The Shadow of the Rope
by E. W. Hornung
Rachel Minchin stands at the dock accused of killing an immoral man she is preparing to leave. The case is sensational, and public opinion is strong and almost universally opposed to it. When the jurors surprise and enrage the world with the Vedict of the innocent, Rachel quickly finds herself in need of protection. Every day of his judgment comes in the form of an incredible marriage proposal from a mysterious stranger who sits. Marrying this intriguing stranger, Mr. Steele, by mutual consent is platonic, and its only condition is that neither should ever question the other about the past. They travel to Steele's remote country estate, where Rachel accidentally discovers that her second husband's past is somehow intertwined with her first husband's story — but exactly how, and why she decided to marry him, Steel won't say. As her suspicions about her husband grow, locally busy people threaten to uncover Rachel's own past. And this is the smallest of the mysteries that unfold as this amusing mystery unfolds.
