The Crooked House

CHAPTER I

A STRANGE RIDDLE

"Monsieur Tranter! A moment!"

The Right-Honorable John Tranter swung round, latch-key in hand. Behind him, an enormous figure emerged, with surprisingly agile and noiseless steps, from the shadow of the adjoining house--a figure almost grotesque and monstrous in the dim light of the street lamp. The very hugeness of the apparition was...