1 THE RIFT
As he dropped the last grisly fragment of the dismembered and
mutilated body into the small vat of nitric acid that was to devour every
trace of the horrid evidence which might easily send him to the gallows,
the man sank weakly into a chair and throwing his body forward upon his
great, teak desk buried his face in his arms, breaking into dry, moaning
sobs.
Beads of perspiration followed the seams of his high, wrinkled
forehead, replacing the tears which might have lessened the pressure upon
his overwrought nerves. His slender frame shook, as with ague, and at
times was racked by a convulsive shudder. A sudden step upon the
stairway leading to his workshop brought him trembling and wide eyed to
his feet, staring fearfully at the locked and bolted door.