Produced by Charles Bowen from page scans provided by the Internet Web Archive (University of Toronto) Transcriber's Note: 1. Page scan source: The Internet Web Archive https://archive.org/details/loudwatertragedy00speiuoft THE LOUDWATER TRAGEDY BY T. W. SPEIGHT AUTHOR OF "THE MYSTERIES OF HERON DYKE," "HOODWINKED," "BACK TO LIFE," ETC. London CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1893 CONTENTS CHAP. PROLOGUE. I. ON THE EDGE OF A SECRET. II. WHO IS MRS. WINSLADE? III. THE SECRET TOLD. IV. IN WHICH MISS SUDLOW SPEAKS HER MIND. V. A FAMILY CONFERENCE AND WHAT CAME OF IT. VI. IN WHICH MISS SUDLOW HAS HER WAY. VII. PERSONAL TO PHIL. VIII. PHIL TAKES UP THE TRAIL AFRESH. IX. A DEADLOCK. X. UNCHRISTIAN CHARITY. XI. FANNY AT LOUDWATER HOUSE. XII. MRS. MELRAY THE YOUNGER IN A NEW LIGHT. XIII. MRS. MELRAY'S STATEMENT. XIV. THE STATEMENT CONCLUDED. XV. A SCRAP OF PAPER. XVI. A FRESH LINE OF INQUIRY. XVII. "A MAN I AM, CROSS'D WITH ADVERSITY." XVIII. AN UNLOOKED-FOR DEVELOPMENT. XIX. AN UNAVOIDABLE NECESSITY. XX. "WE MUST SPEAK BY THE CARD." XXI. THE TRUTH AT LAST. XXII. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. THE LOUDWATER TRAGEDY. PROLOGUE. THE STORY OF THE CRIME. 12 Leighton Place, Worthing. _Thursday_. "My Dear Phil.--By this post I send you a copy of a certain penny weekly journal entitled _The Family Cornucopia_, which, for lack of something better to read, I picked up the other day at a bookstall while on my way to the beach. "Naturally, you will at once say to yourself (for you cannot deny, dear, that you occasionally express yourself with somewhat unnecessary emphasis over trifles), 'What the dickens does the girl mean by bothering me with her trumpery penny rubbish?' Well, that is just the point about which 'the girl' is going to enlighten you.