The Lost Parchment: A Detective Story

At the inquest, held on the body of the unfortunate Carrington, the whole story of the events connected with the will of John Hendle was related in detail. This was done by the...

Here was a pretty kettle of fish. Hitherto, Rupert had led an easy life, wholly devoid of any great trouble. His mother having died when he was born, and his father while the la...

Rupert felt very uncomfortable. It was bad enough to have Mrs. Beatson in the house, when he knew how treacherous she was; but it was worse to entertain Carrington as his guest....

The information concerning the vicar's violent death was so extraordinary and so wholly unexpected that Rupert could not believe it to be entirely true. However, Mrs. Beatson's...

Anxious to help Rupert, and, at his friend's request, Carrington remained at The Big House until the inquest was over, and the burial of the murdered man took place. Both he and...

Next evening Rupert received a curt note from Mallien stating that Carrington had replied to the effect that he would come down to Barship on the ensuing day, and would reach Th...

It was with joy and relief that Dorinda communicated her father's decision to Rupert, and he was as pleased as she was at the prospect of their speedy marriage. Hitherto Mallien...

The unexpected appearance of a man who was supposed, and with every reason, to be dead and buried was so startling that for a few moments no one could speak. Had it been night t...

Generally speaking, it seemed as though Mallien's prophecy of Carrington picking Rupert's pockets was likely to come true. Owing to circumstances, the barrister had found a perf...

Kit owed a great deal to Hendle, and was never backward in admitting that the Squire was his benefactor. When Mrs. Beatson first took service at The Big House, the boy was at sc...

The Squire was relieved when he turned Carrington out of his house, as he felt how impossible it was to live under the same roof with such a scoundrel. He was still more relieve...

The details given by Rupert of the conversation which had taken place in the Vicarage study shocked Dorinda profoundly. It was natural enough that her father, informed of an exi...

Mallien, by telling his daughter a half truth instead of the whole truth, had made her very nervous, and although she asked for a more detailed explanation he had refused to giv...

Sitting on the floor in a grimy snowdrift of scattered papers, and surrounded by piles of dingy books, Rupert stared at his cousin, scarcely taking in the purport of his words....

Needless to say, as it had been agreed to keep the discovery secret for the present, Hendle did not discharge Mrs. Beatson forthwith. Such an action, justifiable though it would...

Paralyzed by extreme fright, Mrs. Beatson stood as motionless as a stone image, staring blankly at her captors with open mouth and unwinking eyes. Her face was whiter than the d...

For a widower with one grown-up daughter, Mr. Julius Mallien was very well off on an income of five hundred a year, for which he did not do a stroke of work. Like the lilies of...

When Hendle, having a weight on his mind, woke shortly after dawn, he remembered the vicar's proverb, and thought that it might be true. Morning certainly was wiser than the nig...

By this time the Squire and his friend were approaching a rickety five-barred gate which stood wide open, as the hinges being useless, it could not easily be shut. Passing throu...

"So this is your kingdom, Hendle?" said the visitor, looking round the garden which glowed with rainbow tints in the hot July sunshine; "and a very jolly kingdom it is. When did...

In justice to Handle, it must be said that he by no means intended to desert his friend, even though the enthralling society of Dorinda might have proved an excuse for his forge...