HEALTHFUL HOUSE I7

with the straight line of the observer ; his resolute bearing
denoted energy and tenacity combined.

Simon Hart was well versed in the various questions
connected with the perfecting of modern armament, and
those inventions which might affect its power. He knew
thoroughly all that had been done in the matter of
explosives—over eleven hundred existed at that time—and
he was essentially the man to appreciate Thomas Roch.
Believing in the power of the Fulgurator, he was
convinced that Thomas Roch was in possession of an
engine capable of changing the conditions of war, either
offensive or defensive, on land andonsea. Having heard
that the man of science had been respected by the malady
which had invaded him on all other sides, that in the partly
deranged brain still burned a light, a flame, the flame
of genius, Hart bethought him that if the secret were to
escape Roch ina moment of frenzy, his invention might
be used for the benefit of a foreign power. Thereupon he
resolved to become the inventors keeper, by passing
himself off as an American who spoke the French tongue
fluently. Under pretext of a voyage to Europe he resigned
his post, and changed his name. Circumstances were in
his favour, the proposal he made to the Principal was
accepted, and for fifteen months he had fulfilled all the
duties of keeper to Thomas Roch, at Healthful House.

Such resolution denoted rare unselfishness and noble
patriotism, for the service to be undertaken necessitated
work of a kind repulsive to a man of Simon Hart’s class
and education. But—this must not be forgotten—the

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