CONTENTS
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCING MR. PETER RUFF
CHAPTER II. A NEW CAREER
CHAPTER III. VINCENT CAWDOR, COMMISSION AGENT
CHAPTER IV. THE INDISCRETION OF LETTY SHAW
CHAPTER V. DELILAH FROM STREATHAM
CHAPTER VI. THE LITTLE LADY FROM SERVIA
CHAPTER VII. THE DEMAND OF THE DOUBLE-FOUR
CHAPTER VIII. Mrs. BOGNOR’S STAR BOARDER
CHAPTER IX. THE PERFIDY OF MISS BROWN
CHAPTER X. WONDERFUL JOHN DORY
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER I. RECALLED BY THE DOUBLE-FOUR
CHAPTER II. PRINCE ALBERT’S CARD DEBTS
CHAPTER III. THE AMBASSADOR’S WIFE
CHAPTER IV. THE MAN PROM THE OLD TESTAMENT
CHAPTER V. THE FIRST SHOT
CHAPTER VI. THE SEVEN SUPPERS OF ANDREA KORUST
CHAPTER VII. MAJOR KOSUTH’S MISSION
CHAPTER VIII. THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
CHAPTER IX. THE GHOSTS OF HAVANA HARBOR
CHAPTER X. THE AFFAIR or AN ALIEN SOCIETY
CHAPTER XI. THE THIRTEENTH ENCOUNTER
There was nothing about the supper party on that particular Sunday evening in November at Daisy Villa, Green Street, Streatham, which seemed to indicate in any way that one of the most interesting careers connected with the world history of crime was to owe its very existence to the disaster which befell that little gathering. The villa was the residence and also—to his credit—the unmortgaged property of Mr. David Barnes, a struggling but fairly prosperous coal merchant of excellent character, some means, and Methodist proclivities. His habit of sitting without his coat when carving, although deprecated by his wife and daughter on account of the genteel aspirations of the latter, was a not unusual one in the neighbourhood; and coupled with the proximity of a cold joint of beef, his seat at the head of the table, and a carving knife and fork gra