Chapter I: Front Matter

The Seven Secrets

BY

WILLIAM LE QUEUX

_Author of "The Gamblers," "The Under-Secretary," "Whoso findeth a Wife," "Of Royal Blood," etc._

_Second Edition_

London: HUTCHINSON & CO. PATERNOSTER ROW 1903

A. C. FOWLER, PRINTER, MOORFIELDS, LONDON.

WILLIAM LE QUEUX'S NOVELS.

"As a recounter of stories of mingled mystery and adventure, Mr. William Le Queux is certainly among the best living writers."--_The Athenaeum._

"It is interesting that Queen Alexandra is a great reader of novels of mystery and adventure, and that she is one of Mr. Le Queux's most ardent admirers. Long ago, when his 'Zoraida' was issued, she gave an order to a well-known Piccadilly bookseller for all Mr. Le Queux's books, past and future, and an early copy of each of that writer's books reaches her."--_The Queen._

"The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as that of one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate the most thrilling plots that are to be met with in the fiction of to-day. His books are read with the avidity of intense curiosity, for the string of events described are of the kind that demand attention until the end is reached and everything made clear."--_Literary World._

"Mr. William Le Queux's name is favourably known to all readers of sensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holds his reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end that light is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, or the perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament."--_Daily News._

"Mr. William Le Queux's novels are one of my chief foibles. I can always read his stories greedily, and 'Free Lancers' should buy his books."--Mr. CLEMENT SCOTT in the _Free Lance._

_Crown 8vo, 6s._

THE UNDER-SECRETARY. Third Edition.

THE GAMBLERS. Second Edition.

OF ROYAL BLOOD. Third Edition.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS 9

II. "A VERY UGLY SECRET" 15

III. THE COURTENAYS 20

IV. A NIGHT CALL 27

V. DISCLOSES A MYSTERY 33

VI. IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY 43

VII. THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY 54

VIII. AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE 65

IX. SHADOWS 76

X. WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS 87

XI. CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS 98

XII. I RECEIVE A VISITOR 109

XIII. MY LOVE 119

XIV. IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS 128

XV. I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION 139

XVI. REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT 150

XVII. DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS 162

XVIII. WORDS OF THE DEAD 173

XIX. JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS 183

XX. MY NEW PATIENT 194

XXI. WOMAN'S WILES 203

XXII. A MESSAGE 215

XXIII. THE MYSTERY OF MARY 226

XXIV. ETHELWYNN IS SILENT 236

XXV. FORMS A BEWILDERING ENIGMA 249

XXVI. AMBLER JEVONS IS BUSY 256

XXVII. MR. LANE'S ROMANCE 274

XXVIII. "POOR MRS. COURTENAY!" 281

XXIX. THE POLICE ARE AT FAULT 290

XXX. SIR BERNARD'S DECISION 298

XXXI. CONTAINS THE PLAIN TRUTH 306

THE SEVEN SECRETS.