The dangerous game

A stout, thick-set, clean-shaven Englishman, with round face, iron-gray hair, wide jaws and a pair of shrewd, dark eyes behind a pair of rimless pince-nez, was standing in the p...

After eating his roll and swallowing the excellent black coffee, he lit a cigarette, and then leisurely shaved and dressed. Twice he glanced at the telegram, which to the ordina...

He placed before him the blank sheets of ruled manuscript paper, which bore a red line from top to bottom, making the margin, and with a sigh took up his fountain pen and began...

Darville stood on the bridge with the yacht’s captain as the vessel quickly approached. A second flare of distress went up from the yacht’s deck, and as the steamer came on the...

“Yes, I repeat, Sandy, I can’t tell you the reason for all this hue and cry. I wish I could. You’d be as interested in it as I am,” Darville went on. “But, as you know, in my de...

In Earl’s Court Road, at the corner of Longridge Road, a tall, fair-haired man, with a hard, clean-shaven face, and wearing a shabby, soft felt hat, idled, as though awaiting a...

With a couple of sandwiches and a glass of sherry in lieu of lunch, Seton Darville worked in that somber cozy room, examining many reports handed to him by the trusty naval man...

At eight o’clock on a Sunday morning there is hardly a dog astir in Prince’s Street, Edinburgh, that wonderful thoroughfare of splendid shops on the one side and the valley gard...

The afternoon crept slowly by. The sun had disappeared, and the mists were fast appearing in the silent, deserted street. Presently Paton returned, and they all resumed their pa...

Ten minutes later Darville’s telephone bell rang again, whereupon he held a brief conversation with somebody who told him something which caused him both surprise and alarm. Two...

knew the truth concerning his exact position--that of one of the most powerful and influential men in the whole kingdom. In certain directions his power equaled that of the Prim...

Edris Temperley presently found herself in a large, well-furnished sitting-room, the two long windows of which opened out upon a stone balcony which overlooked the wide, green l...

Seton Darville strode across to the long window, his brows knit in thought. What Edris had told him held him for a moment breathless. Then he reflected deeply for a few seconds.

They dined together in the big, garish restaurant of the Hotel Metropole amid the gay crowd which assembles there each week-end, no matter what weather or what season. He had as...

At the conclusion of breakfast Seton Darville made an excuse to go out for a quarter of an hour, and at once went to the telephone call-office; for he had no ’phone at the flat....

When, a quarter of an hour later, Darville let his secretary out and rejoined Edris, he found her glancing at one of his books, which she had taken from the long case at the end...

Her breath came and went in short, quick gasps, and he saw that her small, white hands were trembling. She seemed startled, even afraid. Her lips moved, but no sound came from t...

Daily they walked together by the wintry sea, Bundle being carefully led by Darville. Both were blissfully happy, though Edris had made no response to the question he put on tha...

In the following week Edris came to London and stayed at her club, but spent the greater part of each day at Seton’s rooms, and each night going to the theater and afterwards to...

He turned and saw that she was wearing one of her smart ski-ing costumes, a dark blue coat and breeches, with scarlet tam-o’-shanter, stockings, gloves, and scarf to match. Her...

Next day, soon after dawn, Edris and Karl set out to climb the Männlichen, accompanied by the young guide, John Zuber, a sun-tanned Alpine expert, who always went with Edris on...

After breakfast next morning, as Darville sat writing, Edris came in dressed ready for ski-ing. She wore black, with pale-blue scarf, and turn-overs of the same shade over her b...

That night Darville found Edris most charming. He almost thought that he had been mistaken in his suspicions, and was on the point of being annoyed with himself for having been...

On arrival in London, late on the following afternoon, they stayed at the Carlton Hotel. Seton told her he had some business to transact before taking her back to her home in th...

It was dusk when the car swept into the drive at Stagsden, and as Edris got out, Lord Simba, her Great Dane, bounded forth to meet her, while a few moments afterwards Darville,...

Among his letters next morning Seton Darville opened one from his office containing copies of two letters, one written by Edris from Stagsden on the previous day to Karl in Swit...

“Oh, why did I do it? I must have been mad!” she cried aloud between her sobs. “Why did I do it, when I love Seti so well? But I know his nature. He will never forgive me now th...

At ten o’clock on Thursday morning Karl Weiss presented himself at a certain room in the War Office, as he had been requested by letter, and there found a grave, gray-haired off...

“I know, Seti, dearest!” she cried, raising her ready lips to his. “But----” and she hesitated. Then, taking a letter in a pale blue envelope from her bag, she handed it to him...