Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE FOUR-POOLS MYSTERY BY JEAN WEBSTER NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1908 Copyright, 1907, 1908, by THE CENTURY CO. Published, _March, 1908_ THE DE VINNE PRESS [Illustration: In the Cave] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I INTRODUCING TERRY PATTEN 3 II I ARRIVE AT FOUR-POOLS PLANTATION 14 III I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE HA'NT 26 IV THE HA'NT GROWS MYSTERIOUS 39 V CAT-EYE MOSE CREATES A SENSATION 58 VI WE SEND FOR A DETECTIVE 76 VII WE SEND HIM BACK AGAIN 92 VIII THE ROBBERY REMAINS A MYSTERY 108 IX THE EXPEDITION TO LURAY 119 X THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAVE 135 XI THE SHERIFF VISITS FOUR-POOLS 143 XII I MAKE A PROMISE TO POLLY 151 XIII THE INQUEST 168 XIV THE JURY'S VERDICT 186 XV FALSE CLUES 196 XVI TERRY COMES 206 XVII WE SEARCH THE ABANDONED CABINS 222 XVIII TERRY ARRIVES AT A CONCLUSION 247 XIX TERRY FINDS THE BONDS 262 XX POLLY MAKES A CONFESSION 271 XXI MR. TERENCE KIRKWOOD PATTEN OF NEW YORK 285 XXII THE DISCOVERY OF CAT-EYE MOSE 296 XXIII MOSE TELLS HIS STORY 314 XXIV POLLY MAKES A PROPOSAL 329 THE FOUR-POOLS MYSTERY CHAPTER I INTRODUCING TERRY PATTEN It was through the Patterson-Pratt forgery case that I first made the acquaintance of Terry Patten, and at the time I should have been more than willing to forego the pleasure. Our firm rarely dealt with criminal cases, but the Patterson family were long standing clients, and they naturally turned to us when the trouble came. Ordinarily, so important a matter would have been put in the hands of one of the older men, but it happened that I was the one who had drawn up the will for Patterson Senior the night before his suicide, therefore the brunt of the work devolved upon me. The most unpleasant part of the whole affair was the notoriety. Could we have kept it from the papers, it would not have been so bad, but that was a physical impossibility; Terry Patten was on our track, and within a week he had brought down upon us every newspaper in New York.