REPORT FROM PARIS 155
XX LIKE A TRAPPED ANIMAL 162

BOOK II

CHAPTER PAGE

I RATHER A GHASTLY PART 172
II PLAYING WITH FIRE 180
III MONSIEUR S'AMUSE 188
IV AT THE "DEAD RAT" 196
V THE AWAKENING 204
VI THE ECHO OF A CRIME 210
VII A COUNTRY WALK 218
VIII THE MISSING LETTY 227
IX FOILED! 235
X MYSTERIES IN MAYFAIR 244
XI THE WAY OF SALVATION 253
XII JEAN LE ROI 262
XIII THE KING OF THE APACHES 271
XIV BEHIND THE PALM TREES 281
XV THE ONLY WAY 289
XVI MAN TO MAN 296
XVII LORD AND LADY BOUNTIFUL 304

THE MISSIONER

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

MISTRESS AND AGENT

The lady of Thorpe was bored. These details as to leases and repairs
were wearisome. The phrases and verbiage confused her. She felt obliged
to take them in some measure for granted; to accept without question the
calmly offered advice of the man who stood so respectfully at the right
hand of her chair.

"This agreement with Philip Crooks," he remarked, "is a somewhat
important document. With your permission, madam, I will read it to you."

She signified her assent, and leaned wearily back in her chair. The
agent began to read. His mistress watched him through half closed eyes.
His voice, notwithstanding its strong country dialect, had a sort of
sing-song intonation. He read earnestly and without removing his eyes
from the document. His listener made no attempt to arrive at the sense
of the string of words which flowed so monotonously from his lips. She
was occupied in making a study of the man. Sturdy and weather-beaten,
neatly dressed in country clothes, with a somewhat old-fashioned stock,
with trim grey side-whiskers, and a mouth which reminded her somehow of
a well-bred foxhound's, he represented to her, in his clearly cut
personality, the changeless side of life, the side of