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  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."--_TheAthenaeum._

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

  "The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as thatof one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate themost 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 thestring of events described are of the kind that demand attention untilthe end is reached and everything made clear."--_Literary World._

  "Mr. William Le Queux's name is favourably known to all readers ofsensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holdshis reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end thatlight is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, orthe perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament."--_DailyNews._

  "Mr. William Le Queux's novels are one of my chief foibles. I canalways read his stories greedily, and 'Free Lancers' should buy hisbooks."--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.