Transcriber's Notes: 1. Original text provided by Walter Moore for Project Gutenberg Australia. https://gutenberg.org.au/ebooks17/1700671h.html 2. Publication date is 1891 per British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books page 491--https://books.google.com/books?id=_5ghAQAAMAAJ&pg Monsieur Judas A Paradox by Fergus Hume London: Spencer Blackett [1891] CONTENTS Chapter 1. - The Jarlchester Mystery Chapter 2. - A Curious Coincidence Chapter 3. - Purely theoretical Chapter 4. - The Evidence of the Chemist's Assistant Chapter 5. - Dr. Japix Speaks Chapter 6. - Monsieur Judas is Confidential Chapter 7. - An Unwilling Bride Chapter 8. - Mr. Spolger Tells a Story Chapter 9. - A Terrible Suspicion Chapter 10. - The Missing Letters Chapter 11. - No Smoke Without Fire Chapter 12. - The Spolger Soother Chapter 13. - The Craft of Monsieur Judas Chapter 14. - Who is Guilty? Chapter 15. - Monsieur Judas at Bay Chapter 16. - The Man Who Loved Her Chapter 17. - The Guessing of the Riddle Chapter 18. - How it was Done Chapter 19. - Mr. Fanks Finishes the Case Chapter 1 The Jarlchester Mystery Not an important place by any means, this sleepy little town lying at the foot of a low range of undulating hills, beside a slow-flowing river. A square-towered church of Norman architecture, very ancient and very grim; one principal narrow street, somewhat crooked in its course; other streets, narrower and more crooked, leading off on the one side to the sheltering hills, and on the other down to the muddy stream. Market-place octagonal in shape, with a dilapidated stone cross of the Plantagenet period in the centre; squat stone bridge, with massive piers, across the sullen gray waters; on the farther shore a few red-roofed farmhouses; beyond, fertile pastoral lands and the dim outline of distant hills. Picturesque in a quiet fashion certainly, but not striking in any way; a haven of rest for worn-out people weary of worldly troubles, but dull--intensely dull--for visionary youth longing for fame. The world beyond did not know Jarlchester, and Jarlchester did not know the world beyond, so accounts were thus equally balanced between them.