Produced by Geetu Melwani, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE SILENT HOUSE BY FERGUS HUME New York C. H. DOSCHER Copyright, 1907, by C. H. DOSCHER [Illustration: I have ample time at my command, and I shall only be too happy to place it and myself at your service] CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I--The Tenant of the Silent House 1 II--Shadows on the Blind 10 III--An Unsatisfactory Explanation 20 IV--Mrs. Kebby's Discovery 29 V--The Talk of the Town 38 VI--Mrs. Vrain's Story 47 VII--The Assurance Money 56 VIII--Diana Vrain 65 IX--A Marriage That Was a Failure 74 X--The Parti-Coloured Ribbon 83 XI--Further Discoveries 93 XII--The Veil and Its Owner 101 XIII--Gossip 111 XIV--The House in Jersey Street 121 XV--Rhoda and the Cloak 131 XVI--Mrs. Vrain at Bay 141 XVII--A Denial 151 XVIII--Who Bought the Cloak? 160 XIX--The Defence of Count Ferruci 169 XX--A New Development 179 XXI--Two Months Pass 187 XXII--At Berwin Manor 196 XXIII--A Startling Theory 206 XXIV--Lucian Is Surprised 215 XXV--A Dark Plot 224 XXVI--The Other Man's Wife 233 XXVII--A Confession 241 XXVIII--The Name of the Assassin 252 XXIX--Link Sets a Trap 262 XXX--Who Fell into the Trap 272 XXXI--A Strange Confession 282 XXXII--The Confession (_continued_) 291 XXXIII--What Rhoda Had to Say 301 XXXIV--The End of It All 310 THE SILENT HOUSE CHAPTER I THE TENANT OF THE SILENT HOUSE Lucian Denzil was a briefless barrister, who so far departed from the traditions of his brethren of the long robe as not to dwell within the purlieus of the Temple. For certain private reasons, not unconnected with economy, he occupied rooms in Geneva Square, Pimlico; and, for the purposes of his profession, repaired daily, from ten to four, to Serjeant's Inn, where he shared an office with a friend equally briefless and poor. This state of things sounds hardly enviable, but Lucian, being young and independent to the extent of L300 a year, was not dissatisfied with his position. As his age was only twenty-five, there was ample time, he thought, to succeed in his profession; and, pending that desirable consummation, he cultivated the muses on a little oatmeal, after the fashion of his kind. There have been lives less happily circumstanced.