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CHAPTER THE CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIV CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVIII

The Daffodil Mystery, by Edgar WallaceCHAPTER XXIX CHAPTER XXX CHAPTER XXXI CHAPTER XXXII CHAPTER XXXIII CHAPTER XXXIV CHAPTER XXXV CHAPTER XXXVI CHAPTER XXXVII CHAPTER THE

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The Daffodil Mystery, by Edgar Wallace
The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Daffodil Mystery, by Edgar Wallace This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it underthe terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Daffodil Mystery Author: Edgar Wallace Release Date: March 26, 2007 [eBook #20912] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY*** E-text prepared by David Clarke, Mary Meehan, and the Project Gutenberg Online DistributedProofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY by EDGAR WALLACE Ward, Lock & Co., Limited London and Melbourne Made and Printed in Great Britain CONTENTS I. AN OFFER REJECTED II. THE HUNTER DECLINES HIS QUARRY III. THE MAN WHO LOVED LYNE IV. MURDER

The Daffodil Mystery, by Edgar Wallace V. FOUND IN LYNE'S POCKET VI. THE MOTHER OF ODETTE RIDER VII. THE WOMAN IN THE CASE VIII. THESILENCING OF SAM STAY IX. WHERE THE FLOWERS CAME FROM X. THE WOMAN AT ASHFORD XI. "THORNTON LYNE IS DEAD" XII. THE HOSPITAL BOOK XIII. TWO SHOTS IN THE NIGHT XIV. THE SEARCH OF MILBURGH'S COTTAGE XV. THE OWNER OF THE PISTOL XVI. THE HEIR XVII. THE MISSING REVOLVER XVIII. THE FINGER PRINTS XIX. LING CHU TELLS THE TRUTH XX. MR. MILBURGH SEES IT THROUGH XXI. COVERING THE TRAIL XXII. THE HEAVY WALLETXXIII. THE NIGHT VISITOR XXIV. THE CONFESSION OF ODETTE RIDER XXV. MILBURGH'S LAST BLUFF XXVI. IN MRS. RIDER'S ROOM XXVII. THE LAUGH IN THE NIGHT XXVIII. THE THUMB-PRINT XXIX. THE THEORY OF LING CHU XXX. WHO KILLED MRS. RIDER

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The Daffodil Mystery, by Edgar Wallace XXXI. SAM STAY TURNS UP XXXII. THE DIARY OF THORNTON LYNE XXXIII. LING CHU--TORTURER XXXIV. THE ARREST XXXV. MILBURGH'S STORYXXXVI. AT HIGHGATE CEMETERY XXXVII. LING CHU RETURNS

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CHAPTER THE

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CHAPTER THE
LAST. THE STATEMENT OF SAM STAY THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY

CHAPTER I

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CHAPTER I
AN OFFER REJECTED "I am afraid I don't understand you, Mr. Lyne." Odette Rider looked gravely at the young man who lolled against his open desk. Her clear skin was tinted with the faintest pink, and there was in thesober depths of those grey eyes of hers a light which would have warned a man less satisfied with his own genius and power of persuasion than Thornton Lyne. He was not looking at her face. His eyes were running approvingly over her perfect figure, noting the straightness of the back, the fine poise of the head, the shapeliness of the slender hands. He pushed back his long black hair from his foreheadand smiled. It pleased him to believe that his face was cast in an intellectual mould, and that the somewhat unhealthy pastiness of his skin might be described as the "pallor of thought." Presently he looked away from her through the big bay window which overlooked the crowded floor of Lyne's Stores. He had had this office built in the entresol and the big windows had been put in so that he mightat any time overlook the most important department which it was his good fortune to control. Now and again, as he saw, a head would be turned in his direction, and he knew that the attention of all the girls was concentrated upon the little scene, plainly visible from the floor below, in which an unwilling employee was engaged. She, too, was conscious of the fact, and her discomfort and dismay...