Produced by Al Haines. _A Marriage Under the Terror_ _By_ _Patricia Wentworth_ G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York and London Knickerbocker Press 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1910 BY G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Published, April, 1910 Reprinted, May, 1910 The Knickerbocker Press, New York Advertisement To _A Marriage Under the Terror_ has been awarded in England the first prize in the Melrose Novel Competition, a competition that was not restricted to first stories. The distinguished literary reputation of the three judges—Mrs. Flora Annie Steel, Miss Mary Cholmondeley, and Mrs. Henry de la Pasture—was a guaranty alike to the contestants and to the public that the story selected as the winner would without question be fully entitled to that distinction. In consequence, many authors of experience entered the contest, with the result that the number of manuscripts submitted was greater than that in the competition previously conducted by Mr. Melrose. Among such a number of good stories individual taste must always play an important part in the decision. It is, therefore, no small tribute to the transcendent interest of the winning novel that, though the judges worked independently, each selected _A Marriage Under the Terror_ as the most distinctive novel in the group. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. A Purloined Cipher II. A Forced Entrance III. Shut out by a Prison Wall IV. The Terror Let Loose V. A Carnival of Blood VI. A Doubtful Safety VII. The Inner Conflict VIII. An Offer of Friendship IX. The Old Ideal and the New X. The Fate of a King XI. The Irrevocable Vote XII. Separation XIII. Disturbing Insinuations XIV. A Dangerous Acquaintance XV. Sans Souci XVI. An Unwelcome Visitor XVII. Distressing News XVIII. A Trial and a Wedding XIX. The Barrier XX. A Royalist Plot XXI. A New Environment XXII. At Home and Afield XXIII. Return of Two Fugitives XXIV. Burning of the Château XXV. Escape of Two Madcaps XXVI. A Dying Woman XXVII. Betrayal XXVIII. Inmates of the Prison XXIX. Through Darkness to Light A MARRIAGE UNDER THE TERROR CHAPTER I A PURLOINED CIPHER