  Summer and autumn came and went. The season died lingeringly and suffered its slow resurrection. Grouse and partridges, autumn scares and vacation speeches, the yield of the crops and the beginning of the session each had their turn of public favour, and the great Neston sensation died away, galvanised now and again into a fitful spasm of life by Mr. Espion’s persevering battery. His efforts were in vain. All the cats were out of all the bags, and the interest of the public was satiated. The actors in the drama, returning to town, as most of them did in the winter, found themselves restored to obscurity; their story, once so eagerly dished All at once, there was a revival. A rumour, a piquant rumour, began to be whispered at the clubs. Men again looked at Gerald Neston, wondering if he had heard it, and at George, asking how he would take it. Mr. Blodwell had to protest ignorance twenty times a day, and Sidmouth Vane intrenched himself in the safe seclusion of his official apartment. If it were true, it was magnificent. Who knew? Mr. Pocklington heard the rumour, but, communing with his own heart, held his tongue. He would not disturb the peace that seemed again to have settled on his house. Laura, having asserted her independence, had allowed the subject to drop; she had been bright, cheerful, and docile, had seen sights, and gone to entertainments, and made herself agreeable; and Mrs. Pocklington hoped, against a secret conviction, that the rebellion was not only sleeping but dead. She could not banish herself from London; But certain other people had no idea of leaving the matter to the slow and uncertain hand of time. There was a plot afoot. George was in it, and Sidmouth Vane, and Mr. Blodwell; so was the Marquis, and another, whose present name it would ruin our deep mystery to disclose—if it be guessed, there is no help for it. And just when Laura was growing sad, and a little hurt and angry at hearing nothing from George, she chanced to have a conversation with Sidmouth Vane, and emerged therefrom, laughing, blushing, and riotously happy, though the only visible outcome of the talk was an invitation for her mother and herself to join in the mild entertainment of afternoon tea at Vane’s rooms the next day. Now, Sidmouth Vane was very deceitful; he, so to say, appropriated to his own use and credit Laura’s blushes and Laura’s laughter, and, when the Vane received his guests, Mr. Blodwell supporting him. Mrs. Pocklington and her daughter were the first arrivals, and Vane apologised for the lateness of the others. “Lord Mapledurham is coming,” he said, “and he’s been very busy lately.” “I thought he was out of town,” said Mrs. Pocklington. “He only came back yesterday.” The door opened, and Vane’s servant announced with much pomp, “The Marquis and Marchioness of Mapledurham.” The Marquis advanced straight to Mrs. Pocklington; then he took Neaera’s hand, and said, “You have always been good to me, Mrs. Pocklington. I hope you’ll be as good to my wife.” It was hushed up as far as possible, but still it leaked out that, on this sole Neaera stood looking on, half proud, half frightened, till Laura ran to her and kissed her, and called her the best friend she had, with much other emotional language. Then Mrs. Pocklington came round, and took a cup of tea, and, still unconsciously doing just as she was meant to do, drifted into the balcony with the Marquis, and had a long conversation with him. When she came back, she found Vane ordering a fresh pot of tea. “But we must really be going,” she said. “Mustn’t we, Laura?” And as she spoke she took her daughter’s hand and patted it. “Do you expect any one else, Vane?” asked Mr. Blodwell. “Well, I did, but he’s very late.” “Where can he have got to?” asked Neaera, smiling. “Oh, I know where he is,” said Vane. “He’s—he’s only in the next room.” Everybody looked at Mrs. Pocklington and smiled. She looked at them all, and last at her daughter. Laura was smiling too, but her eyes were eager and imploring. “If he wants any tea, he had better come in,” said Mrs. Pocklington. So the pair of shoes wrought out their work, giving society yet another sensation, making Neaera Witt a great lady, and Laura Pocklington a happy woman, and confirming all Mrs. Bort’s darkest views on the immorality of the aristocracy. And the Marquis and George Neston put their heads together, and caused to be fashioned two dainty little shoes in gold and diamonds, and gave them to their wives, as a sign and remembrance of the ways of destiny. And Neaera wears the shoe, and will talk to you quite freely about Peckton Gaol. The whole affair, however, shocked Lord Tottlebury very deeply, and Gerald Neston is still a bachelor. Whether this fate be a reward for the merits he displayed, or a WARD, LOCK AND CO., LTD.,
Ward, Lock & Co.’s A. E. W. MASON LAWRENCE CLAVERING. 6s. STANLEY WEYMAN MY LADY ROTHA. 6s. A Romance of the Thirty Years’ War. The Saturday Review.—“No one who begins will lay it down before the end, it is so extremely well carried on from adventure to adventure.” SIR A. CONAN DOYLE A STUDY IN SCARLET. 3s. 6d. With a note on Sherlock Holmes by Dr. Joseph Bell. Illustrations by George Hutchinson. ANTHONY HOPE COMEDIES OF COURTSHIP. 3s. 6d. The Speaker.—“In this volume Mr. Hope is at his happiest in that particular department of fiction in which he reigns supreme.” HALF A HERO. 3s. 6d. The AthenÆum.—“Mr. Hope’s best story in point of construction and grasp of subject. His dialogue is virile and brisk.” MR. WITT’S WIDOW. 3s. 6d. The Times.—“In truth a brilliant tale.” EDEN PHILLPOTTS THE MOTHER. 6s. The Daily Telegraph.—“This is Mr. Phillpotts’ best book. Whatever may be the value of some fiction, it will do every man and woman good to read this book. Its perusal should leave the reader in a higher air.” H. RIDER HAGGARD AYESHA. 6s. The Sequel to “She.” Thirty-two full-page illustrations by Maurice Greiffenhagen. S. R. CROCKETT JOAN OF THE SWORD HAND. 6s. The Daily Mail.—“A triumph of cheery, resolute narration. The story goes along like a wave, and the reader with it.” STRONG MAC. 6s. The Morning Post.—“At the very outset the reader is introduced to the two leading characters of what is truly a drama of real life. So vividly is the story told that it often reads like a narrative of things that have actually happened.” LITTLE ESSON. 6s. The Scarborough Post.—“One of the most popular of Mr. Crockett’s books since ‘Lilac Sunbonnet.’” MAX PEMBERTON PRO PATRIA. 6s. The Liverpool Mercury.—“A fine and distinguished piece of imaginative writing; one that should shed a new lustre upon the clever author of ‘Kronstadt.’” CHRISTINE OF THE HILLS. 6s. The Daily Mail.—“Assuredly he has never written anything more fresh, more simple, more alluring, or more artistically perfect.” A GENTLEMAN’S GENTLEMAN. 6s. The Daily Chronicle.—“This is very much the best book Mr. Pemberton has so far given us.” THE GOLD WOLF. 6s. Illustrated London News.—“From the beginning Mr. Pemberton weaves his romance with such skill that the tangled skein remains for long unravelled ... marked by exceptional power, and holds the attention firmly.” THE LODESTAR. 6s. The Standard.—“It impresses us as an exceedingly poignant and effective story, true to real life. Written with cleverness and charm.” WHITE WALLS. 6s. A picturesque and powerful romance of a phase of life in that modern Hungary of which Mr. Pemberton and the Baroness Orczy are the only latter-day chroniclers. “White Walls” is a narrative of breathless interest; the story goes with a splendid swing to its romantic end. ROBERT BARR YOUNG LORD STRANLEIGH. 6s. The World.—“Mr. Barr gives us a remarkable sample of his power of blending so deftly the bold imaginative with the matter-of-fact as to produce a story which shall be at once impossible and convincing. That a feat of this kind, cleverly accomplished, is attractive to most novel readers goes without saying, and his latest work is certain to please.” FRED M. WHITE THE CRIMSON BLIND. 6s. The Sheffield Telegraph.—“‘The Crimson Blind’ is one of the most ingeniously conceived ‘detective’ stories we have come across for a long time. Each chapter holds some new and separate excitement.” THE CARDINAL MOTH. 6s. The British Weekly.—“A brilliant orchid story full of imaginative power. This is a masterpiece of construction, convincing amid its unlikeliness, one of the best novels of the season.” THE CORNER HOUSE. 6s. The Western Morning News.—“The book is crammed with sensation and mystery, situation piled on situation until one is almost bewildered. It is an excellent romance which will be eagerly read.” THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN. 6s. The Dublin Daily Express.—“Mr. F.M. White is one of the princes of fiction. A stirring tale full of the spice of adventure, breathless in interest, skilful in narrative.” THE SLAVE OF SILENCE. 6s. The Sheffield Telegraph.—“Attention is arrested at the outset, and so adroitly is the mystery handled that readers will not skip a single page.” A FATAL DOSE. 6s. The Standard.—“This novel will rank amongst the brightest that Mr. White has given us.” CRAVEN FORTUNE. 6s. Daily Telegraph.—“A tale of extraordinary complexity, ingeniously conceived, and worked out to a conventionally happy conclusion, through a series of strange and thrilling situations, which command and hold the reader’s attention to the end.” THE LAW OF THE LAND. 6s. Daily Telegraph.—“Mr. White’s new novel may be strongly recommended. It contains enough surprises to whip the interest at every turn.” A CRIME ON CANVAS. 6s. The Scotsman.—“The unravelling of the many tangled skeins is a process that firmly holds the attention of the reader.” NETTA. 6s. Dundee Advertiser.—“The author is an absolute master of sensation, and tells his powerful tale in a way which grips the reader at once, and carries him on from chapter to chapter with ever-increasing interest.” THE SCALES OF JUSTICE. 6s. The story is rich in sensational incident and dramatic situations. It is seldom, indeed, that one meets with a novel of such power and fascination. L. G. MOBERLY IN THE BALANCE. The Ladies’ Field.—“Miss Moberly increases her literary reputation with each novel that she writes, and her new book is the best constructed in plot as well as one of the most interesting of all her homely stories.” JOY. Daily Telegraph.—“Miss L.G. Moberly has a remarkable talent for making a simple story, thoroughly interesting and satisfying. It needs much skill and a good deal of charm in writing to achieve this, and her latest novel is a fine example of her power.” THAT PREPOSTEROUS WILL. The Daily Graphic.—“We could wish that every novel were as pleasant, unsophisticated and readable as this one.” HOPE, MY WIFE. The Gentlewoman.—“Miss Moberly interests us so much in heroine, and in her hero, that we follow the two with pleasure through adventures of the most improbable order.” DIANA. The Scotsman.—“So cleverly handled as to keep its interest always lively and stimulating; and the book cannot fail to be enjoyed.” DAN—AND ANOTHER. The Daily News.—“Must be considered one of the best pieces of work that Miss Moberly has yet produced.” A TANGLED WEB. The Daily Mail.—“A ‘tangled web,’ indeed, is this story, and the author’s ingenuity and intrepidity in developing and working out the mystery calls for recognition at the outset.” ANGELA’S MARRIAGE. Irish Independent.—“That Miss Moberly has a delightful and graceful style is not only evident from a perusal of some of her former works, but from the fascinatingly told story now under review.” THE SIN OF ALISON DERING. The Financial Times.—“The plot of this story is cleverly conceived and well carried out. Miss Moberly writes with great charm and skill, and the reader is not likely to put down the book until the tangle is finally cleared up. As a character-study, the figure of Alison Dering is drawn with considerable insight.” A VERY DOUBTFUL EXPERIMENT. Irish Independent.—“Miss Moberly’s former works have well established her ability to write fascinating fiction and create interest in her actors, but we doubt if she has ever introduced a character whose career would be followed with more absorbing interest than that of Rachael Boyd.” A WOMAN AGAINST THE WORLD. The Scotsman.—“The whole tale is a powerful and enthralling one, and cannot fail to enhance the growing reputation of the authoress.” Transcriber’s Note The following corrections have been made, on page Otherwise the original has been preserved, including the use of archaic words and inconsistent hyphenation. |
|
