Angel Esquire

Angel Esquire, of Scotland Yard, has his hands full in helping Jimmy Stannard, as he is known to the criminal element of London, solve the puzzle of the great safe which held the fortune of Old Reale who had placed it there, and who had taken the precaution to hide the combination in a bit of doggerel verse that served as a cryptogram.

When Old Reale’s Will was read it was found that four people might benefit by it. Two of them, known as members of the famous “Borough Lots” gang would stop at nothing to gain possession of the fortune. Jimmy and his friend are pitted against them in a story that constitutes the finest entertainment for the person liking excitement, love and mystery combined.

OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR:

THE BLACK ABBOT THE CLUE OF THE NEW PIN THE DOOR WITH SEVEN LOCKS THE MELODY OF DEATH A KING BY NIGHT THE RINGER THE SINISTER MAN THE TERRIBLE PEOPLE TERROR KEEP TRAITOR’S GATE

A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers · New York

See Reverse Side of Jacket for Complete List of 75c Fiction

ANGEL ESQUIRE

BY EDGAR WALLACE

AUTHOR OF

“The Girl from Scotland Yard,” “The Traitors’ Gate,” “The Clue of the New Pin,” “The Green Archer,” “The Hairy Arm,” “Blue Hand,” “The Black Abbott,” “The Sinister Man,” “Terror Keep,” “The Ringer,” “The Door with Seven Locks,” “A King by Night,” “The Melody of Death,” “The Four Just Men,” “Jack O’Judgment,” etc.

[Illustration]

A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York

Published by arrangement with Lincoln Mac Veagh, The Dial Press

Printed in U. S. A.

COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY (INCORPORATED)

Printed in the United States of America

ANGEL ESQUIRE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. PAGE

THE LOMBARD STREET DEPOSIT 1

CHAPTER II.

THE HOUSE IN TERRINGTON SQUARE 10

CHAPTER III.

ANGEL ESQUIRE 35

CHAPTER IV.

THE “BOROUGH LOT” 59

CHAPTER V.

THE CRYPTOGRAM 85

CHAPTER VI.

THE RED ENVELOPE 107

CHAPTER VII.

WHAT THE RED ENVELOPE HELD 129

CHAPTER VIII.

OLD GEORGE 149

CHAPTER IX.

THE GREAT ATTEMPT 172

CHAPTER X.

SOME BAD CHARACTERS 202

CHAPTER XI.

THE QUEST OF THE BOOK 223

CHAPTER XII.

WHAT HAPPENED AT FLAIRBY MILL 238

CHAPTER XIII.

CONNOR TAKES A HAND 260

CHAPTER XIV.

OPENING THE SAFE 283

CHAPTER XV.

THE SOLUTION 306

ANGEL ESQUIRE

CHAPTER I

THE LOMBARD STREET DEPOSIT

Mr. William Spedding, of the firm of Spedding, Mortimer and Larach, Solicitors, bought the site in Lombard Street in the conventional way. The property came into the market on the death of an old lady who lived at Market Harborough, who has nothing to do with this story, and it was put up to auction in the orthodox fashion.

Mr. William Spedding secured the site at £106,000, a sum sufficiently large to excite the interest of all the evening papers and a great number of the morning journals as well.

As a matter of exact detail, I may add that plans were produced and approved by the city surveyor for the erection of a building of a peculiar type. The city surveyor was a little puzzled by the interior arrangement of the new edifice, but as it fulfilled all the requirements of the regulations governing buildings in the City of London, and no fault could be found either with the external appearance--its façade had been so artfully designed that you might pass a dozen times a day without the thought occurring that this new building was anything out of the common ruck--and as the systems of ventilation and light were beyond reproach, he passed the plans with a shrug of his shoulders.