[Illustration: She had recoiled into the narrow hall, driven by an uncontrollable revulsion.] THE SHADOW OF THE ROPE BY E.W. HORNUNG ILLUSTRATED BY HARVEY T. DUNN 1906 TO MY FRIEND EDWARD SHORTT CONTENTS Chapter I. The End of Their Life II. The Case for the Crown III. Name and Nature IV. The Man in the Train V. The Man in the Street VI. A Peripatetic Providence VII. A Morning Call VIII. The Dove and the Serpent IX. A Change of Scene X. A Slight Discrepancy XI. Another New Friend XII. Episode of the Invisible Visitor XIII. The Australian Room XIV. Battle Royal XV. A Chance Encounter XVI. A Match for Mrs. Venables XVII. Friends in Need XVIII. "They Which Were Bidden" XIX. Rachel's Champion XX. More Haste XXI. Worse Speed XXII. The Darkest Hour XXIII. Dawn XXIV. One Who Was Not Bidden XXV. A Point to Langholm XXVI. A Cardinal Point XXVII. The Whole Truth XXVIII. In the Matter of a Motive ILLUSTRATIONS She had recoiled into the narrow hall, driven by an uncontrollable revulsion. "I will!" she answered through her teeth--and she swept past him out of the room. "I'll tell you who I thought it was at first," said he, heartily. The Shadow of the Rope CHAPTER I THE END OF THEIR LIFE "It is finished," said the woman, speaking very quietly to herself. "Not another day, nor a night, if I can be ready before morning!" She stood alone in her own room, with none to mark the white-hot pallor of the oval face, the scornful curve of quivering nostrils, the dry lustre of flashing eyes. But while she stood a heavy step went blustering down two flights of stairs, and double doors slammed upon the ground floor. It was a little London house, with five floors from basement to attic, and a couple of rooms upon each, like most little houses in London; but this one had latterly been the scene of an equally undistinguished drama of real life, upon which the curtain was even now descending. Although a third was whispered by the world, the persons of this drama were really only two. Rachel Minchin, before the disastrous step which gave her that surname, was a young Australian lady whose apparent attractions were only equalled by her absolute poverty; that is to say, she had been born at Heidelberg, near Melbourne, of English parents more gentle than practical, who soon left her to fight the world and the devil with no other armory than a good face, a fine nature, and the pride of any heiress. It is true that Rachel also had a voice; but there was never enough of it to augur an income. At twenty, therefore, she was already a governess in the wilds, where women are as scarce as water, but where the man for Rachel did not breathe. A few years later she earned a berth to England as companion to a lady; and her fate awaited her on board.