Page 4 Advertisements Column 3

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13305, 11 October 1906, Page 4

''NEW DOMESTIC r STORY ! ! CONTAINING BOTH SENSATION AND ;>'"- : " MYSTERY. * ' IT IS ENTITLED THE DUCHESS OF PONTIFEX GARDENS, .'AND. IS FROM THE PEN OF. THE WELL-KNOWN AUTHOR 0. W. AFPLBTON, -Author of " A Forgotten Past." "A Fool and His Folly," "A Tragedy of Error," etc., etc. IT IS TIMED TO COMMENCE FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION IN THE COLUMNS OF THE ' ',' , . = ■':-. •VTEW ' ZEALAND TTERALD ; « .: ON _',' . SATURDAY, ■'■"" QCTOBER "Jj^ "We: have pleasure in introducing to our readers another story from the pen of one of our popular, writers of fiction—Mr. G. W. Appleton. In the present instance we are plunged at once into the element of mystery. Dr. Julius Perigord relates the narrative himself. When locking up his surgery one winter's night lie is called by a very ordinary girl to a house in Pontifex Gardens, where an old Italian lady, the Duchessa di Frangipani, has taken up her quarters and hidden , herself away from her enemiesmembers .of her family. She has heard of the name of Perigord, and by feigning illhealth manages to obtain a, visit from this medical man. He soon becomes her confidant, and when he leaves her presence he is in possession of some family documents, on;which the, principal enemy is trying to , lay his hands, and a sum of money. He informs Mr. .Mimins, the head of the household at No. 19, that the duchess is obliged to leave suddenly, and gives him more than, an equivalent for the notice in gold. That night tho duchess is spirited away, but how, when, or whither it is impossible to say. A cat is the accidental' means of this mystery being solved, but greater problems loom . before Dr. Perigord. In his boyhood he had heard the name of Frangipani uttered in connection with his father, who was assassinated in Rome. When the doctor visits his mother, to learn about the facts of the case and the way in which the Perigords are mixed up with the Frangipanis, he finds her singularly reticent. She warns him against the duchess, but refuses to • divulge any information or to give him satisfactory answers. He leaves her and goes up to London again. • Then ■he confides in his friend, Dick Molyneux, that he has got mixed up with a duchess, and takes him into his confidence. After this Mimms turns up and tells the doctor of a clever' contrivance : which has been got up to steal away the duchess" things—which, of course, were left behind. But Mimms was too sharp for them. Then there is another surprise for the doctor, and another duchess. This lady is also the Duchessa di Frangipani. She is young -and beautiful, and, although cosmopolitan in both manners and conversation, still shows her American training. After this the plot thickens, and exciting complications arise. BEAD THE DUCHESS OF PONTIFEX GARDENS, , \ - BY (J. W. APPLETON. IT WILL COMMENCE IN THE COLUMNS OF THE • - ~ ''■ ■.' : ;■';■ itvtew yE ALAND tterald , ON .... ..,''/'-; ' - SATURDAY, QCTOBER -|^> ■" . . ' ■ • I