Before You Begin

Before you begin.

Two compact Edwardian tales share this volume. In The Lost Duchess, the Duke of Datchet learns that his wife's carriage has returned empty and receives a demand for five hundred sovereigns. A lock of hair, a white top hat, a gardenia and an encounter in Burlington Arcade turn domestic panic into an audacious puzzle. In The Minor Canon, Mr. Dale meets Alexander Poulter outside Marchbury Cathedral and mistakes lavish praise for the beginning of extraordinary good fortune.

Both stories are credited anonymously in the source collection. Their comedy depends on expectation: people see the signs they hope or fear to see, then discover that the same evidence supports a very different explanation.

This illustrated edition contains:

- The Lost Duchess - The Minor Canon

Ten progression plates unlock at stable passages in the continuous text. Each is an illustrated map of the people, places, objects and discoveries already encountered; none reveals events beyond the point you have reached. Ten narrative scenes obey the same semantic locks.