Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page Scan Source: Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=f0g2AQAAMAAJ (University of Wisconsin--Madison) The Black Patch By the same Author THE SILENT HOUSE IN PIMLICO THE CRIMSON CRYPTOGRAM THE BISHOP'S SECRET THE JADE EYE THE TURNPIKE HOUSE A TRAITOR IN LONDON THE GOLDEN WANG-HO WOMAN THE SPHINX THE SECRET PASSAGE THE LONELY CHURCH THE OPAL SERPENT THE SILVER BULLET JOHN LONG, Publisher, London The Black Patch By Fergus Hume Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," etc. London John Long 13 and 14 Norris Street, Haymarket [All rights reserved] First Published in 1906 CONTENTS CHAP. 1. IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 2. THE HINTS OF DURBAN. 3. MR. ALPENNY'S PROPOSAL. 4. SEEN IN THE LIGHTNING. 5. MRS. SNOW'S DISCOVERY. 6. THE INQUEST. 7. THE INQUEST--continued. 8. THE WILL. 9. LADY WATSON. 10. MRS. LILLY'S STORY. 11. MAJOR RUCK. 12. VIVIAN EXPLAINS. 13. THE EX-BUTLER. 14. MRS. SNOW'S PAST. 15. A CURIOUS COINCIDENCE. 16. AN INTERRUPTION. 17. A STORY OF THE PAST. 18. WHAT ORCHARD KNEW. 19. DURBAN SPEAKS AT LAST. 20. A GREAT SURPRISE. 21. LADY WATSON'S STORY. 22. REVELATION. 23. NEMESIS. 24. THE NECKLACE. 25. WATERLOO. 26. WHAT TOOK PLACE. The Black Patch CHAPTER I IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN "Of course he's a wretch, dear; but oh!"--with an ecstatic expression--"what a nice wretch!" "I see; you marry the adjective." "The man, Beatrice, the man. Give me a real man and I ask for nothing better. But the genuine male is so difficult to find nowadays." "Really! Then you have been more successful than the majority." "How sarcastic, how unfriendly! I did look for sympathy." Beatrice embraced her companion affectionately. "You have it, Dinah. I give all sympathy and all good wishes to yourself and Jerry. May you be very happy as Mr. and Mrs. Snow!" "Oh, we shall, we shall! Jerry would make an undertaker happy!" "Undertakers generally are--when business is good." "Oh! you are quite too up-to-date in your talk, Beatrice Hedge." "That is strange, seeing how I live in a dull country garden like a snail, or a cabbage." "Like a wild rose, dear. At least Vivian would say so." "Mr. Paslow says more than he means," responded Beatrice, blushing redder than the flower mentioned, "and I dare say Jerry does also." "No, dear. Jerry hasn't sufficient imagination." "He ought to have, being a journalist." "Those are the very people who never imagine anything. They find their facts on every hedge." "Is that an unworthy pun on my name?" "Certainly not, Miss Hedge," said the other with dignity; "Jerry shan't find anything on you, or in you, save a friend, else I shall be horribly jealous. As to Vivian, he would murder his future brother-in-law if he caught him admiring you; and I don't want to begin my married life with a corpse." "Naturally. You wisely prefer the marriage service to the burial ditto, my clever Dinah."