vCK 
 
 ANNEX
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 THE SIN OF ATLANTIS 
 
 " Clever and thoughtful, as well as amusing, and excellently written." 
 STANDARD. 
 
 "Mr. Horniman has imagination and ingenuity, and has produced a 
 readable book." ATHENAEUM. 
 
 " A curious and interesting novel." THE BOOKMAN. 
 
 THE LIVING BUDDHA 
 
 "The idea of 'The Living Buddha ' is one of the most ingenious we 
 have met with in modern fiction. . . . Mr. Horniman has certainly a great 
 power of representing Chinese life, and he does so with no prejudice or 
 shadow of superiority. . . . ' The Living Buddha ' is distinctly a book to 
 be read." PALL MALL GAZETTE. 
 
 " A striking piece of work." VANITY FAIR. 
 
 "We have swiftness of action, vividness of colour, and suggestions of 
 the truth of self-sacrifice underlying the active creed of the West and the 
 passive teaching of the East. There are many admirable types." PILOT. 
 
 " A remarkably able story." SOVEREIGN. 
 
 1 ' A brilliant and picturesque narrative, built round an entirely original 
 situation." STANDARD. 
 
 ' ' There is some fine work in this strange story. . . . power, colour, and 
 character." NORTHERN WHIG. 
 
 1 ' A particularly daring book. . . . The whole book is thoughtful and 
 suggestive in an unusual degree. " ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE. 
 
 "A really remarkable and clever story. The story is finely told." 
 IRISH TIMES. 
 
 "An entrancing theme." VECTIS. 
 
 "A vivid and stirring tale." T. P.'s WEEKLY. 
 
 ' ' If all novels were written as lucidly and in such a workmanlike manner 
 the reviewer's task would be an easy one." MORNING LEADER. 
 
 " Engages the attention from the outset." DAILY MAIL. 
 
 " ' The Living Buddha ' out-Kims Kim." DAILY EXPRESS. 
 
 " Mr. Horniman seems to know what be is writing about, and writes 
 well." TO-DAY. 
 
 THAT FAST MISS BLOUNT 
 
 " Eminently entertaining and amusing." IRISH TIMES. 
 
 ' ' The picture of the Blount family is an admirable piece of free and 
 unrestrained writing." YORKSHIRE DAILY OBSERVER. 
 
 ' ' The author thoroughly understands the art of telling a story. " PILOT. 
 
 "A bright, wholesome book, full of living, laughing, suffering people." 
 LITERARY WORLD. 
 
 1 ' Those who have read the author's ' Living Buddha ' may feel some 
 surprise at the completeness with which he has changed both his theme 
 and his treatment of it, but they will expect sound workmanship, no matter 
 what vein the story may be cast in, and in this they will not be disap- 
 pointed." NORTHERN WHIG.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT
 
 BELLAMY 
 THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 AN EXTRAVAGANZA 
 
 BY 
 
 ROY HORNIMAN 
 
 THE SIN OF ATLANTIS," "THE LIVING BUDDHA," 
 "THAT FAST MISS BLOUNT," ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS 
 
 1904
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 LONDON AND BECCLES.
 
 TO 
 SIR CHARLES WYNDHAM
 
 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 THE Author regrets that in arranging the 
 materials for this book the morals were unac- 
 countably mislaid.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 As the servant opened the door to announce a visitor, 
 Dodo, Lady Bellamy's King Charles, leapt from her lap 
 in a paroxysm of fury. 
 
 " Mr. Spottitt." 
 
 The servant closed the door gently behind him, and 
 Mr. Spottitt advanced noiselessly across the thick felt of 
 the carpet, and with perfect self-assurance held out his 
 hand to Lady Bellamy. 
 
 Lady Bellamy was uncertain whether to shake hands 
 or not, but as the voice which said, " How do you do, 
 Lady Bellamy ? " and the hand held out to her were both 
 perfectly well-bred, she extended her own nerveless but 
 beautiful hand, and murmured 
 
 " Won't you sit down ? Dodo, be quiet ! " 
 
 Lady Bellamy, small, fair, exquisitely pretty, with 
 china-blue eyes and a fretfully cut mouth, looked at him 
 helplessly. The appearance of the young man was utterly 
 unexpected, quite unlike anything she had ever imagined 
 a detective to be. She had expected a thin man with a 
 
 B
 
 2 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 keen eye and mutton-chop whiskers, or a fat man in a 
 reefer coat. She looked at the elegant young dandy 
 before her and was quite at a loss. She was wondering 
 whether all detectives dressed in such perfect taste, and 
 suggested something in yes, diplomacy. 
 
 He remarked on the heat of the weather, the 
 absurdity of running the London season so late into 
 the summer, and the rumoured revival of the crinoline. 
 
 "I have been told," said Mr. Spottitt, looking at her 
 from a mere fraction of a singularly fine pair of violet 
 eyes, " that Lord Bellamy is in favour of it, and if that 
 is the case, the matter is as good as settled." 
 
 Lady Bellamy did not know. She had never dis- 
 cussed the matter with Lord Bellamy. Perhaps Mr. 
 Spottitt would like some tea ? Mr. Spottitt accepted tea, 
 and talked on easily and affably till they were left alone 
 again. 
 
 "I think we have met before," said Lady Bellamy, 
 hesitatingly. 
 
 " Oh yes, at Miss van Holtz's, in Curzon Street." 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked more puzzled than ever. 
 Mr. Spottitt laughed. 
 
 "I am afraid you are wondering why Messrs. Tyler 
 and Company have sent such a very irresponsible-looking 
 young man." 
 
 Lady Bellamy, overpowered and bewildered by the 
 social atmosphere which Mr. Spottitt imported into 
 everything, murmured 
 
 "Oh dear no, not at all any detective, I assure
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 3 
 
 you." She stopped abruptly, feeling that the speech 
 sounded peculiar. 
 
 " You see," said Mr. Spottitt, assuming a professional 
 tone for the first time, " I am quite my own idea." 
 Then he in his turn paused. She was obviously stupid 
 and would not understand. 
 
 " Did Messrs. Tyler explain ? " said Lady Bellamy, 
 tentatively. 
 
 " Oh dear yes. I assure you there is not the least 
 need to give me any further particulars, unless, of course, 
 you have anything fresh ? " 
 
 " Oh no, not at all but I think it only fair to 
 myself to explain. My motives are purely philanthropic. 
 Lord Bellamy does an infinite amount of harm, and I feel 
 as if it were my duty to warn ahem, people in time." 
 
 "That address," said Spottitt, handing her a piece 
 of paper. "There is a young woman quite young 
 newly married. She keeps a milliner's shop." 
 
 " You are sure ? " said Lady Bellamy. 
 
 " Quite." 
 
 " You have been very quick." 
 
 " My expenses are large ; I am obliged to work in a 
 hurry. Thank you another piece of cake, if I may. 
 You leave town to-morrow, I understand ? There are so 
 few houses where one can depend on getting decent cake." 
 
 " That is very true." 
 
 Mr. Spottitt rose with a singular absence of haste or 
 professional hurry. His manner, as he descended the 
 imposing staircase, did not suggest that he was any novice
 
 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 on such exclusive territory, and the deference with which 
 the front door was opened for him was proof positive 
 that he conveyed the impression of a social right to go 
 in and out of it. The servants of the great do not 
 display that precious attitude of subservience except to 
 those who are hall-marked. 
 
 He had left Lady Bellamy thoroughly bewildered. 
 She looked at the card in her hand and read 
 
 " Madame Henriette. Hats and blouses." 
 
 As if nervous of having it in her possession she went 
 over to her escritoire and locked it away. Then she 
 composed herself in the coolest corner of the room, and 
 relapsed into a sweet sleep. She was going to the 
 Opera, and she had arrived at that age when a pre- 
 liminary slumber was an indispensable adjunct to a 
 public appearance. 
 
 Lord Bellamy's aunt, Lady Charlotte Blount, dined 
 with her. 
 
 Lady Charlotte thoroughly disliked her niece by 
 marriage, and though she had expressed, while Bellamy 
 was still at school, a profound pity for the future Lady 
 Bellamy, whoever she might be, her sympathy had been 
 considerably modified by the personality of his choice. 
 
 It was the last night of the Opera season, a thread- 
 bare opera, and a star cast which meant that hardly 
 anybody with any voice to speak of was singing, a glitter- 
 ing display of names and exquisite technique. There 
 were three prime donne y opening their mouths their 
 widest in an effort to reach notes which had been left
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 5 
 
 behind in the middle of the season. But the house was 
 full from floor to ceiling, and the display of diamonds 
 exhilarating. 
 
 Fifty years' experience had enabled Lady Charlotte to 
 use her deep baritone voice with absolute certainty against 
 any orchestra with which it might be brought into 
 opposition. She frankly declared that those people who 
 objected to conversation ought to go in the gallery, and 
 she could meet a whole storm of protest from the stalls 
 with an absolutely unconscious expression. 
 
 " Any one else coming in ? " she asked, as she and 
 Lady Bellamy took their seats in the middle of an act. 
 
 " Mrs. Crutchley," said Lady Bellamy, in a suitable 
 mezza voce. 
 
 " Who ? " vibrated Lady Charlotte, with a clang 
 which a coalheaver might have envied. She was in 
 rather a bad temper ; the dinner had been atrocious, as 
 it was apt to be when Lord Bellamy was not dining at 
 home, and Lady Charlotte had not hesitated to tell her 
 niece so. 
 
 " Mrs. Crutchley," said Lady Bellamy, again. 
 
 Lady Charlotte snorted inharmoniously with the 
 orchestra. There was one comfort, Mrs. Crutchley was 
 good company, and if she had allowed her name to be 
 coupled with Lord Bellamy's, and Lady Bellamy chose to 
 shut her eyes to the fact, it was a situation which was 
 none of her business. 
 
 " That band's much too loud," she informed half the 
 floor of the house after the shortest interval of silence.
 
 6 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Any collection of instruments was to Lady Charlotte a 
 band, whether they were playing a coon song or Wagner. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley arrived just as the curtain descended. 
 She was a brilliant creature, with a tall, supple figure, a 
 pale, mobile face, a red-lipped mouth that expressed all 
 things, and eyes that dazzled. She parted her hair 
 on one side like a boy. She was altogether unique 
 and disturbing, and as she lilted into the box Lady 
 Charlotte reflected that, after all, there was a good deal 
 to be said for Bellamy ; in fact, there always was when 
 he cast his eye towards a woman even in the case of 
 his wife. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley looked at them, her liquid eyes 
 brimming with the memory of a charitable deed. 
 
 " I have been dining with Rollo, alone," she said. 
 
 " How nice," crescendoed Lady Charlotte. She had 
 no opinion of Mr. Crutchley. He was a poor creature, 
 and ought to have looked after his wife better. 
 
 There was a knock at the door, and Mr. Beauclerk, 
 a colourless nondescript, entered the box followed by 
 Reggie Vandeleur. 
 
 Reggie Vandeleur was unique. He was perhaps the 
 most amazing combination of shrewdness and stupidity 
 it is possible to conceive, the apotheosis of the superficial. 
 The word "smart" hovered perpetually on his lips. 
 Woman, as God made her, he did not understand ; woman 
 recreated by the modiste and the hairdresser fascinated him. 
 He lived on a small allowance from his mother, which was 
 a chronic cause of dispute between them, she always
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 7 
 
 declaring that he was trying to make her send the same 
 payment twice over, he insisting that she was a whole 
 quarter in arrears. As neither of them could add up, there 
 was not the least possibility of any settlement. Lady 
 Charlotte was sorry for Reggie because he had such a 
 Mamma, and disapproved of him because he was so like 
 her. He was terrified of Lady Charlotte, whose eye was 
 exactly like that of an old nurse, who had had sole charge 
 of him in his childhood at a time when his mother had 
 distinguished herself by literally forgetting his existence 
 for six months. Reggie always felt that it was not im- 
 possible that, in a more than usually* disapproving mood, 
 Lady Charlotte might box his ears. He consequently 
 kept one eye on her and was ready for instant flight. 
 
 " Isn't it smart ? " he said, looking round at the 
 glittering display of frocks and jewels, with the air of a 
 connoisseur who is tasting a particularly fine brand of 
 champagne. 
 
 " Reggie Vandeleur," asked Lady Charlotte, who 
 had a disturbing way of using his Christian name and 
 surname "together, " who is that fat, red woman in the 
 Duchess of Shetland's box ? " 
 
 "That's her grace's mother," said Reggie. "She 
 began life as a cook, and has no other subject of con- 
 versation. They're obliged to show her, because the 
 money's hers, and she only gives them an allowance 
 something enormous, but it depends on her favour. She 
 amuses Shetland, and she's teaching him to cook. He 
 says he's going to give a dinner to his friends and cook it
 
 8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 entirely himself, with members of White's Club to wait, 
 and his mother-in-law to dish it up." 
 
 "She looks dreadfully hot," said Mrs. Crutchley. 
 "I should think a woman who had been used to a 
 cooking range would find even this atmosphere quite 
 cool." 
 
 "The Duchess looks like an Empress," murmured 
 Lady Bellamy. 
 
 " A stage Empress. I don't like American women 
 they always make such a clatter. Their one idea seems 
 to be to give an effective performance." Although Lady 
 Charlotte was supposed to be addressing the people in 
 the box, she talked straight out in front of her, scanning 
 the house with her opera-glasses. " There's Maude 
 Gresham." She nodded and smiled at a pale woman, 
 verging on middle age, seated in the stalls. "To- 
 morrow we shall read that Lady Charlotte Blount was 
 in Lady Bellamy's box, and with them was Mrs. 
 Crutchleyj in white." 
 
 "I am told that she denies the whole thing," said 
 Mr. Beauclerk, "and that she says she has never con- 
 tributed to a newspaper in her life." 
 
 Lady Charlotte looked at him scornfully. 
 
 " My dear Mr. Beauclerk, she writes for that 
 wretched rag called Blue Blood, and signs herself ' The 
 Maid of the Mill.' " 
 
 " I believe," said Reggie, " that I should be first- 
 rate at that writing about frocks and all that sort of 
 thing only the worst of it is that I can't spell."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 9 
 
 " Oh, I believe that's not in the least bit necessary ! " 
 said Mrs. Crutchley. " I'm told that lots of our best 
 writers can't spell, and that the people who print the 
 book correct all the mistakes, and make it read like 
 sense." 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk rose and left the box, having con- 
 tributed singularly little to the conversation. 
 
 " Who's that over there ? " said Mrs. Crutchley, 
 pointing out a young man absolutely groomed and 
 turned out. 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked and gasped. It was her visitor 
 of the afternoon. 
 
 " Do you know him ? " asked Mrs. Crutchley, as 
 Mr. Spottitt compelled, by slightly anticipating, a bow 
 from Lady Bellamy. 
 
 "I have met him," faltered Lady Bellamy. 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 Lady Bellamy felt dazed. She was not quick, and 
 for several seconds could not remember Miss van Holtz's 
 name. 
 
 " At Miss van Holtz's, in Curzon Street," she 
 said, when her hesitation had become somewhat 
 obvious. 
 
 " He is very handsome," said Lady Charlotte, fixing 
 him with her glasses. " Who is he ? I don't remember 
 any Spottitts." 
 
 " I had never met him before," Lady Bellamy was 
 thankful to be able to say. 
 
 Spottitt, quite aware that the interest of the
 
 io BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 occupants of what Reggie would have described as 
 the smartest box in the house was upon him, appeared 
 quite unconscious. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley kept her eyes on Mr. Spottitt. His 
 profile was faultless, and she was still studying it when 
 the lights in the house were suddenly turned down, 
 and it became too indistinct to be interesting. 
 
 During the evening, Mrs. Crutchley displayed a 
 great deal of restlessness, which her dear friend, Selina 
 Bellamy, thoroughly enjoyed. She kept on looking 
 anxiously at the door of the box, expecting it to admit 
 Lord Bellamy. The people who came in and out 
 during the intervals bored her, and the only entertain- 
 ment she found for the remainder of the evening, was 
 Mr. Spottitt's profile. She told herself for the hundredth 
 time since she had known Bellamy, which was about 
 three months, that she was not to be played fast and 
 loose with, and that if he chose to leave her sitting there 
 the whole evening between his wife and aunt, so much 
 the worse for him. 
 
 She was one of those people who suffer acutely 
 from jealousy ; and as the evening wore on, the- mobile, 
 scarlet lips twisted themselves into every shape indicative 
 of acute heartache. The fact that it was an excellent 
 thing for her reputation that she was being seen with 
 Bellamy's wife and Lady Charlotte, assuaged her suffer- 
 ing not at all. Bellamy had the sinister knack, peculiar 
 to those who have a genius for pleasure, of imbuing 
 all who came under his domination with a fatal
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT n 
 
 indifference to the future, and the practical result of 
 his philosophy was to breed a disregard of cause and 
 effect. To make the present throb with sensation was 
 his creed, preached in a thousand subtleties which 
 bewildered and dazzled his adherents. Mrs. Crutchley 
 had decidedly lost her head over the Magnificent one 
 lost it as a stupid woman like Lady Bellamy never could 
 have done. 
 
 Later, after the curtain had descended on the so- 
 prano's last death-shriek, Lady Bellamy whispered to 
 her 
 
 " Are you going straight home, Jack ? " 
 
 "Yes, I'm bored," said Mrs. Crutchley, fretfully, 
 and almost in tears. "I shall go home and get into 
 bed, and read Dickens." 
 
 "Can I come on after I've dropped Aunt Charlotte?" 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley gave her a quick glance. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, doubtfully. 
 
 " I've something most particular to say to you. You 
 go to bed, and I'll talk to you, that is, if you don't 
 mind." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley decided to do nothing of the kind. 
 One is at a disadvantage when in bed, and she did not 
 trust Selina Bellamy. Not that she had any secrets 
 of the toilette to conceal ; she was far too young and 
 naturally beautiful as yet. 
 
 "I've something most important to say to you," 
 continued Lady Bellamy. 
 
 On second thoughts Mrs. Crutchley pressed her to
 
 12 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 come. After all, the Bellamy menage concerned her 
 too intimately for her not to be interested in anything 
 which was serious to Lady Bellamy. She drove home 
 alone, and was the victim of another pang of disappoint- 
 ment at finding no delicious note of regret from Lord 
 Bellamy at his absence from the Opera. Discontentedly, 
 and with her eyes full of unshed tears, she changed 
 into a flowing, diaphanous garment which further ac- 
 centuated the willow grace of her figure by modifying 
 actuality into suggestion. 
 
 It was not long before Lady Bellamy rustled into 
 the room, and dropped into a chair. She was about to 
 enjoy herself. 
 
 First, however, she made a comfortable little bed 
 on her lap with her opera-cloak. 
 
 "Dodo, darling," she began, and then she stopped. 
 "Dear, how foolish of me ! At the same time I do 
 wish I could take Dodo to the Opera. My dear Jack, 
 how nice it is to have a friend with whom one can talk 
 over one's private griefs." 
 
 She waited, and Mrs. Crutchley waited too, till 
 Lady Bellamy was forced to continue without a lead. 
 
 " My dear, you know what an unhappy woman 
 I am." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley noted the accent on the second 
 pronoun, and wondered what on earth was coming. 
 
 " It is useless for me to hide from myself that 
 Gerald is a thoroughly wicked man." 
 
 " Selina ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 13 
 
 " Don't interrupt me, Jack. There comes a time 
 when it is one's duty to look facts in the face that is, 
 if one can do any good." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley wondered if she were going to be 
 warned against Lord Bellamy by his own wife. For 
 a woman she had a sense of humour, and a smile 
 hovered about her mouth at the mere idea. 
 
 " Well ? " she said. 
 
 " I am going to save somebody," announced Lady 
 Bellamy, with the air of one to whom a leap from 
 Westminster Bridge after a drowning person was of no 
 consequence. 
 
 " Save somebody ? " 
 
 " Yes. I understand that Bellamy " she broke 
 
 off and explained parenthetically. " Believe me, my 
 dear Jack, it's not vulgar curiosity that has led me to 
 mix myself up in this it's a poor creature in Bond 
 Street who really does not know where she is being 
 led." 
 
 The remark sounded so enigmatical that Mrs. 
 Crutchley took it literally, and wondered how Lady 
 Bellamy had discovered that some one was lost in Bond 
 Street. 
 
 "I may as well tell you everything, Jack." And 
 Lady Bellamy fixed her large blue eyes on her friend 
 so as to note fully the effect of her next thrust. 
 
 " She's a milliner Madame Henriette and Bellamy 
 well, I needn't tell you anything further. You 
 understand."
 
 i 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 The colour faded out of Mrs. Crutchley's cheeks, 
 and she sat looking at her dear friend, trying wildly 
 to think of something to say. 
 
 " Selina, you must be dreaming." 
 
 " I want to go and warn her, and I want you to 
 come with me." 
 
 "Oh, really, I couldn't I couldn't, really. It 
 would be so unspeakably the wrong thing to do." 
 
 "Of course, I know that would be the world's 
 idea," said Lady Bellamy, who thoroughly appreciated 
 her friend's perturbation ; " but my mind is made up." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley, who knew that Lady Bellamy's 
 redeeming feature in her husband's eyes was that she 
 seemed quite to understand save for an occasional 
 and wholly artificial protest the knack of living together 
 and yet apart, wondered what on earth had put the 
 idea into her friend's head. 
 
 " How did you find out ? " 
 
 She was attempting vainly to deny the possibility 
 of such a thing to herself, but she remembered Lord 
 Bellamy's absence from the Opera, and was too aware 
 of his susceptibility not to be suffering keenly. Besides, 
 she had had a large bill at Madame Henriette's, whom 
 she knew to be a singularly pretty woman, rather in 
 her own style Bellamy's favourite style. He had paid 
 her bill. The whole thing loomed ugly with compli- 
 cations. She made an effort to keep her head. 
 
 " My dear Selina, let me implore you to do nothing 
 of the kind. Ten to one she'll only be impertinent."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 15 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley threw from her the cigarette which 
 she had allowed to remain unlighted since the amazing 
 opening of the conversation. 
 
 Lady Bellamy wondered why she had never before 
 thought of the fascinating entertainment of baiting her 
 friend. Pure curiosity had led her to try and find out 
 some details about her husband. She had never for 
 one moment imagined that it would yield such splendid 
 results. 
 
 " I can't help it, Jack, if she is impertinent ; but I 
 feel that I must do it. I suppose I'm like one of those 
 people who have got a mission." 
 
 " But don't you think, Selina, it's just a little " 
 she hesitated to use the word, but it was a moment 
 for strong measures, so she continued "just a little 
 vulgar ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy's eyes clouded, and she experienced 
 a decidedly feline sensation ; but she said, with marked 
 gentleness 
 
 " The vulgarity is Bellamy's not mine. My mother 
 used to say that if only men and women could appre- 
 ciate how unspeakably vulgar infidelity appears to those 
 who are faithful, they would lead better lives." 
 
 Had Mrs. Crutchley belonged to a lower class she 
 would have used her hat-pin, but she only replied, 
 outdoing her friend in suavity 
 
 " I only hope, Selina, that you have not made a 
 mistake." 
 
 " I am quite sure that I have not."
 
 1 6 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " How did you find out ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy drew a long breath. She opened 
 her mouth to speak, but having nothing to say which 
 would not compromise her, it remained open, and she 
 sat looking blankly at her friend. At last a brilliant 
 idea struck her, and she replied with dignity 
 
 " I am not at liberty to say." 
 
 " But still you are quite sure ? " 
 
 " Quite, Jack ; and you'll promise to come ? " 
 
 "Yes, I'll come." 
 
 If Lady Bellamy was going to visit Madame Hen- 
 riette's establishment in the character of a detective, it 
 was highly desirable that she should be present. It 
 would never do for Madame Henriette to blurt out 
 the little affair of the account settled by Lord Bellamy. 
 
 "I shall call for you, Jack, about twelve o'clock. 
 Go to bed, dear ; you look quite worn out." 
 
 There was a tacit understanding between these two 
 that to kiss each other would have been just a little 
 too much, but Lady Bellamy took one of Mrs. Crutch- 
 ley's hands in hers and patted it with the other in a 
 manner which would have been quite sufficient for an 
 audience, had there been one. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley, left alone, made no attempt to go 
 to bed, but sat brooding. At last she rose, and, as if 
 the heat of the room stifled her, went to the half-closed 
 windows, and, throwing them wide open, stepped on 
 to the balcony. Her house was in Upper Grosvenor 
 Street, and the Park lay spread out beneath her, bathed
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 17 
 
 in mellow moonlight, whilst far away she could just see 
 a silver strip of the Serpentine. She felt very miserable, 
 and was quite convinced that she had done with life. She 
 had read in the paper the week before of a woman com- 
 mitting suicide in the Serpentine, and she wondered if it 
 had been about a man, and if the poor creature was really 
 as unhappy as she was. She saw nothing ridiculous in the 
 idea. All things are comparative, and Bellamy's faith- 
 lessness made a very ugly cloud indeed in the summer 
 sky of her butterfly existence. She had been a little 
 puzzled at some of dear Selina Bellamy's remarks. Of 
 course the latter was aware that there was a flirtation 
 between Bellamy and herself, but she surely did not sus- 
 pect well, the truth. Such an understanding would have 
 created a situation which she was too English not to 
 regard as quite horrid. She would have to forego her ride 
 in the Park in the morning and hurry round to see Madame 
 Henriette, with whom having a passion for hats, and her 
 account being always in arrears she was on quite 
 friendly terms. It was degrading, in the first place, to be 
 jealous of one's milliner, and, in the second place, to 
 be compelled to make common cause with her against 
 Lady Bellamy. Life was getting terribly involved. Per- 
 haps it had something to do with the wages of sin being 
 death ; but she went to bed in doubt. After a night of 
 troubled dreams, in which Mr. Crutchley appeared to be 
 divorcing Lady Bellamy, while she and Bellamy were 
 thoroughly shocked at certain disclosures which remained 
 hazily in the background, she rose and prepared for the fray.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 LORD BELLAMY'S servant was brushing his clothes. 
 
 He was busy with a morning-coat which, as the 
 tailor who made it had said, could have been held in 
 the palm of one's hand. It was a miracle of texture 
 and lightness ; so light was it that the presence of a 
 thin sheet of notepaper in the inside pocket immediately 
 attracted his attention. He read his master's letters 
 whenever he got the chance. His curiosity was only 
 equalled by his discretion. 
 
 So he withdrew the letter from the pocket, and sat 
 down to read. 
 
 As his eye fell on the handwriting a ghastly pallor 
 spread over his face, and he sat quite a long time before 
 he turned with trembling fingers to the signature. 
 Then, with almost a moan, he crumpled the letter in 
 his hands, and buried his face in them. 
 
 After a time, the necessity of reading the letter 
 through appeared to dawn on him. He smoothed it 
 out carefully, and scanned it quickly, his features grow- 
 ing in rigidity. 
 
 Then he went back to the beginning and read it 
 through again carefully, word by word. 
 
 18
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 19 
 
 At the conclusion, he rose to his feet and shook his 
 fist demoniacally at the room in which the nobleman 
 whom he had the honour of serving lay asleep. He 
 made one or two steps forward as if he would burst 
 open the door, and, leaping upon the bed, strangle him 
 where he lay. 
 
 Then he went hastily to his room, and, seizing his 
 hat, ran down the servants' staircase, and a few minutes 
 afterwards emerged from the area gate with a distracted 
 expression.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 BELLAMY the Magnificent lay in his bed planning an 
 exquisitely unprofitable day, and wondering that his 
 appetite for pleasure should be so keen when most of 
 his contemporaries had developed into middle-aged men. 
 It was useless for him to make any pretence that he 
 was middle-aged ; he was too keenly in sympathy with 
 youth. He lived in the reckless, irresponsible atmo- 
 sphere of a boy, and managed to do it with perfect 
 grace and without in any way injuring the proportions 
 of life. " A man is young so long as he does not reckon 
 with to-morrow." That was his favourite axiom, and 
 he lived up to it. And he added that, if a man's desires 
 be ruled by the vanity of personal appearance, he has 
 all the morality he needs in this world, however much 
 he may break down when the Recording Angel comes 
 to examine him in theology. 
 
 Young men attempted to emulate his extreme youth 
 with effort, but somehow they never quite captured the 
 perfect flavour of elegant enjoyment which was his 
 especially. 
 
 " When you are my age you may be as young as 
 I am," he had once told a perspiring, middle-aged lad
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 21 
 
 fresh from Oxford, who had besought a biographical 
 sketch of his career in order that he too might achieve 
 such extreme youth. 
 
 Perhaps the real secret lay in the fact that, although 
 dominated by a pure feeling for enjoyment, he was 
 equally ruled by a brilliant and flexible intellect which 
 at once put him on a level with, or, to speak more truly, 
 placed him above the necessity of conciliating, the wise. 
 He was the personal exposition of a philosophy, the 
 philosophy of pleasure ; and his methods, visible to 
 all, were yet elusive and intangible. His capacity for 
 approaching every ordinary circumstance of life with 
 a manner which gave it novelty and charm was endless. 
 The exceeding ease with which he kept in the sun- 
 light had furnished a disastrous example to whole 
 batches of young men. Genius is fatal to its asso- 
 ciates ; it withers them in its flame like moths, and 
 after some clumsy efforts to live as he did, and to love 
 as he did, they would fall by their own weight and be 
 heard of no more. 
 
 With every romance Bellamy declared that a man 
 is born again, and that unless he be constantly born 
 again old age is a certain and inevitable curse. 
 
 Bellamy's rebirths would have made a remarkable 
 total. He may have been the most notorious of liber- 
 tines, but he was not hardened ; in fact, no man who 
 preserves his taste can be said to be so, and the 
 assumption is a misunderstanding of the ignorant. 
 Bellamy was taste incarnate. He seemed to have been
 
 22 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 born into the world with an extraordinary sense of 
 values, and even while still at Eton could pronounce 
 with certainty upon an old master, or set his palate 
 in wines against that of a connoisseur of forty years' 
 experience. And most things came as easily to him. 
 With enthusiasm, there is very little doubt that one or 
 other of his rare gifts must have blossomed into genius : 
 Bellamy possessed but one enthusiasm, and that was 
 for life. To be able to do things better than other 
 men was his natural state. It would have seemed to 
 him abnormal had it been otherwise. He had his 
 defeats, but they could not affect his superb conscious- 
 ness of power, inasmuch as he could always trace them 
 to being taken off his guard. 
 
 For centuries the Earls Bellamy had provided the 
 country with a saint and a sinner alternately. A saint 
 had fought with Cromwell in the Civil Wars, while 
 his son, the sinner, had shared Charles the Second's 
 exile. 
 
 Bellamy always declared that a careful 'history of 
 the family would reveal the curious fact that un- 
 questionably the saints had done the most harm. The 
 first sinners left behind picturesque memories of swash- 
 buckling and riotous living, and, later, a delicate sug- 
 gestion of perfume and lace ruffles. But these memories 
 were innocuous, causing their authors to be remembered 
 without bitterness, and even with indulgence ; the 
 saints, on the other hand, came down through the 
 generations with unceasing pertinacity in a whole host
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 23 
 
 of misdirected charities and social improvements which 
 made for the ugliness of life. 
 
 It had been conceded, both at Eton and Christ- 
 church, that Bellamy had only to stretch out his hand 
 to take whatever was going in the way of honours ; 
 in fact, those who actually took them were depre- 
 cating in his presence as if they owed them, not to 
 their own merit, but to the fact that Bellamy had not 
 competed ; and thus, living always in an atmosphere 
 of frank recognition, he remained singularly unspoilt, 
 and, if he was thoughtless about others, it was the 
 thoughtlessness of a happy child which has had every- 
 thing provided for it, and is quite unaware that beggars 
 are anything but interesting abstractions. 
 
 Bellamy, as he lay in a half doze, was not thinking 
 of the time. It was not his business to think of it 
 at least not at that hour of the morning. A sense of 
 time was created for him by his servant when the latter 
 brought in his rolls and coffee. 
 
 Stevens, Bellamy's servant, was, had the world known 
 it, one-half of the whole Bellamy. Without Stevens, 
 Bellamy would have been socially helpless. He had 
 been with him twenty years, having entered on his 
 duties the day Bellamy came of age. He had been at 
 that time thirty, and if it was true that Bellamy never 
 seemed to get any older, it was equally true that Stevens 
 never seemed to get any younger. There was no ex- 
 cuse for him ; he had had every chance, but not even 
 the contemplation of the continuous and gorgeous
 
 24 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 efflorescence of his master influenced him. He was 
 old, just as Bellamy was young. They hated each 
 other with the fierce intensity which seems to be the 
 inevitable result of mutual obligation, and to which 
 must be added the natural dislike of the master for 
 his valet, and the valet for his master. The adage as 
 to valets not being hero-worshippers gives but a poor 
 impression of the loathing which a self-respecting valet 
 has for the creature he tends a dislike which has the 
 undoubted advantage of making for respect on the one 
 side and some consideration on the other. The absolute 
 lack of interest which these two, so mutually dependent, 
 had in each other, as apart from their contract, was 
 quite astonishing. It was true that Bellamy had given 
 the matter a thought or two, but he had never remem- 
 bered to ask Stevens whether he was married or un- 
 married. He conveyed the idea of keeping an aged 
 mother, but his master was no more interested in the 
 subject than he had been the day he arrived. 
 
 A neighbouring clock began to strike the hours, 
 and Bellamy listened mechanically. At eleven he almost 
 sat up in bed. 
 
 Where were his rolls and his coffee, and what had 
 become of Stevens ? 
 
 There was a knock at the door, and Bellamy's 
 heart gave a great jump. If it was one of the servants 
 to tell him that Stevens was dead it would be decidedly 
 awkward. Knowing his character, Bellamy could not 
 conceive anything but death keeping his servant away.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 25 
 
 He murmured wearily, " Come in," and the great 
 mistake of his life entered the room. 
 
 Bellamy never quite knew which he hated most 
 his wife or Stevens. She was the only one of his 
 romances which he had not been able to shake off. 
 He could give no reason for marrying her, excepting 
 that she had at one time appealed to him as a romance, 
 and, being a thoroughly well-chaperoned young girl in 
 his own rank of life, he could only cure his fever by 
 marrying her. 
 
 True to his philosophy, he never made the mistake 
 of anticipating the end of his heart frenzies. Each 
 romance was to be the last, and for the first few 
 weeks of his married life he was so completely exalted 
 that he even descended to banalities and talked of 
 settling down ; but accompanying her to some dreary 
 official function either the Opera or a State ball, he 
 forgot which he had caught the gleam of white 
 shoulders and the eyes of a Bacchante peering back 
 over them, and he found himself again a hunter, and 
 realized, with perhaps just a pang, that he who has 
 drunk of the wine of the chase is never quite sober 
 again. 
 
 But if the wrongs of all those whose affections he 
 had won with ease, and wearied of as easily, had been 
 ten times as great, his victims might have rejoiced, for 
 Lady Bellamy had avenged them all, and that uncon- 
 sciously. She set his teeth on edge whenever they 
 were together, and she had not the remotest intention
 
 26 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 of ridding him of herself. She pretended to jealousy, 
 but it was in reality mere curiosity. She was as 
 immoral as only a woman can be against whom no 
 word of scandal has ever been alleged. 
 
 Bellamy could not remember the occasion when she 
 had last entered his room, but he had a fastidious dis- 
 inclination to be seen, even by his wife, at a disad- 
 vantage. Luckily the persiennes were drawn, and kept 
 out the blazing sunlight, and the morning fatigue of 
 his face, which had lately taken to assuming more 
 greyness than he cared to admit, was not very visible. 
 
 His wife came well into the middle of the room 
 before she said 
 
 " May I come in ? " 
 
 " Would you mind handing me a brush and comb, 
 and a mirror ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy did so, and Lord Bellamy, having 
 parted and brushed his hair, lay back on the pillow to 
 listen to what she had to say. 
 
 " I am going out, Gerald," said Lady Bellamy. 
 
 Bellamy waited. He presumed that she constantly 
 went out, but she certainly did not make a practice 
 of coming to tell him so. In fact, their comings and 
 goings depended not at all on each other. 
 
 She stood at the foot of the bed regarding him with 
 what in anybody else might have been a steadfast 
 gaze, but which in her was merely a look of fretful 
 stupidity. 
 
 " Have you nothing to say to me, Gerald ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 27 
 
 Her expression exasperated him. He wondered what 
 could be the object of this extraordinary visit, but he 
 answered with perfect courtesy 
 
 "I never have anything to say to anybody at this 
 hour of the morning." 
 
 "It's eleven o'clock," answered Lady Bellamy, 
 feebly, as if that were the recognized hour for com- 
 mencing conversation. 
 
 " I want to get up " Lady Bellamy moved pre- 
 cipitately towards the door "and I can't think where 
 Stevens can be." 
 
 " Why don't you ring ? I always ring when I want 
 my maid." 
 
 " I never ring for Stevens he is always just there." 
 
 " Well, he isn't here now, is he, so I should ring." 
 
 " Would you mind ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy pressed the electric button near the 
 fireplace. 
 
 " You should have the electric bell over your bed," 
 she said. 
 
 " I tell you, I never have to ring for Stevens." 
 
 Stevens not putting in an appearance, Lady Bellamy 
 drifted out of the room, leaving Lord Bellamy still in 
 ignorance as to why she had entered it. 
 
 Left alone, he lay with a sinking heart, waiting for 
 his servant. Finally he got out of bed, and, reaching 
 the middle of the room, stood there, the picture of blank 
 dismay. He was trying to recollect in what order he 
 usually got up. How was he to shave ? Stevens had
 
 28 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 the accomplishment of being able to shave Lord Bellamy 
 better than he could ever have shaved himself. 
 
 He rang the bell. 
 
 " Where is Stevens ? " he asked the man who 
 answered it. 
 
 " I'll go and see, my lord." 
 
 Lord Bellamy lit a cigarette, and waited. He took 
 up a French novel that lay on his dressing-table, but 
 threw it down again. He was too anxious to read. 
 
 The man returned to say that Stevens was not in 
 the house. Lord Bellamy looked at him with a glassy 
 stare, and the young man thought he was going to 
 have a fit. 
 
 Stevens was dead there could be no doubt about 
 that. 
 
 " Find me some clothes," said Lord Bellamy. 
 
 The youth looked at him blankly. He was quite 
 equal to helping any ordinary man to dress, but Lord 
 Bellamy he would as soon have expected the char- 
 woman to be asked to wait at one of those exquisite 
 little dinners which Lord Bellamy was in the habit 
 of giving when Lady Bellamy was out of town. Lord 
 Bellamy's reputation for fastidiousness was something 
 which was almost national. When Stevens con- 
 descended to talk to such humble folk as himself he 
 invariably left the impression that valeting Lord Bellamy 
 was a task before which the difficulty of all other tasks 
 paled. There were many who would no doubt make 
 good prime ministers, but there was only one Lord
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 29 
 
 Bellamy, and there was only one person who could 
 dress him. 
 
 He stumbled from one awkwardness into another, 
 and finally, with a sigh, and very gently, he was asked 
 to leave the room. He went, more than ever impressed 
 with the greatness of the absent Stevens. 
 
 Lord Bellamy had an appointment at one o'clock. 
 How he managed to get dressed he never knew, and 
 when at last he imagined himself to be complete he 
 felt thoroughly uncomfortable. He was quite sure that 
 there was something wrong, but what it was he could 
 not for the life of him tell. He almost looked old as 
 he stood anxiously contemplating himself in the glass. 
 He thought of sending a telegram to say that he was 
 unable to leave his bed. Had it been an ordinary 
 social engagement he would have done so, but he was 
 taking his last romance out to lunch, and the magnetism 
 was irresistible. 
 
 There was something less than the usual elasticity 
 in his step as he ran downstairs. He always declared 
 that people who do not run up and downstairs are old. 
 He felt that the eyes of the man who called him a cab 
 were fixed on him wonderingly, and he drove away 
 feeling almost shy.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 IN rushing from Lord Bellamy's house with ill-con- 
 sidered haste, Stevens was perhaps guilty of the one 
 impulsive action of his life. He admitted it when, 
 long after, he took a retrospect of his conduct. In 
 after years he would turn hot and cold at the re- 
 flection that he could have been guilty of anything so 
 unseemly. However much Lord Bellamy had forgotten 
 himself, he of all people should not have become so 
 blinded by passion as to have been oblivious of the 
 fact that he was a gentleman's gentleman. He could 
 not remember any similar lapse to stain the memories 
 of a career which had been irreproachable. Gentlemen 
 might lose their tempers a hundred times a day without 
 having much cause for self-reproach, but for a gentle- 
 man's gentleman to lose his temper with his master 
 was a crime against nature, a thing not to be re- 
 membered without humiliation. Just as Lord Bellamy 
 was the most consummate gentleman of his day, so 
 did Stevens consider himself the most consummate 
 servant. A place in the Royal household would not 
 have given him the same vogue with those of his class 
 as did his service with Lord Bellamy. He was spoken 
 
 3
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 31 
 
 of in housekeepers' rooms as a man who had reached 
 the apex of his profession. It was not to be supposed 
 that Lord Bellamy did not claim to be served as 
 consummately as possible, and Stevens' reputation was 
 founded on this obvious argument. Young men aspiring 
 to personal service were told to mark his bearing, 
 learn from his practice, and inwardly digest his maxims. 
 " A man's soul should be in his master's clothes," was 
 a remark he had once let fall before a circle of 
 admirers thirsting for information, and the murmur of 
 respectful approval that arose from the group showed 
 that it was recognized as that rare thing, an absolute 
 truth. 
 
 " I once knew a young man," he continued, looking 
 round at the solemn masks dedicated to the cause, 
 " who never could learn how to enter his master's 
 bedroom without waking him up." 
 
 He paused, and shook his head with almost royal 
 gloom, and there fell a profound silence on the assembly. 
 It was felt that the inevitable fate of the person in 
 question required no comment. 
 
 " He was brother to that young man who came 
 into his master's presence bringing with him the odour 
 of onions. There must have been something wrong 
 with the family and yet, the father had a reputation 
 of a kind. True, it was only with those that wouldn't 
 know a genuine Harris tweed from an imitation but 
 still, there was nothing against him. I think it must 
 have been something on the mother's side."
 
 32 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 The company agreed. 
 
 "A valet can't live like other people he's different. 
 He's got to be careful, that is, if he aspires to serv- 
 ing " Stevens paused, and then concluded depre- 
 
 catingly, " a great man. I've known some young men 
 go so far as to forget themselves by smoking shag. 
 There wasn't any real badness, it was just carelessness, 
 not remembering that shag is strong, and comes out 
 stronger in the refined atmosphere of a gentleman's 
 apartment." 
 
 "Boots are interesting," suggested the youngest 
 member of the party. 
 
 Stevens nodded approvingly. 
 
 " Boots are beautiful things when you come to 
 know them." 
 
 The youngest member of the party felt inclined 
 to suggest that boots were anything but beautiful things 
 when you came to inherit them, but he would as soon 
 have thought of showing levity before Mr. Stevens as 
 of slapping his own master on the back ; and, besides, 
 he felt that he had scored in securing the great man's 
 approval for his remark. 
 
 " I wouldn't exchange a pair of well-boned and well- 
 blacked boots for the finest picture in the Academy." 
 And here again Stevens showed characteristic dis- 
 crimination. "There are men," he continued for, 
 like a real genius, he never tired of his subject, 
 and had an absolute belief in his capacity to in- 
 terest " who will go on handing a buttonhook to
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 33 
 
 a gentleman wrong end up time after time for there 
 are gentlemen that prefers to button their own boots, 
 although, mind you, I can't say that I've ever come 
 across them. Then, as to steadiness. It takes head 
 and will power to see your master mixing in the daily 
 whirl of pleasure without getting a thirst for it yourself. 
 I once knew a young fellow," he continued, drawing 
 again from his inexhaustible store of examples, "who 
 got the love of pleasure on him like a disease. He 
 used to spend every hour he could get off at music- 
 halls and exhibitions, and no good came of that." 
 
 Such was Stevens, the most irreproachable servant 
 of an irreproachable dandy. He was not hard on 
 those who had failed to reach the same professional 
 eminence as himself. He frankly admitted that the 
 qualities required for success were rarely found so 
 admirably proportioned. By some curious, inverted 
 process of argument he had almost come to look upon 
 his own as the aristocratic class, and his master's as 
 the lower class. There was certainly no great merit 
 in being a gentleman ; circumstance had too large a 
 share for the triumph to be individual. But people 
 were not born gentlemen's gentlemen, excepting per- 
 haps in the sense that poets are born poets. In both 
 cases the world in general is unaware of the drudgery 
 which is involved in perfecting the gifts of nature. 
 He did not for one moment deny that personal service 
 was a somewhat ordinary employment, but, like all 
 other employments, it was possible for a man of genius 
 
 D
 
 34 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 to give it a distinction which would at any rate for 
 the moment bring the entire calling into the fore- 
 ground. Perhaps those elevated people do as much 
 harm as good, for they give their calling a fictitious 
 value, and Stevens himself more than suspected that 
 genius is a dangerous thing to others. 
 
 When he rushed distractedly up the area steps and 
 along Grosvenor Place he was as one possessed, but he 
 had not gone many yards before his passion took a 
 tinge of caution, and once caution had obtained any 
 hold over him it was apt to be a progressive quality 
 which finally dominated. He changed the direction 
 in which he was going, and turned into Hyde Park. 
 As he passed through the gay throng, making for 
 the quieter green centres, he pulled himself together. 
 The proximity of the social world acted on him 
 automatically, and by the time he had reached a quiet 
 corner near the band-stand the usual respectful calm of 
 his manner had returned. 
 
 He took out the revolver he had been fingering 
 in his pocket, and, withdrawing the cartridges, threw 
 them into a bush hard by. It would never do to go 
 into an interview, in the course of which his worst 
 passions might be roused, with a weapon in his pocket 
 capable of doing irretrievable mischief. As a dramatic 
 property it would be useful, and he enjoyed the pro- 
 spect of producing it at the psychological moment. 
 He had never had a revolver in his hand before, and 
 the difficulty he had found in extracting the charge,
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 35 
 
 filled him with a certain apprehension as to whether 
 he could brandish it with conviction, but to practise 
 where he was would have involved the risk of being 
 arrested as a lunatic, or a suicide, or both. 
 
 It was fully an hour before he rose, and, making 
 for the Grosvenor Gate, set off with a studied lack of 
 haste towards Bond Street.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE morning after her conversation with Lady Bellamy, 
 and the day on which she had given a sort of half pro- 
 mise that she would accompany her on what she con- 
 sidered a highly unprofitable and inexpedient errand, 
 Mrs. Crutchley rose with the full determination of 
 having, if possible, an interview with Madame Henriette 
 before Lady Bellamy saw her. 
 
 Her husband looked at her in surprise when she 
 entered the breakfast-room. 
 
 " Aren't you ridin', Jack ? " 
 
 Mr. Crutchley did not take much interest in human 
 beings in general, unless they happened to be on horse- 
 back. 
 
 " No, Rollo j I've got some early shopping to do." 
 
 " Yes ; but there's a time for ridin', and there's a 
 time for shoppin', and you'll make a muddle of life if 
 you go mixin' them up." 
 
 This speech constituted quite a display of assertion 
 on Mr. Crutchley's part, and his wife looked at him in 
 astonishment. It was clearly a moment for one of her 
 carefully husbanded and invariably effective caresses. 
 She came behind his chair and, putting both her arms 
 
 36
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 37 
 
 round his neck, overwhelmed him with her exquisite 
 morning freshness. His primitive brain was swamped 
 by the rush of sweet femininity, and he brushed her 
 cheek with his bristly little moustache, saying 
 
 " Well, so long as you're havin' a good time, that's 
 the thing." 
 
 But all the same he had something on his mind 
 that he wanted to speak to her about, and towards the 
 end of the meal it came out not very tactfully, of 
 course. 
 
 " I say, Jack, Bellamy's got an awful reputation." 
 
 She did not even look up. Her guilty conscience 
 had schooled her for some such remark as this. 
 
 " He seems to be paying you a lot of attention, and 
 I'd rather not. Choke him off if you can." 
 
 By this time Mr. Crutchley was in a high state 
 of nervous dread. He expected the beautiful creature 
 before him to turn on him with scorn, and he was 
 perhaps a little disappointed that she did not. Some- 
 how it seemed the right and proper thing for her 
 to do. 
 
 " My dear Rollo, what nonsense ! Bellamy talks so 
 well, and most people are so dreadfully dull." 
 
 " Oh, nobody can say Bellamy's dull ! Even the 
 fellows who hate him most admit that he's entertainin'. 
 But, you see, I know the way people have talked when 
 he's been seen about with other men's wives." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley felt that it was distinctly unjust that 
 she should be spoken to on the subject of Lord Bellamy
 
 38 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 that morning. Her disappointment of the evening 
 before had left her with a vague feeling of injured 
 innocence. His infidelity seemed to have expiated her 
 fault. 
 
 " My dear Rollo, I don't think I'm much like the 
 women you mean." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley had the feminine gift of self-decep- 
 tion where a rake is in question. She ignored his past, 
 and, having decided to trust him, analyzed everything 
 about him excepting his reputation. Woman-like, she 
 took refuge in a false inference. 
 
 " I think you might trust me, Rollo." 
 
 " My dear Jack, who says I don't trust you ? " 
 
 "Well, Rollo, it's all very well to say you trust 
 me, and then to accuse me in the same breath." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley, who had risen to her feet, produced 
 a morsel of cambric, and Crutchley got up in alarm. 
 He was too elementally masculine not to be terrified at 
 the mere suggestion of tears. 
 
 "It's all right, Rollo. Don't say anything more 
 about it." She spoke in a choked voice, inwardly 
 wondering impatiently when he was going to mount the 
 very restive mare which was dancing a quadrille on 
 the pavement with the groom as partner. 
 
 Finally he was gone, and, telling a servant to call 
 a hansom, she hurried upstairs and put on her hat, a pale 
 blue confection. Even at that moment, when time was 
 so precious, she paused to take a self-satisfied look at 
 herself in the glass. The ensemble was delightful, and
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 39 
 
 she frankly admitted it. Her white serge frock became 
 her admirably, and, had she not had so much on her mind, 
 would have laid the foundation of a very pleasant day. 
 
 Madame Henriette had not arrived. Naturally her 
 assistant did not inform Mrs. Crutchley that she was 
 upstairs in bed. This was a pity, as in her present mood 
 Mrs. Crutchley would not have hesitated to go up to her. 
 She stood in the showroom as long as she could, talking 
 to the assistant, in the hope that Madame Henriette 
 might come in at any moment. She was finally dis- 
 lodged by her dear friend the Comtesse de Perrefonds, 
 who arrived obviously with the intention of charming 
 Madame Henriette into giving her even more extended 
 credit, and a supply of hats for Cowes. The latter, as 
 she informed Mrs. Crutchley in French which at least 
 one of the assistants understood perfectly was delighted 
 the principal of the firm had not yet arrived ; it would be 
 so very much easier to deal with the assistants, but, after 
 all, there would no doubt be a little conversation con- 
 cerning her account, so would her chlre Jack which she 
 pronounced Jacques leave her to fight her little battle. 
 
 Miss Gray, Madame Henriette's chief assistant, who 
 had just received a message from the upper regions to say 
 that her employer would not be down for at least another 
 hour and a half, assured Mrs. Crutchley that Madame 
 Henriette would not arrive for some time. Mrs. 
 Crutchley hoped that she would not arrive at all, so 
 that Lady Bellamy, given a day to think over the matter, 
 might realize the utter foolishness of her conduct. Mrs.
 
 40 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Crutchley had no choice but to return to Upper 
 Grosvenor Street, and wait for Lady Bellamy. She tried 
 to employ the time in writing some letters ; and, in fact, 
 when Lady Bellamy came into her morning-room, she 
 was composing an indignant note to Lord Bellamy which 
 she had no intention of sending. Lord Bellamy had 
 given her the benefit of his experience, which was 
 summed up in the two words, " Write nothing." It 
 was at Hurlingham, and they were standing watching the 
 gentle art of wounding the dangerous and savage pigeon. 
 " My dear Jack," he had said, " never commit your 
 thoughts to paper. The simplest invitation to lunch 
 sounds ridiculous when read out in the Divorce Court." 
 
 A wounded pigeon flew painfully over their heads, 
 and a heavy drop of warm blood fell on her white 
 gown. She gave a little cry of dismay, looking after 
 the ungallant bird almost resentfully. 
 
 " They ought really to teach these birds to die like 
 gentlemen," said Bellamy, lightly. " I know you can 
 teach birds to pretend to be dead." 
 
 " Do you think it's a bad omen ? " she asked fretfully. 
 
 But now she was suffering, and that day at 
 Hurlingham seemed a weary while ago. 
 
 " My dear Jack," said Lady Bellamy as she entered 
 the room, " I feel so nervous." 
 
 " Then why go ? It will only upset you." 
 
 "I must go. For the future I shall do what I 
 consider to be my duty. Bellamy will find that I am like 
 like Jack, what's that dog that's always in poetry ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 41 
 
 Sleuth-hound ? " 
 
 " Yes that's it. How clever of you." 
 
 Nothing that Mrs. Crutchley could say had any 
 effect on this sleuth-hound in pink muslin, so they 
 entered Lady Bellamy's victoria. Mrs. Crutchley 's 
 spirits were at zero, and she sat on Dodo, much to 
 Lady Bellamy's indignation. She was wondering what 
 awful catastrophe was impending, and speculating as to 
 who had put the idea into Lady Bellamy's head, for it 
 was not conceivable that it had got there by itself. 
 She had forgotten to ask her the night before, having 
 been so entirely anxious about herself. 
 
 " Who suggested to you, Selina, that you should 
 embark on this campaign of good works ? " 
 
 " I read it in a magazine ; and you have no idea, 
 Jack, the amount of good the wife did." 
 
 " Was it a real story ? " 
 
 "I I don't know." 
 
 "Well, I should have found out, because, you see, 
 fiction is never a bit like real life. Authors are so 
 unnatural the more wild and improbable the story, the 
 more they seem to like writing about it." 
 
 " I don't see that any harm can be done," said the 
 sleuth-hound, a little nervously, as they turned into 
 Bond Street. She wished that she had not taken it so 
 for granted that Madame Henriette was a weak-minded 
 creature who would burst into floods of repentant tears 
 at her mere appearance.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 LORD BELLAMY was not the only person who had lain 
 in bed on that beautiful summer morning ; that is, not 
 the only person connected with his life's history. 
 
 The person in question, who had slept through the 
 birth, early growth, and mature roar of the traffic in the 
 street below, was Madame Henriette, the milliner. She 
 knew that directly she rose there was a most unpleasant 
 visitor standing by her bedside ready to bear her company 
 through the day's work. So long as she lay in bed 
 she was free of it, but she was aware that her evil 
 conscience was fluttering about the room, impatiently 
 waiting to take possession of its own. She had a certain 
 amount of excuse for staying where she was, for it was 
 the end of the season, and business was slack. When 
 at last she passed into her bathroom the spectre asserted 
 full sway. Vivid recollections of a private room in an 
 hotel near Sloane Square, with an elegant supper for 
 two, gave birth to a greater remorse than she could 
 have imagined possible. She was not successful in 
 putting away from her the memory of a smile which 
 was far more intoxicating than the wine on the table, 
 and of a voice which twisted things evil into the most 
 
 42
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 43 
 
 fascinatingly innocuous appearances. The strain of these 
 reflections left her jaded and worn ere she had finished 
 dressing, and she passed through the shop into the show- 
 room almost listlessly. Her assistant was preparing the 
 books for the monthly balance. 
 
 "I have had a most dreadful headache, Miss 
 Gray." 
 
 " I hope you are better ? " 
 
 " Yes that is, no. Phenacetin never does me any 
 good." 
 
 " I can manage quite well by myself if you'd sooner 
 go and lie down again." 
 
 " Oh no." 
 
 It was possible that her conscience, being a thing 
 evil, would decline to accompany her through a day's 
 honest work. 
 
 " Has anybody been ? " 
 
 "The Comtesse de Perrefonds called, and said 
 that we must really let her have some hats for 
 Cowes." 
 
 " Did you mention her account ? " 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " And she promised a cheque before the end of next 
 week ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " She has been doing that ever since we opened. 
 She's the most barefaced of them all. However, she's 
 French, and quite the right sort of customer." 
 
 " She brings a lot of people."
 
 44 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "Yes, but if it had not been for those dreadful 
 American women who paid ready money, her intro- 
 ductions in good and bad debts would about balance 
 each other." 
 
 " She brought Mrs. Crutchley," ventured the 
 assistant. 
 
 Madame Henriette was silent. She could not but 
 remember that Mrs. Crutchley had brought Lord 
 Bellamy, and her assistant's remark had rung up the 
 curtain once more on the private room with supper 
 for two. 
 
 "I shall take my holiday almost at once, Miss Gray. 
 I shall be away all August, and you can have the first 
 fortnight in September. The girls can arrange it as 
 they like between them." 
 
 A slim, pretty girl entered from the outer room. 
 
 " Mr. Stevens wants to know if he can see you." 
 
 Madame Henriette looked up and paled. Her evil 
 conscience tuned everything to the key of suspicion, and 
 besides, Mr. Stevens had never before paid a call at that 
 particular hour. 
 
 " Show him in," she said shortly. " You can leave 
 us, Miss Gray." 
 
 Stevens met Miss Gray in the doorway, and drew 
 aside to let her pass out. He shut the door gently after 
 her, and, to Madame Henriette 's astonishment and alarm, 
 locked it ; but she concealed her feelings, and went 
 impulsively towards him with outstretched arms. 
 
 Richard ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 45 
 
 He held her off, raising his hand without passion. 
 
 " Why have you locked the door ? " 
 
 He stood looking at her in silence, hoping even 
 against absolute proof, as people are apt to do when 
 they are in love. 
 
 " Richard, why are you so pale ! You frighten 
 me." 
 
 " I am not surprised at that, considering the state 
 your conscience must be in that is, if you have a 
 conscience." 
 
 "I don't understand you." 
 
 " Don't you ? A little strange. The study of 
 character, Henriette, is somewhat of a hobby of mine, 
 and if a stranger had asked me to sum you up, I 
 should have replied that you were a quick-witted little 
 thing." 
 
 She gazed at him in terror. During their married 
 life they had seen little of each other, and his present 
 mood was quite different to anything he had hitherto 
 displayed. She could only look at him helplessly, gasping 
 out, " Richard," appealingly. 
 
 " Don't keep on repeating my name as if you 
 wanted to hear what it sounded like. Sit down, you 
 Jezebel." 
 
 She collapsed into the chair by her side. 
 
 "Not there it's too near the door." He pointed 
 to the seat by the desk, and she crossed to it slowly, 
 feeling as if her legs were giving way beneath her. 
 It seemed as if she were going down into a pit,
 
 46 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 and as if the roar of the traffic in the street below 
 was the yell of its infernal denizens hailing her 
 advent. 
 
 " I suppose we are not likely to be disturbed ? " 
 
 " I don't know I " She rose, and went swiftly 
 
 towards the door, but stopped halfway with a smothered 
 shriek. 
 
 With his elbow resting on the table, Stevens was 
 pointing the revolver at her, with all the deadly decision 
 and calm of a professional bravo ; but not without a 
 certain inward dread that, after all, it might be loaded. 
 He kept the weapon levelled till she had resumed her 
 seat. 
 
 Henriette was too nervous to notice that he had 
 hastily removed his finger from the trigger. 
 
 " You and I, Henriette, must have a talk." 
 
 " Yes, of course, Richard, if you wish." 
 
 "I have a confession to make, Henriette." 
 
 She looked at him a little relieved. Perhaps, after 
 all, it was his conscience that was in question. 
 
 u We have been married nearly eighteen months, 
 and during that time, except for a fortnight at Black- 
 pool, we can hardly be said to have lived together." 
 
 " No, Richard ; but then, of course, directly your 
 aunt dies " 
 
 " I have no aunt." 
 
 She looked at him in amazement. Then her face 
 cleared, and she exclaimed, with unfeigned relief 
 
 " Oh, Richard ; then she is dead ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 4? 
 
 " I never had an aunt." And then he added hastily, 
 as if it were a singular fact that required explanation, 
 " Both my father and mother were only children." 
 
 " But your aunt at Richmond ? You told me she 
 would have cut you off with a shilling if she had known 
 you were married." 
 
 "I tell you I have no aunt at Richmond. You 
 have been deceived, Henriette." He spoke the last 
 words slowly, as if the fact that she had been taken in 
 was a pleasant reflection, which he could at least place 
 to his credit. 
 
 She recovered something of her courage and self- 
 possession. She began to see herself in the light of an 
 aggrieved party. It did not, after all, appear that he 
 knew anything to her detriment. 
 
 "When I first met you, Henriette " He broke 
 
 off, and asked, " Do you remember when I first met 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes, of course." 
 
 " I like thinking of it. I have often lain awake at 
 nights thinking of it. It was near the Marble Arch. 
 You passed me under the light of a gas-lamp, and I fell 
 in love at once. I turned to look at you you were 
 crossing the road. I followed, and was just in time to 
 rescue you, and the hatbox you carried, from beneath a 
 brewer's dray. You allowed me to carry the hatbox 
 till you had recovered your nerve, and by that time we 
 were friends. I asked if I might see you again. You 
 made an appointment. On that occasion it became
 
 48 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 necessary to say who I was ; and, do you know, by that 
 time I had fully grasped that if I told you what I 
 really was, you would turn up your nose at me. You're 
 a terrible snob, Henriette. Birth is everything in your 
 eyes, and I couldn't count the number of times you 
 mentioned that your mother was a governess and your 
 father in the Post Office. I shall never forget your in- 
 dignation when I thought you meant he was a postman, 
 and the way you looked at me, as if you were an old 
 title speaking of a brewery lord, when you replied, 'I 
 said, in the Post Office, not outside it.' " 
 
 Madame Henriette had by this time quite made up 
 her mind that he was suffering from sunstroke. 
 
 " But what are you, Richard ? You told me that 
 the money with which we started this business was 
 what you had saved out of your allowance." 
 
 " Yes, Henriette, and there wasn't a word of truth 
 in it, excepting the fact that I have saved the money. 
 It was the savings of years of drudgery. Henriette, 
 I am a domestic servant." 
 
 She looked at him speechless with horror, and he 
 enjoyed the intensity of her dismay. 
 
 " Ah, I knew that that would strike home. There's 
 nothing a woman has such a contempt for as a man- 
 servant. There's too little of the bully and swash- 
 buckler about him to please the female sex. I'm 
 aware of it. They can't abide a man to hang about 
 a house. I read in a book somewhere that it's a relic 
 of the old times, when the women used to sit at home
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 49 
 
 and give themselves the creeps by thinking of all the 
 horrors that might be happening to their husbands in 
 battle. Well, as I said before, I'm a domestic 
 servant." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you have tricked me 
 into marrying below my station ? " 
 
 " Well, yes. I suppose you would call it marrying 
 below your station." 
 
 " Richard, you can't mean it ; you are angry with 
 me." 
 
 " Yes, Henriette, I am angry with you, and that's 
 why I do mean it." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that you are a common 
 servant ? " 
 
 "Oh no, I'm a very uncommon servant. You 
 needn't be afraid, Henriette. You have at least married 
 a somebody." 
 
 By this time the fact that her husband was a 
 domestic servant had penetrated into her brain, and 
 she rose, furious and reckless of the consequences. 
 
 " Oh, you can shoot me if you like. I'm sure I 
 wish you would ; but I'll prosecute you. There must 
 be some law to prevent men from obtaining wives 
 under false pretences. Tell me, what kind of loathsome 
 thing are you ? " 
 
 " Ah, I knew it. That's a woman all over, when 
 she's talking of a lackey. Well, Henriette, I am a 
 gentleman's gentleman." 
 
 " The worst of all servants : a thing without a mind 
 
 E
 
 50 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 of his own his master's echo, dressed in his worn-out 
 clothes. Oh oh oh ! " 
 
 He watched her with a keen relish. He had 
 never enjoyed anything so much in his life. He had 
 wished to see her in this mood, and had carefully led 
 up to it. 
 
 She was now possessed of an absolute conviction 
 of her own virtue and injuries. Everything else was 
 forgotten. 
 
 It was in a perfectly level voice, and throwing 
 into it as much sweetness as he was capable of, that 
 he said simply 
 
 " I am Lord Bellamy's servant." 
 
 She gazed at him almost stupidly. 
 
 He had not expected her to say anything, and for 
 a little space he was quite content to watch the effect 
 of his amazing announcement. At last she sank back 
 into the chair, murmuring faintly 
 
 Oh h." 
 
 " Exactly. Oh h. I was brushing his lordship's 
 clothes this morning, when I found a letter in one 
 of his pockets from you." 
 
 " Richard I am innocent." 
 
 " Henriette, there are some things of which we 
 shall never know the truth till the Judgment Day. I 
 thought that out in Hyde Park this morning." 
 
 She looked at him inquiringly. 
 
 " It is most probable, Henriette, that had I come 
 here directly after I had found that letter I should
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 51 
 
 have killed you. I suppose you're afraid of death, 
 Henriette ? " 
 
 " Yes, Richard, very." 
 
 " So am I, and that's why I didn't do it. Oh, 
 you Jezebel ! " 
 
 The concentrated venom with which this remark 
 was delivered, made Henriette's heart jump into her 
 mouth. 
 
 "You should not have left me so much to my- 
 self." 
 
 " Apparently not, although you used to tell me 
 that the business would have all your attention. 
 Goodness knows how many more there may have 
 been." 
 
 " Richard, how dare you ! I am a wretched, guilty 
 woman." 
 
 " Of course you are you are found out. It's only 
 when we're found out that we are wretched or guilty. 
 Looking round for a suitable expression, I should say 
 that you are a viper. Now, I wish you clearly to 
 understand the situation. You have broken my 
 heart." 
 
 True to his almost Chinese theory of conduct, 
 Stevens made this remark without the least trace of 
 emotion, and naturally Henriette looked at him a little 
 mystified. 
 
 " Yes, I said my heart, and I mean it." 
 
 " Spare me, Richard ! " 
 
 " Oh, I'm not going to throw you over, or throw
 
 52 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 you out of the window, as you deserve. I'm going to 
 give myself the pleasure of looking after you, and we'll 
 see how you like it. And I'm going to give his lord- 
 ship a lesson. Do you know what they call him ? 
 Bellamy the Magnificent. Magnificent, is he ? They 
 should see him when he's just out of bed before he's 
 had his bath, or even when he's in his bath, for the 
 matter of that object ! He'd cut a pretty figure before 
 any well-set-up young British workman. Blue blood 
 won't make calves ; in fact, it's my experience that 
 it all runs to skin and bone." 
 
 " I dare say you are right, Richard." 
 
 "Oh, I've no doubt he's fascinating, but I'm his 
 valet, and he doesn't fascinate me. As for that, as 
 often as not it's me that's fascinating, not him." 
 
 " What do you mean, Richard ? " 
 
 "Why, Henriette, you foolish woman, it's the way 
 I turn him out." 
 
 Once upon his favourite topic the man of genius 
 asserted himself, and he became almost friendly. 
 
 " I am what they call the power behind the throne, 
 Henriette. He'd be as helpless as a babe without 
 me. I could ruin him as a man of fashion and I 
 will. I know all about him. I've read his private 
 correspondence for years. If I was to speak out there'd 
 be half a dozen divorces, and he'd be left with half a 
 dozen married women on his hands. Oh, you women ! 
 A man's only got to make up his mind to be a rake, 
 and you're all at his feet."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 53 
 
 " Oh, Richard, if you only knew how innocent 
 I am ! " 
 
 " I don't think we'll waste time talking about that. 
 Now, tell me, how did you meet his lordship ? No 
 lies, if you please." 
 
 " Certainly not, Richard. He came here." 
 
 " Came here ? " 
 
 " Yes, he came to pay a bill." 
 
 " Came to pay a milliner's bill, eh ? Come, that 
 has the ring of truth about it. Whose bill ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Crutchley's." 
 
 " Lady Bellamy's dearest friend. Really, Henriette, 
 you're either telling the truth, or you've got a perfect 
 genius for making lies sound natural." 
 
 " I am telling the truth." 
 
 " Why should he call in person ? I am bound to 
 say it's not like his lordship to compromise a lady with 
 her tradeswomen. He always ruins a woman like a 
 gentleman. He ruins them, but the most unlucky of 
 them can't turn round and say he's been vulgar. 
 There's Mrs. Grimthorpe. Her husband was in the 
 Foreign Office. By the time he had finished with 
 her there wasn't a soul in London who would speak 
 to her, and now she's in a comic opera chorus at two 
 pounds a week. Really, Henriette, I'm surprised at 
 you, because, when all's said and done, you've knocked 
 about although perhaps you were taking me in all 
 the time." 
 
 " No, Richard, really."
 
 54 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Well, as I said before, there are some things that 
 we shall never know, although it's wonderful what 
 accident will reveal, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes," she answered, in a crushed voice. 
 
 There was a knock at the door. 
 
 " You had better open it." 
 
 The knock was repeated, and Henriette gave a little 
 sob of dismay. 
 
 " What will they think at finding me locked in 
 with you ? " 
 
 " You can tell them that I am your husband that 
 is, if you haven't already introduced some one else in 
 that capacity." 
 
 Madame Henriette went softly to the door, and 
 unlocked it, and not till she had returned to her seat 
 did she say, "Come in." 
 
 " Lady Bellamy wishes to know if Madame Henriette 
 is disengaged." 
 
 Poor Henriette grew dizzy. She began to wonder 
 if she had been the victim of a deliberate conspiracy. 
 She looked at Stevens with her mouth wide open, quite 
 unable to come to a decision. 
 
 Stevens took out his watch and looked at it. 
 
 " Show her ladyship in here that is to say, in about 
 three minutes." 
 
 " Mrs. Crutchley is with her." 
 
 Madame Henriette managed to gasp 
 
 " That will do ; you can go." 
 
 The assistant went out, closing the door behind her.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 55 
 
 " You see, Henriette, you have brought two of 
 them down on you." 
 
 " What does Lady Bellamy want here ? " 
 
 " Perhaps her ladyship wishes to ask you what you 
 wanted with Lord Bellamy.'* 
 
 " I won't see her." 
 
 " Oh yes, you will, and in my presence." 
 
 " In your presence ? " 
 
 "That is to say, I shall overhear. Let me see. 
 This screen. On second thoughts, no. Her ladyship 
 has had experience in screens. I once saw her standing 
 behind a screen listening to what Lord Bellamy was 
 saying to Mrs. Crutchley. I think I'll stand behind 
 this finery." He indicated some tea-gowns. " They'll 
 never see me." 
 
 " Richard, I will not lend myself " 
 
 " Remember, Henriette, that I have a revolver." 
 And he actually dared to click it and pull the trigger. 
 
 " Richard, spare me." 
 
 He had almost said, " It's all right ; it's not loaded," 
 so startled was he at his own action ; but he checked 
 himself in time. 
 
 " Show Lady Bellamy in." 
 
 His voice, coming through many yards of flowing 
 silk, sounded ghostlike and muffled. 
 
 Madame Henriette went to the door, and in a 
 voice which she hardly recognized as her own, said 
 
 " Ask her ladyship to step this way, Miss Gray." 
 
 As Lady Bellamy, the eternal Dodo in her arms, 
 
 \
 
 56 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 entered the room, she glanced round in some surprise. 
 She had concluded from the delay that Madame 
 Henriette was engaged with a customer. She was 
 followed by Mrs. Crutchley, who, in the course of the 
 interview, whenever she could get behind her, directed 
 appealing glances at Madame Henriette. 
 
 Lady Bellamy had never seen Madame Henriette. 
 She did not affect French styles. She bought her own 
 hats in Sloane Street. 
 
 Even now, when she was face to face with the 
 woman she chose to look upon as a misguided creature 
 in need of warning, her lack of humour revealed no 
 absurdity in the position. 
 
 " Madame Henriette, I presume ? " 
 
 "Yes. I shall be very pleased to serve your lady- 
 ship. The season is so very nearly over that " 
 
 " I said my name was Lady Bellamy." 
 
 " My stock of hats is " 
 
 " Really, your self-possession is quite remarkable ; 
 but I have not come to discuss hats." 
 
 " Indeed ? Then I am at a loss." 
 
 " I repeat, I am Lady Bellamy." 
 
 " So you said." 
 
 Perhaps at this point some idea of the vulgarity of 
 her proceeding began to dawn on Lady Bellamy, for 
 she looked a little at a loss, and plunged with some lack 
 of dexterity into the midst of things. 
 
 "I see, Madame Henriette, that you are determined 
 to play a part ; but let me tell you that it is quite
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 57 
 
 useless. I have convincing proof of your guilty infatua- 
 tion for Lord Bellamy." 
 
 Madame Henriette glanced apprehensively at the 
 tea-gowns, wondering whether Stevens would be able 
 to take aim. She further wished that Mrs. Crutchley 
 would not wander about trying on hats, so dangerously 
 in his vicinity. 
 
 " I must really ask your ladyship not to speak so 
 loudly. People in the showroom may hear." 
 
 She had some faint hope that if Lady Bellamy could 
 only be induced to modulate her already small voice, 
 Stevens might not gather so much of the conversation 
 after all. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley was determined, if possible, to 
 smother the situation with trivialities. 
 
 "Selina, what do you think of this hat for Cowes, 
 with a pink ribbon instead of blue ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked at Mrs. Crutchley almost 
 vacantly, as if she wondered for one moment what she 
 was talking about. Then she noticed that Mrs. 
 Crutchley had changed her hat. 
 
 " My dear Jack, we are not here to discuss hats. 
 Surely this is a little incongruous." 
 
 " It's very easy to discuss this matter at any time ; 
 it is always difficult to get the hat you want." 
 
 " Really, Jack," said Lady Bellamy, with a great as- 
 sumption of gravity, " if I had thought for one moment 
 that you were so incapable of appreciating the serious- 
 ness of this visit, I should not have asked you to come."
 
 58 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 She then turned to Madame Henriette. 
 
 " A strict sense of duty has brought me here." 
 
 She paused, evidently expecting the milliner to say 
 something ; but Madame Henriette, painfully conscious 
 of a tell-tale movement of the tea-gowns, hardly heard 
 her. 
 
 "As I was saying," continued Lady Bellamy, "a 
 strict sense of duty has brought me here. I must say that 
 before I saw you I thought that you might be a young 
 and innocent girl led away and fascinated by a brilliant 
 and unscrupulous man. You will, perhaps, excuse my 
 saying so ; but you do not in any way suggest a young, 
 innocent girl." 
 
 " Perhaps not ; I'm a married woman." 
 
 " Then I can only say I'm very sorry for your poor 
 deceived husband." 
 
 Madame Henriette nearly shrieked, and hastily placed 
 herself in such a position that Lady Bellamy was between 
 her and the tea-gowns, at the same time wondering if 
 a bullet could go through two people. 
 
 "Please don't think that I should stand such treat- 
 ment in an ordinary way, only only there are 
 reasons." 
 
 " Oh, I've no doubt there are the best of reasons, 
 but, after this, please don't say that you have not been 
 warned." 
 
 This last remark roused Madame Henriette to such 
 an extent that for the moment she forgot all about 
 her husband.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 59 
 
 " I have no wish to be warned. Let me tell your 
 ladyship that I consider this visit highly impertinent. 
 You will, if you please " 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley thought it time to interfere again, 
 and willowed down to them in a Tam-o'-Shanter. 
 
 " Excuse my interrupting ; but, Selina, what about 
 this for motoring ? " 
 
 " Jack, I really must ask you to hold your tongue." 
 
 " Well, of course, if I'm not to say a word I 
 might just as well not have come." 
 
 Madame Henriette took advantage of the inter- 
 ruption. 
 
 " I can only say that this lady seems to have a 
 much clearer idea of the uses of a milliner's shop than 
 your ladyship has. Anything in the way of hats I 
 shall be glad to supply. As for Lord Bellamy, I can 
 only say that if the wife of every man who runs after 
 a milliner behaved in this way there would be a multi- 
 tude of interesting scenes, and shopping would become 
 impossible." 
 
 Lady Bellamy was not imaginative, and although 
 she had told Mrs. Crutchley that she had considered 
 the matter in all its bearings, she had in reality done 
 nothing of the kind. It would have meant an effort 
 of imagination of which she was incapable. The 
 only members of the class beneath her with whom she 
 had been brought into contact were those who figura- 
 tively bobbed a curtsy whenever she appeared. The 
 way Madame Henriette stood up to her brought
 
 6o BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 out a dormant commonness and a very real lack of 
 dignity. 
 
 " I consider you exceedingly brazen." 
 
 It was not so much the words themselves as the 
 tone in which they were uttered, which seemed to 
 imply a feline desire to scratch. 
 
 " Much obliged to you, I am sure. It is quite 
 true that I have had a few letters from Lord Bellamy. 
 Your ladyship is welcome to take them back with 
 you. You have no doubt read my replies." 
 
 "I have done nothing of the kind. I employ a 
 detective." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley, in the background, was growing 
 quite hysterical, despite the danger to herself involved 
 in Madame Henriette's rising temper. In her agitation 
 she continued to try on hats at an alarming rate, ending 
 with a lady's silk riding hat of the old-fashioned kind, 
 which had been placed in the centre of the showroom as 
 a curiosity. 
 
 "I am sorry," said Madame Henriette, in reply to 
 Lady Bellamy's last remark, " I can't see the distinc- 
 tion." 
 
 " I am quite satisfied, providing there is one. 
 You seem to think that my visit was prompted by 
 notions of jealousy. Nothing of the kind, I assure you. 
 I came here out of the goodness of my heart to save 
 what I thought might be an erring sister on the verge 
 of ruin." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley began to get seriously alarmed.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 61 
 
 Both the matter and manner of Lady Bellamy's speeches 
 would have warranted Madame Henriette's saying any- 
 thing. She forgot her ridiculous headgear, and came 
 forward hurriedly. 
 
 " Selina, for goodness' sake ! " 
 
 " Jack, be quiet ! " snapped Lady Bellamy. " You 
 know what a struggle I have had with my conscience 
 to come here at all, and when I am confronted like 
 this by the most shameless " 
 
 " Shameless yourself ! " almost shrieked Madame 
 Henriette, and with what Mrs. Crutchley thought 
 perfect truth. 
 
 Stevens, unable to see anything, but hearing the 
 ladies' voices raised in anger, thought it was time to 
 interfere. 
 
 " Ladies, ladies ! " As he spoke he stepped on to 
 the little platform on which the tea-gowns were stand- 
 ing, and pushed his head up through the dresses. A 
 light French confection rose with him on the top of 
 his head, and he stood before the three, clothed 
 apparently in a tea-gown, and wearing a hat of pink 
 chiffon. 
 
 At first Lady Bellamy hardly recognized him. He 
 looked like some dreadful nightmare, or a low 
 comedian in a pantomime. At last the fact of his 
 identity dawned upon her. She concluded at once 
 that he was an emissary of Lord Bellamy's, and that 
 he had been spying on her. 
 
 " Stevens, what are you doing here and in that hat ? "
 
 62 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Stevens despised Lady Bellamy, as did all her 
 servants, and he replied, for him, almost insolently 
 
 "I might ask your ladyship the same question, 
 excepting the hat." 
 
 The scene became less and less to Mrs. Crutchley's 
 liking. It exceeded even the vulgarity she had prophe- 
 sied for it although she was the only member of the 
 party who frankly laughed at Stevens's ludicrous appear- 
 ance, quite unconscious of her own. 
 
 "You see, Selina," she said, irritably, "I ad- 
 vised you not to come. We have only ourselves to 
 thank." 
 
 Madame Henriette hurried to the door and shut 
 it. Some customers had just come into the outer 
 room. 
 
 " I believe you are right, Jack," said Lady Bellamy. 
 " After all, the man is only doing the master's 
 work." 
 
 " Pardon me, my lady, it appears that the master 
 has been doing the man's work." 
 
 Unable to solve this engima, Lady Bellamy looked 
 at him inquiringly. 
 
 " With your ladyship's permission, this woman is 
 my wife." 
 
 " Your wife ! " exclaimed Lady Bellamy and Mrs. 
 Crutchley together. 
 
 " Yes," continued Stevens, sardonically j " your lady- 
 ship need not congratulate me. I am her fool of a 
 husband. I, too, have been deceived only, if I may
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 63 
 
 be pardoned for saying so, it's a novelty as far as I'm 
 concerned." 
 
 " For goodness' sake, let's get out of it, Selina." 
 
 Lady Bellamy, feeling eminently unlike a sleuth- 
 hound, was anxious to " get out of it " on any terms. 
 
 Miss Gray entered the room, and, closing the door 
 behind her, as if she knew that her announcement would 
 create confusion, said 
 
 " Lord Bellamy wishes to know if he can see 
 Madame Henriette." 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked as though she meditated a 
 leap out of the window into Bond Street. 
 
 Stevens keenly enjoyed the situation, and smiled on 
 every one quite benignly. 
 
 " Isn't there another door ? " demanded Mrs. 
 Crutchley, frantically, indifferent to the assistant's amaze- 
 ment at her strange appearance. 
 
 " I'm afraid not, ma'am," said Stevens, adding, 
 " show Lord Bellamy in." 
 
 "I forbid it," said Lady Bellamy, trying to look 
 majestic. 
 
 " Henriette," said Stevens, in his most deadly tones, 
 " tell your assistant to show Lord Bellamy in." 
 
 It was obviously no use for Lady Bellamy and Mrs. 
 Crutchley to oppose him. They unconsciously recog- 
 nized his domination. 
 
 " Quick, in here ! " said Mrs. Crutchley, dodging 
 behind a screen. " And if Dodo barks put a hat over 
 his mouth."
 
 6 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 As the assistant was leaving the room, Lady Bellamy 
 made one feeble attempt to save her dignity. 
 
 " In concealing myself, I trust it will not be 
 considered that I have anything to be ashamed of." 
 
 The assistant left the room, and Lady Bellamy 
 disappeared in a panic. 
 
 Poor Madame Henriette was left to reflect for a few 
 seconds on the possibilities of the coming interview. If 
 she could only think of some way by which she 
 might inform Lord Bellamy of the presence of the 
 others in the room ! If he went on in his usual way, 
 with her husband standing behind the tea-gowns, the 
 pistol might be expected to go off at any moment, not 
 to speak of the humiliation involved in Lady Bellamy, 
 and Lord Bellamy's chlre amle Mrs. Crutchley, hearing 
 what his lordship had to say. 
 
 He entered with a supreme attempt to throw off 
 his ill-humour of the morning, and long practice in 
 this admirable self-control, cultivated not at all for its 
 moral sake, made him fairly successful. He was still 
 conscious that there was something wrong with his 
 clothes, a misfortune which to the complete dandy 
 equals neuralgia or headache. Madame Henriette 
 decidedly appealed to him. She was what might be 
 termed, in the categories of his heart, a romance of the 
 second class. She had never given him a fictitious 
 sense of goodness, a gift which only accompanies 
 romances of the first class. He drank of her atmosphere 
 as he would have done of a good and pleasure-making
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 65 
 
 wine. He had never pretended to himself during the 
 long three weeks in which he had known her that she 
 had any of the quality of the great vintages. She had 
 brought something of the wonder of a new beauty into 
 his life, and he never asked for more. She stirred him, 
 and he was satisfied. He was always honest with himself, 
 even to bluntness, about his own feelings, and he would 
 not try to force the note of romance one moment longer 
 than her beauty could warble it. Directly the song of 
 her personality ceased to rouse sympathetic vibrations 
 in his own he would say so, as he had always done 
 before, and he conceived that there was great merit in 
 so doing. He was conducting the affair with supreme 
 recklessness, which was part of his perennial youth. It 
 was not every man in his position, and especially if he 
 were married, who, having fallen in love with a milliner, 
 would call on her in the middle of the day at her place 
 of business. 
 
 As the assistant closed the door he murmured 
 something as to having come on his wife's account, but 
 when they were, as he imagined, alone, he hastened 
 towards her. 
 
 With a cry almost of warning she held him off. 
 He looked at her in surprise. He had quite thought 
 that the period of reluctance was over. It certainly 
 ought to have been, but women have a bad habit of 
 doubling. Then he laughed lightly, and said, with a 
 spontaneity which was quite delightful in a man of forty, 
 "Oh, I see I am late. I beg your pardon, I am so 
 
 F
 
 66 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 sorry ; but my servant, who has been with me since I 
 left Oxford, disappeared this morning drowned himself, 
 I hope. Rather astonishing, because he's got a decided 
 hanging face. Do you know, Henriette, if it hadn't 
 been for my presence of mind in dressing myself I should 
 not have been here at all." 
 
 "I'm very busy," she began; but he took no notice, 
 and rattled on 
 
 "It's rather awkward, though, because I can't for 
 the life of me tell whether I'm properly dressed or 
 not. Would you mind just giving me a look over, 
 and seeing if there's anything missing ? " 
 
 " It looks all right," stammered Madame Henriette. 
 
 "It's thrown me into a thoroughly nervous state. 
 But you forgive me ? " 
 
 " What can it matter ? " 
 
 By a studied carelessness of manner, Madame 
 Henriette was endeavouring to convey to the others in 
 their hiding-places that she had never given his lord- 
 ship any reason to suppose that she cared in the least 
 whether he had her forgiveness or no. He, on his 
 part, thought her manner was the result of pique. His 
 instinct was always sure as to the exact level of 
 gallantry a woman's mental development required, 
 but unfortunately he was not reckoning with an 
 audience. 
 
 " But you must forgive me, or I shall kiss you." 
 
 Madame Henriette hastily placed the table between 
 them.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 67 
 
 " Oh, don't, please ! I forgive you." 
 "I have been thinking of you ever since we parted 
 yesterday evening. That is an absolute test of passion, 
 Henriette. If a woman remains in one's thoughts 
 without effort it is a proof of sincerity. Sincerity 
 should be automatic ; if it is anything else it is 
 hypocrisy. We must have another dinner at that 
 charming hotel. Henriette, you have taught me that 
 romance never dies." 
 
 " Do for goodness' sake be quiet." 
 He looked at her in surprise. He had never seen 
 her in this mood. There was something of the 
 commonplace in her remark which displeased him. 
 Then he saw that her eyes were wet. He had cer- 
 tainly never credited her with, a large amount of 
 sensibility. He had been wrong. That was curious. 
 His calculations, as regards women, were apt to be 
 almost mathematically correct, and he had more than 
 once suspected that such a perfect knowledge might 
 in time breed ennui. Was she about to become an 
 unknown quantity ? He hardly dared hope so, but if 
 she had any such intention she must decidedly be en- 
 couraged. He took her hand, but she drew it away 
 sharply. 
 
 " Why, Henriette, you are trembling ! t Good 
 heavens ! " 
 
 The ejaculation was so tragic that the three 
 listeners at once concluded that they had been dis- 
 covered.
 
 68 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " What is it ? " gasped Henrietta, who already saw 
 master and servant struggling in deadly combat. 
 
 " Look at my feet ! " 
 
 She did as she was asked, vacantly. 
 
 " Odd boots ! " And then he burst out laughing. 
 
 " I don't see anything odd." She tried to take 
 an interest. Boots, at any rate, were a subject far re- 
 moved from questions of the heart. 
 
 " Yes, can't you see, the pattern of them is quite 
 different ? Damn Stevens ! " 
 
 Madame Henriette gave a jump. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, but " He was sitting 
 
 in a chair and turning his feet about. " They do 
 look so ridiculous." 
 
 " I can't ask you to stay," said Madame Henriette. 
 " I have a great deal of work to do." 
 
 Lady Bellamy's heart warmed towards her. She 
 was evidently a very sensible woman or was it ex- 
 perience ? 
 
 Madame Henriette began aimlessly to cut up a 
 tea-gown with a pair of scissors. 
 
 " Henriette, you are almost making a scene. The 
 season is over, and we ought all to give up work. 
 August is the month of rest, and of romance that is, 
 if romance and rest ever go together, which I very 
 much doubt. I am in town only because of 
 you." 
 
 " 1 have been foolish indiscreet," almost wailed 
 the terrified woman. " Oh, please go away ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 69 
 
 " Henriette, you are suffering from an early con- 
 science. Autumn is the season for conscience. Mine 
 always comes in October and stays a week." 
 
 "Please don't talk such nonsense," she said, almost 
 tartly, and still playing to the invisible gallery. 
 
 "I never talk nonsense, Henriette. It may sound 
 like nonsense, but the philosophy is underneath." 
 
 " I don't care what's underneath. And you are right, 
 my conscience is troubling me." 
 
 "Ah, that is exactly the sort of thing people say 
 when they are going to be found out." 
 
 She looked at him apprehensively. Was it possible 
 that he suspected the presence of the others ? She 
 felt that sooner or later the scene must end in wild 
 hysterics on her own part. To add to her nervous- 
 ness, Mrs. Crutchley's tall hat kept moving about above 
 the screen. 
 
 " We are both married we must remember that." 
 
 " Of course we'll remember it. We should be 
 unjust to our romance were we to forget it. I suppose 
 that sounds terribly iniquitous, but it's perfectly true. 
 Where there is no marriage there is no adventure. 
 Besides, marriage is an institution to keep the middle 
 classes in order." 
 
 " I belong to the middle classes." 
 
 " Ah, Henriette Henriette ! " He shook his finger 
 at her deprecatingly. " Never apply the personal test 
 to abstract philosophy. It almost amounts to bad 
 manners."
 
 70 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " I don't know what you're talking about," she said 
 helplessly, and very truthfully, wondering if Stevens 
 would think the speech compromising. " When are 
 you leaving town ? " 
 
 She had now divided the tea-gown into three mean- 
 ingless sections, and he was getting interested in the 
 process. 
 
 "Could I have some ties made of that?" he asked. 
 " They would be very original, and of late I've felt it 
 was time I did something new." 
 
 " I will book the order at once," she answered, 
 vaguely hoping to give a business-like turn to the 
 conversation. 
 
 "Thank you. My man shall send you a pattern. 
 Do you know, it's perfectly extraordinary, although he 
 never wears anything but a meaningless piece of black 
 ribbon, his taste in ties is perfect. Strange, one sees 
 that in all art. The man who spends his life painting 
 the beautiful, as a rule has the appearance of a chim- 
 panzee. One would think that a love of the beauti- 
 ful would naturally result in a dandy. Dandyism is 
 the last word in ephemeral criticism on the physi- 
 cally lovely. Women understand that, and you, 
 
 Henriette " He moved towards her, but she drew 
 
 away hastily. "Henriette, you are not usually cruel. 
 Be as you were last night." 
 
 " You are a wicked man ! " 
 
 He looked at her in amazement. There really was 
 a distinct suggestion of the servants' hall in the remark.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 71 
 
 "Granted. No man minds being called wicked. 
 It argues a sentimental interest." 
 
 " You don't understand." And, conscious of her 
 audience, her voice took something of the passionate 
 ring with which a lady in transpontine melodrama states 
 her wrongs. " I was lonely ; you were kind and 
 thoughtful, and I trusted you." 
 
 " My dear Henriette, surely there is no need for 
 deception between us at least, not when we are 
 alone. Yesterday evening you told me that you loved 
 me." 
 
 "Oh, I never ! " It was not a moment for 
 grammar. 
 
 " You told me that your husband was dull, and at 
 times reminded you of an undertaker." 
 
 She wondered why she did not faint. 
 
 " How can you say that ! I never said anything 
 of the kind." 
 
 " Oh, but you did ! Then, you are always so witty 
 when you are describing your husband." 
 
 " Oh, do go ! " 
 
 " Of course, if you wish it I will, but I can't under- 
 stand this sudden change of manner." 
 
 " There is no change of manner." 
 
 " Have I offended you in any way ? Coming along I 
 bought you a present, but I hardly like to offer it to you 
 now." 
 
 " I don't want it." 
 
 "That is absurd. All women want jewels
 
 72 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 if they don't always find it convenient to accept 
 them." 
 
 He took out a jewel case, and, opening it, laid it on 
 the table. The bracelet it contained was obviously 
 valuable, and Henriette could not help reflecting that 
 if she were left in the lurch it would prove a decided 
 asset. She did not suppose that her husband could see 
 what she was doing, so she slipped it into her pocket, 
 and Bellamy waited for at least a conventional speech of 
 thanks. It was not forthcoming. 
 
 " Henriette, I begin to think the heat has affected 
 your brain. Shall we dine together this evening ? " 
 Lady Bellamy quite enjoyed Mrs. Crutchley's start of 
 indignation. " I will drive you down to Windsor in 
 my motor." 
 
 " Certainly not. I don't know what you take me 
 for." 
 
 Bellamy began to think that if this prolonged 
 irritability was Henriette's idea of a scene he must 
 have been mistaken in her. He took up his hat and 
 gloves, and at that moment Dodo barked. 
 
 "It's only my dog. I always put him behind 
 there, out of the way of the customers. I must ask 
 
 you " she added quickly as he moved ; but it was 
 
 too late. 
 
 Bellamy had discovered his wife and Mrs. Crutchley. 
 He was as near looking foolish as he has ever been in his 
 life, but Dodo, who was being gagged with a hat, saved 
 him.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 73 
 
 " I thought I knew that bark. My dear Selina, you 
 will smother that dog if you are not careful." 
 
 They both came out, Mrs. Crutchley feeling that 
 she should hate Lady Bellamy to the end of her days. 
 
 " Gerald, I came here on an errand of mercy. I 
 bitterly regret the good nature that prompted me to 
 do so." 
 
 " I have no doubt you do, Selina. I have always 
 thought that Dodo would get you into trouble sooner 
 or later. And Mrs. Crutchley another angel of 
 mercy ? " 
 
 But Mrs. Crutchley had not the least intention of 
 being made to look more foolish than she could help. 
 
 " I came here with Selina. I was absolutely in the 
 dark as to the reason of her visit the whole thing was 
 sprung upon me." 
 
 " Oh, Jack, how can you tell such dreadful stories ! " 
 
 " Did I want to come ? " said Mrs. Crutchley, in- 
 different to logic. "I said it was a mistake from the 
 first." 
 
 But Lord Bellamy was quite prepared to surmount 
 the situation. 
 
 " Shall I get you your carriage ? " he asked easily. 
 " And shall we lunch together ? " 
 
 He and Lady Bellamy had not lunched out together 
 for years, and he felt that she ought to be obliged to him 
 for the tact of the suggestion. 
 
 But Stevens was burning with indignation. He 
 knew the consummate impertinence with which his
 
 74 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 master would have tripped it through the Divorce Court, 
 and the ease with which he met a state of things which 
 should have confounded him exasperated the injured 
 husband. He rose above the rampart of tea-gowns, and 
 demanded indignantly 
 
 "-What about me, my lord ? " 
 
 For a moment Bellamy wondered if the extraordinary 
 individual surmounted by the French hat were Henriette's 
 mother. Then he knew it for Stevens. What on 
 earth was Stevens doing there ? He concluded that 
 he was in Lady Bellamy's pay, and wondered how he 
 had managed to find out about Henriette. 
 
 The blood of the Magnificent one was up. It was 
 a situation which a great reputation like his might be 
 proud to handle. 
 
 " Well, Stevens, what about you ? " he asked airily. 
 " Supposing you run along to Grosvenor Place and 
 fetch me a complete pair of boots." 
 
 Stevens turned still whiter with suppressed passion. 
 
 " Perhaps, my lord, you would like to know the 
 reason of my presence ? " 
 
 " Or the reason of your absence, Stevens." 
 
 " I will explain both, my lord. This viper " he 
 indicated Henriette " is my wife." 
 
 Stevens had a momentary satisfaction. Bellamy was 
 staggered, but hardly even Mrs. Crutchley or his wife 
 noticed it, and nobody but Stevens, who had seen him 
 in some of his worst moods, would have detected it. 
 The next moment he had broken into a laugh of almost
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 75 
 
 boyish merriment. He looked at the three women 
 Mrs. Crutchley and Madame Henriette fuming, Lady 
 Bellamy a failure in inane dignity. There was a solemnity 
 about them all which was to his cultivated taste in- 
 explicable. 
 
 " If any of you have any sense of humour, laugh." 
 
 " Gerald," said his wife, " have you nothing to say 
 to me ? You have wounded me in my most womanly 
 feelings ; " and then she added, with a reprehensible 
 collapse of her affected restraint, " You are a thing of 
 brass." 
 
 "This affair isn't going to pass off like this," said 
 Stevens, coming down into the middle of the room, and 
 bringing a whole avalanche of tea-gowns with him. " I 
 could kill you, my lord, but I won't. I'll do worse I'll 
 give you a month's notice." 
 
 Again Lord Bellamy winced, but he recovered 
 himself gallantly. 
 
 " And go at once, I suppose, Stevens ? " 
 
 But the affected gaiety of the remark was a failure. 
 Stevens had got home with a rapier thrust, and if the 
 wound was not visible, there was serious internal 
 hemorrhage. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley thought it was high time she was 
 out of such imbroglio. 
 
 " We had much better go to lunch, and leave the 
 lawyers to decide who is right and who is wrong." 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Crutchley, what a head you have ! " 
 said Bellamy.
 
 76 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 But Lady Bellamy was never able to see any situation 
 except from one point of view. She was possessed of a 
 genius for inanity. 
 
 " Gerald, have you nothing to say to me ? " 
 
 The shadow of irritability crossed his face. 
 
 " My dear Selina, I have noticed that whenever a 
 situation arises pre-eminently requiring tact, you destroy 
 it with sentiment." 
 
 Lady Bellamy's mentality was not rapid, but she 
 gathered that once more she had bruised herself against 
 brass. 
 
 " Come, Jack, let us go." 
 
 But Mrs. Crutchley was really incensed, and, in- 
 different as to who heard her, exclaimed with an energy 
 a little more pronounced than the conventional latitude 
 of good breeding warranted 
 
 "I hope it will be a lesson to you never to see 
 further than your own nose again." 
 
 " A charming limitation, Selina." He held the 
 door open for her. " I will join you in three weeks' 
 time at Lanham." 
 
 "It is immaterial," murmured the sleuth-hound, as 
 she went out. 
 
 " See her ladyship to her carriage, Stevens." 
 
 Yes, my lord." 
 
 Stevens was out of the room and half-way downstairs, 
 through sheer force of habit, before he realized from 
 whom he had received the order. Then he reflected 
 that he had done by accident what he would have
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 77 
 
 wished to do on purpose. It was eminently undesirable 
 that private feelings should interfere with the pro- 
 prieties of service. A month's notice, and possibly 
 revenge, but no vulgarity. 
 
 Poor Madame Henriette retreated to the window, 
 with her handkerchief to her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, you beautiful liar ! " said Mrs. Crutchley, 
 looking at Lord Bellamy pathetically. 
 
 He answered her with an expression of guilty in- 
 souciance, full of a deprecatory charm. 
 
 " My dear Jack," he said, sotto voce, " everything 
 can be explained, but it will take time." 
 
 " I could murder you. I feel like Lady Macbeth." 
 
 " You don't look like it in that hat." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley surveyed herself in a glass, and 
 rippled to a smile at her appearance. 
 
 " What a sight I look ! Good day, Madame Hen- 
 riette. You behaved like a brick, and I shall recommend 
 you to all my friends." 
 
 '* Don't mention it," snapped Madame Henriette, 
 " I've thoroughly enjoyed myself," 
 
 " Poor Bellamy," said Mrs. Crutchley, " for the 
 first time in your life, I suppose, you have looked just 
 a little foolish." 
 
 She went out of the room after Lady Bellamy, but 
 her parting remark might have been more studied than 
 it was, considering the effect it had on him. Had he 
 looked foolish ? The suggestion made him feel un- 
 comfortable. He felt like a singer who has been
 
 78 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 accused of a false intonation. It was his particular 
 business in life not to look foolish. 
 
 He was obliged to await the return of Stevens, 
 an indefinable obligation of the circumstances demand- 
 ing it. 
 
 " My dear Henriette, I consider we have both 
 behaved splendidly. Such a dreadful thing to happen 
 in the morning, too ! Such a glare, don't you think ? 
 The evening might have mellowed it ; but it's im- 
 possible to take the play seriously at lunch-time. Your 
 dignity was wonderful." 
 
 " Don't talk to me of dignity," she answered 
 furiously. "A nice morning's work to be found out, 
 and to find out that one's husband is a common servant." 
 
 "Stevens is not a common servant, Henriette. He 
 is my servant." 
 
 " What are you going to do ? " 
 
 "I will do anything you like from a yachting 
 cruise to a villa in Algiers." 
 
 " No, thank you ; I've made one mistake. I wasn't 
 born yesterday. I'm going to pull up while there's 
 time." 
 
 "We are told, Henriette, that it is never too late 
 to mend ; but surely you are beginning a little early." 
 
 "You may be surprised to learn, Lord Bellamy, 
 that I am in love with my husband." 
 
 " The unexpected is woman's privilege." 
 
 "Perhaps you will leave me to conciliate him the 
 best way I can."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 79 
 
 " You really wish it ? " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 He took up his hat and waited near the door for 
 Stevens's reappearance, hoping he would not be long, 
 for he was hungry, and wanted his lunch. Perhaps 
 Stevens had left him in possession. If he had, it was 
 very inconsiderate. Then a thought struck him. He 
 turned to Henriette. 
 
 " I say, do you think Stevens really meant what he 
 said about giving me a month's notice ? " 
 
 " Naturally." 
 
 " Henriette, you terrify me ! " 
 
 " Good heavens if that were all ! " 
 
 " All ? You don't know what you are talking 
 about. How selfish women are ! It is the worst thing 
 that could happen. Why ever didn't you tell me who 
 your husband was ? " 
 
 " I didn't know till this morning." 
 
 " Something must be done. Good-bye. I suppose it 
 is good-bye ? " 
 
 There was a slight affectation of sentiment, It was 
 due to her. 
 
 "I hope so," she answered. 
 
 He met her mood at once. 
 
 " As a matter of fact, so do I." 
 
 Stevens re-entered the room. 
 
 " I shall be back in time to attend on your lordship," 
 he said deferentially. 
 
 Bellamy smiled graciously.
 
 80 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " That's a good fellow. Never let the trivialities of 
 life interfere with business." He turned to Madame 
 Henriette. " Good morning, Mrs. Stevens." 
 
 Stevens closed the door after him, and then looked 
 at his wife. 
 
 " He's an open-hearted gentleman, isn't he, 
 Henrietta ! " 
 
 He spoke slowly, partly to her and partly to 
 himself.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 REGGIE VANDELEUR sat up in bed eating his breakfast 
 while he gazed meditatively through the open window 
 at the smoky roof opposite, which was made tolerable 
 and even cheerful by the midday sunshine. On the 
 breakfast tray lay his landlord's account, several weeks 
 overdue. That worried him perhaps just a little, but 
 the puckering of his brow was due to financial troubles 
 of wider import. He had early made up his mind to 
 lead a perfectly useless life, and how to do it became 
 a problem more difficult of solution every day. By dint 
 of one or two small legacies which he had come into 
 when he was twenty-one, and the allowance extracted 
 irregularly from his mother, he had managed to get into 
 debt, but his courage was not equal to the career of 
 a complete adventurer, and he felt that his abilities were 
 not such as to carry him very far in that direction. 
 His limited imagination only suggested one way out 
 of the difficulty, and that was a marriage for money. 
 He was prepared to sell himself, and his excuse for 
 thinking that he might get a certain price was that 
 he had known many who were no more eligible than 
 himself do so. At the moment, however, it was 
 
 81 G
 
 82 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 absolutely necessary that he should have a certain sum 
 of money, and he had concluded, since he had wearily 
 dragged himself into a sitting position to eat his break- 
 fast, that five hundred pounds was the minimum. For 
 him the calculation had been quite a brilliant mathe- 
 matical feat. 
 
 He had manoeuvred an invitation to Lanham Towers 
 out of Lady Bellamy, and he knew that Pamela Gray 
 was to be of the party. It was his mother who had 
 first suggested that he should apply himself in that 
 quarter. She was not a great heiress, but she had 
 the sort of income that would run to a small house 
 in town and a sufficiently smart style of living, and, 
 as Mrs. Vandeleur said 
 
 " And you know, Reggie, when I die you will 
 inherit everything I have to leave." 
 
 It was as well to make a virtue of necessity. 
 
 " Everything you have left, you mean, mamma," said 
 Reggie, who, with the instincts of his mother's son, 
 could not help admiring her for having lived for years 
 at the rate of two thousand on an income of a thousand. 
 Considering Mrs. Vandeleur was barely forty-five years 
 of age, and looked ten years younger, there was very 
 little comfort for him in looking forward to her demise, 
 which, at the same time, he would have been perfectly 
 prepared to do had there been any immediate prospect 
 of it. 
 
 He had appealed to his mother for help, urging as 
 an inducement that he was really getting on splendidly
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 83 
 
 with Pamela Gray, and that it was to her interest that 
 he should marry money. "She says that she feels like 
 a mother to me," he had written. " Do you think 
 this is a good sign ? " 
 
 Mrs. Vandeleur had replied, saying that she hoped 
 it was, and enclosing a cheque for five pounds on account 
 of his last quarter's allowance. 
 
 His room was in Jermyn Street, rather high up, but 
 Reggie could be economical where it was necessary, 
 and, as he truly remarked, all a man of his age wanted 
 was a good address in a district which would save cab 
 fares. 
 
 He had all August to get through, and he felt that 
 it was quite imperative he should go to the seaside 
 and to Reggie the seaside meant Trouville or Dinard. 
 He had never expected his mother to help him. There 
 was one satisfaction about having her for a mother 
 he always knew where he was, and that it was not 
 the least use appealing to her heart ; and Reggie, being 
 made in her mental image, could not help feeling that, 
 after all, this was a very useful characteristic. Her 
 letter was so full of wails at her own impecunious state 
 that he felt quite sorry for her. She would, she declared, 
 have to spend the summer at a cheap boarding-house 
 at Brighton, where, at that time of year, she was not 
 likely to meet anybody she knew. Perhaps it would 
 be wiser to take an assumed name till things looked up 
 a bit. Would Reggie like to join her paying his own 
 share of the bill, of course ? If so, she would write
 
 84 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 and tell him what name she had decided on, so that 
 he could have his luggage labelled accordingly. 
 
 Reggie was used to these meanderings in his mother's 
 letters, and knew perfectly well that she would end 
 up at some smart watering-place, whatever happened. 
 He was not in the least surprised, therefore, when she 
 added in the postscript that she did not think the idea 
 would work, as she would have to coach her maid, 
 who would never remember, and they would probably 
 all be taken up by the police as impostors, and she 
 had come to the conclusion that, after all, Trouville 
 would be just as cheap as Brighton. All of which 
 might have furnished Reggie with some entertainment 
 had he not been in such a panic about his own money 
 affairs. Moneylenders would be no use he had already 
 tried them. When they heard his mother's age, and 
 read the life he was living in his face, they saw that the 
 odds were by no means in his favour ; in fact, an opulent 
 old Israelite, wearing five hundred pounds in his necktie, 
 who turned out to be quite a friend of his mother's 
 which Reggie thought strange told him as much. 
 
 U I suppose I am delicate," he reflected, rolling up 
 the sleeve of his pyjama and gazing at a skinny and 
 wholly undeveloped arm. " I wonder if they'd change 
 their minds if I went through a course of physical 
 culture." He manipulated his arm, vainly searching 
 for a non-existent muscle. Then it struck him that 
 he might develop so rapidly that the plea of inability 
 to work would be considered futile.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 85 
 
 Pamela Gray was going to Dinard, and he would 
 have to follow her if he was to show that he was in 
 earnest. It was absurd that he should be in such a 
 deadly state of impecuniosity. 
 
 Having finished his breakfast, he lit a Turkish 
 cigarette and closed his eyes in meditation. Its frag- 
 rance soothed him. Life was hard, much too hard 
 for thought. He would try not to think, and give 
 himself up to the perfume of the tobacco for at least 
 ten minutes. The second minute had hardly passed 
 when there was a knock at the door, and the servant 
 whose valeting was included in the rent entered 
 and asked if Mr. Vandeleur would see Mr. Dawlish. 
 
 " Dawlish ? " thought Reggie. " What on earth is 
 Dawlish coming to see me at this hour of the morning 
 for ? " Reggie was tired of Dawlish. Dawlish had 
 twenty thousand a year, made on the Stock Exchange, 
 and, strangely enough, Dawlish knew how to keep it. 
 Anything in the nature of wealth attracted Reggie, 
 and he had at first paid Dawlish a good deal of atten- 
 tion, but, so far, the friendship had proved very unre- 
 munerative, and Reggie felt that it was something 
 against a person of Dawlish's antecedents which he 
 had reliable information were of Clapham that he 
 should not appear to care whether he knew Reggie 
 Vandeleur or not. True, he had once asked him to 
 dinner at a flash restaurant near Shaftesbury Avenue. 
 Reggie stood it till he realized that the claret was cheap, 
 and then he grew bored, and behaved with a certain
 
 86 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 feminine superciliousness all his own. Since then he 
 and Dawlish had contented themselves with a curt nod, 
 which would no doubt have finally evaporated into a 
 stare. The last night of the Opera, however, Dawlish 
 had been quite friendly in the vestibule, but Reggie 
 was not encouraging. After all, everybody knew that 
 Dawlish was making a frantic attempt to get into 
 really good society, and it was absurd not to be able 
 to borrow a fiver from that sort of person. They 
 ought to be made to pay their way, reflected Reggie, 
 indignantly, in tens of fivers. 
 
 Reggie was much too well-bred to mind this 
 plutocrat knowing that he only had one room. After 
 all, he belonged to a club that Dawlish would find it 
 difficult to get into. 
 
 Dawlish stumped up the last few stairs and entered 
 the room, bringing with him the atmosphere of a man 
 who has all his life been up early. 
 
 " Why, Vandeleur, are you still in bed ? " 
 
 " Still in bed ? " said Reggie, fretfully ; " where else 
 should I be ? " 
 
 Can I sit down ? " 
 
 " Do." 
 
 Dawlish looked round the room curiously. The 
 mantel-piece was covered with photographs, many of 
 them signed with names, the owners of which he 
 would have given his ears to be on nodding terms 
 with. He went over and took one up. It happened 
 to be a portrait of Lady Bellamy. There was a
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 87 
 
 certain lack of taste in the abruptness of the action, 
 but Reggie had seen Dawlish make mistakes before. 
 
 "I saw you at the Opera the night before last," 
 he said ; and then he added quickly, " Oh yes, I forgot 
 we spoke to each other going out." 
 
 Reggie felt inclined to correct him, and say, u You 
 mean you spoke to me," but he remembered that he 
 was in his own bedroom, and said instead, " Have a 
 cigarette ? " 
 
 Thanks." 
 
 " So long as I have a cigarette to offer " 
 
 " Why, Vandeleur, you don't sound very chirpy." 
 
 I don't feel it." 
 
 " That comes of staying in bed frightfully depress- 
 ing, and very weakening." 
 
 " I don't see how rest can be weakening." 
 
 "You ought to be breathing the fresh air." 
 
 "Don't talk rot," answered Reggie. "Fresh air 
 only makes one hungry, and I can't afford a good 
 appetite except when I'm lunching out." 
 
 " Money troubles ? " 
 
 "Of course," said Reggie ; " what other troubles 
 are there ? " 
 
 " Ah," said Dawlish, wisely, " money is what we 
 all want." 
 
 " Well, you've got enough. Couldn't lend me five 
 hundred pounds, could you ? " said Reggie ; and then 
 he laughed, so that Dawlish could treat it as a jest if 
 he liked.
 
 88 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Dawlish threw himself into an armchair by the 
 window. 
 
 " I don't know I might." 
 
 A thrill ran right through Reggie's body. Was it 
 possible that he had heard aright ? Or was it only an 
 inhuman jest on the other's part ? 
 
 " Do you know the Bellamys well, Vandeleur ? " 
 
 " Pretty well. My mother and Lord Bellamy were 
 girl and boy together." 
 
 " Wonderful man, Bellamy," said Dawlish. " Nothing 
 that he does ever seems to matter." 
 
 Dawlish was getting away from the five hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 " Some people have everything," said Reggie. 
 "Considering his other advantages, Bellamy ought to 
 have been born a pauper." 
 
 Dawlish looked at him carelessly. 
 
 " Do you want five hundred pounds very badly, 
 Vandeleur ? " 
 
 " Badly ? Of course I want it badly. I'm in an 
 absolute hole." 
 
 " Well, we'll talk about that later." 
 
 Reggie was getting mystified. There was some- 
 thing very peculiar about Dawlish this morning. 
 
 " You told me that you were going to the Bellamys' 
 in September, didn't you ? " 
 
 " I am going," said Reggie, wondering why on 
 earth Dawlish should have remembered such a simple 
 matter.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 89 
 
 " They entertain a great deal, don't they ? " 
 
 " Tremendously. They're frightfully rich, you see ; 
 and the funny thing is, that although Bellamy's lived 
 such an awful life, he doesn't seem to have outrun the 
 constable." 
 
 " He gambles, doesn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes, of late. He always said he was going to 
 keep cards that is, real card-playing for his old age. 
 Although, of course, Bellamy isn't old." 
 
 " He must be over forty," said Dawlish. 
 
 " That doesn't matter," persisted Reggie. " He 
 isn't old." 
 
 " Do you know the Comtesse de Perrefonds, 
 Vandeleur ? " 
 
 Very well." 
 
 " She is going to Lanham Towers." 
 
 " So I believe." 
 
 Dawlish, who was six feet, came across the room and 
 stood over Reggie with his hands thrust in his pockets. 
 
 Reggie wished he wouldn't. It made him feel self- 
 conscious, especially as Dawlish stood regarding him 
 silently and thinking deeply. His gaze so got on Reggie's 
 nerves that he closed his eyes and murmured feebly that 
 he believed he was going to have a headache. 
 
 " Can I trust you, Vandeleur ? " 
 
 "I wonder if he means with money or a secret," 
 thought Reggie. 
 
 "What with?" 
 
 " With a secret."
 
 90 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 As a matter of fact, neither Reggie nor his mamma 
 ever held their tongues about anything, but he would 
 have perjured himself to any extent to learn other people's 
 private affairs. 
 
 " The Countess is a widow, isn't she, Vandeleur ? 
 Well, I'm rather hit by her." 
 
 " Mean to say you're in love with her ? " 
 
 Dawlish was silent for a moment, and then said 
 slowly 
 
 u Yes, I suppose that's what I mean." 
 
 The Comtesse de Perrefonds was a woman who 
 spent her life on a sort of yachting expedition, putting 
 in at all sorts of peculiar ports, but whenever she was in 
 danger of being mistaken for a resident, sailing away 
 on the good ship Blue Blood and Social Prestige. It 
 was possible that she might compromise herself with a 
 sweep, but impossible that she would marry again other- 
 wise than in her own station. Reggie was acute enough 
 about social nuances to recognize this. He would have 
 liked to ask Dawlish in what character he proposed 
 to approach the lady as admirer or suitor. In the 
 first, his cheque-book would give him a very good 
 chance ; in the second, his Clapham beginnings would 
 put him quite out of the running. Reggie could not 
 be expected to grasp what was a very subtle point. 
 Dawlish admired the Comtesse de Perrefonds, was 
 perfectly prepared to pay her attentions and to pay her 
 bills, if necessary but it was merely because it was
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 91 
 
 convenient to be in intimate social touch with a 
 woman who moved in such a very smart set. In 
 this particular case, for instance, his supposed infatua- 
 tion for her quite covered the vulgarity of manoeuvring 
 for an invitation to Lanham ; but any other woman 
 with exactly the same advantages would have suited 
 him as well. 
 
 Reggie thought that Dawlish was asking his advice, 
 and proceeded to hold forth with importance. 
 
 " Of course, if you're serious, Dawlish, I should try 
 and get over it, but if you only want to give her a good 
 time I shouldn't wonder if you had a jolly good time 
 yourself. Now, I know a good deal " 
 
 " That sheet's on fire," said Dawlish, coolly, pointing 
 to a spot where Reggie had inadvertently allowed his 
 cigarette to come into contact with the bedding. 
 
 With a screech Reggie bounded from his couch, and 
 made several hysterical dabs with a wet sponge at the 
 conflagration. 
 
 " I suppose I shall have to pay for that beastly 
 sheet," he said irritably. " Just as I'm so hard up, too." 
 
 " I don't want your advice, Vandeleur ; I want your 
 help." 
 
 "What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, I believe if I could only be in the same 
 house with her for a time, I might make her like me." 
 
 " You want to go to Lanham Towers ? " blurted out 
 Reggie. 
 
 Dawlish bit his lip, and turned away to the window.
 
 92 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Reggie saw that he had made a mistake, and, grasping 
 the drift of the other's remarks, said 
 
 " Well, I can't very well ask you, can I ? " 
 
 He began to doubt Dawlish's infatuation for the 
 Countess. He knew Dawlish's ambition, and also his 
 determination. A visit to Lanham Towers, with per- 
 haps his own portrait included in a photograph of the 
 entire house party appearing in some illustrated paper, 
 would no doubt be in his opinion a great step towards 
 social advancement. Dawlish was not able to see the 
 difference between people who lent themselves to these 
 vulgarities and a really exclusive set. 
 
 Then Dawlish began to talk of other things, and 
 obstinately refused to return to the subject of Lanham 
 Towers or the Comtesse de Perrefonds. Finally, he 
 took his leave, but before he left the room, and when 
 his hand was on the door, he turned to Reggie, and 
 said slowly 
 
 " Five hundred pounds, isn't it, you want, Van- 
 deleur ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Reggie, in a voice almost shaking with 
 emotion, and wondering whether Dawlish was about to 
 produce his cheque-book. 
 "Well, I'll think it over." 
 
 He brought out the words slowly, and gave Reggie a 
 keen, searching glance. In that glance Reggie under- 
 stood the meaning of the other's visit. The glance said 
 as plainly as possible, " You shall have five hundred pounds 
 when I receive an invitation to Lanham Towers."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 93 
 
 When he was gone, Reggie said to himself, striking 
 viciously at an imaginary Dawlish with his razor 
 
 " What a beast ! What a horrible, bloodthirsty 
 beast ! " 
 
 At first he looked upon the five hundred pounds as 
 lost. Then he began to wonder if Dawlish's idea were 
 feasible. He knew what a fastidious objection Bellamy 
 had to men of Dawlish's class, and although he turned 
 the idea over and over again in such brain-room as he 
 could give it, he could not see how it was to be done. 
 He quite forgot to dress, and, smoking more cigarettes, 
 flung himself into the chair by the window with a 
 French novel in his hand. 
 
 " La diplomatic c'est 1'art de dire la verite"." 
 
 The words occurring at the beginning of a chapter 
 in the book he held in his hands arrested his attention. 
 It was a little deep for him, and in any other case he 
 would have passed it by without bestowing sufficient 
 attention for its unravelling, but he felt vaguely that it 
 bore upon the situation that he had to grasp, and 
 suddenly he realized its application. The experiment 
 was daring, but it was worth trying. Notwithstanding 
 Bellamy's great wealth, it was improbable that he could 
 lend Reggie five hundred pounds ; in fact, he was never 
 in a position to lend anybody anything, and Reggie 
 was logical enough to see that the expenses of such a 
 career put it out of the question. But Bellamy's sym- 
 pathy with the impecunious was enormous. He always 
 declared that there was a peculiar charm about them
 
 94 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 impossible to describe, but very real. Reggie believed 
 that if he put the matter before him quite crudely and 
 simply, the ingenuousness of his diplomacy might appeal 
 to a palate jaded with intrigue. He would take the advice 
 of the writer of the novel and simply tell the truth. He 
 only hoped that he would not find any particular diffi- 
 culty in so doing. He knew Bellamy was leaving town 
 the next day, so he would have to see him that afternoon. 
 He hastened to dress himself, and did so with even more 
 care than usual, for anybody properly turned out would 
 stand a much better chance with Bellamy. Reggie 
 keenly felt that a touch of slovenliness might offend the 
 master to the point of a refusal. He put on a pair of 
 boots that had been boned till they were irreproachable. 
 He himself preferred patents, but he knew that Bellamy 
 was fastidious on this point. A copper-coloured car- 
 nation, saved from the night before, and preserved from 
 early decomposition by being laid on a wet sponge in 
 the shadow, was put aside. A genius like Bellamy would 
 inevitably detect yesterday's buttonhole. The tying 
 of his tie was an anxious and almost terrible moment, 
 for a tie is a question of inspiration, and depends for its 
 success on a mood which will not be forced. It either 
 comes right the first time, or, in most cases, not at all. 
 But the occult forces were propitious, and it knotted 
 itself with absolute precision at once, and when he 
 emerged into St. James's Street early in the afternoon, he 
 was granted a peculiar conviction of grace as to personal 
 appearance.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE adytum of Lord Bellamy's house was the temple 
 of his reflections, a room at the back. No one ever 
 entered it except at his invitation. There was a singular 
 impression of lightness about it, gained by the fact that 
 a conservatory, full of flowers, whose predominant note 
 was at present scarlet although the colour scheme was 
 variable, according to their owner's mood had been 
 thrown out at the back over the little scrap of ground 
 which separated the house from the stables. The room 
 itself was curiously simple. There was a grand piano 
 for Bellamy played, entirely for his own amusement 
 a Chesterfield, a divan, and some armchairs, upholstered 
 in primitive chintzes. The walls were white, their only 
 adornment a full-length pastel of Bellamy at twenty. 
 He was quite frank in saying that he still thought it 
 amazingly like, except, perhaps,'that it had aged. Across 
 the window, and facing the conservatory, was a large 
 satinwood writing-table, so arranged that Bellamy could 
 look upon the flowers while he wrote his letters, a fact 
 which he declared had not a little to do with the charm 
 of his correspondence. The moss-green carpet was the 
 tone-link between the room and the house of flowers 
 
 95
 
 96 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 beyond. He used it in the morning, and had wished 
 it to be free from subtleties. 
 
 " One can forget intrigue here," he had said, " and 
 think only of sweethearting. Chintzes always have that 
 effect on me. They make me feel like a volume of old 
 English songs." 
 
 In the corner of the room, as if it were a dust-heap, 
 lay a pile of books some feet high. 
 
 Bellamy declared it was absurd to keep books in 
 our days, and whenever the heap went higher than 
 three feet they were sent to a hospital. It was true, 
 a large number were French romances of a light 
 order, but they had to go somewhere. 
 
 It was the day after the absurd adventure in Bond 
 Street, and about the same time that Dawlish was 
 calling on Reggie. Bellamy was seated at the piano 
 playing a nocturne by Chopin. It was in his mood. 
 He had returned the day before to find Stevens behaving 
 irreproachably, but nevertheless he was oppressed with 
 a suspicion that he had meant what he said when 
 he threatened to give a month's notice. It would be 
 quite necessary to ascertain what he intended to do. 
 Half-way through the nocturne he rose, and, crossing 
 the room, rang the bell. He told the servant who 
 answered it to send Stevens to him, and then went 
 on playing dreamily and reflectively. 
 
 When Stevens entered the room he remained ob- 
 sequiously near the door, and was granted the privilege 
 of hearing the last half-dozen bars of the piece finished
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 97 
 
 with almost ultra fastidiousness before his master 
 spoke. 
 
 Bellamy rose, crossed to the writing-table, seated 
 himself in an armchair, and, turning round, addressed 
 his servant. 
 
 "You said something yesterday, at a time when 
 we all found ourselves in a somewhat embarrassing 
 position, about a month's notice." 
 
 " Yes, my lord." 
 
 The tone of Stevens's voice was not encouraging. 
 Bellamy waited, expecting him to add something about 
 regret at any hasty expression he might have used ; but 
 he stood silent, perfectly at his ease. 
 
 Bellamy tried a frontal attack. 
 
 " Now, of course that was said in the heat of the 
 moment. You were a little out of temper, naturally." 
 
 " I was a little upset, my lord." 
 
 '* Exactly. Of course, you withdraw it." 
 
 " Withdraw what, my lord ? " 
 
 "Your month's notice. You will remain here 
 we will continue as before." 
 
 " Certainly not." 
 
 There was something unpleasantly decided in the 
 way Stevens spoke, and yet nobody could have accused 
 him of want of respect. His lordship felt an inward 
 sinking, but he managed to say airily 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! " 
 
 Stevens advanced a little into the room. 
 
 " Your lordship is labouring under a misapprehension. 
 
 H
 
 98 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Your lordship is, no doubt, misled by the calmness of my 
 demeanour. I have lived since I was a boy in the best 
 families. You will remember, my lord, that I came to 
 you from a serene highness." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I remember bankrupt, but still 
 serene " 
 
 Stevens gave the conventional smile usual to a well- 
 bred servant when his master is pleased to joke, and 
 resumed 
 
 "This contiguousness with some of the noblest 
 natures in the land has taught me that to show 
 temper is vulgar. Some people say, * Never forget 
 that you are a gentleman.' I should say, * Never for- 
 get that you are a gentleman's gentleman.' " 
 
 " My good fellow, you should have been an am- 
 bassador. Sit down." 
 
 " It's very good of your lordship to ask me to sit 
 down, but I'd rather not. I know it's far from being 
 what your lordship would really wish. In short, I 
 decline to remain in your lordship's contaminated 
 service." 
 
 " Overlooking the adjective, I'll double your wages." 
 
 " I thank you, my lord, no." 
 
 "And a cheque as compensation for my unfortunate 
 mistake." 
 
 " Your lordship forgets that you are speaking to a 
 gentleman's gentleman." 
 
 "Ah, if you were simply a gentleman you might 
 listen to reason."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 99 
 
 Stevens made no reply other than a deferential in- 
 clination, which might be taken to infer that beyond 
 a gentleman's gentleman he would not presume to lay 
 down the law. 
 
 Bellamy threw his cigarette impatiently into the 
 grate. Stevens noticed that it was only half smoked. 
 So crude an indication of temper was much from his 
 lordship, and the man noted it with secret triumph, 
 but, with absolute impassivity, he handed his master 
 a light for another cigarette. 
 
 Bellamy rose and walked out into the conservatory. 
 The perfume of the flowers soothed him, and he re- 
 turned to the discussion with every appearance of good 
 temper. 
 
 " Now look here, Stevens, this is all rubbish. I 
 am extremely sorry for what has occurred, and for 
 
 what, my good man, has so far been merely " 
 
 He paused, but it was not a time for hesitation, and 
 he finished bravely, "an innocent flirtation." 
 
 If ever man fought with almost overmastering 
 passion, it was Stevens at that moment. He had de- 
 tected the pause, and all the private inquiry agencies 
 in the world could not have informed him so surely 
 of what he wanted to know, but he answered suavely 
 " Ah, my lord, there are things we must not expect 
 to learn the truth about till the Day of Judgment." 
 
 " But my word of honour," said Bellamy, impatiently. 
 
 Stevens made no answer. 
 
 Lord Bellamy was standing where a ray of sunlight
 
 ioo BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 fell across the lapel of his coat. Stevens thought 
 he detected a white thread marring its well-brushed 
 black. He bent respectfully forward, and, verifying his 
 suspicion, picked it off, and, holding it between his finger 
 and thumb, dropped it fastidiously into a flowerpot. 
 
 " I repeat, Stevens, that I give you my word of 
 honour." 
 
 " I heard your lordship." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 Stevens paused, and Bellamy could not but admire 
 the perfect control and skill with which he conducted 
 the duel. 
 
 "I trust I shall not be considered disrespectful, but 
 I do not think your lordship should lower yourself to 
 do anything of the kind." 
 
 " Upon my soul, Stevens, you are very exasperating. 
 You won't stop ? " 
 
 "I shall stay my month, my lord. To do less would 
 be to show temper, and would be most unbecoming." 
 
 " May I ask if you intend to invoke the law, 
 Stevens ? " 
 
 " I shall consult my solicitor, and be guided by him." 
 
 " Stevens, go to the devil ! " 
 
 " I do not aspire to serve royalty, but with your 
 
 lordship's recommendation " Instead of finishing 
 
 he broke off with, " Begging your lordship's pardon 
 for the jest." 
 
 " All this fuss about what really amounts to 
 nothing ! " Bellamy was beginning to get angry. He
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 101 
 
 was being thwarted, and the experience was a novel 
 one. " Good heavens, Stevens ! What do you think I'm 
 going to do if you behave in this ridiculous manner ? " 
 
 " There are several gentlemen's gentlemen that I can 
 recommend to your lordship's notice." 
 
 "Don't talk nonsense. There are a thousand and 
 one things that would go wrong. I can't change my 
 whole way of living." 
 
 "It will certainly be a little awkward at your 
 lordship's age." 
 
 The remark was hardly worthy of Stevens. It was 
 a breach of the perfect restraint upon which he prided 
 himself. Apart from the sting contained in it, Bellamy 
 thought the less of him for it. However, it was 
 sufficiently obvious not to hurt him as much as it 
 would have done had Stevens given it inference instead 
 of speech. He ignored it, and answered 
 
 " Well, Stevens, there is plenty of time to think 
 the matter over. Remember, I consider you quite in- 
 dispensable, and value you more than a dozen women. 
 Why, in a decently civilized country, a mere woman 
 would never be allowed to interfere in the sacred re- 
 lations of master and man ! Woman is a thing of charm, 
 of beauty, of delight, the companion of our leisure 
 moments. Perhaps it is only the Orientals who know 
 how to frame a woman properly, and to keep her out 
 of mischief. It is absurd to allow her to upheave the 
 whole social fabric in this way. Stevens, you are mad, 
 quite mad. Think it over think it over."
 
 102 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "I will do my best, my lord, to see the matter 
 from your point of view, but I am afraid it will be 
 quite impossible." And he moved towards the door. 
 
 Bellamy's heart sank, and it was an additional morti- 
 fication to feel that it was Stevens who had closed the 
 interview. Luckily for his dignity there was a knock 
 at the door, and Lady Bellamy's maid entered. 
 
 " Her ladyship wishes to know if your lordship is 
 disengaged." 
 
 Lord Bellamy looked at her in surprise. 
 
 " I thought her ladyship had gone into the country." 
 
 He was put out. Had he know that Lady Bellamy 
 would be so erratic, he would not have despatched a 
 certain note that morning to Mrs. Crutchley. It was 
 exceedingly awkward, but he answered 
 
 " Tell her ladyship I am at liberty." 
 
 Stevens opened the door for the maid, and ere he 
 followed her turned to his master 
 
 " At what time will your lordship go out ? " 
 
 For one moment Bellamy was seized with an 
 almost overpowering inclination to tell Stevens that he 
 would dispense with his services from that moment, 
 but real heroism was not in his line. Besides, the 
 battle was by no means over. 
 
 "Have the motor brought round directly after 
 lunch. Send this note by special messenger, and tell 
 the boy to deliver it into the lady's hands himself. 
 If she is out, he is to bring it back." 
 
 " Yes, my lord."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 103 
 
 " And go to Bond Street, and see what appoint- 
 ment Madame Rosalie can give me during the next 
 few days. Your remark about my age, Stevens, has 
 frightened me. I must have my face massaged." 
 " Very good, my lord." 
 
 Lady Bellamy entered the room as Stevens went 
 out, closing the door behind him. Dodo was in her 
 arms, and as she sank into a chair in order to give 
 him a comfortable lap while she buttoned her gloves 
 he fell asleep. 
 
 "I was obliged to wait for a later train," said her 
 ladyship, fretfully, " Dodo seemed so very unwell." 
 Then she looked at Bellamy with an irritating affecta- 
 tion of wounded feeling. " Gerald, have you nothing 
 to say to me no promises to make ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy was certainly extraordinary in one 
 respect. No amount of experience ever taught her 
 anything in regard to her relations with her husband. 
 She had not the least suspicion that such a sentimental 
 speech as that which she had just addressed to him 
 was purely comic. She could descend with perfect 
 unconsciousness into absolute depths of banality. 
 
 It was not in him, however, to be discourteous. 
 
 " Promises what do you mean ? " 
 
 " Are my sufferings nothing to you ? " 
 
 " My dear Selina, this is the first I have heard of 
 them. What is the matter ? " 
 
 My heart." 
 
 " I never guessed. See a specialist before you leave
 
 104 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 town. It's rather a bad time, though the professional 
 classes are all falling off the Alps in August." 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked at him with even a little pity. 
 She verily believed that he was incapable of accompany- 
 ing her into any real depth of sentiment. 
 
 " You misunderstand me, Gerald. It really seems as 
 if your trivial nature were quite unable to comprehend 
 me. If I do not seek some redress, it is because of our 
 child." 
 
 " Where is he ? " 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked at him vaguely. The child 
 had an excellent nurse, and she was a little apt to forget 
 him during the season. Thoughtlessly she admitted 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " My dear Selina, you have surely not dragged our 
 child into a sentimental discussion without knowing his 
 whereabouts ? " 
 
 " Really, Gerald, it is hardly the point." Then she 
 brightened. " Nurse said something about the seaside 
 or was that last year ? I'll ring and find out." She half 
 rose, but Bellamy was before her. 
 
 " Allow me," he said, and pressed the electric button. 
 " I shall join you at Lanham, Selina, later." 
 
 "Am I always to appear before the world, Gerald, 
 as a neglected wife ? " 
 
 " For heaven's sake, Selina, don't talk nonsense. I 
 am an excellent husband." 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked at him in very real astonish- 
 ment. He noticed her expression, and, enjoying the
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 105 
 
 solemnity of her mystification, continued to play with 
 the subject wilfully. 
 
 " I repeat, my dear Selina, I am an excellent husband. 
 If you wish to understand me thoroughly, you must take 
 your atlas. I am a little Eastern in my habits ; I should 
 have been born in Turkey. Any little faults I may have 
 are geographical, not moral." 
 
 A servant entered the room in response to Lord 
 Bellamy's ring. He looked at the man solemnly, but 
 to Lady Bellamy there was a disturbing intonation of fun 
 in his voice. 
 
 " Would you find out if Lord Braby is in the country 
 or at the seaside ? " 
 
 The man paused for a moment, as if wondering 
 whether he was expected to join in the joke. He 
 decided on the safer course, and answered gravely 
 
 " His lordship and his nurse are at this moment 
 awaiting her ladyship in the 'all." 
 
 " Thank you, Curtis ; that will do." 
 
 The man left the room. 
 
 " There," said Lady Bellamy, triumphantly, " I was 
 quite sure there was no cause for alarm. Thomson is 
 a most reliable creature. They are evidently going 
 with me. I am sure I always arrange everything for 
 the best." 
 
 Well, good-bye." 
 
 He was anxious for her to be gone. Mrs. Crutchley 
 might sparkle in at any moment, after having decorously 
 asked at the front door for Lady Bellamy, whom she
 
 io6 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 supposed to have left town by an early train that 
 morning. But Lady Bellamy had no intention of going 
 before she had played out her little scene as she felt it 
 ought to be played out. She imagined herself having 
 come to that conclusion by a curious mental process 
 all her own to have scored a signal triumph the day 
 before. 
 
 " Since you are dead to shame, Gerald, perhaps you 
 will tell me how you have managed to persuade that 
 poor deluded creature to remain in your service." 
 " He has given me a month's notice." 
 Lady Bellamy was quick enough to detect that 
 Stevens's decision had roused more emotion in Bellamy 
 than her sentiment. 
 
 " Surely rather unnecessary under the circumstances." 
 " Thank goodness, he doesn't think so. It's terrible 
 enough as it is." 
 
 Lady Bellamy thought she saw her opportunity. 
 
 " The wages of sin " 
 
 "I've offered to double his wages. In his own 
 peculiar way he is revenging himself." 
 
 There was one thing more Lady Bellamy wished 
 to ask. It interested her as much as it did her husband, 
 for, whatever Lord Bellamy might be guilty of, she 
 had not the least intention of doing anything foolish in 
 the direction of dissolving her alliance with him, even 
 though she might consider the threat of its possibility 
 a valuable weapon in reserve. 
 
 She rose and said carelessly, as if it were an after-
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 107 
 
 thought, and a by no means very important question 
 with her 
 
 " May I ask if his dignity will carry him as far as the 
 Law Courts ? " 
 
 " I hope not, I am sure." 
 
 a I have sacrificed myself a good deal so that there 
 should be no scandal." 
 
 " My dear Selina, you are an angel." 
 
 She went towards the door, but paused. " Oh yes, 
 Gerald, there is one thing I wish to say to you what 
 was it ? " She reflected whilst he stood, a monument 
 of restrained impatience. 
 
 " Oh yes, I remember what it was. I hear you 
 have been playing very heavily of late. I trust you 
 have not been losing ? " 
 
 Bellamy's eyes half closed with anger. It was 
 absolutely nothing whatever to do with his wife, but 
 he answered, as always in his dealings with her, 
 courteously 
 
 "Make your mind easy, Selina. I shall not be 
 obliged to take to the City at least, not just yet." 
 
 Lady Bellamy was in reality thinking that if Bellamy 
 should force her to economize it would constitute a very 
 real grievance. 
 
 Good-bye, Gerald." 
 
 " Good-bye, Selina." He touched her cheek with 
 his lips. " Take care of yourself." 
 " I am obliged to, Gerald." 
 It was a very palpable Hit, and Bellamy gave a
 
 io8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 pleased little laugh, a habit of his when recognizing a 
 clever thrust. 
 
 In such a form of repartee Lady Bellamy excelled. 
 Anything snappish, spiteful, and not very well-bred was 
 quite in her line. As some one once said of her 
 she was not a lady, but she looked it. 
 
 "You are very unjust," he answered with imper- 
 turbable gaiety. " I don't see what else I can do." 
 
 " No, Gerald ; I should say you had very nearly 
 reached the limit." 
 
 But Lady Bellamy was like a cheap actress, and 
 could never by any chance leave a situation alone. 
 Pausing at the door she said 
 
 Gerald." 
 
 " Yes, dear ? " 
 
 " Don't be surprised if one of these days you offend 
 me too much and go too far." 
 
 She was about to make her exit, clothed in the 
 banale, when there was a prolonged cry of anguish 
 from the other side of the door. Lord Braby, who 
 had escaped from his nurse, had made for his father's 
 room. Feeling for the handle in the sombre passage, 
 his finger had slipped into the space between the door 
 and the lintel, as Lady Bellamy had half opened it 
 and then attempted to close it. He was very little 
 hurt, being, indeed, more frightened by the suggestion 
 of what might have happened. 
 
 He was a pretty, fair child, with his mother's eyes 
 and a curiously grave expression. Bellamy declared that
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 109 
 
 he was obviously carrying out the family tradition, which 
 insisted that a rake should be followed by a prude. 
 
 Lord Bellamy took his son and heir up in his arms 
 to comfort him. The child was very fond of the father 
 whom he hardly ever saw, and was soon pacified. 
 
 " Are you coming to Lanham with mummy and 
 me?" 
 
 The homely term as applied to Lady Bellamy made 
 Lord Bellamy smile. 
 
 " I'm not coming just yet, Braby." 
 
 " Where are you going, then ? " 
 
 "I am going to Dinard." 
 
 " Going to dinner ? " said the child, mystified. 
 
 " No, to Dinard." 
 
 " What are you going to do there ? " 
 
 " I don't quite know yet, Braby. I never make up 
 my mind too long beforehand it spoils one's enjoy- 
 ment." 
 
 "Why should it?" 
 
 " Really, Gerald," said his wife, " I am surprised 
 at your talking to Braby in that way." And then, as 
 if to show how excellently she was bringing him up, 
 she sprung upon the astonished child the question, " Did 
 you say your prayers this morning, Braby ? " 
 
 He looked at her doubtfully. 
 
 " Why don't you answer ? " crescendoed Lady 
 Bellamy, with truly Christian patience. 
 
 " I think so," he said. " I always do." 
 
 " Then why didn't you say so before ? " And Lady
 
 no BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Bellamy looked as if a great moral victory had been 
 gained. 
 
 The servant opened the door and announced Mrs. 
 Crutchley. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley floated into the room. 
 
 " I heard you were here, so I came straight in. You 
 are just off ? I thought I should catch you." 
 
 " But I told you, Jack, I was going this morning." 
 
 Bellamy looked at Mrs. Crutchley anxiously. The 
 latter rippled on with convincing fluency. 
 
 " Did you, dear ? Now I come to think of it, so 
 you did ; but then, you always change your mind, don't 
 you ? Rollo has just dropped in at the club, and is 
 coming on here to fetch me. Is this Braby ? " She 
 diverted the conversation cleverly to his little lordship. 
 " He is so very like you, Selina, and so very like you 
 too, Bellamy which is so very nice, isn't it ? " 
 
 " I really must go, Jack," said Lady Bellamy, "or 
 I shall lose my train. Come, Braby." 
 
 The boy took her hand. 
 
 " I hope I'm not in the way," said Mrs. Crutchley, 
 turning to Bellamy. " Only I really must wait for Rollo." 
 
 " You are never in the way," he answered 
 audaciously. 
 
 Lady Bellamy departed, and as soon as the door 
 closed behind her the expression of Mrs. Crutchley's 
 face changed. She looked as severe as it was possible 
 for her to look. 
 
 "I had made up my mind, Bellamy, never to speak
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT in 
 
 to you again ; but on second thoughts I decided that 
 it would be best to see you, and to hear what you had 
 to say about yesterday." 
 
 " Ah, second thoughts are always best, Jack." 
 
 " Oh, please don't be flippant. I want to hear what 
 you have to say." 
 
 " Don't you think that everybody has said quite 
 enough ? " 
 
 " But you must make some explanation." 
 
 " I don't see." 
 
 l< Good taste demands that you should invent some 
 excuse." 
 
 "The only excuse I can think of would hardly be 
 diplomatic." 
 
 " Never mind, let me hear it." 
 
 " Well," said Bellamy slowly, " her face her 
 figure " 
 
 " My dear Gerald, she's not bad looking, but for 
 you, whose taste is usually so correct, it's absurd." 
 
 " Come, my dear Jack, you and Selina have, with a 
 complete lack of tact, played the spy." 
 
 " Nothing of the kind, Bellamy. I was dragged into 
 the whole affair ; I protested against it from the first. 
 Although, of course, I was horribly disgusted. I believed 
 in you." 
 
 Bellamy came and sat beside her on the Chesterfield. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley looked nervously towards the con- 
 servatory, as if there might be a whole host of detectives 
 disguised as geraniums.
 
 ii2 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "My dear Jack, don't you think the whole thing 
 is just a little vulgar ? Let us say no more about it." 
 
 " Of course it is impossible for me to stay here and 
 be called vulgar." 
 
 " Good heavens ! I am the one that suffers. What 
 would you say if that maid that you think such a 
 treasure gave you notice ? " 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley looked alarmed. 
 
 " For goodness' sake, don't talk of anything so 
 dreadful" 
 
 " Exactly the very idea makes you go white. Well, 
 Stevens has given me notice." 
 
 " Oh, Gerald, I'm so sorry ! And here have I been 
 worrying you about trivialities ! " 
 
 Bellamy was soothed. He had not been deceived in 
 Mrs. Crutchley. He had always believed that beneath her 
 apparent superficiality there lay a world of real feeling. 
 
 "You are very sympathetic, Jack," he said gratefully. 
 " It has paralyzed me. Heaven only knows what is to 
 be done." 
 
 " Oh, surely, Gerald, money " 
 
 " He has refused it. I have implored humbled 
 myself to him, all to no purpose." 
 
 A ghastly look of horror came into Mrs. Crutchley's 
 eyes. She gazed at Bellamy in petrefaction. 
 
 He rose in alarm. 
 
 " My dear Jack, what on earth is the matter ? 
 You are turning quite pale." He really thought she 
 was going to faint. She strove vainly for speech.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 113 
 
 At last she gasped out, " Just think ! " 
 
 " Think what about ? " As a matter of fact, he 
 could only think of brandy, and had his hand on the 
 electric button. 
 
 " Don't ring," she said faintly. " But just think 
 he knows all about us." 
 
 " My dear Jack, I should think society in general 
 knows a good deal, but it really doesn't matter." 
 
 But Mrs. Crutchley was stirred to the depths of 
 those feelings which Bellamy so sincerely believed in. 
 
 " Yes, but he has proof proof positive. You must 
 bribe him bribe him heavily. Offer to pension him 
 for life." 
 
 " Thank you. Perhaps you'd like me to hand over 
 this house to him." 
 
 " It is cruel to trifle about a matter like this." 
 
 " My dear Jack, I am not trifling, but I cannot see 
 the danger." 
 
 But Mrs. Crutchley was walking up and down 
 excitedly. 
 
 " Not see the danger ? Bellamy, don't talk non- 
 sense." 
 
 " You are anticipating danger." 
 
 " Better do that and make provision for it than wake 
 up one fine morning and find ourselves in the Divorce 
 Court for all London to talk about." 
 
 " I fancy the provinces are interested in the Divorce 
 Court, too." 
 
 " You know perfectly well what I mean." 
 
 I
 
 n 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 But Bellamy did not like matters to be taken seri- 
 ously, and the more serious they might be the less he 
 liked it. 
 
 " It's quite true," he said, " that carelessness keeps 
 the Divorce Court open ; but, you see, if I spoke to 
 Stevens it might put the idea of blackmail into his 
 head." 
 
 " I shouldn't think he would want any suggestion. 
 This comes of trusting servants. I should never have 
 thought of doing so, orily you said he was such a 
 treasure." 
 
 " So he is." 
 
 " So evidently is his wife," snapped Mrs. Crutchley. 
 
 " Really, Jack, I don't like to see you in this mood 
 it's not becoming, believe me." 
 
 " As if at a moment like this I cared about what is 
 becoming ! " 
 
 "Then if you don't, you ought to. We have our 
 duty to ourselves to consider, even in the most trying 
 moments." 
 
 " I was never so frightened in my life," said Mrs. 
 Crutchley, almost whimpering. 
 
 " There is really nothing to be frightened about. As 
 Stevens himself says, he is a gentleman's gentleman, and 
 he will not forget it." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley looked at him indignantly. "Do 
 you mean to say you are going to trust to his fine 
 feelings, and not take every step to make him hold his 
 tongue ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 115 
 
 " Of course, my dear Jack, I shall do everything 
 I can ; but as for trying to make Stevens hold his tongue 
 he can do that perfectly. It's the very quality that 
 has put him at the head of his profession." 
 
 There was a knock at the door, and the servant 
 announced : " Mr. Crutchley." 
 
 " My dear Rollo, what a time you've been ! " 
 
 Crutchley looked a little sulky. He had not expected 
 to find his wife and Bellamy alone. Even in his 
 morning-coat and tall hat he suggested not being quite 
 finished, as if there ought to be a horse about some- 
 where. 
 
 " I got talkin' to Portchester about Too lay Maw." 
 
 This was Crutchley's anglicized version of Tous 
 les Mois the name of a horse entered by him for a 
 classic event. 
 
 " My dear Rollo, it will be a triumph. I have 
 never felt so certain about anything in my life." 
 
 Bellamy had artfully sent a racehorse galloping across 
 Crutchley's vision, and he forgot his wrongs at least, for 
 the moment. 
 
 " Well, of course, Bellamy, if you say so You're 
 
 one of the few people whose head is screwed on the right 
 way where horses are concerned. By Jove, what a blaze 
 of geraniums ! " 
 
 " A wonderful study in scarlet, aren't they ? " said 
 Bellamy. "I had them put in there because I was 
 afraid of an attack of sanity ; they're an antidote." 
 
 Crutchley did not pretend to understand this sort
 
 n6 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 of conversation, but he looked very solemn, and 
 answered 
 
 " I dare say you're right you usually are when one 
 comes to go into the matter ; and it's the more amazin' 
 because you always sound quite wrong. Come on, Jack ; 
 we shall be late." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley placed her hand in Bellamy's with an 
 appealing glance, which plainly said, "Strangle Stevens 
 if necessary, only silence him." 
 
 As Mr. and Mrs. Crutchley were leaving the room, 
 a servant entered with a card, and in the hall Mrs. 
 Crutchley recognized the young man who had been 
 pointed out to her at the opera as Mr. Spottitt. 
 
 " What beautiful eyes that man has," she said to her 
 husband as they entered their hansom. 
 
 " What on earth does a man want eyes for ! " said 
 Crutchley.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 BELLAMY looked at the card in his hand inquiringly. 
 "Whoever is Mr. Spottitt ? " he was thinking ; but he 
 had nothing to do, and so said, on the impulse of the 
 moment 
 
 " Show the gentleman in." 
 
 Mr. Spottitt entered the room, perfectly at his ease. 
 Bellamy had a rare instinct about individuals, and asked 
 him to sit down at once. He was quite sure that he 
 could not make a mistake in so doing. 
 
 Mr. Spottitt sat down opposite to him, and said in a 
 languid voice that he felt would suit the occasion and 
 would soothe Bellamy's nerves, which he detected at once 
 were on edge 
 
 " May I ask you to consider everything which I say 
 as being in confidence ? " 
 " Of course." 
 
 Bellamy did not quite know why he said "of course," 
 excepting, perhaps, that he felt it was too hot for argu- 
 ment ; but Spottitt was inwardly relieved at obtaining the 
 assurance so easily. 
 
 " That clears the ground," he said, " and I feel 
 perfectly safe. You see, I have to be very careful, and 
 
 117
 
 n8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 I absolutely decline to be entrusted with any work which 
 deals with people who are likely to break their promise of 
 confidence. I don't wish such social position as I have 
 to be jeopardized." 
 
 Bellamy was mystified, but he answered with con- 
 viction 
 
 " Of course, I quite see that." It pleased him to 
 take this whimsical attitude. 
 
 " You see, I am a private detective." 
 
 Bellamy raised his eyebrows slightly, and murmured, 
 " Interesting life." 
 
 "That depends." 
 
 " What made you think of taking it up ? " 
 
 Spottitt was gratified at the implied compliment that 
 his profession was unexpected. 
 
 " My mind," he said, " was always too creative as a 
 child. I may say that I was so full of ideas of my own 
 that I had no time for the ideas of other people, with 
 the result that it was impossible to educate me in the 
 ordinary sense of the word, or to send me up for any 
 examination, and I began my career without a profession." 
 
 "In other words, unencumbered," said Bellamy, 
 lazily blowing his cigarette smoke into rings. 
 
 " I devoted half an hour every Sunday morning to 
 thinking over the matter," continued Spottitt, pleased 
 to see that Bellamy was getting interested. " During 
 my father's sermon I gave it my entire attention." 
 
 " A clergyman's son ? " said Bellamy, with a smile. 
 
 " A clergyman's son," assented Spottitt. And then
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 119 
 
 they both laughed. The credentials suggested con- 
 viviality. 
 
 "By an inspiration I thought of a new r61e that 
 of a private detective." 
 
 "The idea did not come out of a popular 
 magazine ? " 
 
 " I don't know I wonder," said Spottitt, reflectively, 
 as if it had not before struck him. " However, the 
 sort of detective I mean was quite original." 
 
 " Indeed ? " 
 
 Bellamy looked curious. 
 
 " I conceived the idea of a detective who could sit 
 down to dinner with ladies and gentlemen without 
 every one shouting, ' Police ' ! " 
 
 " Excellent," said Bellamy, " excellent ! And you 
 could." 
 
 He laid a delicate emphasis on the personal pro- 
 noun, which was none the less flattering because it 
 was carefully modulated. 
 
 " To come to the point, I am in the pay of Lady 
 Bellamy." 
 
 " Oh," said Bellamy, raising his eyebrows, " is that 
 how -" 
 
 But Spottitt interrupted him. 
 
 " Yes, it was I who arranged that little scene in 
 Bond Street yesterday." 
 
 " Indeed. I am sorry you didn't see it.'* 
 
 " I did see it from an opposite window, with a 
 field-glass."
 
 120 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "Humph! "said Bellamy. 
 
 This was indeed a surprising young man. But his 
 lordship was not one to resent an individuality so 
 delightfully original, even if he himself suffered from 
 its daring. On the contrary, Mr. Spottitt had all the 
 fascination of an absolutely new experience. Bellamy 
 looked at him with growing curiosity. What was he 
 driving at ? Blackmail ? Possibly. But his lordship 
 felt that the perfectly turned-out youth before him 
 was a born artist, and was sure to have elaborated in 
 his own mind a scene which it would be worth while 
 to let him play his own way. He was perfectly dressed, 
 and positively had on something new in waistcoats 
 which permitted itself to be unaggressively discovered. 
 Bellamy found himself making a distinct mental effort 
 in order to detect its material, and even his final verdict 
 only suggested that it might be of plaited silk, bound 
 with suede. It was a very prince of waistcoats, 
 and even the dark onyx buttons could not affect 
 its reticence. He was groomed a merveille y and 
 Bellamy quite admitted that he could have entered a 
 Mayfair drawing-room without the hostess shouting 
 " Police ! " 
 
 " I could bring about half a dozen such scenes if I 
 cared to." 
 
 " I'll trouble you not to." 
 
 Spottitt paused before he replied. Bellamy felt that 
 they were nearing the point of the interview. 
 
 " The fact is, Lord Bellamy," said Spottitt, accept-
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 121 
 
 ing the proffered cigarette, "I am a little tired. I am 
 in want of a holiday." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear that," said Bellamy. " I hope 
 I have not given you much trouble. It's a strange 
 thing, you know, but I don't remember ever having 
 seen your face. It's rather surprising, as you're a 
 detective I ought to have seen it everywhere." 
 
 " I hope I am an artist," said Mr. Spottitt, modestly. 
 " Besides, to find out anything about a man you should 
 go to his friends. He may deceive you as to his 
 actions ; they never do. But, as I was saying, I am 
 a little done up, and I thought I would leave your 
 lordship alone for, at any rate, August." 
 
 " I should prefer it," said Lord Bellamy, gratefully. 
 " But why not for the rest of the summer ? " 
 
 " On terms, of course." 
 
 There was quite a long silence, and then Bellamy 
 said gently 
 
 " I see. My wife pays you to keep an eye on me, 
 and I pay you to do nothing of the kind." 
 
 "It's often done," said Mr. Spottitt, " and I can 
 assure you that it is an arrangement that brings harmony 
 into many a distracted household." 
 
 " I can quite believe it," said Bellamy, laughing. 
 Then he changed his tone, and, still speaking languidly, 
 but with a curious suggestion of latent energy, added, 
 " Supposing I ring for the police and give you in 
 charge ? " 
 
 Spottitt smiled.
 
 122 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Your lordship is not given to making mistakes." 
 
 As a matter of fact, Bellamy had merely made the 
 remark to see if Spottitt was of the material he appeared 
 to be. 
 
 "The police are not fond of your calling. Nobody 
 likes to be beaten at his own trade." 
 
 "Besides, I have your lordship's word. I take no 
 risks." Spottitt was perfectly cool. 
 
 The compliment was charmingly put. 
 
 " Of course, I forgot," said Bellamy. 
 
 He crossed to his writing-table and produced his 
 cheque-book. 
 
 " How much ? " 
 
 " Shall we say five hundred ? " 
 
 " Is that to begin with ? " 
 
 " I never come more than once. That is the secret 
 of blackmailing." 
 
 " Indeed ? I suppose every calling has its axioms 
 even blackmail." 
 
 "Especially blackmail," corrected Spottitt, suavely. 
 
 He watched Bellamy write the cheque with his eye- 
 lids almost closed. 
 
 They perfectly understood each other. The little 
 scene at Madame Henriette's hat shop was on no 
 account to be repeated. 
 
 Spottitt would not have accepted a cheque from any- 
 body else, but he knew his man. 
 
 Bellamy carefully blotted the slip of paper and 
 handed it to him.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 123 
 
 " You will pass it through your own bank, of course ? " 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "Thank you. It's delightful to feel that we trust 
 one another so absolutely. Good morning." 
 
 " Good morning. I only wish every one had the 
 same sense of business that your lordship has." 
 
 "Thank you. I'd sooner be thought a judge of 
 pictures." 
 
 " Your lordship is both." 
 
 " Oh, really," said Bellamy, with a deprecating smile. 
 What a charming companion Spottitt would make ! 
 
 "It is quite true, I assure you." And Spottitt 
 drifted easily and gracefully from the room. 
 
 " What a very pleasant fellow," murmured Bellamy. 
 
 He was about to lock up his cheque-book, but paused 
 with the key in one hand and the book in the other, 
 whilst he reflected swiftly on an idea which had flashed 
 through his brain. He put the key and his cheque- 
 book on the table, and went swiftly to the door. Mr. 
 Spottitt was still in the hall. Bellamy called him. 
 
 " Mr. Spottitt ! " 
 
 " Yes ? " 
 
 " Will you come here for a minute ? " 
 
 Spottitt returned into the room, saying, " I was 
 choosing a stick. It rather delayed me." 
 
 Bellamy closed the door. 
 
 " Are you in a hurry ? " 
 
 " Not at all." 
 
 " May I offer you a drink ? "
 
 i2 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Thank you, no. Vanity keeps me a teetotaler till 
 the evening and then only sometimes, and what I can't 
 afford." 
 
 "I see. You are one of those people who know 
 how to drink. It has struck me that you might be of 
 assistance to me." 
 
 " Professionally ? " asked Spottitt. 
 "I shouldn't think of wasting your time. It's about 
 my valet." 
 
 " Oh, do you suspect him ? " 
 " He has given me notice." 
 " Been with your lordship long ? " 
 " Twenty years." 
 
 Spottitt was evidently a person of sensibility, for he 
 sat up and looked at Lord Bellamy with real sympathy. 
 " That must be a terrible blow." 
 An expression of keen pain crossed Bellamy's face, 
 and he half closed his eyes. 
 
 "I don't know anything that could have affected 
 me more." 
 
 You like the man ? " 
 
 " Like him ? " said Bellamy, vaguely. " I don't 
 think I've ever thought about him as a man. But at 
 the same time I don't know what on earth I am going 
 to do without him." 
 
 " I quite understand," said Spottitt, soothingly. " A 
 good valet is like a real poet there is scarcely one to 
 a generation. Does he want to set up a public house ? " 
 "I don't know."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 125 
 
 " Then what has he given you notice for ? " 
 
 Bellamy turned to him in some surprise. " Do you 
 mean to say you don't know ? " 
 
 " How should I ? " 
 
 Bellamy looked disappointed. 
 
 Spottitt vaguely felt that his lordship's regard for him 
 was suffering damage, and, like an acute person, he held 
 his tongue till he knew exactly where he stood. 
 
 " Stevens that is my servant's name is Madame 
 Henriette's husband." 
 
 Spottitt flushed. Bellamy's slight expression of dis- 
 appointment was, he at once admitted, justifiable. How- 
 ever had he managed to remain in ignorance of so 
 interesting a fact ! He put himself in Bellamy's good 
 graces again by frankly confessing that it was news 
 to him. A clumsier mind would have pretended that 
 he had known it all along, or at least that he had 
 suspected it. 
 
 " I must confess," he said, " that it is absolute news 
 to me. And he has given you notice because of that ? " 
 
 Yes. Childish, isn't it ? " 
 
 "And you wish me to arrange so that he shall 
 reconsider his decision ? " 
 
 Exactly." 
 
 " Upon my soul, the fellow ought to feel very 
 flattered." 
 
 " Stevens is impervious to flattery." 
 
 " Then he stands alone amongst men." 
 
 Bellamy corrected himself.
 
 126 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "I should have said that I have been unable to hit off 
 the actual mode of flattery which would meet the situation." 
 " You see," said Spottitt, " I am labouring under 
 a disadvantage ; I have not seen the man. I suppose 
 he is the ordinary sort of servant. I mean," he added, 
 correcting himself, warned by the slightest movement of 
 impatience on Lord Bellamy's part, "at least, in out- 
 ward appearance. Can you describe him ? " 
 
 " Stevens is indescribable. In the things which 
 don't matter, he is like anybody else's servant ; in the 
 things that matter, he is like my servant." 
 ** And therefore ineffable," said Spottitt. 
 Spottitt was certainly a pleasant fellow. 
 " Can you imagine," continued Spottitt, " his answer- 
 ing to any other name but Stevens ? " 
 Bellamy reflected. 
 
 " Impossible," he said at length. " It isn't a re- 
 markable name, but Vesuvius was bound to be called 
 Vesuvius, and Stevens had to be called Stevens." 
 
 " I must think," said Spottitt. " May I go and look 
 at your geraniums ? " 
 
 " Certainly, although I had them placed there as an 
 antidote to thought." 
 
 "I'll try and manage with them, but I quite see 
 your point." 
 
 Spottitt was growing on Bellamy. 
 " I'll double that cheque," he said, and took up a 
 novel written by a popular author, a past master of in- 
 volved sentences'. It was a favourite game of his to take
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 127 
 
 a piece of paper and analyse his sentences. When he 
 found the master had no meaning, the writer won a point ; 
 when Bellamy discovered a meaning, the master lost. 
 
 He had been amusing himself for about ten minutes, 
 when Spottitt appeared in the doorway. 
 
 " Of course, if he had no character he would have 
 to stay." 
 
 " Most probably," said Bellamy. 
 
 Spottitt disappeared again, and Bellamy went on with 
 his book. 
 
 In another five minutes Spottitt came back into the 
 room and sat down. 
 
 " It's my business to take away people's characters." 
 
 " But supposing the character is a good one ? " 
 
 Spottitt looked puzzled, as if Bellamy had mentioned 
 an article he had not heard of. Then he said lightly 
 
 " That is where the artist comes in." 
 
 " Still, if he has done nothing ? " 
 
 Spottitt laughed. " Every one has done something." 
 
 " That is very true." 
 
 " The great point is to find out what that something 
 is. Most people show it in their faces." 
 
 " Yes," said Bellamy, " but Stevens's face never shows 
 anything." 
 
 "Well, it's quite easy to find out what a valet has 
 done. He has stolen something." 
 
 " Stevens ? Nonsense ? " 
 
 " Oh yes ; he has stolen clothes, and possibly 
 jewellery."
 
 128 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Not stolen, I have given " 
 
 Spottitt interrupted him quickly. " Ah, if you are 
 going to stick to facts ! " 
 
 Bellamy looked at him earnestly for a few moments, 
 and then a faint smile flickered round his mouth. The 
 idea appealed to him. It even possessed a touch of the 
 medieval. 
 
 " Oh, I see what you mean," he said slowly. 
 "Well, stolen." 
 
 "Good. I fancy that, after all, Mr. Stevens will 
 have to remain in your service. Where is he ? " 
 
 " I have sent him out." 
 
 " He is performing his duties quite respectfully 
 then ? " 
 
 "Yes. The man is extraordinary. To do less than 
 give a month's notice, and behave during that month as 
 if nothing had happened, he would consider derogatory 
 to his prestige." 
 
 " Really," said Spottitt, " he sounds like a man who 
 is thoroughly worth fighting. Do you think he will be 
 long ? " 
 
 " I shouldn't think so." 
 
 " You might have me shown to your room first, and 
 then to his." 
 
 " Certainly," said Bellamy. " By the way, please 
 understand that I must not be made to take part in the 
 details." He rose and rang the bell. He laughed, but 
 he was all the same a little nervous as he added, " For 
 heaven's sake, don't make a muddle of it."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 129 
 
 Spottitt looked a little hurt, and said gently, " I never 
 muddle. May I have your keys ? " 
 
 Bellamy handed them to him. 
 
 A servant entered the room. 
 
 " This gentleman is to have free access to any part 
 of the house," said Bellamy, and immersed himself once 
 more in his book. 
 
 Spottitt left the room with the servant. 
 
 In about twenty minutes he returned with a bag 
 in his hand. 
 
 " I have arranged everything. Stevens has just come 
 in. Would you mind sending for him ? " 
 
 Bellamy rang the bell. 
 
 Spottitt was perfectly confident, and talked about 
 other matters till the servant appeared. 
 
 " Tell Stevens that I wish to speak to him." 
 
 " I think," said Spottitt, when the man had with- 
 drawn, " that you had better sit here with your face to 
 the light." 
 
 He evidently had a rare gift of delicate flattery. 
 There was a knock at the door, and Stevens entered, 
 bringing with him, as usual, a unique atmosphere of 
 repose. He displayed the faintest indication of surprise 
 as he found himself addressed by Spottitt instead of Lord 
 Bellamy. He evidently recognized in the young man 
 the mark of the ruling caste, for he maintained a full 
 professional deference. 
 
 " Mr. Stevens, Lord Bellamy has charged me with 
 the conduct of a rather unpleasant affair." 
 
 K
 
 130 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Stevens half turned to Bellamy as if for confirmation. 
 
 Bellamy waved his hand slightly to indicate that 
 Spottitt was in authority. 
 
 " I understand," said Spottitt, " that you have given 
 his lordship a month's notice." 
 
 That is so." 
 
 " You do not feel inclined to reconsider your 
 decision ? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 Spottitt looked at him keenly. His manner became 
 a trifle more languid, and the space between his eyelids 
 a shade narrower. The only indication he gave that he 
 had recognized in Stevens a worthy foe was the dropping 
 of his half-smoked cigarette amongst the flower-pots in 
 the grate. 
 
 " You are quite sure that you do not wish to 
 reconsider your decision ? " 
 
 Stevens looked at him as if wondering what the 
 repetition of this sentence, spoken with such peculiar 
 emphasis, might imply, but he answered briefly as 
 before 
 
 No, sir." 
 
 " You have threatened his lordship with the Divorce 
 Court." 
 
 Stevens was about to protest, but Spottitt went on 
 
 " For the reason that his lordship and your wife are 
 somewhat too well acquainted." 
 
 Again Stevens was about to speak, but Spottitt 
 continued, unheeding
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 131 
 
 " We have now discovered the real reason." 
 
 Stevens looked at him with unconcealed astonishment. 
 
 " The real reason, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes. For some time past his lordship has missed 
 things." 
 
 Stevens started as if he had been shot, but Spottitt 
 went on 
 
 "Articles which, though small and unimportant in 
 themselves, have nevertheless been missing. Some days 
 ago his lordship placed the matter in my hands, with the 
 result that I have traced some diamonds of his lordship's 
 to that bag. That is your bag, is it not ? " 
 
 Stevens went over and examined it carefully. 
 
 It is." 
 
 "Open it." 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 He produced some keys from his waistcoat pocket, 
 and, kneeling down, unlocked the bag. 
 
 Mr. Spottitt watched him carefully. 
 
 " Be good enough to take out the things one by 
 one." 
 
 Stevens looked at him defiantly. 
 
 "I should wish to know if you are accusing me, 
 sir." 
 
 " Be good enough to do as I tell you." 
 
 Stevens began to remove the articles from the bag. 
 He had evidently used it to lock up odds and ends which 
 he valued. He first took out a photograph frame. For 
 one moment his gaze rested on the picture of his wife.
 
 132 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Then he placed it carefully upon the table. Next he 
 drew out some account books, and one or two cardboard 
 collar boxes, containing a collection of studs, old pipes, 
 and dilapidated match-boxes. After these, to his great 
 amazement, he came upon a square jewel case, and 
 as he looked at the thing in his hand he turned 
 white. 
 
 " Would you be good enough to open that ? " 
 
 He did so, and six diamond buttons, used by Lord 
 Bellamy at a fancy dress ball which he had attended 
 a short time before, met his astonished gaze. 
 
 " You have lived with his lordship for years," said 
 Spottitt. "You have counted on his careless habits. 
 You have been robbing him systematically. The shop 
 in Bond Street was started on the proceeds of your thefts. 
 It is on the verge of bankruptcy. Come, come, my man, 
 own up." 
 
 There was a long pause. Stevens stood as if rooted 
 to the ground, his jaw clenched. Once or twice he 
 drew a long, deep breath through his nostrils. 
 
 At last he raised a furious gaze to Spottitt, who 
 regarded him impassively and sleepily. Then he looked 
 from him to Lord Bellamy, lying back in his chair, 
 lazily blowing blue rings of smoke. 
 
 " You damned couple of conspirators ! " 
 
 The words were spoken intensely, with almost 
 electrical nervous force. 
 
 There was another pause, broken by Bellamy, who 
 said gently
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 133 
 
 " Really, Stevens, I hardly think that language 
 becomes a gentleman's gentleman." 
 
 To their immense astonishment Stevens regained 
 his self-control by a supreme effort, and answered 
 suavely 
 
 " Your lordship is quite right. Shall I ring the bell 
 and send for a policeman ? " 
 
 " Really, really," said Mr. Spottitt ; " I am surprised 
 at you. I should have thought that by this time you 
 would have grasped his lordship's meaning." 
 
 "I opine," said Stevens, "that you mean I will 
 consent to remain in his lordship's service ? " 
 
 " Exactly." 
 
 " And if I refuse ? " His voice grew a shade more 
 vibrant. u Supposing I say to his lordship, * Do as you 
 
 please, and be ' " he corrected himself in time 
 
 " * and I reserve my defence ? ' ' 
 
 " I don't think," said Spottitt, " it's likely to improve 
 by keeping. Come, come. His lordship considers you 
 the one indispensable thing in his life. Therefore he 
 will take any measures to retain you in his service. 
 The events of yesterday will be nothing in your favour, 
 because, you see, it will be all the more in Lord 
 Bellamy's that he sacrifices his own reputation to bring 
 you to justice." 
 
 There was another silence, again broken by Lord 
 Bellamy, whose voice had grown plaintive. 
 
 " Stevens, I want to go to my lunch ; please decide 
 something."
 
 134 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Stevens thought deeply for fully a minute, and 
 finally, turning to Lord Bellamy, said, as if nothing 
 untoward had occurred during the interview 
 
 "Has your lordship any orders?" 
 
 "I am motoring after lunch, and I shall dine out 
 this evening." 
 
 "Very good, my lord." He was moving away, 
 but paused and put out his hands towards Bellamy's 
 throat. Bellamy drew back in alarm, and Spottitt took 
 a step forward ; but Stevens said quietly, " Pardon me 
 your lordship's tie." He rearranged the tie and left 
 the room. 
 
 Spottitt looked after him in admiration, and when 
 Stevens had closed the door, with a noiselessness which 
 was in itself a triumph, he said 
 
 " By heavens, that man's a genius ! " 
 
 "My good fellow, should I have troubled about 
 him otherwise ? " He took out his watch. " Two 
 o'clock. Good day, Mr. Spottitt ; I am immensely 
 obliged to you." 
 
 " Pardon me, but my terms are cash." 
 
 Bellamy laughed pleasantly. 
 
 "I beg your pardon." He produced his cheque- 
 book. " Let me see what was the sum r Two 
 hundred and fifty, was it not ? " 
 
 " Five hundred, my lord." 
 
 " Oh, surely Mr. Spottitt ! " Bellamy raised a 
 white hand deprecatingly. 
 
 But Spottitt was firm, and repeated
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 135 
 
 " Five hundred." 
 
 " Exactly," assented Bellamy. 
 
 " And another hundred for luck ? " 
 
 " I'll see you damned first." 
 
 "Certainly," said Spottitt, easily and pleasantly, as 
 he took his cheque. " It's been a very good morning's 
 work for me. Good day." 
 
 But Bellamy detained him. 
 
 "By the way, Mr. Spottitt, you said something 
 about a holiday." 
 
 "Yes ; I'm off to Dinard to-morrow, and, thanks to 
 this morning's work, I leave no cares behind me." 
 
 Bellamy thought deeply for a moment, and gradually 
 a smile of keen enjoyment stole across his face. 
 
 " Give Lady Bellamy and myself a week at Lanham 
 Towers later on." 
 
 Spottitt looked astonished. Bellamy was even more 
 magnificent than report made him out to be. He 
 replied 
 
 " I should be charmed, but " 
 
 " Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to 
 see Lady Bellamy entertaining her own detective." 
 
 "And she will think that you have fallen into a 
 trap, and have invited me to spy upon yourself. Is 
 that your lordship's idea ? " 
 
 "Exactly. And I shall be amused, which is the 
 great thing." 
 
 " Good morning. Happy at any time to serve your 
 lordship."
 
 136 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "Good morning, Mr. Spottitt, good morning." He 
 shook hands with the young man affably. 
 
 Spottitt went out. 
 
 After a second, Bellamy crossed swiftly to the door, 
 and, opening it, called out 
 
 " Mr. Spottitt ! " 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " Any stick you like."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 REGGIE was rather astonished to find, on asking for Lord 
 Bellamy, that he was in the middle of lunch. He knew 
 that, as a rule, Bellamy lunched early. Although Reggie 
 had breakfasted late he was perfectly ready to share 
 Bellamy's meal if he were asked. As the latter was 
 alone he went in, and he found himself doing the 
 unexpected and making a very good lunch, for Reggie 
 ate when opportunity offered, with a heroic disregard 
 of digestion. 
 
 " You look very smart, Reggie," said Bellamy, as 
 his guest seated himself. 
 
 " Yes, I fancy I am looking my best " and Reggie 
 extracted a lark from its bed of aspic, while he mur- 
 mured "Hock" to the man at his elbow "which 
 is rather funny, because I'm in the most awful hole, and 
 mamma, as usual, utterly declines to help me." 
 
 " You'll have to work after all, Reggie. It's coming 
 upon you, I am afraid." 
 
 " We shall see," said Reggie, sagely ; and a curious 
 look of determination came into his face. 
 
 " I suppose you mean that you will marry for 
 money ? My dear Reggie, I am afraid that you are 
 
 137
 
 138 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 not the sort of article that women are prepared to pay 
 for." 
 
 " I don't know," said Reggie. " At any rate, if I 
 only had a few hundred pounds to go on with, I stand 
 a very good chance." 
 
 " You mean Pamela Gray ? " said Bellamy. And 
 he looked interested. " I don't think she'll marry you, 
 Reggie. You wouldn't be very useful to her. She 
 would want a man whose career she could influence 
 she's just that sort of girl and as you're not going to 
 have any career " 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure," said Reggie. " I could 
 advise her about her dresses. Mamma always says that 
 she is never so well dressed as when she takes my 
 advice." 
 
 "I don't think that would appeal to Pamela Gray, 
 Reggie. If you were only a great sinner, she might 
 think it worth while to take you in hand ; but you're 
 not even wicked." 
 
 Reggie giggled. " Well, nobody's ever called me 
 good before." 
 
 " I didn't say you were good, Reggie. You're 
 vicious enough, but you're not wicked." 
 
 " Mamma says that young men nowadays are all 
 disgraceful, and she can't think how society tolerates 
 them." 
 
 Bellamy reflected that a society which tolerated 
 Reggie's mamma might just as well put up with 
 Reggie and his like.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 139 
 
 "Well, Reggie, you will meet Pamela Gray at 
 Lanham, won't you ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Reggie, dismally, "if I ever get there." 
 " Well, you've got very good legs." 
 " What walk ? " Reggie's face screwed itself up 
 into a look of amazement. " Who's going to carry my 
 luggage ? " 
 
 " Oh, you can have a knapsack," laughed Bellamy, 
 courteously waiting for Reggie, who was engaged with 
 his third lark. 
 
 " Do you know Dawlish ? " said Reggie, helping 
 himself to more salad. 
 
 " Dawlish Dawlish ?" Bellamy reflected. "Oh 
 yes. Handsome-looking brute, isn't he ? On the Stock 
 Exchange ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's the man." 
 
 " He's rather intent on pushing himself where he's 
 not wanted, isn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he wants to marry caste." 
 "I believe women rather admire him. He's got 
 just that touch of the cad that, when allied to good looks, 
 has a curious effect on them goodness knows why ! " 
 
 Reggie was silent for a while, thinking deeply. He 
 had quite made up his mind to tell Bellamy the whole 
 truth, but it was a little difficult to know how to 
 approach it. 
 
 " He called on me this morning," he said at length. 
 " And, do you know," he continued boldly, " I believe 
 he was fishing for an invitation to Lanham."
 
 140 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 For one moment an expression passed across 
 Bellamy's face which made Reggie wish that he had 
 not spoken. 
 
 "My dear Reggie, what on earth are you talking 
 about ? " 
 
 "I know exactly what you mean," said Reggie. 
 "Just as if I could get him one ! Wasn't it silly ? Of 
 course, if he wants invitations he should go to mamma. 
 She'd do the thing properly." 
 
 " I suppose so," said Bellamy, entering into the spirit 
 of the joke. " At a fixed scale beginning with a small 
 charge for * At Homes,' and ending with a large fee for 
 house parties, with a bonus should royalty be present." 
 
 Reggie was pleased to see him in this mood. 
 Bellamy was not difficult to tackle if he felt that he 
 was talking well. 
 
 " Yes, Dawlish has made up his mind to get into 
 a decent set if he can." 
 
 "Well, the best sets will exclude everything but 
 money," said Bellamy. 
 
 " It would be a very good thing for me if he were to 
 go to Lanham," said Reggie. 
 
 " What on earth do you mean ? " 
 
 "I mean that it would be five hundred pounds in 
 my pocket." 
 
 " You don't mean that you have arranged terms 
 with Dawlish r " And Bellamy laughed. 
 
 " Not exactly ; only I asked him casually if he'd 
 lend me five hundred pounds, and he said that he
 
 would think about it. And then he mentioned some- 
 thing about Lanham, and I could see perfectly well 
 what he meant." 
 
 " Apparently Dawlish doesn't mind how he gets 
 what he wants provided he gets it," said Bellamy. 
 
 " No, that's just the sort of fellow he is." 
 
 Bellamy laughed again. 
 
 " Do you know, Reggie, I don't believe there's 
 anybody else in London who would have had the courage 
 to place himself in my hands as you have done. I 
 wonder if you fully appreciate the delightful originality 
 of the proceeding." 
 
 " I don't know, I'm sure, but it took some thinking 
 out." 
 
 " I suppose Dawlish can behave himself?" 
 
 " Oh yes ; and he plays cards no end, and doesn't 
 mind a bit when he loses." 
 
 This last was a slight effort in invention on Reggie's 
 part, for, in the first place, he had never seen Dawlish 
 lose, and Dawlish was hardly the person to lose 
 pleasantly ; but Reggie knew perfectly well what he 
 was about. 
 
 " I suppose he is very rich, Reggie ? " asked Bellamy. 
 
 " Oh, he must be, because so many people have 
 taken him up people like the Comtesse de Perrefonds, 
 who would be sure to find out first, you know." 
 
 "Yes," said Bellamy, slowly, "I don't think that 
 Madame de Perrefonds is likely to be taken in. Does 
 Dawlish know Lady Bellamy ? "
 
 i 4 2 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Oh yes." 
 
 " Well, I'll suggest that she asks him." 
 
 " Poor Dawlish ! " said Reggie, giggling. " It will 
 be funny. He won't have the least idea that you know 
 how it's all been managed." 
 
 " And Dawlish may bring you other clients, Reggie." 
 
 " Clients ? " said Reggie, inquiringly. 
 
 Any word which was not in use half a dozen times 
 a day was apt to confuse him. He was obliged to 
 think. 
 
 " Oh yes," he said at last, " I see what you mean. 
 What a splendid idea ! " 
 
 " You and your mother might go into partnership." 
 
 "Oh no," said Reggie ; " it never does to do any- 
 thing with mamma, she would only take all the profits." 
 
 It was certainly very clever of Reggie to have 
 detected how Bellamy's sense of humour might be 
 turned to account, and Bellamy wondered whether 
 some more acute intellect might not have inspired him. 
 
 " I suppose the idea was your own, Reggie ? " 
 
 " Oh yes, quite ; and I'm awfully pleased with it. 
 I said to myself that you'd see the fun of it at once." 
 
 Reggie departed with a full assurance that Lady 
 Bellamy would send Dawlish an invitation. 
 
 " I hope it'll be soon," he said. 
 
 " I'll see to that," said Bellamy, reassuringly. " I 
 quite understand. It's not the sort of security that you 
 could go to a money-lender with." 
 
 When Bellamy went to his room to change his
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 143 
 
 clothes, Stevens was perfectly quiet and respectful, and 
 although Bellamy carefully watched his reflection in a 
 looking-glass, his face was unreadably impassive as ever. 
 It was, after all, just as well that Spottitt was coming 
 to Lanham. He would be able to keep an eye on 
 Stevens, and to see if he were developing any plans 
 for revenge, for Bellamy did not feel entirely comfort- 
 able, or convinced as to Stevens's absolute surrender. 
 
 In the afternoon he drove in his motor towards 
 Regent's Park. He felt jaded. The morning's scene 
 with Stevens and Spottitt had exhausted him more than 
 he could have imagined possible, considering that he 
 had posed merely as a passive spectator. He was in 
 the precise mood for a quiet conversation with Marion 
 Gorme. She was, he declared, one of the only three 
 women in London who could talk. Being outside the 
 pale of decent society, she was permitted as a conversa- 
 tionalist an extensive range of subjects. She would 
 often say, " Fatigue may limit our action, but it should 
 inspire our conversation." 
 
 She and Bellamy were old friends, and it was years 
 since they had been anything else. With them the 
 bud of passion had blossomed into the flower of pleasant 
 acquaintanceship. It was strange, but true, that when 
 he was in need of a domestic atmosphere, and the 
 soothing quiet of a well-regulated household, he visited 
 one of the most notorious women in England. 
 
 He found her, much to his annoyance, being inter- 
 viewed for an illustrated paper by a young man who
 
 144 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 displayed the insufficiency of his salary by the meal he 
 made when the afternoon tea appeared. 
 
 He photographed every corner of the drawing-room, 
 and as much of the house as he was permitted to see, 
 including the umbrella stand. 
 
 Bellamy ended by becoming amused and interested, 
 and the young man took him quite seriously when he 
 suggested that it would be a novel feature if he were 
 to be photographed as one of Miss Gorme's admirers. 
 
 At last the interviewer took his departure, bearing 
 away his negatives and voluminous notes. 
 
 " Gerald, you look just the faintest degree worried," 
 said Marion Gorme, as she resumed her occupation of 
 knitting coarse woollen socks for the poor. 
 
 The Christian name was a relic of former days. 
 
 " My dear Marion, life is very difficult at times." 
 
 " I find it so, but surely you " 
 
 " I have had a severe shock." 
 
 " Indeed ? " She looked sympathetic. 
 
 " Nothing that I can exactly talk about. Even you 
 would hardly appreciate its true proportions. So far, I 
 have only found one person capable of doing so." 
 
 "I thought you might have discovered a grey 
 hair." 
 
 " Not yet ; that will come with the ogle." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " I always hold that a man who has lived his life 
 learns that he has grown old the first time he is accused 
 of ogling."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 145 
 
 " I see. In youth we make eyes ; in old age we 
 ogle." 
 
 " Exactly." 
 
 "But old age should have no terrors for you, 
 Bellamy." 
 
 He raised his eyebrows. 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " You cannot be said to have wasted your oppor- 
 tunities." 
 
 " As I understand them, no." 
 
 She looked at him with all the appearance of frank 
 admiration. At least she understood him well enough 
 to know that if he saw the faintest suspicion of a smile 
 behind her flattery their friendship would be a thing of 
 the past. 
 
 " How I envy you, Bellamy, your endless capacity 
 for being stirred ! " 
 
 " Are you never stirred ? " 
 
 " No ; I am an almost extinct volcano, and I burn 
 in sunset fires. I look out on the world with a dull 
 glow of interest, and I have no desire to fling hot cinders 
 abroad." 
 
 "And yet your acting does not suffer. The other 
 evening I thought you were finer than ever. Of course 
 you know that, as a matter of fact, I hate good acting. 
 The one redeeming feature of the last Shakespearean 
 production was the incompetence of the actor-manager ; 
 that was amusing. But the other evening you were 
 quite great." 
 
 L
 
 i 4 6 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " It puzzles myself, because I still actually feel things 
 on the stage. It is what one might almost call living in 
 outline." 
 
 " Your art is biographical ; and, after all, people are 
 never so amusing as when they are reproducing them- 
 selves. I have known quite dull folk hold my attention 
 when talking of what must have been a very prosaic 
 youth." 
 
 As Bellamy watched Marion Gorme knitting indus- 
 triously as she talked, he was recalling the circumstances 
 of her original fascination for him. He had first seen 
 her, a girl of great beauty, still in her teens, in a pro- 
 vincial company. He had been attracted far more by 
 her crudities than by her undeveloped power and talent. 
 
 " You closed last night ? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes, and I leave town on Monday. I couldn't go 
 before because I had promised to recite at the Picture 
 Club, and, as you know, I never break my professional 
 promises. Are you going ? You are on the committee." 
 
 "As a matter of fact, I founded the wretched place, 
 but, as is always the case with that sort of club, one has 
 to fall back on the wrong people to keep it going. I am 
 waiting for it to die a natural death." 
 
 " And yet I only consented to recite because of you." 
 
 "My dear Marion, you should have dropped me a 
 line. I would not have had you trouble yourself for the 
 world, especially as they are going to have an entirely 
 novel second part to the programme." 
 
 " What is that ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 14? 
 
 " An exhibition of wrestling." 
 
 " Well, really," said Marion Gorme, laughing, " last 
 week, at a Benefit, I was sandwiched between some 
 performing parrots and a conjuror, and now wrestling ! " 
 
 " It's a novel feature," said Bellamy ; " but we shall 
 no doubt yet see the socially jaded amusing themselves 
 with boxing competitions on Sunday evenings. I know 
 one or two women who are putting off leaving town to 
 see it." 
 
 "I once went," said Marion Gorme, "to a prize 
 fight. It was years ago, when I was thirsty for experi- 
 ences. I went disguised as a boy. It was a winter's 
 night, so it was fairly easy in a long fur coat, with the 
 collar turned up." 
 
 The story interested Bellamy. 
 
 " Did you enjoy it ? " 
 
 " I distinguished myself by fainting away at the first 
 sight of blood, and the appearance of the two men has 
 been a sort of nightmare to me ever since." 
 
 " Has your season been a success ? " 
 
 " Frankly, no. The syndicate just managed to pay 
 my salary which is the great thing and the managing 
 director came out all right ; but we shall want shoring 
 up if we are to last through the autumn." 
 
 " Perhaps I can help you. There's one of the latest 
 Stock Exchange successes coming to the club on Sunday 
 night ; I'll introduce him and drop a hint of what is 
 expected." 
 
 Marion Gorme smiled.
 
 H8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Introduce him, and leave the rest to me. We had 
 a farewell supper last night," she went on. 
 
 " Did you enjoy yourself? " 
 
 "Of course not. You know the sort of thing a 
 dozen middle-aged men, and twelve women, the photo- 
 graphs of whom the public are sick of seeing in shop 
 windows. Most of them would have made very good 
 housemaids, and yet there they all were, hardly daring 
 to open their lips, quite stupid, quite dull. I could not 
 help recalling the descriptions that I used to read as a 
 girl of the life that sort of woman was supposed to lead. 
 Good heavens ! the most overworked housewife in the 
 suburbs, trying to make both ends meet on three pounds 
 a week, gets more fun ! " 
 
 " I know," said Bellamy. " One so very soon 
 realizes that pleasure plus vulgarity is impossible." 
 
 " Now and then some of the men made a risqut joke, 
 and then all the poor creatures cackled." 
 
 Bellamy dined with Mr. and Mrs. Crutchley, and 
 so admirably did he understand the former, that before 
 Crutchley went to bed that night he had apologized to 
 his wife for anything he might have said about Bellamy, 
 adding that, when one came to think of it, it was a 
 beastly shame that a woman was unable to make a friend 
 of a man like him without the ill-natured talking, and 
 that it was all just because he had done one or two 
 things more openly than other people. 
 
 "I like Bellamy," he said, parading his wife's 
 bedroom in a dressing-gown of wonderful pattern, while
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 149 
 
 she lay and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, her 
 black masses of soft, silky hair flowing over the pillow 
 and laced sheet, giving a wonderful impression of girl- 
 hood and spirituality. 
 
 Bellamy left the house in Grosvenor Street more in 
 love with Mrs. Crutchley than ever. The presence of 
 a husband invariably had a stimulating effect on him, 
 and he came to the conclusion that any slight waning 
 of their romance, which he had been inclined to think 
 he had detected, had been imaginary. She was so 
 admittedly fascinating and lovely that she was a per- 
 petual spur to his vanity. It was quite evident that 
 she had entirely forgiven him for the little contretemps 
 in Bond Street. 
 
 With characteristic vitality, he regarded his evening 
 as only just begun. He drove to a little house in 
 Chester Street, where he played till far into the night, 
 winning and losing with superb indifference. The 
 omnibuses were already beginning to roll eastwards when 
 he sauntered round the corner and let himself in at 
 his own door. 
 
 "Wonderful man, Bellamy," soliloquized Lord Port- 
 chester, who had accompanied him so far. " He goes 
 at life like a boy at plum cake."
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 " DAWLISH, let me introduce you to Lord Bellamy." 
 
 It was Sunday evening at the Picture Club, and 
 Reggie was working hard for his five hundred pounds. 
 He had actually put off a delightful dinner at the 
 Duchess of Havant's to dine with Dawlish. Half a 
 dozen times since they had entered the room he had 
 edged himself and Dawlish near Bellamy so as to effect 
 the desired introduction, and he began to have a de- 
 pressing conviction that Bellamy had forgotten all about 
 the matter. It was not like Bellamy to do so ; Reggie 
 did not believe that he ever forgot anything. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Bellamy had been thoroughly 
 aware of Reggie's manoeuvres, and had enjoyed them. 
 To see Reggie's face almost distorted with anxiety, and 
 with an unusual glare of fixed purpose in his eyes, was 
 very amusing. 
 
 The wrestling match had attracted an August 
 Personage who had of late grown a little tired of the 
 club ; and some of the most chic women in London had 
 turned up, athirst to see a couple of half-nude men strain 
 and wrestle, and not improbably injure each other. 
 
 Dawlish felt that his being seen talking affably to 
 15
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 151 
 
 one who was so absolutely the cream of smart society 
 and evil-doing as Lord Bellamy was a social tonic of 
 extraordinary effectiveness. Reggie was carrying out 
 their unwritten and unspoken compact admirably. Had 
 the latter known it, his five hundred pounds was now 
 quite a safe thing, but he was assailed with all manner 
 of doubts and fears. These City men were notoriously 
 sharp-witted, and should Dawlish refuse to pay him 
 his fee when it was earned, he would have no possible 
 remedy ; in fact, even to complain of breach of faith 
 would be to give himself hopelessly away. It was a 
 depressing situation, which only a cheque for five 
 hundred pounds, signed by Dawlish and safely passed 
 through his own bank, could solve. 
 
 "I wish mamma were in England," he said to 
 himself more than once. " She would know so exactly 
 what to do." And yet, on further reflection, he doubted 
 whether it would have been wise to make his mother 
 privy to the transaction. Her percentage for giving 
 good advice would most probably have been tremendous. 
 
 Bellamy shook hands with Dawlish, and the latter 
 took in every detail of his attire and manner with all 
 the speed of a man accustomed to reckon up person- 
 alities under time pressure. He had, of course, fre- 
 quently seen him quite close, but was compelled to 
 admit that people had by no means overestimated his 
 charm of manner. 
 
 " He reeks of fascination," a certain great lady had 
 said, who had every reason to deplore the fact.
 
 152 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 But what Dawlish was most struck by was the 
 entire lack of that something not quite agreeable which 
 is usually associated with men who are notorious liber- 
 tines in their dealings with their own sex. It was 
 certainly nothing so vulgar as heartiness, but might 
 have been described as cultivated bonhomie. 
 
 Naturally Dawlish came into good society on the 
 defensive. When by himself he was not infrequently 
 moodily introspective. He cursed himself for his snob- 
 bery. He would wonder why on earth a man who was 
 generally reputed to have more than the average share 
 of common sense should attach so much importance to 
 things which should not have mattered. 
 
 Reggie's heart quite throbbed with gratitude as he 
 noticed how entirely civil and affable Bellamy was 
 making himself to Dawlish. He drifted away and left 
 Dawlish to make the best of his opportunity, surveying 
 him from a distance with all the trepidation and anxiety 
 of a fond mother for a debutante. 
 
 "Reggie," said the Duchess of Havant, "who is 
 that handsome dark man that Bellamy is speaking to ? " 
 
 The Duchess of Havant was a distant cousin of 
 Reggie's ; in fact, Reggie's claim to social recognition 
 lay in any number of distant relationships to great folk. 
 
 " That's Dawlish Stock Exchange, you know." 
 
 " Oh, he's very rich, isn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Reggie. " He's got something to do 
 with a part of Africa where the Stock Exchange is quite 
 new owns the Equator, or something of that sort."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 153 
 
 Those around him laughed. 
 
 " Reggie, you're getting quite witty." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " And he forbore to say that 
 he had made the remark in perfectly good faith. 
 
 A young man, whose high notes sounded like a bari- 
 tone, and his low notes like a tenor, was mournfully 
 but conscientiously meandering through a German Lied, 
 and was being received with all the indifference which 
 society bestows on any artistic attempt. He retired to 
 the ante-room amidst some good-natured applause, and 
 after an interval Marion Gorme took his place. 
 
 Considering her audience she was received quite 
 rapturously, fully one-third making an attempt at 
 applause. She was much too experienced to have 
 troubled herself to prepare anything, such as she might 
 have done had there been a sixpenny gallery to pro- 
 pitiate. She recited a trifle of no particular interest, 
 consisting of about twelve lines, of which she forgot 
 three, her good humour and fascination being sufficient 
 entertainment in themselves. After leaving the platform 
 she received a distinct recall, and on returning sat down 
 at the piano. There was quite a little hush of interest, for 
 no one had ever heard that she could either play or sing. 
 
 With her forefinger she carefully picked out the 
 first few bars of the National Anthem, at which there was 
 a burst of applause, and the audience grew quite excited. 
 
 As Bellamy applauded almost vociferously Dawlish 
 did so too. 
 
 " She's a great creature," said Bellamy. " It's very
 
 154 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 rare that one gets such a delightful sense of humour 
 combined with tragic grandeur. Do you know her ? " 
 
 Dawlish did not, and was quite flattered when 
 Bellamy offered to take him into the ante-room and 
 introduce him. 
 
 Reggie watched them go out in amazement. 
 Bellamy was a good chap there was no doubt about it. 
 
 " May I introduce Mr. Dawlish ? " said Bellamy. 
 
 Marion Gorme held out her hand, and managed to 
 give a distinct impression that any one who knew any- 
 thing about the great world at all must surely have heard 
 of Mr. Dawlish, and though she left almost immediately, 
 he had promised to come and call. 
 
 " She is one of the few women in London who can 
 talk," said Bellamy, as they returned slowly to the 
 concert-room, after having escorted Marion Gorme to 
 her carriage, " and so you really must go and see her." 
 
 Dawlish promised himself that he would. It was 
 evidently the thing to do. 
 
 Marion Gorme's recitation had closed the first part, 
 and as the second part was to consist entirely of the 
 wrestling, the room began rapidly to fill up from the 
 adjacent galleries. Conversation grew quite slack as 
 the audience watched with interest the laying down of 
 the matting on which the wrestling was to take place. 
 
 There were a few preliminary chords on the piano, 
 and two superb specimens of manhood stepped on to 
 the stage one, black-haired, sleek, with something of 
 an American cut about him ; the other, older, slightly
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 155 
 
 heavier, and coarser, with reddish hair and unkempt 
 moustache. 
 
 " Scotchman," murmured Portchester as the latter 
 appeared, " and I'll put my money on him." 
 
 "No betting, Portchester, if you please," said 
 Bellamy, languidly ; " it isn't allowed." He had made 
 his own financial arrangements outside. 
 
 Lady Braham, who had a young daughter present, 
 wondered whether she ought to go ; but really she was 
 quite unable to tear herself away from such a very magni- 
 ficent sight, and she compounded with her conscience by 
 inwardly affirming that next Sunday evening when they 
 were in the country she really would go to church. 
 
 For the first time during the evening the eyes of 
 the women became riveted on the stage, and the August 
 Personage allowed his cigar to go out. 
 
 After a few words from their introducer for it was 
 quite necessary to explain how highly scientific and intel- 
 lectual the whole performance was the wrestling began. 
 
 From the very first Lady Braham, who was short 
 and stout, ascended a sofa at the back of the room, her 
 example being immediately followed by several others. 
 
 " I do hope the good-looking one will win," said the 
 Duchess of Havant, with as much display of interest as 
 she had ever been known to show. 
 
 "Oh, but the other is so delightfully ugly!" said 
 Mrs. Burford White. " He's got him down I knew 
 he would." She quite thought the bout was over. The 
 bigger of the two men was underneath, and the contest
 
 156 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 for a moment became one of sheer strength. It really 
 was a novel excitement, and most of the women present 
 watched them with dilated eyes and quick-caught breaths. 
 Mrs. Burford White had no idea to what an extent her 
 feelings were being worked upon, till the delicate ivory 
 fan which she clasped nervously snapped in two. 
 
 Suddenly there was a sharp, quick tussle, and the 
 heavier of the two had his man down, both shoulder- 
 blades touching the ground. 
 
 There was a murmur of disappointment from the 
 majority, who had naturally favoured what appeared to 
 be the weaker, and a burst of applause from the con- 
 queror's partisans. 
 
 "I really don't know how he manages to take it so 
 good-naturedly," said Mrs. Crutchley, gazing sympatheti- 
 cally at the defeated Adonis, who was standing, smiling, and 
 apparently as fresh as ever, waiting for the signal to begin. 
 
 After what seemed an interminable pause for the 
 appetite of the audience was whetted they began again. 
 This proved to be a much longer and more interesting 
 bout. 
 
 Whilst the two men were swaying and straining over 
 the stage, Bellamy looked round at the faces of the on- 
 lookers. The men were calm and quiet, their neglected 
 cigars and cigarettes held loosely, whilst a tightening of 
 the lips round clenched jaws betrayed the amount of the 
 brute roused in them ; the women, on the other hand, 
 with dilated eyes, moved restlessly from side to side in 
 order to obtain a better view, but in their faces there was
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 157 
 
 a distinctly ugly expression, except in a few cases in 
 which he thought he detected nascent disgust 
 
 "Not far from this to the Roman arena and 
 * Thumbs down,' " he reflected cynically, as he turned 
 again to the stage. 
 
 The more slender fighter of the two appeared to be 
 getting a little nettled. His opponent had tried half a 
 dozen moves on him with such repeated success as to get 
 a laugh at his expense from the audience. Suddenly, 
 after breaking loose, they closed again. The younger 
 man, by a supreme effort, cross-buttocked his opponent, 
 flinging him clean over his shoulder. It was a splendid 
 feat, and the thrown man came down heavily. 
 
 There was a burst of applause, stopped almost instan- 
 taneously. It was seen that the man was hurt. Half a 
 dozen black-coated figures leapt on the stage at once, and 
 between them he was carried into the ante-room. 
 
 " I say," said Reggie, looking round open-eyed, " it 
 makes it quite real, doesn't it ! '* 
 
 Bellamy returned from the ante-room and explained, 
 in reply to the inquiries of the August Personage, that 
 the man had broken his leg. He was already on his way 
 to the hospital, and at that moment the men who had 
 carried him into the ante-room filed back. The fact of 
 the injured man being out of the place made things quite 
 comfortable again. The August Personage retired, and 
 the company went to supper. The unfortunate part of 
 the accident was that it would probably stand very much 
 in the way of future treats of the same kind.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 MEANWHILE, poor Madame Henrietta was left in a state 
 of utter perplexity as to what steps Stevens was inclined 
 to take as a consequence of his discovery. He came to 
 the shop in Bond Street at the end of the week and 
 audited the accounts in a purely formal way. After he 
 had sat opposite to her for nearly an hour, adding up and 
 checking the ledgers, she felt that if he remained another 
 moment without alluding to what she was perfectly certain 
 was uppermost in his mind she would have wild hysterics. 
 Instead of having hysterics, however, she relapsed into 
 a feeble fit of tears. He took not the least notice, but 
 went on writing calmly. Finally he rose and put on 
 his bowler, which, worn as it was, with a cutaway 
 morning coat, had always got on her nerves. Even at 
 that moment of stress she found herself wondering how 
 a man who was servant to such an incomparable dandy 
 as Bellamy could wear an attire so devoid of style. 
 
 He was leaving the room without even bidding her 
 good night. Perhaps unconsciously his impassive strength 
 was playing upon her woman's temperament. She began 
 to conceive a new admiration for him. His very indiffer- 
 ence nursed the belief within her that, after all, she had 
 
 158
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 159 
 
 been wrong as regards Bellamy, and that her real love 
 was given to her husband. 
 
 " Richard ! " she murmured faintly. 
 
 He paused with his hand on the door. 
 
 " Yes ? " 
 
 " I love you." 
 
 He betrayed not the least impatience or surprise, 
 but simply went out as if she had not spoken. He 
 was proud of himself, and he had every cause to be. 
 He felt that he was really having an opportunity of 
 testing that control on which he had always prided 
 himself. Sooner or later he was sure Lord Bellamy 
 would be delivered into his hands. He had to admit 
 that the incomparable one was magnificent as ever in 
 trusting himself so unreservedly to a man who had 
 every reason to hate him. Stevens wondered whether 
 it was courage or simply disbelief in his power to 
 hurt. He was perfectly confident of his ability to 
 strike home once he had decided on the particular 
 method by which he would work out his revenge. 
 Unfortunately, Lord Bellamy had deprived him of the 
 weapon which would have been most effective. In 
 default of being able to wound his vanity he must be 
 content with a less subtle and more brutal revenge. 
 It would have been pleasant to disgrace him before the 
 world, and to have watched him writhing. As an 
 alternative, he would have liked to procure him a 
 thrashing. Bellamy had been very near it once or 
 twice as Stevens knew ; but although he could not be
 
 i6o BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 called a coward, he had at heart a fastidious dislike 
 to physical pain as being a thing which dealt with 
 the ugly. Stevens knew that Crutchley was Bellamy's 
 superior in physical strength, and wondered whether 
 he would be man enough to attack a piece of such 
 sublime impertinence as Bellamy, if he should find 
 that the latter had made sport of his honour. He 
 came to the conclusion, from all the information which 
 he could gather as to Crutchley's temper, that he most 
 probably would, and that in addition, easy-going as 
 he was, he was just the sort of temperament to kill 
 his man if roused. It would be decidedly worth while 
 setting him at Bellamy's throat, although Stevens was 
 compelled by admiration of his past deeds to admit 
 that, in however tight a corner Bellamy might find 
 himself, it was more than probable he would bow 
 himself out of it with absolute grace, and without 
 even the indignity of a single wriggle. It was a 
 little humiliating to have to take such a very primitive 
 revenge, but it lay to hand, and it would have been 
 a pity to throw it away. Even if it failed, the game 
 would not be over. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley invariably sealed her notes under 
 the impression that their inviolability was thereby en- 
 sured, a precaution which brought a smile to Stevens' 
 lips when, having carefully loosened the seal of the 
 letter in question, he digested the contents. The 
 letter to Crutchley was a much more delicate affair. 
 He had not the least intention of putting himself into
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 161 
 
 any position of danger, and the writing of anonymous 
 letters must always have an element of risk. The 
 paper had better be stolen casually, preferably from 
 a hotel smoke-room, of which the writer is not an 
 habitut. The pen must most decidedly be of the kind 
 which is not preferred as a rule, and then each word 
 had better be printed. Notwithstanding all these 
 obvious precautions, which Stevens took, every word 
 seemed to cry out that he was the author. 
 
 Crutchley received the anonymous letter in the 
 morning. His first inclination was to throw it into 
 the fire ; his second, to show it to his wife ; but both 
 these being the line of conduct advocated by the 
 general principles of honour, it could hardly be ex- 
 pected that the individual should adopt them. He 
 told himself that it was the work of some busybody, 
 some one who hated Bellamy, or a woman who had 
 a grudge against his wife. He told himself the whole 
 thing was ridiculous, but his blood had turned to fire 
 at the mere idea. What was he to do ? Go down 
 to Goodwood and remain overnight as he had in- 
 tended, or show it to his wife ? If he took the latter 
 course he would cut the ground from under his feet. 
 He would not only have to remain at Goodwood, but 
 his wife would be on her guard. And then he pulled 
 himself up. What on earth was he talking about ? 
 He was suspecting his wife, the most pure, loving, 
 and devoted of creatures, who seemed entirely wrapped 
 up in everything he did. Suddenly he remembered 
 
 M
 
 1 62 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 that she had absolutely declined to go with him. He 
 went upstairs, and stole into her room. The windows 
 were wide open, but although Mrs. Crutchley made 
 a pretence of nerves at times, she was evidently per- 
 fectly able to sleep through the rumble of the traffic 
 outside. The freshness of the morning was in the 
 room and about the sleeping figure in the bed, whilst 
 mingled with it was the faintest suggestion of well- 
 bred perfume, such as naturally belongs to the sleeping 
 apartment of a delicately nurtured woman. It was 
 fortunate for Mrs. Crutchley that her husband had 
 never read " Othello." It might have put dark 
 thoughts into his brain. As it was, he stole out again 
 without waking her, and went off to Goodwood, 
 where he spent a supremely wretched day, the un- 
 foreseen occurring in every event, and the anonymous 
 letter lying like a flame against his heart. He found 
 that he had no power to remain where he was, but 
 was drawn back to London by the sheer agony of un- 
 certainty. 
 
 Stevens had shown great discrimination in choosing 
 the man who was to revenge him on Bellamy. 
 Crutchley was a noted amateur lightweight, and boxing 
 was one of the very few things that Bellamy had 
 not gone in for. 
 
 When Crutchley reached his house in town he 
 almost expected, as he opened the front door, to hear 
 his wife's voice from the little dining-room in silvery 
 astonishment at his return. But she had gone out.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 163 
 
 Then he remembered that Bellamy had left Good- 
 wood early. He went into the dining-room, and 
 helped himself to a stiff brandy-and-soda. None of 
 the servants knew where she had gone, so murmuring 
 something about telling his wife when she came in 
 that he was at his club, he left the house, and enter- 
 ing a hansom, told the man to drive in the direction, 
 of Sloane Square.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 " MY dear Jack, you are looking absurdly beautiful." 
 
 " Gerald, I am terrified ! " 
 
 " Of course ; we both are, and we have a right 
 to be." 
 
 "Please don't jest. I've had a foreboding all day 
 long." 
 
 "I've never had a foreboding which meant any- 
 thing." 
 
 " I hate this place." She looked around fretfully. 
 
 " Why didn't you say so ? I am sorry ; I thought 
 the room looked rather nice. Shall we divide the even- 
 ing into two parts ? " 
 
 "I am not in the vein." 
 
 " First, you shall wish you had not come ; and then 
 you shall enjoy yourself." 
 
 The waiter brought in dinner. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley had intended to say that she 
 was much too nervous to stay, but Bellamy acted 
 on her like wine, and she found her will-power non- 
 existent. 
 
 " I wonder how many men there are in London 
 of my age who can drink champagne. It's a good 
 
 164
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 165 
 
 thing to be born dark, Jack. Fair people should never 
 be allowed to drink ; it spoils their appearance." 
 
 The waiter was not in the room. 
 
 " You won't tire of me, Gerald, will you ? " She 
 stretched out her hand appealingly. She was nervous 
 and frightened, and consequently sentimental. 
 
 He took her hand and pressed it gently, while he 
 bent over and looked into her eyes, throwing into his 
 own all that twenty-five years of practice had made 
 them capable of. He had an uncomfortable feeling that 
 she was thinking of Madame Henriette. 
 
 " We are very wicked are we not, Gerald ? " 
 
 "Yes, Jack dear, of course," he answered com- 
 fortingly. " What makes you doubt it ? " 
 
 She sighed. 
 
 " Jack, in another minute I shall think you are in 
 debt again." 
 
 He looked at her glass impatiently, but his exquisite 
 fastidiousness forbade his suggesting that the world 
 would be less real if she drank her champagne, though 
 he knew it for a fact. Luckily, she had abstractedly 
 eaten three salted almonds in succession, and as a 
 consequence took to her wine. The effect was 
 magical. The look of fright faded out of her face, 
 and mischief and gaiety took its place. Between her 
 and possibilities lay one glass of champagne, and it 
 made all the difference. Bellamy's practised eye at 
 once detected it. After all, the evening would not be 
 a failure.
 
 1 66 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " We are very reckless, Gerald." They were wait- 
 ing for fish. Her elbows were on the table, her chin 
 leaning upon her clasped hands. " Tell me about 
 Goodwood," she said. " Was Rollo very cut up at 
 Tous les Mois going down ? " 
 
 " I am afraid he was." 
 
 " I do hope it won't mean our economizing. When 
 you come to think of it, it's really very selfish of Rollo 
 to lose." 
 
 "But you must not economize, Jack. A sense of 
 economy limits one's personality at once. That is why, 
 with all due respect to the moralities, the rich develop 
 so much more rapidly than the poor. It is only those 
 who are not concentrated on personal wants who get a 
 really wide outlook." 
 
 " But how can one help it ? Rollo and I are so 
 poor." 
 
 4 *I don't know," said Bellamy, reflectively. "You 
 are able to live with taste, and really, Jack, to speak 
 vulgarly, you do yourselves very well indeed. Both of 
 you were born in a world of which the one half is 
 always ready to supply the other half with luxury. 
 They would not move a finger to pay your rent, but 
 they will pay for all your amusements." 
 
 " While one is young," she answered. 
 
 " With effort we may keep young till we are fifty, 
 and during the last few years of our life Nature is evi- 
 dently merciful, and prevents our thinking." 
 
 " Gerald, do you think there is any hereafter r "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 167 
 
 She really put the question as though she were 
 anxious for his opinion. 
 
 He replied with impressive triviality 
 
 u I am afraid not, Jack. I am afraid that when we 
 die that is the end." 
 
 She looked at him pathetically. 
 
 How dreadful ! " 
 
 " Don't you think it's rather a good thing ? If you 
 come to think of it, Jack, we've got very little to gain 
 by going on." 
 
 " How dreadfully disappointed all the good folk will 
 be ! " And she laughed. 
 
 He noticed with approbation that there were per- 
 ceptible vine leaves in her hair. He had developed 
 artistic fastidiousness to the extent that the emotion of 
 a scene like this resulted, not from its sentiment, but 
 from its perfect performance. It was a tireless egotism 
 which kept him trudging along the secret ways of 
 Romance. It was like the craving for a drug which 
 had to be satisfied, although the victim was conscious 
 of an intolerable burden of slavery. He was in love 
 with his own mask, but behind it he was conscious of 
 a great desire for air. 
 
 Poor Jack Crutchley was perhaps inwardly aware 
 that she was only a delicate morsel, the taste of which 
 had not yet palled on this gourmet of sensation. She 
 was a cup of wine which he was slowly draining down, 
 and of which the dregs had not yet appeared. Woe to 
 the cup when they did.
 
 1 68 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Generally she caught the spirit of artifice, and at- 
 tempted on her side to deceive him by acting, unconscious 
 that the more she grew like himself the more he would 
 find her out. She was in reality coming down from her 
 hill of vantage into his own territory, although she knew 
 it not. Under the influence of the wine, she returned 
 to something of her first simplicities, moving in her own 
 proper atmosphere of sentimentality, which belongs to 
 every woman unless she be poisoned with subtleties. 
 
 " A woman you and I know," said Bellamy and he 
 mentioned the name of a notorious Cyprian, who had 
 at one time been within the pale of society "was 
 offered the chance of getting back before she had gone 
 too far by several women whose sponsorship would have 
 settled the matter. The Duchess of Bray spent a 
 whole afternoon attempting to persuade her, but she 
 absolutely declined. I think she was right," said 
 Bellamy, meditatively. " She pointed out that she was 
 at the outset of a great career, and that she had not two 
 lives to live." 
 
 " And do you really think she is happier ? " 
 
 "I think so. She is a success, and she reigns, and 
 in the great world she could never have been anything 
 but a dependent." 
 
 "It must be terrible to be out of society." 
 
 " I should say it would be one shade more depressing 
 than being in it." 
 
 " What do people do who are outside society ? " 
 
 " Wish they were in it, I suppose."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 169 
 
 " Gerald, isn't it strange we should be in love with 
 each other ? I can remember quite well that as a girl 
 at school I used to hear you talked of as * that wicked 
 Lord Bellamy,' and once my eldest sister went to a ball 
 and you were there, and when she told my father he 
 said that he should be very sorry to see any daughter 
 of his dancing with Lord Bellamy." 
 
 " Who taught you to flatter, Jack ? " 
 
 As he looked almost dreamily across the table at 
 her, while the perfume of his cigarette censed the air 
 between them, he was thinking what a very long 
 affair a dinner was. She was eating an ice, a feat of 
 daring of which women and children never seem to 
 tire. 
 
 The waiter burst into the room. 
 
 "Milord, there is a gentleman who insist that he 
 see " 
 
 He did not finish his sentence, but looked with a 
 flurried deprecation at Mrs. Crutchley. 
 
 Bellamy lost colour a little, and looked round the 
 room hurriedly. He wondered at his own lack of fore- 
 thought in having chosen one so absolutely destitute 
 of any means of escape. The window opened on to 
 a sort of dummy balcony. Mrs. Crutchley had turned 
 as white as a sheet, but Bellamy could not help admitting 
 that she showed courage. 
 
 " He will kill us ! " she gasped convulsively. And 
 then she sat silent. 
 
 He took her cloak and put it round her.
 
 170 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " You must stand here, Jack," he said, and led her 
 to the foot or so of balcony. 
 
 "I shall fall over I know I shall," she murmured 
 faintly. 
 
 " If you do, Jack," said Bellamy, sternly, " you will 
 only get hurt, and a policeman will take you away on a 
 stretcher." 
 
 It was necessary to speak firmly, or he was convinced 
 that she would faint. 
 
 At that moment there appeared in the doorway the 
 red-haired attendant from the ladies' cloak-room, who 
 had evidently been drawn to the spot by the prospect 
 of a scene. 
 
 Bellamy seized her, and in a moment had placed her 
 beside Mrs. Crutchley, and had drawn the curtains. 
 
 " I will give you twenty pounds if you are quite 
 quiet, and keep the lady from falling." 
 
 Crutchley had been diplomatically put out of the 
 lift at the wrong floor; indeed, had Bellamy known 
 how far he was from the room, there would have been 
 plenty of time for Mrs. Crutchley to have escaped 
 altogether, and he felt furious with himself afterwards 
 that the golden opportunity had not been seized. 
 
 Crutchley came into the room, livid with fury, and 
 the more enraged because he thought it quite possible 
 that his wife if she had been there had had time to 
 slip away. Directly he had discovered which it must 
 be admitted he had accomplished very diplomatically 
 that Bellamy was in the hotel, he had accepted all the
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 171 
 
 other statements in the anonymous letter. He stood 
 facing Bellamy, striving for speech. He was the more 
 furious to think that he who should have known 
 Bellamy's character backwards had been made a dupe 
 so easily. He stood just within the doorway, striving 
 for speech. 
 
 "They sent your name up to me," said Bellamy, 
 coolly. " What's the matter ? " 
 
 " My wife is here." 
 
 Bellamy knew the tone to take to a nicety. Ex- 
 perience will tell. 
 
 He rose and threw his cigarette into the fireplace, 
 while his lip curled. 
 
 " Oh, I see. Whatever put such nonsense into your 
 head, Crutchley ? " 
 
 " I believe that she is here, or has been here," he 
 answered doggedly. 
 
 " But, my dear Crutchley, you see she is not here." 
 
 There was a slight cry from behind the curtain. 
 
 " You liar ! " said Crutchley, and he moved towards it. 
 
 " My dear Crutchley, be careful. There is a lady 
 behind there." 
 
 My wife ! " 
 
 " No, not your wife. That is just the point, you 
 see." 
 
 " I insist on seeing who is behind that curtain." 
 
 " Quite impossible. You see, Crutchley, if it were 
 your wife it would be your secret, but as it happens 
 to be a lady who, well, yes, you know her, but only
 
 172 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 very slightly, it has nothing whatever to do with you, 
 and you must admit that you would never forgive your- 
 self if you were to see who it is." 
 
 Bellamy knew at once by Crutchley's expression that 
 he had saved his wife. A brilliant idea struck him. 
 
 " My dear fellow, the whole thing is perfectly easy. 
 Would you know your wife's hand if you saw it ? " 
 
 " I might I can't say." 
 
 Bellamy went to the curtain and said to the person 
 behind it, " Would you mind putting out your hand ? " 
 
 There was a long pause, and then, while the curtain 
 was apparently tightly clutched with one hand, the other 
 was thrust out. 
 
 Crutchley bent forward and examined it carefully. 
 No, it certainly did not suggest his wife's hand, and 
 he began to wonder whether after all he had not been 
 made a fool of. Had he been more analytical still, he 
 would have wondered what on earth Bellamy was doing 
 with a woman the condition of whose nails was doubtful. 
 
 " Hands are deceptive things," he said ; and then he 
 added in all seriousness, " I wonder if she would mind 
 putting a piece of her hair through the curtain ? " 
 
 " My dear fellow," said Bellamy, " you are asking 
 for a tragedy. How on earth is this poor lady who, 
 by the way, must think you quite mad to do her hair 
 again if it is once disturbed ? Why, do you know, 
 my dear Rollo, that there are women who sleep in a sort 
 of wickerwork cage so as to preserve their coiffure ! " 
 He hastily lit a cigarette, becoming conscious that the
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 173 
 
 intangible perfume which Mrs. Crutchley used was 
 beginning to dominate the atmosphere. " I will ask the 
 lady if you like, Crutchley. Perhaps she will show you 
 the top of her head." 
 
 He went again towards the curtain. " I feel like some- 
 body at the Egyptian Hall explaining the Vanishing 
 Lady ! " And laughing lightly, and really entering 
 into the spirit of the joke, he began again to address 
 the concealed couple. " I really don't quite like to ask 
 you, but this gentleman still has doubts as to who you 
 are. Would you mind just showing us the colour of 
 your hair ? " 
 
 There was quite a long silence, and everything 
 behind the curtain was perfectly still. 
 
 Again Bellamy made the request, but still there was 
 no reply, and he wished that he had never thought of 
 such a daring scheme. 
 
 Crutchley looked suspicious, and then he too had his 
 inspiration. 
 
 " If the lady will let me cut off a piece of her dress 
 I shall be satisfied." 
 
 Bellamy laughed with affected scorn. 
 
 " My dear Rollo, that dress may have cost thirty or 
 forty guineas." 
 
 Crutchley had almost retorted rudely, " Well, you 
 can put a little thing like that right," but checked 
 himself and said instead, " What's forty pounds to a 
 woman's reputation ? " 
 
 " My dear fellow," answered Bellamy, wearily, " as
 
 174 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 you are evidently not in your right senses, I suppose you 
 must have your own way." He turned again to the 
 curtains. " I am very sorry to keep you behind that 
 curtain, but you hear what this gentleman says." 
 
 There was another pause, and the plush of the 
 curtain rippled busily. Then a piece of green frock was 
 pushed out beneath them. 
 
 To Bellamy's infinite relief, Mrs. Crutchley did not 
 make the fatal mistake of allowing the other woman 
 to show a piece of her dress, but with courage displayed 
 her own green chiffon. 
 
 Crutchley took a knife from the table, and, bending 
 down, ripped a substantial piece off the skirt. The 
 action was almost brutal, and Bellamy felt that it was 
 necessary to give some sign of indignation. 
 
 " My dear Crutchley, be careful ! I don't suppose 
 Lady" he checked himself "I should have said, 
 this lady, will ever forgive you." 
 
 But Crutchley had caught sight of what he wanted : 
 a green, satin shoe, hand-painted. As he rose to his feet, 
 however, a strong feeling of shame came over him, 
 and somehow it induced him to believe that the woman 
 behind the curtain was not his wife. 
 
 "May I ask, Crutchley," said Bellamy, "what on 
 earth put all this into your head ? " 
 
 " I received a letter an anonymous letter." 
 
 " My dear Rollo, surely we burn those things." 
 
 Bellamy laid the very faintest stress on the personal 
 pronoun.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 175 
 
 " I suppose we ought to," said Crutchley, clumsily. 
 " But one or two people have said things to me lately.*' 
 
 " Hush ! " said Bellamy ; and then whispered, 
 " There is such a thing as jealousy in the world." And 
 he pointed to the curtain. 
 
 Crutchley began to feel more ashamed of himself 
 every moment. 
 
 " I trust the lady behind the curtain will not mention 
 this for Mrs. Crutchley's sake." 
 
 " I hardly think either of us is likely to mention it, 
 Rollo." 
 
 " Good night," said Crutchley, beginning to feel 
 thoroughly foolish. 
 
 "Good night," said Bellamy, shortly. He had 
 thrust the anonymous letter which Crutchley had handed 
 him into his pocket. 
 
 Crutchley went out, and Bellamy crossed swiftly to 
 the door and locked it. 
 
 " You can come out." 
 
 " I can't move her, sir. She's fainted ; and if you 
 ain't quick we shall be in the street." 
 
 Bellamy went rapidly to her assistance, and between 
 them they placed Mrs. Crutchley on the one sofa which 
 the room contained. 
 
 " Lor', sir, I believe she's dead ! " 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley opened her eyes, and Bellamy seized 
 some brandy from the table and held it to her lips. 
 
 By degrees she came to, and then said with a 
 sudden gasp
 
 176 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " What is to be done now ? " 
 
 " You must have another dress." 
 
 " At this time of night ? Where am I to get it 
 from?" 
 
 Bellamy thought deeply. It was indeed a question. 
 He looked at the attendant's dress dubiously. That 
 certainly would not do. 
 
 " It must be an evening dress," he said at last. 
 
 " Yes, and I must have shoes. I am perfectly certain 
 he saw my shoes." 
 
 " Have you got an evening dress ? " asked Bellamy 
 of the attendant. 
 
 " Do you mean a party dress, sir ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think that's what I mean." 
 
 Poor Mrs. Crutchley's face was a study. The idea 
 of wearing a frock belonging to this woman, even 
 although it was her " party frock " was not at all 
 inviting. There was no choice, however. It was 
 absolutely necessary that she should get home as quickly 
 as possible. The woman went off to fetch her dress. 
 
 u My dear Jack, I am so sorry ! " 
 
 For one moment she lost her nerve. She murmured 
 one or two trivialities about his taking her away living 
 in Sicily, and being all in all to each other. The ordeal 
 of returning to Grosvenor Street to play out the comedy 
 with her husband seemed the worst thing possible. 
 
 He took her in his arms, but for all his apparent 
 intensity and solicitude she felt his determination not 
 to do anything irretrievable.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 177 
 
 He shook his head playfully, a sort of deprecating 
 nod, in which there were two for himself and one for 
 her. He had once taken some one to Sicily, and was 
 not likely to repeat the experiment. 
 
 " My dear girl, you are not one of those who could 
 survive the desert." 
 
 At that moment Bellamy noticed that the curtains 
 were still undrawn. He went to the window and 
 pulled them together. As he did so he glanced down 
 into the street. 
 
 On the pavement below, with upturned face, un- 
 mistakably illuminated by the street lamps and the lights 
 from the hotel, was Stevens. 
 
 As Bellamy looked he lowered his face and walked 
 away. 
 
 Bellamy bent forward to gaze after him. 
 
 " What is it ? " said Mrs. Crutchley. " Surely he 
 is not waiting outside ? " 
 
 " No," said Bellamy, slowly, " but I thought he 
 might be. It was somebody else." 
 
 " Any one we know ? " said Mrs. Crutchley. 
 
 " Oh dear, no." 
 
 The attendant returned and proudly laid her party 
 dress at Mrs. Crutchley's feet. 
 
 Both she and Bellamy gave a sigh of relief. It was, 
 after all, not so bad : a white Japanese silk, trimmed 
 with cheap lace. 
 
 The dress was accompanied by a pair of patent 
 leather shoes, which set Mrs. Crutchley's teeth on 
 
 N
 
 1 78 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 edge. She wore threes ; these must have been at 
 least fives. He waited outside in the corridor while 
 she changed, and sent the waiter down to cash a 
 cheque. The manager hurried back with the money 
 himself, showing by his excessive civility that he 
 sympathized most deeply with Lord Bellamy in the 
 little contretemps. He even forbore to smile when 
 Mrs. Crutchley shuffled out in the black patent shoes. 
 
 She was beginning to feel furious that Bellamy 
 should see her in such a costume, and was grateful to 
 him for saying good-bye to her as she got into the lift. 
 
 A word to the manager had secured an absolutely 
 secret exit, down a lift used by the servants, one or 
 two dark passages suggesting strongly the vicinity of 
 the kitchen, a door opening on to the yard into which 
 the tradesmen's carts drove, and where a hansom had 
 been requisitioned. 
 
 When Crutchley reached home he was so com- 
 pletely persuaded that he had made a fool of himself 
 that he was astonished to find that his wife had not 
 returned. He took out the piece of green frock and 
 pondered over it. What, after all, if he had been the 
 victim of a game of bluff ? But although he knew 
 Bellamy to be very clever, he could hardly believe 
 that he was possessed of such supernatural resource as 
 to be so perfectly cool and collected had his friend's 
 wife really been behind the curtain. He paced the 
 dining-room, his feelings gradually returning to the 
 condition in which they had been earlier in the evening.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 179 
 
 A hansom drew up at the door, and the next 
 moment the electric bell vibrated through the house. 
 
 He hurried out almost joyously. He had not been 
 a victim after all. 
 
 His wife threw herself into his arms. 
 
 " Whatever brought you back ? I have had the 
 most dreadful headache all day, and I intended to stop 
 in bed, but Mathilde" Mathilde was the Comtesse 
 de Perrefonds " sent round to know if I would dine 
 with her quite quietly." 
 
 Crutchley hardly heard. Her dress was white, and 
 her shoes were black, and that was all he cared about. 
 He did not even suspect anything when one of the 
 shoes fell off as he raised her in his arms. 
 
 The only thing that worried Mrs. Crutchley was 
 whether Bellamy had managed to find Madame de 
 Perrefonds and to coach her in her part. 
 
 That night when Bellamy went to bed he left the 
 anonymous letter open on his dressing-table, and on 
 awaking the next morning murmured sleepily to 
 Stevens 
 
 " There's a letter on my dressing-table. Just take a 
 match and burn it, will you, please ? " 
 
 And as Stevens stood obsequiously before him, hold- 
 ing the flaming paper in his hand, he was compelled to 
 admit that his lordship was truly magnificent.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 LANHAM TOWERS rose out of a forest of woodland 
 like a fairy palace. It was a curious thing, considering 
 how much timber had been cut down by alternate 
 Earls Bellamy, that there should be such masses remain- 
 ing ; and the attacks made on it by the present owner 
 seemed to have thinned it hardly at all. So embowered 
 was the house, when seen from afar, that it seemed 
 impossible it could be surrounded with the superb 
 gardens which were famous all over the country. If 
 Bellamy robbed the woods, he had certainly made up 
 for it by making the gardens far more wonderful than 
 they had ever been before. They were a veritable 
 fairyland. His staff of gardeners was under the direction 
 of a well-known landscape painter ; for, as Bellamy 
 truly said, a head gardener will always tyrannize, and 
 it is more dignified to be dictated to by an artist. It 
 had been a great occasion at Lanham when, after years 
 of study and hard work, the artist had finished his 
 original design. A magnificent fete had been given, 
 in which every one had appeared in costumes after 
 Watteau. It had been a wonderful success, the guests 
 being divided into groups officered by artists of more 
 
 180
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 181 
 
 or less renown. Not a single figure out of keeping 
 had been permitted to come in sight. Even the old 
 ladies at the lodge gates were delightfully artificial and 
 unreal, and the gardeners' boys wore knee breeches 
 and loose shirts. The guests came upon groups of 
 children who danced untiringly in flowered dells. 
 Oberon and Titania, with a cloud of retainers, fled by 
 at intervals, the speed of their arrival and departure 
 imparting a delicious wonder to their appearance. The 
 woods were full of fauns, and dryads merged into the 
 shadows as the guests drew near. 
 
 So perfect was every detail that from the pasture 
 land far away came the melting tones of a shepherd's 
 pipe ; barges, trailing silks of gorgeous colours, put oft 
 from the shores of the lake ; while a boy's clear treble 
 sang all day in the rose garden. A Royal Personage 
 appeared as Louis the Well-Beloved, while a group of 
 noble dames impersonated those who had some claim 
 to having earned him the title. True, some of the 
 older men made the enraptured creator of the scene 
 and his patron wish that they could have kept them, 
 Diogenes-like, in tubs in the stable yard. The 
 Nonconformist press declared that there was not 
 much to choose between the Watteau landscapes 
 and Nero's garden, and declared that they detected 
 beneath the hooped petticoats the shameless limbs of old 
 Rome. 
 
 Everybody who came vowed that such a festivity 
 would break any purse. But Bellamy had counted his
 
 1 82 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 timber beforehand, for real magnificence is impossible 
 without an unobtrusive attention to detail. 
 
 He had paid for the entertainment more heavily 
 than in gold. Lady Bellamy had been there, dressed 
 as a shepherdess. He had mistaken her simpering for 
 a sense of congruity, and her giggling for dawning wit. 
 The memory of her as she was that day remained with 
 him till they were married, but he certainly never con- 
 nected Selina, Lady Bellamy, with the Dresden China 
 creation for whom he had designed such a wonderful 
 entertainment. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley did not remember the historic fete, 
 the memory of which was even now green in the 
 county ; but as she walked in the rose garden with 
 Lord Bellamy one exquisite September morning he was 
 telling her all about it, giving to it that same glamour 
 and sense of holiday delight with which the eighteenth- 
 century French masters filled their pictures. 
 
 For some few weeks after her adventure in the hotel 
 near Sloane Square poor Mrs. Crutchley had struggled 
 with her intoxication for Bellamy. She even told him 
 to keep away. Therein she showed that she was hardly 
 out of her novitiate, for he, knowing perfectly well 
 what the situation required, did so for her sake, as he 
 put it ; in reality, because he had several engagements 
 that he wished to fulfil, and knew that his recall was 
 a certainty. He spent ten days at Marion Gorme's 
 villa at Dinard, where he found Dawlish ensconced as 
 a visitor, and a most sufficient partner at hartl.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 183 
 
 Dawlish felt that he was paying his footing with a 
 vengeance, for Reggie had never left him till he had 
 his cheque for five hundred pounds safe and sound, 
 and at the end of ten days for Bellamy graciously 
 extended his stay the amount he had lost made Marion 
 Gorme gently remind Bellamy that if he won much 
 more of his money there would be very little left for 
 her next theatrical season. 
 
 " My dear Marion, in my case he at least stands a 
 chance of winning." 
 
 "That's not very kind of you, Bellamy. I have 
 had my successes." 
 
 " Yes, but you have not been foolish enough to let 
 your syndicates have theirs." 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 "The English actress is the stockbroker's Nemesis." 
 And she laughed. 
 
 Dawlish was compelled to admit that if Reggie 
 was a little beast, he was a well-bred little beast, for 
 he did not call for the cheque for some days after 
 Dawlish had received his invitation to Lanham. As 
 he put it into his pocket, however, he certainly grew 
 a little white, but said, with every other appearance of 
 imperturbability 
 
 " It's awfully good of you, Dawlish, to help a fellow 
 out of a hole. I don't know what I've done that 
 you should take such a fancy to me." He suppressed 
 by an effort the cackle of amusement that this last 
 speech caused him.
 
 1 84 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Before his visit to Dinard was over, Bellamy had 
 received a letter begging him to return without delay to 
 his loving and devoted Jack. She was at Dieppe, where 
 he had several friends, and his arrival, therefore, would 
 be quite natural. He had thought of Homburg, but there 
 were some pathetic little odd touches in her letter which 
 brought him to her side. She had at times attempted to 
 be epigrammatical in her correspondence because she 
 imagined that it would please him, whereas the crippled 
 paradoxes with which her letters were studded got on his 
 nerves with their obvious straining after effect. He would 
 put them down wondering why the young invariably 
 mask their own delightful selves behind imitations. But 
 this letter was the result of true feeling, and when 
 people appealed to him Bellamy was very susceptible 
 to the primitives. 
 
 Reggie also transferred himself to Dieppe, because 
 at the last moment Pamela Gray had gone thither 
 instead of to Dinard. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley had struck up rather a friendship with 
 her, and they bathed and lunched and dined together 
 constantly ; in fact, when Bellamy saw them with their 
 arms round each other's waists, he told Mrs. Crutchley 
 that they were within measurable distance of a quarrel. 
 He disbelieved in the permanence of feminine friend- 
 ships. He did not tell her that he also began to find 
 Pamela Gray attractive. 
 
 " She is dangerously fresh," he reflected, and started 
 in pursuit.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 185 
 
 It would involve fighting two battles. He estimated 
 subconsciously for he was not gross enough to meet the 
 argument unclothed that matters with the one would 
 have reached the tropics just as the personality of the 
 other was disappearing into the snows and mists of the 
 unremembered : but he would never have permitted 
 himself to be conscious of anything so cold-blooded. 
 Self-deception was at times a sacred duty due to good 
 taste, and he could never forget Jack Crutchley's delight- 
 ful impersonation in their sentimental drama, even when 
 the entertainment was over. 
 
 Reggie, extraordinarily astute where his own interests 
 were concerned, quickly detected the direction of Lord 
 Bellamy's romantics. His feeble temperament was 
 shaken with alarms, the more that he had too high an 
 admiration for Bellamy to credit him with a failure. 
 He comforted himself with the reflection that after all 
 Bellamy was a married man, and that if he stood in the 
 way when Pamela Gray was on the rebound, and held 
 out his arms very wide, she might rush into them. It 
 would certainly mean making his five hundred pounds 
 go much further that he had thought would be necessary, 
 but with all his inactivities Reggie possessed a fine 
 business instinct which enabled him to cut his coat 
 according to his cloth. He was not surprised that 
 Crutchley should fail to suspect his wife and Bellamy. 
 The latter had a splendid daring which was eminently 
 calculated to throw dust in the eyes of a man so little 
 subtle as Crutchley. But that Mrs. Crutchley should
 
 1 86 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 not realize that Bellamy was stricken with a fever for 
 Pamela Gray puzzled him. 
 
 Perhaps Mrs. Crutchley was vaguely conscious of it, 
 and had made up her mind not to face the possibility 
 till she could help it. After all, if a woman elected to 
 be taken up by Bellamy, she must expect to have her 
 jealousies given constant exercise, and possibly she hoped 
 that it was merely a seaside illusion. If she really 
 thought so, Reggie reflected that she was not so clever 
 a woman as he had given her credit for being ; for after 
 all, if it were not Pamela Gray, it was bound to be some 
 one else. Men like Bellamy become more and more 
 elusive with every fresh romance, until they arrive at 
 the period when beneath personal pursuit lies impersonal 
 sentiment. 
 
 So Reggie stood by and hid his mortification under 
 smirks while he watched Bellamy using, as he called it, 
 " his whole bally bag of tricks." That Pamela Gray 
 played at audacity, and did not appear to be giving 
 Bellamy the least encouragement was no comfort, for it 
 never occurred to him that she might be in earnest in her 
 indifference. A nature like Reggie's, with its incapacity 
 for idealization, has its advantages it is always on the 
 defensive. It was not even as if Pamela Gray were 
 anybody in particular. Somebody had said that she 
 had been trailed into society on the skirts of the Duchess 
 of Havant, and certain it was that her claims were not 
 very apparent. She had, as far as was known, no con- 
 nection with anybody in particular, but if a thousand
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 187 
 
 a year did not constitute her an absolutely gilded attrac- 
 tion, it justified her in moving in a good market, and 
 the Duchess of Havant made it very evident that her 
 prttigk was not to be patronized. 
 
 Bellamy left Dieppe in what he could not but feel 
 was a very pleasurable state of uncertainty as to whether 
 the fight for victory would be a hard one or not. Pamela 
 Gray had created a distinct situation, and he was grateful 
 to her. 
 
 The Duchess of Havant, who was a stupid woman, 
 thought that Bellamy regarded Pamela Gray as fair 
 game because she had no definite relations to keep her 
 in countenance. In this she did him injustice, for on 
 the fields of romance he was far too fine a warrior for 
 it to count. She had sounded her to find out whether 
 Bellamy had roused her imagination, but without result. 
 Pamela Gray was one of those girls who are an altogether 
 difficult language to read. She was undoubtedly kind 
 to Reggie, and did not like hearing him abused, which 
 usually happened when his name cropped up in the 
 conversation of other men. But, then, Reggie had a 
 wonderful knack of performing little attentions which 
 appeal specially to women and are not in the repertoire 
 of most men. 
 
 Reggie went on to Berck-sur-Mer to see his mother 
 and to receive her advice. He said nothing to her about 
 his windfall, and was quite morbidly nervous of giving 
 the least indication that he was not in a condition of 
 financial stress.
 
 1 88 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 She was glad to see him, especially when she heard 
 that he could not stay more than a week. She really 
 gave him some excellent advice, for like so many smart, 
 frivolous women, she had an unexpected reserve of 
 common sense. 
 
 "I don't think it's very likely she will accept you, 
 Reggie, for, after all, you've got very little to offer her, 
 and although I have only seen her once, I am sure she is 
 very ambitious." 
 
 " I'm afraid she'd want me to do something," said 
 Reggie, ruefully. 
 
 " I am afraid she'd make you do something, Reggie." 
 
 "That won't be so bad, then, because she'd soon 
 find out how hopeless it was." 
 
 " Oh, she's not the sort of woman, Reggie, to nag 
 at a man." 
 
 " I must have an income," he said, in a helpless way. 
 " I really must." 
 
 " I am so sorry for you, dear boy," said his mother? 
 sympathetically, as if she had not neglected to take 
 every precaution for assuring his future, and apparently 
 forgetting that she had a very comfortable income of 
 which Reggie saw the merest fraction. " I am sure it 
 would be the very best thing in the world, Reggie and 
 then I could have my poor little annuity to myself." 
 
 " No, mamma," said Reggie, firmly, " it's quite 
 impossible. You hardly give me anything as it is. But 
 if I do marry, you must go on with the allowance just 
 the same. I must have pin-money."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 189 
 
 u Really, Reggie, I cannot understand such selfish- 
 ness. Do you forget that I sold my tiara to send you 
 to Eton ? " 
 
 " That was because you thought it was a smart 
 thing to do ; and I don't forget, mamma, that you kept 
 me short of pocket-money, and that my underclothing 
 was a disgrace." 
 
 " Reggie, I sometimes wish that you were a little boy 
 again." 
 
 Reggie sniggered. 
 
 " I know you do, mamma ; and ain't I glad that 
 I'm not ! " 
 
 "My annuity " began Mrs. Vandeleur. 
 
 A look of horror came into Reggie's face. 
 
 " What do you mean by annuity, mamma ? " he 
 said. " You don't mean to say that you've sunk your 
 capital ? " 
 
 " Of course not," said Mrs. Vandeleur, hurriedly 
 " of course not." But she wondered how on earth she 
 could have been so indiscreet. 
 
 " And," continued Reggie, regardless of his mother's 
 feelings, "I shall have twelve hundred a year one of 
 these days." 
 
 But this was too much for Mrs. Vandeleur. She 
 broke in excitedly 
 
 " What a heartless little wretch you are, Reggie ! 
 You're exactly like your father, and he led me the 
 most awful life, as everybody knows. You never seem 
 to remember any of the sacrifices I have made for you."
 
 190 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " No, I don't," said Reggie ; " and you've often told 
 me I've got a pretty good memory." 
 
 His mother proceeded to display a temper which 
 hardly partook of that repose which might have been 
 expected of the descendant of such very distinguished 
 ancestors ; indeed, her voice on these occasions developed 
 a fibre which suggested a class of life considerably 
 removed from her own. 
 
 Reggie went out. He was genuinely afraid of his 
 mother when she was in a temper, and he knew that 
 if she should forget that he was no longer a child, her 
 strength of arm would not tend to refresh her memory. 
 
 Poor Mrs. Vandeleur was compelled to spend quite 
 a long time before her looking-glass in order to wipe 
 away the unpleasant impression left by Reggie's sug- 
 gestion that her dissolution would precede his own. 
 
 Fortunately for her peace of mind, the mirror re- 
 flected a face and figure which were a miracle of 
 preservation. She did not press Reggie to stay longer 
 than his week, but suggested in her sweetest accents that 
 it would be helping her out of a real difficulty if he 
 would settle his hotel bill, which, to save trouble, he 
 promised to do, but conveniently forgot. 
 
 Although, to do her justice, she liked having him 
 with her, Mrs. Vandeleur was somewhat relieved to see 
 the last of him. Her latest matrimonial project was due, 
 and she rightly felt that the presence of a grown-up son 
 would hardly improve the atmosphere suitable to the 
 furtherance of her plans.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 191 
 
 He left her in splendid good humour with him. 
 
 " Good-bye, mamma ; you don't look anything like 
 thirty." 
 
 " Good-bye, Reggie, my boy ; take care of yourself. 
 It's a long journey, sweetheart, so have a whisky and 
 soda and a sandwich at the station." 
 
 And Mrs. Vandeleur grew quite sentimental. Reggie 
 did not fail to notice, however, that she had not taken 
 the trouble to order lunch a trifle earlier so as to suit his 
 convenience.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 MR. and Mrs. Crutchley had by no means agreed as to 
 the intended visit to Lanham. Crutchley felt that he 
 had some right to insist that they should stay away, as, 
 after all, his was the greater sacrifice, inasmuch as 
 Lanham had some of the finest shooting in England. 
 
 " My dear Rollo, what nonsense ! You will make 
 me look a perfect fool. You know that you have 
 always wanted to be asked to Lanham for the 
 shooting." 
 
 Poor Crutchley hardly knew what to say. He 
 marvelled that women should have such a wonderful 
 knack of driving their male opponents into a corner. 
 He had not had the courage to mention the anonymous 
 letter, partly because he felt it was rather a mean sort of 
 thing to have taken the least notice of it. Then again, 
 it would be rather awkward not to be able to produce the 
 letter itself, and he felt very sore at having so tamely 
 allowed Bellamy to appropriate it. 
 
 Under these circumstances Mrs. Crutchley had not 
 found it excessively difficult to carry her point, Crutchley 
 being unable to put forward a convincing reason for their 
 staying away. 
 
 192
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 193 
 
 Her fit of conscience had entirely disappeared in 
 Bellamy's absence, although she arrived at Lanham with 
 a whole host of good intentions as a result of her 
 husband's obvious uneasiness. 
 
 She was telling Bellamy as they walked in the rose 
 garden of what Crutchley had said, intimating although 
 she hardly cared to put it into so many words that she 
 hoped he would be careful. 
 
 For answer he plucked a rose and gave it to her, and 
 she, having no will while she was with him, put it in her 
 frock. 
 
 Unknown to them they had quite an audience. 
 Reggie, high up in the bachelors' quarters, had just 
 dragged his decadent form out of bed, and was 
 watching them through an opera-glass not that he 
 was immediately inquisitive about them, but because 
 his mind dealt in such things. 
 
 Mr. Spottitt, having surveyed himself in the glass 
 and found his well-cut Harris tweed shooting-suit quite 
 satisfactory, was taking in the scene from professional 
 habit ; while Stevens looked on from Bellamy's bedroom 
 window with as impassive a countenance as if some one 
 had been present whom it was necessary to deceive as 
 to his real feelings. 
 
 Bellamy and Mrs. Crutchley arrived at the breakfast 
 table to find Lady Charlotte Blount rigid with disap- 
 proval of the array of empty chairs. She was sitting 
 on the morning papers she always did and not for 
 worlds would she dole them out until she had skimmed
 
 194 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 their contents and made perfectly sure that she was first 
 in the field with the cream of the information. No 
 matter who was in the house, she always insisted on 
 her right to look at the papers first. It was only so 
 great a lady who could triumphantly have carried such a 
 policy from one country house to the other, but the 
 daughter and daughter-in-law of a duke, and the widow 
 of a particularly brilliant Cabinet Minister, who had only 
 just missed being Prime Minister, is able to do a good 
 many things if she be so minded. 
 
 She began on the subject of early rising as soon as 
 she caught sight of them. 
 
 " Bellamy, why don't you make people get up ? " 
 
 " My dear aunt, I'm always up j and as for other 
 people, I can't very well go round with a wet towel." 
 
 "It's bad enough for the women," continued Lady 
 Charlotte, " but it's doubly worse when the nation 
 begins to stay in bed to a man ; and I met more than 
 one breakfast on its way to the bedrooms." 
 
 " Dear Lady Charlotte," said Mrs. Crutchley, " I am 
 afraid we have not all got your stamina." 
 
 "Precisely," continued Lady Charlotte, tenacious of 
 her point. " Because your lives are on a par with their 
 getting up late." 
 
 Such of the house party as had nerves capable of 
 breakfasting in public dribbled in. Lanham was a 
 delightful house to stay in for many reasons, and one of 
 them was that breakfasting in privacy was not considered 
 anything unusual.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 195 
 
 Dawlish, who was by no means at his ease, and who 
 felt himself incapable of entering the breakfast-room 
 alone, waited for Crutchley on the stairs, and came in 
 with him. 
 
 Lady Charlotte had conceived the most violent 
 antipathy to Dawlish. She more than suspected his 
 motives for coming amongst his betters, and though she 
 was the last woman in the world to have made anybody 
 uncomfortable who had been placed in her society by 
 natural circumstances, she resented what she felt to be 
 an intrusion. To her keen social instinct Dawlish rang 
 false. She believed, what was more, that Bellamy had 
 simply asked him because he was a good partner at cards, 
 although she thought she detected that he did not lose 
 his money so pleasantly as he ought to have done. Lady 
 Charlotte herself gambled like a marquise of the old 
 regime. 
 
 Very late, the Duchess of Havant and Pamela Gray 
 came in together, the duchess's arm wreathed round the 
 girl's waist. The Comtesse de Perrefonds, who was of 
 the party, never appeared till midday. Her capacity for 
 sleep in the morning was only excelled by her inability 
 to go to bed at night, and it still wanted an hour to the 
 time when she would weakly ask for her rolls and coffee. 
 The breakfasts that Lady Charlotte had met on the stairs 
 were destined for Reggie Vandeleur and Mrs. Gresham, 
 who were both cut out on the same pattern aristocrats 
 with no country house responsibilities to keep their 
 habits in order. They were town birds, and as their
 
 196 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 food was provided for them, saw no particular virtue in 
 being early. As a matter of fact, Reggie had had his 
 bath, and was breakfasting by the open window, pre- 
 paratory to the enjoyment of cigarettes ad lib., and a 
 prurient nay, it had not even the grace to be prurient 
 French novel. He had once distinguished himself by 
 remarking to an author who was dull, but of European 
 reputation : " Why don't you write something which 
 every one would call disgraceful, but which every one 
 would read ? " For Reggie could not but believe that 
 the public mind was largely on a par with his own, a 
 conclusion deduced probably from the public's exalted 
 taste in theatrical amusement. 
 
 It might have been supposed that the presence of 
 Pamela Gray would have taken him to the breakfast- 
 table, but he wisely reflected that it would not do to 
 let her have a surfeit of him, and as he did not shoot he 
 would have plenty of opportunities while the other men 
 were out with the guns. 
 
 " I hope she won't think the less of me for not 
 shooting," he reflected. "I'll say I think it cruel." 
 And then, feeling somewhat worn out with the effort 
 of dressing and breakfasting, he sank back in a peaceful 
 slumber. 
 
 Mr. Spottitt had never sat down with such an orgy 
 of rank before, good as was the town set into which he 
 had managed to insinuate himself; but he was quite 
 at his ease, and at once grasped the key to the situation, 
 which was to say the right thing to Lady Charlotte.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 197 
 
 He managed gently to insinuate, without even appearing 
 to touch on politics, that there had been no successful 
 petticoat in public life since she had given up her salon, 
 and it was proof of the weakness of female logic that, 
 although she suspected his credentials, she pronounced 
 him to be a young man of manner and breeding. 
 
 Lady Charlotte was, as usual, dominating the con- 
 versation, having seized on a chance remark of the 
 Duchess of Havant's as a text. 
 
 " Don't talk to me, my dear," she was saying to her 
 grace ; and when Lady Charlotte said " my dear," it 
 was about the most unconciliatory mode of address that 
 could be imagined. " I think that the way certain 
 people advertise themselves is disgraceful. It quite sets 
 my teeth on edge to see the illustrated papers crowded 
 with portraits of Lady This with her baby, and Lady 
 That with her children, just as though they were prize 
 cats with kittens." 
 
 " It's the spirit of the age, aunt," said Bellamy, 
 soothingly. 
 
 Lady Charlotte was evidently in the mood to call 
 a spade a spade. 
 
 " Is it ? Then the sooner a stand is made against 
 it the better. There was my niece, Katherine Hill- 
 borough ! Her picture appeared the other day in some 
 dreadful rag with an armful of rabbits. ' Lady Katherine 
 Hillborough and pets.' Pets indeed ! I don't believe 
 she knows a rabbit from a guinea-pig. When I told her 
 she ought to be ashamed of herself, she said it was all
 
 198 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 good for advertisement just as though she were a 
 Gaiety chorus-girl, or a patent soap. What do you think 
 of it, Mr. Dawlish ? " 
 
 This was particularly unkind of Lady Charlotte, for 
 she had not the remotest desire to have Dawlish's opinion 
 in any way ; but she had noticed that he had his mouth 
 full. 
 
 Dawlish gazed at her helplessly, and Spottitt answered 
 quietly, but with audacity 
 
 "I suppose, Lady Charlotte, they are aping the 
 manners of another class." He spoke in a low voice 
 so that the remark should not reach the ears of the only 
 unmarried woman at the table. 
 
 Lady Bellamy wondered what class he could mean. 
 
 "You are quite right, Mr. Spottitt." And Lady 
 Charlotte turned to him with that delightful air of 
 cameraderie which none can assume so well as women 
 of her standing. " We copy their dresses, and we ape 
 their peculiarities." 
 
 Poor Lady Bellamy had been in a state of stupefaction 
 ever since Mr. Spottitt's arrival, and Lord Bellamy had 
 watched her with increasing amusement. She did not 
 doubt but that the young man's visit was a master- 
 stroke designed to do her service, and she was anything 
 but grateful to him for it. When Bellamy had requested 
 an invitation for Mr. Spottitt, a young man whom 
 he had met at Dinard, and had thought entirely charm- 
 ing, she had nearly fainted, and her guilty conscience 
 rendering her fearful lest Bellamy should suspect their
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 199 
 
 previous acquaintance, she had dazedly written that 
 she did so hope that Mr. Spottitt would be able to 
 come to them in September. And there he was, sitting 
 at her breakfast-table, mingling with her guests, and 
 displaying manners which she was compelled to admit 
 left nothing to be desired. 
 
 " Where's Havant ? " suddenly asked Lady Charlotte 
 of the duchess, knowing perfectly well that she would 
 probably be quite unable to say. 
 
 " I think he's going to India," said the duchess, 
 hesitatingly, " but I don't quite know whether he's gone 
 yet." 
 
 And everybody knew that she did not very much 
 care. 
 
 Lady Charlotte's attention was diverted to the other 
 end of the table, where Portchester was imparting some 
 very absorbing piece of information. 
 
 " Of course you know his people haven't spoken 
 to him for years," he was saying, " but she's got nearly a 
 million." 
 
 " Dollars or pounds ? " asked Bellamy. 
 
 " Oh, pounds at least, I think it's pounds." 
 
 "I only ask," said Bellamy, "because Godalming 
 was frightfully taken in. Lady Godalming's father 
 promised his daughter a million, and poor Godalming, 
 who's a very bad business man, thought he meant 
 pounds, and married without making further inquiries. 
 It turned out to be dollars, and I do believe he'd like 
 to have had the marriage annulled."
 
 200 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Well," continued Portchester, " they are going to 
 make a state pilgrimage to Chicago." 
 
 "I hope they'll get killed in the crush," said Lady 
 Charlotte. 
 
 "It brings a lot of money into the country, and it's 
 all good for trade," ventured Portchester. 
 
 Lady Charlotte looked at him witheringly. 
 
 "It sets an example of extravagance and idleness. 
 There can be nothing worse for a country than an 
 aristocracy entirely given up to pleasure. Those huge 
 fortunes set a very bad example." And Lady Charlotte 
 rose from the table, shamelessly carrying the morning 
 papers with her. 
 
 " My aunt is quite right," said Bellamy, " and what 
 is more, she fully realizes the mission of the passing 
 generation, which is to supply a chorus for the present, 
 and to sing to us of fate. Although I am bound to say," 
 he added, " that I fancy a good many of us will have 
 passed before Lady Charlotte." 
 
 He derived all the pleasure from this remark that 
 he would have done by throwing a death's head into the 
 garden of Boccaccio. His guests were too trivially minded 
 not to be terrified at the mere mention of the word death. 
 
 After breakfast Spottitt went out on to the South 
 Terrace, which commanded a particularly beautiful 
 outlook over the surrounding country, and, seating himself 
 on a low wall, from which the park land sloped steeply 
 some hundreds of yards to the river, commenced to 
 discuss his correspondence and a cigarette.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 201 
 
 Lady Bellamy informed herself of his every movement, 
 and arrived just as he had laid down his last letter. She 
 came up to him, taking him, as she thought, by surprise, 
 although he had been perfectly conscious that for the 
 last ten minutes she had been watching him from an 
 adjacent conservatory, where she had been moving about 
 amongst the flowers. She was frightened of Mr. Spottitt. 
 From the very first moment she had seen him she had 
 felt as if she were the employed and he the employer. 
 
 " Mr. Spottitt, I am so glad to have a few words 
 in private with you." 
 
 " Your ladyship is quite right there is nothing like 
 the open air for privacy." 
 
 " Of course it is very zealous of you to have " 
 
 Here she stopped. It was exceedingly difficult to know 
 how to put it, and Spottitt did not show the least 
 intention of helping her out of her dilemma, so she 
 was compelled to leave the first part of her sentence 
 unfinished, and to conclude : " But do you think it is 
 quite wise ? " 
 
 " You forget," he murmured gently, " discretion is 
 my profession." 
 
 She had intended to show him very quietly that 
 his manoeuvre was not in the best taste, and it had 
 seemed to her the easiest thing to do, just as now it 
 appeared to be the most difficult. 
 
 " But there cannot be anything to find out here." 
 If she had been honest she would have added, "And 
 I'll trouble you not to find it out if there is."
 
 202 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " You may have entire confidence in my discretion, 
 Lady Bellamy." 
 
 She wished that he would not be so general. 
 
 "In fact," she said, "do you think there can be 
 any use " she was about to say " in your remaining 
 at Lanham," but again found herself at a loss, for 
 Spottitt had fixed her with a well-bred glance which 
 said as plainly as words, " Don't be rude to me, please, 
 or I shall have to take extreme measures." 
 
 Suddenly he put his finger to his lips. 
 
 " Hush," he said. " We are being watched. For 
 heaven's sake be very discreet." He began quickly to 
 talk of other things. 
 
 Lady Bellamy gazed up in the air, and down at the 
 ground, and round her in every direction. As far as 
 she could make out, there was no one near ; but, startled 
 by Spottitt's manner, she too began to talk rapidly on 
 ordinary subjects. It was beginning to dawn upon her 
 that getting rid of him would by no means be so easy 
 as she had imagined. She began to suspect all sorts of 
 horrible contingencies ; blackmail, for instance. After 
 all, she had not done anything so very dreadful. Every 
 woman had a perfect right to have her husband watched, 
 or what would become of the Divorce Court ? It was 
 a comfort to think that she had never written to Spottitt 
 at least, had she ? She really could not remember ; 
 her memory was so bad. It was a disgrace that de- 
 tectives should be allowed to mix in society in this 
 way. She supposed that she would soon find herself 
 being taken down to dinner by a policeman.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IF Mrs. Crutchley had reason to complain of Bellamy's 
 defection to the side of Pamela Gray she could, had 
 she been so minded, have consoled herself twice over. 
 
 Madame de Perrefonds was far too keen a judge 
 of men to have over-estimated for one moment the 
 depth of Dawlish's simulated admiration. She had 
 detected his motives from the very first, and had will- 
 ingly entered into the buying and selling which they 
 involved. She had thrown in her little word in order 
 to help him to get his invitation to Lanham. Any 
 other woman would keenly have resented the fact that, 
 as soon as Dawlish's eyes fell on Mrs. Crutchley, he 
 seemed to forget her existence ; but her philosophy 
 was too cynical for sentiment, especially as her own 
 emotions had never even been roused. he had all 
 the generosity for her own sex of a woman who knows 
 she is beautiful, and who has been altogether too much 
 of a bonne viveuse to narrow herself with spite. Mrs. 
 Crutchley was charming, quite charming, vraiment 
 spirituelle, an aristocrat to her finger-tips, just the sort 
 of delicate thing that a gros bourgeois like Mr. Dawlish 
 would love to crush. So when, for decency's sake, 
 
 203
 
 204 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Dawlish attempted, somewhat clumsily, to divide his 
 attentions, she tactfully intimated that it was quite un- 
 necessary, and gave him his congl with an indifference 
 which marked how little she had considered him socially. 
 She retired to her cigarettes and beloved Guy de Mau- 
 passant without the least feeling of chagrin or annoyance. 
 Poor Dawlish was rapidly reduced to a condition of 
 trance. Before his dazed vision Mrs. Crutchley fluttered 
 perpetually like a gorgeous butterfly. When away from 
 her he hardly even remembered what she was like, but 
 could only recollect that he had been mesmerized. His 
 shooting was wretched, and Crutchley and Portchester 
 wondered more than ever what the fellow was doing 
 there. Had he been a first-class shot and, under 
 ordinary circumstances, he was certainly not a bad one 
 they would have considered that his presence required 
 no further explanation. In the evenings, when he was 
 playing cards with Bellamy, the sound of Mrs. Crutch- 
 ley's voice from the roulette table drove such play as 
 was in him entirely out of his head. He lay awake 
 at nights, striving to devise some means whereby he 
 might establish himself in her eyes. He deemed it 
 impossible that any one could be so burnt up with 
 passion and not rouse some response. It excited within 
 him a dull rage that he could not, as far as he could 
 detect, make her even aware of his existence. She 
 answered him when he spoke to her with what, in his 
 burning desire for some expression of a warmer interest, 
 seemed to him just the least touch of hauteur. Although
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 205 
 
 he was glad that Bellamy was obviously bowing himself 
 out of her affections, yet at the same time he was 
 furious that she should suffer, and he watched her 
 sufficiently closely to be sure of it. 
 
 Whenever he obtained one of those chances of 
 private conversation with her for which he thirsted, 
 he at once became tongue-tied. She exercised an 
 absolutely paralyzing effect on him. He felt that he 
 had never appeared before her except at his worst. He 
 was sulky by nature, and the knowledge of his in- 
 effectiveness made him sulkier. He did his best to be 
 civil to Crutchley, but he found him an altogether un- 
 approachably good sort. He was certainly surprised to 
 find that Crutchley was very much in love with his 
 wife, and very much believed in her, which made him 
 think that Bellamy's cleverness must be almost diabolical. 
 
 If Dawlish, however, was diffident and shy in Mrs. 
 Crutchley's presence, not so Spottitt. The latter had, 
 it is true, the immeasurable advantage of not feeling 
 socially unequal to anybody. So far, Dawlish did not 
 even suspect him as a rival, his manoeuvring being alto- 
 gether of too delicate a nature to be detected by his 
 crude observation. 
 
 Nevertheless, he rose imperceptibly, but surely, on 
 Mrs. Crutchley's horizon. He had the rare gift of con- 
 veying the suggestion that his attentions were in them- 
 selves a flattery, and it is only given to the very few 
 to be able to do this without rousing resentment in the 
 feminine. He was amusing, which went a great way
 
 206 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 with her. It was not long before he had been asked 
 to call upon her in town, an invitation for which poor 
 Dawlish would have bartered his soul. It was also a 
 curious fact that, although Spottitt had hardly any taste 
 in common with Crutchley, the latter very soon told his 
 wife that, " That chap Spottitt is deuced good company, 
 and it's quite wonderful that a fellow who plays and 
 sings like a professional should be such a decent sort," 
 and further added that it was quite a pleasure to see 
 a fellow sit down to the piano who was able to do 
 so without at once making him feel sick. 
 
 Dawlish's spirits sank, despite the aristocratic sur- 
 roundings in which he found himself. He had lost 
 money heavily. It seemed as if the powers of evil 
 were dealing the cards for the benefit of their chosen 
 darling. More than once Bellamy had suggested that 
 they should join the others at the roulette table, but 
 Dawlish did not take kindly to the idea. Bellamy's 
 luck was so singular that he would really have preferred 
 to give Dawlish his revenge anywhere but in his own 
 house. 
 
 Lady Charlotte, despite the fact that she played 
 regularly, and usually got up a winner, inveighed against 
 gambling generally. 
 
 " Gambling as a habit is growing upon the nation," 
 she would say, as she took her seat at the roulette table. 
 " I am told that in the East End pitch and toss and 
 shove-halfpenny whatever that may mean are terribly 
 on the increase."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 207 
 
 " My dear aunt," said Bellamy, " I am quite pre- 
 pared to play pitch and toss or shove-halfpenny. What 
 do you say, Dawlish ? " 
 
 Dawlish forced a short, mirthless laugh ; but Reggie 
 clapped his hands, a little habit which gave him the 
 air of a French schoolboy. 
 
 " Oh, do let us play pitch and toss ! " 
 
 The idea savoured of novelty and commended itself 
 to the company. There was a positive babel of request. 
 
 " We may just as well know what the lower classes 
 are up to," said Lady Charlotte. 
 
 " Well, who knows how to play it ? " asked Bellamy. 
 
 Everybody looked blank. 
 
 " I am always feeling the want of a Board School 
 education," said Spottitt. 
 
 Dawlish knew, but felt shy at confessing to such 
 knowledge in such company. 
 
 The idea was about to be given up, when Bellamy 
 was seized with an inspiration, and rang the bell. 
 
 " Will you tell Stevens that I want him ? " he said to 
 the servant. 
 
 " Do you think he'll know ? " asked Reggie. 
 
 " Stevens knows everything." And Bellamy laughed. 
 
 And, after a pause, Mrs. Crutchley laughed too. 
 
 " I thought," said Mr. Beauclerk, who had arrived 
 that day, " that pitch and toss had to be played at a 
 street corner, and in the presence of a policeman." 
 
 " I suppose any manners are allowed ? " said Mrs. 
 Crutchley.
 
 208 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "And afterwards we ought all to go to supper at 
 a cocoa stall," concluded Spottitt. 
 
 Stevens entered the room, remaining just inside the 
 door. 
 
 "Stevens," said Bellamy, managing with an incom- 
 parable subtlety of manner to rob the proceeding of any 
 vulgarity, " could you tell us how to play pitch and 
 toss ? " 
 
 They all hung breathless on his answer. 
 " I have played it, my lord." 
 There was a chorus of glad relief. 
 " Well, would you mind telling us the rules ? " 
 Without the faintest sign of surprise at being asked 
 so extraordinary a question, Stevens advanced further into 
 the room, and, giving the slightest preparatory cough, 
 began in a quiet, level voice 
 
 " The game, my lord, would be played by two or 
 more players. Each player, holding a coin in his hand, 
 will stand a certain distance from a given mark. Each 
 player will throw his coin as near the mark as 
 possible." 
 
 He paused, and there was a general murmur of 
 " Yes ? " given rather like a response in church. 
 
 "The player who has thrown his halfpenny I 
 should say his coin nearest to the mark would have 
 the privilege of tossing up all the coins in his hand, and 
 keeping all those that come down heads. The next 
 nearest player would toss up the remaining coins in his 
 turn."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 209 
 
 " I don't wonder at the law interfering," said Lady 
 Charlotte. 
 
 " It sounds delicious," said the Duchess of Havant. 
 
 " Half-crown stakes ? " suggested Bellamy, looking 
 round. 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk looked uncomfortable. He had hastily 
 calculated that it was a game at which a great deal of 
 money could be lost. 
 
 "Perhaps, Stevens," said Bellamy, "you wouldn't 
 mind keeping your eye on us for the first round." 
 
 A coin was put down as a mark, and, each armed 
 with a half-crown, everybody gathered round it. 
 
 " It would be necessary to have another mark from 
 which the players would throw." 
 
 This mark having also been settled upon, everybody 
 began to throw, breathless with excitement. 
 
 Reggie gave a shrill cry of victory. Undoubtedly 
 his coin was nearest the mark, and, chuckling with glee, 
 he seized the other coins, and, tossing them up in his 
 hands, sent them flying all over the room. 
 
 There was obviously something wrong about this, 
 and, the coins having been collected, Stevens explained 
 how it should be done, after which he discreetly 
 withdrew. 
 
 They played the game for about an hour, till 
 Portchester pretended to be a policeman and took them 
 all up, while Mrs. Crutchley abused him like a street boy 
 in so delightful a way that for the moment Bellamy for- 
 got all about Pamela Gray.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IT seemed possible that some mysterious unknown had 
 grasped the psychological position in which Dawlish 
 stood, for one morning he received a quite amazing 
 letter from an unknown correspondent which astonished 
 him not a little. The anonymous writer warned him 
 against Lord Bellamy, trying to dissuade him from 
 playing any more with him, telling him that there 
 was not the least doubt that Lord Bellamy cheated, as 
 the writer had good cause to know. 
 
 At first Dawlish threw the letter aside. It struck 
 him as being so ridiculous on the face of it that he had 
 very nearly torn it up, but on second thoughts he locked 
 it away in his writing-case. 
 
 But somehow that evening, having lost another 
 pretty large sum, he took it out and read it again 
 very carefully. There was no getting away from it 
 that Bellamy's luck had been extraordinary, and gradually 
 he found himself in a mood to receive the unknown 
 writer's statement as having some foundation in fact. 
 Then he began to wonder who could possibly be the 
 author of the letter. Was it somebody in the house 
 somebody whose suspicions had been aroused who did 
 
 210
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 211 
 
 not care to come forward and say so frankly ? He ran 
 over the list of guests, but his suspicions failed to select a 
 likely person. Mr. Beauclerk was the biggest chatterbox 
 in the house, but, excepting for the immense fussiness he 
 displayed over his infinitesimal losses and gains at the 
 roulette table, Dawlish did not believe he cared one atom 
 who cheated and who did not, and he shrewdly suspected 
 that even if Beauclerk had believed such a thing he was, 
 in spite of his aristocratic connections, much too big a 
 snob to think of giving away a Bellamy for a Dawlish. 
 There was Reggie. No ; it was obviously to Reggie's 
 advantage that Dawlish's visit should go off as well as 
 possible. Portchester Crutchley Spottitt. He came 
 to a pause and considered. It might possibly be the 
 young man to whom he had taken an instinctive dislike 
 partly because he was the only other nobody in the 
 house. He had more than once tried to find out who 
 Spottitt was, but could only learn that he was the son of 
 a clergyman in the north of England, which might mean 
 anything or nothing. But then, why should Spottitt 
 wish to injure Bellamy ? They appeared to be the best 
 of friends ; they were certainly kindred spirits j they had 
 quaint turns of humour in common, and were given to 
 laughing in full agreement when every one else- was 
 solemn. Dawlish would not have been at all averse 
 to proving that Spottitt was the culprit. 
 
 Suddenly he heard the sound of voices. He opened 
 his door gently, and went to the staircase and looked 
 down.
 
 212 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Bellamy and Spottitt, whom he had left in the 
 billiard-room, were standing on the landing below, 
 saying good night. It was this easy intimacy which 
 Spottitt had managed to establish with his betters that 
 irritated Dawlish. 
 
 When Spottitt parted from Bellamy, he leapt up 
 the stairs with such a spring that Dawlish had barely 
 time to return to his room, and was very nearly caught 
 eavesdropping. Spottitt, who was apparently one of 
 those people who are quite prepared to stay up all 
 night, noticed his half-opened door, and, seeing a light, 
 knocked. Dawlish was rather glad of this. 
 
 "I hate going to bed," said Spottitt, flinging him- 
 self on a Chesterfield, after having found out that 
 Dawlish was by no means anxious to go to sleep. 
 " Your luck's out, isn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am afraid it is ; " and he produced with 
 effort a fairly good apology for a laugh. 
 
 "Bellamy's just one of those people who seem 
 born to win at cards." 
 
 "And love," interjected Dawlish. 
 
 He was wondering how he could convey to 
 Spottitt assuming him to be the author of the letter 
 that it would be perfectly safe to confide in him. He 
 set forth to play the role of a detective, quite uncon- 
 scious that he had a professional to contend with. 
 
 " What do you think of anonymous letters ? " he 
 asked suddenly, and on the alert for any change of 
 countenance which might give Spottitt away.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 213 
 
 "I don't know, I'm sure. It all depends on the 
 anonymous letter. Why do you ask ? " 
 
 Poor Dawlish was at a loss how to answer. If he 
 proceeded to refer to the question of cheating at cards, 
 it would simply look as if he were out of temper at 
 having lost, and he certainly did not know Spottitt well 
 enough to trust him to the extent of showing him the 
 letter. Besides, with Spottitt sitting there, the probability 
 of his having written it seemed to grow more remote, 
 although Dawlish could not say why, excepting that 
 Spottitt was making himself very agreeable. Keen as 
 Spottitt was, he had not been conscious that hitherto he 
 had got on Dawlish's nerves. He by no means under- 
 valued the latter's possibilities of being useful. He had 
 an instinct for summing up a person's advantages and 
 disadvantages, and he concluded that a rich stockbroker 
 with social aspirations should yield a good return. 
 
 " An anonymous letter," he said, " is a deadly thing. 
 I can quite imagine a very honourable man's whole 
 character being poisoned by one. Say it is something 
 about his wife. When he first receives it he pooh-poohs 
 the whole idea. There is only one thing for him to do, 
 and that is to burn it. That is what he has always 
 made up his mind to do if ever he should receive one. 
 Somehow he doesn't burn it. He reads and re-reads it, 
 and by-and-by the poison of it steals into his brain." 
 
 Dawlish looked at him suspiciously. Spottitt had com- 
 pletely pictured the progress of his own feelings in the 
 matter.
 
 2i 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " I suppose," he said, anxious to show that he had 
 the right instinct, " a gentleman ought to destroy it." 
 
 " Well, that depends on the anonymous letter, as 
 I said before. Have you had one ? " 
 
 " Oh dear, no ; but a friend of mine was asking 
 my advice the other day." 
 
 The next person he consulted was Reggie. 
 
 Reggie had gone upstairs some half an hour before 
 it was necessary to dress for dinner, to have a com- 
 fortable nap in his bedroom, and to be out of sight 
 of Bellamy teaching Pamela Gray billiards. He was 
 always a good sleeper in the daytime. It was only 
 in the small hours of the morning that he became 
 preternaturally awake. On his way upstairs he had 
 caught sight of Mrs. Crutchley, ensconced in a deep 
 window-seat, pretending to read a novel, but he knew 
 that her thoughts, like his own, were in the billiard-room. 
 
 Dawlish, who had tracked him to his lair, knocked 
 two or three times, but could get no answer. He 
 gently opened the door and looked in. To his certain 
 knowledge Reggie had not been in the room more 
 than five minutes, but he was already fast asleep, with 
 his head invisible in a mass of cushions. 
 
 Dawlish went in. He had paid Reggie five hun- 
 dred pounds, and had certainly no scruples about 
 making use of him. 
 
 " Vandeleur ! " 
 
 Reggie slept on peacefully, and Dawlish was com- 
 pelled to shake him before he woke up.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 215 
 
 Apparently sleep had an intoxicating effect on 
 Reggie, for he looked at Dawlish with glassy eyes 
 devoid of intelligence, and after having so looked for 
 such a length of time as to make Dawlish wonder if 
 he had suddenly become an idiot, he peacefully sank 
 back, and, closing his eyes, was in the act of dozing off 
 again ; but Dawlish, always remembering that Reggie 
 had done very well out of him, shook him unceremoniously. 
 
 Reggie sat up indignantly. 
 
 " Whatever's the matter ? I'm so beastly tired. 
 I wish you'd go away." 
 
 " Wake up, Vandeleur. I want to speak to you." 
 
 " Won't this evening do ? " 
 
 " No. It's something very important." 
 
 By this time Reggie's senses had gone into resi- 
 dence again. He wondered if Dawlish had another 
 commission for him. 
 
 "Don't want to lend me any more money, do 
 you ? Because if so, prepare me slowly. I don't 
 like shocks." 
 
 " I want you to help me." 
 
 " Help you ? Why, you're worth a million." 
 
 " I know that." 
 
 " You don't mean to say that Bellamy's got the lot ! " 
 
 " No, but money isn't everything." 
 
 "That's what all you people say who have got 
 enough of it. I know all the troubles I've ever had 
 have been through not having enough. Of course, 
 there are some people who would never have enough
 
 2i 6 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 like mamma. I'm always telling her she doesn't 
 know the value of money." 
 
 But Dawlish cut Reggie short. He was in no 
 mood to hear about Mrs. Vandeleur. 
 
 "Look here, Vandeleur, I received a letter this 
 morning." 
 
 " So did I ; two one from mamma asking for 
 money, one from my tailor asking for money. I said 
 4 No ' to both of them, firmly but kindly * No ' espe- 
 cially to mamma." 
 
 Dawlish went over and closed the door. It was not 
 at all strange that he should have chosen Reggie as a 
 confidant. He had a great opinion of his shrewdness, 
 and knew perfectly well that as his invitation to Lanham 
 had come through him, he would do his very best to see 
 that nothing went wrong. 
 
 " I've had an anonymous letter," said Dawlish. 
 
 " Bum it, Dawlish," said Reggie, emphatically 
 " burn it. Believe me, it's the only thing a gentleman 
 can do with an anonymous letter." It was quite the 
 last thing that Reggie would ever have thought of doing 
 himself; but as an abstract article of a gentleman's pro- 
 fession of faith, it was a pleasant thing to preach. At 
 the same time, having laid down the law, he placed no 
 restraint upon his curiosity. " Well, who is it from ? " 
 
 " I said it was anonymous," said Dawlish, impatiently. 
 
 " Oh, then I suppose there's no name ! " answered 
 Reggie, as if he were shedding a new light on the 
 matter.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 217 
 
 " Of course not. It's about Bellamy." 
 
 " About Bellamy ? I shouldn't think an anonymous 
 letter could do him much harm." 
 
 " It accuses him of cheating at cards." 
 
 Reggie sat up and gazed at Dawlish in amazement. 
 He puckered his face till he looked a hundred. Finally, 
 he said tersely 
 
 Rot ! " 
 
 The intonation in his voice roused Dawlish's resent- 
 ment at once. There was an angry contempt in it, a 
 disinclination to entertain the matter at all, which 
 Dawlish felt would not have been there if the news had 
 come from Portchester or Crutchley. 
 
 "Read it." He took the letter from his pocket 
 and held it out to Reggie. 
 
 At first Reggie shrank back. 
 
 " I don't know that I care about " 
 
 " Very well, only " 
 
 " Give it here," said Reggie, hastily. He would not 
 for worlds have missed the contents, and he perused 
 them with a running fire of comment. 
 
 " What rubbish ! Card up his sleeve ? I don't 
 believe it. Sounds like Maskelyne and Cook. Look 
 here, Dawlish," he said, as he handed back the letter, 
 after having turned it over, held it up to the light, and 
 examined it in every possible way, as though the author 
 had intended it to be a puzzle and had concealed his 
 name somewhere, "I don't believe it. Of course 
 Bellamy is an awful" devil. The women adore him, and
 
 2i 8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 they look upon an affair with him as if it were royalty ; 
 but, hang it all, he isn't a sharper, and he doesn't 
 look it." 
 
 But Reggie's absolute refusal to consider it seriously 
 roused Dawlish to a conviction that there was some- 
 thing in it. 
 
 "I don't know. Everybody knows that he is 
 heavily in debt ; and he's been cutting down no end of 
 timber lately." 
 
 "That's true. Portchester says the park's getting 
 quite draughty." 
 
 " Well, doesn't it strike you ? " 
 
 "No, it doesn't." 
 
 Dawlish rose with an expression of impatience. 
 
 "I might have known that you wouldn't give me 
 any advice," he said bitterly. 
 
 This sounded a little ridiculous, coming from a man 
 of Dawlish's years and weight to a self-absorbed butterfly 
 like Reggie. 
 
 " You all stand together," he concluded, with un- 
 pleasant emphasis. 
 
 This was too much for Reggie. He sat up and 
 looked at Dawlish quite haughtily. 
 
 " What the devil do you mean ? " 
 
 " Of course I don't mean that you're helping him to 
 cheat." 
 
 "I should hope you don't," said Reggie, sinking 
 back, exhausted by the unaccustomed effort of showing 
 resentment.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 219 
 
 " I mean that you stand by your own order." 
 
 " I don't understand what you are talking about." 
 
 " I mean that I expect you think it's cheek of me 
 even to suspect Lord Bellamy of cheating." 
 
 This was very vulgar, and Reggie wondered whether 
 if he told Dawlish so he would throw the five hundred 
 in his face. He reflected that evidently vulgarity, when 
 it is roused, has no limits. 
 
 "I say, look here, Dawlish," he said soothingly, 
 " you don't mean to say that on the strength of that 
 letter you suspect Bellamy of cheating at cards ? " 
 
 I don't know." 
 
 Reggie wished that he, too, were vulgar in order that 
 he might remind Dawlish that he was responsible for 
 his appearance at Lanham, and, further, to express a 
 hope that he would behave himself. 
 
 "Well, it's all rot if you do. By Jove," he said 
 suddenly, " I wish mamma were here ! It's just the 
 sort of thing she would revel in. Now, mamma would 
 tell us at once what " 
 
 " Damn ma " began Dawlish. 
 
 " Dawlish ! " screamed Reggie, in a high falsetto. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Dawlish, quickly, feeling 
 that it was bad manners to damn even Mrs. Vandeleur 
 in her maternal capacity. 
 
 " I should rather think you did," said Reggie, gasp- 
 ing. " For one awful moment I thought I should 
 have to knock you down." 
 
 Dawlish laughed, and said quite amiably
 
 220 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " I am sorry." 
 
 " Look here, old chap," said Reggie, " you're 
 annoyed at losing so much money." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, it's nothing of the kind." 
 
 " Of course it doesn't matter to you, but, as Lady 
 Charlotte says, it's just that mean spirit no, I should say, 
 
 close I beg your pardon," said Reggie, crimsoning, 
 
 and aghast at his indiscretion. " What I meant to say 
 was, that that business-like way of looking at things is 
 what makes a million." 
 
 Poor Dawlish had turned a curious green colour. 
 He gnawed his moustache, while his nostrils twitched 
 nervously. He had more than suspected that Lady 
 Charlotte did not look on him with any favour, but it 
 was mortifying to be assured that the greatest lady of 
 the party for, after all, the Duchess of Havant, though 
 higher in rank, was of nothing like the same importance 
 should have taken a dislike to him. It was typical 
 of the man, however, and his dogged determination to 
 overcome all opposition, that he was already wondering 
 what he could put in her way which might, at any 
 rate, wring an invitation from her. He believed in 
 the power of money, and deemed that those aristocrats 
 who were exclusive were only so for lack of opportunity 
 to dispose of their privileges to advantage. He had a 
 bad temper, but resentment was not business-like. 
 People who insulted him must be conciliated. 
 
 " Lady Charlotte is very polite," he said, in a voice 
 that frightened Reggie out of his life.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 221 
 
 " Well, no, not as a rule, but she's awfully good 
 form, so it doesn't matter." 
 
 " Then you can't suggest anything ? " 
 
 "I don't know what you mean by * suggest any- 
 thing.' " 
 
 " All right. I'm sorry I mentioned the matter to 
 you." 
 
 " So am I. It's made me most dreadfully uncomfort- 
 able, and you've done me out of a good sleep. I shall 
 look frightfully tired all the evening, and when I'm 
 tired I look an object." 
 
 Dawlish turned away in contempt. He was unable 
 to see that it mattered whether Reggie looked an object 
 or not. 
 
 A man came in with the hot water, and Reggie 
 permitted himself to be helped out of his dressing- 
 gown, for if there was anybody to wait on him he 
 became as helpless as an infant, and no one would have 
 imagined who saw him at the moment that he was 
 the same young man who had such busy times boning 
 his own boots, pressing his clothes, and calling loudly 
 for an iron to iron his ties in his bedroom at Jermyn 
 Street.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 MEANWHILE poor Mrs. Crutchley was having anything 
 but a good time of it. Despite the careless cynicism 
 with which, whenever they were alone, Bellamy con- 
 tinued to perform a sort of mockery of their past 
 romance, she was forced to realize that his imagination 
 was entirely fired by Pamela Gray, and in proportion 
 as she became more and more wretched and lost her 
 spirits, -so did she feel that whatever chance she might 
 have had of retaining Bellamy was disappearing. She 
 knew enough of him to be quite sure that she need 
 not expect him to accompany her along the path of 
 sentiment. Her only hope of reviving his waning 
 interest was to do something wonderful, and she could 
 think of nothing which would meet the case. Sooner 
 or later she felt that she would relapse into reproaches, 
 and that by so doing she would simply be opening 
 the door for his exit. She had not even the satisfaction 
 of knowing whether Pamela Gray encouraged his 
 advances or not. Outwardly she appeared to be perfectly 
 unconscious of them. She had that gift of impenetra- 
 bility which, curiously enough, is so often seen in young 
 girls.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 223 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley ventured, if not exactly to reproach 
 Bellamy, to give him a faint indication that her feelings 
 were wounded. 
 
 "I believe you are getting a little tired of me," 
 she said playfully. 
 
 " My dear Jack, one does not tire of a woman as 
 amusing as you are." 
 
 " That scarcely sounds convincing," she laughed. 
 " You used to say that it would be impossible to tire 
 of any one as beautiful as I am. I like that better." 
 
 " Shall I say it again ? " 
 
 " No ; I prefer spontaneity. I suppose it's very 
 old-fashioned of me, but, do you know, at times I am 
 quite unhappy when I think of the day on which I 
 shall have to confess that you have passed out of my 
 life." 
 
 "Why should you think of it ? " 
 
 " You once told me that each romance is like a new 
 melody, that first it produces ecstasy, that then it haunts 
 till it affects the nerves, and that finally it reaches the 
 barrel-organ stage and is anathema." 
 
 " Did I say so ? I don't seem to have said anything 
 as good as that lately." 
 
 " Perhaps you want the incentive of a new melody." 
 
 "I wonder." And a curious something crept into 
 the smile on his lips which she had never noticed before 
 he met Pamela Gray. 
 
 She surmised that it might be caused by the dying 
 struggles of a butterfly.
 
 224 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " You think it possible, then ? " 
 
 " I did not say so." 
 
 She laid her hands on his. 
 
 " I believe you are capable of any cruelty." 
 
 " What a beautiful hand you have, Jack ! " And 
 he pressed it gently, but there was implied dismissal 
 in the very action. It was almost good-bye. 
 
 She gave a little sigh, which he knew had some grief 
 in it ; but he affected to misunderstand, and said 
 softly 
 
 " How sweet, Jack a little sigh of happiness." 
 
 But even at the moment he had an execrable hunger 
 for Pamela Gray. His appetite was crying out for its 
 essential food. He was anxious for the new play to 
 commence, and for the bran-new leading lady to appear 
 at Capulet's ball. He remembered Mrs. Crutchley as 
 a good actress, and if she had made the mistake of falling 
 in love with her Romeo, so much the worse for her. 
 For himself he was too much of an artist to deal in 
 realities, and he believed that too many performances 
 of the same piece were bad for art. 
 
 She moved for the first time into the recriminatory 
 stage. 
 
 " What is it like to be the most cynical man in 
 England?" 
 
 " The cynic, Jack, is the most misunderstood of men. 
 He is merely the sentimentalist as artist." 
 
 " But we associate sentimentalism with virtue, and 
 you don't pretend to that."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 225 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 " I hope not. I am afraid of proportion, and virtue is 
 but the balancing of parts, in which the moralities and 
 immoralities checkmate each other every time. Real 
 art holds real virtue, because it teaches real proportion. 
 That is why one loves Aubrey Beardsley because he 
 represents a mood essentially out of drawing." 
 
 " I always feel that your wickedness is worse than 
 other people's. You are like Charles the Second, who 
 attempted to balance his evil deeds with good words." 
 
 " Man is a perverse child ; he knows so well what to 
 do, and does it so seldom. Your rake is your only 
 moralist. My dear Jack, I believe you have an ex- 
 position of virtue come upon you." 
 
 " Why not ? " she said defiantly. 
 
 " Why not, indeed ? I don't believe virtue is nearly 
 as black as she is painted." 
 
 " I thought it was only vice that painted." 
 
 " I have met perfectly respectable women who made 
 up disgracefully." 
 
 " You know in reality you think virtue as dull as the 
 suburbs." 
 
 " It is quite a mistake to suppose that the suburbs are 
 dull. I once loved in a suburb for six weeks as Mr. 
 Smith, and the cynical wickedness of the bourgeoisie 
 horrified me. Secret sins that would quite puff us up 
 with pride they think nothing of. I fled for safety to 
 Park Lane. Piccadilly and its environs are at least 
 honest."
 
 226 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "You are right, Gerald," said Mrs. Crutchley, 
 pathetically. " I have a great craving to be good." 
 
 " Then you are on the eve of enjoying yourself. It 
 is the consciousness of one's innate capacity for virtue 
 that makes sin so delightful." 
 
 " I won't be shamed out of my better self like that. 
 Look at Miss Gray. She is happy, and yet everybody 
 knows that she is quite good." 
 
 " You really think so ?" 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley hesitated, and then said boldly, " Of 
 course she is." 
 
 " We know nothing at all about it," he replied 
 audaciously. "We know nothing at all about each 
 other. Morally men and women are sphinxes to their 
 neighbours, although perhaps sphinx is hardly the word. 
 The sphinx has never told us anything, but men and 
 women tell us just enough to mislead us." 
 
 " You are exaggerating." 
 
 " Am I ? The case for saints is purely circumstantial. 
 Now, I am supposed to know you, but do I ? Perhaps 
 all the time you have been laughing at me for a vain 
 simpleton." He quite enjoyed the absurdity of the idea. 
 " Perhaps, after all, you are a Messalina." 
 
 " Gerald, I won't allow you to talk to me like that." 
 
 " Really," he went on, unheeding, " the idea quite 
 excites me. It gives you a new interest." 
 
 " I am glad of that," she said a little bitterly ; and 
 then she added what had better have been left unsaid : 
 " Perhaps Pamela Gray is a Messalina."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 227 
 
 " I wonder ? That would be more exciting still." 
 
 Her mention of Pamela Gray's name told Bellamy 
 that she had guessed the truth. 
 
 They joined the others, who were having tea on the 
 south terrace. It was an exquisite afternoon, the sort 
 of weather that had been waited for during July and 
 August in vain. The famous avenue with its superb 
 sweep of green, across which the trees on either side 
 threw long shadows, stretched its length before them in 
 delicious perspective. Somewhere down on the terraces 
 of the old English garden a peacock screamed. 
 
 The generous expanse of pleasure-lands, the company 
 in which he found himself, and the mellow Tudor 
 splendour of Lanham in the background, made Dawlish 
 feel that he had indeed left the middle classes behind him, 
 and if it had not been for the letter in his pocket, of 
 which he became acutely conscious whenever his eye 
 fell on Bellamy, he would have been quite happy, from 
 the fact that for the moment he had got as far as he 
 could have expected, and that he felt that he was having 
 his money's worth. 
 
 As Bellamy and Mrs. Crutchley joined the tea-party, 
 Lady Charlotte was holding forth on her favourite topic 
 the degeneracy of Society, its lack of serious objective, 
 its devotion to pleasure, etc. She was, at the same time, 
 discussing her third cup of tea. 
 
 " Society gets more and more vulgar every day, and 
 more and more irresponsible ; and it's people like you, 
 Bellamy, who are to blame."
 
 228 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " My dear aunt," he murmured, " there is nobody 
 like me. I am unique. If I thought otherwise, I should 
 be inconsolable." 
 
 " You are very vain." 
 
 "I always was, even as a boy." 
 
 "You never were a boy, Bellamy. You were at 
 Eton, but I never heard of your being a boy. We 
 are going the way of old Rome," she continued. 
 
 " Why not ! There was nothing the matter with 
 old Rome." 
 
 " Nothing the matter with old Rome, Gerald r " 
 And Lady Charlotte was not the only one who looked 
 surprised. 
 
 " My dear Bellamy," said Mr. Beauclerk, " how 
 you do upset one ! " 
 
 " People make a most absurd bugbear of old Rome," 
 said Bellamy. " Just because she came to grief through 
 getting somebody else to fight her battles, Society is 
 always told, directly it enjoys itself, that it will end 
 like her. My dear aunt, sickly Christian sentiment 
 did more to kill Rome than anything." 
 
 " Bellamy, don't be profane ! I won't sit and 
 listen to it." 
 
 "It's the same sort of thing," continued her 
 nephew, " that compels us to misgovern our Colonies. 
 Just because America got the better of us in a quarrel 
 in which she was hopelessly in the wrong, we are 
 always to give in, no matter what Greater Britain 
 may say."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 229 
 
 Lady Charlotte stuck to her guns. 
 
 " Society is degenerate hopelessly degenerate." 
 
 " I suppose we are decadent," said Portchester, 
 who stood six feet one in his stockings, and had the 
 physique of an ox. 
 
 " Decadence," said Bellamy, " is an instinct. Some 
 countries are born decadent. America, for instance. 
 The citizens of America are all of extreme age and 
 very decadent. Good heavens ! Contrast the two 
 people. England typifies youth ; America, old age. 
 Just as some people never get old, England will die 
 young." 
 
 u But surely, my dear Gerald, you don't mean to 
 say that we are as good a nation as when we won 
 Waterloo ? " 
 
 " We didn't win Waterloo," said Mrs. Crutchley ; 
 " we have that on the best authority." 
 
 " Quite so," added Bellamy. " History is now made 
 in Germany. Perhaps that's why it isn't to be depended 
 upon." 
 
 The Duchess of Havant and Pamela Gray appeared 
 in the distance, as usual, with their arms round each 
 other's waists. 
 
 " How very fond those two are of each other ! " 
 said Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 "The friendship of an older woman for a younger 
 one is good for them both," said Lady Charlotte. 
 
 "I'm sure it's a very healthy sign," murmured 
 Bellamy.
 
 230 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " But the Duchess of Havant is not very much older 
 than Miss Gray." 
 
 " She's married, and that's the same thing." 
 
 " Oh, really, Lady Charlotte ! " protested Mrs. 
 Crutchley. 
 
 " My dear, in my young days married women were 
 well, married women." 
 
 Bellamy rose and put a chair for Pamela Gray by 
 his side. 
 
 "We are talking of decadence," he said, speaking 
 very slowly, as was his wont when under the spell of 
 a new fascination. He gave her a glance from beneath 
 his half-closed eyelids which was like a stab through 
 Mrs. Crutchley's heart. " Do you think we are de- 
 cadent ? " 
 
 "I don't know, I'm sure. Everybody says we are, 
 so I suppose we must be." 
 
 " We are," said Lady Charlotte, with unction ; " I 
 know we are." 
 
 "Just look at Georgian society," said Bellamy. 
 "Think of the Macaronis and their like the men 
 with their rouge-pots and patches, their powdered hair, 
 and silks and satins ; not to speak of the women with 
 their stay-at-home languors. No ; I am inclined to 
 think that, after all, the victory is with the Noncon- 
 formists, and that they have slain excess." 
 
 "Don't you think," said Pamela Gray, "that we 
 all talk a great deal too much about what we are and 
 what we are not ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 231 
 
 " Do you think the nation is exchanging action 
 for thought ? That is so fatal to national develop- 
 ment." 
 
 " Perhaps it is only part of the egotism of the age." 
 
 Bellamy looked at her in admiration. He was so 
 accustomed to tell fools that they talked well that he 
 forbore to compliment her. 
 
 " Personally," he said, " I believe in egotism. The 
 one thing we can be sure of is ourselves, and therefore 
 I think we may be permitted to develop our personality 
 in our own way." 
 
 " I believe in a moral law," she answered severely. 
 
 " I have no faith in abstractions," he said. 
 
 He was piqued by her answer. There was a sturdy 
 note of independence in it. It sounded like a challenge 
 to battle. She was not the sort of girl whom it would 
 be advisable to inform of his intentions, in however 
 intangible a manner. 
 
 Lady Bellamy, who had been feeding Dodo, and 
 was now wiping his mouth with a napkin kept specially 
 for that purpose, and which had his name embroidered 
 on it, overheard something about belief, and chimed in. 
 
 "Nobody believes anything in our days. I don't 
 suppose our ancestors sat round and disbelieved in the 
 way we do. Do you think they did ? " 
 
 Mr. Spottitt, who had been surveying Mrs. Crutch- 
 ley from beneath the low-tilted brim of his panama, 
 answered Lady Bellamy's vaguely addressed question. 
 
 " I should think they had more faith, Lady Bellamy,
 
 232 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 and therefore more pleasure. One must possess faith 
 to enjoy one's self. The success of the Church of 
 Rome is due to the excellent bargain she drives with 
 her flock. In return for their submission to Mother 
 Church they are given a free hand." 
 
 "I really beg your pardon, Mr. Spottitt," said the 
 duchess, a recent convert, whose going over had not 
 attracted as much attention as she had expected ; " our 
 Church is very severe." 
 
 "Ah, duchess, you converts take it all so very 
 seriously," said Spottitt, easily. " With the born Roman 
 Catholics, theoretically I may be wrong, but in practice 
 it works out." 
 
 The Duchess of Havant, who, excepting the Pope, 
 was not intellectually capable of grasping the difference 
 between Anglican and Roman theology, was silent, and 
 Mr. Spottitt turned to hold Lady Charlotte's wool for 
 her. He was wondering how many shawls she managed 
 to get through in a year, and where they went, and he 
 made bold to ask her. 
 
 "I really couldn't say," she answered. "I know 
 that one year I finished thirty ; but that was after my 
 husband died, and I had to have something to occupy 
 my mind. Really," continued Lady Charlotte, busily 
 winding her wool, " Mr. Dawlish makes me quite un- 
 comfortable. He hardly ever says a word. He really 
 looks as if he had got something on his mind." 
 
 "Perhaps he has," said Spottitt. "I suppose the 
 way he made his money is troubling him."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 233 
 
 " Or perhaps the way he is losing it," said Lady 
 Charlotte, in her deep baritone. 
 
 Bellamy and Pamela Gray rose and moved away. 
 
 Spottitt noticed a shadow cross Mrs. Crutchley's 
 face, while the duchess looked bored. 
 
 Bellamy did not believe in the friendship between 
 the duchess and her protlgle ; in fact, he always mis- 
 trusted the depth of women's friendships. "They 
 use friendship," he used to say, " but they don't 
 feel it." 
 
 He had his own ideas as to the younger woman's 
 aims and ambitions, and although Reggie had confided 
 his hopes to him, he thought that that young gentleman's 
 aspirations wronged his astuteness. He believed in his 
 own diagnosis of social cases, and was fully convinced 
 that Pamela Gray had so far only occupied herself with 
 the disposition of her forces before opening the campaign 
 with, as her objective, a matrimonial prize worth having. 
 From the vantage ground of the Duchess of Havant's 
 drawing-room, it was possible to do a great deal. He 
 was sure that as yet she had not seen anything likely. 
 She was much too clever to make a serious advance 
 unless she could do so on a definite basis of attraction. 
 Bellamy conceived the subtle idea of driving, if possible, 
 an unspoken bargain with her. He had a cousin, young 
 Lord Southwick. Southwick was only a barony, but very 
 old, and with a rent roll that was enormous. He was 
 coming on to Lanham in a few days. Southwick looked 
 upon Bellamy as the beau ideal of everything that he
 
 234 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 wished to be. If Bellamy should suggest that Pamela 
 Gray was the only possible Lady Southwick, he would 
 probably answer to the cue at once. The idea pleased 
 Bellamy enormously, and he thought it out. They 
 would make a charming couple ; in fact, he found him- 
 self getting quite sentimental at the idea, and it gave 
 him a shock for a moment to think that he was perhaps 
 developing the paternal spirit, a spirit so exceedingly 
 hostile to the preservation of youth. As to the price, 
 well, nonentities must always expect to pay for advan- 
 tages, and an ambitious woman has always her market 
 value. He was not sure, but he did not think that 
 her demureness meant conscience. He knew, further, 
 that Lady Charlotte had quite decided that Southwick 
 was to marry a niece of hers, and although Bellamy was 
 quite good friends with his aunt, he would be perfectly 
 able to enjoy her discomfiture. He debated the matter 
 at length in his own mind while walking with Pamela 
 Gray beneath the trees in the avenue. 
 
 " What a possession a place like this is ! " She paused 
 in their walk, and looked back at the house. 
 
 The windows caught the declining sun, and blazed 
 at them as if the interior of the house were one vast 
 furnace. The day had been too hot, but there was 
 already a breath of evening in the air. From either 
 side came the singing of innumerable birds. Above, 
 moving against the clear blue sky with a Japanese effect, 
 a solitary rook winged its way, giving forth its mournful 
 cry.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 235 
 
 " It is beautiful," said Bellamy. " One of these 
 days I must turn it into a Watteau landscape again." 
 
 " How will you do that ? " 
 
 " Oh, by simply painting in the proper figures." 
 And he told her about the historic entertainment. 
 
 " Personally," she said, " I never feel at home in 
 fancy dress. I went to a fancy-dress ball this year at 
 Paignton House. There were twenty-five Mary Queen 
 of Scots, and thirteen Charles Surfaces." 
 
 " I don't believe in mixed fancy dress," said Bellamy. 
 " The effect is always excruciating. A single period 
 should be insisted on." 
 
 " All the same, I would sooner have watched your 
 Watteau /& from an upper window." 
 
 " You would have been clothed as a shepherdess and 
 set to tend sheep." 
 
 " Oh, not a Watteau shepherdess ! They are so 
 artificial." 
 
 " Not to the initiated," said Bellamy. 
 
 She looked at him quickly. 
 
 " One is always afraid," he said, " of repeating any- 
 thing which has been a perfect success, but Southwick, 
 who can just remember it, and was one of Oberon's 
 train, is always trying to persuade me to do so." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Would it please you ? " 
 
 She ignored the personal element in his remark, and 
 answered 
 
 " Society would be delighted."
 
 236 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Do you know Lord Southwick ? " he asked. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " He is very elect, and is not afraid of himself." 
 
 " I don't think he need be," she answered, laughing. 
 " He doesn't look formidable." 
 
 "Oh, it is the weakest men who dread them- 
 selves most. Lady Charlotte wants to marry him to 
 my cousin, Katherine Hillborough ; most unsuitable." 
 
 "I know Miss Hillborough slightly. She seems a 
 very nice girl." 
 
 " Southwick doesn't want a nice girl. He wants some 
 one to edit his life for him a strong-minded woman. 
 In every establishment there must be a man somewhere." 
 
 " I thought you inferred that he was charming ? " 
 
 " So he is in his own particular way. There is 
 no need to be strong-minded to be charming. I am 
 afraid I shall have to disappoint Lady Charlotte, and 
 find him a wife myself. He always does as I tell him." 
 He looked at her with his meaning written about his 
 mouth in a cryptic smile. 
 
 She deciphered it at once. Bellamy's instinct had 
 not played him false. This creature, with the white 
 purity of the jeune fille about her, was quite ready for 
 barter and exchange of the most complicated kind, only 
 she was determined not to be cheated. He quite saw 
 that once she had got what she wanted she was much 
 too clever not to range herself on the side of the domestic 
 virtues. Her ambition taught her instinctively to seek 
 the direction in which lay the secret of woman's power.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 237 
 
 " Yes," went on Bellamy, " Southwick is not brilliant, 
 but he thinks he is. Now, the woman who marries him 
 must permit him to continue to think so, but will require 
 to sway his actions." 
 
 " I quite understand," she said. 
 
 And then they both laughed. The answer sounded 
 so exactly-as though she had received a commission which 
 she was promising to execute faithfully. They forbore, 
 however, to analyze the cause of their mirth. 
 
 He offered to take her back by a more beautiful way, 
 and they went down a winding path till they came to a 
 ruined chapel. 
 
 " Old Lanham Castle used to be at the top," he 
 said, pointing upwards. "It was a convent in the 
 earlier days of Henry the Eighth, but when that ridicu- 
 lous-looking monarch abolished the aesthetic in religion, 
 Lanham was the first Lord Bellamy's commission on 
 the transaction." 
 
 " Henry the Eighth was the bully of English 
 history," she answered ; " but, putting cant aside, I do 
 not believe that a religion worth having wants much 
 that is exoteric, do you ? " 
 
 " Of course not," he said. " Rome throws the 
 sensuous as a bait to sinners, forgetting that she is 
 merely indulging them." 
 
 She laughed. They stood now within the decaying 
 walls of the chapel. 
 
 " It would be a great idea," said Bellamy, looking 
 round, " to have a wedding here. It would be deliciously
 
 2 3 8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 incongruous ! Three or four hundred smart people, and 
 just a few candles and a cross on the ruined altar. 
 Paquin and Felix, plus crumbling walls and ivy ! I'll 
 give you the first refusal,'* he said, turning to her. 
 " Lady Bellamy would, I am sure, be delighted." 
 
 " Shall I rehearse ? " she said. " What are you 
 going to do for an organ ? " 
 
 " We will have a 'cello and a flute concealed in the 
 ruined vaults,." 
 
 " Rather sad," she said, " don't you think ? Two 
 sobs ! Couldn't you add a laugh ? " 
 
 " I'll throw in a grand piano, if you like." 
 
 She made a pretence of advancing up the aisle. 
 
 " You must have some one to give you away." 
 
 " My father is dead." She looked at him pathetically. 
 
 " I will consent to act for once on condition that you 
 never remind me that I played the paternal even when 
 playing the fool. There," he said, as she laid her hand 
 on his arm, " we are quite ready. Our two sobs and a 
 laugh are singing * The Voice that breathed o'er Eden.' " 
 
 She gave him a swift glance. 
 
 " Eden ? " she said. 
 
 "Eden," he answered. Then he seized her in his 
 arms and kissed her. 
 
 She sprang back with a magnificent display of in- 
 dignation, a virgin outraged and fearless. 
 
 " Lord Bellamy, I am your guest ! " 
 
 " I was trying to please my guest," he answered, with 
 an inimitable smile.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 239 
 
 She was compelled either to constitute the incident 
 an irredeemable offence or to laugh. She chose the 
 latter, and he said simply 
 
 " Shall we go ? " 
 
 They went towards the house, and met Mr. Spottitt 
 and Mrs. Crutchley on the terrace. 
 
 " I have been showing Miss Gray the ruined chapel." 
 
 " Built by Edward the Confessor, wasn't it ? " said 
 Spottitt. 
 
 " Or Edward the Caresser ; " and Bellamy laughed. 
 
 " Which one was that ? " asked Mrs. Crutchley, 
 innocently. 
 
 " Oh, the fourth of that name, I suppose," answered 
 Spottitt. 
 
 " I suppose so," said Bellamy, dryly. 
 
 The three others went indoors, and Mr. Spottitt was 
 left alone, but not for long, for as he leant over the 
 parapet and smoked his cigarette, Lady Bellamy glided 
 up to him. 
 
 " Have you anything to tell me ? " 
 
 Spottitt looked up at the house and round about, 
 and then suddenly began to laugh. 
 
 " Pretend to be talking lightly and gaily," he said 
 hurriedly ; " there's somebody looking." 
 
 Lady Bellamy immediately commenced to chatter 
 and laugh in the most vacuous manner. 
 
 Spottitt's extraordinary intelligence had stood him 
 in good stead. Lady Bellamy had threatened to inter- 
 fere seriously with his pleasure. Although she had at
 
 240 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 first earnestly declared that good taste would prevent 
 her allowing anything in the shape of espionage in her 
 own house, her natural curiosity had worn through the 
 thin veneer of convention, and she had by degrees 
 worked herself up into a high state of fevered in- 
 quisitiveness. She was constantly at his elbow, plying 
 him with swift and mysterious questions. He was, 
 however, always ready for her, and invariably gave 
 her the impression that she had arrived at a moment 
 particularly inopportune for her own interests. 
 
 He left her almost immediately. He had dis- 
 covered a summer-house situated on a knoll, which 
 was on a level with some of the bedroom windows. 
 Lest his professional aptitude should rust, he would, 
 quite unperceived, sweep the upper and lower windows 
 with a small but strong pair of glasses. 
 
 There was nothing vulgar about Spottitt's curiosity. 
 He perfectly understood that his success depended on 
 his retaining his exquisite palate for the well-bred. 
 He would not have intruded, even with a field-glass, 
 on a lady in her peignoir had she been alone. 
 
 The field-glasses had been the cause of an amusing 
 incident. 
 
 He had unpardonably permitted himself to be dis- 
 covered directing them towards the house by Bellamy 
 and several of his guests coming in from shooting. 
 
 " What on earth are you up to ? " asked Port- 
 chester, suspiciously. 
 
 Spottitt looked at him coolly.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 241 
 
 " Ornithology is the most fascinating study in the 
 world, and I must say I prefer watching the habits of 
 birds to shooting them. The only real way to study 
 them, however, is through a glass." 
 
 The answer was effective, but Bellamy laughed. 
 
 " Your methods are always scientific, Spottitt." 
 
 Unfortunately, it turned out that Portchester was 
 himself no mean ornithologist. He button-holed Spot- 
 titt constantly, with the result that the latter was com- 
 pelled to abstract several volumes on the science from 
 the library and study them o' nights. He made a 
 point of favouring the breakfast-table with what he 
 had read in the small hours, which, though it had the 
 effect of silencing Portchester, caused Lady Charlotte 
 to warn him that an over-study of birds in this life 
 resulted in the human soul becoming a vampire in 
 the next. 
 
 " I wonder what sort of vampire I should make ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 "You would have to live in a grave," said the 
 duchess, " with a corpse." 
 
 "I should live in a family vault with several 
 corpses," said Spottitt. "There must be social degrees 
 in the nether world, and even a vampire can be 
 correct." 
 
 " I don't know whether I am permitted to give 
 invitations yet," said Bellamy, " but I suppose my 
 ancestors will have no objection to my receiving my 
 own friends." 
 
 R
 
 242 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Spottitt bowed. 
 
 " I shall be delighted to give you a turn." 
 
 " I should think," said Lady Charlotte, " a vampire 
 is enough to give anybody a turn." 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't all talk like that," said Reggie, 
 nervously, although it was broad daylight. " I once 
 had a nurse who said there was a ghost for every day 
 in the week except Sundays, and I've never got over 
 it. I don't know why, but I was always particularly 
 afraid of Monday's ghost." 
 
 "I suppose Sunday had spoilt its temper," said 
 Bellamy. 
 
 Seated in his summer-house, Spottitt swept the 
 facade of the building, but there was really very little 
 to see. 
 
 At an upper window a figure caught his attention. 
 It was Stevens. Stevens had a great fascination for 
 Spottitt. He admired him enormously. He had never 
 seen anything like his conduct on the day on which he 
 had been forced to remain in Lord Bellamy's service. 
 The perfect manner in which he had bowed to the 
 inevitable had been a triumph. No knight of old 
 surrendering his sword could have invested a humiliating 
 episode with a greater retention of personal dignity. 
 
 So he watched Stevens at his upper window with 
 interest. At first he had some difficulty in making out 
 what he was doing, for though he was near enough to 
 the window to catch the light, he would have been 
 invisible to the naked eye.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 243 
 
 " What on earth is he doing ? " thought Spottitt. 
 
 Then he realized that he was sewing sewing at 
 the sleeve of a coat. 
 
 "Just the sort of man who could do anything." 
 And he shut up his glasses and went to dress for 
 dinner. His room was next to Reggie's, and there 
 was a communicating door between them which was 
 locked. As he began to undress he heard Reggie's 
 voice in high-pitched protest, and although in an 
 ordinary way he hardly considered him worth atten- 
 tion, there was something in the excitement of his 
 voice which drew Spottitt to the communicating 
 door. 
 
 "I tell you, Dawlish, it's somebody who has got a 
 grudge against Bellamy. In any case, it's much wiser 
 to say nothing about it." 
 
 " My dear fellow, the writer says he plays with a 
 card up his sleeve." 
 
 Spottitt's curiosity was roused to the' highest pitch. 
 What on earth could Reggie and Dawlish be talking 
 about ? It took him some time to realize that it was 
 Bellamy who was being discussed. Reggie evidently 
 wished to have nothing to do with it, and the only 
 suggestion that he had to make on the subject was 
 that he should write to his mother confidentially for 
 advice how to proceed. 
 
 Finally, it was evident that Dawlish was closing the 
 interview, and Spottitt gathered that he was crossing 
 the room.
 
 244 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Well, I'm not going to put up with it any 
 longer. I'm going to see into the matter, Vandeleur. 
 No man could go on winning like that. It's against 
 Nature." 
 
 If Spottitt could have seen Reggie's face he must 
 have been amused at the look of horror that came 
 into it. 
 
 " Look here, Dawlish, Nature's got nothing what- 
 ever to do with cards, and for goodness' sake don't 
 make a scene. You'll damn yourself if you do." 
 
 " Do you mean, Vandeleur, that people will stand by 
 a card-sharper ? " 
 
 "There's no knowing what people won't stand by. 
 Besides, you're talking of Bellamy, and the thing is 
 absurd." 
 
 " Why more absurd of Bellamy than of anybody 
 else ? " 
 
 Spottitt smiled. There was a curious colouring 
 about this speech. Its tones were inspired by Mrs. 
 Crutchley's admirer. 
 
 "That's just where you'll give yourself away, 
 Dawlish, if you are not careful. It's one of those 
 things that one can't explain ; but society won't ever 
 believe what it doesn't want to believe and you won't 
 make it." 
 
 "And supposing the card were found up his 
 sleeve ? " 
 
 " Oh, I say, now you're getting light-headed ! " 
 And Reggie gave a snigger. " Even if Bellamy did cheat
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 245 
 
 he'd never get found out. He's a jolly sight too clever 
 for that. If he did the thing at all he'd do it properly. 
 He'd probably let you put your foot in it, and make you 
 look a fool before everybody." 
 
 " Would he ? " laughed Dawlish, sardonically. 
 
 " And he'd have all the women on his side ; and if 
 you don't mind, I'm going to tie my tie, and I've only 
 got ten minutes to do it in." 
 
 " Well, tie away." 
 
 " Tie a bow with anybody in the room ? " shrieked 
 Reggie. " I couldn't. Where do you think my nerves 
 are ? Besides, you'll be late." 
 
 The prospect of being so late as to have to enter 
 the room alone startled Dawlish, and he fled to his 
 bedroom. 
 
 Spottitt was about to withdraw his ear from the door 
 when, to his amazement, Reggie continued to address 
 somebody in a high-pitched voice. At first he thought 
 he must be swearing at a servant, but gradually he 
 realized that he was giving an imaginary Dawlish a piece 
 of his mind. 
 
 " "^"ou beastly bounder ! You get into decent houses 
 by working on one's poverty, and then you want to 
 accuse your host of cheating at cards. I should like to 
 know " at this point he apparently banged the brushes 
 down on the dressing-table "what you think you 
 were asked for. For your looks ? " Here followed 
 a cackle of great enjoyment. " For your clever 
 tongue ? " Another cackle of even greater enjoyment.
 
 246 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " No ; you were asked because Bellamy thought it 
 damned funny, and because I wanted five hundred 
 pounds." 
 
 If Reggie would only go on like this, Spottitt was 
 quite content to be late for dinner. 
 
 "And I've spoilt two dress ties through you, you 
 beast ! You ought to have a half-hour with mamma 
 that would do you good." 
 
 Even Spottitt was excited. He dressed himself with 
 extraordinary rapidity, for although he did most things 
 with apparent languor it was a carefully studied pose. 
 He felt that it was necessary to be very careful, or his 
 profession might have a deteriorating effect on his 
 manners. The habit of hurry was to be avoided, or 
 he might become brisk. He was perfectly well aware 
 that Dawlish had grown to dislike Bellamy as much 
 because of the woman as because of the money. He 
 had more than once wondered how Dawlish had 
 managed to find his way to Lanham at all, and 
 Reggie's unconscious revelation had amused him 
 tremendously. Of course, Spottitt at once guessed the 
 authorship of the letter they were discussing, and he 
 could not help thinking that it was a little clumsy of 
 Stevens. He would not have expected it of him. And 
 yet when he came to think it over he had to admit that 
 Stevens had chosen his man well. Dawlish was probably 
 the one person in the house who would not either have 
 taken the letter straight to Bellamy or have destroyed 
 it. What his purpose could be it was exceedingly
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 247 
 
 difficult to say, for surely Stevens could not believe that 
 Bellamy was capable of cheating. He was evidently 
 much too astute a judge of character for that ; and 
 while Spottitt stood musing the dinner gong rang, and 
 as it did so, for apparently no explicable reason, the 
 picture of Stevens's figure sewing at the upper window 
 came into his brain. He had certainly credited him 
 with cleverness, but he had never dreamt that he was 
 capable of such daring. 
 
 He was at the top of the stairs, and he ran back to 
 his room and opened a bag. He had a pack of cards 
 somewhere. He was anxious to see if it were possible 
 for the delicate piece of pasteboard to be concealed in a 
 coat-sleeve without the owner noticing it. 
 
 He made the experiment. Yes, it was perfectly 
 possible. 
 
 He went downstairs brimming over with excitement, 
 and almost forgetting to be languid. 
 
 In the hall he met the Duchess of Havant. However 
 late anybody else was, she was sure to be later. 
 
 All through dinner Spottitt watched Bellamy, fasci- 
 nated. Every time he raised his arm he expected to see 
 a card flutter from it. 
 
 Reggie was evidently nervous, and kept on looking 
 at Dawlish as if he wer^ afraid he was about to rise and 
 denounce his host. 
 
 Of course everybody in the house knew that Bellamy 
 had won large sums from his guest, and presumed that 
 Dawlish was gloomy in consequence. There was no
 
 248 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 sympathy with him. If rich nobodies came amongst 
 their betters they should learn to take their reverses with 
 equanimity. 
 
 It was the last evening that the same party would 
 sit down to dinner. Several of the guests were leaving 
 the next day. Spottitt, amongst others, was going 
 early. 
 
 "I don't think I should care about being a drone," 
 he was saying to Lady Charlotte. 
 
 " You don't suggest work," she answered. " What 
 do you do ? " 
 
 " I am a journalist," was the unblushing reply. 
 
 " Are you indeed ? Not a Society journalist, I 
 hope ? " She looked across at Mrs. Gresham, who tried 
 to appear unconscious. 
 
 Spottitt posed as a journalist because it was a pro- 
 fession difficult of proof. 
 
 " Has anybody read this week's Blue Blood ? " sud- 
 denly asked Lady Charlotte, turning to the rest of the 
 company, and keeping a particularly keen eye on Mrs. 
 Gresham. 
 
 Blue Blood was a Society paper with a delicious 
 atmosphere of the backstairs about its gossip. It was 
 voted a vulgar rag, but everybody read it. 
 
 No one had seen it, and they all said so. 
 
 " You couldn't very well have done so," said Lady 
 Charlotte, "as I've had it in my room all day." 
 
 The company looked a little uncomfortable. Every- 
 body more than suspected that Mrs. Gresham wrote for
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 249 
 
 Blue Blood, and wondered what on earth Lady Charlotte 
 meant by springing the subject on them so suddenly. 
 
 " There's a very unpleasant paragraph about me this 
 week," she continued. u It begins by describing me as 
 one of Society's most influential grandes dames ; and then 
 it goes on in a penny-a-line sort of way to tell its readers 
 who I am, and ends up by saying that whenever I stay 
 at a country house I seize all the papers the first thing 
 in the morning and sit upon them till I have read 
 them." 
 
 " My dear aunt, how disgraceful ! " said Bellamy, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Oh, it's quite true ! I don't deny the facts. But 
 what I want to know is, who is the traitor r " 
 
 Luckily for Mrs. Gresham, the conversation on the 
 subject became general. 
 
 " Dear Lady Charlotte, why do you read those 
 papers ? " asked the Duchess of Havant. 
 
 " Because they amuse me, my dear. I always had 
 a partiality for penny novelettes, and they are very like 
 them." 
 
 " I suppose the people who write for Society papers 
 get their information from gossiping with the servants," 
 said Lady Bellamy. 
 
 " Mamma always gossips with the servants, and so 
 do I," said Reggie. " We can't help it it runs in the 
 family." 
 
 "I am quite sure it must be delightful," said the 
 Comtesse. " So instructive. They must know a great
 
 250 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 deal, for they are the only people we never trouble to 
 conceal anything from." 
 
 " I always think," said Mrs. Gresham, who felt 
 bound to join in the conversation lest she might appear 
 confused, " that there ought to be a law against servants 
 giving evidence in court. It has always struck me as 
 being eminently unfair." 
 
 " It's a point worth considering," said Bellamy. 
 
 " I think," said Lady Bellamy, looking round on the 
 domestic picture before her, " that there ought to be a 
 law against Society papers. One's home life should be 
 sacred." 
 
 " But you have so little home life in England. That 
 is a very pretty song, * Home, Sweet Home,' but it 
 should not have been written by an Englishman." 
 
 "I thought," said Mrs. Crutchley, "that the home 
 virtues were only found to perfection in this country." 
 
 And Lady Bellamy said patronizingly 
 
 " You do not know us, comtesse, or you would not 
 say that." 
 
 " Madame de Perrefonds is quite right," said Bellamy. 
 " The English family is the most divided in the whole 
 world." 
 
 " Oh, surely not, surely not I " protested Mr. Beau- 
 clerk. 
 
 " It is obvious if you look around," answered 
 Bellamy, who was never so happy as when he was 
 picking some favourite prejudice to pieces which till 
 then no one had ever thought of questioning. "Just
 
 251 
 
 think of the French. Why, the family never breaks 
 up. Mamma and papa go on telling their children 
 what to do till their dying day. Fancy an English 
 parent who ventured to dictate to his son after he had 
 left school ! The only people who do so are the rich, 
 and it is a privilege they pay for." 
 
 " We are a very mercenary race," said Lady Char- 
 lotte, " but I don't think we have quite arrived at 
 making filial obedience a marketable commodity." 
 
 "The Englishman will sell anything," persisted 
 Bellamy. "The other day the Duke of Crowborough 
 was mistaken in his own house for a guide, and given 
 half a crown. He pretended that it was a joke, but he 
 took the money and kept it."
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE windows of the room which was generally used 
 at Lanham after dinner gave on to a terrace overlooking 
 the steeper side of the grounds, from which there was a 
 noble view of the surrounding landscape. The picture 
 gallery ran out of it at one side, and on the other side 
 there was a winter garden which led on to the South 
 Terrace. 
 
 While every one was at dinner, this room was 
 made ready for the card-playing. The roulette table 
 was drawn out into the centre, and one or two smaller 
 tables placed for those who preferred something more 
 sophisticated. 
 
 The room was empty when Stevens looked in 
 cautiously from the picture gallery, and, seeing no one 
 about, crossed to the table where Bellamy and Dawlish 
 were in the habit of playing for stakes so high, that 
 it was a tacit understanding between them that they 
 should pencil the amounts and not mention them 
 aloud. 
 
 Curiously enough, there was no one at Lanham 
 who cared about " Bridge." Bellamy rather discouraged 
 it. It was very vulgar and very overdone. The suburbs 
 
 252
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 253 
 
 played it constantly, and he had been told that there 
 was even a variation called " Putney Bridge." 
 
 Stevens took up the sealed packets of cards that 
 were lying on the table and replaced them with others 
 from his own pocket. 
 
 He was about to withdraw quietly, and with an 
 entire absence of flurry, when he thought he heard his 
 own name murmured from the terrace. 
 
 He started as if he had been shot, and without 
 daring to turn round listened intently. 
 
 Again the faint voice said 
 
 Richard ! " 
 
 He turned, and saw a woman's figure outlined 
 mistily on the moonlit terrace. He realized at once 
 that it was Henriette, and, seeing that she was recog- 
 nized, she ventured to step into the room. 
 
 " Richard, it is I Henriette." 
 
 He looked at her stolidly without betraying the least 
 surprise. 
 
 " I quite see who it is, and I want to know what 
 you are doing here." 
 
 " I have come to see you, Richard." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " I love you." 
 
 " Humph ! This is very sudden." He spoke as if 
 he were quite indifferent to the fact. 
 
 " Forgive me, Richard. I had to come. I wrote 
 to you, and you never answered me." 
 
 " Pardon me, I did answer."
 
 254 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Only in the coldest manner. I wrote to you of 
 reconciliation, of happiness, of forgiveness. You replied 
 asking whether we could get a shop with a cheaper 
 rent. I felt that I must see you." She laid her hand 
 appealingly on his arm. 
 
 He took her wrist between finger and thumb and 
 dropped it as though it had been something unclean. 
 
 " Why couldn't you have come earlier in the day ? " 
 
 " I did, but I lost my way coming from the station, 
 and then when I got here I didn't dare to come near 
 the house till it was dark ; and oh, I've been so frightened, 
 and so hungry. Say you forgive me ! Believe me, 
 Richard, I am innocent." 
 
 Overcome either by her feelings or by hunger, 
 Henriette sank at his feet. 
 
 He looked anxiously around, touched in his one 
 vulnerable point, his love of etiquette and decorum. 
 
 " Here, none of that. We don't want any of those 
 Frenchified tricks in a fine old English mansion like 
 this." 
 
 He attempted to raise her, but realizing that her 
 display of feeling gave her a certain advantage, she 
 remained where she was. 
 
 " I can't help it, Richard ; my mother was a French- 
 woman. I will not rise until you forgive me." 
 
 u Yes, yes. Now run away." 
 
 u Run away ! Where am I to run to ? I couldn't 
 run about in the park any more, and I can't walk 
 another step."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 255 
 
 " You can't stay here." 
 
 He almost began to lose his nerve. Perhaps 
 Henriette might make a scene and ruin all his plans. 
 The ladies might come in from the dining-room at any 
 moment. He tried to coax her. 
 
 "Now, couldn't you make up a bed of leaves in 
 the park ? They are beginning to fall. It's quite 
 warm." 
 
 But overpowering hunger had taken possession of her. 
 " Oh, Richard, you are very hard ! I want something 
 to eat." 
 
 " Well, I'll bring you something to eat, and a rug." 
 " Don't the servants here know that you are 
 married ? " 
 
 " They may have heard rumours, but I have not 
 gratified their curiosity." 
 " Oh, I'm so hungry ! " 
 
 There was the sound of voices and laughter in the 
 picture gallery. 
 
 He pushed her firmly towards the terrace window, 
 but hunger gave her the courage of despair. 
 
 " Richard, I will not go without something to eat." 
 He was obliged to yield. 
 
 " Well, come along then," he said, with suppressed 
 fury, and hurried her off through the conservatory. 
 
 There was nothing to be done but to make up the 
 best story he could to the housekeeper, and get her to 
 palm off Henriette as a friend of hers.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 As Lady Charlotte entered the room she turned to 
 Lady Bellamy. 
 
 "My dear Selina, the art of conversation is dead. 
 I never heard so much rubbish talked at a dinner-table 
 in my life. People think that they are fireworks when 
 they are only going off like damp squibs. It might 
 have been a nursery, except for the absence of roast 
 mutton and rice pudding." 
 
 " I am very sorry, aunt." 
 
 " Your husband is the only man in the house who 
 can talk, and he talks a great deal too much." 
 
 " Gerald is very clever. I sometimes think it would 
 be better if he were not quite so clever." 
 
 U I am sure you would feel more at home with 
 him, my dear," was the uncompromising reply ; and, 
 truth to tell, Lady Charlotte could be even rude at 
 times. 
 
 " Men are terribly wicked in our days," said the 
 duchess. 
 
 "Nonsense, my dear," answered Lady Charlotte. 
 " Men are no worse than they have always been. 
 People would have us believe that crinolines and 
 
 256
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 257 
 
 Dundreary whiskers meant virtue, which makes me 
 think of my first season in town." 
 
 " Did you really wear a crinoline ? " asked Mrs. 
 Crutchley, interested. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, I did. The first Ascot I ever went 
 to I wore a pink Garibaldi, a pork-pie bonnet, side- 
 spring boots, and a crinoline." 
 
 " And a green-fringed parasol ? " 
 
 " As you say, a green-fringed parasol." 
 
 u Oh, and a chignon ? " 
 
 " I had forgotten the chignon. Good heavens ! 
 what a fright I must have looked ! But to come back 
 to the wickedness of men, my dearj the woman who 
 wants to be happy should never see further than her 
 own front door." 
 
 "It must be a wonderful thing to be born a man," 
 'said Pamela Gray. 
 
 "They get all the fun," sighed Mrs. Crutchley. 
 " I read in a book the other day that all the men will 
 one day be reincarnated as women." 
 
 " There will be a great many, ma foi, that will not 
 require reincarnating ! " And the comtesse laughed 
 her shrill, metallic laugh, while Lady Charlotte looked 
 at her disapprovingly. 
 
 " Do you mean," said Lady Bellamy, " that Gerald 
 will ever be reincarnated as a woman ? That would 
 be very interesting." 
 
 " I wonder what sort of woman he would be ? " 
 speculated Mrs. Gresham.
 
 258 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "A professional beauty with brains, I should say," 
 said Lady Charlotte. 
 
 "Oh, but that would be very triste" said the 
 comtesse. " We should not be able to know him." 
 
 "Oh, but I suppose we should all be reincarnated 
 as men," said Lady Charlotte. 
 
 "Ah," said the comtesse, gravely, "then we shall 
 all know him." 
 
 There was a general laugh, but Lady Bellamy looked 
 a little mystified. The joke had gone right over her 
 head. 
 
 Perhaps that was why Madame de Perrefonds thought 
 it safe to make it. 
 
 " And Mr. Beauclerk ? " suggested the duchess. 
 
 " Oh, he will be a dressmaker," said Pamela Gray. 
 
 " And Rollo, I'm sure, will be a good woman," 
 laughed Mrs. Crutchley. 
 
 " And Mr. Vandeleur ? " crescendoed the comtesse. 
 
 But Lady Charlotte interrupted. 
 
 " I think we have speculated quite enough." 
 
 And everybody admitted that the game had its 
 dangers. 
 
 " I am sure I don't know," meandered Lady Bellamy, 
 " how people can believe in such nonsense as reincarna- 
 tion. It's a very uncomfortable idea." 
 
 "I think I should prefer it to the conventional 
 cottonwool heaven," asserted Mrs. Crutchley, "which 
 always sounds so very democratic and mixed." 
 
 " My dear, don't be profane."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 259 
 
 Lady Charlotte belonged to the old school, and 
 thought jokes on religious subjects bad form. 
 
 " I am sure," said Pamela Gray, " that men must be 
 wiser than women." 
 
 "They ought to be wiser," said Lady Charlotte, 
 crocheting vigorously. "But it's always a wonder to 
 me that they remain such fools. If women had half 
 their advantages, men would appear but poor things." 
 
 " I don't believe people are nearly so bad as they are 
 painted, do you ? " And Mrs. Gresham rose from the 
 piano, where she had been murmuring Chopin with the 
 soft pedal down. 
 
 "If women behaved as badly as they paint, Society 
 would be at an end." And Lady Charlotte dropped 
 two stitches. 
 
 " Of course," continued Mrs. Gresham, " one does 
 hear the most dreadful things about every one nowadays, 
 but I make a point of never believing them. I think 
 the great thing is to be charitable. I detest scandal. 
 I I " 
 
 She stopped short, for Lady Charlotte's eyes were 
 upon her with a curious expression in them that made 
 her feel quite uncomfortable. 
 
 Lady Bellamy was never backward when there was 
 a display of virtue, and she said sweetly 
 
 "I quite agree with you, Maude. Let us be 
 charitable, by all means." 
 
 Mrs. Gresham recovered her courage, and, avoiding 
 Lady Charlotte's eye, went on
 
 260 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " For instance, I think it was quite dreadful the way 
 they tore poor Lady Pendarvis's character to pieces at 
 dinner. I dare say, if I choose to speak, I could tell a 
 great deal more than most people, but " 
 
 " Oh, do tell us ! " And the Duchess of Havant 
 drew up quite excitedly. 
 
 "I shouldn't think of it. Everything that I know 
 has been told me in the strictest confidence, and if I 
 were to tell I might do the poor dear any amount of 
 harm. No ; I think we should be loyal to one 
 another." 
 
 " But her husband did run away from her ? " 
 
 " Well, so did mine," said Lady Charlotte. " Three 
 times during the first three years a ballet dancer, the 
 daughter of a bathing-machine attendant, and my dearest 
 friend. That was before he found refuge in politics, 
 and in after years he used to thank me with tears in 
 his eyes for having fetched him back by his coat- 
 collar." 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked aghast. 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't do that ! I might suffer, suffer 
 terribly, but I couldn't do that." 
 
 Lady Charlotte looked at her contemptuously. 
 
 " Oh, I don't suppose you could, my dear ; but, then, 
 you are not Charlotte Blount." 
 
 " How drole you English are," said the comtesse. 
 "If a woman has an erring husband, it's her business 
 to look after him as I looked after mine. He was one 
 of the best fellows in the world, and one of the most
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 261 
 
 brilliant. Besides, he used to make me laugh, and I 
 couldn't see why any woman should deprive me of my 
 amusement." 
 
 " Oh, but it would be so undignified ! " persisted 
 Lady Bellamy. " No, I should go on suffering quite 
 quietly." 
 
 Everybody tried to look impressed, except Lady 
 Charlotte, who snorted. 
 
 "Selfish sentimentality, my dear. The world is 
 ruined by it." 
 
 Lady Bellamy retreated to the terrace with Mrs. 
 Crutchley to look at the moon, and Pamela Gray turned 
 over some music, looking for a piece for Mrs. Gresham 
 to play. 
 
 " Lord Bellamy is very wicked is he not ? " asked 
 the duchess, seating herself beside Lady Charlotte. 
 
 Considering that the subject of the conversation was 
 Lady Charlotte's nephew, the remark would have been 
 a little rude had it not so evidently been meant as a 
 sincere compliment. 
 
 " Bellamy is a man " and Lady Charlotte lowered 
 her voice " whom Society would cut if it had a grain 
 of self-respect. I have told him so a dozen times," she 
 concluded, to cover the fact that she was abusing her 
 host. 
 
 " It is so difficult to cut a man who never bores one.'* 
 
 " I don't believe in abusing people in their own 
 houses," said Lady Charlotte, oblivious of the fact that 
 she had fully taken her share.
 
 262 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Country houses would be very dull if one did 
 not." 
 
 "Selina is his excuse," answered Lady Charlotte, 
 perfectly ready to resume the analysis of the Lanham 
 domestic situation now that she had made her curtsy to 
 good taste. 
 
 "She has been very patient." 
 
 "Selina is a fool. In this world the fools do nine- 
 tenths of the devil's work. Did you hear her talk about 
 suffering ? " And Lady Charlotte threw up her head 
 contemptuously. 
 
 " And yet he is very fascinating, and very clever.*' 
 
 " Bellamy is a man who would sacrifice his lack of 
 reputation or his best friend for a good epigram." 
 
 They were interrupted by Reggie, who came in alone. 
 
 "I say, I'm very sorry, but I can't stand it any 
 longer. Crutchley's craving like a maniac because he 
 says there isn't corn enough in the country to feed it for 
 six weeks." 
 
 " You should have stayed, Reggie, and picked up 
 some useful information." 
 
 " Information ? Why, Crutchley's scribbling in- 
 formation all over the tablecloth with a lead pencil. As 
 I said, who wants to eat corn ? That got him. It 
 cornered them all. And Bellamy said I was quite right." 
 
 "Reggie," said Lady Charlotte, "who is Mr. 
 Spottitt ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; but he's ripping company. Says 
 his father's a clergyman."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 263 
 
 " Yes ; but what clergyman ? " 
 
 Reggie looked at her vacuously. 
 
 " What do you mean what clergyman ? " 
 
 "I don't ever remember to have met him before," 
 said Mrs. Gresham from the piano ; " but he sings and 
 plays divinely." 
 
 " Mamma would simply love him," said Reggie. 
 " He's always just there, you know." 
 
 " Where is your mother now ? " 
 
 " Mamma is at Trouville." 
 
 " She was not in town this season ? " questioned 
 Lady Charlotte. 
 
 " Only for a week or two. She couldn't stay any 
 longer ; she owes so much money. Poor mamma ! 
 And she does enjoy the season so." 
 
 " She is too extravagant." 
 
 " Oh yes, mamma is extravagant ! Felix won't 
 supply her with any more dresses, so she talks of going 
 into a convent. She says that it would be much smarter 
 than appearing at Cowes in last year's frocks. Cela 
 serait vraiment trop triste." 
 
 What ? " 
 
 " It won't exactly translate it's French." 
 
 " I never understand French unless it's spoken with 
 an English accent." 
 
 " I'm awfully sorry for mamma," said Reggie, taking 
 a seat by Lady Charlotte, who appeared to be in one of 
 those moods when she did not frighten him. 
 
 " Oh, I dare say she bears up."
 
 264 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Oh yes, mamma's got no end of pluck. As I 
 always tell everybody, she only fainted once, when she 
 sold her tiara to send me to Eton. Some women would 
 have died. I'm very proud of mamma." 
 
 " Why don't you make a fortune and help her ? " 
 
 Reggie gave a prolonged cackle. 
 
 " I say, that's awfully funny ! Make a fortune ? 
 Why, I can't even make jokes. When I want to be 
 funny I talk about mamma, and then everybody laughs. 
 That shows she's popular. Make a fortune ? I shall 
 write and tell her that you said that. She'll simply die 
 with laughter. And she wants cheering up." 
 
 " Reggie, I believe you're half an idiot." 
 
 " Mamma says I'm quite an idiot, only very good 
 form. I wish I could make money, though. Just look 
 at that chap Dawlish. They say he's worth a million, 
 and when he asked me to dinner he took me to that 
 flash restaurant in Shaftesbury Avenue and gave me a 
 cheap claret. Upon my soul, some people never seem 
 to grow out of their commonness. Now, if I could only 
 play cards like Bellamy, I could make a lot of money." 
 
 " Living by your wits is hardly the profession of a 
 gentleman, Reggie." 
 
 " Mamma says you can do anything if only you're 
 good form." 
 
 " Your mamma has some very extraordinary ideas." 
 " Mamma is a very extraordinary woman, and a 
 very beautiful woman, too, at the beginning of the 
 season."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 265 
 
 The men appeared from the dining-room, Portchester, 
 Crutchley, and Beauclerk still heated with their dispute. 
 Bellamy was finishing a story about a burglary at his 
 town house. 
 
 " I never heard anything about it," said Lady 
 Charlotte, catching the last few words. 
 
 " Oh, Gerald behaved so foolishly ! " said Lady 
 Bellamy, plaintively, coming into the room. " He let 
 them go instead of calling for the police." 
 
 " Oh, do tell us all about it," asked the comtesse. 
 
 " It was quite an experience," laughed Bellamy. " I 
 had been sitting up rather late with my sins, and as 
 I was going to bed I heard a door slam in the inner 
 hall. I turned on the electric light, and, opening a door, 
 found myself face to face with two burglars." 
 
 " Real burglars ? " asked the duchess, breathlessly. 
 
 " I suppose so I never asked them. They looked 
 very convincing." 
 
 " What did you do ? " questioned Reggie, nervously. 
 
 " I asked them what on earth they were making such 
 a noise for." 
 
 " Well ? " chorused everybody. 
 
 *' The older burglar was looking very annoyed, and he 
 pointed to his companion, and said, ' Well, it's this way, 
 my lord. This lock's a bit stiff, and my young friend, 
 he lost his temper and slammed the door.' A young 
 hand, I suggested ? ' Yes, my lord ; he's got a lot to 
 learn.'" 
 
 " Well, what did you do then ? "
 
 266 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Oh, I gave them a sovereign for their trouble and 
 showed them the way to the front door." 
 
 " There," said Mrs. Gresham, " I told you we ought 
 all to be charitable. There is not enough charity in the 
 world. I don't think there is even enough charity in 
 the Church." 
 
 " And there never will be, my dear Mrs. Gresham, 
 till the English bishops are converted to Christianity." 
 
 Everybody laughed, and Bellamy continued 
 
 " What a splendid idea ! A mission for the propaga- 
 tion of Christian knowledge amongst the clergy ! If 
 anybody will start it, I will put my name down for a 
 subscription." 
 
 " One might hand them tracts as they come out of 
 Convocation," said Portchester. 
 
 " It's quite a precious idea ; don't you think so, Mrs. 
 Gresham ? " 
 
 "Quite. There is so very little real Christianity. 
 Now, Lady Southend is a true Christian. She never 
 cuts anybody, no matter what they may do." 
 
 " What a strange idea," said Pamela Gray. " She 
 must know a great many curious people." 
 
 " I suppose she does," answered Bellamy, taking the 
 opportunity of drawing nearer to her. " But she refuses 
 to believe in the social knife. She applies her antiseptic 
 personality to the moral diseases of others, and, I am 
 bound to say, with amazing effect." 
 
 " How very Tolstoy-ish ? " And Pamela Gray 
 looked impressed.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 267 
 
 " Quite a dangerous woman," murmured Bellamy. 
 " But, after all, I have a great sympathy with her 
 attitude." 
 
 " You are not pretending to secret virtues ? " 
 
 "Oh dear, no. I never pretend to anything. I 
 either do it or leave it alone. Nevertheless, I have 
 sometimes thought of dazzling the world with such a 
 display of virtues as only a great sinner could assume 
 effectively." 
 
 "People would simply think that you had grown 
 afraid." 
 
 " How brilliant of you to detect the one weak spot 
 of the scheme ! " 
 
 " Or that your invention had failed." And Pamela 
 Gray rose and went over to the Duchess of Havant, who 
 was looking cross. 
 
 Bellamy's eyes followed her with just the faintest 
 blur of annoyance in them. He was at any rate accus- 
 tomed to be listened to. He went to Mrs. Crutchley, 
 who was standing alone by the window which led on to 
 the terrace. 
 
 " Shall we go and look at the stars ? " 
 
 " The stars have changed of late, and so have you." 
 
 " Have they ? That shows they understand the art 
 of pleasing. Let us go and note the difference." 
 
 " I mean that they have changed because you have 
 changed." 
 
 Her courage was at an end. She felt that there 
 was nothing to be gained by fighting.
 
 268 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 They went out on to the moonlit terrace. Dawlish 
 glowered at them from where he was sitting on the low 
 stone balustrade. He was alone, and suffering from that 
 awkwardness that came over him whenever he had no 
 one to talk to. He was beginning to feel how impossible 
 it was to be one of these people without enduring un- 
 limited snubs. He would have given anything to possess 
 some of the easy assurance with which Spottitt almost 
 patronized them. Their jargon bewildered him, and the 
 familiar repetition of names which, till a few months 
 ago, had coruscated above his social sphere made him feel 
 a very interloper, much as he denied the fact to himself. 
 
 Bellamy was a keen judge of character, but somehow 
 he had never credited Dawlish with so much humility. 
 He had always imagined him to be perfectly confident of 
 himself, and attributed any little surliness of manner to a 
 rather admirable bourgeois sense of independence. Had 
 he thought otherwise he would most certainly have taken 
 all the pains in his power to have set his guest at his ease. 
 It was one thing to win his last half-crown. It would 
 have been unpardonable to permit him to be socially 
 unhappy. 
 
 He and Mrs. Crutchley walked to the other end 
 of the terrace. 
 
 " Dawlish is getting sulky. Losing money is a novelty 
 for him, and he doesn't like it." 
 
 She looked at him with war in her eyes. " I don't 
 want to talk about Dawlish, if you don't mind." 
 
 " I don't mind. Dawlish is very dull as Dawlish.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 269 
 
 In his one weak moment he is fascinating. To sit 
 opposite a millionaire and win his money is the excite- 
 ment of my old age." 
 
 " Gerald, I am miserable." 
 
 " My dear Jack, I trust you are not developing 
 temperament. Temperament is the mother of moods, 
 and moods are the origin of scenes, and scenes well, I 
 hate 'em." 
 
 " Oh, Gerald, have you no heart ? " 
 
 " Really, Jack, you of all persons should not ask me 
 that question. At twenty-one I loved chaotic women ; 
 at forty-five I avoid them. I still love them, but I avoid 
 them." 
 
 If she had had any doubt up till now that he was 
 trying to dilute their relations, his manner dispelled it. 
 
 " I don't want to make a scene, but I want a plain 
 answer to a straightforward question." 
 
 " Oh, Jack, Jack, has it come to that ? " 
 
 " Come to what ? " 
 
 " Plain answers and straightforward questions." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 He resumed their walk as if to place her at a dis- 
 advantage, and murmured plaintively to the stars 
 
 " Why will women worship the primitive ? " 
 
 They walked into the conservatory, and the lights 
 shone upon her face. 
 
 He paused, and said in a distressed voice 
 
 " My dear Jack, I told you not to make up." 
 
 " The merest trifle."
 
 270 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " A little rouge." 
 
 "The merest soupfon." 
 
 "It always is the merest soupfon. Why is it that 
 rouge is always so vulgar ? " He scrutinized her face 
 carefully, and then said in a horrified whisper, "My 
 dear Jack, you've got some white stuff on your nose ! 
 You are going from bad to worse. Yours is not a face 
 which will stand make-up. Very few can. I have only 
 met one woman in all my life who could dye her hair 
 and look a lady." 
 
 " Really," she answered satirically. 
 
 " A little lip salve is all you should ever venture on. 
 I was wondering the whole of dinner-time whether your 
 nose was really out of drawing." 
 
 " Gerald, are you ever serious ? " 
 
 " My dear girl, if you can't take your looks seriously 
 I give you up." 
 
 "I asked you if you were tired of me." 
 
 " We have known each other two years." 
 
 " Is that too long for love ? " 
 
 " We have passed the stage of passionate protestation." 
 
 "You told me that you were sure I was your last 
 romance." 
 
 " Ah, Jack, that is the one thing that reconciles me to 
 life. One is always sure that the latest romance is the last." 
 
 " Then you are tired of me ? " 
 
 "Till to-night you have never shown yourself as a 
 sentimentalist. Take care, Jack ; it's a dangerous thing 
 to do to a man over thirty, believe me."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 271 
 
 "I would much rather you did not talk to me any 
 more in that trivial way. I am not ashamed to show 
 that I am serious. I am wretched because I believe you 
 are in love with some one else." 
 
 " In love with some one else ? " 
 
 He repeated the words mechanically, as if to mark 
 time. It offended his sense of fitness to be challenged 
 so directly. 
 
 " What you call in love. I can see it in your face. 
 You are engaged in what you would describe as another 
 romance, and I know who it is." 
 
 " Tell me, do you think I shall succeed ? " 
 
 She looked at him haughtily. 
 
 He was arousing her dignity, and he knew it. If 
 he could once do so thoroughly, his path would be 
 clear. 
 
 " Lord Bellamy, I will not wait to be thrown over 
 like some have been. You are insulting." 
 
 " Dear Jack, I have no intention of being so. You 
 are too violent. A romance should fade, insensibly 
 diminish, and disappear. You are a little crude." 
 
 She turned on him with his own weapons. 
 
 " To tell you the truth, Gerald, your hollowness has 
 got on my nerves." 
 
 " I dare say. Cynicism is not in women's line ; they 
 have not the courage." 
 
 " Good-bye." 
 
 She turned to leave him. 
 
 " Good-bye," he said.
 
 272 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 The reply stung her. She lost her self-control, 
 and said passionately 
 
 " Oh, you shall answer to my husband for this ! " 
 
 He looked at her with a laugh in his eyes, and 
 when she realized what she had said she laughed too. 
 
 " Oh, Jack," he murmured, as they returned to the 
 others, " you have never said anything better than that ! " 
 
 As they disappeared, Spottitt sauntered from behind 
 some heavy foliage which had concealed him. He 
 appeared languid and indifferent as usual, but he was 
 plucking viciously at a rose which he held in his hand. 
 His feelings towards Lord Bellamy were symbolized 
 by the action. 
 
 At that moment Lady Bellamy stole up to him. 
 
 " Mr. Spottitt ! " 
 
 " Hush ! Do for heaven's sake be careful ! " And 
 he moved away from her with a look of the greatest 
 mystery. 
 
 Lady Charlotte had sternly refused any invitation 
 to venture out into the night air, and had finally found 
 herself left alone. Mrs. Gresham passed through the 
 room on her way to the terrace, having been upstairs 
 to fetch a wrap. She had been somewhat perturbed 
 by Lady Charlotte's remarks at dinner, and, on finding 
 herself alone with her, attempted to reach the terrace 
 unperceived ; but Lady Charlotte was too quick. 
 
 " Mrs. Gresham ! " 
 
 Mrs. Gresham, who was half on the terrace, was 
 obliged to return, and said in her sweetest accents
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 273 
 
 " Yes, dear Lady Charlotte ! " 
 
 "You remember what I said just now about 
 retching my husband back three times by the coat- 
 collar r " 
 
 " Oh yes, perfectly." 
 
 "Well, I'd much sooner you did not communi- 
 cate that little fact to the press." 
 
 " Dear Lady Charlotte, I don't understand you." 
 
 " Don't you ! Then what did you think of that 
 paragraph in Blue Blood about my sitting on the 
 papers ? " 
 
 Poor Mrs. Gresham's inside gave a jump, but she 
 answered bravely 
 
 " I don't know how people can be so malicious." 
 
 " Then what did you do it for ? " 
 
 " I don't understand." 
 
 " Well, I rather suspected it was you, but my 
 maid picked up this letter addressed to the editor of 
 Blue Blood. You see, it's your handwriting and your 
 notepaper." 
 
 Mrs. Gresham collapsed. 
 
 " Dear Lady Charlotte, don't say a word to any 
 one ! They do pay so well, and it's been such a 
 struggle since poor Edward died." 
 
 " As far as that goes, everybody knows it." 
 
 " Ah, but they haven't proof. That's the great 
 thing. If once they get proof, I shall never be asked 
 anywhere again. And as for living on my income, 
 even in that little rabbit hutch in Curzon Street, why, 
 
 T
 
 274 
 
 it's simply absurd to expect it, and Edward's people 
 grudge me even the few pounds I have." 
 
 " But I understood that you presented quite a 
 number of girls last season." 
 
 "Only three at a hundred guineas each and 
 they looked such sights that it's very doubtful if I 
 shall make anything out of next season's Drawing- 
 rooms. Not only that, but it has leaked out in high 
 quarters, and I'm getting quite nervous about myself." 
 
 "Well, I've not the least objection to the widows 
 of younger sons turning an honest penny in any way 
 they like, providing it is an honest penny ; but person- 
 ally, I've no wish to read that I was seen driving in 
 the Park in a pink bonnet, so leave me alone for the 
 future." 
 
 11 And you promise not to say a word ? " 
 
 "On condition that you leave me alone." And 
 Lady Charlotte gathered up her work and swept from 
 the room. 
 
 " Old cat ! " murmured Mrs. Gresham, gazing 
 after her. 
 
 She met Reggie as she was making her way to 
 the terrace. 
 
 "Oh, Mrs. Gresham, I've been looking for you. 
 I've had a letter from mamma, and she wants by 
 the way, mamma always does want something when 
 she writes well, she wants me to ask you if you 
 would mind putting in those papers you write for 
 that she has been staying at Trouville. She hasn't,
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 275 
 
 because she couldn't afford it, but it might buck her 
 friends up, you know." 
 
 Mrs. Gresham was furious. 
 
 "I don't understand you, and I don't write for 
 any papers." 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Gresham, everybody says you do." 
 
 " Then everybody is quite wrong." And she made 
 her exit with heaving bosom and eyes moist with 
 chagrin.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 WHEN Spottitt had plucked his rose quite to pieces he 
 flung the petals, which he had collected in the palm 
 of his hand, into the air, and they fluttered to earth 
 like a cloud of crimson butterflies. As the last settled 
 on the ground he murmured, " The death of a roman- 
 ticist." Then he went out on the terrace and lit a 
 cigarette. Everybody had drawn together, and was 
 enthusing about the stars, a thing which the most 
 sophisticated are apt to do. Even Bellamy was some- 
 what stirred by the beauty of the night, and murmured 
 patronizingly 
 
 " They are quite wonderful quite wonderful. 1 
 sometimes think that there are more stars than there 
 used to be when I was a boy." 
 
 " Perhaps they have appeared to mark your 
 triumphant progress," said Mrs. Crutchley. 
 
 There was the faintest suggestion of bitterness in 
 her tone, and she was annoyed with herself for having 
 made such a mistake. She laughed, and as she did so 
 she met Spottitt's glance. His eyes were half closed, 
 and, together with the smile about his lips, seemed 
 possessed in the moonlight by an almost sphinx-like 
 
 276
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 277 
 
 humour. His intuition must have been extraordinary 
 for him to have caught the subtle suggestion that 
 her relations with Lord Bellamy had undergone a 
 modification. Then she thought how very handsome 
 he was, almost the type of an ancient Egyptian, with 
 his head thrown up, and his nostrils and lips a trifle 
 thickened in effect by the pose. The moonlight, too, 
 added to the mystery of his expression. Mrs. Crutchley 
 was one of those women who admire beauty in men and 
 are thankful for it, and, what was rarer still, she had a 
 Catholic taste. Indeed, what had first attracted her in 
 Bellamy had been the unique perfection of his appear- 
 ance. For the same reason Spottitt had always interested 
 her. The night she had seen him at the Opera he had 
 impressed her as being a new feature in life. She had no 
 desire to revenge herself on Bellamy ; she was far too 
 miserable, and she even felt a little resentful when she 
 heard, as it were, the faintest twang plucked from the 
 strings of her temperament by the young man as he 
 sat looking at her sleepily from the balustrade. He was 
 a little apart, and she was between him and the others. 
 Under his breath he murmured the old French song 
 
 " Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment, 
 Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie." 
 
 " Do you believe that ? " she asked. 
 " In the case of women more than men," he 
 answered, " but it's hideously true for both." 
 " Why for women more than men ? "
 
 278 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "Obviously the philosophical sex has the best 
 of it." 
 
 She laughed. His conversation brought back some 
 of her spirits. 
 
 "You speak as if you had a lifetime of experience 
 behind you." 
 
 " I think I have a gift of vision ; in fact, I am sure I 
 have. It is not so rare a quality, after all." 
 
 " How does a woman become philosophical ? " 
 
 " She mustn't try. Either she would be doomed 
 to failure, or she would cease to be a woman. That 
 is to say, a woman in the attractive sense. She should 
 try an antitoxin." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 "Let the microbes of the new romance fight a 
 pitched battle with the microbes of the old romance. 
 The former are bound to win, you know they're 
 fresh. Sentiment treated scientifically, eh ? " 
 
 " That's rather an unpleasant simile." 
 
 " There are occasions on which I cannot resist the 
 forcible ; although, as a matter of fact, I detest coarseness 
 above all things." 
 
 " Have you tried your own prescriptions ? " 
 
 Never." 
 
 " Oh, I forgot you belong to the philosophical 
 sex." 
 
 "No, it's not that, but, you see, I'm not very 
 old, and I've never had a romance before." He just 
 breathed the last word to the moonlight.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 279 
 
 " Are you quite sure ? " 
 
 " I am quite sure that all my other romances were 
 nothing of the kind." 
 
 " Do you know, you talk exactly like Lord Bellamy 
 without imitating him ? " 
 
 He suddenly turned and opened his eyes wide on her. 
 Their expression was misty and pathetic, and said as 
 plainly as words, " You have hurt me. You mustn't 
 do that. It's the one thing you mustn't do. Never 
 remind me that you were horribly in love with Lord 
 Bellamy." 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley had never been able to understand 
 other women when they expressed a difficulty of choice 
 between two men, but she now found herself stirred 
 by Mr. Spottitt, while her heart was in deep mourning 
 for the defection of Bellamy. Even at the moment 
 the latter was gazing at Pamela Gray, wherever she went, 
 with that deliberate and insolent assurance which was 
 so peculiarly his own. 
 
 The bargain that they had struck that afternoon 
 had not in the least abated his infatuation j on the 
 contrary, it had augmented it. It gave her the fascina- 
 tion of a new sin, and he enjoyed it like an epicure. 
 He was much too psychologically versed to pronounce 
 her cold, heartless, or anything utterly bad, because 
 of what she was prepared to do. That was not his 
 business. He was an ethical expert, but not a moralist, 
 and deemed the division of humanity into goats and 
 sheep but an amateur performance. It was quite
 
 280 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 possible that she had a rich reserve of even bourgeois 
 virtues; but she knew what was essential to her, and 
 the quality of deliberate and admirable calculation 
 which enabled her to get what she wanted undisturbed 
 by her better self set her before him mentally crowned, 
 a steely ruler of the world to her own uses. Through 
 some subtle and unrecognizable electric channel the 
 intellectual appreciation flashed a message to his nerves 
 and fired his blood. Wherever the flame of a new 
 beauty or a new attraction sprang up before him, he 
 was although he would have laughed the idea of any 
 servitude to scorn as much its slave as is the moth 
 to the candle ; but here the simile ended, for the 
 wretched insect, having passed through the flame, falls 
 scorched and huddled, a corpse, but Bellamy invariably 
 rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of his dead loves. So 
 far his vanity had never been wounded. He had been 
 unconquerably successful, chiefly because he would never 
 entertain the possibility of defeat. 
 
 At last they all rose. Reggie came out to say that 
 Lady Charlotte had put her crochet away and was ready 
 for roulette, 
 
 " Shall we go in ? " said Lady Bellamy. " Aunt 
 Charlotte gets so annoyed if she doesn't have her roulette 
 at the right moment." 
 
 " It's so perfectly splendid of her to play roulette 
 at her age," said Portchester, " because in her early 
 days I suppose they only played whist and Beggar-my- 
 Neighbour."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 281 
 
 " I do not like cards for cards' sake," said Madame 
 de Perrefonds frankly. " It is gambling that I like. I 
 was on a visit to a house the other day where we always 
 ended the evening by each putting a sovereign in the pool 
 and dealing round for the first Jack. That is what 
 I like." 
 
 " You're quite right, comtesse," said Reggie. " I 
 never could stand games that wanted thinking out. 
 That's why I hate Bridge." 
 
 They all, excepting the Duchess of Havant and 
 Pamela Gray, went indoors, where Bellamy had preceded 
 them. 
 
 Bellamy, noticing Pamela Gray's absence, and 
 forgetting the duchess for the moment, assumed that 
 she had remained on the terrace alone. He would 
 go and bring her in. Bellamy knew from experience 
 how much might be said in twenty seconds. Indeed, 
 the best half of a romance may well be no longer, 
 even though the rest be spread over any number of 
 years. He walked gently back into the moonlight. 
 Yes, she was there, sitting on the seat alone. Strange, 
 for she did not suggest a nature likely to be stirred 
 by the moonlight to introspective rhapsodies. 
 
 Then, as he drew near her silently, he realized 
 that the duchess was with her. His mistake was 
 pardonable, for their arms were wreathed round each 
 other, and Pamela's head was on the duchess's 
 shoulder. 
 
 The spectacle almost irritated Bellamy to jealousy
 
 282 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 of her grace. He was about to return, when Pamela 
 Gray's voice said quite distinctly for she spoke with 
 a curiously pure enunciation, and always grammatically 
 a thing which perhaps suggested her middle-class 
 origin 
 
 " Gertrude, how terribly Lord Bellamy does ogle ! " 
 Bellamy could not have told how he reached the 
 room where the others were. He only knew one thing, 
 and it was that the two on the terrace seat had been 
 unaware of his presence. But the pitiless speech had 
 stricken him into sudden age. The arrow that found 
 the heel of Achilles made no surer aim than those 
 words, " Gertrude, how dreadfully Lord Bellamy 
 does ogle ! " He had always declared it to be the 
 supreme test, and again and again his favourite maxim 
 repeated itself in his brain, " When a man is young, 
 he makes eyes ; when he is old, he ogles." 
 
 As he entered the room the others were placing 
 themselves at the roulette table, with the exception 
 of Dawlish, who was sitting morosely at the small 
 card table, waiting for him. 
 
 It was Portchester who looked up and said 
 " My dear Bellamy, what on earth is the matter ! " 
 His remark drew the attention of everybody, and 
 there was a cry of astonishment. 
 
 "Are you ill, Gerald?" said Lady Bellamy, plaintively. 
 He tried to smile, but he felt that the smile was old, 
 and as if his teeth were fangs. 
 
 He declared that he was perfectly well, and no one
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 283 
 
 took any more notice ; but he went out of the room and 
 sent for a brandy and soda. 
 
 When he returned, the duchess and Pamela Gray 
 were at the roulette table. 
 
 " Why don't you and Mr. Dawlish join us for this 
 evening ? " said the former ; and as he smiled a reply he 
 remembered that he was ogling. 
 
 With a convulsive effort he pulled himself together 
 and sat down with Dawlish. 
 
 " Who takes the bank ? " asked the comtesse. 
 
 " Let's put it up for auction," suggested Portchester ; 
 " it's safer." 
 
 " Why do ladies never take the bank ? " asked Mrs. 
 Gresham, who always assumed a languid manner as 
 play began, preparatory to a display of concentration 
 which was remarkable. 
 
 " The essence of a bank is that it should pay." 
 
 " Portchester," said Lady Charlotte, " that's extremely 
 rude. I am sure that women are much more sensitive 
 about their debts than men." 
 
 It was an unpleasant subject, and both Mrs. Crutchley 
 and Madame de Perrefonds felt uncomfortable. 
 
 Reggie was babbling. He always did, the conse- 
 quence being that he invariably lost more than he 
 could afford, although, like most bad players, he carried 
 through forlorn hopes that staggered the experts. 
 
 "Last year at Ostend, mamma and I got into an 
 awful row. She made a frightful mistake, and took the 
 winnings of the man next to her."
 
 284 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 "Awkward," said Portchester. 
 
 " Wasn't it ? And the worst of it was that he 
 wouldn't believe mamma when she assured him on 
 her honour that it was a mistake, and if she hadn't 
 given him one of those looks of hers through her 
 lorgnettes, Heaven only knows what wouldn't have 
 happened." 
 
 There was a lull, and Bellamy's voice came from the 
 other table, saying quietly 
 
 " My luck again." 
 
 Spottitt spun the wheel. 
 
 " Black ! " moaned Reggie. " Never mind, I shall 
 go on till I lose my railway ticket." 
 
 " I'm sure Bellamy will always pay that," said 
 Beauclerk, spitefully. He hated Reggie, being in some 
 sense his antique complement. 
 
 " Rien ne va plus ! " cried Spottitt, who had taken 
 the bank. 
 
 " This is the fifth system I've tried since I arrived," 
 complained Crutchley, " and I've come to the conclusion 
 that systems are all rot." 
 
 "I prefer luck," murmured Bellamy, who never lost 
 interest in what was going on at the other table. 
 
 " Rien ne va plus ! " 
 
 Reggie's face was the picture of despair. 
 
 " I say, this is awful ! I shall lose my shirt." 
 
 Lady Charlotte, who was sitting next to him, struck 
 him sharply with her fan. 
 
 " Reggie ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 285 
 
 " I'm awfully sorry, but this is distracting." 
 
 "If you can't behave yourself you must go to bed." 
 
 " Will any one lend me a tenner ? " he asked ; but no 
 one took the least notice. 
 
 " I told you so," said Mrs. Gresham to Mrs. 
 Crutchley. "Any one who sits next to me is sure to 
 win, even if I lose." 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk and Madame de Perrefonds were 
 having a slight breeze. One of her beautiful white 
 hands was covering a little pile of money, and over it 
 Beauclerk's fingers were agitating distractedly. 
 
 "No, I assure you, comtesse, that is my money. 
 Oh no, really." 
 
 " But, Mr. Beauclerk, you are mistaken." 
 
 " Comtesse, I assure you." 
 
 But with admirable firmness, Madame de Perrefonds 
 swept the little pile of sovereigns into her store. 
 
 " I am quite certain I am right." 
 
 If good manners compelled Beauclerk to modify his 
 anguish he placed absolutely no check on his expression, 
 but Madame de Perrefonds blew a leisurely puff from 
 her cigarette and turned to her other neighbour. 
 
 " I say, don't all pretend you've gone deaf ! Can 
 any of you lend me a tenner ? " 
 
 But Reggie's appeal was still ignored, while 
 Bellamy's voice told against the whirling wheel. 
 
 " Skill, my dear Dawlish ; skill, believe me." 
 
 " There, I'm done," said Reggie ; and then added with 
 plaintive hopelessness, " Can any one lend me a tenner ? "
 
 286 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Lady Charlotte unostentatiously pushed a note to- 
 wards him. 
 
 " Oh, I say, I can't borrow " 
 
 u From a woman ? Nonsense ! I'm old enough 
 to be your grandmother." 
 
 " All right, give it here ; there's nobody looking." 
 
 " Besides," said Lady Charlotte, " it's lucky to 
 play with borrowed money." 
 
 " Rien ne va plus." 
 
 The bank was having things all its own way. 
 
 " There goes the new hunter I had promised 
 myself," said Crutchley. 
 
 Black again ! Well, I'm " Reggie pulled 
 
 himself up just in time, and everybody laughed. 
 
 " You are right, Dawlish, my luck is extraordinary." 
 
 " I am told," said Madame de Perrefonds, " that 
 Prince Grashkin has blown his brains out at Monte 
 Carlo." 
 
 " Those Russian beggars always take such heavy 
 risks," said Crutchley. 
 
 "Do you think Mr. Vandeleur would ever blow 
 out his brains ? " asked Madame de Perrefonds. 
 
 And only Reggie saw the joke. 
 
 " Rien ne va plus," said Spottitt. 
 
 He hardly noticed the growing pile before him, but 
 his half-closed eyes continually sought the table at which 
 Dawlish and Bellamy were sitting. 
 
 " Miss Gray, you are the only one amongst us 
 who is winning."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 287 
 
 Pamela Gray had hardly spoken during the whole 
 game. Her stakes were invariably small, but the pile 
 of money before her had grown consistently. 
 
 " At last ! " said Reggie. " That puts me right, 
 and gives me something to go on with. Thanks, 
 Lady Charlotte." 
 
 " Keep it till the end of the game, Reggie, or you 
 will change your luck." 
 
 " Rien ne va plus," said Spottitt, with his eyes on 
 Dawlish ; but before the words were well out of his 
 mouth, Dawlish had risen, white and furious. 
 
 " There is something wrong ! " 
 
 Everybody turned to the speaker, startled. There 
 was no mistaking the remark and the tone in which 
 it was delivered. A charge of dynamite exploded in 
 their midst could not have created more consternation. 
 
 Bellamy alone preserved his perfect sangfroid. 
 
 " You are losing, Dawlish. That is what is wrong 
 from your point of view." 
 
 "I tell you, Bellamy, everything is not quite 
 square." 
 
 A set of more bewildered expressions than those 
 that gazed on Dawlish at the moment had probably 
 never been. 
 
 " Dawlish, for God's sake ! " said Reggie, in an 
 undertone. 
 
 Bellamy rose leisurely to his feet, and interrogated 
 Dawlish courteously. 
 
 " What do you mean, Mr. Dawlish ? "
 
 288 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " There is no ace of clubs in that pack." 
 
 It was at this moment that Lady Bellamy unex- 
 pectedly rose to a supreme effort of tact. She turned 
 to the other women, and said 
 
 " Shall we go into the drawing-room ? " 
 
 " I would much rather not, Selina," said Lady 
 Charlotte, modulating her deep baritone to a tense 
 mezza voce. 
 
 Bellamy looked at Dawlish almost in pity. He 
 was sorry for him. He was out of his element, and 
 he had made a horrible social blunder. The results 
 for him would be quite gruesome. 
 
 "Perhaps Mr. Dawlish will explain," he said 
 gently. 
 
 "I have received two anonymous letters, saying 
 that Lord Bellamy has been cheating. I told Van- 
 deleur about them." 
 
 But Reggie's voice protested in harmonics. 
 
 " I say, look here, don't drag me into it ! You told 
 me that you had received the letters, and I said I did 
 not believe them, and I advised you to burn them." 
 
 "This is all very interesting," said Bellamy, "but 
 rather transpontine, don't you think ? " He had almost 
 suggested that Dawlish was being influenced by his 
 early theatre-going days, which would no doubt have 
 taught him that all the members of the aristocracy 
 cheated at cards, but his instinct was to spare his guest 
 as far as possible. " It is very soon settled," he con- 
 tinued. " Crutchley, will you count those cards ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 289 
 
 Again Lady Bellamy tried what tact would do. 
 
 " Shall we go into the drawing-room ? " 
 
 But nobody took the least notice of her. She 
 might as well have tried to drag a street crowd away 
 from a dog-fight. 
 
 " If you wish it," said Crutchley, " but surely " 
 
 There was a dead silence. The women were white, 
 almost terrified, with the exception of Pamela Gray. 
 Her breath came and went not a whit faster, and 
 her cheeks neither flushed nor paled, but the gaze 
 with which she scrutinized Bellamy was grave and 
 thoughtful. 
 
 The men were even whiter than the women. They 
 saw more clearly the hideousness of the thing. The 
 expression of Portchester's face was quite awful. 
 
 Spottitt had risen with the others, but remained 
 immovable, watching the scene, sphinx-like. 
 
 Crutchley counted the cards through carefully, and 
 when he had finished, muttered 
 
 " I must have made a mistake." 
 
 When he had counted them again he looked up. 
 
 " There is no ace of clubs," he said. 
 
 The remark gave Dawlish courage. During the 
 minutes that had elapsed since he had first spoken he 
 had experienced positive torture. Should he be wrong, 
 his humiliation before these careless, indifferent aristocrats 
 would be inconceivable. 
 
 " That is what the letter said ; and it said also that 
 the ace will be found in Lord Bellamy's sleeve." 
 
 u
 
 2 9 o BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 But this was too much. An exclamation of protest 
 rose from everybody. This poor wretched intruder must 
 have taken leave of his senses. 
 
 " Good heavens, we're not at the Egyptian Hall ! " 
 said Portchester. 
 
 " The man's mad ! " said Lady Charlotte. 
 
 " It's all rot ! " squeaked Reggie. 
 
 " Shall we go into the drawing-room r " again 
 implored Lady Bellamy, all unheeded. 
 
 Bellamy held out his arm. 
 
 " Will you settle this matter, Crutchley ? " 
 
 " If I am wrong " began Dawlish. 
 
 " My good man," said Lady Charlotte sternly, " hold 
 your tongue. " You've done quite enough mischief for 
 one evening." 
 
 The Duchess of Havant was characteristically 
 helping the situation by weeping feebly. 
 
 " My dear Bellamy, is this necessary ? " said 
 Crutchley. 
 
 " Oh, I think we should satisfy Mr. Dawlish." 
 
 Crutchley unwillingly felt Bellamy's left sleeve 
 carefully. 
 
 " There is nothing there," he said. 
 
 And though every one had protested against the 
 mere idea, a sigh of relief arose. 
 
 Bellamy held out his other arm, and Crutchley 
 resumed his task more cheerfully. 
 
 Suddenly he started, and if he had had any intention 
 of saving Bellamy the action made it impossible.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 291 
 
 The company gazed at him, breathless. Surely it 
 was not possible. Was Bellamy really guilty, and was 
 his bravado based on the despairing assumption that 
 Crutchley would save him ? 
 
 Bellamy was the only person present who appeared 
 unruffled. 
 
 "Go on, Crutchley," he said easily, "go on." 
 
 Crutchley looked at him in amazement, and thinking 
 that, after all, he must be mistaken, he examined the 
 sleeve again. This time he drew from it a card, which 
 he dropped on the table as though it had stung him. It 
 fell face upwards. It was the ace of clubs. 
 
 What was to be done ? 
 
 They all stood gazing at the wretched piece of 
 pasteboard as if they felt that to look away from it 
 would cast upon them the responsibility of action. 
 
 And then Bellamy began to laugh. 
 
 They all looked at him in astonishment. 
 
 He had realized the whole thing, and his delightful 
 sense of humour had saved him from looking ridiculous 
 at the most unpleasant moment of his life. He walked 
 to the door, and, turning to his guests, said courteously 
 
 " Please don't disturb yourselves on my account. 
 Lady Bellamy will be here." And he left the room. 
 
 " Will some one find my shawl ? " said Lady 
 Charlotte. " I think, perhaps, we had all better go to 
 bed." 
 
 Reggie put her shawl round her shoulders, and she 
 swept past Dawlish out of the room, with her head up
 
 292 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 like a vieille marquise of the ancun regime going to 
 execution. 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley slipped after her. She could not 
 have remained to hear the discussion. 
 
 Spottitt noted her exit and her emotion. 
 
 Lady Bellamy looked helplessly around, and then, 
 far from entertaining her guests as Bellamy had sug- 
 gested, she disappeared, without even inviting the remain- 
 ing ladies to accompany her to the drawing-room. 
 
 Dawlish had stood biting his moustache, looking 
 about as wretched as it was possible for any man to 
 look. Finally, he muttered good night, which nobody 
 took the trouble to answer, and went out. 
 
 So far only Lady Charlotte had spoken ; but the 
 chief actors being removed, the tongues of the others 
 were loosened. 
 
 " I don't know," said Beauclerk, " when I've been in 
 such an awkward situation." 
 
 " What are we to do ? " asked the Duchess of 
 Havant, who, as not even Pamela Gray had taken any 
 notice, had ceased weeping. 
 
 " Shall I wire for mamma ? " said Reggie. " If she 
 were only here she'd probably know exactly what to do, 
 and make Dawlish look a perfect ass." 
 
 " It's fearfully awkward," said Portchester, " sleeping 
 in a man's house when you can't know him." 
 
 " Fearfully awkward ? I should think it is," said 
 Reggie. "Fancy having to cut a man on the way to 
 his own bathroom ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 293 
 
 " You'll have to leave the house without a bath," 
 said Portchester. 
 
 " Don't be disgusting," answered Reggie. 
 
 " I should not allow a bath to interfere with my 
 journey," said Madame de Perrefonds. 
 
 " We can't sleep in the park." 
 
 " No, that's too beastly draughty." 
 
 Spottitt and Pamela Gray joined the others. They 
 had been talking together quietly at the other end of 
 the room. 
 
 " You might just as well sleep under a man's roof as 
 under his trees," said Spottitt. 
 
 " Do you think," asked Pamela Gray, in her clear, 
 cold voice, "that Lord Bellamy will shoot himself?" 
 
 No one's mind had travelled so far, but the suggestion 
 was full of possibilities. 
 
 "I shan't sleep all night," said the duchess, which 
 meant that if there was any possibility of such an event, 
 she would certainly remain awake so as not to miss the 
 excitement. 
 
 " What a terrible scandal there will be," said Mrs. 
 Gresham, who was busy composing paragraphs in her 
 brain for half a dozen Society journals, and reckoning 
 up profits. 
 
 " Terrible ! " said Mr. Beauclerk. " The clubs will 
 ring with it." And he already saw himself on the 
 hearthrug at White's, talking to a packed house. 
 
 " I shall go to bed," said the comtesse ; " but I shall 
 not sleep. I shall read * La Maison Tellier.' That
 
 294 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 always keeps me awake, so that if there is any excite- 
 ment my peignoir, and I am there." 
 
 " A good idea," said Reggie. " I shall keep myself 
 awake with cigarettes. What's that ? " he concluded 
 shrilly. 
 
 What's what ? " 
 
 " Didn't you hear it ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 They all listened. 
 
 What did it sound like ? " 
 
 " Like a champagne cork," said Reggie. 
 
 They listened again, and came to the conclusion that 
 Reggie had been mistaken. 
 
 " The first thing to do," he said, " is to have a 
 settling up here." He gazed at the table blankly. " I 
 say, what has become of all the money ? " 
 
 " By Jove ! " said Portchester, " I believe that in the 
 excitement of the moment I swept it into my pocket ! 
 I beg your pardon, Spottitt." 
 
 Spottitt laughed. "I assure you it doesn't matter." 
 
 " What extraordinary presence of mind ! " murmured 
 Pamela Gray. 
 
 It was quite unlike her to make such a joke, but she 
 was thinking of Bellamy. 
 
 Portchester looked at her angrily, and began the 
 lengthy calculation as to how much he had had in his 
 pocket, and how much he owed the rest of the company. 
 
 " What a bally swindle ! " said Reggie. " I was 
 winning like anything."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 295 
 
 Even equable Crutchley looked annoyed. 
 
 " My dear Portchester, what a silly thing to do ! " 
 
 "I wasn't thinking," said Portchester, helplessly, 
 beginning his calculation afresh for the third time. 
 
 " Then I wish to goodness you would think," snapped 
 Beauclerk. 
 
 " C'est tres ennuyant. I shall go to my room. 
 Poor Lady Bellamy what a disgrace ? She will have 
 to live in the country when every one else is in town, 
 and live in town when everybody is in the country. A 
 good night to every one." 
 
 The Duchess of Havant turned to Mrs. Gresham. 
 " Are you coming, Maude ? " Her arm was already 
 twined round Pamela Gray's waist. 
 
 Yes, I think so." 
 
 They went out together. 
 
 " Do you think there will be any more excitement ? " 
 asked Mrs. Gresham, when they had all collected in the 
 duchess's room. 
 
 " But of course," answered Madame de Perrefonds, 
 " Lord Bellamy must do the right thing. You see, it 
 does not matter a man cheating at cards if he kills himself 
 when he is found out." 
 
 " How very true," said the duchess, as though she 
 were listening to one of the commandments. 
 
 " Are we all going to sit up ? " asked Pamela 
 Gray. 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 " Then," said the duchess, who always grew painfully
 
 296 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 conscious of her corsets after twelve o'clock at night, 
 " I shall get into something comfortable." 
 
 " We will all get into something comfortable," agreed 
 Madame de Perrefonds. 
 
 " Poor Mrs. Crutchley ! " said Mrs. Gresham ; " I 
 am very sorry for her. She will feel it most." 
 
 " That is very true. They have been such friends," 
 said Madame de Perrefonds. 
 
 " Ah," said the duchess, " it all comes of having 
 stockbrokers in the house." 
 
 Madame de Perrefonds opened a new box of cigar- 
 ettes, and the duchesss and Pamela Gray tucked them- 
 selves up on one sofa, while Madame de Perrefonds 
 ensconced herself on another, babbling and smoking 
 interminably. 
 
 Mrs. Gresham went away to get into something 
 comfortable, but did not return, which made Madame 
 de Perrefonds opine that she was hard at work writing 
 accounts of the event for the journal to which she 
 contributed.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE men, left alone, continued to discuss the 
 matter. 
 
 " I am awfully sorry for Bellamy," said Reggie. 
 " I would have staked my reputation on his honour." 
 
 " Your what ? " asked Portchester. 
 
 " My reputation." 
 
 " Oh, go to bed ! " 
 
 " Reggie's stakes are never very high," said Crutchley, 
 with as much of a laugh as the gloom of the cir- 
 cumstances permitted. 
 
 The smile on Reggie's face remained undimmed. 
 He might have been the recipient of the most honeyed 
 compliments for all the effect their remarks had on 
 him. 
 
 " I'm going to bed, but I shall wear some pyjamas 
 that I shan't mind appearing in at a moment's notice." 
 
 The men went off to their rooms in pairs. They 
 had a morbid dread of meeting Bellamy in the passage, 
 and, under the circumstances, they would much sooner 
 have come face to face with a raging lion. Should 
 they meet him the situation would be one of almost 
 insurmountable difficulty. Perhaps, however, after all, 
 
 297
 
 298 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 he would keep his room till they had left the house 
 in the morning. 
 
 Spottitt went with Reggie. He was thinking deeply, 
 but he managed to display a fair amount of interest in 
 his companion's chatter. 
 
 Finally he made up his mind that even although 
 he would prefer Mrs. Crutchley's late lover dead than 
 alive, Bellamy had always been very charming to him, 
 and he might just as well do what he could to bring 
 Stevens to book. He would go and see Bellamy, and 
 ask him if he cared to leave the matter to him. So, 
 having passed an opinion on the pair of pyjamas which 
 Reggie chose as suitable for a dramatic exit from his 
 bedroom in the middle of the night, he went in search of 
 his host.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WHEN Bellamy left his guests he went straight to his 
 own private room. 
 
 He was intensely amused, despite the fact that he 
 was fully alive to the probable consequences of the 
 evening's scene. It had been admirably done. That 
 he should have gone about since he had dressed for 
 dinner with that incriminating card up his sleeve was 
 very interesting. It was almost incredible. 
 
 When he found himself alone he examined the cuff 
 of his dress coat. Yes, a piece about the width of 
 narrow braid had been sewn across so as just to catch 
 the edge of the card and prevent its slipping down. 
 
 The first thing to do was to ring for Stevens, and 
 try, if possible, to come to terms. Money can do 
 wonders. 
 
 He rang the bell. 
 
 " Send Stevens to me," he said to the man who 
 answered it. 
 
 Then he lit a cigarette and waited. Stevens entered, 
 respectful and attentive as ever. 
 
 " Your lordship sent for me ? " 
 
 " Stevens, why aren't you an ambassador ? " 
 299
 
 300 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Stevens inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment 
 of the compliment. 
 
 "I don't know, my lord. I have often felt that I 
 could fill a more exalted station." 
 
 " You've done for me, Stevens finished me." 
 
 " Indeed ? I don't understand your lordship." 
 
 "Somehow I shouldn't have thought that revenge 
 was in your line." 
 
 " Revenge, my lord ? " 
 
 " Come, come, don't pretend to misunderstand me. 
 I pitted myself against you, and I've lost. Was Mrs. 
 Stevens in the plot ? " 
 
 " No, my lord ; Mrs. Stevens was in bed." 
 
 " It was very clever, Stevens very clever." 
 
 "It is very good of you to say so, my lord. It was 
 a trump card." 
 
 " Hardly. Hearts were trumps. Now, let us come 
 to terms at once." Bellamy unlocked his cheque-book. 
 " What about a confession ? " 
 
 Stevens shook his head firmly. 
 
 " I am afraid not. A confession might bring me into 
 contact with the law ; in fact, it would be sure to." 
 
 " Oh dear, no. I should be prepared to give you an 
 undertaking to that effect." 
 
 " I have no doubt, and I thank your lordship for your 
 consideration ; but I am on the right side of the fence, 
 and I think I will stay there." 
 
 " Surely, my good man, there must be some money 
 arrangement possible ? "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 301 
 
 " No, I thank your lordship." 
 
 " Quite sure ? " 
 
 " Quite sure, my lord." 
 
 " Name your own terms." 
 
 " No, I thank your lordship." 
 
 There was something very irrevocable about Stevens's 
 manner, and Bellamy had an uncomfortable sensation 
 that he was as much his executioner as if he had worn a 
 black mask and held a gleaming axe ; in fact, the thought 
 chilled him a little, and it became necessary to surmount 
 the situation. He gave an amused and highly successful 
 laugh. 
 
 " Shall we call in Spottitt, Stevens ? " 
 
 For a moment Stevens's face looked dangerous, but 
 he replied quietly 
 
 "Mr. Spottitt is a great man for one so young, a 
 very great man ; but I don't think that even he could 
 be useful to your lordship." 
 
 "You see, Stevens, you put me in a very awkward 
 position. If you persist in letting the world remain 
 under the impression that I am a card-sharper, I shall 
 have no alternative but to go and tell my ancestors all 
 about it." 
 
 " So I surmised, my lord, when I made my arrange- 
 ments." 
 
 " Unpleasant, you know, Stevens." 
 
 " Your lordship has had a very good time." 
 
 Bellamy laughed. 
 
 " Splendid, splendid ! I must confess that I've had
 
 302 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 extraordinary success. The secret of success is imperti- 
 nence. That remark would be worth while leaving to 
 Spottitt as a legacy if he had not so thoroughly grasped 
 the fact already. I still think I could enjoy myself, you 
 know." 
 
 " No doubt." 
 
 Bellamy almost thought that he detected a yawn. 
 
 " I am not boring you ? " 
 
 " Certainly not, my lord." 
 
 " And you don't see your way to meeting me ? " 
 
 " I am afraid not." 
 
 " You are very heartless, Stevens very heartless." 
 
 " I am sorry your lordship should think so." 
 
 "If during the next half-hour you should change 
 your mind, let me know." 
 
 "Certainly, my lord." Stevens went to the door, 
 and, when he had reached it, turned. " I should be glad 
 to have your lordship's assurance that in this matter your 
 lordship feels that I have acted like a gentleman's 
 gentleman." 
 
 "Absolutely, Stevens absolutely," said Bellamy, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 " Thank you, my lord." 
 
 Stevens went out, but reappeared in one second, and 
 announced 
 
 "Mr. Spottitt wishes to see your lordship." 
 
 " Come in, Spottitt. Have a brandy and soda ? " 
 
 " Thank you," said Spottitt. " I see you have some 
 cigars."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 303 
 
 " Yes ; try them they're very good. Do you think, 
 Spottitt, smoking will be forbidden in the next world ? " 
 
 "Not in our next world. I should say it would be 
 automatic." 
 
 Bellamy laughed appreciatively. " What an artist 
 you are, Spottitt ! You have a perfect deathbed manner. 
 Breeding and impertinence are the most compelling 
 combination in the world." 
 
 " Stevens scores ? " 
 
 " Entirely." 
 
 " Can I be of any use ? " 
 
 " I don't see how." 
 
 Bellamy came to the conclusion that it would be 
 better in the eyes of a man like Spottitt to die whimsi- 
 cally than tragically. 
 
 " My dear Spottitt, Stevens has very little to do with 
 the matter." 
 
 "Oh, I don't know." And Spottitt told Bellamy 
 what he had seen through the glasses. 
 
 When he had finished, Bellamy said 
 
 " I don't deny that Stevens has made things a little 
 unpleasant, but that isn't the reason I think of making 
 Lord Braby an earl. I've been accused of ogling, Spottitt, 
 and when a man of my age is accused of ogling it means 
 that his humiliation has begun." 
 
 " It's certainly the skeleton at the feast." 
 
 " It would be impossible," continued Bellamy, " to 
 change my manner of life. I must have romance, and 
 the excellent palace of artifice which I have built has
 
 3 o 4 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 collapsed at the word ' ogle.' " He gave a slight shudder. 
 " The word reeks of decay. You follow me, Spottitt r " 
 
 " Perfectly. And I only hope that I may have as 
 
 much courage when " He was about to say, " when 
 
 I am your age," but changed it to the words, " later on." 
 
 "I have cheated life so far," said Bellamy. " To be 
 cheated by life in its turn would spoil the fun ; don't you 
 think so ? " 
 
 " I am sure of it. There is a psychological moment 
 in every one's life when he or she can die well. So few 
 have the courage to seize it." 
 
 " Quite so," said Bellamy. " And it is only we 
 cynics who have a genuine faith in the eternal balance 
 of things who can face death pleasantly." 
 
 " But death is pleasant," said Spottitt. 
 
 "I am doing my best to think so," said Bellamy. 
 
 And they both laughed. 
 
 " Can I do anything for you, Spottitt ? " 
 
 Spottitt shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Oh, I see," said Bellamy, laughing again. " With 
 all the pleasure in the world." He sat down and wrote 
 a cheque. " If you are quick you might cash it before 
 the news gets about.'* . 
 
 " Thank you," said Spottitt. 
 
 " Good night," said Bellamy. " You'll forget me as 
 soon as possible, won't you ? " 
 
 " Of course." And Spottitt went upstairs and sought 
 Reggie's room, reflecting at the same time how absurd 
 it was that he should feel sleep to be out of the question.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 WHEN Mrs. Gresham left the Duchess of Havant's room 
 she met Stevens. 
 
 A brilliant idea struck her. If she could only be in 
 London early the next morning, she could go straight 
 to the newspaper offices and make her own terms. It 
 would be worth a certain amount of bribery, and it was 
 a thing to be done boldly. 
 
 She stopped Stevens, whose manner certainly did not 
 suggest that he had been having a life-and-death inter- 
 view with his master. 
 
 " You are Lord Bellamy's servant, are you not ? " 
 
 Yes, m'm." 
 
 " Is it possible to catch a train to London to-night ? " 
 
 " The mail stops at Rugby, m'm, but not till four 
 o'clock." 
 
 How far is Rugby ? " 
 
 " Twelve miles, m'm." 
 
 " It is now eleven. I believe I could do it." 
 
 " It would be rather a long walk, m'm, at this time 
 of night." 
 
 " Good heavens, I couldn't walk it ! I want you to 
 get me a carriage." 
 
 305 x
 
 306 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " I am afraid I couldn't, m'm." 
 
 u You must, really. It is most important." 
 
 " Perhaps if you were to ask his lordship ? " 
 
 " Impossible." Time was pressing, and she made 
 up her mind to act boldly. " How much r You 
 understand I'm bribing you." 
 
 " Perfectly, m'm. Ten pounds." 
 
 " Preposterous ! I'll give you five." 
 
 " Ten pounds," reiterated Stevens, firmly. 
 
 "Absurd! Very well." 
 
 " In advance." 
 
 " It must be a cheque." 
 
 " Very good, m'm ; but if there is any mistake about 
 the cheque, I shall take extreme measures. I will go 
 and see about the carriage at once." 
 
 " What an extraordinary man," murmured Mrs. 
 Gresham to herself, as she hurried on to her room. She 
 ran against Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 " Have you seen a servant ? " he asked. 
 
 " No. Where are you going ? " 
 
 " To London. I must be in the club to-morrow 
 morning early. My dear Mrs. Gresham, I would not 
 exchange the hearthrug of the club to-morrow morning 
 for a throne." 
 
 " I was wondering whether it wouldn't be better to 
 wait and see what happened," she said. 
 
 " I should certainly like to know whether he uses a 
 revolver or prussic acid." 
 
 " One can't have everything. I shall guess prussic acid."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 307 
 
 " Now that's because you're a woman," said Mr. 
 Beauclerk. " I shall plump for a revolver." 
 
 " How are you going ? " asked Mrs. Gresham. 
 
 "I am told the only way is to reach Rugby and 
 catch the mail. Of course you can't do that." 
 
 " I can, and I mean to." 
 
 " There is no carriage." 
 
 It then struck Mrs. Gresham that if she could 
 manage so that Mr. Beauclerk paid Stevens his ten pounds 
 it would be a very excellent thing, so she answered 
 
 " There is a carriage, and I have secured it." 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk looked at her imploringly. 
 
 " Oh, Mrs. Gresham, may I ? " 
 
 " I am afraid it is impossible." And then she added 
 thoughtfully, " Of course, I am bribing the servants." 
 
 " Of course, of course." 
 
 " They want twenty pounds." 
 
 " Good heavens ! Utterly preposterous." 
 
 " Twenty pounds. They won't do it for less. You 
 pay half." 
 
 " Oh no ; it's really too much money ! " 
 
 "Your reputation is at stake. Think of your 
 audience. The clubs will simply hang upon your words. 
 By lunch time to-morrow, any one who is anybody will 
 form part of it." 
 
 " There are not very many people in town," hesi- 
 tated Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 " There are always a certain number of people 
 in town."
 
 3 o8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Very well." 
 
 "I'll meet you here in a few minutes. Bring the 
 money with you." 
 
 When they returned they found Stevens waiting. 
 
 " You will find the carriage about half a mile down 
 the drive, m'm. It was not advisable to bring it up to 
 the house." 
 
 " Have you got the money, Mr. Beauclerk ? " 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk held out a ten-pound note dubiously 
 between his finger and thumb. Mrs. Gresham took it 
 from him and handed it to Stevens. 
 
 " And yours ? " said Mr. Beauclerk, as she was 
 moving off. 
 
 " It's quite right, sir," said Stevens. " The amount 
 was ten pounds." 
 
 "Mrs. Gresham," protested Mr. Beauclerk, indig- 
 nantly ; but Mrs. Gresham hurried downstairs, and he 
 was obliged to follow her lest she should go off without 
 him. 
 
 Stevens let them out of a side door. It had begun to 
 rain, and the wind had risen, and by the time they took 
 their seats they were quite wet. 
 
 " The coachman looks very young," said Mr. 
 Beauclerk, nervously. 
 
 " Oh, I've no doubt it will be all right, only I wish 
 we were not so wet." 
 
 " I don't quite understand the question of the money, 
 Mrs. Gresham." 
 
 "Oh, that's perfectly all right. I made a mistake,
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 309 
 
 so that, you see, I owe you five pounds." And Mrs. 
 Gresham congratulated herself on a brilliant piece of 
 finance. 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk was silent. It was very easy for 
 Mrs. Gresham to say she owed him five pounds. 
 When would she pay him ? 
 
 They drove on in the pitch darkness, with the rain 
 lashing at the windows. The carriage was swaying 
 from side to side in the most extraordinary manner, 
 and Mr. Beauclerk did nothing but peer out of the 
 window, and say 
 
 " I wonder where we are now ? " 
 " Really, Mr. Beauclerk, you are making me quite 
 nervous. Good gracious ! " she said, as the carriage gave 
 a sort of leap. " It feels as though he were jumping the 
 gates. Is he, do you think ? " 
 
 Then Mr. Beauclerk gave expression to a suspicion 
 which had been growing on him ever since they started. 
 " I believe," he said, " that the coachman is drunk." 
 Mrs. Gresham gave a shrill scream. 
 " Open the window, and ask him at once." 
 " I'm afraid that might only irritate him." 
 " Well, we can't go on being driven about the 
 country by a drunken coachman." 
 
 Mrs. Gresham's fears as to the continuance of the 
 drive were at once set at rest, for there was a fearful 
 jolt, the carriage rose on its side, and the next moment 
 they were in two feet of water. The coachman had 
 driven straight into a roadside pond.
 
 3 io BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk got through the window with re- 
 markable agility and swiftness, using Mrs. Gresham 
 as a footstool ; but it is only fair to say that he loyally 
 helped her through immediately afterwards. The 
 horses were kicking and plunging furiously ; the coach- 
 man was nowhere to be seen ; in fact, nothing was to 
 be seen at all. They might have remained seated on 
 the top of the carriage had not the horses, who were 
 rapidly reducing the vehicle to splinters, made the situ- 
 ation altogether too uncomfortable. They slipped off 
 into the water, and after wading a few yards with 
 their hearts in their mouths for fear that they might 
 fall into some deep pool and be drowned, they reached 
 dry land. 
 
 " What's to be done ? " said Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 " We must get back to Lanham," said Mrs. 
 Gresham. 
 
 "What ! and leave the horses and coachman 
 there ? Perhaps the man's drowning." 
 
 " If he's going to drown, he's drowned." 
 
 At this moment it became evident that the horses 
 were coming out of the water, and Mrs. Gresham 
 gave a wild scream, favoured with a complementary 
 yell from Mr. Beauclerk, as the horses, their legs freed 
 from the weight of water, tore past them with the 
 remnants of what had once been a carriage at their 
 heels. 
 
 " We might have been killed ! " whimpered Mr. 
 Beauclerk.
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 311 
 
 Suddenly a figure, shouting, " Stop them ! " ran up. 
 It was the coachman, obviously sobered by the accident. 
 
 They clung to him, one on each side. 
 
 " You wretch ! " said Mrs. Gresham, fixing her 
 long, aristocratic fingers into the fleshy part of his 
 arm. 
 
 " You ruffian ! " said Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 " My Gawd, I shall get the sack ! " moaned the man. 
 
 "And be prosecuted," screamed Mr. Beauclerk 
 through the wind. 
 
 " We'll see to that ! " screeched Mrs. Gresham. 
 
 Her hair was about her shoulders, and her skirt was 
 dripping, and could it have been seen, it would have been 
 indecent to look upon. 
 
 " You'll be my accomplices. It'll all come out that 
 I was paid to do it." 
 
 For one moment Mrs. Gresham, being the stronger 
 minded of the two, wondered whether it might not be 
 better to knock him on the head there and then, and 
 leave his corpse in the pond ; but Mr. Beauclerk, being 
 physically weak, had developed the diplomatic side of his 
 character. 
 
 " If you will take us back to Lanham," he shouted 
 in the man's ear, " I'll get you another place when you 
 are dismissed." 
 
 " You'll give me a reference ? " said the man. 
 
 "We'll both give you a reference," shouted Mrs. 
 Gresham in the other ear. 
 
 They had all got their faces as close together as
 
 312 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 possible, and the coachman, provoked by the tickling of 
 his ear caused by Mrs. Gresham screaming into it, drew 
 his head sharply back, and Mr. Beauclerk's nose came 
 into contact with a cranium of the lower ape-like order, 
 hard as a bullet. His anguish passed unnoticed, and 
 only after they had both tendered their solemn assurance 
 that they would give the man a reference, and that they 
 would each vouch from personal experience as to his 
 sobriety, did he consent to start for Lanham. Had they 
 not done so, he announced his firm intention of going 
 " Gawd knows where," and departing to the bad. 
 Terms having been arranged, they commenced to tramp 
 back, each of them holding on to the wretched groom 
 for he was no more lest he should leave them to die of 
 exposure. 
 
 Mr. Beauclerk knew his nose was bleeding, but as to 
 how much or how little he could not say, owing to the 
 streaming rain.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE events of the evening provoked Reggie to quite 
 a spirited display of indignation and courage. He 
 sought Dawlish out in his room, and gave him a piece 
 of his mind. 
 
 "I'm damned sorry I ever got you the invitation," 
 he concluded. 
 
 " You can't be more sorry than I am." 
 
 " You've behaved like a cad." 
 
 If anybody else had said as much, Dawlish would 
 probably have flown at his throat, but his contempt was 
 so profound that it would have taken a good deal to 
 provoke him to use physical violence towards Reggie. 
 
 " I'd give you back that five hundred pounds if I'd 
 got it." 
 
 As a matter of fact, Reggie still had the greater part 
 of it, but, whilst anxious to preserve himself from the 
 possibility of having to return the money, he wished to 
 have the satisfaction of throwing the transaction in 
 Dawlish's face. 
 
 " Aren't you rather giving yourself away ? " said 
 Dawlish, quietly. 
 
 " Oh, I don't care about that," said Reggie, showing
 
 314 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 by his easy callousness as to his own share in the matter 
 that he was his mother's son. " You have behaved like 
 a cad," he said, " and you are a cad ! " 
 
 Dawlish, who was packing a small bag, sprang to his 
 feet. 
 
 " Get out of my room, you effeminate little beast ! " 
 
 " How dare you ! " screamed Reggie. " I don't care 
 if Bellamy did cheat. It serves you jolly well right for 
 your presumption." 
 
 Dawlish came towards him threateningly, but Reggie 
 was roused to courage by sheer fury. 
 
 " If you touch me," he snapped, " I'll bite ! " 
 
 Dawlish laid a hand on his coat-collar, and Reggie, 
 clutching the other wrist as though it were some choice 
 morsel, made his well-tended teeth meet in the palm of 
 Dawlish's hand. The next moment he had measured 
 his length outside Dawlish's room, and the door was 
 locked on him. Reggie did not care. He knew that he 
 had had the best of the argument, physically and verbally. 
 He had inflicted such a wound on Dawlish's hand as 
 must give a considerable amount of pain, and he had 
 made him feel that there was not a soul in the house 
 who was grateful to him for what he had done, or would 
 ever know him again in consequence. He himself was 
 absolutely unhurt, and he was quite comforted when he 
 discovered that his dress coat was not injured. 
 
 By the time he reached his room he was thoroughly 
 elated with what he considered his success. 
 
 " Poor old Bellamy ! " he reflected. " I wonder how
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 315 
 
 he'll do it ? If it isn't a revolver, we shan't hear any- 
 thing, and I don't want to stay up all night for nothing ; 
 it's so aging." 
 
 It was curious how the idea that Bellamy would take 
 leave of his human habitation had impressed everybody 
 as being inevitable. It showed that they were no bad 
 judges of character.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THERE was a grim silence about the house as Mrs. 
 Crutchley, her eyes heavy with weeping, stole down 
 towards the room where she had ascertained Bellamy to 
 be. As she passed the Duchess of Havant's room there 
 came from it the odour of cigarettes and the babble of a 
 high-pitched French voice talking English with unusual 
 grammatical accuracy, though with a strong accent. 
 
 The servants had all gone to bed, but they were the 
 only people asleep. The entire house party, she knew, 
 were listening behind closed doors. On a small landing 
 she ran into the arms of Mr. Spottitt. The moonlight 
 fell upon her pale face and tired eyes. Her black hair 
 was disordered, and she looked strangely wraith-like and 
 beautiful. 
 
 " You have been with Lord Bellamy ? " she asked. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Poor Lady Charlotte has been crying the first 
 time, she declares, since her husband died. Isn't it all 
 dreadful ! " 
 
 " Life is always dreadful," he said ; " but never so 
 dreadful as when it is monotonous." 
 
 She compressed her lips and shook her head sadly. 
 316
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 317 
 
 " Do you think it is quite the time for jesting ? " 
 
 " Why not ? The truest egotism lies in the im- 
 personal. We should consider ourselves merely con- 
 tributories to a colour scheme. We must not be too 
 sure that our fellow workers are matching the shades 
 wrongly because their selections hurt us." 
 
 He drew her behind some curtains which divided the 
 landing from an alcove, where there was a deep window 
 seat and heavy-scented flowers. She trembled a little, 
 but his fascination for her was developing. 
 
 u You are very clever," she said. " I think you are 
 almost as clever as Lord Bellamy." 
 
 " Quite as clever," he asserted confidently ; and then 
 murmured treacherously " and younger." 
 
 He drew her closer to him, firmly, though with 
 appeal. 
 
 Something told her that the shiver that went through 
 him was a compliment Bellamy could never have paid 
 anybody. It was in the natural breeding of youth, and 
 argued a sensitiveness and freshness which middle age 
 must outgrow and even forget, however much it might 
 attempt to simulate with masks the outward effectiveness 
 of spring-time things. 
 
 Yes, he was decidedly younger, and, like all educated 
 temperaments, she was beginning to appreciate the value 
 of youth. It is only very young women and girls who 
 are unable to do so. 
 
 She found the situation strangely comforting the 
 moonlight, the fragrance of flowers, and a new lover.
 
 3 i 8 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Are you going to say good-bye to him ? " said 
 Spottitt. 
 
 She gave a shudder. 
 
 " You don't mean to say that ? " 
 
 "It's quite like going to visit some one in prison, 
 isn't it ? The only thing is that you can't help him to 
 escape disguised, unless," he added laughing, "you 
 happen to know an airship starting for the moon." 
 
 When Mrs. Crutchley knocked at the door, Bellamy's 
 voice murmured, " Come in." 
 
 She opened it and entered. He rose and stretched 
 out his hand. 
 
 " My dear Jack, how good of you ! " 
 
 He was perfectly consistent. He made no attempt 
 to help out the situation with any echo of their dead 
 past. Their romance had ended earlier in the evening, 
 and he presumed that she had come as a friend. 
 
 " Oh, Gerald, I am so sorry." 
 
 "So am I." 
 
 " Can nothing be done to hush it up ? " 
 
 " My dear Jack, what is the use of these things 
 happening if they are to be hushed up ? How fortunate 
 for you that we said good-bye earlier in the evening ! " 
 
 "I don't want to say good-bye." 
 
 " Oh yes, you do. You think you don't, but you 
 do. You have not perhaps considered that for the 
 future all my acquaintances will have to consist of 
 damaged goods. I have been thinking, Jack, that I 
 shall found a colony in which no one is to be allowed
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 319 
 
 who is not wealthy or clever, and in both cases dis- 
 reputable ; no one permitted to land who cannot show 
 his ticket-of-leave." 
 
 " Oh, Gerald, don't joke at this awful moment ! " 
 
 " There is nothing very awful, Jack. I have had a 
 good time, and I have been bowled over." 
 
 "Why did you do it?" 
 
 " Do what ? " 
 
 " Keep something up your sleeve ? " 
 
 Bellamy laughed to himself. He realized how per- 
 fectly futile it would be to mention such a word as 
 innocence. She would politely and outwardly believe 
 him, and inwardly think it very small. The sentimenta- 
 list would have left her his innocence as a sacred heri- 
 tage ; but, then, sentimentalists are foolish people who 
 always intrude their ill-informed emotions, to the eternal 
 injury of proportion. He took it lightly. 
 
 " Oh, that was a joke ! Pity they did not see it 
 from my point of view. I've too much sense of 
 humour, Jack too much sense of humour, and that is, 
 or is not, the greatest tragedy that can happen to any 
 one." 
 
 He was sitting on the edge of the table, and she was 
 standing before him on the hearthrug, the apotheosis of 
 the exquisitely dishevelled. 
 
 l< Can't you say it was a joke ? " 
 
 " Yes, I can say so, and I might be believed, if 
 Society's sense of humour were equal to my own." 
 
 " It'll all be so miserable," she said plaintively. " I
 
 320 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 shall have to listen while people say the most dreadful 
 things about you, and it's the sort of thing that Rollo 
 will be so high-principled about." 
 
 Bellamy shook his head with mock seriousness. 
 
 " Oh, Rollo is a great moralist ! But you'll soon 
 get accustomed to it, Jack, and perhaps you will even 
 acquire the knack." 
 
 " Don't ! " 
 
 " If it hurts you, I won't. Stay at home for a 
 month, see nobody, and when you emerge you will find 
 that everybody is talking about somebody else." 
 
 "A month is such a dreadfully long time," she 
 answered. 
 
 " Bravo, Jack ! " he laughed. " You are catching 
 the knack already. I really believe you will do me 
 
 credit after all, even when when " He checked 
 
 himself. He really could not risk a scene, and he said 
 instead, "I shouldn't wonder if you found a fortnight 
 sufficient. I am a little sorry for you, Jack. I am 
 afraid you will never find another friend like me." 
 
 " I shall never try, Gerald," she said. And at the 
 moment she had forgotten all about her scene with 
 Spottitt. 
 
 " Now go to bed like a good little girl." 
 
 " I can't go to bed like a good little girl." 
 
 " It is difficult when you are not a good little girl, 
 isn't it ? " he said, laughing. " But I mustn't sit up late, 
 so run along. In the critical moments of one's life the 
 great thing is to be alone. Good night."
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 321 
 
 " Good night. We have enjoyed ourselves, 
 haven't we ? " 
 
 " Yes, we have." 
 
 She put up her lips to be kissed, and he touched 
 them with a delightful suggestion of camaraderie. 
 
 Then she left him, wondering. 
 
 When he thought she had reached her room, he 
 went out, and ran lightly upstairs. He knew his son's 
 bedroom, and went in. He turned on the light, and 
 locked the door communicating with the room in 
 which the nurse slept. 
 
 The nurse was out of bed in a moment, asking 
 who was there. 
 
 " It is all right. It is I, Lord Bellamy." 
 
 She returned to her bed, bewildered. 
 
 He went over and looked down at his son. Then 
 he took a chair, and seated himself beside the sleeping 
 child. He passed his hand over the boy's forehead, 
 who stirred uneasily in his sleep, murmuring. 
 
 Lord Bellamy repeated the action, and Braby 
 opened his eyes. 
 
 " How are you, Braby ? " 
 
 The child looked at him vaguely for a moment, 
 and was about to settle down again when Lord 
 Bellamy took his hand. 
 
 " Braby, I want to speak to you. How are you ? " 
 
 u I am quite well, thank you." He allowed Lord 
 Bellamy to lift him out of bed, a sleepy little figure 
 in pyjamas. 
 
 Y
 
 322 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Braby, I am afraid I have been cutting down too 
 much timber not that it will matter very much, for 
 by the time you are twenty-one you will be quite well 
 off. Don't yawn." 
 
 " Please, I'm very sorry." 
 
 "I don't want you to yawn, as I'm going to 
 preach you a sermon. Ah, Braby, if you only had 
 my experience, what a time you might have." 
 
 The child looked at him as if he were trying to 
 understand. He was much fonder of his father than 
 he was of his mother, and liked being with him. 
 After a few seconds, feeling that he was expected to 
 say something, he said, " Yes, papa." 
 
 The nurse, who was now listening at the keyhole, 
 wondered what on earth Lord Bellamy's mysterious 
 proceedings meant. 
 
 "Braby, the generations must alternate. A saint 
 must be succeeded by a sinner, and vice versa. Only 
 in this way can the great families persist. Now, it is 
 your turn to be good." 
 
 "Yes, papa." 
 
 " Say it after me, Braby. * It is my turn to be 
 good.' " 
 
 " It is my turn to be good," repeated the child. 
 
 " It was my turn to be bad, and I always had a strict 
 sense of duty. If you were not born to be a saint, 
 Braby, I could give you a lot of good advice ; but even 
 as a saint you can have good manners. Very few have, 
 but it can be done. A sense of manners is an instinct of
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 323 
 
 life. Now, as you are going to be a saint Braby, wake 
 up!" 
 
 Braby's head had drooped gradually towards his 
 father's shirt-front. At the latter's admonition he 
 lifted his head. 
 
 " That's right. I was saying that as you are going 
 to be a saint, you won't have much need of money. A 
 saint wants morals, a sinner money ; so leave a lot for the 
 man who comes after you. Remember one bit of advice 
 about women. The worst are the best, and the best are 
 decidedly the worst. Hold fast to this maxim, my boy, 
 and they will never dominate you. It will act as a 
 charm, and I leave it to you as an inheritance more 
 valuable than your earldom or Lanham. One thing 
 more, Braby. Remember that, whether you are a saint 
 or a sinner, you will equally regret it and wish you had 
 
 been the other, and " But a tiny little snore, which 
 
 was like a grown-up sigh, told him that Braby's endurance 
 had given out. He put him back into bed, murmuring, 
 u The first sermon I have ever preached, and my congre- 
 gation is asleep. I am sorry," he said to himself, as he 
 looked down at the sleeping babe ; " I should have liked 
 to tell him that the saints have always gone in for a 
 great many wives, and the sinners for a great many of 
 the other thing, and that the sinners have always treated 
 their women a great deal better than the saints have 
 treated their wives." 
 
 The door opened, and Lady Bellamy, of all people, 
 entered the room.
 
 324 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 " Gerald, what are you doing here ? " 
 " What are you doing here, Selina ? " 
 " Where should a mother be but by her child ? " 
 " I have often felt inclined to ask you the question, 
 Selina." 
 
 " Oh, Gerald, I cannot sleep I cannot rest ! This 
 blow is terrible, terrible ! " 
 
 He seemed hardly conscious of what she was saying, 
 and continued to look at his sleeping heir. Lady 
 Bellamy placed herself on the other side of the bed. 
 
 " Gerald," she asked plaintively, " have you nothing 
 to say to me ? " 
 
 " My dear Selina, all I ever had to say to you I 
 said ten years ago at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge. You 
 remember, we brought the church into fashion." 
 
 "Gerald!" 
 
 " My dear girl, why will you persist in treating 
 marriage as a question of sentiment ? As I have often 
 told you, whenever a situation arises pre-eminently re- 
 quiring tact, you destroy it with sentiment. I apologize 
 to you, Selina, for this evening, but I have no inten- 
 tion of allowing it to injure you more than I can 
 help." 
 
 "You have wounded me in my most womanly 
 feelings." 
 
 "Selina!" 
 
 " Yes, Gerald ? " 
 
 " Believe me, I mean it in all courtesy when I say, 
 Damn your womanly feelings ! "
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 325 
 
 " I don't understand you." Suddenly Lady Bellamy 
 gave a start of horror, and exclaimed, " Gerald ! " 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " I believe Braby is going to be plain ! " 
 
 Bellamy looked at his heir earnestly. 
 
 " I wonder." And then he added thoughtfully, " If 
 he is, it will save him a lot of trouble." 
 
 He left the room and went downstairs.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 IT was fully an hour afterwards, but everybody heard it. 
 Reggie leapt off his sofa with a squeak and rushed out of 
 the room, and then rushed back again for fear he might 
 be the first to see something gruesome which would 
 frighten him out of his wits. 
 
 Spottitt went down the stairs like lightning. 
 
 Madame de Perrefonds displayed courage and curiosity 
 in equal quantities, and was in the hall almost before 
 him. 
 
 The Duchess of Havant and Pamela Gray arrived 
 with Reggie, and at the same moment one or two 
 servants appeared through a side door. 
 
 Madame de Perrefonds, still reeking of cigarettes, 
 proceeded to make the scene she had been waiting 
 for. 
 
 " Man Dieu ! What has happened r Ah, it is 
 terrible ! Poor Lady Bellamy ! Where did it happen ? " 
 
 Mrs. Crutchley appeared, gliding down the stairs, a 
 ghost in a white peignoir. She looked as if she were 
 going to faint, and Spottitt caught her just in time, and 
 was able to lay her in her husband's arms. 
 
 326
 
 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 327 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked Lady Charlotte. 
 
 She was a sight terrible to behold. Nobody could 
 have believed that she had so little hair of her own, and 
 she came down the grand staircase looking like a Red 
 Indian chief, her scarlet quilted dressing-gown wrapped 
 round her in barbarous majesty. 
 
 " Has no one anything to say to me ? " 
 
 It was Lady Bellamy, addressing her assembled guests 
 over the banisters of the first landing. 
 
 Before she could be answered, two apparitions, 
 dripping from head to foot, almost unrecognizable beneath 
 mud, appeared amidst the company. 
 
 It was Mrs. Gresham and Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 " Wherever have you two come from ? " asked Lady 
 Charlotte. 
 
 "From the bottom of a pond," replied Mr. Beau- 
 clerk, furiously, " into which we were driven by the very 
 worst coachman I ever sat behind." 
 
 " Serves you both right," said Lady Charlotte, " for 
 attempting to elope." 
 
 " Elope ? " cried Mr. Beauclerk. 
 
 " Elope ? " wailed Mrs. Gresham. 
 
 While this was going on, Stevens passed through the 
 assembly, which was now quite a crowd, including as it 
 did all the guests and most of the servants. He went up 
 a short flight of stairs and into the room where Spottitt 
 had left Bellamy. 
 
 The men crowded after him, but he had hardly 
 entered the room before he turned and faced them.
 
 328 BELLAMY THE MAGNIFICENT 
 
 They all looked at him breathlessly. 
 
 He anticipated their question, and answered in his 
 respectable, manservant voice, which reached everybody 
 in the hall 
 
 " His lordship has not forgotten that he was a 
 gentleman." 
 
 THE END 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND CECCLES.
 
 ALPHABETICAL CATALOGUE OF BOOKS 
 
 IN 
 
 GENERAL LITERATURE AND FICTION 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS 
 
 in ST. MARTIN'S LANE, CHARING CROSS 
 
 Telegrams 
 Bookstore, London 
 
 LONDON, W.C. 
 
 Telephone No. 
 3524 Central 
 
 ADAMS (W. DAVENPORT) 
 
 Books by. 
 A Dictionary of the Drama: 
 
 Guide to the Plays, Playwrights, Players 
 and Playhouses of the United Kingdom 
 and America, from the Earliest Times t< 
 the Present. Vol. I. (A to G). DemySvo 
 cloth. los. fid. net. Vol. II., completin ; 
 the Work, is in preparation. 
 Quips and Quiddities. Selected b 
 W. D. ADAMS. Post 8vo, cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 AGONY COLUMN (The) of 'The 
 
 Times,' from 1800 to 1870. Edited b 
 ALICE CLAY. Post 8vo, cloth. 2s. 6d. 
 
 ALDEN (W. L.). Drewitt's 
 
 Dream. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 ALLEN (GRANT), Books by 
 Moorland Idylls. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s 
 Post. Prandial Philosophy. Crown 
 8vo, art linen, $s. f>d. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. each : post Svo 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Babylon. With 12 Illustrations. 
 Strange Stories. 
 The Beckoning Hand. 
 For Maimie's Sake. 
 Phillstia. | In all Shades. 
 The Devil's Die. 
 This Mortal Coil. 
 The Tents of Shem. 
 The Great Taboo. 
 Dumaresq's Daughter. 
 Under Sealed Orders. 
 The Duchess of Powysland. 
 Blood Royal. 
 
 Ivan Greet's Masterpiece. 
 The Scallywag. With 24 Illustrations. 
 At Market Value. 
 
 The Tents of Shem. POPULAR 
 
 EDITION, medium 8vo, 6d. 
 Babylon. CHEAP EDITION, post 8vo, 
 cloth, is. net. 
 
 ANDERSON (MARY). Othello's 
 
 Occupation. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.1. 6d. 
 
 ANTROBUS (C. L.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 Quality Corner. | Wlldersmoor. 
 The Wine of Finvarra. 
 
 ALEXANDER (Mrs.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, js. 6d. each ; post Svo, 
 
 picture boards. 2s. each. 
 Valerie's Fate. Mona's Choice. 
 A Life Interest. Woman's Wit. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d. each. 
 The Cost of her Pride. 
 A Golden Autumn. 
 Barbara, Lady's Maid & Peeress. 
 Mrs. Crichton's Creditor. 
 A Missing Hero. 
 A Fight with Fate. 
 The Step-mother. 
 
 Blind Fate. Post Svo, picture boards, 2s. 
 
 ALMAZ (E. F.). Copper under 
 
 the Qold. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 APPLETON (G. W.), Novels by. 
 Rash Conclusions; Cr. 8vo. cl., 3*. 6d. 
 The Lady in Sables; Cr. 8vo, cl.. 6;. 
 
 ARNOLD (E. L.), Stories by. 
 
 The Wonderful Adventures of 
 Phra the Phoenician. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, with 12 Illustrations by H. M. 
 PAGET, 33. 6d.; post Svo, illustrated 
 boards, 2$. 
 
 The Constable of St. Nicholas. 
 
 With a Frontispiece. Crown Svo, cloth. 
 31. M. ; picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 ARTEMUS WARD'S Works. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, with Portrait, 3,5. 6d. ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s, 
 
 ASHTON (JOHN), Books by. 
 English Caricature and Satire on 
 
 Napoleon the First. With 115 
 
 Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth, 7s. t>d. 
 Social Life in the Reign of Queen 
 
 Anne. With 85 Illustrations. Crown. 
 
 Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 6s. each. 
 Social England under the Re- 
 gency. With 90 Illustrations. 
 
 Florizel's Folly: The Story of GEORGE 
 IV. and Mrs. KlTZHERBERT. With 13 
 Illustrations.
 
 CHATTO WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 ART. For details of three important 
 Series of Facsimiles in Colour of selected 
 Work; of The Early Painters of the 
 Netherlands, of The Early German 
 Painters, and of Italian Painters of 
 theXVthand XVIth Centuries, see 
 special Prospectus, to be had upon 
 application. 
 
 AUSTEN (JANE), The Works of : 
 
 The ST. MARTIN'S EDITION', in Ten 
 Volumes, each Illustrated with Ten 
 Reproductions after Water-colours by A. 
 WALLIS MILLS. With Bibliographical 
 :md Biographical Xotes by R. BRIMLEY 
 JOHNSON. Post 8vo, cl., 3*. td. net per vol. 
 The Xo\-e!s will be arranged in the follow- 
 ing order, and the first volumes will be 
 published in the Spring of 1908. Vols. I. 
 and II., PRIDE AND PREJUDICE; 
 Vols. III. and IV., SENSE AND SENSI- 
 BILITY ; Vol. V., NORTHANGER 
 ABBEY : Vol. VI., PERSUASION ; 
 Vols. VII. and VIII., EMMA ; Vols. IX. 
 and X., MANSFIELD PARK. 
 
 AUTHORS for the POCKET. 
 
 i6mo. cloth, 2s.net ea.; leather, 3?. net ca. 
 The Pocket R. L. S. 
 The Pocket Thackeray. 
 The Pocket Charles Dickens. 
 The Pocket Richard Jefferies. 
 The Pocket George MacDonald. 
 The Pocket Emerson. 
 The Pocket Thomas Hardy. 
 The Pocket George Eliot. 
 The Pocket Charles Kingsley. 
 The Flower of the Mind. 
 The Pocket Ruskin. 
 The Pocket Lord Bsaconsfield. 
 
 BACTERIA, Yeast Fungi, and 
 
 Allied Species, A Synopsis of. By 
 
 W. B. GROVE, B.A. With 87 Illustrations. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 39. 6d. 
 
 BARDSLEY (Rev. C. W.). 
 
 English Surnames : Their Sources 
 
 and -Significations. Cr. Svo, cloth. "js. f>J. 
 
 BARING-GOULD (S.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. each ; post Svo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each ; POPULAR 
 EDITIONS, medium Svo, 6d. each. 
 Red Spider. I Eve. 
 
 BARR (AMELIA E.). Love will 
 
 Venture in. Cr. 8vo, cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 BARR (ROBERT), Stories by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 3$. 6d. each. 
 In a Steamer Chair. With 2 Illusts. 
 From Whose Bourne, &c. With 47 
 
 Illustrations by HAL HURST and others. 
 Revenge! With 12 Illustrations by 
 
 LAXCELOT SPEED and others. 
 A Woman Intervenes. 
 A Prince of Good Fellows. With 
 
 15 Illustrations by E. J. SULLIVAN. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 The Speculations of John Steele, 
 The Unchanging East. 
 
 BARRETT (FRANK), Novels by. 
 
 Post Svo, illust. bds.. 2s. ea., cl.. 2s. fid. ea. 
 
 The Sin of Olga Zassoulich. 
 
 Folly Morrison. 
 
 Little Lady Linton. 
 
 Honest Davie. ! Found Guilty. 
 
 John Ford; and His Helpmate. 
 
 A Recoiling Vengeance. 
 
 Lieut. Barnabas. 
 
 For Love and Honour. 
 
 Cr. Svo, cloth, 3J. (>d. each ; post Svo, illust. 
 boards, 2s. each ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 Between Life and Death. 
 
 Fettered for Life. 
 
 A Missing Witness. With S Illus- 
 trations by W. H. MARGETSOX. 
 
 The 'Woman of the Iron Bracelets. 
 
 The Hardtng Scandal. 
 
 A ProdigarsJProgress. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.?. dd. each. 
 
 Under a Strange Mask. Wiih 19 
 Illustrations by E. K. HRKWTNAI.L. 
 
 Was She Justified? 
 
 The Obliging Husband. With 
 Coloured Frontispiece. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6.s. each. 
 Lady Judas. 
 The Error of Her Ways. 
 
 Fettered for Life. POPVLAR EDITION, 
 medium Svo, (id. 
 
 BASKERVILLE (JOHN): A 
 
 Memoir. By RALPH STRAUS and R. K. 
 DEXT. With 13 Plate.-. Large quarto, 
 buckram. 2U. net. 
 
 BATH (The) in Diseases of the 
 
 Skin. By J. L. MILTOX. Post Svo, is. ; 
 cloth, r.f. 6d. 
 
 BEACONSFIELD, LORD. ByT. 
 
 P. O'COXXOR. M.P. Crown 8vo. cloth. 5*. 
 
 BECHSTEIN(LUDWIG), and the 
 
 Brothers GRIMM. As Pretty as 
 Seven, and other Stories Wi;h sS 
 Illustrations by RICHTER. Square Svo, 
 cloth. fis.Cvf. : gilt edge'. 7.;. fi,'. 
 
 BEDE (CUTHBERTj. Mr. Ver- 
 
 dant Green. With 05 Illustrations. 
 Post Svo. is. net. 
 
 BENNETT (ARNOLD), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth. 6s. each. 
 Leonora. I A Great Man. 
 Teresa of Watling Street. With S 
 
 Illustrations by FRANK GII.LKI l. 
 Tales of the Five Towns. 
 Sacred and Profane Love. 
 Hugo. TheCity of Pleasure. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.;. d.i. each. 
 Anna of the Five Towns. 
 The Gates of Wrath. 
 The Ghost. 
 The Grand Babylon Hoial. Crown 
 
 Svo. cloth, 35. 6rf. ; POPULAR EDITIOX, 
 
 medium 8vo. (vi. 
 
 BENNETT <W. C.). Songs for 
 
 Sailors. Post Svo, cloth, 2s.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 BESANT and RICE, Novels by. 
 
 Cr. 8vo, cloth, 3.?. 6J. each ; post 8vo, 
 illust. bds. 2s. each ; cl. limp, 25. 6d. each. 
 
 Ready-Money Mortiboy. 
 
 The Golden Butterfly. 
 
 My Little Girl. 
 
 With Harp and Crown. 
 
 This Son of Vulcan. 
 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 
 By Celia's Arbour. 
 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 
 The Seamy Side. 
 
 The Case of Mr. Lucraft. 
 
 'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. 
 
 Tha Ten Years' Tenant. 
 
 BESANT (Sir WALTER), 
 
 Novels by. Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 each ; post 8vo, illustrated boards, zs. 
 each ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 With 12 Illustrations by FRED. BARNARD. 
 
 The Captain's Room, c. 
 
 All in a Garden Fair. With 6 Illus- 
 trations bv HARRY FURNISS. 
 
 Dorothy Forster. With Frontispiece. 
 
 Uncle jack, and other Stories. 
 
 Children of Gibeon. 
 
 The World Went Yery Well Then. 
 With 12 Illu?trations by A. FORESTIER. 
 
 Herr Paulus. 
 
 The Bell of St. Paul's. 
 
 For Faith and Freedom. With 
 Illusts. by A. FORESTIER and F. WADDY. 
 
 To Call Her Mine, &c. With 9 Illus- 
 trations by A. FORESTIER. 
 
 The Holy Rose, c. With Frontispiece. 
 
 Armor el of Lyonesse. With 12 Illus- 
 trations by F. BARNARD. 
 
 St. Katherine's by the Tower. 
 With 12 Illustrations by C. GREEN. 
 
 Verbena Camellia Stephanotis. 
 
 The Ivory Gate. 
 
 The Rebel Queen. 
 
 Beyond the Dreams of Avarice. 
 With 12 Illustrations by W. H. HYDE. 
 
 In Deacon's Orders, &c. With Frontis, 
 
 The Revolt of Man. 
 
 The Master Craftsman. 
 
 The City of Rafuge. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth 3$. tid. each. 
 
 A Fountain Sealed. 
 
 The Channeling. 
 
 The Fourth Generation. 
 
 The Orange Girl. With 8 Illustrations 
 by F. PEGRAM. 
 
 The Alabaster Box. 
 
 The Lady of Lynn. With 12 Illustra- 
 tions by G. DEMAIN-HAUMOND. 
 
 No Other Way. With 12 Illustrations 
 by C. D. WARD. 
 
 Crown 8vo, picture cluth, flat back, 25. each 
 
 St. Katherine's by the Tower. 
 
 The Rebel Queen. 
 
 LARGE TYPE, FINE PAPER EDITIONS, pot 
 Syo, cloth, gilt top, is. net each ; leather 
 gilt edges, 3$. net each. 
 
 London. 
 
 Westminster. 
 
 Sir Richard Whittington. 
 
 Gaspare! de Coligny. 
 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men 
 
 BESANT (Sir Walter) continued. 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium 8vo, 6rf. each. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 The Golden Butterfly. 
 Ready-Money Mortiboy. 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 The Orange Girl. 
 For Faith and Freedom. 
 Children of Gibeon. 
 Dorothy Forster. 
 
 Demy Syo, cloth, 7$. 6d. each. 
 London. With 125 Illustrations. 
 Westminster. With Etching by F. S. 
 
 WALKER, and 130 Illustrations. 
 South London. With Etching by F. S. 
 
 WALKER, and 118 Illustrations. 
 East London. With Etching by F. S. 
 
 WALKER, and 56 Illustrations by PHIL 
 
 MAY, L. RAVEN HILL, and ]. PENNELL. 
 Jerusalem. By WALTER BESANT and 
 
 E. H. PALMER. With Map and 12 Illusts. 
 
 Crown 8vo, buckram, 65. each. 
 As We Are and As We May Be. 
 Essays and Historiettes. 
 The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each. 
 Fifty Years Ago. With 144 Illusts. 
 Gaspard de Coligny. With a Portrait. 
 Sir Richard Whittington. 
 The Charm, and other Drawing-room 
 
 Plays. With 50 Illustrations by CHRIS 
 
 HAMMOND. &c. 
 
 Art of Fiction. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, is. net. 
 
 BEWICK (THOMA5) and His 
 Pupils. By AUSTIN DOBSON. With 95 
 Illustrations. Square 8vo, cloth, 35. dd. 
 
 BIBLIOTHECA ROMANICA : A 
 
 series of the Classics of the Romance 
 (French, Italian, Spanish, and Portu- 
 guese) Languages : the Original Text, 
 with Notes and Introductions in 
 the original language. Small Svo, SJ. 
 net per vol. ; cloth, lod. net per vol. 
 
 1. Moliere: I.e Misanthrope. 
 
 2. Moliere : Les Femmes savantcs. 
 
 3. Cornel lie: Le Cid, 
 
 4. Descartes : Discours de la me- 
 
 thode. 
 5-6. Dante : Divina Commedla I. : 
 
 Inferno. 
 
 7. Boccaccio: Decameron: Prinia 
 giornata. 
 
 5. Calderon : La vida es sueno. 
 
 9. Restif de la Bretonne: L'.tn 
 
 2000. 
 
 10. Camoes : Os Lusiadas : Canto I., 1 1. 
 n. Racine: Athalie. 
 12-15. Petrarca : Rermn vulgariurri 
 
 fragmenta. 
 16-17. Dante: Divina Commedla II.: 
 
 Purgatorio. 
 
 18-20. Tillier : Mon oncle Benjamin. 
 21-22. Boccaccio: Decameron : Seconda 
 
 giornata. 
 2 5-24- Beaumarchais : Le Barbicr de 
 
 Seville. 
 
 2S. Camoes: Os Lusiadas: Canto III., 
 IV.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 BIBLIOTHECA ROMANICA- 
 
 (continued). 
 26-28. Alfred de Musset : Comedies et 
 
 Proverbes : Ua Nuit venitienne : 
 
 Andre del Sarto ; Les Caprices de 
 
 Marianne; Fantasio ; Onnebadine 
 
 pas avec 1'amour. 
 29. Corneille : Horace. 
 30-31. Dante: Divina Commedia III. : 
 
 Paradiso. 
 
 32-34. Prevost t Manon Lescaut. 
 35-36. CEuvres de Maitre Francois 
 
 Yillon. 
 37-39- Cuillem de Castro: Las Mcce- 
 
 dades del Cid, I., II. 
 40. Dante : La Vita Xuova. 
 41-44. Cervantes : Cinco Novelas ejem- 
 
 plares. 
 
 45. Carnoes : Os Lusiadas : Canto V., 
 
 VI., VII. 
 
 46. Moliere: L'Avare. 
 
 47. Petrarca: I Trionfi. 
 
 48-40. Boccaccio : Decameron : Terza 
 
 gtornata. 
 50. Corneille: Cinna. 
 
 BODKIN (Mc.D., K.C.), Booksby. 
 Dora Myrl, the Lady Detective. 
 
 Cr. 8vo, cl.. 3s. f>d. : picture cl.. Hat back, 2s, 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.?. 6J. each. 
 Shillelagh and Shamrock. 
 Patsey the Omadaun. 
 
 BOURQET (PAUL). A Living 
 
 Lie. Translated by JOHN DE VILLIERS. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth. 31. 6d. 
 
 BOYD. A Versailles Christmas- 
 tide. By MARY STUART BOYD. With 
 53 Illusts. by A. S. BOYD. Fcap. 4to, cl.. 6s. 
 
 BOYLE (F.), Works by. Post 
 
 8vo, illustrated boards. 2s. each. 
 Chronicles of No-Man's Land. 
 Camp Notes. I Savage Life. 
 
 BRAND (JOHN). Observations 
 
 on Popular Antiquities. With the 
 Additions of Sir HEXUY ELLIS. Crown 
 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 BRAYSHAW(J. DODSWORTH). 
 
 Slum Silhouettes : Stories of London 
 Life. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 BIERCE (AMBROSE). In the 
 
 Midst of Life. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. Sd. ; 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 BILL NYE'S Comic History of 
 
 the United States. With 146 Musts. 
 by F. OPPER. Crown 8vo, cioth, 3.5. 6d. 
 
 BREWER'S (Rev. Dr.) Diction- 
 
 aries. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3$. 6ti. each. 
 The Reader'sHand book of Famous 
 
 Names in Fiction. Allusions, 
 
 References, Proverbs, Plots, 
 
 Stories, and Poems. 
 A Dictionary of Miracles : Imitative, 
 
 Realistic, and Dogmatic. 
 
 BINDLOSS (HAROLD), Novels by. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 The Concession-Hunters. 
 The Mistress of Bonaventure. 
 Daventry's Daughter. 
 
 A Sower of Wheat. Cr. 8vo, cl., 3.?. 5d. 
 Ainslie's Ju-Ju. Crown 8vo, cloth, 
 35. 6d. ; picture cloth, flat back, 2.5. 
 
 BREWSTER (Sir DAVID), 
 
 Works by. Post 8vo, cloth, 4$. <W. each. 
 More Worlds than One: Creed of 
 
 Philosopher, Hope of Christian. Plates. 
 The Martyrs of Science: GALILEO, 
 
 TYCHO BRAHE, and KEPLER. 
 Letters on Natural Magic. With 
 
 numerous Illustrations. 
 
 BLAKE (WILLIAM), The Poet- 
 ical Works of. Edited by E. J. ELLIS. 
 In 2 Vols., each with Photogravure 
 Frontispiece, small demy 8vo, buckram, 
 12s. net ; half-leather, 155. net 
 
 The Real Blake . A Portrait Biography 
 by E. J. ELLIS. With 13 Illustrations. 
 Demy 8vo. buckram, 125. net. 
 
 William Blake : A Critical Study bv 
 A. C. SWIXBURXE. With a Portrait. 
 Crown 8vo, buckram, 6s. net. 
 
 William Blake : Etchings from his 
 Works (8 Steel Plates and 2 Lithographs) 
 by W. B. SCOTT. Colombier folio, half- 
 cloth, i2s. dd. net. 
 
 BLUNDELL'S Worthies, 1604- 
 
 1904. By M. L. BAXKS, M.A. With 10 
 Illustrats. Demy 8vo, cloth, 7.5. 6d. net. 
 
 BRIGHT (FLORENCE). A Qirl 
 
 Capitalist. Crown 8vo cloth. 6s. 
 
 BRILLAT-SAVARIN. Qastro- 
 
 nomy as a Fine Art. Translated by 
 R. E. ANDERSON. Post 8vo, half-cl., 2s. 
 
 BRYDEN (H. A.).-An Exiled 
 
 Scot. With Frontispiece by J. S. 
 CROMPTOX, R.I. Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. 6rf. 
 
 BRYDQES (HAROLD). Uncle 
 
 Sam at Home. With 91 Illusts. Post 
 8vo, illust. boards is. : c'oth limn. ?s.6,i. 
 
 BURGESS (QELETT) and WILL 
 
 IRWIN. The Picaroons: A San 
 Francisco Night's Entertainment. 
 
 Crown 8vo. cloth. 3.?. 6rf. 
 
 BURNS (ROBERT). The Cot- 
 
 ter's Saturday Night. With Illustra- 
 tions by A. S. BOYD. Fcap. 410. cl.. 6.5. net. 
 
 BOCCACCIO. The Decameron. 
 
 \Vith a Portrait. Pott 8vo, cloth, gilt 
 top, 2s. net ; leather, gilt edges, 31. net. 
 
 BURTON (ROBERT). The 
 
 Anatomy of Melancholy. With a 
 Photogravure Frontispiece. Demy 8vo, 
 cloth, 7s. 6rf.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 BUCHANAN (ROBERT), Poems 
 
 and Novels by. 
 
 The Complete Poetical Works of 
 
 Robert Buchanan. 2 Vols., crown 
 
 8vo, buckram, with Portrait Frontispiece 
 
 to each volume, 125. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3^. 6d. each ; post 8vo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 29. each. 
 The Shadow of the Sword. 
 A Child of Nature. 
 God and the Man. With n Illustra- 
 tions bv F. BARNARD. 
 Lady Kilpatrlck. 
 The Martyrdom of Madeline. 
 Love Me for fiver. 
 Annan Water. | Foxglove Manor 
 The New Abelard. | Rachel Dene 
 Matt: A Story of a Caravan. 
 The Master of the Mine. 
 The Heir of Liinne. 
 Woman and the Man. 
 
 Crown Svo, c'oth, 3s. 6d. each. 
 Red and White Heather. 
 Andromeda. 
 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium Svo, 6d each 
 The Shadow of the Sword. 
 God and the Man. 
 Foxglove Manor. 
 The Charlatan. By ROBERT BUCHAXAX 
 and HENRY MURRAY. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 with Frontispiece by T. H. ROBINSOX, 
 3s. 6<i. ; post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 CARRUTH (HAYDEN).-TheAd- 
 
 ventures of Jones. With 17 Illustrat'ns. 
 I-cap. Svo. picture cover, is. : cloth, is. (tit. 
 
 CHAMBERS (ROBERT W.), 
 
 Stories of Paris Life by. 
 The King in Yellow. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 3.5. (,fi. ; fcap. Svo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 _In_thejjuapter. Fcap. Svo. cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 CHAPMAN'S 
 
 Vol. I., Plays Complete, including the 
 Doubtful Ones. Vol. II., Poems and 
 Minor Translations, with Essay by A C 
 SWINBURNE, Vol. III., Translations of 
 the Iliad and Odyssey. Three Vols 
 crown Svo. cloth. 35. 6d. each. 
 
 ICHAUCER for Children : A GoN 
 
 den Key. By Mrs. H.K. HAWEIS. With 
 8 Coloured Plates and 30 Woodcuts. 
 Crown 4(0. cloth. 35. 6d. ' 
 Chaucer for Schools. With the Story 
 ot his Times and his Work. By Mrs. 
 H. R. HAWEIS. Demy Svo, cloth. 2.?. (id. 
 
 CAINE (HALL), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3^. td. each ; post Svo. 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each ; cloth limn 
 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 The Shadow of a Crime. 
 I Son of Hagar. | The Deemster. 
 
 Also LIBRARY EDITIOXS of the three novels 
 
 crown Svo, cloth. (,s. each ; CHEAP POPC. 
 
 LAR EDITIOXS, medium Svo.portrait cover 
 
 bd, each ; and the FINE PAPER EDITION 
 
 The Deemster, pott Svo, cloth 
 
 g'" top, 2i.net ; leather, gilt edges 3* net 
 
 CHESNEY (WEATHERBY). - 
 
 The Cable-man. Crown 8vo, cloth. 6,-. 
 
 CHESS, The Laws and Practice 
 
 of. With an Analysis of the Openings 
 By HOWARD STAUXTOX. Edited by 
 K. H. WORMALD. Crown cSvo. cloth ej 
 
 The Minor Tactics of Chess : A 
 
 Treatise on the Deployment of the 
 r orces in obedience to Strategic Principle 
 By F. K. YOUNG and E. C. HOWBI4, 
 Fcap Svo, cloth. 2s. 6d. 
 Th _e Hastings Chess Tournament. 
 1 he Authorised Account of the 230 Games 
 played Aug.-Sept., 1895. With Annota- 
 tions by PILLSBURY, LASKER, TARRASCH 
 STEIXITZ. SCHIFFERS, TEICHMAXN, BAR- 
 
 DKLBBEN BLACKBURXE, GUNSBEHG 
 
 TINSLEY, MASON, and ALBIN ; Biographi- 
 cal Sketches, and 22 Portraits. Edited by 
 H. F. CHESHIRE. Crown Svo. cloth o* 
 
 CAMERON (V. LOVETT).-The 
 
 Cruise of the 'Black Prince 
 Privateer. Cr. Svo, cloth, with 2 Illus. 
 trations by P. MACNAB, 3,-. 6d. post Svo 
 Picture boards, 2s. 
 
 CAMPBELL (A. GODRIC). 
 
 Reur-de- Camp: a Daughter of 
 France. Crown Svo. cloth. f\s. 
 
 * > ^-'vjam^l 
 
 of the hmpire. Edited by LOKFIMX 
 LARCHEY. and Translated by Mrs. CAKKY 
 With 100 Illusts. Cr. Svo. cloth, v.6,/. 
 
 CARLYLE (THOMAS).-On 
 
 Choice of Books. Post Svn. cloth 
 
 CARROLL (LEWIS). -Alice to 
 
 Wonderland. With 12 Coloured and 
 many Line Illustrations by MILLICFXT 
 SOWKRBY. Large crown Svo, cloth gilt 
 Ss. net. (Published on Oct. i, bv special 
 arrangement with Messrs. Macmillan & 
 
 [CHILD-LOVER'S CALENDAR 
 
 (THE). With Col'd Illusts. by AMELIA 
 jBM EKLE. i6mo, coloured boards, is. net. 
 
 |CLARE (AUSTIN), Storles~iw~ 
 For the Love of a Lass. Post Svo 
 
 illustrated boards 2s. 
 By the Rise of the River. Crown 
 
 Svo, cloth. 3.; 6d. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6,j. each. 
 The Tideway. 
 Randal of Randalholme. 
 CUVE (Mrs. ARC H E R)71Vovdl s 
 
 by. Post Svo, cloth. 31. 6d. each ; illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. each. 
 Paul Ferroll. 
 
 Why Paul Ferroll Killed his Wife 
 CLODD (EDWARD). Myths 
 
 and Dreams. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.?. 6j. 
 
 COLLINS ( jrCH~URTON7 M. A.)" 
 
 Books by. Cr. Svo, cloth, 3.9. Crf.'each' 
 Illustrations of Tennyson. 
 Jonathan Swift.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 COBBAN (J. MACLAREN), 
 
 Novels by. 
 
 The Cure of Souls. Post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 The Red Sultan. Crown 8vo, cloth, 
 35. 6d. ; post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 The Burden of Isabel. Crown 8vo 
 cloth. 3*. (i.-i. 
 
 COLLINS (MORTIMER and 
 
 FRANCES), Novels by Cr.Svo, cl., 
 . t>d. each ; post 8vo, illustd. bds., 2s. each. 
 
 From Midnight to Midnight. 
 
 You Play me False. 
 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 
 The Village Comedy. 
 
 Frances. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Transmigration. 
 
 A Fight with Fortune. 
 
 Sweet Anne Page. 
 
 Sweet and Twenty. 
 
 COLMAN'S (GEORGE) Humor- 
 
 ous Works: 'Broad Grins,' 'My 
 Nightgown and Slippers,' &c. With 
 Life and Frontis. Crown 8vo, cl., 3$. 6d, 
 
 COLOUR^BOOKSr" 
 
 Large foolscap 410, cloth, 20.5. net each. 
 
 Switzerland: The Country and 
 its People. By CLARENCE ROOK. 
 With 56 Illustrations in Three Colours by 
 Mrs. JAMES | ARDIXE, and 24 in Two Tint- T . 
 
 *The Colour of London. By Rev. 
 W. J. LOKTIE, K.S.A. With Introduction 
 by M. H. SPIELMAXN, F.S.A.. and Illus- 
 trations in Three Colours and Sepia 
 by YOSHIO MARKING. 
 
 *The Colour of Paris. By several 
 FRENCH AUTHORS. Illustrated in Three 
 Colours and Sepia by the Japanese 
 artist, YOSHIO MARKING. {.Preparing 
 
 5 Cairo, Jerusalem, and Damascus. 
 By D. s. MARGOUOUTH, Litt.D. With 
 
 Illustrations in Three Colours by W. S. S. 
 TYRWKITT, R.B.A., and REGINALD 
 BAKRATT, A.R.W.S. 
 
 The Rhine. By H. I. MACKIXDER. 
 With Illustrations in Three Colours by 
 Mrs. JAMES JARDINE, and Two Maps. 
 
 *AssJsi of St. Francis. By Mrs. 
 KOBERT GOKF. With Introduction by 
 J. KERR LAWSON, Illustrations in Three 
 Colours by Colonel R. GOFF, and 
 Reproductions of the chief Franciscan 
 Paintings. [Preparing 
 
 -Devonshire: its Moorlands, 
 Streams, and Coasts. By Lady 
 ROSALIND NORTHCOTE. With Illustra- 
 tions in Three Colours by F. J. WIDGERV. 
 i [.Preparing 
 
 Large foolscap 4to, cloth, los. fid. net each. 
 
 "Venice. By BERYL DE SELIXCOCRT and 
 MAY STURGE-HENDERSON. With 30 Illus- 
 trations in Three Colours by REGINALD 
 BARRATT, A.R.W.S. 
 
 Lisbon and Cintra : with some Ac- 
 count of other Cities and Sites in Portu- 
 gal. By A. C. IXCHBOLD. With 30 Illus- 
 trations in Three Colours by STANLEY 
 INCHBOLD. .Vra 
 
 COLOUR- BOOKS-cr.w/ 
 'From the Foreland to Penzance : 
 Ports and Harbours of the 
 South Coast. By CLIVE HOLLAND. 
 With numerous Illustrations in Three 
 Colours by MAURICE RANDALL. 
 *. s * Prospectuses of these Books, with details 
 alsn in regard to SPECIAL COPIES on pure 
 rug taper of those marked*, may be had. 
 
 COLLINS (W1LKIE), Novels by. 
 
 Cr. Svo, cl., 3i. 6d. each ; post Svo, picture 
 boards, 2s. each ; cl. limp, zs. 6d. each. 
 
 Antonina. | Basil. | Hide and Seek 
 
 The Woman in White. 
 
 The Moonstone. , Man and Wife. 
 
 The Dead Secret. I After Dark. 
 
 The Queen of Hearts. 
 
 No Name 
 Armadale. 
 
 My Miscellanies. 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 
 Miss or Mrs.? 1 The Black Robe. 
 
 The New Magdaien. 
 
 Frozen Deep. , A Rogue's Life. 
 
 The Law and the Lady. 
 
 The Two Destinies. 
 
 The Haunted Hotel. 
 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 
 Jezebel's Daughter. 
 
 Heart and Science. I ' I Say No.' 
 
 The Evil Genius. I Little Novels. 
 
 The Legacy of Cain. | Blind Love. 
 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium Svo, Gd. each. 
 
 The Woman in White. 
 
 Moonstone. | The New Magdalen. 
 
 The Dead Secret. I No Name. 
 
 Man and 'Wife Armadale. 
 
 The Woman in White. LARGE TYPE, 
 FINE PAPER EDITION. Pott Svo, cloth, 
 tjilt top, 2s. net : leather, gilt edges, 35. net. 
 
 The Frozen Deep. LARGE TYPE EDIT. 
 Fcap. Svo. cl.. is. net ; leather, is. 6d. net. 
 
 COLQUHOUN (M. J.). Every 
 
 Inch a Soldier. Crown Svo, cloth, 
 3s. 6d.; post Svo, illustrated boards, zs. 
 
 COLT-BREAKING, Hints on. By 
 
 W. M. HUTCHISON. Cr. Svo. cl.. 33. 6d. 
 
 COLTON (ARTHUR). - The 
 
 Belted Seas. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 COMPENSAflON~/LCT (THE~)7 
 
 1906: Who pays, to whom, to 
 what, and when it is applicable. 
 
 By A. CLEMENT EDWARDS, M.P. Crown 
 Svo, is net; cloth, is.f-d. net. 
 
 COMPTON(HERBERT),Noveisby. 
 The Inimitable Mrs. Massing- 
 ham. Crown 8vo. cloth, 35. 6d, 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, CM. each. 
 The Wilful Way. 
 The Queen can do no Wrong. 
 To Defeat the Ends of Justice. 
 
 COOPER (E. H.), Novels by. 
 Geofiory Hamilton. Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth, 35. 6d. 
 The Marquis. Crown Svo. cloth, 6.j. 
 
 CORNlSH~(J. F.). Sour Grapes; 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 C O R N VV A L L. P o p u I a 
 
 Romances of the West of England 
 
 The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstition 
 of Old Cornwall. Collected by ROBER 
 HUNT, F.R.S. With two Plates b> 
 GEORGE CRUIKSHAXK. Cr . 8vo, cl., 7*. Cxi 
 
 CO URT~(The) ~of the Tuileries 
 
 1853 to 1870. By LE PETIT HOMM. 
 ROUGE. With a Frontispiece. Crowi 
 8vo, cloth, y.r. fid. net. 
 
 COVENT GARDEN THEATRE 
 
 The Annals of, from 1732 to 1897. BI 
 HENRY SAXK WYNDHAM. With 45 Illus" 
 trations. Two Vols., demy Svo. cl, 2is. ne 
 
 CRADDOCK (C. EGBERT), by. 
 The Prophet of the Great Smoky 
 
 Mountains. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. fid. 
 
 post 8v. , illustrated boards, 2s. 
 His Vanished Star. Cr 8vo, cl. 3$. 6d 
 The Windfall. Crown Svn. cloth, 
 
 CRE5SWELL (HENRY). A 
 
 Lady of Misrule. Crown Svo. cloth. f>s 
 
 CRFM (MATT). Adventures of 
 
 a Fair Rebel. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2.?. 
 
 CROCKETT (S. R.) and others. 
 
 Tales of our Coast. By S. R 
 
 CROCKETT, GILBERT PARKER, H, \ROLD 
 FREDERIC, ' Q.,'and W.CLARK RUSSELL 
 With 13 Illustrations by FRANK BRANG- 
 \VYN. Crown Svo, cloth, ^j. fid. 
 
 CROKER (Mrs. B. M.), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. 6d. each 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each ; 
 cloth limp, 2s. f>d. each. 
 
 Pretty Miss Neville. 
 
 A Bird of Passage. [ Mr. Jervis. 
 
 Diana Barrington. 
 
 Two Masters. | Interference. 
 
 A Family Likeness. 
 
 A Third Person. | Proper Pride. 
 
 Village Tales & Jungle Tragedies. 
 
 The Real Lady Hilda. 
 
 Married or Single? 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 35. fid. each. 
 In the Kingdom of Kerry; 
 Miss Balmaine's Past. 
 Jason. | Beyond tho Pale. 
 
 Terence. With 6 lHusts. by S. PAGI-T 
 The Cat's-paw. With 12 Illustrations 
 
 by KRKD PEG RAM. 
 The Spanish Necklace. With 8 
 
 Illustrations by F. PEGRAM. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. 6d. each ; post Svo, 
 
 cl'ith limp, 2s. f>d. each. 
 Infatuation. [ Some One Else. 
 
 ' To Let.' Post Svo, picture boards, 2s. ; 
 cloth limp, 2?. fid. 
 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium Svo, W. each. 
 
 Diana Barrington. 
 
 Pretty Miss Neville. 
 
 A Bird of Passage. 
 
 Beyond the Pale. 
 
 A Family Likeness. 
 
 CRUIKSHANK'S COMIC AL- 
 
 MANACK. Complete in Two SERIES. 
 The FIRST from 1835 to 1843 ; the 
 SECOND, from 1844 to 1853. A Gathering 
 of the Best Humour of THACKERAY 
 HOOD, ALBERT SMITH, &c. With nu- 
 merous Steel Engravings and Woodcuts 
 by CRUIKSHANK, LANUELLS, &c. Two 
 Vols., crown Svo, cloth, 7.5. 6d. each. 
 The Life of George Cruikshank. 
 By BLANCHARD JERROLD. With 84 Illus- 
 trations and a Bibliography. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 3.9. bd. 
 
 CUMMING (C. F. GORDON), 
 
 Works by. Demy Svo, cloth, 6j. each 
 In the Hebrides. With 24 Illustrations. 
 In the Himalayas and on the 
 
 Indian Plains. With 42 Illustrations. 
 Two Happy Years in Ceylon. 
 
 With 28 Illustrations. 
 Yia Cornwall to Egypt. Frontis. 
 
 CUSSANS (JOHN E.). A Hand- 
 
 book of Heraldry; including instruc- 
 tions for Tracing Pedigrees, Deciphering 
 Ancient MSS., &c. With 408 Woodcuts 
 and 2 Colrd. Plates. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 CYCLING, HUMOURS OF. By 
 
 JEROME K. JEROME, H. G. WELLS, BARKY 
 PAIN, C. ROOK, PETT RIDGE, J. F. SULLI- 
 VAN. &c. With Il!ust*. Cr.8vo,cl.,ii. net. 
 
 DAUDET (ALPHONSE). The 
 
 Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. 
 
 Translated by C. H. MELTZER. Cr. Svo, 
 cloth, 3i.6d. ; post Svo, illustrated bds.,2s. 
 
 DAN BY (FRANK). A Coquette 
 
 !n Crape. Foolscap Svo. cloth, I.T. net. 
 
 DAVENANT (FRANCIS). Hints 
 
 for Parents on the Choice of a 
 Profession for their Sons when 
 Starting in Life. Crown Svo, U. (id- 
 
 DAVIDSON (HUGH COLEMAN). 
 
 Mr. Sadler's Daughters. Crown 
 
 Svo, cloth, 3$. t>d. 
 
 DAVIES (Dr. N. E. YORKE-), 
 
 Works by. Cr. Svo, is. ea.: cl.. is. 6d. e;i. 
 One Thousand Medical Maxim?, 
 
 and Surgical Hints. 
 Nursery Hints: A Mother's Guide. 
 The Dietetic Cure of Obesity 
 
 (Foods for the Fat). With Chapters 
 
 on the Treatment of Gout by Diet. 
 
 Aids to Long Life. Crown Svo, 2s. ; 
 cloth, 2.5. 6d. 
 
 Poetical Works. Edited with Notes, 
 by Rev. A. B. GROSART, D.D. Two Vols., 
 crown Svo, cloth, 35. (id. each. 
 
 DEFOE (DANIEL). Robinson 
 
 Crusoe. With 37 Illusts. by GEORGE 
 CRUIKSHANK. LARQK TYPE, FINE PAPER 
 EDITION. Pott Svo, cloth, gilt top, . net ; 
 leather, gilt edges, 3*. net.
 
 8 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 DEAKIN (DOROTHEA), Stories 
 
 by. Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. (id. each. 
 The Poet and the Pierrot. 
 _ The PrincessJSrthe Kitchen-maid 
 
 DE G C IE RTN (MA URIC E), The 
 
 Journal of. tWith a Memoir by SAINTE 
 BKUVE. Fcap. 8vo, half-cloth, zs. 6d 
 
 DE MAISTRE (XAVIER). A 
 
 Journey Round my Room. Transl 
 
 HENRY ATTWELL. Post 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6 .' 
 
 DEMILLE (JAMESjT^AStrange 
 
 Manuscript found in a Copper 
 Cylinder. Crown Svo, cloth, with 19 
 Illustrations by GILBERT GAUL, $s. (xt. 
 post Svo. illustrated boards. 2s. 
 
 DEVONSHIRE SCENERY, The 
 
 History of. By ARTHUR W. CLAYDEN 
 MA. With Illus.bemySvo.cl..:os6rf. net 
 Devonshire: its Moorlands 
 Streams and Coasts. By Lady 
 ROSALIND XORTHCOTE. With Illustra- 
 tions in Three Colours by K. J. WlDGERY 
 Large fcp. 4(0, cloth, 205. net : a few 
 Special Copies, with mounted plates 
 bound in parchment, 42$. [Prtf/irinp 
 
 DEWAR (T. R.). A Ramble 
 Round the Olobe. With 220 Illustra 
 
 lions. Crown Svo, cloth, 75. (>d. 
 
 DICKENS (CHARLES); The 
 
 Speeches of. Edited and Annotated 
 by K. H. SHEPHERD. \Vith a Portrait 
 Pott Svo, cloth. 2s. net ; leather, 35. net. 
 The Pocket Charles Dickens: being 
 
 Favourite Passages chosen by ALFRED 
 H. HYATT. i6mo, cloth, gilt top. 2*. net ; 
 leather, gilt top, 35. net. 
 
 DICTIONARIES. 
 
 The Reader's Handbook of 
 Famous Names in Fiction, 
 Allusions, References, Pro- 
 verbs, Plots, Stories, and Poems 
 By Kev. E. C. BREWER, LL.D. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 35. fid. 
 
 A Dictionary of Miracles, 
 Imitative, Realistic, and Dogmatic By 
 Rev. E. C. BREWER, LL.D Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 3.5. 6rf. 
 
 Familiar Allusions. By WILLIAM A. 
 and CHARLES G. WHEELER. Demy 8vo, 
 cloth, 7s. 6<i. net. 
 
 Familiar Short Sayings of Great 
 Men. With Historical and Explanatory 
 Notes by SAMUEL A. BENT, A.M. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 7.c. 6rf. 
 
 The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, 
 Historical, nnd Anecdotal. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 6s. fid. 
 
 Words, Facts, and Phrases: A 
 Dictionary of Curious, Quaint, and Out- 
 of-the-Way Matters. By ELIF.ZER 
 EDWARDS. Crown Svo. cloth. 3s. bit 
 
 DILKE (Sir CHARLES, M.P.). 
 
 The British Empire. Crown Svo, 
 buckram. 3s. 6d. 
 
 DOBSON (W. T.).-PoeticaI In- 
 genuities and Eccentricities. Post 
 Svo, cloth, 2s. (>d. 
 
 DOBSON (AUSTIN), Works by. 
 Thomas Bewick and his Pupils. 
 
 With 95 lllusts. Sq. 8vo, cloth, 51. cii 
 
 Crown 8vo, buckram, 6s. each. 
 Four Frenchwomen. With Four 
 
 Portraits. 
 Eighteenth Century Vignettes. 
 
 In Three Series, each 6s. : also FINE- 
 PAPER EDITIONS of the THREE SERIES. 
 pott Svo, cloth, 2i. net each ; leather, 
 3s. net each. 
 
 A Paladin of Philanthropy, and 
 other Papers. With 2 Illustrations. 
 
 Side-walk Studies. With 5 Illusts. 
 
 DONOVAN (DICK), Detective 
 
 Stories by. Post Svo. illustrated 
 
 boards, 25. each ; cloth, 2s. 6d each, 
 Caught at Last. 
 In the Grip of the Law: 
 Link by Link. 
 
 From Information Received? 
 Suspicion Aroused. 
 Riddles Read. 
 Tracked to Doom; 
 Crown Svo. cl.. 3$. tid each ; picture cl., 
 
 flat back, is. each ; post Svo, illustrated 
 
 boards, 2j each ; cloth limp. 2s. td. each. 
 The Man from Manchester. 
 The Mystery of Jamaica Terrace. 
 
 Crown 8vu. cloin. 31. bd. each. 
 Deacon Brodie : or, Behind the M-K'.C. 
 Tyler Tatlock, Private Detective. 
 Cr. Svo, cl., 35. (id. ea. -.:pict. cl.. Hat bk. 2-.. ca. 
 The Records of Vincent Trill. 
 Tales of Terror. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 35. (jd. each ; post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each; cloth limp, 
 
 2s 6rf each 
 
 Chronicles of Michael Danevitch. 
 A Detective's Triumphs. 
 Tracked and Taken. 
 Who Poisoned Hetty Duncan? 
 Crown Svo, picture cloth, rial back, 2s. each ; 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, is. each; cloth 
 
 limp, 2s. Cd. each. 
 Wanted! 
 The Man. Hunter. 
 
 Eark Deeds. Crown 8vo, cloth limp, 
 2s. 6<1. ; picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 DOWLING (RICHARD). Old 
 
 Corcoran's Money. Cr. Svo, cl., 35. 6J. 
 
 DRAMATISTS, THE OLD. 
 
 Edited by Col. CUNNINGHAM. Cr. 8vo, 
 cloth, with Portraits, 35. bd. per Vol. 
 
 Ben Jonson's Works. With Notes, 
 Critical and Explanatory, nnd a Bio- 
 graphical Memoir by WILLIAM GIFFOKD. 
 Three Vols. 
 
 Chapman's Works. Three Vols. Vol. 
 I. contains the Plays complete ; Vol. II,, 
 Poems and Minor Translations, with an 
 Essay by A. C. SWINBURNE; Vol. III., 
 Translations of the Iliad and Odyssey. 
 
 Marlowe's Works. One Vol. 
 
 Massinger's Plays. From GIFFORD'S 
 Text. One Vol.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 DOYLE (A. CONAN). The Firm 
 
 of Qirdlestone. Crown 8 vo. cloth, is. bd. 
 
 DUMPY BOOKS (The) for 
 
 Children. Roy. -521110 cloth, i.e. net e.'. 
 
 1. The Flamp, The Ameliorator, 
 and The Scnool-boy's Appren- 
 tice. By K. V. Lrt AS. 
 
 2. Mrs. "Turner's Cautionary 
 Stories. 
 
 3. The Bad Family. By Mrs. 
 
 I'KXWICK. 
 
 4. The Story of Little Black 
 Sambo. By HELEN BANNKRMAX. 
 Illustrated in colours. 
 
 5. The Bountiful Lady. By THOMAS 
 
 CO HP,. 
 
 7. A Flower Book. Illustrated in 
 colours by NELLIE BENSON. 
 
 8. The Pink Knight. By J. R. MON 
 SELL. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 9. The Little Clown. By THOMAS 
 Conn. 
 
 10. A Horse Book. By MARYTOURTEL. 
 Illustrated in colours. 
 
 11. Little People: an Alphabet. By 
 HENRY MAYER and T. W. H. CROSLAND. 
 Illustrated in colours. 
 
 12. A Dog Book. By ETHEL BICKXELL. 
 With Pictures in colours by CARTON 
 MOORE PARK. 
 
 13. The Adventures of Samuel 
 and Selina. By JEAN C. ARCHER. 
 Illustrated in colours. 
 
 14. The Little Girl Lost. By ELEANOR 
 RAPER. 
 
 15. Dollies. By RICHARD HUNTER. 
 Illustrated in colours by RUTH COBB. 
 
 16. The Bad Mrs. Ginger. By HONOR 
 C. APPLEION. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 17. Peter Piper's Practical Prin- 
 ciples. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 18. Little White Barbara. By 
 ELEANOR M ARCH. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 20. Towlocks and his Wooden 
 Horse. By ALICE M. APPLEION. 
 lllus. in colours by HONOR C. APPLKTON. 
 
 21. Three Little Foxes. By MARY 
 TOURTEL. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 22. The Old Man's Bag. By T. W. 
 H. CROSLAND. lllus. bv j. R. MONSKI.L. 
 
 23. Three Little Goblins. By M. 
 G. TAGC.ART. Illustrated in col;nrs. 
 
 24. Dumpy Proverbs. By HONOR 
 C. APPLKTON. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 25. More Dollies. By RICHARD HUN- 
 TER. IIIu*. in colours by Rtrrn COBB. 
 
 23. Little Yellow Wang-lo. By M 
 C. BKI.L. Illustrated in colours. 
 
 27. Plain Jane. Text by G M.GEORGE, 
 Illustrated in colours by G. M. C. FRY. 
 
 28. The Sooty Man. Bv E. B. 
 MACKINNON and EDEN COYBEE. lllus. 
 
 29- Fishywinkla. By JEAN C. ARCHER. 
 Illustrated in colours. 
 
 30. Rosalina. Illustrated in colours by 
 JE\\ C. ARCHER. 
 
 31. Sammy and the Snarly wink. 
 Illustrated in colours by LENA and NOR- 
 MAN Al'LT. 
 
 33. Irene's Christmas Party. By 
 
 RICHARD HUNTK.H. Jiius. by RUTH COBB 
 
 DUMPY BOOKS eoHtinued. 
 
 34. The Little Soldier Book. By 
 
 JESSIE POPE. Illustrated in colours by 
 HEXRY MAYER. 
 
 35. The Dutch Doll's Ditties. By 
 C. AUBREY MOORE. 
 
 36. Ten Little Nigger Boys. By 
 NORA CASK. 
 
 37. Humpty Dumpty's Little Son. 
 By HELEN R. CROSS. 
 
 DUNCAN (5ARA JEANNETTE, 
 
 Books by. Cr. 8vo. cloth, js. fid. each. 
 A Social Departure. With in 
 
 Illustrations by K. H. TOWNSEND. 
 An American Girl in London. 
 
 With Ko Illustrations by F. H.TOWNSKND. 
 The Simple Adventures of a 
 
 Memsahib. With 37 Illustrations. 
 
 Crown 8 vo, cloth, 3 T. M. each. 
 A Daughter of To-Day. 
 Vernon's Aunt. With 47 Illustrations. 
 
 DUTT (ROMESH C.). England 
 
 and India: Progress during One 
 Hundred Years. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2.1. 
 
 DYSON (EDWARD). In the 
 
 Roarine Fifties. Crown 8vo. cloth. 6 f . 
 
 EARLY ENGLISH POETS. 
 
 Edited by Rev. A. B. GROSART, D.D. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. ftd. per Volume. 
 Fletcher's (Giles) Poems. One Vol. 
 Davies' (Sir John) Complete 
 
 Poetical Works. Two Vols. 
 
 EDWARDE5 (Mrs. ANNIE), 
 
 Novels by. 
 A Point of Honour. Post 8vo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 25. 
 Archie Lovell. Crown Svo, cloth, 
 
 3.5. t>d. ; post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 A Plaster Saint. Cr. Svo, cloth. 35. (xi. 
 
 E D W ARDSTE LIEZ ER)TWords, 
 
 Facts, ana Phrases: A Dictionary of 
 Curious, Quaint, and Out-of-the-Way 
 Matters. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. (xf. 
 
 EGERTON (Rev. J. C.). 
 
 Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways. 
 
 With Four Illusts. Crown Svo, cloth. 5.5. 
 
 EQQLESTON (EDWARD). 
 
 Roxy. Post Svo, illustrated boards. 25. 
 
 ELBE (LOUIS). Future Life 
 
 in the Light ol Ancient Wisdom 
 and Modern Science. Crown 8vo,, 
 cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 ENGLISHMAN (An) in Paris: 
 
 Recollections of Louis Philippe and the 
 Empire. Crown Svo, cloth. 3.?. M. 
 
 ENGLISHMAN'S HOUSE, The: 
 
 A Practical Guide for Selecting or Builrl in j 
 a House. By C. J. RICHARDSON. With 
 Coloured Frontispiece and 534 Illustra- 
 tions. Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. dd. 
 
 EYES, Our: How to Preserve 
 Them. By JOHN BROWNING. Crown 
 Syo, cloth., is.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FAMILIAR ALLUSIONS: Mis- 
 
 cellaneous Information, including Cele- 
 brated Statues, Paintings, Palaces, 
 Country Seats, Ruins, Churches, Ships, 
 Streets, Clubs, Natural Curiosities, &c. 
 By W. A. and C. G. WHEELER. Demy 
 Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 FAMILIAR 5HORT SAYINGS 
 
 of Great Men. By S. A. BENT, A.M 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 7$. 6d. 
 
 FARADAY (MICHAEL), Works 
 
 by. Post Svo, cloth, 4.5. dd. each. 
 
 The Chemical History of a 
 Candle : Lectures delivered before a 
 Juvenile Audience. Edited by WILLIAM 
 CROOKES, F.C.S. With numerous Illusts. 
 
 On the Various Forces of Nature, 
 and their Relations to each 
 other. Edited by WILLIAM CROOKES, 
 F.C.S. With Illustrations. 
 
 FARRER (J. ANSON). War: 
 
 Three Essays. Crown Svo, cloth, is. hd. 
 
 FENN (G. MANV1LLE), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. dd. each ; 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 The New Mistress. 
 Witness to the Deed. 
 The Tiger Lily. 
 The White_Yirgln.__ 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, is. dd. each. 
 A 'Woman Worth Winning. 
 Cursed by a Fortune. 
 The Case of Ailsa Gray. 
 Commodore Junk. 
 Black Blood. | In Jeopardy. 
 Double Cunning. 
 A Fluttered Dovecote. 
 King of the Castle. 
 The Master of the Ceremonies. 
 The Story of Antony Grace. 
 The Man with a Shadow. 
 One Maid's Mischief. 
 This Man's Wife. 
 The Bag of Diamonds, and Three 
 
 Bits of Paste. 
 Running Amok. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 6s, each. 
 Black Shadows. 
 The Cankerworm. 
 So Like a Woman. 
 
 A Crimson Crime. Crown Svo, cloth, 
 35. ftrf. ; picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 FICTION, a Catalogue of, with 
 
 Descriptions and Reviews of nearly 
 TWELVK HUNDRED NOVELS, will be 
 sent free by CHATTO & WINDUS upon 
 application. 
 
 FIN-BEC. The Cupboard 
 
 Papers. The Art of Living and Dining. 
 Post Svo. cloth. 2s. dd. 
 
 FIREWORK - MAKING, The 
 
 Complete Art of ; or, ThePyrotechnist': 
 Treasury. By THOMAS KENTISH. With 
 267 Illustrations. Cr. Svo, cloth, 31. 6d. 
 
 FITZGERALD (PERCY), by. 
 
 Little Essays : Passages from the 
 Letters of CHARLES LAMB. Post Svo, 
 cloth, 2s. dd. 
 
 Fatal Zero. Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. dd. ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, zs. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards. 2s. each. 
 Bella Donna. | Polly. 
 The Lady of Brantome. 
 Never Forgotten. 
 The Second Mrs. Tillotson. 
 Seventy-five Brooke Street. 
 
 The Life of Laurence Sterne. 
 
 With a Portrait. Crown Svo, cloth, ds. 
 
 FLAMMARION (CAMILLE), 
 
 Works by. 
 
 Popular Astronomy. Translated by 
 1. ELLARD GORE, F.R.A.S. With Three 
 Plates and 288 Illustrations. A NKW 
 EDITION, with an Appendix giving the 
 results of Recent Discoveries. Medium 
 Svo, cloth, los. f>d. 
 
 Thunder and Lightning. Trans- 
 lated by WALTER MOSTYX. With Illus- 
 trations. Crown fivo, cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 FLETCHER'S (GILES, B.D.) 
 
 Complete Poems : Christ's Victorie in 
 Heaven, Victorie on Earth, Triumph over 
 Dca^h ; with Minor Poems. Notes by 
 Rev. A. B. GROSART. Cr. Svo.cl. 3$. dd. 
 
 FLORENCE PRESS BOOKS. 
 
 For information 05 to this impor- 
 tant Series, printed from a new type 
 designed by HERBERT P. HORXE, and 
 now first engraved and cast, see special 
 Prospectus. 
 
 FORBES (Hon. Mrs. WALTER). 
 
 Dumb. Crown Svo cloth, 3*. dd. 
 
 FRANCILLON (R. E.), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. dd. each ; post 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 One by One I A Real Queen. 
 
 A Dog and his Shadow. 
 
 Ropes of Sand. With Illustrations. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, is. each. 
 Queen Cophetua. | Olympia. 
 Romances of the Law. 
 King or Knave ? 
 
 Jack Doyle's Daughter. Crown 8vo, 
 
 cloth, 35. dd. 
 
 FREDERIC (HAROLD), Novels 
 
 by. Post bvo, cloth, 3i. dd. each; 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Seth's Brother's Wife. 
 The Lawton Girl. 
 
 FRY'S (HERBERT) Royal 
 
 Guide to the London Charities. 
 
 Edited by JOHN LANE. Published 
 Annually. Crown 8vo, cloth, u. dd.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 ii 
 
 GARDENING BOOKS. PostSvo, 
 
 la. each ; cloth, is. 6d. each. 
 A Year's Work in Garden and 
 
 Greenhouse. By GEORGE GLEXXY. 
 Household Horticulture. By TOM 
 
 and JAXE JERROLD. Illustrated. 
 The Garden that Paid the Rent. 
 
 By TOM JERROLD. 
 Our Kitchen Garden. By TOM 
 
 JERROLD, Post 8vo, cloth, is net. 
 
 Sir "William Temple's Essay on 
 Gardens ; together with other Carolean 
 Essays on Gardens. Edited, with Xotes 
 and Introduciion, by A. FORBES SIEVE 
 KIKG.F.S.A. With 6 Illustrations. Smali 
 8vo, cloth or boards, is. 6rf. net ; quarter 
 vi Hum, 2s. 6d. net ; three-quarter vellum 
 5s- net. 
 
 GAL! LOT (PAUL), Books by. 
 
 Tho Red Shirts: A Tale of 'The 
 Terror.' Translated by JOHX DE VIL- 
 UERS. Crown 8vo, cloth, with Frontis- 
 piece by STANLEY WOOD, 3.5. 6d. ; picture 
 
 cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 
 Love and Lovers of the Past. 
 Translated by C. LAROCHE, M.A. 
 
 A Conspiracy under the Terror. 
 Translated by C. LAROCHE, M.A. With 
 Illustrations and Facsimiles. 
 
 GERARD (DOROTHEA). A 
 
 Queen of Curds and Cream, Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 GERMAN POPULAR STORIES. 
 
 Collected by the Brothers GRIMM and 
 Translated by EDGAR TAYLOR. With 
 Introduction by JOHN RUSKIX, and 22 
 Steel Plates after GEORGE CRUIKSHAXK, 
 Square Svo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 GIBBON (CHARLES), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, $s. 6d. each ; 
 
 p. >st Svo, illustrated boards, zs. each. 
 Robin Gray. 
 The Golden Shaft. 
 The Flower of the Forest. 
 The Braes of Yarrow. 
 Of High Degree. 
 Queen of the Meadow. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, zj. each. 
 The Dead Heart. 
 For Lack of Gold. 
 What Will the World Say? 
 For the King. | A Hard Knot. 
 In Pastures Green. 
 In Love and War. 
 A Heart's Problem. 
 By Mead and Stream. 
 Fancy Free. | Loving a Dream. 
 In Honour Bound. 
 Heart's Delight. 1 Blood-Money. 
 
 olBNEY (50MERVILLE). 
 
 Sentenced ! Crown Svo. cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 GIBSON (L. S.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, (is. each. 
 The Freemasons. | Burnt Spices. 
 
 GILBERT (WILLIAM).-James 
 
 Duke, Costermonger. Post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 GILBERT'S (W. S.) Original 
 
 Plays. In 3 Series, post 8vo. 25. fid. each. 
 
 The FlKST SERIES contains : The Wicked 
 World Pygmalion and Galatea 
 Charity The Princess The Palace of 
 Truth Trial by Jury lolanthe. 
 
 The SECOND SERIES contains : Broken 
 Hearts Engaged Sweethearts 
 Gretchen Dan 1 Druce Tom Cobb 
 H.M.S. 'Pinafore' The Sorcerer 
 The Pirates of Penzance. 
 
 The THIRD SERIES contains : Comedy and 
 Tragedy Foggerty's Fairy Rosen- 
 crantz and Guildenstern Patience 
 Princess Ida The Mikado Ruddigore 
 The Yeomen of the Guard The Gon- 
 doliersThe Mountebanks Utopia. 
 
 Eight Original Comic Operas 
 written by W. S. GILBERT. Two Series, 
 demy 8vo, cloth, 23. 6d. each. 
 
 The FIRST SERIES contains : The Sorcerer 
 H.M.S. 'Pinafore' The Pirates of 
 Penzance lolanthe Patience Prin- 
 cess Ida The Mikado Trial by Jurv. 
 
 The SECOXD SERIES contains : The G*on- 
 doliers The Grand Duke The Yeomen 
 of the Guard His Excellency Utopia, 
 Limited Ruddigore The Mountebanks 
 Haste to the Wedding. 
 
 The Gilbert and Sullivan Birth- 
 day Book : Quotations for Every Day 
 in the Year. Compiled by A. WATSON. 
 Roval i6mo, cloth. 2s. 6d. 
 
 GISSING (ALGERNON), Novels 
 
 by. Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top. 6.r. each. 
 A Secret of the North Sea. 
 Knitters in the Sun. 
 The Wealth of Mallerstang. 
 An Angel's Portion. 
 Baliol Garth. 
 
 The Dreams of Simon Usher. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. f>d. 
 
 GLANVILLE (ERNEST), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. 6d. each ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 The Lost Heiress. With 2 Illustra- 
 tions by HUMK XISBET. 
 
 The Fossicker: A Romance of Mash- 
 onaland. Two lllusts. by HUME NISBET. 
 
 A Fair Colonist. With Frontispiece. 
 
 The Golden Rock. With Frontispiece 
 by STANLEY WOOD. Cr. Svo, cloth, 35. Cxi. 
 
 Tales from the Yeld. With 12 
 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 Max Thornton. With 8 Illustrations 
 by J. S. CROMPTON, R.I._ Large crown 
 Svo, cloth, gilt edges, 5*. ' 
 
 GLENNY (GEORGE). A Year's 
 
 Work in Garden and Greenhouse: 
 
 Practical Advice as to Flower, Fruit, and 
 Frame Garden. Poit Svo. is. : cl., is. (id. 
 
 GODWIN (WILLIAM). Lives 
 
 of the Necromancers. Post Svo, cl., w.
 
 12 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 GOLDEN TREASURY of 
 
 Thought, The : A Dictionary of Quo- 
 tations from the Best Authors. By 
 THEODORE TAYLOR. Cr. 8vo, c!., 35. 6d. 
 
 GOODMAN (E. J.) The Fate of 
 
 Herbert Wayne. Cr. 8vo. cl., 3.?. 6d, 
 
 GORDON (SAMUEL). The 
 Ferry of Fate : a Tale of Russian 
 Jewry. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 GORE (J. ELLARD, F.R.A.S.). 
 
 The Stellar Heavens: an Introduc- 
 tion to the Study of the Stars and 
 Nebula;. Cmwn SVQ < wh. 2s. net. 
 
 Crown Mm. iivnu, ... ^ach. 
 Studies in Astronomy. With 8 
 
 plates. 
 
 Astronomical Essays, Historical 
 and Descriptive. With 6 plates. 
 
 GRACE (ALFRED A.). Tales 
 
 of a Dying Race. Cr. Svo, cl., 35. td. 
 
 GREEKS AND ROMANS, The 
 
 Life of the, described from Antique 
 Monuments. By ERNST GUHL and W. 
 KONER. Edited by Dr. F. HUEFKER. 
 With 545 Illusts. Demy Svo, cl., "js. 6d. 
 
 GREEN (ANNA KATHARINE), 
 
 Novels by. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 The Millionaire Baby. 
 The Amethyst Box. 
 The Woman in the Alcove. 
 
 GREENWOOD (JAMES). The 
 
 Prisoner in the Dock. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 3s. (>d. 
 
 GREY (Sir GEORGE). The 
 
 Romance of a Proconsul. By JAMES 
 MILNE. Crown 8vo, buckram, 6s. 
 
 GRIFFITH (CECIL). Corinthia 
 
 Mara/ion. Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 GRIFFITHS (Major A.). No. 99, 
 
 and Blue Blood. Crown Svo. cloth, 21. 
 
 GUNTER (A. CLAVERING).-A 
 Florida Enchantment. Crown Svo, 
 cloth. 3?. 6d. 
 
 GUTTENBERG (VIOLET), 
 
 Novels by. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 Neither Jew nor Greek. 
 The Power of the Palmist. 
 
 GYP. CLOCLO. Translated by 
 
 NORA M. STATHAM. Cr. Svo, cl.. . 6d. 
 
 HABBERTON (JOHN). Helen's 
 
 Babies. With Coloured Frontispiece 
 and to Illustration by EVA Roos. Fcap. 
 4to. cloth, 6$. 
 
 HAIR, The: Its Treatment in 
 
 Health, Weakness, and Disease. 
 
 Translated from the German of Dr. I. 
 PIN CCS. Crown Svo, is. ; cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 HAKE (Dr. T. GORDON), Poems 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 New Symbols. 
 Legends of the Morrow. 
 The Serpent Play. 
 
 Maiden Ecstasy. Small 4(0, cloth, Ss. 
 
 HALL (Mrs. S. C.). Sketches 
 
 of Irish Character. With Illustra- 
 tions on Steel and Wood by CRUIK- 
 SHANK, MACLISE, GILBERT, and HARVEY. 
 Deiny Svo, cloth, 7$. 6d. 
 
 HALL (OWEN), Novels by. 
 The Track of a Storm. Crown 8vo, 
 
 picture cloth, fiat back, 2$. 
 Jetsam. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6$. each. 
 Eureka. I Hernando. 
 
 HALLIDAY (ANDREW). 
 
 Every-day Papers. Post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 HAMILTON (COSMO), Stories 
 
 by. 
 The Glamour of the Impossible; 
 
 and Through a Keyhole. Crown 
 
 Svo, cloth. 3j. tid. 
 Nature's Vagabond, &c. Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth, 6s. 
 
 HANDWRITING, The Philo- 
 
 sophy of. With over 100 Facsimiles. 
 By DON FELIX DE SALAMANCA. Post 
 8vo, half -cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 HARDY (IZA DUFFUS), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 The Lesser Evil. 
 Man, Woman, and Fate. 
 A Butterfly. 
 
 HARDY (THOMAS). Under 
 
 the Greenwood Tree. Post Svo, cloth, 
 35. 6d. ; illustrated boards, 2.?. ; cloth 
 limp, 2s. (>ii. Also the FINE PAPER 
 EDITION, pott Svo, cloth, gilt top, 2.5. net ; 
 leather, gilt edges, 3*. net ; and ihe CHEAP 
 EDITION, medium Svo, (>d. 
 
 HARKINS (E. F.). The Schem- 
 
 ers. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 HARRIS (JOEL CHANDLER), 
 
 Books by. 
 Uncle Remus. With 9 Coloured and 
 
 50 other Illustrations by J. A. SHEPHERD. 
 
 Pott Svo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 Nights with Uncle Remus. With 
 
 S Coloured and 50 other Illustrations by 
 
 J. A. SHEHERD. Imperial i6mo, cloth, 6s.
 
 Ill SI. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 HARTE'S (BRET) Collected 
 
 Works. LIBRARY EDITION, in Ten 
 
 Volumes, crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 Vol. I. COMPLETE POETICAL AXE 
 DRAMATIC WORKS. With Port 
 
 II. THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP 
 BOHEMIAN PAPERS AMERICAN 
 LEGENDS. 
 
 III. TALES OF THE ARGONAUTS- 
 EASTERN SKETCHES. 
 
 IV. GABRIEL CONROY. 
 
 V. STORIES CONDENSED NOVELS 
 
 VI. TALES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 
 
 VII. TALES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE II 
 With Portrait by JOHN PETTIE 
 
 VIII. TALES OF PINE AND CYPRESS. 
 
 IX. BUCKEYE AND CHAPPARKL. 
 
 X. TALES OF TRAIL AND TOWN. 
 
 Bret Harte's Choice Works in Prose 
 and Verse. With Portrait and 40 Illus- 
 trations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.1. 6rf 
 
 Bret Harte's Poetical Works, in 
 eluding SOME LATER VERSES. Crown 
 8vo, buckram, 4.$. 6d. 
 
 In a Hollow of the Hills. Crown 
 8vo, picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 Condensed Novels. (Two Series i.i 
 One Volume.) Pott 8vo, cloth, gilt top 
 2s. net ; leather, gilt edges, 3$. net. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cioth, 6s. each. 
 On the Old Trail. 
 Under the Redwoods. 
 From Sandhill to Pine. 
 Stories in Light and Shadow. 
 Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation. 
 Trent's Trust. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth. 35. 6d. each : post 8vo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each 
 Gabriel Conroy. 
 
 A Waif of the Plains. With 60 Illus- 
 trations by STANLEY L. WOOD. 
 A Ward of the Golden Gate. With 
 59 Illustrations by STANLEY L. WOOD. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.?. 6d each. 
 Susy. With 2 Illusts. by J. A. CHRISTIE. 
 The Bell-Ringer of Angel's, &c. 
 
 With 39 Illusts. by DUDLEY HARDY, &c. 
 Clarence: A Story of the American War. 
 
 With 8 Illustrations by A. JULE GOODMAN. 
 Barker's Luck, &c. With 39 Illustra- 
 tions by A. FORESTIER, PAUL HARDY, &c 
 Devil's Ford, &c. With Frontispiece. 
 The Crusade of the 'Excelsior.' 
 
 With Frontis. byj. BERNARD PARTRIDGE. 
 Three Partners; or, The Big 
 
 Strike on Heavy Tree Hill. 
 
 With 8 Illustrations by J. GULICH. 
 Tales of Trail and Town. With 
 
 Frontispiece by G. P. JACOMB HOOD. 
 Condensed Novels. New Series. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. 6d. each ; picture cloth, 
 
 flat back, 2s. each. 
 
 A Sappho of Green Springs. 
 Colonel Starbottle's Client. 
 A Protdgee of Jack Hamlin's. 
 
 With numerous Illustrations. 
 Bally Dows, &c. With 47 Illustration? 
 by W. D. ALMOND and others. 
 
 HARTE (BRET) continued. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 The Luck of Roaring Camp, and 
 Sensation Novels Condensed. 
 (Also in picture cloth at same price.) 
 An Heiress of Red Dog. 
 The Luck of Roaring Camp. 
 Californian Stories. 
 
 Post 8vo, illus. bds., 2s. each ; cloth, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Flip. ! A Phyllis of the Sierras. 
 
 Maruja. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. ; post 
 8vo. picture boards, 2s. . cloth limp, 25. 6d. 
 
 HAWE1S (Mrs. H. R.), Books by. 
 
 The Art of Beauty. With Coloured 
 Frontis. and 91 JllusU. Sq. 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 The Art of Decoration. With 
 Coloured Frontispiece and 74 Illustra- 
 tions. Square 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 The Art of Dress. With 32 Illustra- 
 tions. Post 8vo, is. ; cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 Chaucer for Schools. With Frontis- 
 piece. Demy 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Chaucer for Children. With 8 
 Coloured Plates and 30 Woodcuts. 
 Crown 4to, cloth, 3*. 6d. 
 
 HAWEIS (Rev. H. R.). Ameri- 
 can Humorists: WASHINGTON 
 IRVING, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, 
 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, ARTEMUS 
 WARD, MARK TWAIN, and BRET HARTE. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 HAWTHORNE (JULIAN), 
 
 Novels by. Crown 8vo. cloth, 31. 6</. 
 
 each ; post 8vo. illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Garth. | Ellice Quentin. 
 Fortune's Fool. | Dust. Four Illusts. 
 Beatrix Randolph. With Four Illusts. 
 D. Poindexter's Disappearance. 
 The Spectre of the Camera. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. 6d. each. 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 
 Love or a Name. 
 
 Miss Cadogna. rust. 8vo, illustrated 
 boards, 2s. 
 
 HEALY (CHRIS), books by. 
 
 Crown 8vo. cloth, 6s. each. 
 Confessions of a Journalist. 
 Heirs of Reuben. 
 Mara. 
 
 The Endless Heritage. Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 HELPS (Sir ARTHUR), Books 
 
 by. Post Svo, cloth, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Animals and their Masters. 
 Social Pressure. 
 
 Ivan de Biron. Crown Svo, cloth 
 3.5. 6d. ; post Svo. illustrated boards. 2.?. 
 
 HENTY (G. A.), Novels by. 
 Rujub, the Juggler. Demy 8vo, cloth, 
 with 8 Illustrations by S. L. WOOD. 5.5.; 
 post Svo, cloth, 3f. 6d. ; illust. boards, 2s. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.1. W. each. 
 The Queen's Cup. 
 Dorothy's Double. 
 Colonel Thorndyke's Secret.
 
 CHATTO & WIXDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 14 
 
 HENDERSON (ISAAC). Agath 
 
 Page. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6rf. 
 
 HERMAN (HENRY).-ALeadin 
 
 Lady. Post Svo. cioth. 2s. 6rf. 
 
 H ! LL 
 
 Detective. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 HILL (JOHN), Works by. 
 
 Treason-Felony. Post 8vo, iihistratet 
 
 boards, 2s. 
 The Common Ancestor. Crow 
 
 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 HINKSON (H. A.), Novels by 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, fw. each. 
 Fan Fitzgerald. ; Silk and Steel 
 
 ^Mrs. CASHELTT The 
 
 Lover's Creed. Crown, Svo, cloth 
 3,5. 6.1. ; post Svo. illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 HOFFMANN (PROFESSOR). 
 
 King Koko. A Magic Story. With 2 
 Illustrations. Crown Svo .cloth, is. nel 
 
 HOLIDAY, Where to go for a 
 
 By E. P. SHOLL, Sir H. MAXWELL, JOH> 
 WATSON, JANE BARLOW, MARY LOVETT 
 CAMERON, JUSTIN H. MCCARTHY, PAUL 
 LANGE, ]. W. GRAHAM, J. H. SALTER 
 PHCEBE ALLEN, S. J. BECKETT, L. RIVER 
 VINE, and C. F. GORDON CU.MMING 
 Crown Svo, cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 HOLMES(OLIVER WENDELL), 
 
 Books by. 
 
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast- 
 Table. Illustrated by T. GORDO> 
 THOMSON, Post Svo, cioth "limp, 2s. 6d 
 Also the FINE PAPER EDITION, pott Svo 
 cloth, gilt top, 2s. net.; leather, gilt edges 
 3s. net. Another Edition, post Svo, cloth, 2s 
 
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast- 
 Table and The Professor at the 
 Breakfast-Table. In one vol., post 
 Svo, half-cloth, zs. 
 
 HOOD'S (THOMAS) Choice 
 Works in Prose and Verse. With 
 Life of the Author, Portrait, and 200 
 Illustra'ions. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 HOOK'S (THEODORE) Choice 
 
 Humorous Works; including his Ludi- 
 crous Adventures, Bons Mots, Puns, 
 Hoaxes. With Life and Frontispiece. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.1. 6d. 
 
 HOPKINS (TIQHEl, Novels by. 
 
 For Freedom. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 Crown bvo, cloth, 3$. (id. each. 
 'Twixt Love and Duty. 
 The Incomplete Adventurer. 
 The Kugents of Carriconna. 
 Nell Haffenden. With 8 Illustrations. 
 
 HORNE (R. HENQIST). Orion. 
 
 With Portrait. Crown Svo, clot!\ 75. 
 
 HORNIMAN (ROY), Novels by 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 Bellamy the Magnificent. 
 Lord Cammarleigh's Secret. 
 Israel RanK. Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d. 
 
 HORNUNQ (E. W.), Novels by. 
 The Shadow of theRope. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 Stingaree. | A Thief in the Night. 
 
 HUGO (VICTOR). The Outlaw 
 
 of Iceland. Translated by Sir GILBERT 
 CAMPBELL. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 HUME (FERGUS), Novels by. 
 
 The Lady From Nowhere. Cr. Svo, 
 
 cloth, 3s. (yd.; picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 The Millionaire Mystery. Crown 
 
 8vo. cloth, S-v. 6rf. 
 
 The "Wheeling Light. Crown Ovo, 
 cloth, gilt top. Os. 
 
 HUNQERFORD (Mrs.), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. bd. each ; 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each ; 
 
 cloth limp, zs. 6d. each. 
 The Professor's Experiment. 
 Nora Creina. 
 Lady Verner's Flight. 
 Lady Patty. | feter's Wife. 
 The Red-House Mystery. 
 An Unsatisfactory Lover. 
 April's Lady. 
 A Maiden All Forlorn. 
 The Three Graces. 
 A Mental Struggle. 
 Marvel. | A Modern Circe. 
 In Durance Vile. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. (>d. each. 
 An Anxious Moment. 
 A Point of Conscience. 
 The Coming of Chloe. ; Lovice. 
 
 HUNT'S (LEIGH) Essays: A 
 Tale for a Chimney Corner, &c. 
 
 Ed. by E. OLLIER. Post 8vo. half-cl. 2s. 
 
 HUNT (Mrs. ALFRED), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo. cloth, 3.$. bd. each ; post 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 
 Self-Condemned. 
 
 That Other Person. 
 
 Mrs. Juliet. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. f>d. 
 
 HUTCHINSON (W. M.) Hints 
 
 on Colt- Breaking. With 25 Illustra- 
 tions. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 HYATT (A. H.). The Charm of 
 
 London: An Anthology. Pctt Svo, 
 cloth, gilt top, 2s. net ; leather, gilt 
 edges, 3J. net. 
 
 NDOOR PAUPERS; By ONE OF 
 
 THEM. Crown Svo, is. ; cloth, is. dd.
 
 LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 *.). The Peril 
 
 ^vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 ^ --- vv/*-vn o\O ( CIUIIJ, LJlll lOp OS I - "***| VAJ. 
 
 'NNKEEPER^S HAND^K JON R ES , (WILUAAl", -F.S.A.), 
 (The) and Licensed Victualler's Hooks by. Cr. Svo, cloth, 3.9. (,d. each 
 
 TREVOR-DAVIS* Finger-Ring Lore : Historical. Legend- 
 
 nniacrou ' 
 
 HUMOUR;! 
 
 Songs of. Edited by A. PERCEVAL 
 GKAVES. Post 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d 
 
 * uai GVU, cioin, 2s. Oa. I __ 
 
 JAM^S(c7r^lA"R^rr^eTf JON .SpN'S (BEN) \VorkT~WUh 
 the .Queen's Hounds. Post Svo S&^JSS^PSS Memoir b y 
 
 WILLIAM GlFFORD. Edited by Colonel 
 
 n w ^ -^ Zf*^ Xhrce Vols - crow * svo, 
 
 V LJ. W.). Scraggles: 3s - 6d - each - 
 
 The Story of a Sparrow. With 6 T 
 
 ^i!^^^ JOSEPHUS, The Complete 
 
 JAMESON (WILLIAM) Mv w s ofl Transla t e d by 
 _Dead5elf. Post Svo. cloth, 2s'. dd. *\ ofK^'^SCJ^ 
 
 rA Hij.-Dramaticl 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth. 5.9 
 
 The Open Air. Post Svo, cioth^j. 6d 
 LARGE i YPE, FIXE PAPER EDITION-, pott i 
 !&?*? t0 f', 2 S net = leather, "gilt 1 
 
 Illustrations and iMaps. Two 
 Vols., demy Svo, haif-cloth, 12*. 6d. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6.9. 
 
 New Edition, with 12 IilustraTionT'in 
 Colours by RUTH DOLLMAX. Square 
 Svo, cloth, ST. net. 
 
 , t ^ Ife of tne Fields. Post Svo 
 cioth, 2s.6d. ; LARGE TYPE, FINE PAPER 
 EDITION, pott Svo, cloth, gii top, 2 T net 
 leather, gilt edges, 3,. net* Also in 
 *rati0rt, a New Edition, with 12 
 Illustrations in Colours by M. H CL\RKE 
 fcquare Svo, cloth. 5.9. net 
 Nature near London. Crown 8vo 
 buckram, 6s. ; post Svo, cl ,2s.dd LARGE 
 TYPE, FINE PAPER EDITION, pott Svo cl 
 gilt top, 2*, net ; leather, gilt edges, 3* net' 
 Tn , e . Pocket Richard Jefferies 
 being Passages chosen from the Nature 
 Writings of JEFFERIES by ALFRED H 
 HTATT. i6mo, cloth, gilt top, 2s . net : 
 leather, gilt top, 35. net. 
 
 i? ? ul ^ gy of Ri chard Jefferies. 
 
 By Sir WALTER LJESA.VT. Cr Svo cl ' 
 
 Chapters on Art and 
 Artists. Post Svo, cloth. 2.5. 6d. 
 
 . Post Svo. cloth, -.v. ^ 
 
 JEROME (JEROME K.).-Stage- 
 
 land. With 64 Illustrations by T. BER- 
 __ NARD PARTRIDGE. Fcap. 4 to, - 
 
 Barber's Chair; and The Hedjrehoe 
 _Lctters. Post Svo, half-cloth, 2" 
 
 Household Horticulture; 
 
 Our Kitchen Garden: The Plants We 
 
 cC":"!. and r, FictJon s : Humorous 
 Sketches. Post Svo, illustrated boards 
 2s. ; cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 KING (LEONARD W., M.A7)~ 
 
 A History of Babylonia and Assyria 
 from the Earliest Times until the 
 Persian Conquest. With Maps 
 Plans, and Illustrations after all the 
 principal Monuments of the Period In 
 3 volumes, royal Svo, buckram. Each 
 volume separately, 185. net ; or per set of 
 3 volumes, if subscribed for before the 
 issue of Vol. I., 2 i2s. 6rf. net. 
 
 V l ^^i Histor> y of Sumer and 
 Akkad : An account of the Primi- 
 tive Inhabitants of Babylonia from 
 the Earliest Times to B.C. 2000. 
 
 [Sfrius, 1908. 
 
 "-.T*, 1113 * 01 ^ of Babylon from 
 
 the Inrst Dynasty, about B.C. 2000, 
 until the Conquest by Cyrus, B.C. 530. 
 {Preparing. 
 
 HI. A History of Assyria from 
 the Earliest Period until the Fall of 
 Nineveh before the Merits, B.C. 606. 
 \_Prepa ring. 
 
 IKING (R. ASHE), Novels by. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards 29 
 'The Wearing of the Green.' 
 Passion's Slave; | Bell Barry. 
 
 A Drawn Game. Crown Svo, cloth. 
 3J. <'>.'. ; post Svo, illii- .-, 2 S ,
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 KING'S CLASSICS (The). 
 
 General Editor, Professor I. GOLLAN'CZ, 
 Litt.D. Printed on laid paper, j6mo 
 each with Frontispiece, gilt top. Quar- 
 ter bound grey boards or red clotli. 
 is. (id. net each ; quarter vellum, cloth 
 sides, 2s. 6d. net each ; \hree-quarter 
 vellum, 51. net each. 
 
 Volumes now in course of publication : 
 
 35. Wine, Women, and Song: 
 Mediaeval Latin Students' Songs. Trans 
 lated into English, with an Introduction, 
 by JOH.M ADDINGTON SYMONDS. With 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 36, 37. George Pettie's Petite Pal 
 lace of Pettle his Pleasure. 
 
 2 VOls. 
 
 38. Walpole's Castle of Otranto. 
 
 By Sir WALTER SCOIT. With Intro- 
 duction and Preface by Miss SPURGEOX 
 
 39. The Royal Poets of England 
 
 Original Poems by English Kings and 
 other Royal and Noble Persons, col- 
 lected and edited by W. BAILED 
 KEMPLING. 
 
 40. Sir Thomas More's Utopia. 
 
 Edited by ROBERT STEELE, F.S.A. 
 41.tChaucer's Legend of Good 
 Women. In Modern English, with 
 Notes and Introduction by Professor 
 W. W. SKEAT. 
 
 42. Swift's Battle of the Books. 
 Edited, with Notes and Introduction by 
 
 A. GUTHKELGH. 
 
 43. Sir William Temple's Essay 
 on Gardens, with other Caro- 
 lean Essays on Gardens. Edited, 
 with Notes and Introduction, by A' 
 FORBES SIEVEKIXG, F.S.A. 
 
 44. The Four Last Things, by Sit 
 THOMAS MORE ; together with A 
 Spiritual Consolation and 
 other Treatises, by JOHN FISHER 
 Bishop of Rochester. Edited by DANIEL 
 O'CONNOR. 
 
 45. The Song of Roland. Translated 
 from the old French by Mrs.CuosLAND 
 With Introduction by Prof. BRANDIX. 
 
 46. Dante's Yita Nuova. The 
 
 Italian text, with DANTE G. ROSSETTI'S 
 translation on the opposite page. With 
 Introduction and Notes by p'rof H 
 OEI.SNER. 
 
 47.tChaucer's Prologue and 
 Minor Poems. In modern English 
 with Notes and Introduction bv Prof' 
 W. W. SKEAT. 
 
 48.tChaucer's Parliament of 
 Birds and House of Fame. /, 
 
 modern English, with Notes and Intro- 
 duction by Prof. W. W. SKEAT. 
 
 49. Mrs. Gaskell's Cranford. With 
 Introduction by R. BRIMLEY [OHXSON 
 
 50. Pearl. An English Poem of the 
 Fourteenth Century. Edited, with a 
 Modern Rendering and an Introduction 
 by Professor I. GOLLAXCX, 
 
 KING'S CLASSICS (The) continued. 
 51, 52. King's Letters. Volumes III. 
 and IV. Newly edited from the originals 
 by ROBERT STEELE. F.S.A. 
 
 53. The English Correspondence 
 of Saint Boniface. Translated 
 and edited, with an Introductory Sketch 
 of the Lite of St. Boniface, by E. J. 
 KYLIE, M.A. 
 
 54, 55. The Essays of Ella. Edited, 
 with Notes. Introduction, &c., by 
 THOMAS SECCOMBE, M.A. 
 
 Summary List of other Volumes in the Series, 
 for details of which see Special Prospectus. 
 1. The Love of Books (The Pbilobihlinn). 
 ". *Sii Dramas of Calderon (FitaGertld'l 
 Translation). (Double vol.i 
 
 3. Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond. 
 
 4. The Life of Sir Thomas More. 
 
 5. Kikon Has! like. 
 
 U Kings' Letters : Alfred to the coming of 
 theTudors. 
 
 7. Kings' Letters : From the Tudors to the 
 
 Love Letters of Henry VIII. 
 
 8. tCbitucer's Knight's Tale (Prof. SKKAT). 
 
 y. +Chaucer'sMan of Law's Tale (rrof. SKKAT). 
 1. tChaucer'9 Prioress's Tale (Prof. SKEAT). 
 
 11. The Romance of Fiilke Fitzwarine. 
 
 12. The Story of Cupid und Psyche. 
 
 13. Evelyn's Life of Margaret Godolphin. 
 
 14. Early Lives of Dante. 
 
 15. Tlie Falstaff Letters. 
 
 16. Polonius. By EHWABD FITZGEBALD. 
 
 17. Medieval Lore. 
 
 18. The Vision of Piers the Plowman (Prof. 
 
 SKBAT). 
 
 19 The Gull's Hornbook, 
 ax *The Nun's Itule, or Ancren Ri-wle. (Double 
 
 vol.). 
 
 21. The Memoirs of Robert Cary, Earl of Jlon- 
 
 mouth. 
 
 22. Early Lives of Charlemagne. 
 
 S3. Cicero's ' Friendship,' ' Old Age,' and 
 
 'Scipio'B Dream.' 
 
 24 WordsworthV Prelude. (Double vol.) 
 25. The Defence of Guenevre. 
 SB, 27. Browning's Men and Women. 
 
 28. Poe's Poems. 
 
 29. Shakespeare's Sonnets. 
 
 30. George Eliot's Silas Marner. 
 
 31. Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakelleld. 
 K2. Charles Reade's Peg Woffington. 
 33. The Household of Sir Thomas More. 
 
 St. Sappho : One Hundred Lyrics. By BLISS 
 
 CAUMAX. 
 
 Numbers 2, 20, and 24 are Double Volumes 
 and Double Price. 
 
 + The Chiucer Vols. may also be had in stiff 
 iper covers at Is. each. 
 
 KINO'S LIBRARY FOLIOS 
 
 (The). 
 
 The Mirrour of Vertue in "World- 
 ly Greatnes, or The Life of Sir 
 Thomas More, Knight. By his 
 
 son-in-law, WILLIAM ROPER. IQJ. 6<i. 
 net. (Seven copies of this volume alone' 
 remain, and are not to be sold apart from 
 sets.) 
 
 Eikon Basilike, the Portraicturo 
 of His Sacred Majestie in his 
 Solitudes and Sufferings. 
 Edited by EDWARD ALMACK, F.S.A. 
 i is. net. 
 
 Shakespeare's Ovid, being 
 Arthur Golding's Translation 
 of the Metamorphoses. Edited 
 by W. H. D. ROUSE, Lut.D. r nj. 6J. 
 net.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 KING'S LIBRARY FOLIOS 
 
 (The) continued. 
 The Percy Folio of Old English 
 Ballads and Romances. Kdited 
 by the GENERAL EDITOR. In four 
 volumes at 4 4,5. (lie set. (Volumes I 
 and II. issued; III. at Press; IV. ii 
 Preparation.) 
 
 V* NOTE. Seven complete sets of the abovt 
 folios remain for sale. Price, per set 
 
 KING'S LIBRARY QUARTOS 
 
 The Alchemist. By BEN JONSON 
 Edited by H. C. HART. Si. net ; Japan- 
 ese vellum, i is. net. 
 
 The Gull's Hornbook. By THOMAS 
 DEKKErt. Edited by K. B. McKERROW 
 5*. net ; Japanese vellum, los. 6d. net. 
 
 The Beggar's Opera. By JOHN GAY. 
 Edited by HAMILTON MACLEOD. 51. 
 net ; Japanese vellum, los. 6d. net. 
 
 KIPLING PRIMER (A). Includ- 
 ing Biographical and Critical Chapters 
 an Index to Mr. Kipling's principal 
 Wr tings, and Bibliographies. By F. L 
 KNOWLES. With Two Portraits. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 3.?. 6d. 
 
 KNIGHT (WILLIAM and 
 
 EDWARD). The Patient's Vade 
 Mecum : How to Get Most Benefit 
 from Medical Advice. Crown Svo. 
 cloth, u. 6d. 
 
 LAMB'S (CHARLES) Complete 
 
 Works in Prose and Verse, including 
 4 Poetr; for Children ' and ' Prince Dorus.' 
 Edited by R. H. SHEPHEKD. With 2 
 Portrais and Facsimile of the ' Essay on 
 Roast ?ig.' Crown Svo (both Series), 
 cloth, 34 6d. 
 
 The Essays of Ella (both Series). Post 
 Svo, haircloth, 2s. Also the FIXE PAPER 
 EDITlON.pott Svo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. net : 
 leather, fjlt edges, 3.5. net. 
 
 Little Essays : Sketches and Characters 
 by CHAKIES LAMB, selected from his 
 Letters b> PERCY FITZGERALD. Post 
 Svo, cloth, *. 6d. 
 
 The Dramatic Essays of Charles 
 
 Lamb. Vith Introduction and Notes 
 by BRANDE&MATTHEWS, and Steel-plati 
 Portrait. FQ P . Svo, half-cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 LAMBERT GEORGE). The 
 
 President o\ Boravia. Crown Svo. 
 cloth, 3.5. 6d. 
 
 LAN DOR (WALTER SAVAGE). 
 
 Citation aid Examination nt 
 William ShaVspeare, &c., befon 
 Sir Thomas Locwoucbing Deer-stealing 
 19th September, rga ; and A Confer 
 ence of Master Edmund 
 Spenser with th Karl of Essex, touch 
 ing the state of Ire\nd, 1595. Fcap. Svc 
 
 LANE (EDWARD WILLIAM). 
 The Thousand and One Nights, 
 
 commonly called in England The 
 Arabian Nights' Entertain- 
 ments. Translated from the Arabic 
 and illustrated by many hundred Engrav- 
 ings from Designs by HARVEY. Edited by 
 E. S. POOLE. With Preface by STANLEY 
 LAXE-POOLE. 3 Vols., Svo, cl., 22s. fid. 
 
 LARWOOD (JACOB), Books by. 
 
 Anecdotes of the Clergy. Post Svo, 
 
 half-cloth, 2s. 
 Theatrical Anecdotes. Post 8vo, 
 
 cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 Humour of the Law. Post Svo, cl., 2s. 
 
 LE ES (D. NEVILE)^fuscan 
 
 Feasts and Tuscan Friends. With 
 12 Illustrations. Large crown Svo, cloth, 
 5-r. net. 
 
 LEHMANN (R. C.). Harry 
 Fludyer at Cambridge, and Conver- 
 sational Hints for Young Shooters. 
 Crown Svo, if. ; cloth, is. 6ii. 
 
 LEIGH (HENRY S.). -Carols of 
 
 Cockayne. Crown 8vo, buckram, 5.5. 
 
 LELAND (C. G.). A Manual of 
 
 Mending and Repairing. With Dia- 
 grams. Crown Svo, cloth, 5.9. 
 
 LEPELLETWER (EDMOND). 
 
 Madame Sans-Gene. Translated by 
 JOHN DE VILLIERS. Post Svo. cloth, 
 3s. 6d. ; illustrated boards. 25. ; POPULAR 
 EDITION, medium Svo, 6d. 
 
 LESPINASSE, JULIE DE. By 
 
 the Marquis DE SEGUR. Authorised 
 English Version, with a Portrait. Demy 
 Svo, cloth. 7.5. 6d. net. 
 
 LEYS (JOHN K.), Novels by. 
 The Lindsays. Post Svo, illust.bds., 2.1. 
 A Sore Temptation. Cr. Svo, cl.. 6s. 
 
 LILBURN (ADAM). A Tragedy 
 
 in Marble. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. 
 
 LI NDSAY (HARR^V)7Nove1s~byT 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 3*. 6d. each. 
 Rhoda Roberts. I The Jacobite. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 6s. each. 
 Judah Pyecroft, Puritan. 
 The Story of Leah. 
 
 LORI ME R (NORM A). The 
 
 Pap-an Woman. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 LUCAS (E. V.), Books by. 
 
 A Book of Verses for Children. 
 
 With Coloured Title-page. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 6.9. 
 
 Three Hundred Games and Pas- 
 times. By E. V. LUCAS and ELIZABETH 
 LUCAS. Pott 4(0. cloth, 6s. net. 
 
 LUCY (HENRY W.). Gideon 
 
 Fleyce. Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d. ; post 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2j.
 
 i8 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 LINTON (E. LYNN), Works by. 
 An Octave of Friends. Crcwn Svo, 
 cloth, 3*. 6d. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3*. dd. each ; post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. each. 
 Patricia Kemball. | lone. 
 The Atonement of Learn Dundas. 
 The "World "Well Lost. 12 Illusts. 
 The One Too Many. 
 Under which Lord ? With 12 Il'usts. 
 ' My Love.' | Sowing the "Wind. 
 Paston Carew. I Dulcie Everton. 
 "With a Silken Thread. 
 The Rebel of the Family. 
 Post 8vo. cloth, 2s. bd. each. 
 Witch Stories. 
 Ourselves : Essays on Women. 
 
 Sowing the "Wind. CHEAP EDITION, 
 
 post 8vo, cloth, is. net. 
 Patricia Kemball. POPULAR EDI- 
 TION, medium Svn. 6</. 
 
 MACAULAY(LORD ... The His- 
 tory of England. LARGE TYPE, FINE 
 PAJ-ER EDITION, in 5 vols. pott 8vo, 
 cloth, gilt top, 2s. net per vol. ; leather, 
 gilt edges, 3*. net per vol. 
 
 MAC COLL (HUGH). Mr. 
 
 Stranger's Sealed Packet. Post 
 Kvo. illustrated boards 2s. 
 
 MCCARTHY (JUSTIN), Books by. 
 
 The Reign of Queen Anne. Two 
 
 Vols.. demy 8vo, cloth, 12s. each. 
 A History of the Four Georges 
 and of William the Fourth. 
 
 Four Vols., demy 8vo, cloth. 125 each. 
 
 A History of Our Own Times 
 from the Accession of Queen Victoria to 
 the General Election of 1880. LIBRARY 
 EDITION. Four Vols., demy 8vo, cloth, 
 12s. each. Also the POPULAR EDITION, 
 in Four Vols., crown 8vo, cloth, ds. each. 
 And the JUBILEE EDITION, with an 
 Appendix of Events to the end of 1886, 
 in 2 Vols., demy 8vo, cloth, 7.1. 6d. each. 
 
 A History of Our Own Times, 
 Vol. V., from 1880 to the Diamond Jab. lee 
 Demy 8vo, cloth, 121.: crown 8vo, cloth 6s. 
 
 A History of Our Own Times, 
 Vols. VI. and VII.. from 1897 to Accession 
 of Edward VII. 2 Vols., demy 8vo,cl., 245. 
 
 A Short History of Our Own 
 Times, from the Accession of Queen 
 Victoria to the Accession of K ng 
 Edward VII. .NEW EDITION, revised 
 and enlarged. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt 
 top, 6s. Also (shortly) the POPULAR 
 EDITION, enlarged, post Svo. cloth, 2s. (>d. ; 
 and the CHEAP EDITION (to the yeariSSo) 
 
 medium 8vo, 6d. 
 
 LARGE TYPE, FINE PAPER EDITIONS. 
 Pott Svo, cloth, gilt top, 25. net per vol. ; 
 leather, gilt edges, 3$. net per vol. 
 
 The Reign of Queen Anne, in i Vol. 
 
 A History of the Four Georges 
 and of William IV., in 2 vols. 
 
 A History of Our Own Times from 
 Accession ol Q. Victoria to 1897, in 3 Vols. 
 
 MCCARTHY (JUSTIN) continued. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, $s.bd. each ; post Svo, pict. 
 
 boards, 2s. each ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 The Waterdale Neighbours 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 A Fair Saxon. ' Linley Rochiord. 
 DearLady Disdain. , The Dictator. 
 Miss Misanthrope. With 12 Illusts. 
 Donna Quixote. With 12 Illustrations. 
 The Comet of a Season. 
 Maid of Athens. With 12 Illustrations. 
 Camiola. 
 Red Diamonds. ! The Riddle Ring. 
 
 Crow ;s. 6d. each. 
 
 The Three Disgraces. I Mononia. 
 'The Right Honourable.' B/ JUSTIN 
 
 MCCARTHY and MRS. CAMI-ISELLPRAED. 
 
 Crown Svo, clo'h. 6s. 
 
 MCCARTHY (j. H.>, works by. 
 
 The French Revolution. (Consti- 
 tuent Assembly, 1789-91.) Four Vols., 
 demy Svo. cloth, i2s. each. 
 
 An Outline of the History of 
 Ireland. Crown Svo. u. ; cloth, is. ftd. 
 
 Ireland Since the Union-1798- 
 1886 Crown Svo. cloth, 6s. 
 
 Haftz in London. vo, gold cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 Our Sensation Novel. Cro-vn Svo, 
 is. ; cioth, is. 6d. 
 
 Doom: An Atlantic Episode. Crown Svo, is. 
 
 Dolly : A Sketch. Crown Svo. ii 
 
 Lily Lass. Crown Svo. ir. : clfth, 15. 6d. 
 
 A London Legend. Cr. Svo, cloth. 3.;. 6d . 
 
 (YlACDOiNALD (Dr. GEORGE), 
 
 Hooks by. 
 Works of Fancy and Imagination 
 
 Ten Vols., i6mo, cloth, gilt, in cast, 21.7. ; 
 or separately, Grolier cloth. :s. 6d. each. 
 Also a NEW ISSUE in i6mo cloth, gilt 
 top, 25. net per Vol. ; leather, gilt top, 3.5. 
 net per Vol. 
 Vol. I. WITHIN AND WITIOUT THE 
 
 HIDDEN LIKE. 
 
 II. THE DISCIPLE THE GOSPEL 
 WOMEN BOOK rp SONNETS 
 ORGAN SONGS. 
 
 III. VIOLIN SONGS SNGS OF THE 
 DAYS AND NiGiTs A BOOK 
 
 OF DREAMS KCADSIDE POEMS 
 POEMS FOR CHILDREN. 
 
 IV. PARABLES BALADS SCOTCH 
 
 V. & VI. PHANTASIES. [SONGS. 
 
 VII. THE PORTENT. 
 
 VIII. THE LIGHT ""RINCESS THE 
 GIANTS HEA-.T SHADOWS. 
 
 IX. CROSS PURPOSE GOLDEN KEY 
 CARASOYN ITTLEDAYLIGHT. 
 
 X. THE CRUEL PANTER THE Wow 
 o'RivviiX 'HE CASTLE THE 
 BROKEN S'.'ORDS THE GRAY 
 \VOI.I.-_TJ;CLE CORNELIUS. 
 
 Poetical Works~V^George Mac- 
 Donald. 2 Vols.-r. Svo, buckram, 12.$. 
 
 A Threefold Core. Post Svo, cloth, 51. 
 
 Heather and Snw. Crown 8vo. cloth, 
 3.5. 6d. ; post Svo, lustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Lilith. Crown 8y. cloth. 6^. 
 
 The Pocket Gorge MacDonald: 
 Passages Choseiby A. H. HYATT. i6mo, 
 cloth gilt,2i. nt ; leather g: t, 3?. net.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 MACDONELL (AGNES). 
 Quaker Cousins* Post 8vo. boards, is. 
 
 MACQREQOR (ROBERT).- 
 
 Pastimes and Players: Notes on 
 Popular Games. Post 8vo, cloth, 2s. bd. 
 
 MACHRAY (ROBERT), Novels 
 
 by. Crown 8vo. cloth, 6s. each. 
 A Blow over the Heart. 
 The Mystery of Lincoln's Inn. 
 The Private Detective. 
 
 Her Honour. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. 
 
 MACKAY (Dr. CHAS.). -Inter- 
 ludes and Undertones. Cr.8vo,cloth.6s. 
 
 MACKAY (WILLIAM). -A 
 
 Mender of Nets. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 MACKENNA (S. J.) and J. A. 
 
 O'SrlEA. Brave Men in Action: 
 
 Stories of the British Flag. With 8 Illus- 
 trations by STANLEY L. WOOD. Small 
 demy 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 MACKENZIE (W. A.).-The 
 
 Drexel Dream. Crown Svo, cloth. 6s. 
 
 MACLISE Portrait Gallery (The) 
 
 of Illustrious Literary Characters : 
 85 Portraits by DANIEL MACLISE ; 
 with Memoirs by WILLIAM BATES, B.A. 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 31. dd. 
 
 MACM1CHAEL (J. HOLDEN).- 
 
 The Story of Charing: Cross and its 
 Neighbourhood. With 3 Illustrations 
 Demy Svo, cloth, 75. 6d. net. 
 
 MACQUOID (Mrs.), Works by, 
 
 illustrated by T. R. MACQUOID. Square 
 Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 
 In the Ardennes. With 50 Illustrations. 
 
 Pictures and Legends from Nor- 
 mandy and Brittany. 34 Musts. 
 
 Through Normandy. With 92 Illusts. 
 
 About Yorkshire. With 67 Illusts. 
 
 MAGIC LANTERN, The, and its 
 
 Management. By T. C. HEPWORTH. 
 With io Illusts. Cr. Svo, u. ; cloth, is.dd 
 
 MAGNACHARTA: A Facsimile of 
 
 the Original, sft. by 2ft.. with Arms and 
 Seals emblazoned in Gold and Colours, 5 
 
 MALLOCK (W. H.), Works by. 
 The New Republic. Post Svo, clotl 
 
 3s. 6d ; illustrated boards, 2s. 
 The New Paul and Virginia. Po; 
 
 Svo, cloth, 2s. f>d. 
 
 Poems. Small 4to, parchment, Ss. 
 la Lite Worth Living ? Crown Svo 
 buckram, 6s. 
 
 MARIE DE MEDICIS and the 
 
 Court of France in the XVIIth Cen- 
 tury. Translated from the French of 
 Louis BATIFFOL by MARY KING. With 
 a Portrait. Demy 8vo, cloth, 75. f>d. net. 
 
 MALLORY (Sir THOMAS). - 
 
 Mort d' Arthur, Selections from, edlte ' 
 by B. M. KANKINC;. Post Svo, cloth, 2^. 
 
 WARGUERITTE (PAUL and 
 
 VICTOR), Novels by. 
 The Disaster. Translated by F. LEES. 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 3$. fid. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 The Commune. Translated by F. LEES 
 
 and K. B. DOUGLAS. 
 Vanity. Translated by K. S. WEST. With 
 
 Portrait Frontispece. 
 
 MARLOWE'S Works, including 
 
 his Translations. Edited with Notes by 
 Col. CUNNINGHAM. Cr. vo, cloth, 3$. (>d. 
 
 /YiARSH (RICHARD). -A 
 
 Spoiler of Men. Cr. Svo, cloth, 3*. Gel. 
 
 MASSINGER'S Plays. From the 
 
 Text of WILLIAM GIFFORD. Edited by 
 Col. CUNNINGHAM. Cr. Svo, cloth, 35. &/. 
 
 MASTERMAN (J.).-Half - a - 
 
 dozen Daughters. Post Svo, bcls., 2s. 
 
 MAYFAIR LIBRARY (THE). 
 
 Post Svo, cloth limp, 2s. f>d. per \ol. 
 A Journey Round My Room. By 
 
 XAVIEK DE MAISTRE. 
 Quips and Quiddities. Selected by 
 
 W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. 
 The Agony Column of 
 
 Times," from 1800 to 1870. 
 Poetical Ingenuities and Eccen- 
 tricities. Edited by W. T. DOBSON. 
 Cupboard Papers. By FIN-BEC. 
 Songs of Irish Wit and Humour. 
 
 Edited by A. PERCEVAL GRAVES. 
 Animals and their Masters. By 
 
 Sir ARTHUR HELPS. 
 
 Social Pressure. By Sir A. HELPS. 
 Curiosities of Criticism. By HENRY 
 
 Pencil N and S palette. By R. KEMPT. 
 
 Ourselves. By E. LYNN LINTON 
 
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast- 
 Table. By O. W. HOLMES. Iilus. 
 
 Little Essays: Selected from LAMB'S 
 I ETTERS by PERCY FITZGERALD. 
 
 Theatrical Anecdotes. By JACO 
 
 Witch" Stories. By E. LYNN LIKTON 
 Pastimes and Players. By Koutui 
 
 MACGREGOR. 
 The New Paul and Virginia. I y 
 
 W. H. MALLOCK. 
 Puck on Pegasus, ny H. CIIOI.MCHJ- 
 
 PELKY-PKNNKM.. 
 
 Pegasus Re Saddled. By H. CIIOL- 
 MONDELEY-PKNXEI.L. Illustrated by G. 
 Du MAVRIKR. 
 
 The Muses of Mayfair. Edited by 
 
 H CHOLMONUELEY-l'KNNEI.L. 
 
 By Stream and Sea. By WILLIAM 
 
 SENIOR.
 
 20 
 
 CHATTO & \VINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 MATTHEWS (BRANDER).-A 
 
 Secret of the Sea. Post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. ; cloth, 2s. dd. 
 
 MAX O'RELL, Books by. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth. $s. (xi. each. 
 Her Royal Highness Woman. 
 Between Ourselves. 
 Rambles in Womanland. 
 
 MEADE (L. T.), Novels by. 
 A Soldier of Fortune. Crown 8vo 
 cloth, 31. dd. ; post 8vo, illust. boards, 2s. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.?. o,/. each. 
 The Voice of the Charmer. 
 In an Iron Grip. | The Siren. 
 Dr. Rumsey's Patient. 
 On the Brink of a Chasm. 
 The Way of a Woman. 
 A Son of Ishmael. 
 An Adventuress. | Rosebury. 
 The Blue Diamond. 
 A Stumble by the Way. 
 This Troublesome World. 
 
 MEDICI SERIES (The) of Re- 
 productions in Colour from the Old 
 Masters. For information in regard 
 to this important Series, see Illustrated 
 Prospectuses to be had upon application 
 
 MEDIEVAL LIBRARY (The 
 
 New). Small crown 8vo, pure raj; 
 paper, half-cloth, Sj.netpervol. ; leather, 
 7$. dd. net per vol. 
 
 1. The Book of the Duke of True 
 Lovers. Translated from the Middle 
 French of CHRISTINE DS PISAN, with 
 Notes and Introduction by ALICE KEMI- 
 WELCH. Woodcut Title and 6 Photo- 
 gravures. 
 
 2. Of the Tumbler of our Lady 
 and other Miracles. Translated 
 from the Middle French of GAUTIKR DE 
 COINCI, with Notes and Introduction bv 
 ALICE KEMP WELCH. Woodcut Titk- 
 page and 7 Photogravures. 
 
 3. The Lady of Yergi. Translated 
 from the Middle French (which is also 
 given) by ALICE KEMP WELCH, with 
 Introduction by Dr. L. BRANDIN. Wood 
 cut Titlepage and 5 Photogravures. 
 
 4. The Book of the Divine Con 
 solation of Saint Angela da 
 Foligno. Translated from the Ital.ai, 
 by MARY C. STEEGMAXX. Woodcut 
 Title and reproductions of the oricina) 
 Woodcuts. 
 
 MELBA: A Biography. B> 
 
 ELVIN TRACEY. With a Chapter or 
 the Art of Singing by MADAME MELBA 
 and numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo 
 cloth, :6j. net. 
 
 .VLERRICK (HOPE). When a 
 
 Girl's Engaged. Cr. Svo, cloth, 35. dd. 
 
 MERRICK (LEONARD), Novels 
 
 by. 
 
 The Man who was Good. Crown 
 8vo, cl., 3j. 6d. : post Svo, illust. bds., 2). 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. dd. each. 
 Cynthia. I This Stage of Fools. 
 
 MEYNELL (AL1C E). The 
 Flower of the Mind : a Choice 
 among the Best Poems. In iGnn>, 
 
 cloth, gilt, 2.j. ntt ; leather, 3*. net. 
 
 MILLER (Mrs. F. FENWICK). 
 Physiology for the Young: The 
 Houseof Life. Illusts.Post 8vo,cl.,2s.6rf. 
 
 MINTO (WM.).-Was She Good 
 
 or Bad? Crown 8vo, cloth, is. dd. 
 
 MITCHELL (EDM.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. dd. each. 
 The Lone Star Rush. With s Iliusts. 
 Only a Nigger. 
 The Belforts of Culben. 
 Crown 8vo, picture cloth, flat backs, 2s. each. 
 Plotters of Paris. 
 The Temple of Death. 
 Towards the Eternal Snows. 
 
 MITFORD (BERTRAM), Novels 
 
 by. Crown 8vo, cloth. 3.?. dd. each. 
 Rerishaw Fanning's Quest. 
 Triumph of Hilary Blachland. 
 Haviland's Chum. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. dd. each ; picture cloth, 
 
 flat back, 2j. each. 
 
 The Luck of Gerard Ridgeley. 
 The King's Assegai. With 6 Iliusts. 
 The Gun-Runner. Cr. 8vo, cl., 3*. dd.; 
 
 Cheap Edition, medium Svo.. (xi. 
 HarleyGreenoak's Charge. Crown 
 
 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 MOLESWORTH (Mrs.). 
 
 Hathercourt Rectory. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth, 35. dd. ; post Svo, illust. boards, zs. 
 
 MOLIERE: A Biography. By 
 
 H. C. CHATFIELD-TAYLOR. With Intro- 
 duction by Prof. T. F. CRANE, and 10 
 Illustrations by JOB. Koyal Svo, cloth, 
 los. dd. net. 
 
 MONCRIEFF (W. D. SCOTT-). 
 
 The Abdication : A Drama. With 7 
 Etchings. Imperial 4to, buckram, 2is. 
 
 MOORE (THOMAS), Works by. 
 The Epicurean; and Alciphron. 
 
 Post Svo. half-cloth, 2s. 
 Prose and Yerse: including Suppressed 
 Passages from the MEMOIRS OF LORD 
 BYRON. Edited by R. H. SHEPHERD. 
 With Portrait Crown Svo, cloth, 7$. dd. 
 
 MURRAY (HENRY), Novels by. 
 
 Post Svo, cloth. 2s. (xi. each. 
 A Game of Bluff. 
 A Song of Sixpence.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 21 
 
 MUDDOCK (J. E.)t Stories by. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth. 3.5. dd. each. 
 Basile the Jester. 
 Young Lochinvar. 
 The Golden Idol. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, zs. each. 
 The Dead Man's Secret. 
 From the Bosom of the Deep. 
 Stories Weird~and Wonderful. 
 
 Post Svo, illust. boards, 2.?. ; cloth, 2s. 6 i. 
 Maid Marian -and Robin Hood. 
 
 With 12 Illustrations by STANLEY L. 
 WOOD. Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. dd. ; picture 
 cloth flat back, 2s. 
 
 MURRAY (D. CHRISTIE), 
 
 Novels by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. dd. 
 
 e-ich ; post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 A Life's Atonement. 
 Joseph's Coat. With 12 Illustrations. 
 Coals of Fire. With 3 Illustrations. 
 Val Strange. I A Wasted Crime. 
 A Capful o' Nails. ! Hearts. 
 The Way of the World. 
 Mount Despair. | A Model Father. 
 Old Blazer's Hero. 
 By the Gate of the Sea. 
 A Bit of Human Nature. 
 First Person Singular. 
 Bob Martin's Little Girl. 
 Time's Revenges. 
 Cynic Fortune. | In Direst Peril. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 3$. dd. each. 
 This Little World. 
 A Race for Millions. 
 The Church of Humanity. 
 Tales in Prose and Verse. 
 Despair's Last Journey. 
 V.C. : A Chronicle of Castle Barfield. 
 
 Yerona's Father. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 His Own Ghost. Crown Svo, cloth, 
 
 3i. (>d. : picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 Joseph's Coat. POPULAR EDITION, 
 
 medium Svo. dd. 
 Bob Martin's Little Girl. CHEAP 
 
 EDITION, post 8vo, cloth, is. net. 
 
 MURRAY (D. CHRISTIE) and 
 
 HENRY HERMAN, Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. 6d. each ; post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards. 2s. each. 
 One Traveller Returns. 
 The Bishops' Bible. 
 Paul Jones's Alias. With Illustrations 
 
 by A. FORESTIEK and G. NlCOI.ET. 
 
 MY FIRST BOOK. By WALTER 
 BESANT, JAMES PAYN, W. CLARK RUS- 
 SELL, GRANT ALLEN, HALL CAINE, 
 GEOUGE R. SIMS, RUDVARD KIPLING, 
 A. CONAN DOYLE, M. E. BRADDON, 
 F. W. ROBINSON. H. RIDER HAGGARD, 
 R. M. BALLANTYNE, I. ZAXGWII.L, 
 
 MORLEY ROUERTS.D. CHRISTIE MURRAY, 
 
 MARIE CORELLI, J. K. JEROME, JOHN 
 STRANGE WINTER, BRET HARTE, 'Q.,' 
 ROBERT BUCHANAN, and R. L. STEVEN- 
 SON. With Prefatory Story by JEROME 
 K. JEROME, and 185 Illustrations. Demy 
 Svo, art linen, 3.?. f>>.t. 
 
 MORROW (W. C.). Bohemian 
 
 Paris of To- Day. With 106 Illusts.by 
 EDOUARD CUCUEL. Small demy 8vo,c!.,6.s. 
 
 NEWBOLT (HENRY). Taken 
 
 from the Enemy. Fcp.Svo, pic.cov.,is. 
 
 NISBET (HUME), Books by. 
 
 'Bail Up!' Crown Svo, cloth, $s. 6d. ; 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. ; 
 
 POPULAR EDITION, medium Svo, 6d. 
 Dr. Bernard St. Vincent. Post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Lessons in Art. With 21 Illustrations. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 NORDAU (MAX). Morganatic: 
 
 A Romance. Translated by ELIZABETH 
 LEE. Crown Svo, cloth, gilt top. 6.v. 
 
 NORRIS (W. E.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 3.5. 6d. each ; post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Saint Ann's. I Billy Bellew. 
 Miss Went worth's Idea. Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth, 3^. 6d. 
 
 OUIDA, Novels by. Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth, 3.?. 6d. each ; post Svo, illustrated 
 boards, 23. each. 
 
 Tricotrin. 
 
 Ruffino. 
 
 Othmar. 
 
 Frescoes. 
 
 Wanda. 
 
 Ariadne. 
 
 Pascarel. 
 
 Chandos. 
 
 Moths. 
 
 Puck. 
 
 Jdalia. 
 
 Biinbi. 
 
 Signa. 
 
 Friendship, 
 
 Guilderoy. 
 
 A Dog of Flanders. 
 Cecil Castlemaine's 
 
 Gage. 
 
 Princess Napraxine. 
 Held in Bondage. 
 Under Two Flags. 
 Folle-Farine. 
 Two Wooden Shoes. 
 A Village Commune. 
 In a Winter City. 
 Santa Barbara. 
 In Maremma. 
 Strathmore. 
 Pipistrello. 
 Two Offasders. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. dd. each. 
 A Rainy June. I The Massarenea. 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium 8vo, dd. eac;i. 
 Under Two Flags. Moths. 
 Held in Bondage. Puck. 
 
 Strathmore. Tricotrin. 
 
 The Massarenes. Chandos. 
 
 Friendship. Ariadne. 
 
 Two Little Wooden Shoes. 
 Idalia. 
 
 Syrlin. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. dd. ; post 
 Svo, picture cloth, flat back, 2s. ; illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Two Little Wooden Shoes. LARGE 
 TYPE EDITION. Fcap. Svo, cloth, is. net ; 
 leather, is. dd. net. 
 
 The Waters of Edera. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 3^. dd. ; picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 Santa Barbara. CHEAP EDITION, post 
 Svo, cloth, m. net. 
 
 Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos, selected 
 from the Works of OUIDA by K. SYDNEY 
 MORRIS. Post Svo. cloth, 5*. CHEAP 
 EDITION, illustrated boards, 2*.
 
 OHNET (GEORGES), Novels by. 
 Doctor Rameau. PostSvo, illustrated 
 
 .S. 2.T. 
 
 A Weird Gift. Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. dd. : 
 
 post Svo. illustrated boards, 2.9. 
 A Last Love. Post 8vo. illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each. 
 Love's Depths. 
 The Money-maker. 
 The Woman of Mystery. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, t>s. each. 
 The Path of Glory. 
 The Conqueress. Translated by F 
 
 ROTHWELL. 
 
 OLIPHANT (Mrs.), Novels by. 
 
 Post ?vo. illustrated boards, 2s- each. 
 The Primrose Path. 
 The Greatest Heiress in England. 
 
 Whiteladies. Crown ,M o, cloth, with 12 
 
 Illustrations, 3s. bd. ; post 8vo, bds., 2s. 
 The Sorceress. Crown Svo. cloth, 3* 6 
 
 OSBOURNE (LLOYD), Stories 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each. 
 The Motormaniacs. 
 Tnree Speeds Forward. With 
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 O'SHAUGHNESSY (ARTHUR), 
 
 Poems by. 
 
 Music & Moonlight. Fcp.Svo. cl.,7s.6</. 
 Lays of France. Cr. Svo, cloth. IPS, (xl. 
 
 PAIN (BARRY). Eliza's Hus- 
 
 band. Fcap.. Svo, is. : cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 PALMER (W. T.), Books by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, with Frontis., 6s. each. 
 Lake Country Rambles. 
 In Lakeland Dells and Fells. 
 
 PANDURANG H A R I ; or, 
 
 Memoirs of a Hindoo. With Preface 
 by Sir BARTLE FRERE, Post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards. 2s. 
 
 PARADISE (The) or Garden of 
 
 the Holy Fathers : Histories of the 
 Anchorites, Kecluses, Coenobites, Monks, 
 and Ascetic Fathers of the Deserts of 
 Egypt, between about A.D 250 and 400. 
 Translated from the Syriac, with an Intro- 
 duction, by E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, LittD. 
 With 2 Frontispieces. 2 vols. large crown 
 Svo. buckram, 15?. net. 
 
 PARIS SALON, The Illustrated 
 
 Catalogue of the. With about 300 illus- 
 trations. Published annually. DySvo, 3s. 
 
 PASCAL'S Provincial Letters. 
 
 With Introduction and Notes by T. 
 M'CRIE, D.D. Post Svo, half-cloth. 2s. 
 
 PASTON LETTERS (The), 1422- 
 
 1509. Edited, with Introduction and 
 Notes, by JAMES GAIRDNER. Six Vols., 
 demy Svo, linen, gilt top, 3 iss. the set. 
 
 PAUL (MARGARET A). Gentle 
 
 and Simple. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s, 
 
 PAYN (JAMES), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 3$. td. each ; post 8vo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Lost Sir Massingberd. 
 The Clyffards of Clyffe. 
 A County Family. 
 Less Black than We're Painted. 
 By Proxy. I For Cash Only. 
 
 High Spirits. | Sunny Stories. 
 A Confidential Agent. 
 A Crape from a Thorn. 12 Illusts. 
 The family Scapegrace. 
 Holiday Tasks. | At Her Mercy. 
 The Talk of the Town. 12 lUusts. 
 The Mystery of Mirbridge. 
 The Word and the Will. 
 The Burnt Million. 
 A Trying Patient. 
 
 Post Svo. iiltiitiated boards, 2S. each. 
 Humorous Stories. ! From Exile. 
 The Foster Brothers. 
 Married Beneath Him. 
 Bentinck's Tutor. 
 "Walter's Word. Fallen Fortunes. 
 A Perfect Treasure. 
 Like Father, Like Son. 
 A Woman's Vengeance. 
 Carlyon's Year. | Cecil's Tryst. 
 Murphy's Master. 
 Some Private Views. 
 Found Dead. | Mirk Abbey. 
 
 Gwendoline's Harvest. 
 A Marine Residence. 
 The Canon's Ward. 
 Not Wooed. But Won. 
 Two Hundred Pounds Reward. 
 The Best of Husbands. 
 Halves. | What He Cost Hen 
 Kit : A Memory. Under One Roof. 
 Glow-Worm Tales. 
 A Prince of the Blood. 
 A Modern Dick Whittington. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, with Portrait of Author, 
 
 3s. 6d. ; picture cloth. Hat b,ick, 2s. 
 The Burnt Million. CHEAP EDITION, 
 
 post Svo, cloth, is. net. 
 Notes from the ' News.' Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth, is. (xl. 
 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium Svo, 6d. each. 
 Lost Sir Massingberd. 
 "Walter's Word. 
 
 PAYNE (WILL). Jerry the 
 
 Dreamer. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. 6//. 
 
 PENNELL- ELMHIRST (Cap- 
 tain E.). The Best of the Fun. 
 
 With 8 Coloured Illustrations and 48 
 others. Medium Svo. cloth. 6s. net. 
 
 PENNELL (H. CHOLMONDE- 
 
 LEY), Worksby. Post Svo, cl., as. 6d. ea. 
 Puck on Pegasus. With Illustrations. 
 Pegasus Re- Saddled. With 10 Full- 
 
 paue Illustiations by G. Dr MAURIEK. 
 
 The Muses of Mayfair: Vers de 
 
 Societe. Selected by H. C. I'E\\KLI.. 
 
 PENNY (F. E.), Novels 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 
 by. 
 
 The Sanyasi. 
 Caste andCreed. 
 
 The Inevitable Law. 
 
 Dilys. 
 
 TheTea-Planter.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 PERRIN (ALICE), Novels b 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each 
 The Waters of Destruction, 
 Red Records. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d each 
 
 Aj'ree^SoIitude. | East of Suez 
 
 PETER PANlCEEPSAKETTSe 
 
 The Story retold for Children by DA.VII- 
 O'CoxxoR. With numerous Illustration 
 Crown 4to. is. net. 
 
 PHELPS (E. S.).-Jack th 
 
 Fisherman. Illustrated bv C. \ 
 Crown Svo, cloth, is. 
 
 PHIL MAY'S Sketch- BookfTl 
 
 Cartoons. Crown folio, cloth. 2. 
 
 PHIPSON (Dr. T. L.), BookTty 
 
 Crown Svo, doth, 55. each 
 Famous Violinists and Violins. 
 The Confessions of a Violinist. 
 Voice and jfiolin. 
 
 PTLT<TNCiTON~TL. L.).-MaIlen 
 
 der's Mistake. Cro * n 8vo. cloth. 6s 
 
 PLANCHE (J. R.), Works by. 
 The Pursuivant of Arms. Wit 
 
 ) Plates and 209 Illustrations. Crow 
 Svo, cloth, 7s. nrf. 
 
 Songs and Poems. Edited by Mr 
 M AC i : A K >; i ;ss. Crown Svo. cloth 6s 
 
 PLUTA RC H ' S~Li ves~oTTl lu 
 
 trious Men. With Life of PLUTARCH 
 by J. and W. LANGHORXE, and Por 
 trails. Two Vols., Svo, half-cloth, ios (>d 
 
 POE'S (EDGAR ALLANfChoice 
 
 Works: Poems, Stories, Essays 
 
 With an Introduction by CHARLE 
 BAUDELAIRE. Crown Svo. cloth, ?s. 6d 
 
 POLLOC K (W, H.).-rThe Charm, 
 
 ? J nd c . other Drawing- Room Plays 
 
 By Sir WALTER BESAXT and WALTER 
 H. POLLOCK. With 50 Illustrations 
 Crown Svo. cioth, 3.?. 6d. 
 
 PRAED (Mrs. CAMPBELL), 
 
 Novels by. Post Svo, illus. boards, 2s. ea 
 The Romance of a Station. 
 The Soul of Countess Adrian. 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d. each : post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 23. each. 
 Outlaw and Lawmaker. 
 Christina Chard. 
 Mrs. Tregaskiss. JvYith s Illustrations. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. dd each 
 Nulma. | Madame Izan. 
 As a Watch in the Night.' 
 
 Christina Chai-d. LI'IEAI- EDITION- 
 
 post Svo. cioth. is. lift. 
 The Lost Earl of Elian. Crown 
 
 PRICE (ET~C.). - 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, is. 6,i. 
 
 PRYCE (RTCHAK 
 
 Maxwell's Affections. ' Crown Svo 
 
 ' c!., 3 i. erf. ; post tivo, illust. boards 25. ' 
 
 23 
 
 A.), 
 
 ft.- r Wn 8vo ' cloth . 3*. 6rf. each. 
 sy Star Lessons. With Star Maps 
 for every \i-lu in the Year 
 
 its System. With 13 
 
 1 lutes. Demy Svo, cloth 6.5 
 _Worke a r n s d c^fto ? ^ience 
 RAMBOSSON (J07~^~PopuIar 
 
 Astronomy. Translated by C 
 PITMAN with 10 Coloured PUtesand 
 
 63 \\oodciits. Crown s v .. ,.,,,), ,, r. 
 
 ^^^o^(^~^r^^^^ 
 
 T c h f,Curse of the Romanovs : A Studv 
 
 of the Re. g ns of Tsars Paul I ,- ln d 
 Alevander I. of Russia. 17.; 6-182=; \\'iih 
 23 Illustrations. DemySvn. clotli Jfo.net. 
 
 READE 
 
 Collecte 
 
 Hard Cash. 
 
 Th w t , Clo , i J st V ei ' and the Hearth. 
 . **'? J reface b V Sir WALTER BESAXT 
 rr^ is _ Never Too Late to Mend.' ' 
 
 -^ ourseof True Love Never 
 
 Did Run Smooth ; and Single- 
 
 heart and Doubleface. 
 The Autobiography of a Thief: 
 
 Jack of all Trades; A Hero and 
 , a M S?*y? T e Wandering Heir. 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Long. 
 The Double Marriage. 
 Griffith Gaunt. 
 Foul Play. 
 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 A Simpleton. 
 A Woman-Hater. 
 The Jilt: and Good Stories of Man 
 
 and other Animals. 
 A Perilous Secret. 
 Readiana; and Bible Characters. 
 Iso in Twenty-one Volumes, post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 r*r 
 
 Christie Johnstone. 
 
 'It is Never Too Late to Mend.' 
 The Course of True Lova Never 
 
 Did Run Smooth. 
 Autobiography of a Thief; Jack 
 
 of all Trades; James Lambert. 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Loii-*. 
 The Double Marriage. 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. 
 S. Terrible Temptation. 
 Hard Cash. | Readiana. 
 Foul Play. I Griffith Gaunt. 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 The Wandering Heir. 
 A Woman-Hater. 
 
 ingleheart and Doubloface. 
 _iOod stories of Man, &c. 
 The Jilt ; and other Stories 
 A Perilous Secret.
 
 2 4 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 RBADB 
 
 LARGE TYPE, FINE PAPER EDITION'S. 
 Pott 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. net each ; leather 
 
 gilt edge*. 3s. net each. 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. Witi 
 
 V- Illustrations by M. 15. HE\VERDIN'K. 
 'It is Never Too Late to Mend.' 
 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium 8vo. M. each. 
 The Cloister and the Heartb. 
 ' It is Never Too Late to Mend.' 
 Foul Play. | Hard Cash. 
 Peg Woffington; and Christie 
 
 Johnstone. 
 Griffith Gaunt. 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 The Double Marriage. 
 Love me Little, Love Me Lon. 
 
 Fcap. Svo, half-Roxburghe, zs.dd. each. 
 Christie Johnstone. With Frontis 
 Peg Wofflngton. 
 
 The Wandering Heir. LARGE Tvpt 
 EDITION, tcap.Svo, cloth, is. net : leather 
 is. 6d. net. 
 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. 
 EDITION DE LUXE, with 16 Photogravure 
 and 84 half-tone Illustrations bv MAT. 
 B. HEWERDINE. Small 4to, cloth, 6.5. net 
 
 Bible Characters. Fcap Svo. is. 
 
 Selections from the Works o! 
 Charles Reade. Edited by Mrs. A 
 IRELAND. Post 8vo, cloth, 25. dd. 
 
 RICHARDSON (FRANK), Nov. 
 
 els by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. each. 
 The Man who Lost his Past. \\vj 
 
 50 Illustrations by TOM BROWNE, R.I. 
 The Bays water Miracle. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth. 6s. each. 
 The King's Counsel 
 Semi-Society. 
 There and Back. 
 
 RIDDELL (Mrs.), Novels by. 
 A Rich Man's Daughter. Crow: 
 
 Svo, cloth. 35. 6d. 
 Weird Stories. Crown Svo, cloth 
 
 3s.6d. ; post Svo, picture boards, 2?. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, ij.each. 
 The Uninhabited House. 
 Prince of Wales's Garden Party 
 The Mystery in Palace Gardens 
 Fairy Water. | Idle Tales. 
 Her Mother's Darling. 
 
 RIMMER (ALFRED). -Ramble 
 
 Round Eton and Harrow. With 5 
 Illustrations. Square Svo. cloth. 35. 6d. 
 
 ROBINSON (F. W.), Novels by 
 Women are Strange. Post Svo 
 
 illustrated boards. 25. 
 The Hands of Justice, down 8v< 
 
 cloth. 3$. 6d. : post Svo, illust. bds is 
 The Woman In the Dark. Crow 
 
 Svo, cloth, 3*. Qd, ; post 8vo, ijlust, bds , z 
 
 ROLFE (FR.), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 65 each. 
 Hadrian the Seventh. 
 Don Tarquinio. 
 
 RIVES (AMELIE), Stories by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3$. dd. each. 
 Barbara Dering. 
 Meriel : A Love Story. 
 
 ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY, 
 
 THE: A List of Principal Warriors who 
 came from Normandy with William the 
 Conqueror. 1066 In Gold and Colour'; ^t. 
 
 ROSENGARTEN(A.).-A Hand- 
 book of Architectural Styles. Trans- 
 lated by W. COLLETT-SANDARS. With 
 630 Illustrations. Cr. Svo, cloth, 71. 6d. 
 
 ROSS (ALBERT). -A Sugar 
 
 Princess. Crown Svo. cloth. 31. 6rf. 
 
 ROWLEY (Hon. HUGH). Post 
 
 Svo, cloth, 2s. 6J. each. 
 
 Puniana: or. Thoughts Wise and Other- 
 wise : a Collection of I he Best Riddles, 
 Conundrums, Jokes, Sells. &c., with 
 numerous Illustrations. 
 
 More Puniana. With numerous Illusts. 
 
 ROWS ELL (MARY C.).- 
 Monsieur de Paris, CKUVSI Svo, 
 cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 RUSSELL |W. CLARK;. Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo. cloth. (><.. each. 
 Overdue. | Wrong Side Out. 
 
 >own Svo, cloth. 3$. 6d. each ; post Svo, 
 llustrated boards. 2.5. each : cloth. 2s. bd. each. 
 
 Round the Galley-Fire. 
 
 In the Middle Watch. 
 
 On the Fo'k'sle Head. 
 
 A Voyage to the Cape. 
 
 A Book for the Hammock. 
 
 The Mystery of the ' Ocean Star.' 
 
 The Romance of Jenny Harlowe. 
 
 The Tale of the Ten. 
 
 An Ocean Tragedy. 
 
 My Shipmate Louise. 
 
 Alone on a Wide Wide Sea. 
 
 The Good Ship Mohock.' 
 
 The Phantom Death. 
 
 Is He the Man? I Heart of Oak. 
 
 The Convict Ship. 
 
 The Last Entry. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth. 3*. 6rf. each. 
 A Tale of Two Tunnels. 
 The Death Ship. 
 
 The Ship: Her Story. With 50 Illustra- 
 tions by H. C. SEPPINGS WRIGHT. 
 Small 4to. cloth. f>s. 
 
 The ' Pretty Polly.' With 12 Illustra- 
 tions by G. E. ROBERTSON. Large 
 crown Svo, cloth, gilt edges, 5.1. 
 
 The Convict Ship. POPULAR ED!TIOS : 
 medium Svo, 6J.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 RUNCIMAN (JAS.), Stories by 
 Schools and Scholars. Fust bvo, 
 
 cloth, 2s. 6rf. 
 Skippers and Shellbacks. Crown 
 
 Svo, cloth, is. td. 
 
 RUSSELL (DORA), Novels by. 
 
 A Country Sweetheart, Crown 8vo, 
 
 picture cloth. Hat back, 2s. 
 The Drift of Fate. Crown 8vo, cloth, 
 
 3s. dd. ; picture cloth, fiat back, 2s. 
 
 RUSSELL (Rev. JOHN) and his 
 
 Out-of-door Life. By E. W. L. 
 
 DAVIES. With Illustrations coloured by 
 hand. Royal svo, cloth. i6s. net. 
 
 RUSSELL (HERBERT). True 
 
 Blue. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. f>d. 
 
 RUSSIAN BASTILLE, THE 
 
 (The Fortress of Schluessclburg). By 
 T. P. YOUVATSHEV. Translated by 
 A. S. RAPPOPORT. M.A. With numeious 
 Illustrations, Demy Svo, cloth, "js. 6d. 
 net. \Preparing. 
 
 SAINT AUBYN (ALAN), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.1. 6d. each ; post 
 8vo. illustrated boards, as. each. 
 
 A Fellow of Trinity. With a Note 
 by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 
 
 The Junior Dean. 
 
 Orchard Damerel. 
 
 The Master of St. Benedict's. 
 
 In the Face of the "World. 
 
 To His Own Master. 
 
 The Tremlett Diamonds. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. del. each. 
 The Wooing of May. 
 Fortune's Gate. 
 A Tragic Honeymoon. 
 Gallantry Bower. 
 A Proctor's Wooing. 
 Bonnie Maggie Lauder. 
 Mrs. Dunbar's Secret. 
 M ary Unwin. With s Illustration s. 
 
 SAINT JOHN (BAYLE). A 
 
 Levantine Family. Cr. Svo, cl., 3s. (id. 
 
 SALA (Q. A.). Gaslight and 
 
 Daylight. Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 SALMON (A. L.I. Literary 
 
 Rambles in the West of England. 
 
 With a Frontispiece. Cr. Svo, cl.. 6s. net. 
 
 SCOTLAND YARD, Past& Present 
 By Ex-Chief-Inspector CAVANAGH. Post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. ; cloth, 2s. dd. 
 
 SERGEANT(ADELINE), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth. 3s. 6rf. each. 
 Under False Pretences. 
 Dr. Endicott's Experiment. 
 
 The Missing Elizabeth. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 6i. 
 
 SECRET OUT SERIES (The). 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, with numerous 
 
 Illustrations, 45. 6d. each. 
 The Secret Out : One Thousand Tricks 
 with Drawing-room or White Magic. 
 By W. H. CREMEIJ. With 300 En- 
 gravings. 
 
 The Art of Amusing: A Collection of 
 Graceful Arts, Games, Tricks, Puzzles, 
 and Charades. By FRANK BELLEW. 
 With 300 Illustrations. 
 
 Hanky-panky : Very Easy Trick?, Very 
 Difficult Tricks, White Magic, Sleight o'f 
 Hand. Edited by W. H. CKEMER. With 
 200 Illustrations. 
 
 The Magician's Own Book: Per- 
 formances \vith Cups and BM:s, Egcs, 
 Hals. Handkerchiefs, &c. Edited by 
 W. H. CREMER. With 200 Illustrations. 
 
 The Complete Art of Firework- 
 Making : or, The Pyrotechnist's 
 Treasury. By THOMAS KENTISH. With 
 267 Illustrations. 35. 6d. 
 
 ST. MARTIN'S LIBRARY (The). 
 
 In pocket size, cloth, gilt top, zs. net per 
 Vol. ; leather, gilt edges, 3j. net per Vol. 
 
 By SIR WALTER BESANT. 
 London. | 'Westminster. 
 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 Sir Richard Whittington, 
 Gaspard de Coligny. 
 
 By HALL CAINE. 
 The Deemster. 
 
 By WILKIE COLLINS. 
 
 The Woman in White. 
 
 By DANIEL DEFOE. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe. With 37 Illus- 
 trations by G. CRUIKSHANK. 
 
 By CHARLES DICKENS. 
 Speeches. With Portrait. 
 
 By AUSTIN DOBSON. 
 
 Eighteenth Century Vignettes. 
 Three Series, each Illustrated. 
 
 By THOMAS HARDY. 
 Under the Greenwood Tree. 
 
 By BRET HARTE. 
 Condensed Novels. 
 
 By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast- 
 Table. Illustrated by i. G. THOMSON-, 
 
 Compiled by A. H. HYATT. 
 The Charm of London: An Anthology. 
 
 By RICHARD TRKKKRIES. 
 The Life of the Fields. 
 The Open Air. 
 Nature near London. 
 
 By CHARLES LAMB. 
 The Essays of Elia. 
 
 By LORD MACAULAY. 
 History of England, in 5 Volumes. 
 
 By JUSTIN- MCCARTHY, 
 The Reign of Queen Anne, in i Vol. 
 A History of the Four Georges 
 
 and of William IV., in 2 Vois. 
 A History of Our Own Times from 
 Accession of Q. Victoria to 1897, in^Vols,
 
 26 
 
 CHATTO WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 ST. MARTIN'S LIBRARY continued. 
 
 By GEORGE MACDCVCALD. 
 Works of Fancy and Imagination, 
 in 10 Vols. (For List, sea p. 18.) 
 
 By CHARLES READE. 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. With 
 
 32 Illustrations by M. B. HEWEKDINE. 
 ' It is Never Too Late to Mend. 
 
 By ROBERT Louis STEVENSON. 
 An Inland Voyage. 
 Travels with a Donkey. 
 Memories and Portraits. 
 Yirginibus Puerisque. 
 Men and Books. 
 New Arabian Nights. 
 Across the Plains. I Merry Men. 
 Collected Poems. 
 
 By H. A. TAINE. 
 
 History of English Literature, in 
 4 Vols. With 32 Portraits. 
 
 By MARK TWAIN. Sketches. 
 
 By WALTON and COTTON. 
 The Complete Angler. 
 
 SEELEY (E. L.), Books by. 
 
 Stories of the Italian Artists 
 from Yasari. Large crown Svo. 
 buckram, with 8 Four-Colour Plates and 
 24 in Half-tone, -js. dd. net. EDITION DE 
 LUXE, demy Svo, with additional Coloured 
 Plates, and with other plates in Two 
 Tints, parchment, 15.5. net ; vellum, 20.?, 
 net ; morocco, 30.$. net. 
 
 Artists of the Italian Renais- 
 sance : their Stories, as set forth by 
 VASARI, RIDOLFI, LAKZI, and the CHRON- 
 ICLERS. Large crown Svo, buckram, with 
 8 Four-Colour Plates and 24 in Half-tone, 
 Is. dd. net. EDITION DELUXE, demy Svo. 
 with additional Coloured Plates, and with 
 other plates in Two Tints, parchment, 
 15$. net ; vellum, 20$. net ; morocco, 30^. 
 net. 
 
 SENIOR (WM.). By Stream 
 
 and Sea. Post Svo, cloth, 2$. dd. 
 
 SEYMOUR (CYRIL), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6.?. each. 
 The Magic of To-Morrow. 
 Comet Chaos. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY 
 
 (The). PART I. 
 
 THE OLD-SPELLING 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 In Forty Volumes, demy Svo, cloth, zs.dd. 
 net per vol. ; or Library Edition (sold 
 only in sets), pare rag paper, half- 
 parchment, 5.5. net per vol. To be issued 
 at short intervals. 
 
 The Works of William Shakespeare 
 
 with the spelling of the Quarto or the 
 Folio as the basis of the Text, and all 
 changes marked in heavy type. Edited, 
 with brief Introductions and Notes, by 
 F. J. FURNIVALL, M.A., D.Litt. The 
 COMEDIES will be issued first, followed 
 by the HISTORIES, TRAGEDIES, and 
 POEMS. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY-^;;/. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE CLASSICS, 
 
 Small crown Svo. quarter-bound antique 
 grey boards, 2s. dd. net per vol. ; whole 
 gold -brown velvet persian, 4$. net 
 per vol. ; also 500 special sets on larger 
 paper, half parchment, gilt tops (sold 
 in sets only), 5.5. net. per vol. Each 
 volume with Frontispiece. 
 
 1. Lodge's 'Rosalynde': the 
 original of Shakespeare's 'As 
 You Like It." Edited by W. W. 
 GREG, M.A. 
 
 2. Greene's ' Pandosto.'or ' Doras- 
 
 tus and Fawnia ': the original 
 of Shakespeare's ' Winter's 
 Tale.' Edited by P. G. THOMAS. 
 
 3. Brooke's Poem of ' Romeus 
 and Juliet': the original of 
 Shakespeare's 'Romeo and 
 Juliet.' Edited by P. A. DANIEL. 
 Modernised and re-edited by J. J. 
 MUNRO. 
 
 4. 'The Troublesome Reign of 
 King John': the Play rewritten 
 by Shakespeare as 'King John.' 
 Edittd by F. J. FURNIVALL, D.Litt. 
 
 5,6. 'The History of Hamlet': 
 With other Documents illustrative of 
 the sources of Shakspeare's Play, and an 
 Introductory Study of the LEGEND OK 
 HAMLET by Prof. I. GOLLANCZ. 
 
 7. The Play of King Leir and His 
 Three Daughters ' : the old play 
 on the subject of King Lear. 
 Edited by SIDNEY LEE, D.Litt. 
 
 5. 'The Taming of a Shrew': 
 Being the old play used by Shakespeare 
 in 'The Taming of The Shrew.' Edited 
 by Professor F. S. BOAS. 
 
 9. The Sources and Analogues of 
 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' 
 
 10. 'The Famous Yictories of 
 Henry Y.' 
 
 it. ' The Menaechmi': the original 
 of Shakespeare's 'Comedy of 
 Errors.' The Elizabethan Tramki- 
 tion. 
 
 12. 'Promos and Cassandra': 
 the source of ' Measure for 
 Measure.' 
 
 PART HI. 
 
 THE LAMB SHAKESPEARJ9 
 FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 
 
 With Illustrations and Music. Based 
 on MARY AND CHARLES LAMB'S TALES 
 FROM SHAKESPEARE, an attempt being 
 made to insert skilfully within the set- 
 ting of prose those scenes and passages 
 from the Plays with which the young 
 reader should early become acquainted. 
 Imperial i6mo, cloth, is. dd. net per vol. ; 
 leather, 2s. dd. net per vol. ; Special 
 School Edition, linen, Sd. net per vol. 
 'THE TEMPEST' may also be had in n
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 27 
 
 SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY CM/. 
 
 Special Gift Edition, without the music, 
 cloth, is. 6d. net ; leather, 2s. 6d. net. 
 
 I. The Tempest. Illustrated by HELEN 
 STRATTON. 
 
 II. As You Like It. Illustrated by 
 L E WRIGHT. 
 
 Ill A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 Illustrated by HELEN STRATTOX. 
 
 IV. The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 V. King Henry V. 
 
 VI. Twelfth Night. 
 
 VII. A Life of Shakespeare for the 
 Young. 
 
 PART IV. 
 SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND. 
 
 Part IV. w;ll embody a series cf volumes 
 illustrative of the life, thought, and letters 
 of England in the time of Shakespeare. 
 The first volumes are 
 
 Robert Laneham's Letter.describing 
 part of the Entertainment given to 
 Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 
 1575. W ith Introduction by Dr. FURJil- 
 V^LL. Demy 8vo. cloth, 5?. net. 
 
 The Rogues and Vagabonds of 
 Shakespeare's Youth: reprints of 
 Awdeley's ' Fraternitye of Vacabondes,' 
 Harman's ' Caveat for Common Curse- 
 tors,' Parson Haben's or Hyberdyne's 
 ' Sermon in Praise of Thieves and 
 Thievery," &c. With many woodcuts. 
 Edited, 'with Intro.luction, by EDWARD 
 VlLES and Dr. FURXIVALL. Demy 8vo, 
 cloth, 55. net. 
 
 Shakes'peare's Holinshed : a reprint 
 of all the passages in Holinshed's 
 'Chronicle' of which use was made in 
 Shakespeare's Historical Plays, with 
 Notes and Index. Edited by \V. G 
 BOSWELL STONE. Royal 8vo, cloth, 105 
 <Jd. net. 
 
 The Book of Elizabethan Yerse 
 Chosen and Edited, with Notes, Index o 
 Authors, Biographical Index of Authors 
 and Index of first lines, by WILLIAM 
 STANLEY BRAITHWAITE. With Frontis 
 piece and Vignette. Small crown Svo 
 cloth. 6.. net : relished calf. izs.6d. nei 
 The Shakespeare Allusion Book 
 
 Reprints of ail known references t 
 Shakespeare and his works before th 
 close of the seventeenth century, collecte 
 by Dr. INGLMJY, Miss L. TOULMI 
 SMITH, Dr. FURNIVALL, and arranged i 
 chronological order. Twovols., roy 8v< 
 Harrison's Description of Eng 
 land. Part IV. Uniform with Part 
 I.-III. as issued by the New Shaksper 
 Society. (250 copies onlv.) 175. 6d. ne 
 
 Shakespeare the Boy: The Horn 
 and School Life. Games and Sport 
 Manners. Customs, and Folk-lore of th 
 Time. By W. ]. HOLKE. With 42 Illu 
 trations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Shakespeare's Sweetheart : 
 
 Romance. Bv SAKAH H. STEKLIXI 
 With Coloured Illustrations by C. : 
 PECK. Square Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 SHERIDAN'S (RICHARD 
 
 BR1NSLEY) Complete Works. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. bd. 
 
 The Rivals, The School for Scan- 
 dal, &c. Post Svo, half-cloth, 2s. 
 
 Sheridan's Comedies: The Rivals 
 and The School for Scandal. 
 Edited by BRANDER MATTHEWS. With 
 Illustrations. Demy 8vo, buckram, 121. 6rf. 
 
 HIEL (M. P.), Novels by. 
 
 The Purple Cloud. Cr.Svo. cloth, zs.o 
 Unto the Third Generation. Cr.Sv 
 cloth, 6s. 
 
 IGNBOARDS: Their History, in- 
 cluding Famous Taverns and Remarkable 
 Characters. By JACOB LAR\VOOD and J. 
 C.HOTTEN. With 95 Illustrations. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, $s. 6d. 
 
 IMS (GEORGE R.), Books by. 
 
 For Life-ajadJLfter._Cr. Svo. cl., 0,-. 
 ost Svo, illusUated~1)o^rds72J. each ; cloth 
 
 limp, as. 6d. each. 
 The Ring o' Bells. 
 Tinkletoo's Crime. zepn. 
 
 nVLmafi 1 of 'Life. With 60 Illustrations. 
 My o Wives. | Tales of To-day. 
 Memoirs of a Landlady. 
 Scenes from the Show. 
 The Ten Commandments. 
 
 rown Svo, picture cover, K. each; cloth, 
 
 is. dd. each. 
 
 The Dagonet Reciter and Reader. 
 The Case of George Candlemas. 
 Dagonet Ditties. Life We Live. 
 Young Mrs. Caudle. 
 Li Ting of London. 
 rown Svo, cloth, 3^- M. each; post Svo, 
 re boards, 25. each ; cloth, 2*. (,d. each. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 35. dd. each. 
 Once upon a Christmas Time. 
 With 8 Illustrations by CHAS. GKEEX, K.I. 
 In London's Heart. 
 A Blind Marriage. 
 Without the Limelight. 
 The Small-part Lady. 
 Biographs of Babylon. 
 His Wife's Revenge. 
 The Mystery of Mary Anne, &c. 
 Among MyAiutographs. 70 Facsims. 
 
 Picture cloth, fiat back, as. each. 
 Rogues and Vagabonds. 
 In London s Heart. 
 P: pri.AR EDITIONS, medium Svo, 6d. each. 
 Mary Jane's Memoirs. 
 Rogues and Vagabonds. 
 
 How the Poor Live; and Horrible 
 
 London. Crown Svo, leatherette, u. 
 Darionet Dramas. Crown Svo, is.
 
 28 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 SHARP (WILLIAM). Children 
 
 of To-morrow. Crown Svo. cloth. 3*. 
 
 SHELLEY'S Complete WORKS 
 
 In Veraeand Prose. Edited by R. 
 
 HERXE SHEPHERD. Five Yo'.s., crown 
 
 8vo. cloth, 3.5. (id. each. 
 
 Poetical Works, in Three Vols. : 
 
 Vol. I. Margaret Nicholson ; Shelley's 
 Correspondence with Stockdale ; Wandering 
 Jew : Queen Mab ; Alastor ; Rosalind aiu: 
 Helen ; Prometheus Unbound ; Adonais. 
 
 Vol. II. Laon and Cythna: The Cenc: ; 
 Julian and Maddalo ; Swellfoot the Tyrant : 
 The Witch of Atlas ; Epipsychidion : Hellas. 
 
 Vol. III. Posthumous Poems; The 
 Masque of Anarchy ; and other Pieces. 
 Prose Works,'in Two Vols. : 
 
 Vol. I. Zastrozzi ; St. Irvyne ; Dublin and 
 Marlow Pamphlets ; Refutation of Deism : 
 Lettersto Leigh Hunt ; Minor Writings. 
 
 Vol. II. Essays: Letters from Abroad: 
 Translations and Fragments : a Biography 
 
 SHERARD (R. H.).-Rogues. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 SHERWOOD (MARGARET).- 
 
 DAPHNE: a Pastoral. With Coloured 
 Frontispiece. Crown 8''Q. cloth 3s. t>d 
 
 SISTER DORA. By M. LO.NSUALE. 
 
 Demy 8vo, $d. ; cloth, ftd. 
 
 SLANG DICTIONARY (The): His- 
 
 torical and Anecdotal. Cr. 8vo. cl.. 6. fvi 
 
 SMITH (J. MOYR), Books by. 
 The Prince of Argolis. With iy 
 
 Illustrations. Post 8vo. cloth. 3?. <>,i. 
 The Wooing of the Water Witch 
 
 With Illustrations. Post 8vo. cloth. <>s. 
 
 SNAZELLEPARILLA. Decanted 
 by G. S. EDWARDS. With 66 Illustrations 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 3$. 6d. 
 
 SOCIETY IN LONDON. Crown 
 
 Svo, is. ; cloth, is. fid. 
 
 SOMERSET (Lord HENRY).- 
 
 Songs of Adieu. 4to. Jap, veil inn. 6< 
 
 SOW B R B Y (M. and G.) , 
 
 Children's Books by. 
 
 Bumbletoes : their Adventures will 
 Belinda and the Buttons Boy, picturet 
 in 12 Coloured Scenes and 18 othei 
 Illustrations by MiLLiCEXT SOWKRBY 
 With Verses by GITHA SOWERUY. Smali 
 erown Svo, decorated boards, u. 6,1. net. 
 
 Childhood: Twelve Days from 0111 
 Youth. Pictured in Colours by MILLI- 
 CENT SOWERBY. and written in Verse by 
 GITHA SOWERBY. Crown 410, decorated 
 boards. 35. 6d. net. 
 
 SPENSER for Children. ByM.H 
 
 TOWRY. With Coloured Illustrations bv 
 W. T. MORGAN". Crown 4to. clolh. 3t. f\i. 
 
 SPETTIGUE (H. H.). Th^ 
 
 Heritage of Eve. Cr. Svo, cloth, 0.?. 
 
 SPEIGHT (T. W.), Novels by. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards. 2s. each. 
 The Mysteries of Heron Dyke. 
 By Devious Ways. 
 Hoodwinked; & Sandycroft Mys- 
 tery. I The Golden Hoop. 
 Back to Life. | Quittance in Full. 
 The Loudwater Tragedy. 
 Burgo's Romance. 
 A Husband from the Sea. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth. 3.5. fid. each. 
 Her Ladyship. I The Grey Monk. 
 The Master of Trenance. 
 The Secret of Wyvern Towers. 
 Doom of Siva. | As it was Written 
 The Web of Fate. 
 Experiences of Mr. Verschoyle. 
 
 Stepping Blindfold: Cr.Svo, cloth. 6s. 
 "Wife or No Wife.Post Svo.cloth. is. M. 
 
 SPRIQQE (S. SQUIRE). An 
 
 Industrious Chevalier. Cr. Svo, 6.t. 
 
 STAFFORD (JOHN), Novels by. 
 
 Doris and I. Crown 8vo, cloth. 35. od. 
 Carlton Priora. Crown Svo. cloth, ds. 
 
 STANLEY (WINIFRED). A 
 
 Flash of the Will. Cr.Svo. cloth. 6? 
 
 STARRY HEAVENS Poetical 
 
 Birthday Book. Pott Svo, cloth. 2 .t. <i-t. 
 
 STEDMAN (E. C.). Victorian 
 
 Poets. Crown Svo, clolh. os. 
 
 STEPHENS (RICCARDO). The 
 
 Cruciform Mark. Cr. 8vo. cl., 3.5. M. 
 
 STEPHENS (R. NEILSON). 
 
 Philip Win wood. Cr. ,sv .,. cl., 3s._6d._ 
 
 STEPNIAK (S.). At the Dawn 
 
 of a New Reign : a Study of Modern 
 Russia. Crown Svo. cloth. 6$. 
 
 STERNDALE (R. ARMITAQE). 
 
 The Afghan Knife. Post Svo, cloth, 
 35. (id. : illustrated boards. 25-. 
 
 STERNE (LAURENCE). 
 
 A Sentimental Journey. With 8.) 
 Illustrations by T H. RoBIXSOX, and 
 a Photogravure Portrait. Crown Svo, 
 cloth t<iit, 3*. 6:.'. 
 
 The Life or Laurence Sterne. By 
 PERCY FITZGERALD. With Portrait. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth. 6.?. 
 
 STEVENSON (BURTON E.). 
 
 Affairs of .State. Crown Svo, cloth. 
 _3. (~d._ 
 
 STOCKTON (FRANK R.).-The 
 
 Younjf Master of Hyson Hall. With 
 36 Illustrations. Crown Svo, cioth, 
 3.7. 6d. : picture cloth, fiat back. 21. 
 
 STODDARD (C. W.), Books by. 
 
 Po c t Svo, cloth, gi'.t top, 6s. net each. 
 South-Sea Idyls: Summer Ci-uisin-;. 
 The Island of Tranquil Delights.
 
 Ill ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 
 
 STEVENSON (R. LOUIS) 
 
 Works by. Cr. 8v< >. buckram, 6s. each 
 Travels with a Donkey. With 
 
 Frontispiece by WALTER CRAXE. 
 An Inland Voyage. With a Frontis 
 
 piece by WALTER CRANE. 
 Familiar Studies of Men & Books 
 The Silverado Squatters. 
 The Merry Men. 
 Underwoods : Poems. 
 Memories and Portraits. 
 Virginibus Puerisque. 
 Ballads. I Prince Otto. 
 
 Across the Plains. 
 Weir of Hermiston. 
 In the South Seas. 
 Essays of Travel. 
 Tales and Fantasies. 
 Essays in the Art of "Writing. 
 A Lowden Sabbath Morn. Illus- 
 trated by A. S. BOYD. 
 
 Songs of Travel. Cr. 8vo, buckram, 5$. 
 New Arabian Nights. Crown Svo. 
 
 buckram, 6s. ; post Svo, illust. boards, 2s.; 
 
 POPULAR EDITION", medium 8vo, 6d. 
 
 Post Svo half-cloth, is. net each ; leather, 
 2s. net each. 
 
 Prayers Written at Yailima. 
 
 A Christmas Sermon. 
 
 The Suicide Club; and The Rajah's 
 Diamond. (From NEW ARABIAN 
 NIGHTS.) With 8 Illustrations by W. J. 
 HENNESSY. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3$. 6d. 
 
 The Stevenson Reader. Edited by 
 LLOYD OSBOURNE. Post Svo, cloth, 
 2s. 6d. ; buckram, gilt tcp, 3s. 6d. 
 
 The Pocket R.L.S.: Favourite Pas- 
 sages. j6mo. cl.. 2s. net ; leather, 3s. net. 
 LAKGE TYPE, FINE PAPER EDITIONS. 
 Pott Svo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. net each ; 
 leather, cilt edgts, 3s. net each. 
 
 An Inland Voyage. 
 
 Travels with a Donkey. 
 
 Virginibus Puerisque. 
 
 Familiar Studies of Men & Books. 
 
 New Arabian Nights. 
 
 Memories and Portraits. 
 
 Across the Plains. 
 
 The Merry Men. 
 
 Collected Poems ofJR^Ii. S. 
 
 R. Li. Stevenson : A Study. By H. B. 
 IUIL.DON. With 2 Portraits. Crown 
 Svo, buckram, 6s. 
 
 Recollections of R. L-. Stevenson 
 in the Pacific. By ARTHUR JOHN- 
 STONE. With Portrait and Facsimile 
 Letter. Crown Svo, buckram, 6s. net. 
 
 STRUTT (JOSEPH). The 
 
 Sports and Pastimes of the People 
 of England. With 140 Illustrations. 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 35. fid. 
 
 STUART (H.L.) Weeping Cross. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 6s. 
 
 SUNDOWNER, Stories by. 
 Told by the Taffrail. Cr. 8\o, ss. 6d. 
 The Tale of the Serpent. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 STRAUS (RALPH). The Man 
 
 Apart. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 SUFFRAGETTE'S LOVE 
 
 LETTERS (A). Crown Svo, i*. net; 
 cloth. I?, fid. net. 
 
 SULTAN (THE) AND HIS SUB- 
 JECTS. By KICHARD DAVEY. With 
 Portrait. Demy Svo. cloth, 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 SUTRO (ALFRED). The 
 
 Foolish Virgins* Fcp. Svo. u.:cl.. is.f>d. 
 
 SWEET (ALEX. E.) and J. 
 
 ARMOY KNOX. On a Mexican 
 Mustang Through Texas, from the 
 Gulf to the Rio Grande. With 265 Illus- 
 trations. Demy Svo. cloth. T,S. 6d. 
 
 SWINBURNE'S (ALGERNON 
 
 CHARLES) Works. 
 Selections from Mr. Swinburne's 
 
 Works. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 Atalanta in Calydon. Crown 8vo,6s. 
 Chastelard: A Tragedy. Crown Svo, 7s. 
 Poems and Ballads. FIRST SERIES. 
 
 Crown Svo, gs. 
 Poems and Ballads. SECOND SERIES. 
 
 Crown Svo. 9.?. 
 Poems and Ballads. THIRD SERIES. 
 
 Crown Svo, 7s. 
 Songs before Sunrise. Crown Svo, 
 
 ios. 6d. 
 
 Bothwell: A Tragedy. Crown Svo, I2s.6d. 
 Songs of Two Nations. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 George Chapman. (In Vol. II. of G. 
 
 CHAPMAN'S Works.) Crown Svo, 3.5. 6d. 
 Essays and Studies. Crown Svo, izs. 
 E rechtheus : A Tragedy. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 A Note on Charlotte Bronte. Crown 
 
 Svo, 6t. 
 A Study of Shakespeare. Crown 
 
 Svo, 8s. 
 Songs of the Springtides. Crown 
 
 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Studies in Song. Crown Svo, 7s. 
 Mary Stuart: A Tragedy. Crown Svo, 8s. 
 Tristram of Lyonesse. Crown Svo.os. 
 A Century of Roundels. Small4to, Es. 
 A Midsummer Holiday. Cr.Svo, 7$. 
 Marino Faliero: A Tragedy. Crown 
 
 8vo, 6s. 
 
 A Study of Victor Hugo. Cr Svo, 6s. 
 Miscellanies. Crown Svo, izs. 
 Locrine : A Tragedy. Crown Svo, 6.1. 
 A Study of Ben Jonson. Cr. Svo, 7.?. 
 The Sisters: A Tragedy. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 Astrophel, &c. Crown Svo, 7$. 
 Studies in Prose and Poetry. 
 
 Crown Svo, 9.5. 
 
 The Tale of Balen. Crown 8vo. 7.- 
 Rosamund, Queen of the Lom- 
 bards: A Tragedy. Crown Svo, ' v. 
 A Channel Passage. Crown S-M. 7^. 
 Love's Cross -Currents' A Yt.u's 
 
 Letters. Crown Svo, 6s. net. 
 William Blake. Crown Svo, 6s. net 
 
 Mr. Swinburne's Collected Poems. 
 
 In 6 Vols., crown Svo, 36.?. net tho set. 
 Mr. Swinburne's Collected Tra- 
 gedies. InsVoIs., cr.Svo, 3Oj.net the set.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 30 
 
 SURTEE5 (ROBERT). - 
 
 Handley Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks's 
 Hunt. With 79 Illusts. by JOHN LEECH. 
 Post 8vo. picture cover, is. ; cloth, 23. 
 
 SWIFT'S (Dean) Choice Works, 
 
 in Prose and Verse. With Memoir, Por- 
 trait, and Facsimiles. Cr. 8vo, cl., 35. bd. 
 
 Gulliver's Travels, and A Tale of 
 a Tub. Post 8vo, half-cloth, 2s. 
 
 Jonathan Swift : A Study. By J. 
 Cm.'KToN COLLINS. Cr. 8vo. cl., -u. (>d. 
 
 TAINE'S History of English 
 
 Literature. Trans. byHE.XRY VAX LAUX. 
 Four Vols., demy Svoi cl., 30$. POPULAR 
 EDITION, Two Vols., crown Svo, cl., 15*. ; 
 FIXE PAPER EDITION, in Four Vols., with 
 32 Portraits, pott Svo, cloth, gilt top, 2s. 
 net per vol. ; leather, gilt edges, 3$. net 
 per vol. 
 
 IMBS (JOHN), Works by. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. each. 
 Clubs and Club Life in London. 
 
 With 41 Illustrations. 
 English Eccentrics and Eccen- 
 
 tricitiea. With 48 Illustration". 
 
 TOMPKINS (HERBERT W.). 
 
 Marsh-Country Rambles. With a 
 Frontispiece. Crown Svo. cloth, 6.5. 
 
 TREETON (ERNEST A.). The 
 
 Instigator. Crown Svo, cloth, 6'. 
 
 F URENNE (RAYMOND). The 
 
 Last of the Mammoths, Crown NYU, 
 cloth, 3^. 6d. net. 
 
 TALES FOR THE HOMES. 
 
 By TWENTY-SIX WELL-K.VOWNAUTHOUS 
 Edited by Rev. J. MARCHANT. Published 
 for the benefit of the BARNARDO ME- 
 MORIAL FUND. With 3 Portraits. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 55. net 
 
 TAYLOR (TOM) . Historical 
 
 Dramas. Crown Svo, is. each, 
 JEAXXE DARC.' 
 ' TvviXT AXE AND CROWN.' 
 'THE FOOL'S REVENGE.' 
 ' ARKWRIGHT'S WIFE.' 
 ' ANNE BOLEYX.' 
 PLOT AND PASSION.' 
 
 TEMPLE (SIR RICHARD). A 
 
 Bird's-eye View of Picturesque 
 India. With 32 Illusts. Cr. 8vo. cl.. 6: 
 
 THACKERAYANA : Notes and 
 
 Anecdotes. With numerous Sketches b 
 THACKERAY. Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. 6d. 
 Thackeray (The Pocket >. Arranged 
 by A. H. HYATT. In i6mo, cloth, gil 
 top, 2s. net ; leather, gilt top, 3.5. net. 
 
 THOMAS (ANNIE), Novels by 
 The Siren's W eb. Cr. 8vo, cl., 3*. 6d. 
 Comrades True. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s 
 
 THOMAS (BERTHA), Novels by 
 In a Cathedral City. Cr. Svo, cl., 35. M 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 The House on the Scar. 
 The Son of the House. 
 
 TWAIN'S (MARK) Books. 
 Author's Edition de Luxe of the 
 Works of Mark Twain, in 23 
 
 Volumes (limited to 600 Numbered 
 Copies), price 12s. dd. net per Volume. 
 (Can be subscribed for only in Sets.) 
 
 UNIFORM LIBRARY EDITION. Crown 
 
 Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. each. 
 Mark Twain's Library of Humour 
 
 With 197 Illustrations by E. W. KE.MRLK. 
 Roughing It : and The Innocents 
 
 at Home. With 200 Illustrations by 
 
 F. A. FRASER. 
 The American Claimant. With 81 
 
 Illustrations by HAL HTRST and others. 
 
 * The Ad ventures of Tom Sawyer 
 
 With in Illustrations. 
 Tom Sawyer Abroad. With 26 
 
 Illustrations by DAN BEARD. 
 Tom Sawyer," Detective, With Port. 
 Pudd'nhead "Wilson. With Portrait 
 
 and Six Illustrations by LOUIS LOEB. 
 
 * A Tramp Abroad. With 314 Illusts. 
 *The Innocents Abroad: or, New 
 
 Pilgrim's Progress. With 234 Ii;u?ts. 
 *The Gilded Age. By MARK T 
 
 and C. D. WARNER. With 212 
 < The Prince and the Pauper. 
 
 With 190 Illustrations. 
 
 * Life on the Mississippi. 300 ! 
 *The Adventures of Huckleberry 
 
 Finn. 174 Illusts. by K. W. KKMBi.t, 
 
 * A Yankee at the Court of King 
 
 Arthur. 220 Illusts. m- DAN BEARD. 
 
 * The Stolen White Elephant. 
 -The 1,OOO.OOO Bank-Note. 
 
 A Double-barrelled Detective 
 
 Story. With 7 Illustrations. 
 Personal Recollections of Joan of 
 
 Arc. With 12 Illusts. by F. V. Du Mo.ND. 
 More Tramps Abroad. 
 The Man that Corrupted Hadley. 
 
 burg. Wilh Frontispiece. 
 The Choice Works of Mark Twain. 
 
 With Life, Portrait, and Illustrations. 
 
 THOMSON'S SEASONS.and Th 
 
 Castle of Indolence. With 48 Illus 
 trations. Crown Svo, cloth gilt, with 
 Steel Plates. 7s. 6rf. ; post Svo, half-cloth. 2s. \ 
 
 THOREAU : HteT^e~amTAims. 
 
 By A. H. PAGE. With a Portrait. Post 
 Svo, buckram, 31. 6d. 
 
 THORN'S URY(W ALT.) /Booksby \ 
 The Life and Correspondence of j Mark Twain's Sketches. Pott 
 
 J. M. W. Turner. With S Coloured! cloth, gilt top, 2.?. net ; leather, gilt edges.,, 
 
 * 4 * The Books marked * may be had also iq;.' 
 post Svo, picture cloth, at 2s. each. 
 
 Illusts. and 2 Woodcuts. Cr. Svo. cl., . 
 
 Tales for the Marines. Post Svo, 
 illustrated boards 2s. 
 
 *. net: picture boards, 2,s. 
 A Tramp Abroad. CHEAP EDITION*,"" 
 
 !!; il
 
 - 1 l 1 __?IlJ VI _ ARTIN ' S LANE > LONDON, W.C. 
 
 FROLLOPE (ANTHONY), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. each; pos 
 8vo. illustrated boards, 2? each 
 
 The Way We Live Now. ' 
 
 Frau Frohmann. ! Marion Fay 
 
 The Land-Leaguers. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Kept in the Dark. 
 
 The American Senator. 
 
 The Golden Lion of Granpere. 
 
 Mr: Scarborough's Family. Crowi 
 Svo, cloth, 3.?. 6d. 
 
 TROLLOPE (FRANCES EJ~, 
 
 Novels by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3^. 6d. 
 
 each; post Svo, iliu. tinted boards 2s each- 
 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
 Mabel's Progress. | Anno Furness. 
 
 TROLLOPE (T. A.).-Diamoml 
 
 Ct Diamond. Post Svo, illus. bds., 2 
 
 T WELLS tJULIA H.).-Et tu, 
 
 5ejane I Crown Svo cloth 6s 
 
 TYTLER |C. C. ~FRASgRT)~ 
 
 Mistress Judith. Crown Svo, cloth 
 "-. f>d.; post Svo. illustrated boards. 2,c. ' 
 
 31 
 
 VIZETELLY (ERNEST A.), 
 
 Books by. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. each. 
 
 The Scorpion. 
 
 The Lover's Progress. 
 
 With Zola inJSngland. 4 Parts. 
 
 A Path of Thorns. Crown Svo, cloth 6s 
 
 The Wild Marquis: Life and Adven- 
 tures of Arniand Guerry de Maubreuil 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 6s. 
 
 WALLACE (LEW.;. Ben-Hur: 
 
 A Tale of the Christ. Crown Svo 
 cloth. 3.?. 6ii. 
 
 WALLER (S. E.).-Sebastiani's 
 
 jgcrej: With 9 IHusts. Cr. Svo, cLfo 
 
 WALTON and COTTO N^S 
 
 Complete Angler. Pott Svo, cloth 
 gilt. 2s. net : leather, gilt edges, 3$. net. 
 
 TYTLER (SARAH), Novels by. 
 
 Crown Svo. cloth, 3?. 6d. each ; post Svo 
 illustrated boards, 2.?. each. 
 Buried Diamonds. 
 The Blackball Ghosts. 
 What She Came Through. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2t each 
 oaint Mungo's City. I Lady Bell 
 The Huguenot Family. 
 Disappeared. | Noblesse Oblige 
 Beauty and^theJBeast. 
 
 Crown Svo, cioth, 35. 6d. each 
 The Macdonald La'^s. 
 The Witch-Wife. 
 Rachel Langton. I Sapphlra 
 Mrs. Carmichael's Goddesses. 
 A Honeymoon's Eclipse. 
 A Young Dragon. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth. 67. each. 
 Three Men of Mark; 
 In Clarissa's Day. 
 Sir David's Visitors. 
 
 e Poet and His Guardian Angel 
 Citoyenne Jacqueline. Crown Svo 
 picuiit clolh, Hal back, -9 
 
 ^h B i rl . de ' S , PaSS ' P ' st 8v . i! 
 
 l boards, 2i . ; CHEAP EDITION- 
 clotn, i.e. net. 
 
 WALT WHITMAN, Poems by. 
 
 Edited, with Introduction, byW M Ros- 
 SETTI. With Port. Cr. Svo, buckram, 6.?. 
 
 ( Al --EN), Novels by. 
 
 Queen against Owen. Crown 
 i,^. or/. ; picture doth, flat back, 
 
 <n '' P' 1 -' 11 "''-' board 
 
 VANDAM (ALBERT D.). -A 
 
 b??^ Tragedy. With 6 Illustration, 
 -- ^UdLfiX15i_Crmvn ,Svo,ci,,!i,, 3J . ^i. 
 
 VASHTI and ESTHER.~B^ 
 
 ' Wit ot 77/c UV-/:. Cr. Svo, cl.. 35. Orf. 
 
 WARDEN (FLORENCE)Tby7 
 
 Joan, the Curate. Crown Svo, cloth 
 
 3.?. &d. ; picture cic^th, flat back ^s 
 A Fight to a Finish. Cr. 8vo, cl.i 3^. (,d. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each 
 The Heart of a Girl. With 8 IHusts. 
 What Ought She to Do? 
 Tom Bawsoii. 
 
 The Youngest Miss Brown. 
 Love and Lordshipi 
 The Old House at the Corner. 
 My i,ady of Whims. 
 
 WARM AN (CY).-The Express 
 
 Messenger. Crown Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 WASSERMANN (LILLIAS). 
 
 __ The^affod|ls._Crown Svo, cloth, u. 6d. 
 
 WESTALL (WILL.), NovelFbyT 
 
 Trust-Money. Crown Svo, cloth, 3$ t>d 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 6s each 
 The Old Bank. 
 Dr. Wynne's Revenge. 
 The Sacred Crescents. 
 A Yery Queer Business. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth, 3^. 6d each 
 A Woman Tempted Him. 
 For Honour and Life. 
 Her Two Millions. 
 Two Pinches of Snuff. 
 With the Red Eagle. 
 A Red Bridal. | Nigel Fortescue. 
 Ben Clough. | Birch Dene. 
 The Old Factory. 
 Sons of Belial. | Strange Crimes. 
 Her Ladyship's Secret. 
 The Phantom City. 
 Ralph JNorbreck's Trust. 
 
 As Luck would have it. 
 As a Man Sows. 
 
 With the Red "Eagle; POPULAR 
 Ei'ITION medium b'vo, orf.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 WARRANT to Execute Charles 1 
 
 A Facsimile, with the 59 Signatures and 
 Seals. 2s. 
 
 Warrant to Execute Mary Queen 
 pf Scots. Including Queen Elizabeth' 
 Signature and the Great Seal. 2s. 
 
 WEBBER (BYRON). Sport and 
 
 Spangles. Crown 8vo, cloth. 2s. 
 
 WERNER (A.). Chapenga's 
 
 White Man. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3.5. (nl 
 
 WEST BURY (ATHA). The 
 
 Shadow of Hilton Fernbrook. Crown 
 8vo. cloth, 35. f>d. 
 
 WHEELWRIGHT (E. G.). A 
 
 Slow Awakening-. Crown Svo cloth. 6.t 
 
 WHISHAW (FRED.), Novel* 
 
 by. Crown 8vo, cloth, 35. 6d. each. 
 A Forbidden Name. 
 Many W ays of Love. With 8 Illusts 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. each. 
 Mazeppa. 
 
 Near the Tsar, near Death. 
 A Splendid Impostor. 
 
 WHITE (GILBERT). Natural 
 
 History of Selborne, Post 8vo, cloth, is 
 
 WHITNEY (HELEN H.). The 
 
 Bed-time Book. With Illustrations 
 in Three and Two Colours by JESSIE W 
 SMITH. Royal 410, ha'.f-cloth decorated 
 5s. net. 
 
 WILDE (LADY). The Ancient 
 
 Legends, Charms, and Superstitions 
 of Ireland. Crown 8vo. cloth. 35. f>d. 
 
 WILLIAMS (W. MATTIEU), by. 
 Science in Short Chapters. Crown 
 
 8vo. cloth, 7s. bd. 
 The Chemistry of Cookery. Crown 
 
 8vo. cloth, bs. 
 A Simple Treatise on Heat. With 
 
 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 WILLIAMSON (Mrs. F. H.). A 
 
 Child Widow. Post 8vo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 WILLS (C. J.), Novels by. 
 
 An Easy-going Fellow. C.ownSvo, 
 
 cloth, 33. bd. 
 His Dead Past. Crown Rvo. cloth. 6 
 
 WILSON (Dr. ANDREW), by. 
 
 Chapters on Evolution. With 259 
 Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Leisure-Time Studies. With Illustra- 
 tions. Crown Svo, cloth. 6s. 
 
 Studies in Life and Sense. With 36 
 Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth. 3.1. 6d. 
 
 Common Accidents, and how to 
 Treat Them. Cr. Svo, is. ; cloth, is.dd 
 
 Glimpses of Nature. With 35 Illustra 
 tions. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. 6d. 
 
 WINTER (JOHN STRANGE), 
 
 by. 
 Regimental Legends. Post Svo, 
 
 Illustrated boaids, 2*. ; cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 Cavalry Life; and Regimental 
 
 Legends. Crown Svo, cloth, 3*. dd. ; 
 
 picture cloth, flat back. 2s. 
 
 WOMEN OF FLORENCE, dur- 
 ing and prior to the Cinquecento. 
 
 By Prof. ISIDORODEL LUKGO. Translated 
 by M. G. STEEGMANN. With Introduc- 
 tion by Dr. GUIDO BIAGI, and 2 
 Coloured Plates and 24 Half-tones. Large 
 crown 8vo, buckram, 7.5. 6rf. net. 
 
 WOOD (H. F.), Detective Stories 
 
 by. Post 8vo, illustrated boards 2s. each. 
 Passenger from Scotland Yard. 
 The Englishman of the Rue Cain. 
 
 WOOLLEY(CELIA PARKER). 
 
 Rachel Armstrong. Post 8vo, 2s. 6d. 
 
 WRAQQE (CLEMENT L.). 
 The Romance of the South Seas. 
 
 With 84 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 
 7s. bd. net. 
 
 WRIGHT (THOMAS), by. 
 Caricature History of the Georges; 
 
 or. Annals of the House of Hanover. 
 With Frontispiece and over 300 Illustra- 
 tions. Crown Svo, cloth, 3.5. (xt. 
 History of Caricature and of the 
 Grotesque in Art, Literature, 
 Sculpture, and Painting. Illus- 
 trated by F. W. FAIRHOLT. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 ZANGWILL (LOUIS). A Nine- 
 
 teenth Century Miracle. Crown Svo, 
 cloth, 3s. 6d. : picture cloth, flat back, 2s. 
 
 ZOLA (EMILE), Novels by. 
 
 UNIFORM EDITION. Translated or Edited, 
 with Introductions, by ERNEST A. VIZE- 
 TELLY. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 His Masterpiece. | The Joy of Life. 
 
 Germinal. 
 
 The Honour of the Army. 
 
 Abbe Mouret's Transgression. 
 
 The Fortune of the Rougons. 
 
 The Conquest of Plassans. 
 
 The Dram-Shop. 
 
 The Fat and the Thin. ' Money. 
 
 His Excellency. 
 
 The Downfall. 
 
 Lourdes. 
 
 Rome. 
 
 Paris. 
 
 The Dream. 
 Doctor Pascal. 
 Fruitfuiness. 
 Work. 
 Truth. 
 
 POPULAR EDITIONS, medium Svo, 6d. each. 
 The Fortune of the Rougons. 
 The Dram-Shop. Paris. Money. 
 Lourdes. | Rome. The Downfall. 
 
 With Zola in England. By ERNEST 
 A. VIZETELLY. With 4 Portraits. Crown 
 Svo, cloth, 35. 6d. 
 
 BROTHERS, Ltd., Printers, 27, Pilgrim Street, Luigate HiU, London, E.G.
 
 torn/a 

 
 " " ii I I I I II Illl 
 
 A 000 048 798 3