The Argosy, Vol. 20

# "A Secret of the Sea" by the Author of "In the Dead of Night"

This serialized romantic drama, appearing in The Argonaut for August 1875, concerns Gerald Warcurton (traveling under the assumed name Pomeroy), who has come to Stammars intending to court the wealthy Miss Eleanor Lloyd. After a lawyer's clerk reveals that Pomeroy is impoverished and has been sent to marry Eleanor for her twenty-thousand-pound fortune, Eleanor becomes deeply troubled. Gerald learns of this disclosure through the elderly gardener Sanderson and writes privately to solicitor Matthew Kelvin inquiring about an inheritance from his uncle Jacob Lloyd of Bridgeley Wells—a claim that, if valid, would strip Eleanor of her wealth and position. Kelvin's clerk Olive intercepts the letter and deliberately delays response, calculating that Eleanor's growing love for Pomeroy will deepen the eventual wound of his treachery. Gerald, refusing to deliver this revelation himself, requests a private meeting with Eleanor to offer explanation, though the text suggests greater complications remain unresolved.