Meanwhile, back in Dan’s office, the childishly curious Tamea had started a critical inspection of the room. She looked in the wash closet, turned on the water, inspected the books in the bookcase and the model of a clipper ship on top of it, and presently discovered on the side of Dan’s desk a row of push buttons. She touched one of these and almost immediately Dan’s secretary, Miss Mather, entered the office. She glanced around and failing to see Pritchard, she said:
“You called me?”
Tamea shook her head and Miss Mather excused herself and retired. Instantly Tamea pressed another button, and to her amazement a youth of about sixteen summers entered, gazed around the room and said:
“Yes’m. Whadja want? Me?”
Tamea solemnly shook her head and the youth departed, mystified, leaving her with a delightful sense of occult power. She tried another button, and some thirty seconds later a bald-headed man, the chief clerk, entered very deferentially.
“Ha! ha!” Tamea laughed. “Nothing doing, Monsieur, nothing, I assure.”
The chief clerk retired, registering amazement, and Tamea adventured with the fourth button, this time without result. So she turned her attention to the telephone switch box and commenced pressing buttons and ringing bells all over the suite of Casson and Pritchard, with the result that everybody was trying to answer his telephone at once. Impelled by curiosity, Tamea picked up the receiver just in time to hear a tiny voice say very distinctly: “Hello! Hello! Casson speaking.”
With a shriek she dropped the receiver. Here, indeed, was magic. Trembling and white, she pressed all four push buttons in succession, and again Miss Mather entered.
“It speaks,” Tamea gasped. “There are devils in this house. Regardez!”
Miss Mather saw the dangling telephone receiver and replaced it on the hook. “It is silent now. The devil is dumb,” she assured Tamea. “Have you never seen a telephone before?”