The salesman polished these with a piece of cheesecloth and laid them on top of the obstetric instrument.
“I think that’s all at this counter,� said Fay, eyeing the collection. “The next will be rubber gloves and collodium. You see my brother has many infectious cases.�
The salesman opened the back of a near-by case and brought out samples of gloves. Fay inspected them as the clerk went for the collodium, which was a sovereign cure for finger-prints.
Fay’s next purchase seemed an afterthought. Without it he would have been an amateur. It was a very high-grade stethoscope, such as army doctors and surgeons use to determine the right ventricle’s action or the little flaws and flutters of the human heart. It had been made by one of the greatest houses in London. The clerk insisted that it was powerful enough to hear a fly walk ten feet away.
Fay arched his brows at this statement.
“How about the chest?� he asked.
“Perfect, sir. All one has to do is to press it to the left breast and place on the ear-pieces. The instrument registers every valve motion and defect.�
“Your price?�
“Eight pound, ten—the same price we charged the British Royal Flying Corps. They were used extensively in the examination of the flying men.â€�
Fay had another purpose for the stethoscope. It worked equally as well upon the door of a strong-box just over the combination dial. This is the nearest spot to the padded slots into which certain tumblers drop with a tap which would sound like a bolt falling by use of a sensitive micro-phone diaphragm.