The hand of power

"The hand of power" by Edgar Wallace is a crime thriller novel written in the early 20th century. It follows young actress Betty Carew and the sinister Dr. Joshua Laffin, whose cryptic manipulations pull in Lord Clive Lowbridge, publicity man Bill Holbrook, and a hesitant Sub‑Inspector Bullott, all shadowed by a secretive fraternal order, the Proud Sons of Ragousa. A bizarre shop‑window stunt—Betty seated at a desk beside a jade vase holding a single red rose—serves as the lure for a larger, hidden plot. The opening of the novel sets a tense mood on storm‑swept Dartmoor, where cowled figures halt Laffin’s car, a bell tolls in the dark, and menace lingers. Fifteen months on, Laffin coldly coerces Betty into the public “desk” display and tasks tied to a mysterious message, while her ally Clive Lowbridge and the brash Bill Holbrook circle the edges of a scheme they cannot yet read. Captain Harvey Hale, a disgraced sea‑captain, is recruited by a shadowy agent, steered toward Devon roads, and told to join the Proud Sons. Betty’s theatre job collapses after a clash with La Florette, and Laffin blackmails her by invoking her tragic past, warning her to forget the Dartmoor encounter and a gold buckle she once saw. Meanwhile, Holbrook spots a Ragousan parade, meets a wordy burglar, Toby Marsh, who hints at a “Twenty‑Third Degree” and calls Betty the “Golden Voice of the Absolute,” and shares the lead with No‑Arrest Bullott. Soon after, Laffin reports a peculiar burglary, and Betty begins the humiliating window display as crowds gather and Holbrook circulates a coy press item that ignores the desk and spotlights the red‑haired girl.

The hand of power, by Edgar Wallace. Republished by OpenStories from Project Gutenberg eBook #78508.