The Cold Blooded Vengeance: 10 Mystery & Revenge Thrillers in One Volume. E. Phillips Oppenheim

shake. “She deserted him.”

      The hands fell away from before her face. She looked across the room with blazing eyes.

      “It is a lie!” she answered. “My husband has been as good a father to him as ever man could be. He is at Rugby now, captain of the school. Look!”

      She sprang to her feet, and taking a photograph from the mantelpiece, she laid it on the table before him. Ambrose Weare staggered to his feet. He was like a man who has received a blow, but still withholds belief in the thing which he has heard.

      “Look!” she cried again. “There is Nicholas! Don’t you recognize him? Won’t you believe now? He was going into the Army, and now, and now—” She sobbed.

      Ambrose Weare took the photograph and turned his back upon them both. For a few moments there was nothing to be heard in the room but the ticking of the clock. Then there was another sound—the sound of a dry, hard sob. Ambrose Weare laid down the photograph and took up his carefully-brushed silk hat and gloves. There was no sign of emotion in his face. It seemed impossible that the sob could have come from him. He turned as though in farewell to Letheringcourt. His manner was once more the manner of the confidential clerk of fifteen years’ service.

      “There has been a mistake,” he said. “You will be so kind, sir, as to overlook my rash statements. I have thought it better for the interests of the firm to invest large sums of money abroad. You will find the particulars here,” he added, laying a roll of papers upon the table. “There are one hundred and forty thousand pounds invested in European banks, and nearly sixty thousand in New York. You can obtain credit to-morrow by cabling. You will excuse me, sir, if I hurry away? There is a little matter—a little matter left.”

      He was at the door before they could stop him. Husband and wife looked at one another in fear and wonder. The shadow of this terrible thing was still between them—the man who had left the room—Ambrose Weare, her husband!

      “In God’s name,” she cried, “what can we do?”

      From outside came the answer to her question. They heard the shot, the sound of a fall, the hurrying of servants. They did not need to be told! A white-faced footman threw open the door.

      “The gentleman who has just left, sir!” he exclaimed, breathlessly.

      “Well?” Letheringcourt asked.

      “He has shot himself in the hall, sir,” the man answered. “He is dead!”

      THE AVENGER

       Table of Contents

Table of Contents

       I. A Mysterious Visitor

       II. The Horror Of The Hansom

       III. Discussing The Crime

       IV. Under A Cloud

       V. On The Telephone

       VI. One Thousand Pounds’ Reward

       VII. The Colonel’s Daughter

       VIII. The Baroness Intervenes

       IX. A Box At The Alhambra

       X. Outcast

       XI. False Sentiment

       XII. Tidings From The Cape

       XIII. Searching The Chambers

       XIV. The Dead Man’s Brother

       XV. The Lawyer’s Suggestion

       XVI. A Dinner In The Strand

       XVII. A Confession Of Love

       XVIII. An Amateur Detective

       XIX. Desperate Wooing

       XX. Stabbed Through The Heart

       XXI. The Flight Of Louise

       XXII. The Château Of Étarpe

       XXIII. A Passionate Pilgrim

       XXIV. An Invitation To Dinner

       XXV. The Man In The Yellow Boots

       XXVI. Madame De Melbain

       XXVII. The Spy

       XXVIII. The Scene In The Avenue

       XXIX. A Substantial Ghost

       XXX. The Queen Of Mexonia

       XXXI. Returned From The Tomb

       XXXII. At The Hôtel Splendide

       XXXIII. A Hand In The Game

       XXXIV. An Ill-Assorted Couple

       XXXV. His Wife

       XXXVI. The Murdered Man’s Effects

       XXXVII.