nds us
everywhere. We have but to look, wakeful and vigilant, abroad, and
from the age of Pelops to that of Borgia, the same crimes, though under
different garbs, will stalk on our paths. Each age comprehends in itself
specimens of every virtue and every vice which has ever inspired our
love or mowed our horror.

LONDON, November 1, 1846.

CONTENTS

PART THE FIRST

PROLOGUE TO PART THE FIRST

CHAPTER I A Family Group II Lucretia III Conferences IV Guy's Oak V
Household Treason VI The Will VII The Engagement VIII The Discovery IX A
Soul without Hope X The Reconciliation between Father and Son

EPILOGUE TO PART THE FIRST

PART THE SECOND

PROLOGUE TO PART THE SECOND

I The Coronation II Love at First Sight III Early Training for an
Upright Gentleman IV John Ardworth V The Weavers and the Woof VI The
Lawyer and the Body-snatcher VII The Rape of the Mattress VIII Percival
visits Lucretia IX The Rose beneath the Upas X The Rattle of the Snake
XI Love and Innocence XII Sudden Celebrity and Patient Hope XIII
The Loss of the Crossing XIV News from Grabman XV Varieties XVI The
Invitation to Laughton XVII The Waking of the Serpent XVIII Retrospect
XIX Mr. Grabman's Adventures XX More of Mrs. Joplin XXI Beck's Discovery
XXII The Tapestry Chamber XXIII The Shades on the Dial XXIV Murder,
towards his Design, moves like a Ghost XXV The Messenger speeds XXVI The
Spy flies XXVII Lucretia regains her Son XXVIII The Lots vanish within
the Urn

EPILOGUE TO PART THE SECOND

PART THE FIRST.

PROLOGUE TO PART THE FIRST.

In an apartment at Paris, one morning during the Reign of Terror, a man,
whose age might be somewhat under thirty, sat before a table covered
with papers, arranged and labelled with the methodical precision of a
mind fond of order and habituated to business. Behind him rose a tall
bookcase surmounted with a bust of Robespierre, and the shelves were
filled chiefly with works of a scientific character, amongst which the
greater number were on chemistry and medicine. There were to be seen
also many rare books on alchemy, the great Italian historians, some
English philosophical treatises, and a few manuscripts in Arabic. The
absence from this collection of the stormy literature of the day seemed
to denote that the owner was a quiet student, living apart from the
strife and passions of the Revolution. This supposition was, however,
disproved by certain papers on the table, which were formally