THE QUEEN OF HEARTS By Wilkie Collins Contents LETTER OF DEDICATION THE QUEEN OF HEARTS CHAPTER I. OURSELVES CHAPTER II. OUR DILEMMA CHAPTER III. OUR QUEEN OF HEARTS CHAPTER IV. OUR GRAND PROJECT THE TEN DAYS THE FIRST DAY BROTHER OWEN’S STORY OF THE SIEGE OF THE BLACK COTTAGE THE SECOND DAY BROTHER GRIFFITH’S STORY of THE FAMILY SECRET CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III THE THIRD DAY BROTHER MORGAN’S STORY of THE DREAM-WOMAN CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV THE FOURTH DAY BROTHER GRIFFITH’S STORY of MAD MONKTON CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI THE FIFTH DAY BROTHER MORGAN’S STORY of THE DEAD HAND THE SIXTH DAY BROTHER GRIFFITH’S STORY of THE BITER BIT THE SEVENTH DAY BROTHER OWEN’S STORY of THE PARSON’S SCRUPLE CHAPTER I CHAPTER II THE EIGHTH DAY BROTHER GRIFFITH’S STORY of A PLOT IN PRIVATE LIFE CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI THE NINTH DAY BROTHER MORGAN’S STORY of FAUNTLEROY CHAPTER I CHAPTER II THE TENTH DAY BROTHER OWEN’S STORY of ANNE RODWAY THE NIGHT THE MORNING LETTER OF DEDICATION. TO EMILE FORGUES. At a time when French readers were altogether unaware of the existence of any books of my writing, a critical examination of my novels appeared under your signature in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. I read that article, at the time of its appearance, with sincere pleasure and sincere gratitude to the writer, and I have honestly done my best to profit by it ever since. At a later period, when arrangements were made for the publication of my novels in Paris, you kindly undertook, at some sacrifice of your own convenience, to give the first of the series—“The Dead Secret”—the great advantage of being rendered into French by your pen. Your excellent translation of “The Lighthouse” had already taught me how to appreciate the value of your assistance; and when “The Dead Secret” appeared in its French form, although I was sensibly gratified, I was by no means surprised to find my fortunate work of fiction, not translated, in the mechanical sense of the word, but transformed from a novel that I had written in my language to a novel that you might have written in yours. I am now about to ask you to confer one more literary obligation on me by accepting the dedication of this book, as the earliest acknowledgment which it has been in my power to make of the debt I owe to my critic, to my translator, and to my friend.