Ravensdene Court

E-text prepared by Sankar Viswanathan, Suzanne Shell, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)



RAVENSDENE COURT

by

J. S. FLETCHER







New York
Alfred A. Knopf
MCMXXII

Copyright, 1922, by
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Published July, 1922





CONTENTS


I     THE INN ON THE CLIFF               9

II    RAVENSDENE COURT                  21

III   THE MORNING TIDE                  34

IV    THE TOBACCO BOX                   46

V     THE NEWS FROM DEVONPORT           58

VI    SECRET THEFT                      71

VII   YELLOWFACE                        84

VIII  WAS IT A WOMAN?                   96

IX    THE ENLARGED PHOTOGRAPH          108

X     THE YELLOW SEA                   120

XI    THE FIVE CONCLUSIONS             133

XII   NETHERFIELD BAXTER               145

XIII  THE SPOILS OF SACRILEGE          157

XIV   SOLOMON FISH                     169

XV    MR. JALLANBY--SHIP BROKER        181

XVI   THE PATHLESS WOOD                193

XVII  HUMFREY DE KNAYTHVILLE           206

XVIII THE PLUM CAKE                    218

XIX   BLACK MEMORIES                   230

XX    THE POSSIBLE REASON              242

XXI   THE CHINESE GENTLEMAN            254

XXII  RED DAWN                         267

XXIII THE FOURTH CHINAMAN              279

XXIV  THE SILK CAP                     291

XXV   CLEAR DECKS                      304





RAVENSDENE COURT

CHAPTER I

THE INN ON THE CLIFF


According to an entry in my book of engagements, I left London for
Ravensdene Court on March 8th, 1912. Until about a fortnight earlier I
had never heard of the place, but there was nothing remarkable in my
ignorance of it, seeing that it stands on a remote part of the
Northumbrian coast, and at least three hundred miles from my usual
haunts. But then, towards the end of February, I received the
following letter which I may as well print in full: it serves as a
fitting and an explanatory introduction to a series of adventures, so
extraordinary, mysterious, and fraught with danger, that I am still
wondering how I, until then a man of peaceful and even dull life, ever
came safely through them.

                           "RAVENSDENE COURT, NEAR ALNWICK
                                         NORTHUMBERLAND
                                       February 24, 1912

     "_Dear Sir_,

     "I am told by my friend Mr. Gervase Witherby of Monks
     Welborough, with whom I understand you to be well
     acquainted, that you are one of our leading experts in
     matters relating to old books, documents, and the like, and
     the very man to inspect, value, and generally criticize the
     contents of an ancient library. Accordingly, I should be
     very glad to secure your valuable services. I have recently
     entered into possession of this place, a very old
     manor-house on the Northumbrian coast, wherein the senior
     branch of my family has been settled for some four hundred
     years. There are here many thousands of volumes, the
     majority of considerable age; there are also large
     collections of pamphlets, manuscripts, and broadsheets--my
     immediate predecessor, my uncle, John Christopher Raven, was
     a great collector; but, from what I have seen of his
     collection up to now, I cannot say that he was a great
     exponent of the art of order, or a devotee of system, for an
     entire wing on this house is neither more nor less than a
     museum, into which books, papers, antiques, and similar
     things appear to have been dumped without regard to
     classification or arrangement. I am not a bookman, nor an
     antiquary; my life until recently has been spent in far
     different fashion, as a Financial Commissioner in India. I
     am, however, sincerely anxious that these new possessions of
     mine should be properly cared for, and I should like an
     expert to examine everything that is here, and to advise me
     as to proper arrangement and provision for the future. I
     should accordingly be greatly obliged to you if you could
     make it convenient to come here as my guest, give me the
     benefit of your expert knowledge, and charge me whatever fee
     seems good to you. I cannot promise you anything very lively
     in the way of amusement in your hours of relaxation, for
     this is a lonely place, and my family consists of nothing
     but myself and my niece, a girl of nineteen, just released
     from the schoolroom; but you may find some more congenial
     society in another guest of mine, Mr. Septimus Cazalette,
     the eminent authority on numismatics, who is here for the
     purpose of examining the vast collection of coins and medals
     formed by the kinsman I have just referred to. I can also
     promise you the advantages of a particularly bracing
     climate, and assure you of a warm welcome and every possible
     provision for your comfort.