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LOST MAN'S LANE
A SECOND EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AMELIA BUTTERWORTH
BY ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
(MRS. CHARLES ROHLFS)
Author of "That Affair Next Door," "The Leavenworth Case," "The Forsaken Inn," etc.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONSNEW YORK & LONDONThe Knickerbocker Press1899
COPYRIGHT, 1898BY ANNA KATHARINE ROHLFS
Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
Set up and electrotyped March, 1898. Reprinted March, 1898;April, 1898; July, 1898; Aug., 1898; Oct., 1898; Aug., 1899
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To ELIZABETH D. SHEPARD COUSIN AND FRIEND THIS BOOKIS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED
PREFACE
A word to my readers before they begin these pages.
As a woman of inborn principle and strict Presbyterian training, I hatedeception and cannot abide subterfuge. This is why, after a year or moreof hesitation, I have felt myself constrained to put into words the truehistory of the events surrounding the solution of that great mysterywhich made Lost Man's Lane the dread of the neighboring country.Feminine delicacy, and a natural shrinking from revealing to the worldcertain weaknesses on my part, inseparable from a true relation of thistale, led me to consent to the publication of that meagre and decidedlyfalsified account of the matter which has appeared in some of ourleading papers.
But conscience has regained its sway in my breast, and with all dueconfidence in your forbearance, I herein take my rightful place in theseannals, of whose interest and importance I now leave you to judge.
AMELIA BUTTERWORTH.
GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK.
CONTENTS
_BOOK I_ THE KNOLLYS FAMILY
I.--A VISIT FROM MR. GRYCE
II.--I AM TEMPTED
III.--I SUCCUMB
IV.--A GHOSTLY INTERIOR
V.--A STRANGE HOUSEHOLD
VI.--A SOMBRE EVENING
VII.--THE FIRST NIGHT
VIII.--ON THE STAIRS
IX.--A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
X.--SECRET INSTRUCTIONS
XI.--MEN, WOMEN, AND GHOSTS
XII.--THE PHANTOM COACH
XIII.--GOSSIP
XIV.--I FORGET MY AGE, OR, RATHER, REMEMBER IT
_BOOK II_ THE FLOWER PARLOR
XV.--LUCETTA FULFILS MY EXPECTATION OF HER
XVI.--LOREEN
XVII.--THE FLOWER PARLOR
XVIII.--THE SECOND NIGHT
XIX.--A KNOT OF CRAPE
XX.--QUESTIONS
XXI.--MOTHER JANE
XXII.--THE THIRD NIGHT
_BOOK III_ FORWARD AND BACK
XXIII.--ROOM 3, HOTEL CARTER
XXIV.--THE ENIGMA OF NUMBERS
XXV.--TRIFLES, BUT NOT TRIFLING
XXVI.--A POINT GAINED
XXVII.--THE TEXT WITNESSETH
XXVIII.--AN INTRUSION
XXIX.--IN THE CELLAR
XXX.--INVESTIGATION
XXXI.--STRATEGY
XXXII.--RELIEF
_BOOK IV_ THE BIRDS OF THE AIR
XXXIII.--LUCETTA
XXXIV.--CONDITIONS
XXXV--THE DOVE
XXXVI.--AN HOUR OF STARTLING EXPERIENCES
XXXVII.--I ASTONISH MR. GRYCE AND HE ASTONISHES ME
XXXVIII.--A FEW WORDS
XXXIX.--UNDER A CRIMSON SKY
XL.--EXPLANATIONS
EPILOGUE
LOST MAN'S LANE
_BOOK I_
THE KNOLLYS FAMILY