DOROTHY'S DOUBLE
BY G. A. HENTY
AUTHOR OF 'RUJUB THE JUGGLER' 'IN THE DAYS OF THE MUTINY'
'THE CURSE OFCARNE'S HOLD' ETC.
IN THREE VOLUMES—VOL. I.
London
CHATTO & WINDUS PICCADILLY
1894
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
NEW LIBRARY NOVELS.
DOROTHY'S DOUBLE
PROLOGUE
A dark night on the banks of the Thames; the south-west wind, heavilycharged with sleet, was blowing strongly, causing little waves to lapagainst the side of a punt moored by the bank. Its head-rope was tiedround a weeping willow which had shed most of its leaves, and whosependent boughs swayed and waved in the gusts, sending at times a showerof heavy drops upon a man leaning against its trunk. Beyond stretched abroad lawn with clumps of shrubs, and behind loomed the shadow of amansion, but so faintly that it might have passed unnoticed in thedarkness had it not been for some lights in the upper windows.
At times the man changed his position, muttering impatiently as thewater made its way down between his collar and neck and soaked throughhis clothes to the shoulders.
'I must have been waiting an hour!' he exclaimed at last. 'If shedoesn't come soon I shall begin to think that something has preventedher getting out. It will be no joke to have to come again to-morrownight if it keeps on like this. It has been raining for the last threedays without a stop, and looks as if it would keep on as much longer.'
A few minutes later he started as he made out a figure in the darkness.It approached him, and stopped ten yards away.
'Are you there?' a female voice asked.
'Of course I am,' he replied, 'and a nice place it is to be waiting infor over an hour on such a night as this. Have you got it?'
'Yes.'
'That is all right. Well, chuck your bonnet down there, three or fourfeet from the edge of the water.'
'And my cloak? I have brought that and a shawl, as you told me.'
'No; give it to me. Now get into the boat, and we will shove off.'
As soon as the woman had seated herself in the punt the man unfastenedthe head-rope and stepped in; then, taking a long pole in his hand, helet the boat drift down with the strong stream, keeping close to thebank. Where the lawn ended there was a clump of bushes overhanging thewater. He caught hold of these, broke off two branches that dipped intothe stream, then, hauling the punt a little farther in, he took thecloak the woman had handed to him and hitched it fast round a stump thatprojected an inch or two above the swollen stream.
'That will do the trick,' he said. 'They will find it there when theriver falls.' Then he poled the boat out and let her drift again. 'Youhave brought another bonnet, I see, Polly.'
'You don't suppose I was going to be such a fool as to leave myselfbareheaded on such a night as this,' she said sullenly.
'Well, there is no occasion to be bad-tempered; it has been a deal worsefor me than it has for you, wai