Pett had risen from the table, with blanched face.
"Willie, how can you bring that stuff here? What are you thinking
of?"
Willie smiles a patronising smile.
"There is not the slightest danger, aunt Nesta. It cannot explode
without concussion. I have been carrying it about with me all the
morning."
He bestowed on the test-tube the look a fond parent might give
his favourite child. Mrs. Pett was not reassured.
"Go and put it in your uncle's safe at once. Put it away."
"I haven't the combination."
"Call your uncle up at once at the office and ask him."
"Very well. If you wish it, aunt Nesta. But there is no danger."
"Don't take that thing with you," screamed Mrs. Pett, as he rose.
"You might drop it. Come back for it."
"Very well."
Conversation flagged after Willie's departure. The presence of
the test-tube seemed to act on the spirits of the company after
the fashion of the corpse at the Egyptian banquet. Howard Bemis,
who was sitting next to it, edged away imperceptibly till he
nearly crowded Ann off her chair. Presently Willie returned. He
picked up the test-tube, put it in his pocket with a certain
jauntiness, and left the room again.
"Now, if you hear a sudden bang and find yourself disappearing
through the roof," said Jimmy, "that will be it."
Willie returned and took his place at the table again. But the
spirit had gone out of the gathering. The voice of Clarence
Renshaw was hushed, and Howard Bemis spoke no more of the
influence of Edgar Lee Masters on modern literature.
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