Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) The Seven Secrets BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX _Author of "The Gamblers," "The Under-Secretary," "Whoso findeth a Wife," "Of Royal Blood," etc._ _Second Edition_ London: HUTCHINSON & CO. PATERNOSTER ROW 1903 A. C. FOWLER, PRINTER, MOORFIELDS, LONDON. WILLIAM LE QUEUX'S NOVELS. "As a recounter of stories of mingled mystery and adventure, Mr. William Le Queux is certainly among the best living writers."--_The Athenaeum._ "It is interesting that Queen Alexandra is a great reader of novels of mystery and adventure, and that she is one of Mr. Le Queux's most ardent admirers. Long ago, when his 'Zoraida' was issued, she gave an order to a well-known Piccadilly bookseller for all Mr. Le Queux's books, past and future, and an early copy of each of that writer's books reaches her."--_The Queen._ "The name of William Le Queux is well known to novel-readers as that of one who can weave the most wonderful mysteries and elaborate the most thrilling plots that are to be met with in the fiction of to-day. His books are read with the avidity of intense curiosity, for the string of events described are of the kind that demand attention until the end is reached and everything made clear."--_Literary World._ "Mr. William Le Queux's name is favourably known to all readers of sensational fiction. He elaborates the most wonderful plots, and holds his reader breathless to the end, for it is only quite at the end that light is allowed to break through the entanglement of circumstance, or the perplexities brought about by the shock of temperament."--_Daily News._ "Mr. William Le Queux's novels are one of my chief foibles. I can always read his stories greedily, and 'Free Lancers' should buy his books."--Mr. CLEMENT SCOTT in the _Free Lance._ _Crown 8vo, 6s._ THE UNDER-SECRETARY. Third Edition. THE GAMBLERS. Second Edition. OF ROYAL BLOOD. Third Edition. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCES AMBLER JEVONS 9 II. "A VERY UGLY SECRET" 15 III. THE COURTENAYS 20 IV. A NIGHT CALL 27 V. DISCLOSES A MYSTERY 33 VI. IN WHICH I MAKE A DISCOVERY 43 VII. THE MAN SHORT AND HIS STORY 54 VIII. AMBLER JEVONS IS INQUISITIVE 65 IX. SHADOWS 76 X. WHICH PUZZLES THE DOCTORS 87 XI. CONCERNS MY PRIVATE AFFAIRS 98 XII. I RECEIVE A VISITOR 109