A Perilous Secret

A Perilous Secret

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Title: A Perilous Secret
Author: Charles Reade
Release Date: May 28, 2004 [EBook #12470]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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A PERILOUS SECRET
BY CHARLES READE
AUTHOR OF "HARD CASH" "PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE"
"GRIFFITH GAUNT" "IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND" ETC.,

ETC.
1884

CONTENTS.




CHAPTER I
. THE POOR MAN'S CHILD




CHAPTER II
. THE RICH MAN'S CHILD




CHAPTER III
. THE TWO FATHERS




CHAPTER IV
. AN OLD SERVANT

CHAPTER V
. MARY'S PERIL




CHAPTER VI
. SHARP PRACTICE




CHAPTER VII
. THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE




CHAPTER VIII
. THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE




CHAPTER IX
. LOVERS PARTED




CHAPTER X

. THE GORDIAN KNOT




CHAPTER XI
. THE KNOT CUT.--ANOTHER TIED




CHAPTER XII
. THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE




CHAPTER XIII
. THE SERPENT LET LOOSE




CHAPTER XIV
. THE SERPENT




CHAPTER XV
. THE SECRET IN DANGER

CHAPTER XVI
. REMINISCENCES.--THE FALSE ACCUSER.--THE SECRET
EXPLODED




CHAPTER XVII
. LOVERS' QUARRELS




CHAPTER XVIII
. APOLOGIES




CHAPTER XIX
. A WOMAN OUTWITS TWO MEN




CHAPTER XX
. CALAMITY

CHAPTER XXI
. BURIED ALIVE




CHAPTER XXII
. REMORSE




CHAPTER XXIII
. BURIED ALIVE.--THE THREE DEADLY PERILS




CHAPTER XXIV
. STRANGE COMPLICATIONS




CHAPTER XXV
. RETRIBUTION

CHAPTER XXVI
. STRANGE TURNS




CHAPTER XXVII
. CURTAIN

A PERILOUS SECRET.




CHAPTER I
.
THE POOR MAN'S CHILD.
Two worn travellers, a young man and a fair girl about four years old,
sat on the towing-path by the side of the Trent.
The young man had his coat off, by which you might infer it was very
hot; but no, it was a keen October day, and an east wind sweeping
down the river. The coat was wrapped tightly round the little girl, so
that only her fair face with blue eyes and golden hair peeped out; and
the young father sat in his shirt sleeves, looking down on her with a
loving but anxious look. Her mother, his wife, had died of consumption,
and he was in mortal terror lest biting winds and scanty food should
wither this sweet flower too, his one remaining joy.
William Hope was a man full of talent; self-educated, and wonderfully

quick at learning anything: he was a linguist, a mechanic, a
mineralogist, a draughtsman, an inventor. Item, a bit of a farrier, and
half a surgeon; could play the fiddle and the guitar; could draw and
paint and drive a four-in-hand. Almost the only thing he could not do
was to make money and keep it.
Versatility seldom pays. But, to tell the truth, luck was against him; and
although in a long life every deserving man seems to get a chance, yet
Fortune does baffle some meritorious men for a limited time. Generally,
we think, good fortune and ill fortune succeed each other rapidly, like
red cards and black; but to some ill luck comes in great long slices; and
if they don't drink or despair, by-and-by good luck comes continuously,
and everything turns to gold with him who has waited and deserved.
Well, for years Fortune was hard on William Hope. It never let him get
his head above-water. If he got a good place, the employer died or sold
his business. If he patented an invention, and exhausted his savings to
pay the fees, no capitalist would work it, or some other inventor proved
he had invented something so like it that there was no basis for a
monopoly.
At last there fell on him the heaviest blow of all. He had accumulated
£50 as a merchant's clerk, and was in negotiation for a small
independent business, when his wife, whom he loved tenderly,
sickened.
For eight months he was distracted with hopes and fears. These gave
way to dismal certainty. She died, and left him