The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eye of Osiris, by R. Austin Freeman

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Title: The Eye of Osiris

Author: R. Austin Freeman

Release Date: January 7, 2008 [EBook #24201]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EYE OF OSIRIS ***

Produced by Al Haines

The Eye of Osiris

A Detective Story by

R. Austin Freeman

FRONT PAGE MYSTERIES

Second Series

P. F. Collier & Son Company - New York

COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY

DODD, MEAD & COMPANY

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. THE VANISHING MAN
II. THE EAVESDROPPER
III. JOHN THORNDYKE
IV. LEGAL COMPLICATIONS AND A JACKAL
V. THE WATER-CRESS BED
VI. SIDELIGHTS
VII. JOHN BELLINGHAM'S WILL
VIII. A MUSEUM IDYLL
IX. THE SPHINX OF LINCOLN'S INN
X. THE NEW ALLIANCE
XI. THE EVIDENCE REVIEWED
XII. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
XIII. THE CORONER'S QUEST
XIV. WHICH CARRIES THE READER INTO THE PROBATE COURT
XV. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
XVI. O ARTEMIDORUS, FAREWELL!
XVII. THE ACCUSING FINGER
XVIII. JOHN BELLINGHAM
XIX. A STRANGE SYMPOSIUM
XX. THE END OF THE CASE

THE EYE OF OSIRIS

CHAPTER I

THE VANISHING MAN

The school of St. Margaret's Hospital was fortunate in its lecturer on
Medical Jurisprudence, or Forensic Medicine, as it is sometimes
described. At some schools the lecturer on this subject is appointed
apparently for the reason that he lacks the qualifications to lecture
on any other. But with us it was very different: John Thorndyke was
not only an enthusiast, a man of profound learning and great
reputation, but he was an exceptional teacher, lively and fascinating
in style and of endless resources. Every remarkable case that had ever
been reported he appeared to have at his fingers' ends; every
fact--chemical, physical, biological, or even historical--that could in
any way be twisted into a medico-legal significance, was pressed into
his service; and his own varied and curious experiences seemed as
inexhaustible as the widow's cruse. One of his favorite devices for
giving life and interest to a rather dry subject was that of analyzing