The Third Round

The Third Round by H.C. McNeile

H.C. McNeile's The Third Round opens on Lake Geneva, where the master criminal Edward Blackton, travelling with a female companion, is approached by Sir Raymond Blantyre and Jabez Leibhaus of the Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate. They explain that Professor Goodman, a brilliant but unworldly chemist, has discovered a cheap process for manufacturing genuine diamonds, demonstrated by producing several flawless stones for a few pounds. Fearing the ruin of the diamond trade, the Syndicate offered Goodman a quarter of a million pounds to suppress the discovery, but he refused, intending to announce it to the Royal Society. Blantyre, prompted by Baron Vanderton, asks Blackton to arrange the Professor's "removal." Blackton agrees, secretly planning not only to suppress the secret but to keep it for himself, extracting diamonds gradually while posing as a benefactor. In London, Algy Longworth, engaged to Goodman's daughter Brenda, alerts his friend Hugh Drummond to the situation. Drummond meets the absent-minded Professor, learns he carries his precious notes loose in his pocket, and seals them for safekeeping after Goodman shows him an anonymous letter threatening his life unless he accepts the Syndicate's money. Drummond urges caution and invites the family to his home, but Goodman rushes off to receive a visiting German scientist, Professor Scheidstrun. Meanwhile Blantyre's syndicate, meeting in secret, discovers that a nervous member, Lewisham, sent the threatening letter without authorization. Blackton, posing as Scheidstrun, arrives to handle the fallout and sends Lewisham to Goodman's house that afternoon, ostensibly to smooth things over. There, disguised as Scheidstrun, Blackton strangles Lewisham, dresses the body in Goodman's clothes, drugs and hides the real Professor in a packing case, and detonates an explosive that destroys the laboratory, leaving only a boot as evidence. The household and police believe Professor Goodman died in an accidental explosion of his own experimental blasting powder; an inquest returns a verdict of accidental death, with the real Scheidstrun's evidence (in fact given by Blackton in disguise) confirming the explanation. Drummond suspects foul play, particularly after Blantyre's evident and unexplained relief following the "accident," and after noticing that Blantyre appeared to recognize the false Scheidstrun. Blackton, now installed in a New Forest house under the name William Robinson, reveals to the imprisoned Professor Goodman that the world believes him dead and that he will be forced to manufacture diamonds for his captor. Goodman confesses that his actual working notes were not the ones Blackton stole from him but were instead entrusted to Drummond, with instructions that they be sent to Goodman's lawyers, Tootem, Price & Tootem, and then, in the event of his death, passed to Scheidstrun. Enraged at Drummond's renewed involvement, Blackton devises a scheme to recover the notes: he sends his secretary Freyder to fetch the real Professor Scheidstrun and his wife from Germany, and coaches them to collect the notes from Drummond and the lawyer under threat of blackmail, while Blackton himself impersonates Scheidstrun during the actual meeting to test Drummond's suspicions. Drummond, noticing a nervous mannerism he associates with his old enemy Carl Peterson, attacks the man he believes is Blackton in Tootem's office, tearing off his wig and pulling his nose, only to discover this is genuinely Professor Scheidstrun, who is then defended vigorously by his formidable wife. Embarrassed, Drummond hands over the diamond notes to the lawyer, who passes them to Scheidstrun. In fact, the real Scheidstrun and his wife have been coerced by Blackton (posing as their patron "Mr. Robinson," who holds knowledge of a past indiscretion of Scheidstrun's) into playing their assigned roles, including attending Goodman's funeral to maintain the deception. Afterward, Algy notices the German at the funeral behaving oddly, unable to recall an earlier meeting accurately, deepening Drummond's suspicion that something is amiss despite his failed identification attempt. Drummond confronts Sir Raymond Blantyre at the Syndicate's office, revealing that the diamond notes were not destroyed but handed to Scheidstrun per Goodman's written instructions, and describing his mistaken assault on the German. Blantyre and his colleagues react with poorly concealed alarm, confirming Drummond's suspicion that the "worthless process" story is false and that the Syndicate fears being double-crossed by whoever now holds the secret. Drummond proposes they all go together to see Scheidstrun and settle the matter, and the group departs for the house where the German and his wife are staying, arriving to find them still present. As Drummond presses Scheidstrun to destroy the supposedly useless notes and Blantyre grows openly furious at the German's evasive refusal, Drummond, sensing that the true stakes go far beyond the Syndicate's business interests, moves to the window and prepares to end the interview himself.

By H.C. McNeile · First published 1924 · Genre: Thriller, Crime Fiction, Mystery · 13 chapters · 95,524 words

First lines

With a sigh of pleasure Mr. Edward Blackton opened the windows of his balcony and leaned out, staring over the lake. Opposite, the mountains of Savoy rose steeply from the water; away to the left the Dent du Midi raised its crown of snow above the morning haze.

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crime-fiction · detective-mystery · adventure-thriller · espionage · heist-fiction · 1920s-setting · British-literature · pulp-adventure · suspense · action-packed · criminal-conspiracy · betrayal

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