Category: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery
My friend, Robert Nugent, a journalist, was young man, tall and dark, twenty-seven at the outside, with a pleasant, smiling face. His wavy hair, worn rather long, and negligence of attire gave him a dash of the genial good-for-nothing.
The words fell dimly and indistinctly upon my ears. I was stunned and speechless--it was as if some vast substance had struck me an annihilating blow, which, while paralysing my...
18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.Vera was now my wife. After spending a blissful honeymoon among the Cumberland Lakes we had taken up our abode at Elveham Dene, the home of my childhood, which I had inherited f...
3. CHAPTER THREE.I did so, and he wrote at my dictation. As soon as he had finished, he handed the slate to a sergeant, who at once went to the row of telegraph instruments and transmitted the d...
33. CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.It was already dark. The tiny electric lamps flooded with amber light the small apartment rendered cosy by the drawn curtains. On a lounge chair she sat, wrapped in a pale grey...
25. CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.The hours crept on very slowly that day. To me they seemed interminable. A thousand times I glanced at the little clock that ticked so sharply on the mantelshelf, but its small...
7. CHAPTER SEVEN.On our return we traversed the road skirting the fortress, and paused for a few moments, resting upon a disused gun-carriage. The moon had reappeared and cast its long line of p...
21. CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.It will readily be imagined that it was in no amiable state of mind I left the house. Distraction was what I wanted--distraction from thoughts of the sad events which had just t...
30. CHAPTER THIRTY.There was the same array of counsel; the same crowd of curious onlookers lounging on the benches like carrion crows around a carcase; the same strange, half-visionary procession...
34. CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR."Well," said Boris, heartily, "I'm pleased we are relatives, and that we have at last met. The mystery you have so long tried to solve can now be cleared up."
12. CHAPTER TWELVE.Whilst the glimmer of daylight shone through the chink above I spent the time sitting engrossed in my own sad thoughts, or pacing the narrow cell for exercise. When it had faded...
20. CHAPTER TWENTY."Why, Frank," she exclaimed, with well-feigned surprise, as she advanced, "you haven't been to bed, and--why, what's the matter, dear?" she added, noticing the expression of ang...
27. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.As I entered and faced the grave-looking judge, and the aldermen in their fur-trimmed scarlet robes seated beside him, I heard the stentorian voice of the usher cry "Silence," a...
19. CHAPTER NINETEEN.Those only who have experienced a suddenly overwhelming grief at discovering the perfidy of the person on whom their affection is set know the intense regret, the anger, and the...
24. CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR."That's exactly what I expected. You and I used to be old chums--now, is it so private that you can't confide in me, and let me see what I can do, if anything?"
17. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.With a beating heart and a firm determination to be strong, I was ushered on the following afternoon into the drawing-room of one of that terrace of large houses that stand on t...
26. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX."Found him getting through the window of a house in Angel Court, Drury Lane, sir. The place is unoccupied, and we arrested him in the act of coming out," replied the man nearest...
2. CHAPTER TWO.With some difficulty I at last found my way back to the house, but all was quiet, and the passer-by would little dream of the terrible tragedy that had taken place within. I had...
14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN.At last the day--or rather night--arrived, when the gates of the Citadel opened, allowing myself with thirty other prisoners to pass out upon the first stage of the weary two mo...
23. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.About seven that evening I turned out of the Charing Cross Hotel, where I had taken up a temporary abode, and strolled down the Strand towards the club, having arranged to dine...
9. CHAPTER NINE.Why need I refer further to the terribly wearisome journey across Prussia, Poland and Western Russia? Those of my readers who have accomplished it know well how dull, tedious an...
15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN.Something startling had been published in the evening papers. Dozens of newsboys were rushing about amongst the throng of foot-passengers crying "Spe-shall! 'nother 'orrible mur...
31. CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.The spectators were eager for the next development of the curious case. They had followed the verbal duel with the same interest as that inspired by a thrilling drama performed...
8. CHAPTER EIGHT.My baggage had already been placed in the carriage which was to take me to the station, and in descending the stairs to depart I passed the sitting-room occupied by Vera. The do...
6. CHAPTER SIX.Rob Nugent and I had had a pleasant time up the Rhine and among the Swiss lakes, and both acknowledged ourselves greatly benefited by the change. We were in Genoa, having broken...
11. CHAPTER ELEVEN.A terrible, excruciating headache of maddening intensity, a violent throbbing, as if molten lead were being injected into my skull; a horrible pain through my eyes and temples l...
28. CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT."I am John Cronin, detective inspector, Criminal Investigation Department," said he, in answer to counsel. "The pocket-book which I produce was handed me on prisoner's arrest, a...
4. CHAPTER FOUR.The oath having been administered to the witness, a man named Stevenson, he proceeded to give his evidence, from which it appeared that he was an agent carrying on business in G...
10. CHAPTER TEN.Vera was an enigma, it was true, yet somehow I could not bring myself to realise that she had made pretence to love me merely for the purpose of prevailing upon me to undertake...
13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN.Engrossed with my own reflections, I neither saw nor heard anything until I found myself seated alone in the dark, damp chamber, with the maddening thought of Vera's treachery a...
16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN.Though I had been in London nearly two months I had heard nothing of Vera, and her explanation of my imprisonment, as promised by the Cossack, had not been made.
35. CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE."Yes, imbecile--if you like," he shouted hoarsely. Pointing to Boris, he added, his face distorted by a look of intense hatred, "That traitor is the cause! He has set the police...
1. CHAPTER ONE.My friend, Robert Nugent, a journalist, was young man, tall and dark, twenty-seven at the outside, with a pleasant, smiling face. His wavy hair, worn rather long, and negligence...
36. CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.A sultry autumn day had passed; the freshening twilight had faded, and the moon and evening star were in the sky as Vera and I sat together on the terrace at Elveham. Already th...
29. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.I again became perfectly calm. I was seated in the chair. A seafaring man was in the witness-box. Nugent was not there. Demetrius, sitting below, was looking at me with an anxio...
5. CHAPTER FIVE.Like many others, I found my sudden acquisition of wealth had made me not a whit the more contented than when I was compelled to write for an existence. Still, I was a thorough-...
32. CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.With logical clearness Mr Roland addressed the jury for my defence, saying that in the face of the evidence which had been produced, and which all tended to show that the murder...