Elizabeth Garver Jordan

“ To all appearances Miss Hope Abbott had vanished absolutely. In vain Miss Herrick sought information from her newspaper friends. In vain did she herself, after her return to her work on "The Searchlight," devote much of her time and skill to attempts to discover the identity of her mysterious caller. ”

“ The newspaper woman who had never "let go" when she had gathered up the threads of a big "story," was forced to admit to herself that she was wholly at sea in this case.
She did, indeed, secure a clew from Tim, the office-boy, a lordly youth whose business it was to usher callers courteously into the presence of the man they had not come to see. Tim remembered Miss Abbott as a woman who had called at the editorial rooms of "The Searchlight " with original poems, which she had confidingly left in his keeping. ”

“ Their perfume, laden with suggestions of country gardens, filled the room. The nurse had put them into water, and was opening the package which had accompanied them. It contained five smaller parcels, each carefully wrapped, and bearing the name of a well-known Broadway merchant. She untied these, in her quiet, capable way, and her patient looked on with the interest which small things excite during convalescence. ”