Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-22

Carl showed the card back in the
box and went to the small steel safe.
He took an envelope, ripped open the
flap, and almost dropped the Enclosure
when his eyes. saw the signature.
HE was personally recommended
by Mr.. Brackeni' he exclaimed.
THE owner of the hotel?"
Eyes. The man a served on his
private yacht coming over, and want
ed to stay in America a while. OF
Bracken, we never bothered to look
into the authenticity of the refer
ences.'
"Um." murmured the blind a
mo chance of forgery"
The shake of the managers head
was positive. I'D stake my life on
that signaturei" he firmly declared.
'Td forgotten the thing because
/ put it into the hands of my assist
ant"
where is Mr.. Bracken?"
He put to sea again his morn
ing You know he never spends a
minute more than he has to on dry
land Then came the inevitable
question: But what could he have to
do with the man inside; the dead
man sitting there with all my guests ?"
That's the thing we'll nave to find
out" answered the blind man grim
ly.
Carl again took to pacing the floor,
his lower teeth gnawing at the stubby
mustache on his upper lip. It's
devilish!' he groaned. Positively
devilish! How am I to get the body
out of the diningroom without dis
,turbing my guests?" The rules of his
business seemed to overshadow every
other consideration in the managers
mind.
THE police will probably have a
whole lot to say if you move it before
they arrive" reminded Cotton.
do you meal that they'll nave to
troop into my diningroom, a bunch of
big-footed, f~at-brained louts?" moan
ed Carl, with visions of his paying
voiced men swarming into his dining
guests in a panic of fear, and rough
room. ......
Yes" nodded Cotton. "And they'll
demand an explanation as to how a
dead nan could be brought from an
automobile or carriage into the din
ingroom, to be met by the waiter, too.
That is what will require consider
able explaining. The whole thing is
too eXtraVagant, too bizarre TO be or
binary. The strangest case 1 have
ever been connected with, yet with a
solution that must be simple"
simple" The words came as a
choking gasp from Carl. why do
you say that?" His voice trembled
with fierce impotence.
Because of its very extravaganza;
its obvious preparation. I lave found
that the cases with the apparently
simple climaxes, or beginnings, from
the detective standpoint. are the ones
with involved explanations. There
must be some simple explanation of
how and why the dead man was
brought into your d~iningroom.'
He couldn't have been dead, He
spoke! He must have been alive!"
Again there was vehemence in the
managers tone as the blind mans
words brought his thoughts back to
the thing re refused to credit.
Your opinions die hard, don't they,
Mr.. Carl?" A slight smile curved
the blind mans thin lips for an in
slant. 1T has always seemed strange
to me how people refuse to be con-
WINGED of the falsity of a thing they
think their eyes have seen. Any phys
ician in the world would place the
time of death within an hour of the
time limit 1 put, yet you won't believe
because some one else's eyes deceived
you into believing the man talked
But the waiter heard him. 1t was
the who did not speak a
word!'
1T was the who said every
thing. A strange woman; a wonder
full woman whom 1 shall know" The
blind mans lean, cleft chin was set
at an ominous angle. but on the in
tellectual, patrician face was a look
of intense interest. The problemist
had a problem that he knew would
take every of power in the
wonderful brain behind the high,
white forehead.
You mean ventriloquism? Carl
sat inertly in the chair once more.
He had apparently given up rebellion
against the crisp, terse statements that
came from the lips of the blind man.
Yes. The false huskiness of the
mans voice aroused my suspicious
immediately"
You were across the diningroom!''
interrupted the manager.
MY ears are supernormal to re-
compense my lack of sight" put in
the blind man seriously. But VEN
triloquism can never deceive them.
because I am blind. The centriloquist
does not throw his voice, despite the