The Counterstroke

'The Counterstroke' is an adventure novel written by Ambrose Platt. The story unfolds at a late hour on a certain cold night in February, in the year 1900, when three gentlemen stood near an old padlocked iron gateway at the northern end of Finchley Road, London. They had arrived at that common point by separate conveyances, and it was easy to discover that they were strangers to each other, for although all stood within a circle whose diameter did not exceed three yards, and although the night was dark and the road otherwise utterly deserted, the face of each, dimly discernible by the light of a neighboring street lamp, wore an air of blank unconsciousness of all companionship.