The Argosy, Vol. 74

This May 1901 Argosy issue contains the twelfth chapter of "Malicious Fortune," a serial by Stella M. During (author of "Between the Devil and the Deep Sea"). The melodramatic narrative focuses on Helen Thorneycroft's complicated emotions regarding Major Carstairs—a man she believes has wronged her—and his wife Edith Colquhoun, whom Helen is struggling to like. When Carstairs unexpectedly arrives at the country house where Helen is staying with her sister Anita Beresford, complex tensions emerge. Helen observes that Carstairs appears emotionally strained, though she misinterprets the cause. The chapter also references background intrigue involving an inquiry into a woman's death by freezing, with suspicion potentially falling on Mr. Braithwaite upon his return from Egypt. Romantic and social tensions dominate this installment, featuring character study and domestic drama typical of Edwardian serialized fiction.