ONE OF TWO. A Novel. BY HAIN FRISWELL, AUTHOR OF "OTHER PEOPLE'S WINDOWS," "A DAUGHTER OF EVE." HENRY S. KING & CO., 65 CORNHILL. PREFACE. To one of Mr Thackeray's stories-which is so English, that no one would have the slightest suspicion that it was a transplantation-the author appends a note, explaining that the plot came from a foreign source. In a like manner, the writer of the following pages would acknowledge his indebtedness to M. Emile Gaboriau for the motif of this story, and for outlines of some of the principal characters. He hopes, however, that as his 66 scene," to speak dramatically, is as thoroughly English as that of the "Bedford Row Conspiracy," referred to above, so also the puppets which move and speak upon his stage-many of which appear for the first timemay be claimed as original, and entirely of our country; while the "time" of the story is more than forty years anterior to the date of that which suggested it. Exigencies of narration have made the author take a slight liberty with the Criminal Law, which his goodnatured readers will, he hopes, be as ready to pardon as he is to confess his necessary shortcoming; he also begs to be permitted to explain that the quotations from the newspapers are from contemporary sources. |