Here, complete and unabridged, is E. Phillips Oppenheim's 1903 thriller of political conspiracy and shadowy allegiances, presented exactly as it first appeared for readers of the early twentieth century. A sudden death on a London night, a mysterious implement left behind, and a tangle of Russian revolutionary intrigue draw the novel's characters into a web where no one is quite what they seem. This Founding Texts edition pairs the full original text with a modern introduction that situates the book in the birth of the espionage novel and offers reader's notes illuminating the historical world of pre-war European intrigue. Oppenheim's brisk plotting and atmospheric suspense remain as engaging now as when the book first delighted readers more than a century ago. Whether you are discovering an early master of spy fiction or revisiting a classic, this is the definitive reading copy. Part of The Founding Texts Library.