1898


"To you,
Free and ingenious spirits, he doth now
In me, present his service, with his vow
He hath done his best; and, though he cannot glory
In his invention (this work being a story
Of reverend antiquity), he doth hope
In the proportion of it, and the scope,
You may observe some pieces drawn like one
Of a steadfast hand; and with the whiter stone
To be marked in your fair censures. More than this
I am forbid to promise."
Massinger.

CONTENTS.

  1. [In Pursuit Of Pleasure]
  2. [Pleasure In Pursuit]
  3. [A Distinguished Stranger]
  4. [From Bad To Worse]
  5. [An Experiment]
  6. [Two Are Company]
  7. [A Further Predicament]
  8. [Between The Devil And The Deep Sea]
  9. [At Last]
  10. [Damocles Dines Out]
  11. [Denounced]
  12. [An Appeal]
  13. [The Last Straw]
  14. [The Thirteenth Trump]
  15. [The Odd Trick]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

["There," he said triumphantly, "it might have been made for her!"]
["Answer me," he said roughly; "is this some Lark of yours?"]
["Did you want to see me on—on Business, Mum?"]
["What would be done to him?" asked the Hairdresser, with a quite Unpleasant Internal Sensation]
["Keep off! Tell her to drop it, Tweddle!"]
["It is a Miserable Thing," he was thinking, "for a Man ... to have a Female Statue trotting after him like a Great Dorg"]
[She was standing before the Low Chimney-glass, regarding herself intently]
["For 'Arf a Pint I'd knock your Bloomin' 'Ed in!"]
["Why did you not kneel to me before?"]
[She struck a Nameless Fear into Leander's Soul]
[Her Hands were Unsteady with Passion as she tied her Bonnet-strings]
[Leander went down on All Fours on the Hearth-rug]
["Stop where you are!... for Mercy's Sake, don't come in!"]
["Leander!" she cried, ... "I don't believe she can do it!"]
[He threw himself down by her Chair, and drew down the Hands in which she had hidden her Face]