Part 49 (1/2)

Sonia is now very happy, either down at Carrington or at Wilton Street, for the black clouds which overshadowed the earlier days of our marriage have rent asunder, and given place to all the suns.h.i.+ne and brightness of life and hope.

No pair could be happier than we.

Twice we have been to Athens as the guest of the tall, grey-haired Englishman who is such a thorough-going cosmopolitan, and who lives in Greece for the sake of the even climate and the study of its antiquities. No one in the Greek capital recognizes Mr. Wilfrid Marsh as the once-famous Louis Lessar.

And dear old Jack Marlowe, still our firm and devoted friend, is as full of good-humoured philosophy as ever, and frequently our visitor.

He still leads his careless existence, and is often to be seen idling in the window of White's, smoking and watching the pa.s.sers-by in St.

James's Street.

You who read the newspapers probably know how Arnold Du Cane, alias Pennington, alias Winton, was recently sentenced at the Old Bailey to fifteen years, and the two young Frenchmen, Tera.s.sier and Brault, to seven years each, for complicity in the robbery on the Scotch express.

And probably you also read the account of how two mysterious Englishmen named Reckitt and Forbes, who had been arrested in Paris, had, somehow, prior to their extradition to England, managed to obtain possession of blades of safety-razors, and with them had both committed suicide.

In consequence of this there was no trial of the perpetrators of those brutal crimes in Porchester Terrace.

The whole affair was but a nine days' horror, and as the authorities saw that no good could accrue from alarming the public by further publicity or inquiry, it was quickly ”Hushed up.”

THE END

_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._

”THE MASTER OF MYSTERY”

WILLIAM LE QUEUX'S NOVELS

Opinions in 1911

”Mr. William Le Queux retains his position as 'The Master of Mystery.' ... He is far too skilful to allow pause for thought: he whirls his readers from incident to incident, holding their attention from the first page to the close of the book.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._

”Mr. Le Queux is the master of mystery. He never fails to produce the correct illusion. He always leaves us panting for more--a brilliant feat.”--_Daily Graphic._

”Mr. Le Queux is still 'The Master of Mystery.'”--_Madame._