[THE MAN WHO WAS LOST.]
I.
Here are the facts in the case as they were known in the beginning to Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, scientist and logician. After hearing a statement of the problem from the lips of its principal he declared it to be one of the most engaging that had ever come to his attention, and----
But let me begin at the beginning:
* * * * *
The Thinking Machine was in the small laboratory of his modest apartments at two o'clock in the afternoon. Martha, the scientist's only servant, appeared at the door with a puzzled expression on her wrinkled face.
"A gentleman to see you, sir," she said.
"Name?" inquired The Thinking Machine, without turning.
"He--he didn't give it, sir," she stammered.
"I have told you always, Martha, to ask names of callers."