Collins’ 7d. net Modern Fiction

(In Great Britain Only)

WITH FRONTISPIECE AND DESIGNED TITLE PAGE

EACH VOLUME HAS AN ATTRACTIVE COLOURED WRAPPER

1The Great RefusalMaxwell Gray
3The Brown Eyes of MaryMadame Albanesi
4The Golden ButterflyBesant and Rice
6A Weaver of WebsJohn Oxenham
7Saints in SocietyMrs. Baillie-Saunders
8The Wreck of the GrosvenorW. Clark Russell
9Comin’ Thro’ the RyeHelen Mathers
10The DeemsterHall Caine
11The Happy ValleyB. M. Croker
13New Arabian NightsR. L. Stevenson
15American Wives and English HusbandsGertrude Atherton
18The Tempestuous PetticoatRobert Barr
19A Ward of the Golden GateBret Harte
21Under the Greenwood TreeThomas Hardy
23The Firm of GirdlestoneA. Conan Doyle
25The School for SaintsJohn Oliver Hobbes
26Ready-Money MortiboyBesant and Rice
27Nature’s ComedianW. E. Norris
28The Luck of the FairfaxesKatherine Tynan
29ComethupTom Gallon
30A Sack of ShakingsFrank T. Bullen
31Red SpiderS. Baring-Gould
32Pretty Polly PenningtonMadame Albanesi
33GenevraC. Marriott
35The Locum TenensVictor L. Whitechurch
36A Princess of ThuleWilliam Black
37DaireenF. Frankfort Moore
39A Waif of the PlainsBret Harte
40TerenceB. M. Croker
41The Strange Adventures of a PhaetonWilliam Black
42BrendleMarmaduke Pickthall
43EveS. Baring-Gould
44How to be Happy though MarriedRev. E. J. Hardy
45Macleod of DareWilliam Black
46Loaves and FishesBernard Capes
47My Little GirlBesant and Rice
48The Light of ScartheyEgerton Castle
49The Amazing DukeSir Wm. Magnay, Bart.
50Diana Harrington.B. M. Croker
51Sister AnneMadame Albanesi
52A Gentleman of LondonMorice Gerard
53An English Girl in ParisConstance E. Maud
54Despair’s Last JourneyD. C. Murray
55Running WaterA. E. W. Mason
56John Holdsworth—Chief MateW. Clark Russell
57The Ivory GateSir Walter Besant
58The Tempting of Paul ChesterAlice and Claude Askew
59A Royal IndiscretionRichard Marsh
60The Cattle-Baron’s DaughterHarold Bindloss
61A Breach of PromiseLady Troubridge
62Harum ScarumEsme Stuart
63The Journal of a Jealous WomanPercy White
64The FowlerBeatrice Harraden
65Count BunkerJ. Storer Clouston
66Robert OrangeJohn Oliver Hobbes
67The Parish NurseMary E. Mann
68Eve and the LawAlice and Claude Askew
69The Path of a StarMrs Everard Cotes
(Sara Jeannette Duncan)
70The Shadow of a CrimeHall Caine
71George V., Our Sailor KingRobert Hudson
72My French FriendsConstance E. Maud
73Pretty Miss NevilleB. M. Croker
74Sicilian LoversDouglas Sladen
75Christine of the HillsMax Pemberton
76Grand Babylon HotelArnold Bennett
77A Prince of LoversSir Wm. Magnay, Bart.
78The Whip HandKeble Howard
79The Suspicions of ErmengardeMaxwell Gray
80The ColumnCharles Marriott
81CynthiaLeonard Merrick
82Jennifer PontefracteAlice and Claude Askew
83Molly BawnMrs Hungerford
84A Sower of WheatHarold Bindloss
852835 MayfairFrank Richardson
86Two Little Wooden ShoesOuida
87A Bride from the BushErnest W. Hornung

Further Volumes in Preparation

London and Glasgow: Collins’ Clear-Type Press.


CHAPTER I
IN PARK LANE

BREAKFAST was laid for two in the smallest room—a jewel of a room—of perhaps the largest house in Park Lane. It was already half-past ten, but as yet there was only one occupant of the room, an elderly lady of striking appearance. Her face, a long oval face, was wrinkled and crow-footed in a thousand lines; her capacious forehead was contracted as if with thought; her white eyebrows were thick and firmly drawn; her deep-set eyes were curiously keen and bright; her features were strongly marked,—it was a handsome face which could never, even in early girlhood, have been a pretty face; her abundant hair was of a rich creamy white, the kind of white which in age compensates its owner for the years of her youth when it was inclined to redness; her mouth was full, the lower lip slightly projecting, as is often found with those who speak much and in large rooms; her fingers were restless; her figure was withered by time. When she laid aside the paper she had been reading, and walked across the room to the open window, you might have noticed how frail and thin she seemed, yet how firmly she walked and stood.