I began to see that this was a story which I must get, and also that I should have to get it piecemeal from his distracted mind.
"Where did you meet Diavolo?" I asked.
"Why, at Eden Valley."
The name struck an echo in my brain. Of what was Eden Valley reminiscent?
"What was he doing there?" I asked, questioning at hazard.
The old man clutched the arms of his chair with his hands and leaned forward to look into my face. "You never heard of him?"
"Not a word."
He nodded heavily and sank back in his chair. "He gave a show," he said dully. "In the Opery House. To show off how he could hypnotize people." A slow tear gathered in his eye.
I began to get a coherent idea. "Oh, Diavolo was the name assumed for show purposes by a man who went around giving exhibitions of hypnotism. Is that it?"
"Yes."