The three strings

To Alain Campbell White, Esq., of Litchfield, Conn., the Author is indebted for kindly assistance in working out a chess problem which his expert knowledge of chess made feasible.

The Author desires also to express her appreciation of the assistance of Dr. Alexander J. Anderson of Waterbury, Conn., whose help in solving a “knotty” problem was but one of many acts of kindness.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE FIRST MOVE 1

II. COMPLICATIONS 9

III. UNIDENTIFIED 22

IV. A QUESTION OF TIME 39

V. THE “ACE” 53

VI. DEVELOPMENTS 70

VII. THE FIFTH MAN 85

VIII. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS 100

IX. THE TELEGRAM 113

X. “SEDITIOUS UTTERANCES” 126

XI. CONFLICTING CLUES 143

XII. THE CALL 162

XIII. THE BLOTTED PAGE 177

XIV. BURNHAM PREFERS CHARGES 188

XV. “THE BEST LAID PLANS” 204

XVI. IN THE LIMELIGHT 220

XVII. CAMOUFLAGE 236

XVIII. “THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL” 250

XIX. BRIBERY 264

XX. IDENTIFICATION 276

XXI. UNMASKED 284

XXII. THE MISSING DIAGRAMS 297

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

“Hurry, hurry,” she gasped, as a white-robed figure stepped inside her room Frontispiece

Step by step she advanced nearer the dead man 12

He took out Marian’s package of papers and placed them in Evelyn’s lap 80

“René,” she blushed hotly, “René loves me” 252

THE THREE STRINGS

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST MOVE

EVELYN PRESTON ran lightly up the steps of her home and inserting her latch-key in the vestibule door, pushed it open just as the taxi-driver, following more slowly with many an upward glance at the blind-closed windows, reached her side.

“Put the suit case down,” she directed. “I’ll have the front door opened by the time you get the trunk here.”

The cool if somewhat stale air of the closed house which met Evelyn as she stepped across the threshold of the open door was refreshing after the glare of the asphalt pavements, for Washington was experiencing one of the hot waves which come in late September and make that month one to be avoided in the Capital City.

Evelyn, intent on calling a servant, paused midway in the large hall as the taxi-driver’s bulky figure blocked the light in the front doorway. Without waiting for directions he lowered her motor trunk from his shoulders and stood it against the wall.

“Shall I leave it here, Miss?” he inquired.

Evelyn, busily engaged in searching for change in her purse, nodded affirmatively, and the man propped himself against the door jamb and waited for his pay.

“Thank you, Miss,” he exclaimed a moment later, his politeness stimulated by the generous tip which accompanied Evelyn’s payment of the taxi fare. “Would you like me to carry your trunk upstairs?”

“No; the butler will take it up, thank you.” Evelyn’s gesture of dismissal was unmistakable, and the man hitched uncomfortably at his cap, glanced furtively up the hall and then back at Evelyn who, totally unconscious of his scrutiny, stood impatiently waiting for him to go. He opened his mouth, but if he intended to address her again he thought better of it, and with a mumbled word banged out of the front door.

Evelyn turned at once and sped to the back stairs, but call as she did, no servant responded and the blind-closed windows made the passageway dark and unfriendly. With an impatient exclamation Evelyn returned to the front hall; the servants had evidently not arrived from the seashore to open the house for her.