Category: Historical Novels
A large, square wooden veranda covered by a red and white awning, above a wide silent sweep of flowing river, whose huge rocks, worn smooth through a thousand ages, raised their backs about the stream, a glimpse of green feathery palms and flaming scarlet poinsettias on the is...
The great salle a manger of the Cataract is built like an Eastern mosque. Its interior is high domed, with old blue glass in the long narrow windows, and walls striped in yellow...
33. CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.At half-past three next day Hubert Waldron entered the private room of the Questore, or Chief of Police at Turin, where they found a rather elegant, brown-bearded man seated at...
26. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.As far as the world knew not a cloud obscured the political horizon. In the chancelleries of Europe there were no sinister whispers, in the Embassies they danced and dined, the...
1. CHAPTER ONE.A large, square wooden veranda covered by a red and white awning, above a wide silent sweep of flowing river, whose huge rocks, worn smooth through a thousand ages, raised their...
16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN.Soon after eight o'clock Hubert descended from a rickety _vettura_ outside the great dark Pantheon, and passing across the piazza, plunged into a maze of narrow, obscure, ill-li...
32. CHAPTER THIRTY TWO."Is it possible that he could have overheard my threat of vengeance!" exclaimed the Englishman to his companion. "Has he suspected that the conversation has been heard and left...
9. CHAPTER NINE.On New Year's night, an hour after his conversation with Jack Jerningham, he had found in his room at the Savoy an urgent telegram from the Embassy recalling him home at once. H...
20. CHAPTER TWENTY.For some minutes he tried frantically to restore her. He dared not ring for the servants, as it would no doubt compromise her to be found alone with him in that room. There were...
13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN."The problem we have before us is as follows," His Majesty began, bending towards Waldron from his chair, and speaking in a low, earnest, intense tone. "Some plans of important...
3. CHAPTER THREE.Boulos, the faithful Egyptian dragoman, in his red fez and long caftan of yellow silk reaching to his heels, stood leaning over the bows of the small white steamer which was slo...
6. CHAPTER SIX.At their feet, winding its way for thousands of miles between limitless areas of sand, its banks lined for narrow distances with green fields and the habitations of men, flowed...
22. CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.The little leather-framed travelling-clock upon her big dressing-table with its gold and tortoiseshell brushes and toilet accessories showed that midnight was past. She had been...
11. CHAPTER ELEVEN.That afternoon at half-past three o'clock, the hour when in winter all Rome goes out for its airing on the Pincio, Hubert Waldron was idling along the terrace, gazing at the won...
25. CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.Like most doors separating rooms in Continental hotels those of the Univers at Tours were no exception. They were thin, and Hubert, kneeling with his ear to the crack, could dis...
17. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.Armed with His Majesty's authority, he had an interview with the Commendatore Bertini, the Questore, or Chief of Police of Rome. The secret or political police under Ghelardi wa...
4. CHAPTER FOUR."Ah! Then I will go and get it," replied the white-haired old fellow fussily. "But I hope," he added, "that m'sieur will grant pardon for this unwarrantable intrusion. I did not...
23. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.Away at Frascati on the pleasant mountain slopes with those lovely views over the Campagna, fifteen miles from Rome, the day was charming, and at noon quite warm and delightful.
34. CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.The Palace was ablaze with light. In the great courtyard, where the sentries paced, there were constant arrivals and departures. All aristocratic and official Rome was there. Sm...
28. CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT."Yes. I have been watching you, and I can only say that I am surprised to find you tampering with His Excellency's safe!" he said in a low, hard tone, while, as ill-luck would h...
18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.Weary and fagged Waldron descended from the sleeping-car at the Gare de Lyon in Paris twenty hours later and dispatched a telegram to the address Lola had given him. Then he dro...
24. CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.Days, many anxious, fevered days, passed--bright winter days during which Hubert was frantically active in his efforts to discover some clue to the mystery of the stolen plans o...
30. CHAPTER THIRTY."Lola," he cried at last, unable to stand the sight of her tears and despair, and equally unable to restrain--himself longer. "Lola! Let me help you--let me know the real facts,...
27. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.Hubert Waldron, a smart figure in his diplomatic uniform, strolled along the corridor, followed at a respectable distance by the neatly-dressed waiter until, at a convenient poi...
14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN.Hubert Waldron, after a sleepless night, determined to begin his inquiries independently of the famous Chief of Police, Ghelardi, whom he had not met since that memorable evenin...
29. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.There were four small sheets, each about twelve inches square and as far as he could make out, they related to certain plans--or else they were plans in themselves. The scale se...
19. CHAPTER NINETEEN.The second Court ball--one of the most brilliant functions of the Roman season--was at its height when, having arrived direct from Paris, very dirty and weary, Hubert hastened t...
21. CHAPTER TWENTY ONE."All I desire to say is that I have the ear of His Majesty as well as yourself. And what I shall tell him will not be to your credit."
15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN.On his return to the Minister's private cabinet he found His Excellency in consultation with his secretary, Pironti, a tall, thin-faced, black-haired man, with whom he presently...
5. CHAPTER FIVE.It is a land of memories, of monuments, and of mysticism; a land of dreams that never come true, a land of mystery, a great cemetery stretching from ancient Ethiopia away to the...
12. CHAPTER TWELVE."In this room," the diplomat replied quickly, opening a door which led to his small dining-room. He switched on the light, and she passed within, closing the door noiselessly. I...
10. CHAPTER TEN.The ancient church a mile and a half outside Rome on the Appian Way--the road constructed three hundred years before the birth of Christ--was thronged by the populace in _festa_...
31. CHAPTER THIRTY ONE."Love is out of the question," the man replied brutally. "With me it is a matter of business. We must all live. You--a Royal Princess--are in no want. I, agent of the Foreign Of...
8. CHAPTER EIGHT.While Waldron and his friend were discussing matters, shouts suddenly arose everywhere--the golden pig had entered and was being touched for luck by everyone, and men raised the...
7. CHAPTER SEVEN.Ministerial officers and their women-folk, British officers of the garrison, officials and their wives from all parts of Egypt, Society from the other hotels, and a sprinkling o...