Miscellanea

CONTENTS.


The Mystery of the Bloody Hand

The Smut

The Crick

The Brothers

Cousin Peregrine's Wonder Stories:
1. The Chinese Jugglers, and the Englishman's Hands

2. Waves of the Great South Seas

Cousin Peregrine's Traveller's Tales:
Jack of Pera

The Princes of Vegetation

Little Woods

May-Day, Old Style and New Style

In Memoriam, Margaret Gatty

Tales of the Khoja (_from the Turkish_)

The Snarling Princess (_adapted from the German_)

The Little Parsnip-Man (_adapted from the German_)

A Child's Wishes (_from the German of R. Reinick_)

War and the Dead (_from the French of Jean Macé_)




THE MYSTERY OF THE BLOODY HAND.


CHAPTER I.

A MEMORABLE NEW YEAR'S DAY.


_Dorothy to Eleanor_,

Dearest Eleanor,

You have so often reminded me how rapidly the most startling facts pass
from the memory of man, and I have so often thereupon promised to write
down a full account of that mysterious affair in which I was
providentially called upon to play so prominent a part, that it is with
shame I reflect that the warning has been unheeded and the promise
unfulfilled. Do not, dear friend, accuse my affection, but my engrossing
duties and occupations, for this neglect, and believe that I now take
advantage of my first quiet evening for many months to fulfil your wish.

Betty has just brought me a cup of tea, and I have told the girl to be
within call; for once a heroine is not always a heroine, dear Nell. I am
full of childish terrors, and I assure you it is with no small mental
effort that I bring myself to recall the terrible events of the year
1813.