THE CLOVEN FOOT
THE CLOVEN FOOT
A Novel
BY THE AUTHOR OF
‘LADY AUDLEY’S SECRET,’ ‘AURORA FLOYD,’
ETC.
Stereotyped Edition.
LONDON
JOHN AND ROBERT MAXWELL
MILTON HOUSE, SHOE LANE, FLEET STREET
[All rights reserved]
CONTENTS.
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| I. | The Heir Presumptive | [7] |
| II. | Jasper Treverton’s Will | [19] |
| III. | A Mysterious Visitor | [24] |
| IV. | La Chicot | [33] |
| V. | A Disappointed Lover | [45] |
| VI. | La Chicot has her Own Way | [51] |
| VII. | ‘A Little While such Lips as Thine to Kiss’ | [60] |
| VIII. | ‘Days that are Over, Dreams that are Done’ | [76] |
| IX. | ‘And art Thou Come! and art Thou True!’ | [86] |
| X. | Engaged | [94] |
| XI. | No Trousseau | [102] |
| XII. | An Ill-Omened Wedding | [107] |
| XIII. | The Settlement | [117] |
| XIV. | ‘You have but to say the Word’ | [120] |
| XV. | Edward Clare Discovers a Likeness | [126] |
| XVI. | Shall it be ‘Yes’ or ‘No’? | [134] |
| XVII. | Murder | [140] |
| XVIII. | What the Diamonds were Worth | [146] |
| XIX. | ‘To a Deep Lawny Dell they Came’ | [156] |
| XX. | The Church near Camelot | [163] |
| XXI. | Halcyon Days | [169] |
| XXII. | A Village Iago | [174] |
| XXIII. | ‘In the Meanwhile the Skies ’gan Rumble Sore’ | [183] |
| XXIV. | ‘And Purple Light Shone over All’ | [188] |
| XXV. | The Children’s Party | [192] |
| XXVI. | A Disinterested Parent | [196] |
| XXVII. | Desrolles is not Communicative | [211] |
| XXVIII. | Edward Clare goes on a Voyage of Discovery | [217] |
| XXIX. | George Gerard | [228] |
| XXX. | Thou art the Man | [233] |
| XXXI. | Why don’t You trust Me? | [241] |
| XXXII. | On His Defence | [246] |
| XXXIII. | At the Morgue | [255] |
| XXXIV. | George Gerard in Danger | [260] |
| XXXV. | On a Voyage of Discovery | [268] |
| XXXVI. | Kergariou’s Wife | [274] |
| XXXVII. | The Tenant from Beechampton | [280] |
| XXXVIII. | Celia’s Lovers | [285] |
| XXXIX. | On Suspicion | [301] |
| XL. | Mr. Leopold asks Irrelevant Questions | [307] |
| XLI. | Mrs. Evitt makes a Revelation | [312] |
| XLII. | The Undertaker’s Evidence | [325] |
| XLIII. | An Old Lady’s Diary | [332] |
| XLIV. | Three Witnesses | [338] |
| XLV. | The Hunt for Desrolles | [341] |
| Epilogue | [349] |
THE CLOVEN FOOT.
CHAPTER I.
THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE.
The air was thick with falling snow, and the country side looked a formless mass of chilly whiteness, as the south-western mail train carried John Treverton on a lonely midnight journey. There were not many people in the train on that bleak night, and Mr. Treverton had a second-class compartment to himself.
He had tried to sleep, but had failed ignominiously in the endeavour, waking with a start, after five minutes’ doze, and remaining broad awake for an hour at a time pondering upon the perplexities of his life, and hating himself for the follies that had made it what it was. It had been a very hard life of late, for the world had gone ill with John Treverton. He had begun his career with a small fortune and a commission in a crack regiment, and, after wasting his patrimony and selling his commission, he was now a gentleman at large, living as best he might, no one but himself knew how.
He was going to a quiet village in Devonshire, a far-away nook under the shadow of Dartmoor, in obedience to a telegram that told him a rich kinsman was dying, and summoned him to the death-bed. The day had been when he hoped to inherit this kinsman’s property; not because the old man had ever cared for him, but because he, John, was the only relative Jasper Treverton had in the world; but that hope had vanished when the lonely old bachelor adopted an orphan girl to whom he was reported to have attached himself strongly. The ci-devant Captain had never seen this young person, and it is not to be supposed that he cherished very kindly feelings towards her. He had made up his mind that she was a deep and designing creature, who would, of course, play her cards in such a manner as to induce old Jasper Treverton to leave her everything.