The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nebuly Coat, by John Meade Falkner

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Title: The Nebuly Coat

Author: John Meade Falkner

Release Date: October 11, 2007 [EBook #22943]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEBULY COAT ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Nebuly Coat, by John Meade Falkner.

________________________________________________________________________
This extraordinary book was acclaimed on its publication in 1903 as one
of the very best books ever written in the English language. We have
worked for this transcription from the first edition, which was given
two printings, of which we used the second.

There are not so many actors in the story that the reader is baffled,
and each of them is beautifully drawn, so that their characters stand
out clearly and consistently. It appears that the action of the story
was set in the 1860s.

There is a sudden death. Was it a murder? It was recorded as an
accidental death in the inquest. If it was a murder then who did it?
There is one possibility, but it is unthinkable.

Through a very minor accident the whole situation becomes clear: the
mystery is unravelled; the reasons for various earlier actions become
known to us.

From the very beginning of the book there is sustained tension, and our
interest is kept with ever increasing intensity until we reach the
extraordinary climax in the last words of the book.

________________________________________________________________________

THE NEBULY COAT, BY JOHN MEADE FALKNER.

PROLOGUE.

Sir George Farquhar, Baronet, builder of railway-stations, and
institutes, and churches, author, antiquarian, and senior partner of
Farquhar and Farquhar, leant back in his office chair and turned it
sideways to give more point to his remarks. Before him stood an
understudy, whom he was sending to superintend the restoration work at
Cullerne Minster.

"Well, good-bye, Westray; keep your eyes open, and don't forget that you
have an important job before you. The church is too big to hide
its light under a bushel, and this
Society-for-the-Conservation-of-National-Inheritances ha