Devil's Dice

Ah! there are things that cannot be uttered; there are scenes that still entrance me, and incidents so unexpected and terrible that they cause me even now to hold my breath in h...

Six months passed. Left forlorn, with only the vivid memory of a charming face, I had travelled to rid myself of the remembrance, but in vain. Sometimes I felt inclined to regar...

Then throwing myself upon my knees, heedless of the presence of strangers, I seized her clammy hand that bore the wedding ring, and covered it with mad, grief-impassioned caress...

As the cheerless morning wore on, I sat after breakfast gloomily smoking, trying to verify my first impression that Sybil had been the victim of foul play in the hope of dispell...

One night Jack dashed into my chambers and carried me off to a reception at the house of John Thackwell, the well-known Lancashire millionaire, at Hyde Park Gate. He would hear...

Three years Dora's senior, the Countess was dark, strikingly handsome, an accomplished horsewoman, and accredited one of the smartest women in Society. Wedded to an elderly peer...

At home I cast myself in my chair and threw myself into an ocean of memories. I did not switch on the light, but mused on, gazing into the darkness, now and then lit up by the r...

Idle memory shortens life, or shortens the sense of life, by linking the immediate past clingingly to the present. In this may be found one of the reasons for the length of time...

"If you marry me, darling," he said, with an utter disregard for my presence, "I will strive to provide you with fitting supplies, but if you were poorer than Mabel you would at...

When I sought Jack on the following morning I was informed by the hall-porter that he had left a message for any callers that he had been compelled to go to Barracks unexpectedl...

"I really don't think you are looking very well, Stuart," the old lady was saying, as the footman handed her her cup. "Town life does not agree with you, perhaps."

At first I dared not look the exigency in the face. For fully an hour I paced the room in nervous agitation, but the imperative necessity of recovering the box impressed itself...

My first impulse was to remain outside and watch for any person who might emerge, but I knew that his front windows commanded a wide view of the street and he would soon detect...

I delayed my departure for nearly a fortnight in an endeavour to learn something of Bethune but could glean no tidings, so at last went down to the home of my childhood. My gran...

During a quarter of an hour I sat alone smoking a cigarette in thoughtful silence under the trellis, when suddenly I heard the sound of passionate voices on the other side of th...

In no mood to participate in the gaiety, I went to the library and wrote a long telegram which I addressed to "Harding, Hotel Trombetta, Turin," explaining that if he feared arr...

The daily ride was a regular institution at Wadenhoe, whither Dora came frequently to visit my mother, and during the few days following the dance we went out each morning. We c...

Springing to his feet and tearing open his coat, Markwick, the man designated by one of Bethune's fair correspondents as "that vile, despicable coward," drew from his breast-poc...

No word was exchanged between Jack and myself regarding the interview with Markwick. It was a subject we both avoided, and, as he was happy with Dora, I hesitated to inquire int...

I had felt confident long ago that she must know something of Sybil, from the fact that Sternroyd's photograph had been placed with that of my dead wife, but was entirely unprep...

"Ashcombe?" I repeated. "I don't know anyone of that name," and for a few moments I tried to recollect whether I had heard of her before, when it suddenly burst upon me that on...

and found peculiarities identical. The "Annie Ashcombe" who had called to see me was also the writer of the message from the unknown lady who had taken the precaution of journey...

The detective, bending over the album, was so deeply engrossed in contemplating a photograph he had just discovered, that he failed to notice my exclamation of surprise, or if h...

My mother, I ascertained from a letter a few days later, had invited Dora to remain with her a week, and Jack, still my father's guest, was therefore basking in the smiles of th...

As I ascended, my feet fell noiselessly upon the thick carpet, raising clouds of dust, the particles of which danced in the bright ray from my lamp, like motes in a streak of su...

Hatless, hungry and half fainting, I drove in a cab to my old friend Dr Landsell in Kensington, who examined my wound, pronounced that it was not dangerous, bathed and dressed i...

My former experiences had unnerved me, so I armed myself, with the crowbar, and together we went through the basement rooms, where only rats and dirt attracted our attention. Re...

In my own room I sat for a long time silent in deep reverie. Saunders glided in and out, brought me a brandy-and-soda that went flat, untasted, and placed at my elbow my letters...

My first impulse had been to give information to the German police of Bethune's whereabouts, and thus cause his arrest; yet somehow I could not bring myself to do so. Grindlay a...

I took it, and, to my surprise, found it was Markwick's. When he entered, a few moments later, he was wearing a crimson flower in the button-hole of his grey frock-coat, and car...

Of her French maid, who appeared in answer to her summons, Dora ordered her hat and coat, but ere these could be brought she again placed her hands convulsively to her brow and,...

The enigma was maddening; I felt that sooner or later its puzzling intricacies must induce mania in some form or other. Insomnia had seized me, and I had heard that insomnia was...

In accordance with Dora's instructions I hailed a cab, and although she would give me no inkling of our destination, she ordered the man to drive with all haste to Paddington. A...

Presently she resumed in a sad voice full of emotion, lifting her face to mine, saying: "I did not dream, Stuart, of the trickery to which they resorted in order to change my pe...

From Didcot station I sent a telegram to Grindlay making an appointment with him to meet us at Lady Stretton's later that night, and when we arrived there we found both the Insp...

A last beam of the sun gliding over the surface of the river transformed it into a ribbon of creamy gold as, accompanied by Sybil and Grindlay, I was driven over the old moss-gr...

Leaving the house of mourning, where the grave-faced servants moved on tip-toe, I walked slowly at Sybil's side, feeling in each breath of fresh wind puffs of inspiring youth. O...