Produced by Jonathan Ingram and Distributed Proofreaders HENRY DUNBAR A Novel By M.E. Braddon DEDICATION THIS STORY IS INSCRIBED TO JOHN BALDWIN BUCKSTONE, ESQ. IN SINCERE ADMIRATION OF HIS GENIUS AS A DRAMATIC AUTHOR AND POPULAR ACTOR. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. AFTER OFFICE HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF DUNBAR, DUNBAR, AND BALDERBY II. MARGARET'S FATHER III. THE MEETING AT THE RAILWAY STATION IV. THE STROKE OF DEATH V. SINKING THE PAST VI. CLEMENT AUSTIN'S DIARY VII. AFTER FIVE-AND-THIRTY YEARS VIII. THE FIRST STAGE ON THE JOURNEY HOME IX. HOW HENRY DUNBAR WAITED DINNER X. LAURA DUNBAR XI. THE INQUEST XII. ARRESTED XIII. THE PRISONER IS REMANDED XIV. MARGARET'S JOURNEY XV. BAFFLED XVI. IS IT LOVE OR FEAR? XVII. THE BROKEN PICTURE XVIII. THREE WHO SUSPECT XIX. LAURA DUNBAR'S DISAPPOINTMENT XX. NEW HOPES MAY BLOOM XXI. A NEW LIFE XXII. THE STEEPLE-CHASE XXIII. THE BRIDE THAT THE RAIN RAINS ON XXIV. THE UNBIDDEN GUEST WHO CAME TO LAURA DUNBAR'S WEDDING XXV. AFTER THE WEDDING XXVI. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BACK PARLOUR, OF THE BANKING-HOUSE XXVII. CLEMENT AUSTIN'S WOOING XXVIII. BUYING DIAMONDS XXIX. GOING AWAY XXX. STOPPED UPON THE WAY XXXI. CLEMENT AUSTIN MAKES A SACRIFICE XXXII. WHAT HAPPENED AT MAUDESLEY ABBEY XXXIII. MARGARET'S RETURN XXXIV. FAREWELL XXXV. A DISCOVERY AT THE LUXEMBOURG XXXVI. LOOKING FOR THE PORTRAIT XXXVII. MARGARET'S LETTER XXXVIII. NOTES FROM A JOURNAL KEPT BY CLEMENT AUSTIN DURING HIS JOURNEY TO WINCHESTER XXXIX. CLEMENT AUSTIN'S JOURNAL, CONTINUED XL. FLIGHT XLI. AT MAUDESLEY ABBEY XLII. THE HOUSEMAID AT WOODBINE COTTAGE XLIII. ON THE TRACK XLIV. CHASING THE "CROW" XLV. GIVING IT UP XLVI. CLEMENT'S STORY,—BEFORE THE DAWN XLVII. THE DAWN THE EPILOGUE: ADDED BY CLEMENT AUSTIN SEVEN YEARS AFTERWARDS CHAPTER I. AFTER OFFICE HOURS IN THE HOUSE OF DUNBAR, DUNBAR, AND BALDERBY. The house of Dunbar, Dunbar, and Balderby, East India bankers, was one of the richest firms in the city of London—so rich that it would be quite in vain to endeavour to describe the amount of its wealth. It was something fabulous, people said. The offices were situated in a dingy and narrow thoroughfare leading out of King William Street, and were certainly no great things to look at; but the cellars below their offices—wonderful cellars, that stretched far away underneath the church of St. Gundolph, and were only separated by party-walls from the vaults in which the dead lay buried—were popularly supposed to be filled with hogsheads of sovereigns, bars of bullion built up in stacks like so much firewood, and impregnable iron safes crammed to overflowing with bank bills and railway shares, government securities, family jewels, and a hundred other trifles of that kind, every one of which was worth a poor man's fortune.