The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and AdventureTracy, Louis
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The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and Adventure
Tracy, Louis
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
"And I have cherished your face in my waking dreams ever since. You
looked like a fairy. And how you stuck up for me against your uncle!"
"Tell me, what did you think of me when you saw me standing disconsolate
in the park?"
Tell, tell, tell--it was nothing but sweet questions and sweet
assurances that this pair of turtle doves had been seeking each other
through all eternity.
Their wedding was fixed for the middle of July. Sharp work, it may be
said, but what need was there to wait? Mr. Abingdon was greatly pleased
with Philip's choice, and urged him to settle down at the earliest
possible date.
Mrs. Atherley, too, raised no protest. The sooner her beloved daughter
was married, the more rapidly would life resume its normal aspect; they
would not be long parted from each other.
The young people had no housekeeping cares. Philip's mansions were
replete with all that could be desired by the most fastidious taste. His
yacht was brought to the Solent, so that they could run over to
Portsmouth on a motor car to inspect her, and Evelyn instantly
determined that their honeymoon in Etretat should be curtailed to permit
them to go for a three-weeks' cruise around the British coast.
This suggestion, of course, appealed to Philip. Nothing could be more
delightful. He whispered in Evelyn's ear that he would hug her for the
idea at the first available opportunity.
One morning, a day of June rain, a letter reached Philip. It bore the
printed superscription, "The Hall, Beltham, Devon," but this was struck
out and another address substituted. It was written in a scrawling,
wavering hand, the caligraphy of a man old and very ill. It read:
"MY DEAR PHILIP: I am lying at the point of death, so I use no
labored words to explain why I address you in such manner. I want
to tell you how bitterly I regret the injustice I showed to your
dear mother and my sister. If, of your charity, you will come to my
bedside, and assure a feeble old man of your forgiveness, I can
meet the coming ordeal strong in the certainty that Mary Anson will
not refuse what you have given in her behalf.
"Your sorrowing uncle,
"PHILIP MORLAND."
With this piteous epistle was inclosed another.
"DEAR MR. ANSON: I join my earnest supplication to my husband's
that you will console his last hours with a visit. He blames
himself for what has happened in the past. Yet the fault was more
mine than his--far more. For his sake I willingly admit it. And I
have been punished for my sin. Ruined in fortune, with my husband
at death's door, I am indeed a sorrowing woman.
"Yours faithfully,
"LOUISA MORLAND."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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