UNRAVELLED KNOTS BY BARONESS ORCZY NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1923, 1924, 1925, AND 1926, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE COMPANY UNRAVELLED KNOTS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS I THE MYSTERY OF THE KHAKI TUNIC II THE MYSTERY OF THE INGRES MASTERPIECE III THE MYSTERY OF THE PEARL NECKLACE IV THE MYSTERY OF THE RUSSIAN PRINCE V THE MYSTERIOUS TRAGEDY IN BISHOP'S ROAD VI THE MYSTERY OF THE DOG'S TOOTH CLIFF VII THE TYTHERTON CASE VIII THE MYSTERY OF BRUDENELL COURT IX THE MYSTERY OF THE WHITE CARNATION X THE MYSTERY OF THE MONTMARTRE HAT XI THE MISER OF MAIDA VALE XII THE FULTON GARDENS MYSTERY XIII A MOORLAND TRAGEDY By BARONESS ORCZY UNRAVELLED KNOTS PIMPERNEL AND ROSEMARY THE HONOURABLE JIM THE TRIUMPH OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL NICOLETTE CASTLES IN THE AIR THE FIRST SIR PERCY HIS MAJESTY'S WELL-BELOVED THE LEAGUE OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL FLOWER O' THE LILY THE MAN IN GREY LORD TONY'S WIFE LEATHERFACE THE BRONZE EAGLE A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS THE LAUGHING CAVALIER "UNTO CAESAR" EL DORADO MEADOWSWEET THE NOBLE ROGUE THE HEART OF A WOMAN PETTICOAT RULE New York: George H. Doran Company UNRAVELLED KNOTS I THE MYSTERY OF THE KHAKI TUNIC §1 I cannot pretend to say how it all happened. I can but relate what occurred, leaving those of my friends who are versed in psychic matters to find a plausible explanation for the fact that on that horrible foggy afternoon I chanced to walk into that blameless teashop at that particular hour. Now, I had not been inside a teashop for years, and I had almost ceased to think of the Old Man in the Corner--the weird, spook-like creature with the baggy trousers, the huge horn-rimmed spectacles, and the thin claw-like hands that went on fidgeting, fidgeting, fidgeting with a piece of string, tying it with nervy deliberation into innumerable and complicated knots. And yet, when I walked into that teashop and saw him sitting in the corner by the fire, I was hardly conscious of surprise, but I did not think that he would recognise me. So I sat down at the next table to him, and when I thought that he was most intent on fidgeting with his piece of string, I stole surreptitious glances at him. The years seemed to have passed him by; he was just the same; his face no more wrinkled; his fingers were as agile and restless as they had been when last I saw him twenty years ago. Then all at once he spoke, just as he used to do, in the same cracked voice with the dry, ironic chuckle.