2
V. DICEY
OF OXFORD, ENGLAND
CONTENTS
BOOK I
THE PURPLE ORCHID
I--A Cry on the Hill II--One Night's Work III--The Empty Drawer IV--The Full Drawer V--A Spot on the Lawn VI--"Breakfast is Served, Gentlemen!" VII--"Marry Me" VIII--"A Devil That Understands Men" IX--A Grand Woman X--Detective Knapp Arrives XI--The Man with a Beard XII--Wattles Comes XIII--Wattles Goes XIV--A Final Temptation XV--The Zabels Visited XVI--Local Talent at Work XVII--The Slippers, the Flower, and What Sweetwater Made of Them XVIII--Some Leading Questions XIX--Poor Philemon XX--A Surprise for Mr. Sutherland
BOOK II
THE MAN OF NO REPUTATION
XXI--Sweetwater Reasons XXII--Sweetwater Acts XXIII--A Sinister Pair XXIV--In the Shadow of the Mast XXV--In Extremity XXVI--The Adventure of the Parcel XXVII--The Adventure of the Scrap of Paper and the Three Words XXVIII--"Who Are You?" XXIX--Home Again
BOOK III
HAD BATSY LIVED!
XXX--What Followed the Striking of the Clock XXXI--A Witness Lost XXXII--Why Agatha Webb will Never be Forgotten in Sutherlandtown XXXIII--Father and Son XXXIV--"Not When They Are Young Girls" XXXV--Sweetwater Pays His Debt at Last to Mr. Sutherland
BOOK I
THE PURPLE ORCHID
I
A CRY ON THE HILL
The dance was over. From the great house on the hill the guests had all departed and only the musicians remained. As they filed out through the ample doorway, on their way home, the first faint streak of early dawn became visible in the east. One of them, a lank, plain-featured young man of ungainly aspect but penetrating eye, called the attention of the others to it.
"Look!" said he; "there is the daylight! This has been a gay night for Sutherlandtown."
"Too gay," muttered another, starting aside as the slight figure of a young man coming from the house behind them rushed hastily by. "Why, who's that?"
As they one and all had recognised the person thus alluded to, no one answered till he had dash