Monsieur Judas E-Book

Fergus Hume

• Herausgeber: Fergus Hume
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Monsieur Judas: A Paradox written by prolific English novelist Fergus Hume.  This book is one of many works by him. It has already published in 1891. And now republish in ebook format. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy reading this book. 

Leseprobe

Monsieur Judas

A Paradox

By

Fergus Hume

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. The Jarlchester Mystery

Chapter 2. A Curious Coincidence

Chapter 3. Purely Theoretical

Chapter 4. The Evidence of the Chemist's Assistant

Chapter 5. Dr. Japix Speaks

Chapter 6. Monsieur Judas is Confidential

Chapter 7. An Unwilling Bride

Chapter 8. Mr. Spolger Tells a Story

Chapter 9. A Terrible Suspicion

Chapter 10. The Missing Letters

Chapter 11. No Smoke Without Fire

Chapter 12. The Spolger Soother

Chapter 13. The Craft of Monsieur Judas

Chapter 14. Who is Guilty?

Chapter 15. Monsieur Judas at Bay

Chapter 16. The Man Who Loved Her

Chapter 17. The Guessing of the Riddle

Chapter 18. How It Was Done

Chapter 19. Mr. Fanks Finishes the Case

Chapter 1. The Jarlchester Mystery

Not an important place by any means, this sleepy little town lying at the foot of a low range of undulating hills, beside a slow-flowing river. A square-towered church of Norman architecture, very ancient and very grim; one principal narrow street, somewhat crooked in its course; other streets, narrower and more crooked, leading off on the one side to the sheltering hills, and on the other down to the muddy stream. Market-place octagonal in shape, with a dilapidated stone cross of the Plantagenet period in the centre; squat stone bridge, with massive piers, across the sullen gray waters; on the farther shore a few red-roofed farmhouses; beyond, fertile pastoral lands and the dim outline of distant hills.

Picturesque in a quiet fashion certainly, but not striking in any way; a haven of rest for worn-out people weary of worldly troubles, but dull—intensely dull—for visionary youth longing for fame. The world beyond did not know Jarlchester, and Jarlchester did not know the world beyond, so accounts were thus equally balanced between them.

Being near Winchester, the ancient capital of Saxon England, it was asserted by archaeologists that Jarlchester, sleepy and dull as it was in the nineteenth century, had once been an important place. Jarl means Earl, and Chester signifies a camp; so those wiseacres asserted that the name Jarlchester meant the Camp of the Earl; from which supposition arose a fable that Jarl Godwin had once made the little town his head-quarters when in revolt against pious Edward who built St. Peter's of Westminster. As Godwin, however, according to history, never revolted against the King, and generally resided in London, the authenticity of the story must be regarded as doubtful. Nevertheless, Jarlchester folks firmly believed in it, and sturdily held to their belief against all evidence to the contrary, however clearly set forth.

They were a sleepy lot as a rule, those early-to-bed and early-to-rise country folk; for nothing had occurred for years to disturb their sluggish minds, so they had gradually sunk into a state of somnolent indifference, with few ideas beyond the weather and the crops.

Then Jarlchester, unimportant since Anglo-Saxon times, suddenly became famous throughout England on account of "The Mystery," and the mystery was "A Murder."

On this moist November morning, when the whole earth shivered under a bleak gray sky, a crowd, excited in a dull, bovine way, was assembled in front of the "Hungry Man Inn," for in the commercial-room thereof, now invested with a ghastly interest, an inquest was being held on the body of a late guest of the inn, and the bucolic crowd was curious to know the verdict.