One Chance in a Million by H.D. Umbstaetter
Walter H. Torreton, the inventor of the wildly popular Joy Drops, ends up as the sole occupant of a brilliantly lit glass house on the roof of a sanitarium in Paradise Valley. There he is visited by two ladies and, twice a year, by a noted alienist from Paris. Thirty years earlier, Torreton's small, apple-green, translucent pear-shaped candies, each with a red streak in the core, had swept the country. They gave a harmless lift to mind and body, unlike any known drug. All the profits went to Torreton alone, and he grew rich in his Lake city, buying a Park Avenue estate and filling conservatories with a unique lily he called the multi-bloom. Imitators failed, because analysis found only sugar, fruit flavoring and a trace of a volatile, unknown essence in the red stripe. Torreton refused offers for his secret formula. His rivals then tried to steal it. They sent false reports of alcohol to the revenue officers, and they set up spy-glasses and cameras. They tried to bribe workmen, who knew nothing, and they sent a Chicago chemist posing as a fire inspector. They traced shipments to Amsterdam, where Torreton had sent them himself as a blind, and they even anchored a balloon over his skylight. Torreton then built a new brick works at Sumach Park, walled in and topped with a glass cupola. He announced a thousand-dollar reward for the first person to bring word to his home that the electric light in that cupola, shaped like a glowing green pear with a red streak, had gone out. Spies stopped troubling him, while half the city watched the light. For more than two years it burned steadily. One evening a newsboy saw the light tremble and go out. A fireman reached Mrs. Torreton first, but she and her niece, who served as her uncle's confidential secretary, were already driving to the works. The niece explained that Torreton had left early and that she had found his inner laboratory vault open and locked it. She led Mrs. Torreton and a policeman up through a concealed panel to the top-floor laboratories, where the power was dead. When she opened the vault, Torreton stumbled out and collapsed. Inside she found burned matches, paper ashes and a note on a Joy Drop wrapper. It said he was locked in and suffocating, that he had burned the formula so the secret would die with him, and that he would try to give the alarm by cutting the wires and putting out the cupola light. He was saved, but his mind went blank. Joy Drops vanished, the works stayed dark, and the greenhouses were dismantled and their plants scattered. Only then did anyone suggest they might have held the secret. Torreton now dreads darkness and lives in constant glare. A Parisian specialist says his mind has slipped like a derailed train that might jump back, but the chance is one in a million.
By H.D. Umbstaetter · First published 1900 · Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller · 2,106 words
First lines
As the traveler, turning his back to the setting sun, descends into Paradise Valley, there spreads before him a brilliant checker-board of orchard and vineyard. Beyond this an extensive and picturesque group of red buildings gleams still ruddier, and upon one corner of the roof of the principal structure a small house of glass glistens like a huge jewel in the sunset glow. Approaching nearer, the buildings are seen to be surrounded by parks and gardens, where men and women are amusing themselves with golf and baseball, croquet and tennis, under the watchful eyes of discreet attendants.
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Genres
- Science Fiction — The story centers on an invented confection with unexplained mental and physical effects, a remote electric beacon, and a balloon surveillance device, all driven by speculative technology.
- Mystery — The plot unfolds as a puzzle: a locked vault, burned matches, a note on a wrapper, and a spy-like search for a secret formula that is only resolved in the final revelation.
- Thriller — Rival spies, bribed workers, tracing of shipments, and a frantic race across the city for the reward create sustained suspense and pursuit.
- Psychological Fiction — The central focus is the inventor's collapsed mind, his fear of darkness, and the clinical study of his altered mental state.
Tags
short story · mystery · industrial espionage · trade secrets · inventor · confectionery business · secret formula · sanitarium · mental breakdown · memory loss · darkness and light · electric light
What this Textopian page supports
One Chance in a Million is listed on Textopian as a short story by H.D. Umbstaetter, dated 1900 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: H.D. Umbstaetter
- Date: 1900 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Gothic Fiction
- Length: 2,106 words
- Structure: 1 section, 23 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for One Chance in a Million by H.D. Umbstaetter
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