Title: The White Blind
Author and Title: F. A. Scudamore. The White Blind: A Realistic and Sensational Story
First Edition: Bristol: Arrowsmith, 1889. 1 volume, 12mo., 1s.
Serialization: Burnley Express, 24 August 1892 to 8 February 1893 (weekly)
Summary: The novel opens with two tramps, Peter and Sally, witnessing the attempted murder of Isabel by her husband "Lionel Roy" (in actuality a disguised Reginard Kerr). Peter and Sally take the distraught woman to their lodgings, hoping to blackmail the would-be murderer. Meantime, Mabel Roxton is engaged to the engineer Lionel Roy but learns that her cousin Reginald's embezzlement has ruined her father's business. The death of Reginald's aunt provides a remedy: her fortune goes to Mabel on the condition that she marry her cousin. She refuses the odious Reginald and her father is saved by a loan from Lionel. Prevented from gaining a fortune, Reginald decides to smear Lionel's good name by showing Mabel the marriage certificate of Isabel. However, Mabel believes Lionel's claim of never seeing the woman before. Again witnessed by Peter and Sally, Reginald stabs Isabel and attempts to frame Lionel for her murder. The police find her body in Lionel's house and he is forced to flee. Aided by the detective Manning, Lionel unravels the conspiracy against him: Reginald took the name "Lionel Roy" in order to jilt Isabel but the woman had tracked him down. Reginald's last desperate ploy involves kidnapping Mabel and forcing her to marry him. Lionel and Manning rescue her and capture Reginald who is convicted of murder and hung. A subplot involves the rehabilitation of two street urchins named Tim and Bet. (TJB)
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References: BL; EC
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