2
ASHTON?
IV THE RING AND THE KNIFE
V LOOK FOR THAT MAN!
VI SPECULATIONS
VII WHAT WAS THE SECRET?
VIII NEWS FROM ARCADIA
IX LOOKING BACKWARD
X THE PARISH REGISTER
XI WHAT HAPPENED IN PARIS
XII THE GREY MARE INN
XIII THE JAPANESE CABINET
XIV THE ELLINGHAM MOTTO
XV THE PRESENT HOLDER
XVI THE OUTHOUSE
XVII THE CLAIMANT
XVIII LET HIM APPEAR!
XIX UNDER EXAMINATION
XX SURPRISING READINESS
XXI THE MARSEILLES MEETING
XXII ON REMAND
XXIII IS THIS MAN RIGHT?
XXIV THE BROKEN LETTER
XXV THROUGH THE TELEPHONE
XXVI THE DISMAL STREET
XXVII THE BACK WAY
XXVIII THE TRUTH
CHAPTER I
FACED WITH REALITY
On that particular November evening, Viner, a young gentleman of means and leisure, who lived in a comfortable old house in Markendale Square, Bayswater, in company with his maiden aunt Miss Bethia Penkridge, had spent his after-dinner hours in a fashion which had become a habit. Miss Penkridge, a model housekeeper and an essentially worthy woman, whose whole day was given to supervising somebody or something, had an insatiable appetite for fiction, and loved nothing so much as that her nephew should read a novel to her after the two glasses of port which she allowed herself every night had been thoughtfully consumed and he and she had adjourned from the dining-room to the hearthrug in the library. Her tastes, however, in Viner's opinion were somewhat, if not decidedly, limited. Brought up in her youth on Miss Braddon, Wilkie Collins and Mrs. Henry Wood, Miss Penkridge had become a confirmed slave to the sensational. She had no taste for the psychological, and nothing but scorn for the erotic. What she loved was a story which began with crime and ended with a detection--a story which kept you wondering who did it, how it was done, and when the doing was g