I “Oh, I’m going to be Lady Jane Grey,” said Charlie Cleveland, balancing himself on the deck-rail in front of his friends, Mrs. Langdale and Mollie Erle, with considerable agility. “And, Mollie, I say, will you lend me a black silk skirt? I saw you were wearing one last night.” He spoke with complete seriousness. […]

A low whistle floated through the slumbrous silence and died softly away among the sand-dunes. The man who sat in the little wooden summer-house that faced the sea raised his head from his hand and stared outwards. The signal had scarcely penetrated to his inner consciousness, but it had vaguely disturbed his train of thought. […]

PROLOGUE It was growing very dark. The decks gleamed wet in the light of the swinging lamps. The wind howled across the sea like a monster in torment. It would be a fearful night. The man who stood clutching at the slanting deck rail was drenched from head to foot, but, despite this fact, he […]

I “Well played, Hone! Oh, well played indeed!” A great roar of applause went up from the polo-ground like the surge and wash of an Atlantic roller. The regimental hero was distinguishing himself–a state of affairs by no means unusual, for success always followed Hone. His luck was proverbial in the regiment, as sure and […]

CHAPTER I STILL WATERS Rufus the Red sat on the edge of his boat with his hands clasped between his knees, staring at nothing. His nets were spread to dry in the sun; the morning’s work was done. Most of the other men had lounged into their cottages for the midday meal, but the massive […]

The persistent chirping of a sparrow made it almost harder to bear. Lady Brooke finally rose abruptly from the table, her black brows drawn close together, and swept to the window to scare the intruder away. “I really have not the smallest idea what your objections can be,” she observed, pausing with her back to […]

I THE APPEAL The Poor Relation hoisted one leg over the arm of his chair, and gazed contemplatively at the ceiling. “Now, I wonder whom I ought to scrag for this,” he mused aloud. A crumpled newspaper lay under his hand, a certain paragraph uppermost that was strongly scored with red ink. He had read […]

I Pierre Dumaresq stood gazing out to the hard blue line of the horizon with a frown between his brows. The glare upon the water was intense, but he stared into it with fixed, unflinching eyes, unconscious of discomfort. He held a supple riding-switch in his hands, at which his fingers strained and twisted continually, […]

“Of course, I know that a quiet, well-meanin’ fool like myself hasn’t much of a chance with women, but I just thought I’d give you the opportunity of refusin’ me, and then we should know where we were.” It was leisurely uttered, and without any hint of agitation. The speaker was lying on his back […]

I “It is well known that those fight hardest who fight in vain,” remarked Lord Ronald Prior complacently. “But I should have thought a woman of your intellect would have known better. It’s such a rank waste of energy to struggle against Fate.” He spoke in the easy drawl habitual to him. His grey eyes […]

I THE AMERICAN COUSIN “My dear child, it’s absurd to be romantic over such a serious matter as marriage–the greatest mistake, I assure you. Nothing could be more suitable than an alliance with this very eligible young man. He plainly thinks so himself. If you are so unreasonable as to throw away this magnificent chance, […]

“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory.” The droning voice quivered and fell […]

“And you will come back, Jim? Promise! Promise!” “Of course, darling–of course! There! Don’t cry! Can’t you see it’s a chance in a thousand? I’ve never had such a chance before.” The sound of a woman’s low sobbing was audible in the silence that followed; and a man who was leaning on the sea-wall above, […]

Those Who Wait[1] A faint draught from the hills found its way through the wide-flung door as the sun went down. It fluttered the papers on the table, and stirred a cartoon upon the wall with a dry rustling as of wind in corn. The man who sat at the table turned his face as […]

I “He hasn’t proposed, then?” “No; he hasn’t.” A pause; then, reluctantly: “I haven’t given him the opportunity.” “Violet! Do you want to starve?” The speaker turned in his chair, and looked at the girl bending over the fire, with a quick, impatient frown on his handsome face. They were twins, these two, the only […]

The Eleventh Hour[2] CHAPTER I HIS OWN GROUND “Oh, to be a farmer’s wife!” Doris Elliot paused, punt-pole in hand, to look across a field of corn-sheaves with eyes of shining appreciation. Her companion, stretched luxuriously on his back on a pile of cushions, smiled a contemplative smile and made no comment. The girl’s look […]

Wherein a woman with a love of freedom, two soldiers in the Indian Army, and a snake-bite are most intimately concerned. CHAPTER I THE BRIDE “And that is the major’s bride? Ah, what a pity!” The soft, Irish eyes of Mrs. Raleigh, the surgeon’s wife, looked across the ball-room with a very real compassion in […]

“When you come to reflect that there are only a few planks between you and the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, it makes you feel sort of pensive.” “I beg your pardon?” The stranger, smoking his cigarette in the lee of the deck-cabins, turned his head sharply in the direction of the voice. He encountered […]

I A TIGHT PLACE “Shoulder to shoulder, boys! Give it ’em straight! There’s no going back this journey.” And the speaker slapped his thigh and laughed. He was penned in a hot corner with a handful of grinning little Goorkhas, as ready and exultant as himself. He had no earthly business in that particular spot. […]

A SEQUEL TO “THE SWINDLER” Which I Dedicate to the Friend Who Asked for it. I “Yes, but what’s the good of it?” said Cynthia Mortimer gently. “I can never marry you.” “You might be engaged to me for a bit, anyhow,” he urged, “and see how you like it.” She made a quaint gesture […]