"My dear," he said, solemnly, "in this ordered universe there can be no such thing. Action and achievement--cause and result. The revealing pattern of each man's actions is in the pasts of himself and his antecedents." "And by proving this you will exonerate the Reamer mansion of all guilt?" He smiled. "You are a most intelligent young lady. Most intelligent! I shall see a great deal of you in the weeks to come." * * * * * It was not a distasteful prospect. I liked the Professor and was glad he liked me. After he left I went back and found not a single book out of place. I liked him even more. Two weeks passed before I saw Professor Waits again. He came in out of the sunshine, carrying his black umbrella and wearing the same black string necktie. I was busy at the time, finding an acceptable book for Mrs. Winsolow's little Freddie who was in bed with the pip. When I got clear, Professor Waits was deep in his research and I did not disturb him. He came pattering out just before closing time and I was struck by the somber--almost sad--expression he wore. "Did you have trouble finding what you wanted, Professor?" "Oh no. The records are most voluminous. It's just--well, the _nature_ of my discoveries." "Bad?" "Very bad, Miss Hopstead. Do you know who Henry Reamer's murderer was?" "No." "Miles McCormick, the renter who died there so tragically with his family." I didn't quite know how to respond; whether I should faint or scream for the police. I settled for a philosophical comment. "A case of justice by a higher power." "You mean McCormick's death?" "Of course." "On the contrary. There was no connection at all between the two events. McCormick and his wife and child died because they violated a certain law, but not necessarily a law on the statute books." "I'm afraid I don't quite follow that." "Look at it this way, Miss Hopstead. You are walking through a dark room. A door is standing open. You come into violent contact with the edge of it. What happens?" "A broken nose? A black eye." "Precisely. The fact you didn't know the door was there didn't protect you from the consequences." This of course, I was forced to concede. "Now let's go a step further by taking, as example, a lower mentality than our own. A horse, knowing nothing of the laws of electricity, would step on a high voltage wire and never know why it was electrocuted. In such a case, the animal would violate a law it did not know existed." I was beginning to see what he was driving at. "You mean--" "We are far above the horse in mentality and understanding but there are still many laws we do not understand. That is what my work involves." I insisted upon being heard. "You mean a lot of apparently innocent things we do are really electric wires." He beamed. "Exactly. When we reap misfortune it is because we violate some law. Ignorance of that law doesn't change the end-result one iota."