The Land of Mist by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Malone had lost his billet and had found his way in Fleet Street blocked / by the rumour of his independence. His place upon the staff had been / taken by a young and drunken Jew, who had at once won his spurs by a / series of highly humorous articles upon psychic matters, peppered with / assurances that he approached the subject with a perfectly open and / impartial mind. His final device of offering five thousand pounds if the / spirits of the dead would place the three first horses in the coming / Derby, and his demonstration that ectoplasm was in truth the froth of / bottled porter artfully concealed by the medium, are newspaper stunts / which are within the recollection of the reader.

But the path which closed on one side had opened on the other. / Challenger, lost in his daring dreams and ingenious experiments, had / long needed an active, clear-headed man to manage his business / interests, and to control his world-wide patents. There were many / devices, the fruits of his life's work, which brought in income, but had / to be carefully watched and guarded. His automatic alarm for ships in / shallow waters, his device for deflecting a torpedo, his new and / economical method of separating nitrogen from the air, his radical / improvements in wireless transmission and his novel treatment of / pitchblende, were all moneymakers. Enraged by the attitude of / Cornelius, the Professor placed the management of all these in the hands / of his prospective son-in-law, who diligently guarded his interests.