The Doctor of Pimlico Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime   By: William Le Queux (1864-1927)

( The Doctor of Pimlico )]

THE DOCTOR OF PIMLICO

Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX

[Illustration]

A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York

Published by arrangement with The Macaulay Company

COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MACAULAY COMPANY

Printed in the U. S. A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE I. IN WHICH CERTAIN SUSPICIONS ARE EXCITED 9 II. THE COMING OF A STRANGER 21 III. INTRODUCES DOCTOR WEIRMARSH 32 IV. REVEALS TEMPTATION 47 V. IN WHICH ENID ORLEBAR IS PUZZLED 56 VI. BENEATH THE ELASTIC BAND 66 VII. CONCERNING THE VELVET HAND 78 VIII. PAUL LE PONTOIS 88 IX. THE LITTLE OLD FRENCHWOMAN 97 X. IF ANYONE KNEW 107 XI. CONCERNS THE PAST 114 XII. REVEALS A CURIOUS PROBLEM 125 XIII. THE MYSTERIOUS MR. MALTWOOD 134 XIV. WHAT CONFESSION WOULD MEAN 145 XV. THREE GENTLEMEN FROM PARIS 157 XVI. THE ORDERS OF HIS EXCELLENCY 168 XVII. WALTER GIVES WARNING 177 XVIII. THE ACCUSERS 187 XIX. IN WHICH A TRUTH IS HIDDEN 199 XX. IN WHICH A TRUTH IS TOLD 207 XXI. THE WIDENED BREACH 217 XXII. CONCERNING THE BELLAIRS AFFAIR 227 XXIII. THE SILENCE OF THE MAN BARKER 234 XXIV. WHAT THE DEAD MAN LEFT 245 XXV. AT THE CAFÉ DE PARIS 255 XXVI. WHICH IS "PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL" 265 XXVII. THE RESULT OF INVESTIGATION 274 XXVIII. THE SECRET OF THE LONELY HOUSE 285 XXIX. CONTAINS SOME STARTLING STATEMENTS 292 XXX. REVEALS A WOMAN'S LOVE 303 XXXI. IN WHICH SIR HUGH TELLS HIS STORY 310 XXXII. CONCLUSION 321

THE DOCTOR OF PIMLICO

Being the Disclosure of a Great Crime

CHAPTER I

IN WHICH CERTAIN SUSPICIONS ARE EXCITED

A GREY, sunless morning on the Firth of Tay.

Across a wide, sandy waste stretching away to the misty sea at Budden, four men were walking. Two wore uniform one an alert, grey haired general, sharp and brusque in manner, with many war ribbons across his tunic; the other a tall, thin faced staff captain, who wore the tartan of the Gordon Highlanders. With them were two civilians, both in rough shooting jackets and breeches, one about forty five, the other a few years his junior.

"Can you see them, Fellowes?" asked the general of the long legged captain, scanning the distant horizon with those sharp grey eyes which had carried him safely through many campaigns.

"No, sir," replied the captain, who was carrying the other's mackintosh. "I fancy they must be farther over to the left, behind those low mounds yonder."

"Haven't brought their battery into position yet, I suppose," snapped the old officer, as he swung along with the two civilians beside him.

Fred Tredennick, the taller of the two civilians, walked with a gait decidedly military, for, indeed, he was a retired major, and as the general had made a tour of inspection of the camp prior to walking towards where the mountain battery was manoeuvring, he had been chatting with him upon technical matters.

"I thought you'd like to see this mountain battery, Fetherston," exclaimed the general, addressing the other civilian. "We have lots of them on the Indian frontier, of course, and there were many of ours in Italy and Serbia."