The Chief Legatee

  THE CHIEF LEGATEE

  by

  ANNA KATHARINE GREEN

  Author of"The Leavenworth Case," "The Woman in the Alcove," Etc., Etc.

  Illustrated in Water-Colors by Frank T. Merrill

  Copyright, 1906, by Anna Katharine Green RohlfsWeinstock, Lubin & Co.Special Edition,400 to 418 K. Street, Sacramento, Cal.New York and LondonThe Authors and Newspapers Association1906Copyright, 1906, byAnna Katharine Green RohlfsEntered at Stationers' Hall.All rights reserved.Composition, Electrotyping,Printing and Binding byThe Plimpton Press Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

  A young girl sitting on a low stool by the window mendinga rent in her skirt.]

  CONTENTS

  PART I.--A WOMAN OF MYSTERY

  CHAPTER

  I. A Bride of Five Hours

  II. The Lady in Number Three

  III. "He Knows the Word"

  IV. Mr. Ransom Waits

  V. In Corridor and in Room

  VI. The Lawyer

  VII. Rain

  VIII. Elimination

  IX. Hunter's Inn

  PART II.--THE CALL OF THE WATERFALL

  X. Two Doors

  XI. Half-Past One in the Morning

  XII. "Georgian"

  XIII. Where the Mill Stream Runs Fiercest

  XIV. A Detective's Work

  XV. Anitra

  XVI. "Love"

  XVII. "I Don't Hear"

  PART III.--MONEY

  XVIII. God's Forest, Then Man's

  XIX. In Mrs. Deo's Room

  XX. Between the Elderberry Bushes

  XXI. On the Cars

  XXII. A Suspicious Test

  XXIII. A Startling Decision

  XXIV. The Devil's Cauldron

  PART IV.--THE MAN OF MYSTERY

  XXV. Death Eddy

  XXVI. Hazen

  XXVII. She Speaks

  XXVIII. Fifteen Minutes

  XXIX. "There is One Way"

  XXX. Not Yet

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  A young girl sitting on a low stool by the window mending a rent in herskirt (_Frontispiece_)

  "I cut them letters there fifteen years ago. Now I'm to cut 'em out"

  "A slight, dark form steals from the shadows and lays a hand on thestooping man's shoulder"

  "Cormorants!" escaped his lips. "They look for a feast of death, but theywill be disappointed"

  Facsimile Page of Manuscript from THE LEAVENWORTH CASE

  "Yes, sir,"

  Might even have enteredhis room late at night,crossed it and stood at hisside, without disturbing himsufficiently to cause him toturn his head?

  "Yes," her hands pressingthemselves painfully together.

  "Miss Leavenworth, the keyto the library door is missing."

  She made no answer.

  "It has been testified to,that previous to the actualdiscovery of the murder,you visited the door of thelibrary above. Will you tellus if the key to the doorwas there in the lock?"

  "It was not."

  Anna K. Green Rohlfs]

  THE CHIEF LEGATEE

  PART I

  A Woman of Mystery