This is a story by the English writer Mary Elizabeth Hawker entitled Mademoiselle Ixe, by Lanoe Falconer. The manuscript had been previously rejected by many publishers. The heroine is a governess in an English country house. The mystery is cleverly handled, and the artistic treatment showed a delicacy and refinement which were uncommon in English writers of short stories. The Saturday Review declared it to be 'one of the finest short stories in England.' Success was great and immediate. Gladstone wrote and spoke the praises of the book, of which the circulation was forbidden in Russia; it was admired by Taine. Over 40,000 copies of the English editions were sold, and there were also continental and American editions. It was translated into French, German, Dutch, and Italian. Hawker's works, though few, were well received. She lived most of her life in the Hampshire Valley. Never married, her health was precarious, preventing her from writing more, though she wished to. She died of tuberculosis. Her main works are: Mademoisell Ixe, Cecilia de Noel, The Hotel D'Angleterre And Other Stories, Old Hampshire Vignettes. In 1915 Evelyn March Phillipps published a book-length biography of Falconer.
