The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Naval Papers, by Bennet Copplestone

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Title: The Lost Naval Papers

Author: Bennet Copplestone

Release Date: December 16, 2003 [EBook #10474]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1

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THE LOST NAVAL PAPERS

By

BENNET COPPLESTONE

1917

CONTENTS

PART I

_WILLIAM DAWSON_

CHAPTER

I A STORY AND A VISIT

II AT CLOSE QUARTERS

III AN INQUISITION

IV SABOTAGE

V BAFFLED

VI GUESSWORK

VII THE MARINE SENTRY

VIII TREHAYNE'S LETTER

PART II

_MADAME GILBERT_

IX THE WOMAN AND THE MAN

X A PROGRESSIVE FRIENDSHIP

XI AT BRIGHTON

PART III

_ SEE IS TO BELIEVE_

XII DAWSON PRESCRIBES

XIII THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN

XIV A COFFIN AND AN OWL

PART IV

_THE CAPTAIN OF MARINES_

XV DAWSON REAPPEARS

XVI DAWSON STRIKES

XVII DAWSON TELEPHONES FOR A SURGEON

PART I

_WILLIAM DAWSON_

CHAPTER I

A STORY AND A VISIT

At the beginning of the month of September, 1916, there appeared in
the _Cornhill Magazine_ a story entitled "The Lost Naval Papers." I
had told this story at second hand, for the incidents had not occurred
within my personal experience. One of the principals--to whom I had
allotted the temporary name of Richard Cary--was an intimate friend,
but I had never met the Scotland Yard officer whom I called William
Dawson, and was not at all anxious to make his official acquaintance.
To me he then seemed an inhuman, icy-blooded "sleuth," a being of
great national importance, but repulsive and dangerous as an
associate. Yet by a turn of Fortune's wheel I came not only to know
William Dawson, but to work with him, and almost to like him. His
penetrative efficiency compelled one's admiration, and his unconcealed
vanity showed that he did not stand wholly outside the human family.
Yet I never felt safe with Dawson. In his presence, and when I knew
that somewhere round the corner he was carrying on his mysterious
investigations, I was perpetually app