The Infernal Device & Others: A Professor Moriarty Omnibus Read Online Free PDF Page B

with such bland assurance that it was clearly neither conceit nor arrogance from Professor Moriarty's point of view, but a simple assertion of fact.
     
                  The waiter brought over a small plate of candies. "Try one," Lieutenant Sefton said, shoving it over to Barnett. "Rahat loukoum. Call them 'Turkish delights' in England. Go with the coffee."
     
                  "I've heard of them," Barnett said, sampling one of the small squares. It was a sweet gel of assorted fruits, which did indeed go well with the thick Turkish coffee.
     
                  Professor Moriarty took a small leather case from his pocket. "Allow me to give you gentlemen my card," he said. "I expect you both to look me up at your earliest opportunity."
     
                  Barnett took the proffered pasteboard and looked at it:
     
     
     
    JAMES C. MORIARTY, Ph.D.
    64 RUSSELL SQUARE CONSULTING
     
     
     
                  "Consulting?" he asked.
     
                  Moriarty stared at him with a curious intensity. Barnett had the odd feeling that the professor could see through his skin to the soul beneath. And, further, that he wasn't being judged but merely examined and classified by this strange, intense man. "Consulting," Moriarty affirmed.
     
                  Lieutenant Sefton examined the card at arm's length. "I say," he said. "At what do you consult? Who consults you?"
     
                  "I answer questions," Professor Moriarty explained patiently. "I solve problems. Very occasionally I perform services. My rates vary with the difficulty of the task."
     
                  "Is there much demand for such a service?" Barnett asked.
     
                  "I am never at a loss for commissions and my rates are quite high. Of course, I am paid only for success."
     
                  "You mean you guarantee success?" Lieutenant Sefton asked, incredulously.
     
                  "No man can guarantee success at any task. What I do is minimize the chance of failure."
     
                  "It sounds fascinating," Barnett said. "I shall surely look you up after this assignment, when I next visit London. I might do an article about you and your business for my newspaper, the New York World, if you don't mind."
     
                  "I mind!" Moriarty said sharply. "Further, I absolutely forbid it. I have neither the need nor the desire for notoriety."
     
                  "Well," Barnett said, standing up and putting his cup down. "I'm sorry."
     
                  Moriarty waved Barnett back into his seat. "No need to take offense," he said, signaling the waiter for another pot of coffee. "I am aware that many people like to read about themselves. I do not happen to be one of those people. If I am ever to be known to the world, it must be for my scientific endeavors. If I am remembered at all by history, it will be for the research I am doing rather than for the occupation, however novel, which supports this research."
     
                  "What sort of scientific work are you engaged in?" Barnett asked, sitting back down.
     
                  "I am doing theoretical studies in the realm of astronomical physics," Professor Moriarty said. "There are certain anomalies in the behavior of light—but I don't want to bore you."
     
                  "Not at all, not at all," Lieutenant Sefton said politely. "You really must go into it in detail sometime; I'm sure it will be fascinating."
     
                  "How nice of you to say so," Moriarty murmured.
     
                  They had one last cup of coffee together before separating. Barnett and Lieutenant Sefton offered to walk the professor back to his hotel, but he refused. "I do not anticipate any further trouble," he said.
     
                  "I hope you're