"Yes, copper," said Doane. "I know. A penny."
"Why did you say sell copper?"
"I don't know," was the weary reply. "It seemed to be an unconscious act entirely. I don't know."
He clasped and unclasped his hands nervously and sat for a long time dully staring at the floor. The fight for memory was a dramatic one.
"It seemed to me," Doane explained after awhile, "that the word copper touched some responsive chord in my memory, then it was lost again. Some time in the past, I think, I must have had something to do with copper."
"Yes," said The Thinking Machine, and he rubbed his slender fingers briskly. "Now you are coming around again."
His remarks were interrupted by the appearance of Martha at the door with a telegram. The Thinking Machine opened it hastily. What he saw perplexed him again.
"Dear me! Most extraordinary!" he exclaimed. "What is it?" asked Hatch, curiously.
The scientist turned to Doane again.
"Do you happen to remember Preston Bell?" he demanded, emphasizing the name explosively.