The Seven Secrets

“As a recounter of stories of mingled mystery and adventure, Mr. William Le Queux is certainly among the best living writers.”— The Athenæum. “It is interesting that Queen Alexandra is a great reader of novels of mystery and adventure, and that she is one of Mr. Le Queux’s most ardent admirers. Long ago, when his ‘Zoraida’ was issued, she gave an order to a well-known Piccadilly bookseller for all Mr. Le Queux’s books, past and future, and an early copy of each of that writer’s books reaches her.”— The Queen. “The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as that of one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate the most thrilling plots that are to be met with in the fiction of to-day. His books are read with the avidity of intense curiosity, for the string of events described are of the kind that demand attention until the end is reached and everything made clear.”— Literary World. “Mr. William Le Queux’s name is favourably known to all readers of sensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holds his reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end that light is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, or the perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament.”— Daily News. “Mr. William Le Queux’s novels are one of my chief foibles. I can always read his stories greedily, and ‘Free Lancers’ should buy his books.”—Mr. Clement Scott in the Free Lance. Crown 8vo, 6s. THE UNDER-SECRETARY. Third Edition. THE GAMBLERS. Second Edition. OF ROYAL BLOOD. Third Edition. CONTENTS. PAGE I. INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS 9 II. “A VERY UGLY SECRET” 15 III. THE COURTENAYS 20 IV. A NIGHT CALL 27 V. DISCLOSES A MYSTERY 33 VI. IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY 43 VII. THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY 54 VIII. AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE 65 IX. SHADOWS 76 X. WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS 87 XI. CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS 98 XII. I RECEIVE A VISITOR 109 XIII. MY LOVE 119 XIV. IS DISTINCTLY CURIOUS 128 XV. I AM CALLED FOR CONSULTATION 139 XVI. REVEALS AN ASTOUNDING FACT 150 XVII. DISCUSSES SEVERAL MATTERS 162 XVIII. WORDS OF THE DEAD 173 XIX. JEVONS GROWS MYSTERIOUS 183 XX. MY NEW PATIENT 194 XXI. WOMAN’S WILES 203 XXII. A MESSAGE 215 XXIII. THE MYSTERY OF MARY 226 XXIV. ETHELWYNN IS SILENT…