The Red-headed Man

Pall Mall Gazette.--"Mr. Fergus Hume has shown his wonted skill in steering his reader plausibly through the pitfalls of a tangled plot in his 'Claude Duval of Ninety-Five.' The conception of a mounted and masked highwayman in our own day is daring and original and is worked out with great ingenuity."

Daily Graphic.--"Mr. Fergus Hume starts with a good idea in his tale of a modern highwayman and he has crowded a variety of incidents into the pages of his book. The story opens dramatically and with some novelty."

Whitehall Review.--"A rattling romance of the road, well written, well conceived and capitally told. The present book is one of absorbing interest and it is impossible to put it aside until the last line is reached."

Black and White.--"There is abundant action and a well-sustained mystery in Mr. Fergus Hume's 'Claude Duval of '95."

Morning Post.--"Less characteristic than the majority of Mr. Hume's stories this 'Romance of the Road' is one of the most entertaining among them."

Gentlewoman.--"Mr. Hume's latest contribution to fiction 'Claude Duval of Ninety-Five' is a good honest tale of adventure which you cannot easily put by when you take it up."

Westminster Gazette.--"'Claude Duval of '95' is an excellent story."

Manchester Guardian.--"A female highwayman is a somewhat daring variety in fiction of which crime and audacity is the chief merit of Mr. Fergus Hume's latest work. Mr. Hume is a clever writer in a very fertile vein."

Literary World.--"In 'Claude Duval of Ninety-Five' we have a recendesence of highway robbery very skilfully contrived."

Weekly Sun.--"The plot is very cleverly worked out. The book is to be heartily commended as one of its author's masterpieces."

Literature.--"The story is novel, and is worked out into a present day environment with real dexterity."

Yorkshire Post.--"An entertaining romance which should agree with the prevailing mood of the libraries."

Observer.--"Mr. Hume's story will rank among the best of its type."

DIGBY, LONG & CO., PUBLISHERS, LONDON.

THE RED-HEADED MAN

BY FERGUS HUME

AUTHOR OF "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "Claude Duval of '95," "A Masquerade Mystery," "The Rainbow Feather," etc.

London DIGBY, LONG & CO. 18 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. 1899

CONTENTS

CHAP. I. AN EXTRAORDINARY CRIME II. THE BLONDE LADY III. MR. TORRY'S THEORY IV. THE DEAD MAN'S NAME V. "DE MORTIUS NIL NISI BONUM" VI. THE SECRETARY VII. EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST VIII. THE ROBBERY IX. CAPTAIN MANUEL X. DONNA MARIA XI. UNEXPECTED EVIDENCE XII. A CHANCE MEETING XIII. A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE XIV. THE SECRET SOCIETY XV. A WOMAN SCORNED XVI. THE TURQUOISE RING XVII. MORE MYSTERIES XVIII. A STRANGE OCCURRENCE XIX. ANOTHER PUZZLE XX. THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS XXI. DONNA MARIA EXPLAINS XXII. THE LOCKET XXIII. A CONFESSION XXIV. A QUEER MESSAGE XXV. THE MEETING IN HYDE PARK XXVI. CONCLUSION

THE RED-HEADED MAN

CHAPTER I AN EXTRAORDINARY CRIME

Frank Darrel was a young man of twenty-five, with a sufficiency of good looks, and a comfortable income of five hundred a year. Also by way of employing his spare time, he was a realistic novelist of a particularly new school, founded on the axiom that fact invariably poaches on the domain of fiction. He neither conceived nor adopted, but set down actual details of the life around him, with so rigid an adherence to the truth that his published works read like police reports re-written in decent English. In a word, he held the mirror up to nature, and presented the reflection, beautiful or ugly, to the criticism of the British public.