THE FINGER-PRINT
When Sir Frank Tarleton walked into the room on his return from Paris
the first thing he did was to put his gold repeater to his ear and make
it ring out its musical notes. It was the sign of triumph.
He told me everything just as I have described it. Then he transfixed
me with a question.
“I expect you to be as candid with me as Mrs. Neobard has been. Did you
put this poison into Wethered’s cup along with the opium?”
It was no more than I ought to have expected; no more than I had
deserved. But it gave me a greater shock than I could have thought
possible.
“Before God I am innocent of that!” I swore.
My chief received my oath without any indication of belief or disbelief.
“I don’t blame you for anything else you did on behalf of Lady Violet,”
he said gravely. “Even if you hadn’t been in love with her, as a man
you could do no less than you did to save her from such a scoundrel.
You were right to drug him and right to destroy his case-book. But you
had no right to take his life.”
I looked him in the face. I was too proud to repeat my denial.
“That has been my greatest anxiety in the whole business, Cassilis. I
liked you; you knew it, and I think you should have confided in me.”
“It wasn’t my secret,” I pleaded.
“I suppose that was the reason: yes, I accept that. It was a mistake,
though, because you had no chance of keeping the secret. That is partly
why I think it better for you to drop this kind of work and go in for
private practice. You lack the first essential for a detective, my dear
fellow; you can hold your tongue, but you can’t hold your face.”
I’m afraid I couldn’t hold it then. It blushed in spite of me.
“I am a light sleeper, Cassilis, as you ought to know. The telephone
bell woke me some minutes before you came into the house that first
night. You moved as quietly as a mouse as soon as you heard it, but you
see I was listening before it rang the second time and I had heard you
come up to the front door and open it.”
How silly all my precautions seemed now! My chief rubbed it into me
with a touch of good humour.
“I gave you a hint that you might as well make a clean breast of it at
once, but you didn’t take it. When you came in to me with Charles’s
message your face showed me that you had something more on your mind
than having gone out without letting me know. And you gave yourself
away when you told me that you had been taken to the Domino Club by a
Captain Smethwick. There is no such name in the Army List.”
Blunder after blunder, he recounted them all. The theft of the
case-book had pointed to the thief being a doctor. The omission of
Violet’s name from the list I had copied supplied the key to my
motives, and my attack on Sarah Neobard left no doubt that I was
in love with the girl she had denounced. My kind-hearted chief had
willingly lent himself to my plans for meeting Violet at Tyberton,
though he had tried to let me see he was not quite blind. He had
followed the history of the Zenobia costume easily enough. And Violet’s
refusal to give up the name of her champion had told him more than it
had told poor, dull-witted me.
“That is my best reason for advising you to start in practice for
yourself, my boy. Consider what your prospects are with me. I am at
the top of the tree now and my salary is a bare £1,500 a year. And if
I make another £500 by my private work it’s as much as I make. That’s
not enough for an earl’s daughter to look forward to. You will make
double as a fashionable doctor. You have the most valuable gift of all
for the medical profession. You are a good listener. The people who
will come to you, the patients who really bring in money, don’t want to
be cured. They like to fancy they are ill and they want to talk about
themselves. Let ’em do it and charge them for it. With my influence and
Lord Ledbury’s you won’t have long to wait.”
I could only shake my head sorrowfully. “You are very good, sir; you
are kinder to me than I deserve. But I have no right to think that Lady
Violet will ever marry me.”
Sir Frank gave me a queer look.
“Then I tell you this--if you don’t marry her, _I will_.”
Before I could recover from the start given me by this threat he was
consulting his watch again.
“Charles ought to be here by this time. And I think he is. I shall be
glad if you will come with us, Cassilis. We are going to the Domino
Club.”
I followed him thankfully into the hall, to meet Inspector Charles
and a quietly dressed Frenchman who was briefly introduced to me as
Brigadier Samson. I took the invitation to go with them as a token that
my chief had acquitted me in his own mind at least. I was ignorant
whether I ever had been under suspicion in the Inspector’s, and I am so
still.
We drove to the Club in the taxi that had brought the two police
officers. We found it looking much more cheerful than on the last
occasion. The new proprietress had evidently determined to make it a
greater success than ever, in spite of the little cloud that had fallen
on it. There were signs of renovation going on in the hall and new
decorations had been put up in the ball-room.
The door was opened to us by the waiter Gerard, who looked as amiable
as ever, but rather more subdued. The respectful glance he gave to
Captain Charles seemed to tell of some intelligence between them.
Gerard was closely followed by another man whose salute showed me that
he was one of the Inspector’s staff, in charge of the premises.
When Gerard, who had left us in the ball-room, returned to say that
Madame Bonnell was ready to receive us, the French detective retained
his seat. The other three of us were conducted into a smartly furnished
parlour in which we found Madame enthroned in all the dignity of her
new position. She had put on mourning for her late employer, but it was
the sort of mourning a good modiste knows how to make a softener of
grief rather than a perpetuation of it.
Madame Bonnell showed no trace of nervousness at our appearance. Like a
good general, she had gauged her enemy in advance, she had anticipated
his attack, and her plans of defence had been skilfully laid out. She
received us in the manner of a courteous business woman who was only
anxious to do whatever was asked of her.
I was conscious that my chief’s keen eyes were on the look-out for any
sign of recognition between Madame and me, as I came into the room.
Fortunately she scarcely noticed me, and I think her indifference must
have finally satisfied him that we were strangers to each other.
He came straight to the point.
“We have called on you, Madame, in consequence of the advertisement
from Messrs. James, Halliday & James.”
She heard this with composure. “What advertisement is that?”
Tarleton ignored the affectation of ignorance.
“It may save time to tell you that every person known to have been in
correspondence with Dr. Weathered has been warned to take no notice of
that advertisement.” It was evidently news to her that the names of the
correspondents were known to the police, and she looked less confident
already. “Mr. Stillman has been informed that Dr. Weathered’s executrix
is the sole person entitled to deal with the letters, and he has now
consented to allow a detective officer to sit in his outer office and
refer any persons who may answer the advertisement to me. The same
officer is opening all letters addressed to the firm.”
By this time Madame Bonnell must have made up her mind that she had
little chance of making anything out of the letters and that it was
better for her to sacrifice them if she could do so without damage to
herself.
“What has all this to do with me?” she asked cautiously.
“Mrs. Weathered informs me that she placed the letters in your
possession and I am here to ask you for them.”
Madame Bonnell did some hard thinking and did it quickly, too.
“Mrs. Weathered is a madwoman. She is not responsible for her actions,
and her word is not to be believed. I am surprised that you should
expect me to take such a story seriously. If you believe I have the
letters, look for them.”
It was a gallant last stand. She must have known that every inch of the
premises had been searched already.
Tarleton smiled at her. He was beginning to warm to his work.
“If I am to take advantage of that permission, Madame, I shall have
to ask you to accompany me to Newgate Street, where there is a female
searcher. You probably carry the letters about with you.”
A sudden spark, a very ugly and dangerous spark, was kindled in the
woman’s eyes at the mention of a female searcher. It went out again
instantly. Madame folded her arms.
“If you believe what you say, it makes no difference. You say that Mrs.
Weathered gave me those letters. Why isn’t she here to ask for them
back? I have a right to keep them till she does.”
This was true, unfortunately. But Madame had just been betrayed into
revealing her weak point, about which the representative of the Home
Office had been pretty confident before. He now turned to Inspector
Charles.
“I am afraid I must leave the matter to you, Inspector.”
Captain Charles was quite ready.
“I must ask you to consider yourself my prisoner, Madame. The charge is
one of conspiring with Arthur Stillman to obtain money from various
persons by threats. Whatever you may say will be taken down and may be
used in evidence against you.”
She didn’t wait for the production of the official note-book. Her hands
were at the bosom of her dress.
“That charge is false and you know it. It is you who are using threats
to obtain these letters, to which you have no claim. You are breaking
the law, not I.”
She was right, that was the amazing part of it, entirely right. But she
handed over the letters. And she contrived to look rather anxious.
“Let me tell you that I only consented to receive those letters from
Mrs. Weathered because I saw she was a dangerous woman and I wanted to
prevent her from doing mischief. I meant to return them to the writers
the moment I knew who they were. In my position I couldn’t afford to do
otherwise. I had to think of the reputation of the Club.”
Against this there was nothing to be said. It was the second line of
defence, of course. Tarleton was not the man to waste time in assailing
it.
“Mrs. Weathered tells me she gave you something else beside those
letters.”
Madame Bonnell needed no preparation to meet this blow, which she had
clearly been expecting. She heaved a sigh, apparently one of relief.
“Ah, I am glad she has confessed that! It has been a burden on my mind.
I ought to have denounced her, I suppose, but I saw she was out of her
mind, and I was sorry for her. I thought it would be enough if I took
the poison from her and kept it in a safe place.”
This was neater than even Tarleton had expected. I saw positive respect
in his eyes.
“Then you have the poison still, Madame, untouched?”
“But yes. I placed it among my little aids to the toilet. You will find
it in the cupboard you locked up, you remember.”
“Perhaps you will oblige me by fetching it. Inspector Charles will
unlock the door for you.”
The Inspector’s face fell as he rose to escort her. Perhaps he thought
that Sir Frank was being deceived. They came back together, Charles
carrying the little bottle, which he silently handed to the specialist.
Tarleton went through the form of wetting his forefinger, taking up a
few grains of the gray powder and tasting it. His face told nothing.
“The powder now in this bottle is a harmless mixture of charcoal and
common salt. The poison that killed Dr. Weathered was upasine.”
Madame Bonnell raised her hands in admirable despair.
“_Mille tonnorres!_ That wretched woman was more mad than I thought.
She mistook this stuff for--what did you say, sir?”
The physician shook his head. “You do her an injustice. I have tested
her story and I feel no doubt that she placed the real poison in your
hands. I have seen the person from whom she took it and from whose
brother I obtained some of it myself.”
Again the first line of defence, a rather flimsy one, had been broken
through. The second line was instantly unveiled.
“I have been robbed, then, that is what you mean? Some wretch has
stolen the drug and filled up the bottle again to deceive me.”
“It looks like that, certainly.” Could I believe that this was
Tarleton speaking? His voice remained perfectly steady as he went on.
“Unfortunately, one of the Club servants, named Gerard, has told the
police a different tale.”
All at once Madame Bonnell turned very white. She began breathing in
spasms.
“His story is that you threw out hints to him that Dr. Weathered was
in danger of being poisoned, as you pretended, by enemies of his in
the Club. At a later time you bribed Gerard to say that the doctor
himself was afraid, and had given him instructions to watch over his
drinks. What really happened was that your continued hints made Gerard
watchful, and on the fatal night he did see something dropped in the
doctor’s cup by a dancer whom he described correctly. We know that it
was a harmless dose of opium, a drug to which Weathered was immune,
because he was taking it. Gerard reported what he had seen to you and
you thereupon told him that it was what you had feared but that you
had an antidote. You put this antidote, as you called it, into a fresh
cup of coffee, and made him take it to the doctor. There is no doubt in
my mind that he died in consequence of drinking it.”
Madame Bonnell’s perfect composure was gone. That angry spark had come
back into her eyes to remain there. She clenched her teeth, and her
words came through them like the click of castanets.
“Gerard is a bloody liar.”
The next instant she recollected herself. She had still a third line of
defence, a really good one this time.
“Are you going to tell that story to the world? Aha! I can tell
stories, too. I shall have a fine tale to tell about His Royal Highness
the Crown Prince of Slavonia; yes, yes. I shall tell how His Highness
came to dance with poisoners and prostitutes, and people whose minds
were fouler than any sink; and saw a murder committed under his eyes by
his partner in the dance. Is it not so? And I shall recite much from
all those letters I have read. I have a good memory, and I recite well.”
Tarleton acknowledged the strength of this position.
“You are correct in thinking that the British authorities have reasons
for not taking proceedings against you. Therefore, they propose to let
you return to your own country.”
“And give up my Club? Abandon my good fortune at its height? I am not
a very great fool, Sir Frank Tarleton.”
My chief raised a finger. Captain Charles sounded his whistle and
Brigadier Samson stepped through the door.
Slowly the woman recoiled on herself, seeming actually to grow smaller
in the act. The Brigadier gave her a careless nod.
“You have dyed your hair, Leonie Marchand, since I saw you last, but
you haven’t changed your finger-print, you know. And you are still
wanted for the murder in the Rue Lausanne.”
It was not a woman, it was a wild cat that sprang at Sir Frank with
tearing nails and spitting teeth. I was just too late, but the French
detective who knew the nature of the animal, was just in time; and
he wasn’t hampered by any false sentiment. His methods were not
particularly pleasant to watch, but they were effective. I think
Charles rather envied him.
The methods of the French criminal courts also seem to be effective.
At all events when I read the newspaper report of the trial at which
Leonie Marchand was sentenced to imprisonment for life, it contained no
hint of any scandal about any royal personage.
Sir Frank Tarleton was none the worse for the little shock he had
experienced, and for which he rather blamed himself afterwards. He
ought not to have waited to see the arrest, he admitted to me, but
he couldn’t resist the temptation to see the real woman come out. He
hadn’t liked the sight.
“It lay between Madame and you from the first, as far as I could see,”
he explained to me, as we were walking away together down Tarifa Road.
“I never believed the waiter’s story for a moment. The idea that a
man who knew his life to be in danger would go on coming to the Club
and trust to a foreign waiter to prevent him from being poisoned, was
ridiculous in my eyes. It was clear that the story had been put into
his mouth by someone; and when Madame told a similar story, about
Weathered having asked her to pour out his drinks herself, it was easy
to see who was the inventor. It was a case of cleverness over-reaching
itself. The theory that Weathered had been poisoned by one of his
patients whom he was blackmailing was quite plausible in itself; as
we know, it was very nearly being the true theory. If she had left it
there and confined herself to saying what she said to Mrs. Weathered,
that she knew he had enemies in the Club who would be glad of his
death, I might not have suspected her. But when she took such pains
to represent the whole place as a nest of assassins with herself and
Gerard as guardian angels watching over the threatened man, I began to
smell a rat.
“I had no suspicion of Mrs. Weathered; I don’t see how I could have had
at that stage. Madame Bonnell’s motives were just what would make a
woman of her stamp commit a crime. Sarah Neobard put it in a nutshell
when she said she was a woman who would do anything for money. The
Domino Club was doing well, and Weathered wasn’t necessary to it any
longer. In fact, he was beginning to be in the way. She spoke the
truth, probably, in saying that she lived in fear of a scene of some
kind. At the same time, I doubt if she would ever have ventured to
poison him herself if the means hadn’t been put into her hands. Here is
the real murderer.”
He took out the little bottle, which he had brought away with him. It
was square-shaped and made of ground glass, the sort of bottle in which
smelling salts are sold.
“I look on this case throughout as one of murder by suggestion.
Armstrong did very wrong to leave this bottle in his sister’s
possession. The very precautions she took to keep it safely, as she
thought, show that her mind was exercised by it. I shouldn’t wonder
at all if Weathered, who was a clever man in his way, actually did
detect some latent fancies in the little woman’s head as to how it
might be used, and worked on them till he convinced her that they were
serious. Then no sooner does he hear of the existence of the bottle
than it fascinates him. An unknown drug, one whose effects will defy
analysis--what a prize for a man who is fast sinking into a hardened
criminal! Remember that if Armstrong had not happened to bring a sample
of his find to me you might now be under sentence for the murder.”
I shook as I recognized the truth of what he said. Even Tarleton’s
skill might have failed to demonstrate the presence of a strange drug
unknown to the whole medical world.
“This accursed bottle next has the same effect on Mrs. Weathered.
She is a good woman and she has been a faithful wife and a forgiving
one. I believe every word of her story. I fully believe that she took
the bottle with no intention to do anything but destroy it and its
contents. But no sooner is it in her keeping than she succumbs to its
temptation. She is fascinated by the idea of the invisible death it
can deal. All kinds of motives and excuses spring up in her mind like
spectres conjured up by a magician. So she becomes a murderess in
intention, a murderess by proxy, one may say.
“Even Madame Bonnell, I think it most likely, had no idea of killing
Weathered before this bottle came into her hands. She had committed one
murder already and she seems to have had a narrow escape that time.
She was a prudent woman, too, a woman to weigh risks carefully before
taking them. I think it quite probable that her only idea at first
was to use this bottle to extort money from Mrs. Weathered. But very
quickly she was in its power. Then it was that she began weaving the
romance of Weathered’s revengeful patients, a picture only too well
founded on fact. She may have hoped to find an enemy of Weathered’s to
do the job for her; however, you saved her the trouble. She saw her
chance, and that night she had a double security. From first to last
it is evident that she trusted to the Crown Prince’s name to pull her
through everything, and in a way it did.”
“What made you think she had committed a crime in France, sir?”
“I didn’t. It was a mere shot in the dark. I asked Charles to get
her finger-print without her knowing, and I took it over to Paris on
the bare chance that she might be known to the French police. It is
fortunate that she was.”
We were in Eaton Square by this time, after coming along the King’s
Road. My chief seemed to know where he was going, but he did not tell
me till we had gone round the back of the Palace and come out in
Piccadilly. When we crossed the road my heart began to beat quicker.
The dear old man had made up his mind to pull me through, and I suspect
he did it as much for Violet’s sake as mine. He must have seen that
there was some obstacle between us, but he never asked what it was. He
only gave me one hint before we reached the house.
“No man ever won a woman yet by making the worst of himself, Cassilis.
If you haven’t anything else to be proud of, be proud of being loved
and show it.”
The Earl, whom we found at home, was more than half prepared to listen
to us. He had changed for the better, too, since he had taken Sir
Frank’s advice. He showed that he felt he owed a debt to him and
another to his daughter, and was not unwilling to discharge both. It
was my advocate who did most of the talking. He surprised and delighted
me by telling my prospective father-in-law that I needn’t throw up my
post under him just yet. “Not till he is on his feet comfortably,” he
put it.
In the end the Earl said, “Well, I will see what my daughter has to
say, Dr. Cassilis.” And he rang the bell.
When Violet came in she saw why she had been sent for, before her
father spoke. She had her answer ready when he put the question. “This
young gentleman has come here to ask me for your hand, Violet. What am
I to say to him?”
“He hasn’t asked me yet,” she whispered.
My dear chief sprang to his feet. “I think we had better leave these
young people together, my lord.”
We are together still.
THE END
_The greatest pleasure in life is that of reading. Why not then own the
books of great novelists when the price is so small_
¶ _Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined for a
hard-working man, after his daily toil, or, in its intervals, there
is nothing like reading an entertaining book. It calls for no bodily
exertion. It transports him into a livelier, and gayer, and more
diversified and interesting scene, and while he enjoys himself there he
may forget the evils of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies him to
his next day’s work, and gives him something to think of besides the
mere mechanical drudgery of his every-day occupation--something he can
enjoy while absent, and look forward with pleasure to return to._
_Ask your dealer for a list of the titles in Burt’s Popular Priced
Fiction_
_In buying the books bearing the A. L. Burt Company imprint you are
assured of wholesome, entertaining and instructive reading_
_THE BEST OF RECENT FICTION_
=Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.= Frank L. Packard.
=Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Affair at Flower Acres, The.= Carolyn Wells.
=Affinities and Other Stories.= Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=After House, The.= Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Against the Winds.= Kate Jordan.
=Alcatraz.= Max Brand.
=Alias Richard Power.= William Allison.
=All the Way by Water.= Elizabeth Stancy Payne.
=Amateur Gentleman, The.= Jeffery Farnol.
=Amateur Inn, The.= Albert Payson Terhune.
=Anna the Adventuress.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Anne’s House of Dreams.= L. M. Montgomery.
=Anybody But Anne.= Carolyn Wells.
=Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.= Arthur Stringer.
=Around Old Chester.= Margaret Deland.
=Arrant Rover, The.= Berta Ruck.
=Athalie.= Robert W. Chambers.
=At the Mercy of Tiberius.= Augusta Evans Wilson.
=At Sight at Gold.= Cynthia Lombardi.
=Auction Block, The.= Rex Beach.
=Aunt Jane of Kentucky.= Eliza C. Hall.
=Awakening of Helena Ritchie.= Margaret Deland.
=Bab: a Sub-Deb.= Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Bar 20.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Bar 20 Days.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Bar-20 Three.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Barrier, The.= Rex Beach.
=Bars of Iron, The.= Ethel M. Dell.
=Bat Wing.= Sax Rohmer.
=Beasts of Tarzan, The.= Edgar Rice Burroughs.
=Beautiful and Damned, The.= F. Scott Fitzgerald.
=Beauty.= Rupert Hughes.
=Behind Locked Doors.= Ernest M. Poate.
=Bella Donna.= Robert Hichens. (Photoplay Ed.).
=Beloved Traitor, The.= Frank L. Packard.
=Beloved Vagabond, The.= Wm. J. Locke.
=Beloved Woman, The.= Kathleen Norris.
=Beltane the Smith.= Jeffery Farnol.
=Betrayal, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Beyond the Frontier.= Randall Parrish.
=Big Timber.= Bertrand W. Sinclair.
=Black Bartlemy’s Treasure.= Jeffery Farnol.
=Black Buttes.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Black Cæsar’s Clan.= Albert Payson Terhune.
=Black Gold.= Albert Payson Terhune.
=Black Is White.= George Barr McCutcheon.
=Black Oxen.= Gertrude Atherton. (Photoplay Ed.).
=Blue Circle, The.= Elizabeth Jordan.
=Bob, Son of Battle.= Alfred Olivant.
=Box With Broken Seals, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Brandon of the Engineers.= Harold Bindloss.
=Breaking Point, The.= Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Bridge of Kisses.= Berta Ruck.
=Bring Me His Ears.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Broad Highway, The.= Jeffery Farnol.
=Broken Barriers.= Meredith Nicholson.
=Brown Study, The.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Buck Peters, Ranchman.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Bush-Rancher, The.= Harold Bindloss.
=Cabbages and Kings.= O. Henry.
=Cabin Fever.= B. M. Bower.
=Calling of Dan Matthews, The.= Harold Bell Wright.
=Cape Cod Stories.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Cap’n Dan’s Daughter.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Cap’n Eri.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Cap’n Warren’s Wards.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Carnac’s Folly.= Gilbert Parker.
=Cat’s Paw, The.= Natalie Sumner Lincoln.
=Cattle.= Winnifred Eaton.
=Certain People of Importance.= Kathleen Norris.
=Chief Legatee, The.= Anna Katharine Green.
=Cinema Murder, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=City of Lilies, The.= Anthony Pryde and R. K. Weekes.
=City of Peril, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Clipped Wings.= Rupert Hughes.
=Clue of the New Pin, The.= Edgar Wallace.
=Colorado Jim.= George Goodchild.
=Coming of Cassidy, The.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Coming of the Law, The.= Chas. A. Seltzer.
=Communicating Door, The.= Wadsworth Camp.
=Comrades of Peril.= Randall Parrish.
=Conquest of Canaan, The.= Booth Tarkington.
=Contraband.= Clarence Budington Kelland.
=Court of Inquiry, A.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Crimson Blotter, The.= Isabel Ostrander.
=Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.= Rex Beach.
=Crimson Tide, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Cross Currents.= Author of “Pollyanna.”
=Cross Pull, The.= Hal G. Evarts.
=Cry in the Wilderness, A.= Mary E. Waller.
=Cry of Youth, A.= Cynthia Lombardi.
=Cup of Fury, The.= Rupert Hughes.
=Curious Quest, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Curved Blades, The.= Carolyn Wells.
=Cytherea.= Joseph Hergesheimer.
=Damsel in Distress, A.= Pelham G. Wodehouse.
=Dancing Star, The.= Berta Ruck.
=Danger and Other Stories.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Dark Hollow.= Anna Katharine Green.
=Daughter Pays, The.= Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.
=Depot Master, The.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Desert Healer, The.= E. M. Hull.
=Destroying Angel, The.= Louis Joseph Vance. (Photoplay Ed.).
=Devil’s Paw, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Diamond Thieves, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Disturbing Charm, The.= Berta Ruck.
=Donnegan.= George Owen Baxter.
=Door of Dread, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Doors of the Night.= Frank L. Packard.
=Dope.= Sax Rohmer.
=Double Traitor, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Dust of the Desert.= Robert Welles Ritchie.
=Empty Hands.= Arthur Stringer.
=Empty Pockets.= Rupert Hughes.
=Empty Sack, The.= Basil King.
=Enchanted Canyon.= Honoré Willsie.
=Enemies of Women.= V. B. Ibanez. (Photoplay Ed.).
=Eris.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Erskine Dale, Pioneer.= John Fox, Jr.
=Evil Shepherd, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Extricating Obadiah.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Eye of Zeitoon, The.= Talbot Mundy.
=Eyes of the Blind.= Arthur Somers Roche.
=Eyes of the World.= Harold Bell Wright.
=Fair Harbor.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Family.= Wayland Wells Williams.
=Fathoms Deep.= Elizabeth Stancy Payne.
=Feast of the Lanterns.= Louise Jordan Miln.
=Fighting Chance, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Fighting Shepherdess, The.= Caroline Lockhart.
=Financier, The.= Theodore Dreiser.
=Fire Tongue.= Sax Rohmer.
=Flaming Jewel, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Flowing Gold.= Rex Beach.
=Forbidden Trail, The.= Honoré Willsie.
=Forfeit, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=Four Million, The.= O. Henry.
=Foursquare.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Four Stragglers, The.= Frank L. Packard.
=Free Range Lanning.= George Owen Baxter.
=From Now On.= Frank L. Packard.
=Fur Bringers, The.= Hulbert Footner.
=Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.= Frank L. Packard.
=Galusha the Magnificent.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Gaspards of Pine Croft, The.= Ralph Connor.
=Gay Year, The.= Dorothy Speare.
=Gift of the Desert.= Randall Parrish.
=Girl in the Mirror, The.= Elizabeth Jordan.
=Girl from Kellers, The.= Harold Bindloss.
=Girl Philippa, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=Girls at His Billet, The.= Berta Ruck.
=Glory Rides the Range.= Ethel and James Dorrance.
=God’s Country and the Woman.= James Oliver Curwood.
=God’s Good Man.= Marie Corelli.
=Going Some.= Rex Beach.
=Gold Girl, The.= James B. Hendryx.
=Gold-Killer.= John Prosper.
=Golden Scorpion, The.= Sax Rohmer.
=Golden Slipper, The.= Anna Katherine Green.
=Golden Woman, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=Gray Phantom, The.= Herman Landon.
=Gray Phantom’s Return, The.= Herman Landon.
=Great Impersonation, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Great Prince Shan, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Greater Love Hath No Man.= Frank L. Packard.
=Green Eyes of Bast, The.= Sax Rohmer.
=Green Goddess, The.= Louise Jordan Miln. (Photoplay Ed.).
=Greyfriars Bobby.= Eleanor Atkinson.
=Gun Brand, The.= James B. Hendryx.
=Gun Runner, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Guns of the Gods.= Talbot Mundy.
=Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.= Sax Rohmer.
=Hand of Peril, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Harbor Road, The.= Sara Ware Bassett.
=Harriet and the Piper.= Kathleen Norris.
=Havoc.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Head of the House at Coombe, The.= Frances Hodgson Burnett.
=Heart of the Desert, The.= Honoré Willsie.
=Heart at the Hills, The.= John Fox. Jr.
=Heart of the Range, The.= William Patterson White.
=Heart of the Sunset.= Rex Beach.
=Heart of Unaga, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=Helen of the Old House.= Harold Bell Wright.
=Hidden Places, The.= Bertrand W. Sinclair.
=Hidden Trails.= William Patterson White.
=Hillman, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Hira Singh.= Talbot Mundy.
=His Last Bow.= A. Conan Doyle.
=His Official Fiancee.= Berta Ruck.
=Homeland.= Margaret Hill McCarter.
=Homestead Ranch.= Elizabeth G. Young.
=Honor of the Big Snows.= James Oliver Curwood.
=Hopalong Cassidy.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Hound from the North, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=House of the Whispering Pines, The.= Anna Katharine Green.
=Humoresque.= Fannie Hurst.
=Illustrious Prince, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=In Another Girl’s Shoes.= Berta Ruck.
=Indifference of Juliet, The.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Infelice.= Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Initials Only.= Anna Katharine Green.
=Innocent.= Marie Corelli.
=Innocent Adventuress, The.= Mary Hastings Bradley.
=Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.= Sax Rohmer.
=In the Brooding Wild.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=In the Onyx Lobby.= Carolyn Wells.
=Iron Trail, The.= Rex Beach.
=Iron Woman, The.= Margaret Deland.
=Ishmael.= (Ill.) Mrs. Southworth.
=Isle of Retribution.= Edison Marshall.
=I’ve Married Marjorie.= Margaret Widdemer.
=Ivory Trail, The.= Talbot Mundy.
=Jacob’s Ladder.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Jean of the Lazy A.= B. M. Bower.
=Jeanne of the Marshes.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Jeeves.= P. G. Wodehouse.
=Lynch Lawyers.= William Patterson White.
=McCarty Incog.= Isabel Ostrander.
=Major, The.= Ralph Connor.
=Maker of History, A.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Malefactor, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Man and Maid.= Elinor Glyn.
=Man from Bar 20, The.= Clarence E. Mulford.
=Man from the Bitter Roots, The.= Caroline Lockhart.
=Man in the Moonlight, The.= Rupert S. Holland.
=Man in the Twilight, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=Man Killers, The.= Dane Coolidge.
=Man Who Couldn’t Sleep, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Man’s Country.= Peter Clark Macfarlane.
=Marqueray’s Duel.= Anthony Pryde.
=Martin Conisby’s Vengeance.= Jeffery Farnol.
=Mary-Gusta.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Mary Wollaston.= Henry Kitchell Webster.
=Mason of Bar X Ranch.= H. Bennett.
=Master of Man.= Hall Caine.
=Master Mummer, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.= A. Conan Doyle.
=Men Who Wrought, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=Meredith Mystery, The.= Natalie Sumner Lincoln.
=Midnight of the Ranges.= George Gilbert.
=Mine with the Iron Door, The.= Harold Bell Wright.
=Mischief Maker, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Missioner, The.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Miss Million’s Maid.= Berta Ruck.
=Money, Love and Kate.= Eleanor H. Porter.
=Money Master, The.= Gilbert Parker.
=Money Moon, The.= Jeffery Farnol.
=Moonlit Way, The.= Robert W. Chambers.
=More Limehouse Nights.= Thomas Burke.
=More Tish.= Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Moreton Mystery, The.= Elizabeth Dejeans.
=Mr. and Mrs. Sen.= Louise Jordan Miln.
=Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo.= E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Mr. Pratt.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Mr. Pratt’s Patients.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Mrs. Red Pepper.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Mr. Wu.= Louise Jordan Miln.
=My Lady of the North.= Randall Parrish.
=My Lady of the South.= Randall Parrish.
=Mystery Girl, The.= Carolyn Wells.
=Rider of the Golden Bar, The.= William Patterson White.
=Rider of the King Log, The.= Holman Day.
=Rider o’ the Stars.= R. J. Horton.
=Riders of the Silences.= John Frederick.
=Rilla of Ingleside.= L. M. Montgomery.
=Rimrock Trail.= J. Allan Dunn.
=Rise of Roscoe Paine, The.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=River Trail, The.= Laurie Y. Erskine.
=Robin.= Frances Hodgson Burnett.
=Rocks of Valpre, The.= Ethel M. Dell.
=Rogues of the North.= Albert M. Treynor.
=Romance of a Million Dollars, The.= Elizabeth Dejeans.
=Rosa Mundi.= Ethel M. Dell.
=Rose of Santa Fe, The.= Edwin L. Sabin.
=Round the Corner in Gay Street.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Round-Up, The.= Oscar J. Friend.
=Rung Ho!= Talbot Mundy.
=Rustler of Wind River, The.= G. W. Ogden.
=St. Elmo.= (Ill. Ed.) Augusta J. Evans.
=Sand.= Olive Wadsley.
=Scarlet Iris, The.= Vance Thompson.
=Scattergood Baines.= Clarence Budington Kelland.
=Second Violin, The.= Grace S. Richmond.
=Secret Power, The.= Marie Corelli.
=Self-Raised.= (Ill.) Mrs. Southworth.
=Settling of the Sage.= Hal G. Evarts.
=Seven Ages of Woman, The.= Compton Mackenzie.
=Seven Darlings, The.= Gouverneur Morris.
=Seventh Man, The.= Max Brand.
=Shadow of the East, The.= E. M. Hull. (Photoplay Ed.).
=Shadow on the Glass, The.= Charles J. Dutton.
=Shavings.= Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Sheik, The.= E. M. Hull.
=Sheila of Big Wreck Cove.= James H. Cooper.
=Shepherd of the Hills, The.= Harold Bell Wright.
=Shepherds of the Wild.= Edison Marshall.
=Sheriff of Dyke Hole, The.= Ridgwell Cullum.
=Sherry.= George Barr McCutcheon.
=Shoe-Bar Stratton.= Joseph B. Ames.
=Sight Unseen, and The Confession.= Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Silver Horde, The.= Rex Beach.
=Silver Poppy, The.= Arthur Stringer.
=Singing Bone, The.= R. Austin Freeman.
=Singing Wells, The.= Roland Pertwee.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Emboldened text is surrounded by equals signs: =bold=.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
The list of books at the end has been rearranged so that the titles
are in alphabetical order.