ELUSIVE ISABEL
BY JACQUES FUTRELLE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALONZO KIMBALL
1908
TO
THE WONDERFUL WOMAN
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I — MISS ISABEL THORNE
CHAPTER II — MR. CAMPBELL AND THE CABLE
CHAPTER III — THE LANGUAGE OF THE FAN
CHAPTER IV — THE FLEEING WOMAN
CHAPTER V — A VISIT TO THE COUNT
CHAPTER VI — REVELATIONS
CHAPTER VII — THE SIGNAL
CHAPTER VIII — MISS THORNE AND NOT MISS THORNE
CHAPTER IX — FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
CHAPTER X — A SAFE OPENING
CHAPTER XI — THE LACE HANDKERCHIEF
CHAPTER XII — THE VANISHING DIPLOMATIST
CHAPTER XIII — A CONFERENCE IN THE DARK
CHAPTER XIV — A RESCUE AND AN ESCAPE
CHAPTER XV — MASTER OF THE SITUATION
CHAPTER XVI — LETTERS FROM JAIL
CHAPTER XVII — A CALL ON THE WARDEN
CHAPTER XVIII — NOTICE TO LEAVE
CHAPTER XIX — BY WIRELESS
CHAPTER XX — THE LIGHT IN THE DOME
CHAPTER XXI — A SLIP OF PAPER
CHAPTER XXII — THE COMPACT
CHAPTER XXIII — THE PERCUSSION CAP
CHAPTER XXIV — THE PERSONAL EQUATION
CHAPTER XXV — WE TWO
CHAPTER XXVI — IN WHICH THEY BOTH WIN
ILLUSTRATIONS
1. The Handwriting Was Unmistakably That of a Woman.
2. He Found Himself inspecting the Weapon from the Barrel End.
3. A Long Tense Silence when Eye Challenges Eye.
4. 'You Think He Will Weaken; I Know He Will Not.'
5. In a Stride Mr. Grimm Was Beside Her.
ELUSIVE ISABEL
I
MISS ISABEL THORNE
All the world rubs elbows in Washington.Outwardly it is merely a city of evasion,of conventionalities, sated with the commonplacepleasures of life, listless, blasé even,and always exquisitely, albeit frigidly, courteous;but beneath the still, suave surface strangecurrents play at cross purposes, intrigue is endless,and the merciless war of diplomacy goeson unceasingly. Occasionally, only occasionally,a bubble comes to the surface, and when it burststhe echo goes crashing around the earth. Sometimesa dynasty is shaken, a nation trembles, aministry topples over; but the ripple moves andall is placid again. No man may know all thathappens there, for then he would be diplomaticmas