The Lost Million By William Le Queux Published by George Newnes, Limited, London. This edition dated 1915. The Lost Million, by William Le Queux. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ THE LOST MILLION, BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX. CHAPTER ONE. DESCRIBES A MAN AND HIS SECRET. "See! It's--it's in my kit-bag, over there! The thing--the Thing at which the whole world will stand aghast!" The thin, white-faced, grey-bearded man lying on his back in bed roused himself with difficulty, and with skinny finger pointed at his strong but battered old leather bag lying in the corner of the small hotel bedroom. "The keys--on my chain--Mr Kemball--" he gasped faintly, his face slowly flushing. "Open it, quick!--ah no! you can't deceive me, my dear fellow. I'm dying! I heard what the doctor told you--though he only whispered. But, Mr Kemball, although you are a young man, I--I'm going to trust you with a--with a strange responsibility. I--I trust you because you were so very kind to me on board. They all shunned me--all save you! They didn't know my real name,"--and the old man chuckled bitterly to himself--"and they were not likely to!" "You were unwell on the voyage, Mr Arnold, and it was surely my duty to--" "Duty! What duty do you owe to me?--a perfect stranger--an adventurer for aught you know!" cried the old fellow with whom I had formed such a curious friendship. "No, Mr Kemball, you have acted as a real man, as a friend--one of the few friends one meets in this hard, workaday world," and he clutched wildly at his throat, while his sunken cheeks slowly assumed a hectic flush. "Unlock the bag--get it out--before-- before I lose my senses," he added. I took from the dressing-table the bunch of keys attached to his steel watch-chain, and was crossing the room towards the bag when he exclaimed-- "Listen, Mr Kemball! I'm a dying man. Will you make a solemn promise to me? Will you grant me one last earnest request? In half an hour-- perhaps before--I shall be lying here dead. But I'm still alive--a man who has seen much, who knows strange things--a man who has lived through much, and who has stood by and seen men die around him like flies. God! If I dare only tell you half--but--" "Well, Mr Arnold," I asked quietly, returning to the bedside and looking into the pinched grey face, "how do you wish me to act?" "I have already written it here--I wrote it on board ship, after my first seizure," he said, slowly drawing a crumpled and bulky envelope from beneath his pillow and handing it to me with trembling fingers. "Will you promise not to open it until after I have been placed in the grave, and to act as I have requested?" "Most certainly, Mr Arnold," was my reply. "A promise given to one who is about to pass to the Beyond is sacred."