The Money-Spider

The Money-Spider by William Le Queux

William Le Queux's "The Money-Spider" opens aboard the yacht of Peter Sundt, a ruthless Norwegian cod-fishing millionaire, as he pressures his old friend Jorgen Berentsen, harbour-master of the remote Arctic outpost Vardo, into completing a secret criminal errand at Monte Carlo. Berentsen, though wracked with guilt and fearful of what his daughter Thyra would think if she knew, is coerced into the act by threats and reminders of past complicity. That same night, a beautiful young Frenchwoman collapses and dies of poison on the terrace of the Cafe de Paris after recognizing Sundt with apparent horror — an incident Sundt frantically calls "the vengeance of Heaven." The story shifts north to desolate Vardo, where Thyra, Berentsen's lovely and refined daughter, lives in dreary exile after her schooldays in Christiania. She is secretly engaged to Paul Grinevitch, a mysterious, wealthy young Russian who has lingered in Vardo for six months, ostensibly for sport but really for love of her. Paul carries an unexplained burden he refuses to confide even to his betrothed. Around this time, two English travelers, Dick Jervoise (a cultured, well-off cosmopolitan) and his friend Doctor Owen Odd, arrive via the mail-boat and are drawn into Vardo's small society, both quietly captivated by Thyra. Berentsen, still tormented by his secret dealings with Sundt, abruptly and inexplicably gives consent for Thyra's immediate marriage, extracting from her a solemn promise never to believe any future "calumny" spoken against him. Meanwhile Dick Jervoise, upon learning the bridegroom's name, is thunderstruck: he recognizes Paul Grinevitch as a man from his own hidden past, connected to a tragedy he has never disclosed even to Owen. Rather than expose him at once, Dick and Owen depart on an overland trek through Lapland to study the Sami people and their folklore, timing their return to rejoin the mail steamer Mercur before it carries the Berentsens and Paul south for the wedding. Reunited aboard ship, Dick and Paul recognize each other as enemies, though neither reveals why. Paul cruelly torments Dick by singing "Fanchonnette," a song loaded with unspoken meaning tied to a woman from Dick's past. Despite the tension, the wedding proceeds quietly at Trondhjem cathedral, with Dick and Owen in attendance, Dick's outward composure masking bitter anguish. The newlyweds travel on to Christiania for their honeymoon, where Dick extracts a secret promise from Thyra to meet him alone. While Paul remains at the Hotel Victoria writing letters and preparing to flee suddenly to England, he is visited by Alza, a hard, calculating woman from his criminal past who threatens to expose his true character to Thyra unless he resumes his old "business" partnership with her and a confederate named Enderlein. Paul, now penniless despite his marriage, is torn between confessing and pleading for silence. That afternoon, while Thyra is away, Dick meets her secretly in a park and — without fully explaining the connection — warns her against her husband, urging her to ask Paul about a woman named "Helene Marquet" and to watch his reaction. Thyra, stunned and offended, believes Dick is merely a jealous rival and departs upset, refusing to credit his warning. That evening, Paul Grinevitch is found murdered in his hotel sitting-room, stabbed from behind while seated at his writing desk, having burned mysterious papers and dispatched blank "letters" as apparent coded signals to associates, including a fugitive named Nystrom. Thyra, returning from her visit, discovers the body and collapses; in her delirium she raves about her husband and hints she now knows who his enemy was. Dick Jervoise is summoned to her side, evidently under suspicion by Owen, who begins to notice his friend's strange, guarded behavior and his unexplained absence during the crucial hours. When Dick finally faces Thyra alone, she confronts him with the accusation: "You lied to me! I know the truth!" Months later, back in England during the hunting season at Ingarsby Hall, Dick Jervoise secretly slips away from his aunt's house party for a covert nighttime rendezvous with a young Frenchwoman who has been investigating the case independently. She reveals that Nicholas Bourtzeff — the fugitive linked to Paul's final coded message — is living in hiding nearby under a false name as the guest of a local doctor, having eluded exposure since Paul's death. The conversation deepens the mystery surrounding Paul's murder, Dick's own concealed connection to the underlying conspiracy, and the international network of criminal intrigue — involving stolen securities, blackmail, and buried identities — that entangled Sundt, Berentsen, Grinevitch, and now threatens to engulf Thyra and Dick himself as the novel's central mystery unfolds.

By William Le Queux · First published 1911 · Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction, Romance · 41 chapters · 118,551 words

First lines

"And if the truth were ever exposed-what then?"

"Bah! You never need fear that, my dear fellow. The people we are dealing with are discreet-silent in their own interests. This isn't the first little piece of confidential business I've had with them."

Genres

Tags

crime fiction · mystery · thriller · adventure · detective story · espionage · international intrigue · secret societies · conspiracy · criminal underworld · financial crime · suspense

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The Money-Spider is listed on Textopian as a novel by William Le Queux, dated 1911 CE.

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