A COURIER OF FORTUNE [Illustration: “GERARD, GERARD,” CRIED GABRIELLE IN DIRE ALARM] _A Courier of Fortune_ _By ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT_ _Author of “By Wit of Woman,” “The Queen’s Advocate,” “By Snare of Love,” “In The Name of a Woman,” “When I Was Czar,” etc., etc._ [Illustration] _A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers_ _NEW YORK_ _Copyright, 1904, by_ ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT _Copyright, 1904, by_ FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY TO RALPH STUART, ESQ. MY DEAR MR. STUART: I dedicate this book to you as a memento of our delightful hours of travel and work together in writing the play--“A Courier of Fortune”--founded upon this story. The circumstances of our joint literary work were as unusual to me as they were fascinating; for, although the play was commenced in London, the last “curtain” was not written until my wife and I had crossed the Atlantic and journeyed with you on a tour of over ten thousand miles of railway travelling, through so many of the marvels of this wonderful Continent. St. Louis; Denver; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; the Pacific Seaboard north to Puget Sound; the fertile Palouse Country; Washington, Idaho, and Montana--those wealthy States of boundless promise and marvellous scenic contrasts; the cities of the Lakes, Duluth and Superior; then the young giant twins, St. Paul and Minneapolis; and by way of Milwaukee and Chicago to New York. A tour of momentous interest and a collaboration of close-knit sympathy, cementing a friendship which, I assure you, is one of the pleasantest things of my life. Yours ever, ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE “TIGER OF MORVAIX” 1 II. THE MAISON DE MALINCOURT 10 III. SINISTER HINTS 21 IV. THE DUKE’S PROPOSAL 33 V. THE TIGER’S CLAWS 43 VI. “I AM KNOWN AS GERARD DE COBALT” 56 VII. AT MALINCOURT 68 VIII. THE PLOT THICKENS 81 IX. WHAT DENYS KNEW 94 X. THE ACCUSATION 107 XI. THE DUKE’S SENTENCE 118 XII. GABRIELLE’S FRIEND 130 XIII. DISCOVERY 145 XIV. “I AM NOT GERARD DE COBALT” 156 XV. A PRISONER 168 XVI. PASCAL AND THE SPY 180 XVII. GABRIELLE PLEADS 190 XVIII. IN THE “TIGER’S DEN” 201 XIX. A LIFE AND DEATH STRUGGLE 214 XX. A DASH FOR THE WALLS 226 XXI. AT MALINCOURT AGAIN 237 XXII. PASCAL PLAYS SPY 248 XXIII. LUCETTE AS DECOY 259