Swirling Waters

Swirling Waters, by Max Rittenberg

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Swirling Waters, by Max Rittenberg This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Swirling Waters
Author: Max Rittenberg
Release Date: July 8, 2006 [EBook #18789]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SWIRLING WATERS ***

Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

SWIRLING WATERS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE MIND-READER, BEING SOME PAGES FROM THE LIFE OF DR XAVIER WYCHERLEY, PSYCHOLOGIST AND MENTAL HEALER.
THE COCKATOO.

SWIRLING WATERS
BY
MAX RITTENBERG
AUTHOR OF "THE MIND-READER," "THE COCKATOO," ETC.
SECOND EDITION
METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON

First Published July 3rd 1913 Second Edition August 1913

TO
MY DEAR MOTHER
WHOSE ADVICE AND CRITICISM HAVE HELPED SO GREATLY IN MY WORK, AND ESPECIALLY IN THE MAKING OF THIS BOOK; WHOSE COMPANIONSHIP HAS BEEN A CONSTANT INSPIRATION TO ME

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. The Whirlpool 1
II. A ��5,000,000 Deal 7
III. Shadowed 17
IV. On the Scent of a Mystery 19
V. The First Move in the Game 29
VI. The Beginning of a New Life 42
VII. A Seat by the Arena 50
VIII. Who and where is Rivi��re? 61
IX. At Monte Carlo 69
X. Larssen turns another Corner 73
XI. A Letter From Rivi��re 83
XII. The Second Meeting 87
XIII. At the Maison Carr��e 100
XIV. By the Druids' Tower 107
XV. Waiting the Verdict 111
XVI. Only Pity! 123
XVII. Rivi��re is Called Back 127
XVIII. Not Wanted! 138
XIX. A Throne-Room 148
XX. Beaten to Earth 153
XXI. The Bolted Door 171
XXII. The Chameleon Mind 184
XXIII. Larssen's Man Once Again 197
XXIV. Confession 205
XXV. White Lilac 216
XXVI. A Challenge 221
XXVII. Women's Weapons 225
XXVIII. The Counter-Move 235
XXIX. The Parting 247
XXX. Heir to a Throne 254
XXXI. The Reins had Slipped 264
XXXII. The New Scheme 273
XXXIII. Larssen's Appeal 278
XXXIV. On Board the "Starlight" 285
XXXV. Intervention 297
XXXVI. Finality 304
Epilogue 311

SWIRLING WATERS
CHAPTER I
THE WHIRLPOOL
On the crucial night of his career, 14 March, 191-, Clifford Matheson, financier, was speeding in a taxi-cab to the Gare de Lyon.
He was a clean-limbed man of thirty-seven. There was usually a look of masterfulness in the firm lines of his face, the straight, direct glance, the stiff, close-cut moustache. But to-night his eyes were tired, very tired. He leant back in a corner of the cab with drooping shoulders as though utterly world-weary.
At the station his wife and father-in-law were looking impatiently for his arrival. They stood at the door of their wagon-lit in the C?te d'Azur Rapide, searching the crowded platform for him. It was now ten to eight, and the express was timed to pull out of the Gare de Lyon at eight o'clock sharp.
"Late again!" growled Sir Francis Letchmere. "Clifford makes a deuced casual sort of husband. Bad form, you know!"
Good form and bad form were the foot-rules by which he measured mankind.
Olive bit her lip. It galled her pride that Clifford should not be early on the platform to see to her comforts. The attentions of her father and maid did not satisfy her; she wanted Clifford to be there to fetch and carry for her.
Pride was the keynote of her character. It was pride and not love that had decided her, five years before, to marry the financier. She had admired the way in which he had slashed out for himself his place in the world of London and Paris finance, from his humble beginning as a clerk in a Montreal broker's office. It ministered to her pride to be the wife of a man who had plucked success from the whirlpool of life. As to the methods by which he had amassed his money, with these she was not concerned. She knew, of course, that there were many who had bitter things to say about his methods.
"Probably it's his brother who's delayed him," said Olive, looking for an explanation which would salve her amour propre. "They both seem to be crazy over their rubbishy scientific experiments."
"Who's this brother?"
"I know scarcely anything about him. His name's Rivi��re--he's a half-brother. He turns up unexpectedly from the wilds of Canada, and lives like a hermit, so Clifford tells me, in some tumbledown villa outside Paris."
"What's he like?"
"I've never seen him."
"What's the scientific experiment?"
"Clifford told me something about it, but I forgot. I wasn't interested in the slightest. No money in it, I could see at once. I told Clifford so."
Sir Francis tugged at his watch impatiently. "He'll miss this train for certain!"
"No; there he is!"
Matheson was striding rapidly through the press of people on the platform. He quickly caught sight of his wife and father-in-law, and came up with a gesture of apology.
"Sorry I'm so late. Very sorry, too, I shan't be able to travel with you to-night."
"Experiment to finish?" queried Olive, with an unconcealed note of