She had recoiled into the narrow hall, driven by an uncontrollable revulsion.

THE SHADOW OF THE ROPE

BY E.W. HORNUNG

ILLUSTRATED BY HARVEY T. DUNN

1906

TO MY FRIEND
EDWARD SHORTT

CONTENTS

I. The End of Their Life

II. The Case for the Crown

III. Name and Nature

IV. The Man in the Train

V. The Man in the Street

VI. A Peripatetic Providence

VII. A Morning Call

VIII. The Dove and the Serpent

IX. A Change of Scene

X. A Slight Discrepancy

XI. Another New Friend

XII. Episode of the Invisible Visitor

XIII. The Australian Room

XIV. Battle Royal

XV. A Chance Encounter

XVI. A Match for Mrs. Venables

XVII. Friends in Need

XVIII. "They Which Were Bidden"

XIX. Rachel's Champion

XX. More Haste

XXI. Worse Speed

XXII. The Darkest Hour

XXIII. Dawn

XXIV. One Who Was Not Bidden

XXV. A Point to Langholm

XXVI. A Cardinal Point

XXVII. The Whole Truth

XXVIII. In the Matter of a Motive

ILLUSTRATIONS

She had recoiled into the narrow hall, driven by an uncontrollable revulsion.

"I will!" she answered through her teeth—and she swept past him out of the room.

"I'll tell you who I thought it was at first," said he, heartily.

The Shadow of the Rope

CHAPTER I

THE END OF THEIR LIFE

"It is finished," said the woman, speaking very quietly to herself. "Not another day, nor a night, if I can be ready before morning!"

She stood alone in her own room, with none to mark the white-hot pallor of the oval face, the scornful curve of quivering nostrils, the dry lustre of flashing eyes. But while she stood a heavy step went blustering down two flights of stairs, and double doors slammed upon the ground floor.

It was a little London house, with five floors from basement