



Produced by Suzanne Shell, Jana Srna and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)






  [ Transcriber's Notes:

    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
    as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation.
    Some corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made. They
    are listed at the end of the text.

    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
  ]




CHECKMATE




BY THE SAME AUTHOR


  GUY DEVERELL
  ALL IN THE DARK
  THE WYVERN MYSTERY
  THE COCK AND ANCHOR
  WYLDER'S HAND
  THE WATCHER
  CHECKMATE
  ROSE AND THE KEY
  TENANTS OF MALLORY
  WILLING TO DIE
  GOLDEN FRIARS
  THE EVIL GUEST




  Checkmate

  BY
  J. S. LE FANU

  Downey & Co.
  12 York St.
  Covent Garden.




CONTENTS.


   CHAPTER                                                   PAGE

        I. MORTLAKE HALL,                                       1

       II. MARTHA TANSEY,                                       7

      III. MR. LONGCLUSE OPENS HIS HEART,                      13

       IV. MONSIEUR LEBAS,                                     17

        V. A CATASTROPHE,                                      22

       VI. TO BED,                                             26

      VII. FAST FRIENDS,                                       31

     VIII. CONCERNING A BOOT,                                  38

       IX. THE MAN WITHOUT A NAME,                             43

        X. THE ROYAL OAK,                                      48

       XI. THE TELEGRAM ARRIVES,                               55

      XII. SIR REGINALD ARDEN,                                 62

     XIII. ON THE ROAD,                                        68

      XIV. MR. LONGCLUSE'S BOOT FINDS A TEMPORARY ASYLUM,      72

       XV. FATHER AND SON,                                     79

      XVI. A MIDNIGHT MEETING,                                 84

     XVII. MR. LONGCLUSE AT MORTLAKE HALL,                     91

    XVIII. THE PARTY IN THE DINING-ROOM,                       96

      XIX. IN MRS. TANSEY'S ROOM,                             103

       XX. MRS. TANSEY'S STORY,                               108

      XXI. A WALK BY MOONLIGHT,                               115

     XXII. MR. LONGCLUSE MAKES AN ODD CONFIDENCE,             120

    XXIII. THE MEETING,                                       125

     XXIV. MR. LONGCLUSE FOLLOWS A SHADOW,                    129

      XXV. A TETE-A-TETE,                                     133

     XXVI. THE GARDEN AT MORTLAKE,                            137

    XXVII. WINGED WORDS,                                      141

   XXVIII. STORIES ABOUT MR. LONGCLUSE,                       147

     XXIX. THE GARDEN PARTY,                                  153

      XXX. HE SEES HER,                                       158

     XXXI. ABOUT THE GROUNDS,                                 161

    XXXII. UNDER THE LIME-TREES,                              167

   XXXIII. THE DERBY,                                         171

    XXXIV. A SHARP COLLOQUY,                                  174

     XXXV. DINNER AT MORTLAKE,                                179

    XXXVI. MR. LONGCLUSE SEES A LADY'S NOTE,                  183

   XXXVII. WHAT ALICE COULD SAY,                              188

  XXXVIII. GENTLEMEN IN TROUBLE,                              192

    XXXIX. BETWEEN FRIENDS,                                   196

       XL. AN INTERVIEW IN THE STUDY,                         199

      XLI. VAN APPOINTS HIMSELF TO A DIPLOMATIC POST,         203

     XLII. DIPLOMACY,                                         206

    XLIII. A LETTER AND A SUMMONS,                            209

     XLIV. THE REASON OF ALICE'S NOTE,                        213

      XLV. COLLISION,                                         219

     XLVI. AN UNKNOWN FRIEND,                                 224

    XLVII. BY THE R