he makes
- 61 "Heard the news?" asked the manager."No," Hatch replied. "What is it?""Somebody's shot Mr. Henley as he was pa.s.sing through the Common early to-night."Hatch whistled in amazement."Is he dead?""No, but he is unconscious. The hospital doctors
- 62 The reporter silently considered that for a moment, then: "Well, I have the main facts, anyway. There may be one or two minor questions left, but the princ.i.p.al ones are answered.""Then tell me, to the minutest detail, what you have learned, what has
- 63 "Murder?" gasped Cabell, at last."Yes, he speaks English all right," remarked The Thinking Machine. "Now, Mr. Cabell, will you please tell me just who Miss Austin is, and where she is, and her mental condition? Believe me, it may save you a great dea
- 64 For a long time no one spoke. The Thinking Machine had dropped back into a chair and was staring through his thick gla.s.ses at the ceiling; his finger tips were pressed tightly together. At last he began: "There are certain trivial gaps which only the i
- 65 When she appeared again at the open door with pitcher and drinking gla.s.s she paused a second time in amazement. The distinguished scientist was sitting cross legged on the couch, thoughtfully caressing the back of his head."Martha, did anyone call?" h
- 66 "Not on your life!" declared the warden. "He's in for eight years, and he doesn't get out till that's up.""I have reason to believe-the best reason in the world to believe-that he has been out," insisted the reporter."You are talking through you
- 67 "Silence, please," whispered the scientist.He took the lantern from the warden's unresisting hand, and going softly to the cot turned the light full into the face of the sleeping man. For a second or so he gazed steadily at the features upturned thus t
- 68 "Precisely five weeks and four days ago," replied The Thinking Machine. "Your records show that. On your own books, in your own handwriting, is a complete solution of the problem, although you didn't know it," he added magnanimously. "Everything is
- 69 "You have," Miss Harding a.s.sented. "And may I ask why you want this bracelet?""I should answer that it was no concern of yours.""You said borrow it, I believe?""Either I will borrow it or take it.""Is there any certainty that it will ever be
- 70 "Naturally I was a little surprised," she remarked falteringly, "that I should have appeared just in time to interrupt a discussion of the singular happenings in my home last night; but really--""This bracelet," interrupted the little scientist agai
- 71 "Enough to understand and to make myself understood," replied the girl. "Why?"The Thinking Machine scribbled off a copy of the cipher and handed it to her."I'll communicate with you when I reach a conclusion," he remarked. "Please leave your addre
- 72 One hour later the long lost family plate and jewels of the ancient Harding family had been unearthed. The Thinking Machine and the others stooped over the rotting box which had been brought to the surface and noted the contents. Roughly the value was abo
- 73 " 'Now, Mr. Richards,' he said at last very slowly, 'what we want you to do is very simple, and as I said there's a hundred dollars in it. I know your circ.u.mstances perfectly-you need the hundred dollars.' He offered me a cigar, and foolishly enou
- 74 "There's a man named Howard Guerin now asleep in his state room aboard the steamer Austriana, which sails at five o'clock this morning-just an hour and a half from now-for Hamburg," began The Thinking Machine without any preface. "Please have him arr
- 75 "They say she's a bird charmer," Rex went on. "She charmed me, all right. Gad, I always knew I was a bird!"In his own apartments again, St. Rocheville, hot from his exertions on the tennis court, was preparing for a cold plunge, when Blitz fluttered
- 76 "Had been cheating," The Thinking Machine supplied crabbedly. "Go on.""As a result of that little unpleasantness," St. Rocheville continued, "the game ended, and we joined the ladies. Now, please understand that it is not my wish to retaliate upon
- 77 Indignant at the intrusion of the police in what she was pleased to term her personal affairs-the detectives who had been there before were from a private agency-Mrs. Wardlaw Browne bustled into the room where The Thinking Machine and his party waited. Mo
- 78 "I'm sure I don't know," The Thinking Machine confessed frankly. "I think, perhaps, it was Monsieur St. Rocheville, so called; but there's nothing to connect him-- Please sit down, Mallory. You annoy me. It would do no good to search his apartment.
- 79 "Danger?" repeated Varick with a slight lifting of his brows. "Oh well, in that case I shall keep out of it.""Not danger to your business, Sahib," the crystal gazer went on with troubled face, "but danger in another way."The girl, Jadeh, looked at
- 80 "Of course if you've made up your mind to do it," he said irritably, "I don't see what can be done." There was a trace of irony in his voice, a coldness which brought Varick around a little. "Just how is it going to happen?""I shall be murdered-s
- 81 "Now, Mr. Varick, the keys to your apartment, please," asked the scientist.They were handed over and he placed them in his pocket. Then he turned to Varick."From this time on," he said, "your name is John Smith. You are going on a trip, beginning imm
- 82 "About two hundred and fifty thousand dollars," was the reply. "It was to be used under his direction in furthering an investigation into the psychic. He and I had planned just how it was to be spent."Personally Mr. Varick is no longer interested in t
- 83 Again he examined the instrument under the light, with something akin to perplexity on his drawn face; then allowed his eyes to follow the silken wire as it led up, across the room, and out the window. Did it go up or down? Probably up, possibly down. He
- 84 "Anything missing, sir?" inquired Young."Not so far as we know," was the reply. "Don't make any excitement about it, please. He is breathing yet, isn't he?""Yes," answered Carroll. "He doesn't seem to be hurt-just unconscious.""Lack of air,
- 85 Several times he ran his fingers slowly through his red hair. It was plain that he was deeply puzzled. He was on the point of rising to continue his investigations in other directions, when he heard something. It was a voice-a quiet, soothing, pleasant vo
- 86 "But he's the sort of man who would scuttle to cover like a scared rabbit," Hatch protested. "Wouldn't matter how badly hurt he was, if he could walk he would hide.""You seem to think, Mr. Hatch, that leaping through a window, taking all the gla.s.
- 87 "For your benefit, Mr. Mills," continued the scientist, "I will state that the motive for the girl's act was one which reflected her great courage, and her loyalty to you-perhaps at the same time her regard for another man. Do you follow me? In some w
- 88 "Dear me!" exclaimed the scientist irritably. "That's bad. Well, has it any knots in it?" he asked with marked resignation.Hatch felt that he had committed the unpardonable sin. "Yes," he replied after an examination. "It has two knots in it-just
- 89 "Oh, no.""Truthfully?""Truthfully.""You may lower your hands," she said, as if satisfied; "then go on ahead of me straight across the field to the road. Turn to your left there. Don't look back under any circ.u.mstances. I shall be behind you wi
- 90 "You must not speak or call, or make the slightest sound," she whispered tensely. "If you do, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"Hatch confessed by a nod that he understood. He also imagined that he understood this sudden change in guard, and the warn
- 91 "May I inquire," she went on placidly, and a dimple snuggled at a corner of her mouth, "if that particular grunt means that you are or are not?"Mr. van Safford lowered his newspaper and glanced at his wife's pretty face. She smiled charmingly."Reall
- 92 Mr. van Safford arose suddenly, stood glaring down at her for an instant, then turning abruptly left the house. Involuntarily she had started up, then she sat down again and wept softly over her coffee. Mr. van Safford seemed to have a very definite purpo
- 93 "Two years-last June.""Most remarkable," supplemented the scientist. Mr. van Safford stared. "How old are you?""Thirty.""How long have you been thirty?""Six months-since last May."There was a long pause. Mr. van Safford plainly did not see the
- 94 "To watch Mrs. van Safford and see where she goes.""I wouldn't have done it before, but I will now." Hatch responded promptly. The bull-dog in him was aroused. "I want to see what the joke is."It was ten o'clock next evening when Hatch called to m
- 95 "Five thousand dollars?" exclaimed Mr. van Safford."Five thousand dollars," repeated the scientist."Why, man, it's perfectly absurd to talk--"Mrs. van Safford laid one white hand on her husband's arm. He glanced at her and she smiled radiantly."D
- 96 "Are all your grandfather's belongings still in the house?" asked the scientist."Yes, everything just as he left it; that is, except his dog and a parrot. They are temporarily in charge of a widow down the road here."The scientist looked at Dr. Balla
- 97 _________________________.PROBLEM OF THE INTERRUPTED WIRELESS.Seven bells sounded. The door of the wireless telegraph office on the main deck of the transatlantic liner Ura.n.u.s was opened quietly, and a man thrust his head out. One quick glance to his r
- 98 "You know whose knife it is then?" asked the Captain finally."Yes," and the first officer's head dropped forward. "It's mine."There was a long dead silence. The hands of the first officer were working nervously, with heavy fingers threading in and
- 99 "I don't know if Dr. Maher even knows just why I ordered Tennell under arrest," continued the Captain. "Miss Bellingdame's story decided me. She was going to the wireless office to send a message, when she saw a man-it was First Officer Tennell-thrus
- 100 "Well, our acquaintance was rather brief," replied Miss Bellingdame. "I met him abroad, and at his at his suggestion came directly over with him. Now that everything has happened, I hardly know just what I shall do next."The telegraph sounder clicked