Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE LOST HEIR BY G. A. HENTY AUTHOR OF "STURDY AND STRONG," "RUJUB, THE JUGGLER," "BY ENGLAND'S AID," ETC., ETC. THE MERSHON COMPANY RAHWAY, N. J. NEW YORK CONTENTS. I. A BRAVE ACTION 1 II. IN THE SOUTH SEAS 14 III. A DEAF GIRL 27 IV. THE GYPSY 40 V. A GAMBLING DEN 52 VI. JOHN SIMCOE 65 VII. JOHN SIMCOE'S FRIEND 77 VIII. GENERAL MATHIESON'S SEIZURE 90 IX. A STRANGE ILLNESS 102 X. TWO HEAVY BLOWS 112 XI. A STARTLING WILL 124 XII. DR. LEEDS SPEAKS 137 XIII. NETTA VISITS STOWMARKET 150 XIV. AN ADVERTISEMENT 164 XV. VERY BAD NEWS 176 XVI. A FRESH CLEW 193 XVII. NETTA ACTS INDEPENDENTLY 206 XVIII. DOWN IN THE MARSHES 220 XIX. A PARTIAL SUCCESS 233 XX. A DINNER PARTY 247 XXI. A BOX AT THE OPERA 262 XXII. NEARING THE GOAL 274 XXIII. WALTER 287 XXIV. A NEW BARGE 301 XXV. A CRUSHING EXPOSURE 316 XXVI. A LETTER FROM ABROAD 329 [Illustration: SIMCOE RAN IN WITH HIS KNIFE AND ATTACKED THE TIGER. _--Page 4._] THE LOST HEIR. CHAPTER I. A BRAVE ACTION. A number of soldiers were standing in the road near the bungalow of Brigadier-General Mathieson, the officer in command of the force in the cantonments of Benares and the surrounding district.