The Riddle of the Purple Emperor

  THE RIDDLE OF THE PURPLE EMPEROR

  "For even as the light streamed out and flung that circleinto that impinging mist, there moved across it the figure of a woman"]

  The Scotland Yard Mystery Library

  THE RIDDLE OF THE PURPLE EMPEROR

  by

  MARY E. and THOMAS W. HANSHEW

  McKinlay, Stone & MackenzieNew York

  Copyright, 1918 1919, byDoubleday, Page & Company

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I. Which Introduces a New Friend 3 II. The Home-Coming 16 III. In the Dark 27 IV. The House of Shadows 38 V. The Threads of Chance 51 VI. The Cry in the Night 62 VII. In the Tiger's Clutches 78 VIII. Complications and Complexities 90 IX. The House with the Shuttered Windows 101 X. A Shot in the Dark 111 XI. A Terrible Discovery 120 XII. The Woman in the Case 130 XIII. Tightening the Strands 142 XIV. The Plot Thickens 159 XV. Tangled Threads 175 XVI. In the Doctor's Surgery 185 XVII. Miss Cheyne Again 195 XVIII. Dollops Takes a Hand 203 XIX. The Twin Scarves 217 XX. A Twisted Clue 230 XXI. "'Tis a Mad World, My Masters" 240 XXII. The Trap 255 XXIII. Untwisting the Threads 267 XXIV. An Unexpected Contretemps 282 XXV. "A Tale Unfolded" 294

  CHARACTERS

  HAMILTON CLEEK, the Man of Forty Faces, and once known to the police as "The Vanishing Cracksman."

  SUPERINTENDENT NARKOM, of Scotland Yard.

  LENNARD, his chauffeur.

  HAMMOND } Detective Sergeants. PETRIE }

  CONSTABLE ROBERTS, Police Officer at Hampton Village.

  DOLLOPS, Cleek's trusted friend and protege.

  LADY MARGARET CHEYNE, the only and orphan daughter of

  LORD CHEYNE, whose title became extinct on his death, some years previous, but by his will he has left her all the family jewels, including the ill-fated

  PURPLE EMPEROR, a big violet-coloured diamond looted from an Indian temple, and set as a pendant. She comes of age at 18, until when she is left in the charge of his eccentric sister,

  THE HONOURABLE MISS CHEYNE, a recluse, living in a lonely house, Cheyne Court, on the banks of the Thames. She has kept her niece at the convent of Notre Dame in Paris, since her childhood. Disappointed in love herself, Miss Cheyne has decided that her niece shall be a spinster also, but Lady Margaret has contrived to meet and fall in love with

  SIR EDGAR BRENTON, the son of the man who jilted the Honourable Miss Cheyne, and whose chance visit to Paris with his mother, a year earlier, led to his acquaintanceship with Lady Margaret, and with whom he is deeply in love. Unfortunately he is also loved by

  JENNIFER WYNNE, the orphan daughter of a doctor who lived in Hampton previous to the present one. She earns a living by teaching, and lives with her brother,

  BOBBY WYNNE, a young spendthrift and gambler, in the power of

  JAMES BLAKE, the head of the Pentacle Club.

  DOCTOR VERRALL, the village doctor, loves Miss Wynne.

  THE RIDDLE OF THEPURPLE EMPEROR