Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page scan source: La Trobe University Library (Australia) http://arrow.latrobe.edu.au/store/3/4/6/2/6/public/B26994902.pdf [Illustration: Front Cover] _The Mikado Jewel_ By FERGUS HUME Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "The Purple Fern," "The Mystery of a Motor Cab," etc., etc., etc. London: EVERETT & CO. 42, Essex Street, Strand, W.C. 1910 THE CHAPEL RIVER PRESS KINGSTON SURREY CONTENTS CHAP. I.--A MYSTERIOUS MISSION II.--WHAT HAPPENED III.--AFTERWARDS IV.--THE INQUEST V.--THE INQUEST CONTINUED VI.--A FAMILY LEGEND VII.--THE GARDEN OF SLEEP VIII.--THEODORE IX.--BASIL X.--THE NEW-COMER XI.--HARRY'S SWEETHEART XII.--A JAPANESE DIPLOMATIST XIII.--THE UNEXPECTED XIV.--THE JEWEL XV.--PENTREDDLE'S STORY XVI.--LOVERS XVII.--TROUBLE XVIII.--PLEASURE XIX.--THE TRUTH XX.--A FURTHER EXPLANATION THE MIKADO JEWEL CHAPTER I A MYSTERIOUS MISSION From the main thoroughfare of Bayswater, where the shops display their goods and the tides of life run strongly, Crook Street extends its long line of ugly dwellings to a considerable distance. Its shape suggests a shepherd's crook,--hence undoubtedly the name--as it finally terminates in a curved _cul de sac_, the end of which is blocked by Number One hundred and eleven. This is an imposing, if somewhat dilapidated mansion, standing in its own limited grounds, which are surrounded by a high crumbling wall of brick, more or less overgrown with grimy ivy. There is a small front garden, planted with stunted shrubs; a narrow passage on either side of the house, screened midway by green-painted trellis-work, and--at the back--a worn-out lawn, dominated by a funereal cedar. Beneath this, through rain and sunshine, is a rustic table and a rustic seat, where the boarders have afternoon tea in summertime. Everywhere there is a feeling of dampness. The mansion is of Georgian architecture, square and heavy, greatly in need of a coat of paint, which it has not received for years. With its discoloured surface, once white, its cheap stucco scaling off in leprous patches, its trails of moss and soot, never to be washed off by any rain, however violent, it looks a tumbledown, ruinous sort of dwelling. Or, as an imaginative boarder once suggested, it is like a derelict hulk, stranded in a stagnant backwater of Life's mighty River. It is certainly doleful, and infinitely dreary, only securing inhabitants by reason of the unusually cheap board and lodging to be obtained under its weather-worn roof.