The three strings

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...

EVELYN never knew how she reached the front door, but as she dashed out into the vestibule she almost fell into the arms of a tall neatly dressed woman standing on the doorstep....

THE Maître d’hôtel, returning from an inspection of the main dining room, paused in Peacock Alley to view with an appraising eye the men and women who promenaded up and down or...

TWENTY-FOUR hours had passed since Evelyn Preston’s discovery of the dead man, and the Burnham household had returned somewhat to its normal condition, chiefly through Dr. Hayde...

MARIAN VAN NESS detached herself from the stream of people moving slowly up Seventeenth Street and raced to the opposite curb, only arriving in time, however, to see the Mt. Ple...

SCURRYING footsteps caused Peter Burnham to stop unwrapping the bundle in his hand and dart to the door of his bedroom. From that vantage point he saw Evelyn cross the hall and...

DR. HAYDEN threw aside the magazine he had been reading and, making himself more comfortable on the big lounge, puffed contentedly at his cigar as he looked over to where Jim Pa...

UNDER the full glare of the electric lights which he had turned on, Palmer tramped uneasily up and down his living room while he waited for Hayden to return from the bedroom whe...

JONES, on his way up the stairs to the housekeeper’s suite of rooms on the third floor, was startled by the unexpected appearance of Mrs. Burnham at his elbow. Absorbed in carry...

“Sit down,” he exclaimed heartily. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come back after all; you need not wait, Miss Hall,” and the stenographer walked out, closing the door behind her. P...

“It’s a rum go,” the former remarked. “Who’d have thought Jones, as old and good a servant as he is, would have tried to get Burnham into trouble by reporting him to the Secret...

MAYNARD’S hail was lost in the exhaust from a nearby automobile and he watched the taxi-cab bearing René La Montagne continue down M Street with mixed feelings, then started at...

MARIAN Van Ness turned the latch-key and stepped into her apartment with reluctance. After her visit to the hairdresser she had persuaded Evelyn, against the latter’s better jud...

MRS. WARD, going about her work languidly, distracted Jones from his usual duties; he was not quite certain what was expected of him, to attend to the housekeeper’s whims or to...

“Only to say that Detective Mitchell is still out; I left word for him to call here.” Maynard flung himself down on the lounge by Hayden. “I wish I had been with you when Burnha...

THE impatient crowd, regardless of the early hour, clamored for admittance before the closed doors of the Belasco Theatre. From his vantage point behind the ticket seller’s wind...

CORONER PENFIELD paused in his microscopic examination of the polished surface of Burnham’s desk and laying down his instrument, listened attentively. He could have sworn he had...

“I’m not a baby,” he remarked through chattering teeth. “What if I did catch a chill coming home, Lillian; it’s nothing serious. Here, take my keys, Jones, and bring me some whi...

JAMES PALMER felt his clean shaven chin with nervous fingers and turned away from contemplating himself in the mirror with a dissatisfied scowl. Kicking aside his tumbled clothe...

“Are you quite sure no telephone call has come for me, Mammy?” she asked with gentle insistence. Mammy’s antipathy to the telephone was known to her; on occasions she had not an...

MAYNARD, swinging his cane jauntily as he strode along, paused a few steps from the Bellevue Apartment House and swore softly; he had entirely forgotten the errand which had, os...

“There’s Burnham coming in the door now with Chief Connor,” he stated, and all turned in that direction. Burnham, his eyes half starting out of his head, looked first at Hayden,...