Copyright, 1918, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Printed in the United States of America

TO
Mrs. Theodore Vernon Boynton
OF WASHINGTON, D. C.
Whose Loyal Affection Has Been Mine Since Childhood,
I Send This Problem, in Full Assurance
That She Will Pull the Right “String.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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

CHAPTERPAGE
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 figurestepped inside her room [Frontispiece]
Step by step she advanced nearer the dead man [ 12]
He took out Marian’s package of papers and placedthem in Evelyn’s lap [ 80]
“René,” she blushed hotly, “René loves me” [ 252]

THE THREE STRINGS