A black glove slipped away from a long white hand. Off came the other glove. The fire-opal gleamed upon its slender, tapered finger — a finger that combined shapeliness with strength.
The hands began to write, inscribing short, terse statements.
They do not yet know the purpose of the paper which they have found.
The hands carefully traced the eight mysterious symbols. A soft laugh came from the man in black as he wrote again:
They have sought to learn of it through friends of Theodore Galvin. There have been two interviews. Tonight — a third—
There was a pause. Then the hand wrote two names:
Harkness. Westcott.
A laugh followed instantly. Then the hand inscribed one name above the eight cryptic characters, and another name below. The top name was Harkness, the bottom name Westcott.
The Shadow laughed mirthlessly. Here was evidence of the plotters’ efforts to decipher the cryptic symbols.
They had figured that a name was indicated. They had gone over the list of Theodore Galvin’s friends. They had found two whose names were spelled with eight letters, ending in a double letter.