Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Cori Samuel and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. VERNER'S PRIDE MRS. HENRY WOOD ILLUSTRATED BY HAROLD PIFFARD [Illustration] LONDON & GLASGOW COLLINS' CLEAR-TYPE PRESS CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. RACHEL FROST 7 II. THE WILLOW POND 19 III. THE NEWS BROUGHT HOME 26 IV. THE CROWD IN THE MOONLIGHT 32 V. THE TALL GENTLEMAN IN THE LANE 36 VI. DINAH ROY'S "GHOST" 47 VII. THE REVELATION AT THE INQUEST 55 VIII. ROBIN'S VOW 60 IX. MR. VERNER'S ESTRANGEMENT 67 X. LADY VERNER 72 XI. LUCY TEMPEST 77 XII. DR. WEST'S HOME 86 XIII. A CONTEMPLATED VOYAGE 96 XIV. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING 104 XV. A TROUBLED MIND 106 XVI. AN ALTERED WILL 114 XVII. DISAPPEARED 118 XVIII. PERPLEXITY 125 XIX. THE REVELATION TO LADY VERNER 129 XX. DRY WORK 136 XXI. A WHISPERED SUSPICION 139 XXII. PECKABY'S SHOP 145 XXIII. DAYS AND NIGHTS OF PAIN 156 XXIV. DANGEROUS COMPANIONSHIP 164 XXV. HOME TRUTHS FOR LIONEL 168 XXVI. THE PACKET IN THE SHIRT-DRAWER 175 XXVII. DR. WEST'S SANCTUM 181 XXVIII. MISS DEBORAH'S ASTONISHMENT 191 XXIX. AN INTERCEPTED JOURNEY 196 XXX. NEWS FROM AUSTRALIA 200 XXXI. ROY EATING HUMBLE PIE 209 XXXII. "IT'S APPLEPLEXY" 215 XXXIII. JAN'S REMEDY FOR A COLD 218 XXXIV. IMPROVEMENTS 225 XXXV. BACK AGAIN 231 XXXVI. A MOMENT OF DELIRIUM 237 XXXVII. NEWS FOR LADY VERNER: AND FOR LUCY 248 XXXVIII. THE MISSES WEST EN PAPILLOTES 254 XXXIX. BROTHER JARRUM 258 XL. A VISIT OF CEREMONY 268 XLI. A SPECIAL VISION TOUCHING MRS. PECKABY 278 XLII. A SURPRISE FOR MRS. TYNN 287 XLIII. LIONEL'S PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS 298 XLIV. FARMER BLOW'S WHITE-TAILED PONY 307 XLV. STIFLED WITH DISHONOUR 312 XLVI. SHADOWED-FORTH EMBARRASSMENT 318 XLVII. THE YEW-TREE ON THE LAWN 328 XLVIII. MR. DAN DUFF IN CONVULSIONS 336 XLIX. "I SEE'D A DEAD MAN!" 338 L. MR. AND MRS. VERNER 349 LI. COMMOTION IN DEERHAM 353 LII. MATTHEW FROST'S NIGHT ENCOUNTER 360 LIII. MASTER CHEESE'S FRIGHT--OTHER FRIGHTS 370 LIV. MRS. DUFF'S BILL 380 LV. SELF WILL 390 LVI. A LIFE HOVERING IN THE BALANCE 396 LVII. A WALK IN THE RAIN 401