Produced by Al Haines THE CHARING CROSS MYSTERY BY J. S. FLETCHER HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED 3 YORK STREET, LONDON, S.W.1 A HERBERT JENKINS' BOOK Sixth printing completing 46,825 copies Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE LAST TRAIN EAST II. WHOSE PORTRAIT IS THIS? III. THE POTENTIAL FORTUNE IV. THE DIAMOND NECKLACE V. THE POLICE RETURN VI. SAMPLES OF INK VII. BLACK VELVET VIII. FLIGWOOD'S RENTS IX. THE MEDICINE BOTTLE X. THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR XI. LADY RIVERSREADE XII. _ALIAS_ MADAME LISTORELLE XIII. WHO WAS SHE? XIV. IS IT BLACKMAIL? XV. REVELATIONS XVI. STILL MORE XVII. THE TORN LABELS XVIII. THE TELEGRAM XIX. THE LONDON ROAD XX. CONVERGING TRACKS XXI. THE ORDER IN WRITING XXII. THE HIGHLY-RESPECTABLE SOLICITOR XXIII. THE LANDLADY OF LITTLE SMITH STREET XXIV. THE HOUSE IN THE YARD XXV. DEAD! XXVI. WATERLOO XXVII. THE ASSURANCE THE CHARING CROSS MYSTERY CHAPTER I THE LAST TRAIN EAST Hetherwick had dined that evening with friends who lived in Cadogan Gardens, and had stayed so late in conversation with his host that midnight had come before he left and set out for his bachelor chambers in the Temple; it was, indeed, by the fraction of a second that he caught the last east-bound train at Sloane Square. The train was almost destitute of passengers; the car which he himself entered, a first-class smoking compartment, was otherwise empty; no one came into it when the train reached Victoria. But at St. James's Park two men got in, and seated themselves opposite to Hetherwick. Now Hetherwick was a young barrister, going in for criminal practice, in whom the observant faculty was deeply implanted; it was natural to him to watch and to speculate on anything he saw. Because of this, and perhaps because he had just then nothing else to think about, he sat observing the new-comers; he found interest, amusement, and not a little profit in this sort of thing, and in trying to decide whether a given man was this, that, or something else.