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29 Chapters
IT was a dark night. The rain was pouring in torrents. Late in the evening a skirmishing party of the French and a skirmishing party of the Germans had met, by accident, near the little village of L…
“WHEN your mother was alive were you ever out with her after nightfall in the streets of a great city?” In those extraordinary terms Mercy Merrick opened the confidential interview which Grace Roseb…
A THIRD rifle-shot rang through the night air, close to the cottage. Grace started and approached the window in alarm. “What does that firing mean?” she asked. “Signals from the outposts,” the nurs…
Some letters, tied together with a ribbon, attracted Mercy’s attention first. The ink in which the addresses were written had faded with age. The letters, directed alternately to Colonel Roseberry an…
THE youngest of the three strangers—judging by features, complexion, and manner—was apparently an Englishman. He wore a military cap and military boots, but was otherwise dressed as a civilian. Next …
IT is a glorious winter’s day. The sky is clear, the frost is hard, the ice bears for skating. The dining-room of the ancient mansion called Mablethorpe House, situated in the London suburb of Kensi…
“You look very pale this morning, my child.” Mercy sighed wearily. “I am not well,” she answered. “The slightest noises startle me. I feel tired if I only walk across the room.” Lady Janet patted h…
After an interval of rest Mercy was aroused by the shutting of a glass door at the far end of the conservatory. This door, leading into the garden, was used only by the inmates of the house, or by ol…
LADY JANET’S curiosity was by this time thoroughly aroused. Summoned to explain who the nameless lady mentioned in his letter could possibly be, Julian had looked at her adopted daughter. Asked next …
FOR a moment Horace stood thunderstruck, looking in blank astonishment at Lady Janet. His first words, as soon as he had recovered himself, were addressed to Julian. “Is this a joke?” he asked, stern…
