Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-25
CHAPTER ".
The Trail


Sydney Thames had drained his
drink g~ulpingly to hide the nervous
ness the blind mans words caused as
Thornley, Cotton had followed Man
ager Carl from the restaurant. There
had been but three terse sentences in
the minute the problemist had lean
ed across the table to whisper while
the manager waited at the
door; yet they put a responsibility on
the shoulders of the apple-cheeked
secretary that had never been there
before.
THAT bearded man you noticed is
dead" Thornley, Cotton had said. 1T
looks like murder. Watch the girl at
the next table whose fingers snapped
the stem of her wineglass, and see
where she goes"
That was all. There had been no
time for question nor explanation. The
blind man had requested, and there
had been no thought in his mind that
the secretary Would do anything but
obey. Nor was there any other idea
in the mind of Sydney Thames, whom
Cotton had picked up twenty-five
years before as a bundle of baby
clothes on the banks of the English
river hat had given him the only
name he had ever known.
Sydneyis nervousness was tinged
with a bit of pride. This was the
first case in which he had ever been
intrusted a responsible part. Always
before he had acted merely as a
guide, the eyes of the man who had
walked in the darkness always. He
realized that the problemist had recog-
nized in the presence of the dead man
at the table evidence of a crime more
complex, more sinister, perhaps, than
any he had eve come in contact with
before.
Had it been like any of the other
cases he had watched the blind man
solve while others stood helplessly by,
Thames knew that Cotton would have
traced the girl hims elf, trusting to his
extraordinary powers of mental visu-
alization n elimination to find I'M
aided the end of the tangled thread
that led to the center of the maze.
Interesting crime puzzles were the
blind mans n great pleasure in life,
and a peculiar vanity of his nature
made him handle every possible end
of a case alone.
Sydney Thames, after that first ner-
vous glance toward the bearded man,
kept his eye on the girl and her every
movement. Her back was toward
him, so that he could watch unob-
served. Under the broad velvet rim
of her Gainsborough hat, more strik-
ing because it was the only one in the
restaurant ana PLAINLY worn because
the girl cared more for becomingness
than ephemeral style, Sydney Thames
saw the white curve of neck and the
shell-pink a lobes that peeped from
beneath the great coils of FURNISHED
gold hair. Her evening wrap had
fallen from n white shoulder, show
ing her left arm. The right arm and
hand were hidden under the folds of
her wrap.
She had pushed back her chair a
trifle when the glass had broken and
the wine spilled on the cloth. Her
waiter a disappeared. and the cap
tain was busy at another table. The
girl turned her head impatiently, and
Sydney names saw her profile; Gre
clan, The face of a young goddess, as
clear cut as a cameo. The blind mans
secretary, who defied all women, drew
in his breath sharply. She was beau
tiful, wonderfully beautiful!
What could a girl like that have
to do with a murder? Why had Col
ton watched her? What significant
message had the stem of the wine