CHAP. PAGE
[I.][The Whirlpool][1]
[II.][A £5,000,000 Deal][7]
[III.][Shadowed][17]
[IV.][On the Scent of a Mystery][19]
[V.][The First Move in the Game][29]
[VI.][The Beginning of a New Life][42]
[VII.][A Seat by the Arena][50]
[VIII.][Who and where is Rivière?][61]
[IX.][At Monte Carlo][69]
[X.][Larssen turns another Corner][73]
[XI.][A Letter From Rivière][83]
[XII.][The Second Meeting][87]
[XIII.][At the Maison Carrée][100]
[XIV.][By the Druids' Tower][107]
[XV.][Waiting the Verdict][111]
[XVI.][Only Pity!][123]
[XVII.][Rivière is Called Back][127]
[XVIII.][Not Wanted!][138]
[XIX.][A Throne-Room][148]
[XX.][Beaten to Earth][153]
[XXI.][The Bolted Door][171]
[XXII.][The Chameleon Mind][184]
[XXIII.][Larssen's Man Once Again][197]
[XXIV.][Confession][205]
[XXV.][White Lilac][216]
[XXVI.][A Challenge][221]
[XXVII.][Women's Weapons][225]
[XXVIII.][The Counter-Move][235]
[XXIX.][The Parting][247]
[XXX.][Heir to a Throne][254]
[XXXI.][The Reins had Slipped][264]
[XXXII.][The New Scheme][273]
[XXXIII.][Larssen's Appeal][278]
[XXXIV.][On Board the "Starlight"][285]
[XXXV.][Intervention][297]
[XXXVI.][Finality][304]
[Epilogue][311]

SWIRLING WATERS

CHAPTER I
THE WHIRLPOOL

On the crucial night of his career, 14 March, 191-, Clifford Matheson, financier, was speeding in a taxi-cab to the Gare de Lyon.

He was a clean-limbed man of thirty-seven. There was usually a look of masterfulness in the firm lines of his face, the straight, direct glance, the stiff, close-cut moustache. But to-night his eyes were tired, very tired. He leant back in a corner of the cab with drooping shoulders as though utterly world-weary.

At the station his wife and father-in-law were looking impatiently for his arrival. They stood at the door of their wagon-lit in the Côte d'Azur Rapide, searching the crowded platform for him. It was now ten to eight, and the express was timed to pull out of the Gare de Lyon at eight o'clock sharp.

"Late again!" growled Sir Francis Letchmere. "Clifford makes a deuced casual sort of husband. Bad form, you know!"