Excerpt:
"As I looked down, ma'am, I had an awful turn. There seemed to me to be something floating about in the water, a little narrow thing like a child's body—and—and all on a sudden a small white face seemed to look up into mine! Oh, it was 'orrible!" Pegler did not often drop an aitch, but when she did so forget herself, she did it thoroughly. "As I went on looking, fascinated-like"—she was speaking very slowly now—"whatever was down there seemed to melt away."

Marie Lowndes Belloc (1868-1947) was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc. Active from 1898 until her death, she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incidents with psychological interest. Lowndes Belloc produced mainly mysteries, well-plotted and on occasion based on real-life crime, though she herself resented being classed as a crime writer. Her best known work is The Lodger, a haunting mystery tale that revolves around the Jack the Ripper murders.