LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS
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[PART THE FIRST.]
CHAPTER
[I]. The Anonymous Letter.
[II.] Ellen Adair.
[III.] In Mrs. Gass's Parlour.
[IV.] Alone with the Truth.
[V.] Retrospect.
[VI.] Watching the Funeral.
[VII.] After the Funeral.
[VIII.] Madam's Listening Closet.
[IX.] In Lawyer Dale's Office.
[X.] Put to his Conscience..
[XI.] A Quiet Wedding.
[XII.] Jelly's Indiscretion.
[XIII.]Coming Home.

[PART THE SECOND.]

[I.]What was, and what might be.
[II.] Mrs. Gass amid the Workmen.
[III.] Morning Visitors.
[IV.] Three Letters for Dr. Rane.
[V.] Madam's Advice.
[VI.] Mary Dallory.
[VII.] Love among the Roses.
[VIII.] The Tontine.
[IX.] At the Seaside.
[X.] A Last Proposal.
[XI.] Under the Cedar-tree.
[XII.] An Interruption.
[XIII.] Panic.
[XIV.] What Jelly saw.
[XV.] Desolation.
[XVI.] In the Churchyard.
[XVII.] At Sir Nash Bohun's.
[XVIII.] Jelly's Troubles.
[XIX.] Coming Home to Die.
[XX.] Richard North's Revelation.
[XXI.] Under the Same Roof.
[XXII.] Tangled Threads.
[XXIII.] Jelly's Two Evening Visits.
[XXIV.] Mischief brewing in North Inlet.
[XXV.] Days of Pain.
[XXVI.] Mrs. Gass at Home.
[XXVII.] Once Again.
[XXVIII.] Coming very Near.
[XXIX.] In the Shrubbery.
[XXX.] Lying in Wait.
[XXXI.] Disturbing the Grave.
[XXXII.] A Night Expedition.

[PART THE THIRD.]
[I.] In Grosvenor Place.
[II.] No Hope.
[III.] Brought Home to him.
[IV.] Conclusion.

BESSY RANE.

[PART THE FIRST.]

[CHAPTER I.]

THE ANONYMOUS LETTER.

It was an intensely dark night. What with the mist that hung around from below, and the unusual gloom above, Dr. Rane began to think he might have done well to bring a lantern with him, to guide his steps up Ham Lane, when he should turn into it. He would not be able to spare time to pick his way there. A gentleman--so news had been brought to him--was lying in sudden extremity, and his services as a medical man were being waited for.

Straight down, on the road before him, at only half-a-mile distance, lay the village of Dallory; so called after the Dallory family, who had been of importance in the neighbourhood in the years gone by. This little off-shoot was styled Dallory Ham. The latter name had given rise to disputes amidst antiquarians. Some maintained that the word Ham was only a contraction of hamlet, and that the correct name would be Dallory Hamlet: others asserted that the appellation arose from the circumstance that the public green, or common, was in the shape of a ham. As both sides brought logic and irresistible proof to bear on their respective opinions, contention never flagged. At no very remote period the Ham had been a grassy waste, given over to stray donkeys, geese, and gipsies. They were done away with now that houses encircled it; pretty villas of moderate dimensions, some cottages and a few shops: the high-road ran, as it always had done, straight through the middle of it. Dallory Ham had grown to think itself of importance, especially since the time when two doctors had established themselves in it: Dr. Rane and Mr. Alexander. Both lived in what might be called the neck of the Ham, which was nearest to Dallory proper.

Standing with your face towards Dallory (in the direction the doctor was hastening), his house was on the right-hand side. He had only now turned out of it. Dallory Hall, to which place Dr. Rane had been summoned, stood a little beyond the entrance to the Ham, lying back on the right in its grounds, and completely hidden by trees. It was inhabited by Mr. North.

Oliver Rane had come forth in haste and commotion. He could not understand the message, excepting the one broad fact that Edmund North, Mr. North's eldest son, was supposed to be dying. The servant, who brought it, did not seem to understand it either. He spoke of an anonymous letter that had been received by Mr. North, of disturbance thereupon, of a subsequent encounter--a sharp, brief quarrel--between Edmund North and Mr. Alexander, the surgeon; and of some sort of fit in which Edmund North was now lying senseless.