Coghlan picked up the magnet. It was much brighter than a steel one. It had the shine of aluminum, but it was heavy. He presented it to the dwindling wet spot on the wall. The wet place turned silvery. Coghlan thrust the book at the shining surface. It touched. It went into the silver. It vanished. Coghlan took the magnet away. The wet place looked, somehow, as if it were about to dry permanently. Duval breathed stertoriously on the canvas cot.

"And now," said Ghalil blandly, "we do not need to believe it any more. We do not believe it, do we?"

"Of course not!" growled Mannard. "It's all nonsense!"

Ghalil grinned. He brushed off his fingers.

"Undoubtedly," he said sedately, "M. Duval contrived it all. He will never admit it. He will always insist that one of us contrived it. We will all suspect each other, for always. There will be no record anywhere except a very discreet report in the archives of the Istanbul Police Department, which will assign the mystification either to M. Duval or to Appolonius the Great--after he has gone to prison, at least. It is a singular mystery, is it not?"

He laughed.

A week later, Laurie triumphantly pointed out to Coghlan that it was demonstrably all nonsense. The cut on his thumb had healed quite neatly, leaving no scar at all.This is not part of the novel content "The Gadget Had a Ghost." Let me know if you would like a summary or information related to the novel.You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that:  
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