The Argosy, Vol. 34

About this issue

This chapter from the serialized novel "Mrs. Raven's Temptation" (continuing from the previous work by the same author) depicts Frank Raven's first meeting with a mysterious veiled woman residing at "Daylight Villa." She claims supernatural knowledge, describing intimate details of Frank's childhood at Ravenscourt, his dead father the Squire, and household servants. She cryptically prophesies his marriage to a woman with initials E.A., claiming this will resolve a family curse involving a ghost in Raven Park. She then reveals the shocking accusation that Frank is not the Squire's legitimate son, nor Mrs. Raven's. When Frank denies knowing this secret, she produces his father's signet ring—a cornelian stone engraved with a goddess figure—which mysteriously falls during her spiritualistic display. Frank resists her claims and implications that he should marry the mysterious woman to fulfill his father's wishes, refusing to marry without love. He offers payment, which she indignantly declines.