"How many?" wailed de Vinne.

"A hundred and fifty thousand," said Mr. Fred, and the two men stared at one another.

De Vinne licked his dry lips.

"It comes to this," he said. "Between us we've sold him three hundred and thirty thousand shares. There are only two hundred and fifty thousand shares issued, so we've got to deliver eighty thousand shares that are non-existent or be posted as defaulters."

Another long pause, and then both men said simultaneously, as though the thought had struck them for the first time:

"Why, the fellow's a rogue!"

The next morning they called upon Bones, and they were with him for half an hour; and when they went, they left behind them, not only the cheques that Bones had given them, but another cheque for a most substantial amount as consideration.

That night Bones gave a wonderful dinner-party at the most expensive hotel in London. Sanders was there, and Patricia Sanders, and Hamilton, and a certain Vera, whom the bold Bones called by her Christian name, but the prettiest of the girls was she who sat on his right and listened to the delivery of Bones's great speech in fear and trembling.

"The toast of the evening, dear old friends," said Bones, "is Cupidity and Cupid. Coupled with the names of the Honourable de Vinne and my young and lovely typewriter—my friend and companion in storm and stress, the only jolly old lady, if I may be allowed to say so, that has stirred my young heart"—he caught Patricia Sanders's accusing eye, coughed, and added—"in Europe!"



THE END



WARD, LOCK & CO.'S NEW FICTION

High Street

By

Charman Edwards

When one reads this amazing study of Daven Judd, who although he is described as "lover, idealist and sometime fugitive from justice," comes at last to strange and beautiful happiness, it is difficult to believe that an author could have evolved such a book out of his own inventive faculties. One feels rather that Mr. Edwards has dared to reveal the emotions of creatures who are actual flesh and blood; emotions at times strange and terrible, frail and beautiful at others, yet ever tinged with human appeal. Mr. Edwards has never written anything like HIGH STREET before. Readers will be held fascinated to the last page; then, because of that rare and indefinable quality of startling truth which pervades it, they will take it up again.

By the same Author:

Windfellow. Derision Rainbrother

Press Opinion of "Windfellow":

"Mr. Edwards can not only tell a good tale as it should be told, but he has the right gipsy magic, and the great fight which comes towards the end of the story is almost, if not quite, as fine as the epic contest between Lavengro and the Flaming Tinker."—Referee.

* * * * *

The Rat Trap

By

William Le Queux

When Frank Aylmer first meets the Quentins at an Ostend Hotel he is at once attracted to the beautiful Mrs. Quentin, and finds himself involved in adventure as soon as that lady confesses she is not really the wife of Quentin, but only posing as such for some "mysterious" purpose. The unravelling of the threads of mystery surrounding the elusive lady and her supposed husband provides the reader with one of the most engrossing stories that Mr. W. Le Queux ever wrote.

Other Stories by this Author include:

The Marked Man Three Knots A Woman's Debt The Young Archduchess The Sign of the Stranger No. 7 Saville Square The Little Blue Goddess The Lady-in-Waiting As We Forgive Them Scribes and Pharisees The Day of Temptation The Bronze Face An Eye for an Eye Sins of the City Guilty Bonds The Court of Honour The Idol of the Town The Broken Thread If Sinners Entice Thee The Bond of Black In White Raiment The Valrose Mystery The Lure of Love The Scarlet Sign The Mysterious Three The Black Owl No Greater Love The House of Evil The Hotel X

"Mr. Le Queux is the master of mystery. He never fails to produce the correct illusion. He always leaves us panting for more—a brilliant feat."—Daily Graphic.

* * * * *

Nancy Trevanion's Legacy

By

Joseph Hocking

Upon Trevanion's death the old home had to be sold, but Nancy, his only daughter, insisted upon the sale being subject to an option enabling her to buy it back within five years for L10,000. She might have accomplished her end there and then had she been willing to marry the son of her father's one-time stableman, but being a Trevanion of Trevanion Court she was even prouder than she was poor. How she obtained the necessary money, and what surprising adventures befell her before she could achieve her aim, is told in Mr. Joseph Hocking's best vein in this vivid and realistic story.

There are few better story-tellers than Mr. Joseph Hocking, especially when he is dealing with his beloved Cornwall. His stories are thrillingly interesting, and rivet the attention of the reader from beginning to end.

* * * * *

The Firm Hand

By

Harold Bindloss

The Croziers are stubborn North-country yeomen, whose temperament accounts for the misfortunes that follow the house. Isaac, the last of the old parsimonious school, pushed on by his avaricious wife, cheats his brother and seizes the inheritance of his nephew, who is supposititiously killed by accident in the dark. Mark, another nephew, and the girl he marries, stand for a fresh and generous type, but he has inherited the family temperament and feels his business is to solve the puzzle of his brother's death. The background for the story is English moorland and Canadian forest.

Other recent Stories by this Author:

The Mountaineers The League of the Leopard The Man from the Wilds The Allinson Honour The Impostor The Pioneer Musgrave's Luck Hawtrey's Deputy The Head of the House The Keystone Block Dearham's Inheritance The Wilderness Patrol The Trustee The Lute Player Agatha's Fortune A Debt of Honour The Broken Net A Risky Game Askew's Victory Carmen's Messenger The Dust of Conflict Sadie's Conquest A Damaged Reputation Helen the Conqueror Footsteps Sour Grapes

"Mr. Bindloss's novels come as a welcome periodical sedative after a dose of the feverish volubility indulged in by some modern novelists."—The Times.

* * * * *

Captain Lucifer

By

Ben Bolt

Young Sir Harry Plaxton, a blood in the times of the highwaymen, riding to take up his inheritance, had a fancy to enter his house on Christmas Day. How he did so, and what adventures met him by the way, how he came upon a country inn of unsavoury reputation and was scrutinized by a rogue and what followed, how he rescued a maid and fought with a notorious pirate, and how the Golden Peacock was found and afterward lost again—all this makes a book of romance and adventure such as even Mr. Ben Bolt has not given us before.

By the same Author:

The Mystery of Belvoir Mansions The Sword of Fortune

This story reveals the author as a master of the breathless pace which whirls a reader along whether he will or not.

* * * * *

Courage of the Outcast

By

W. H. Slater

How would you feel after escaping from prison upon the morning fixed for your execution? Which would predominate—thankfulness for the escape, or the paralysing terror of recapture? The issue is of necessity dramatic and full of movement, and Mr. Slater has made the utmost of the opportunities inherent in such a vivid opening, and the result is a novel as convincing as it is exciting. The end is that free pardon which our authorities give for a crime that has never been committed. We could not read COURAGE OF THE OUTCAST otherwise. It is all so real.

The Author can write a rattling good yarn, full of excitement and real mystery. Thoroughly brisk in action, the story is told in a virile and spirited manner.

* * * * *

Lights and Shadows

By

Effie Adelaide Rowlands

When the wealthy Miss Martingate died she left her money away from the family and to her servant Hester Slayde. Michael alone of the family showed himself kindly disposed, and Hester's path was by no means one of roses. Then, close upon her good fortune, arrived the letter from Elizabeth Charlbury to the dead woman, asking for help. How the help was not denied her by Hester Slayde, and what gratitude, or ingratitude, was returned for it, and what byways were entered by those chiefly concerned, is told by Miss Rowlands with all her accustomed skill in telling a romance.

Other popular Stories by this Author:

The Rose of Life The Game of Life Carlton's Wife A Dangerous Woman They Laugh that Win The Flame of Love In Love's Land Young Hearts A Girl with a Heart Through Weal and Through Woe Love's Young Dream Out of a Clear Sky Money or Wife? Brave Love Sunset and Dawn The Man from the West The Man she Loved

"Miss Rowlands has the reputation of producing extremely readable wholesome novels."—The Aberdeen Journal.

* * * * *

Castle Perilous

By

Katharine Tynan

Maurice, still suffering from the effects of a serious wound received in the trenches, was completely dominated by his old schoolmistress, who had gone out to nurse him, and the struggle between her fierce maternal hunger to hold him at her side and his desire for freedom from her obsessing influence, makes a story of singular strength and interest, with an unusual climax of dramatic intensity. Side by side with this more sombre theme there runs a beautiful romance, and Miss Katharine Tynan is seen at her best in the drawing of a lovable girl.

Other popular Stories by this Author:

Princess Katharine Dear Lady Bountiful My Love's but a Lassie The Briar Bush Maid The House on the Bogs The Heiress of Wyke Pat the Adventurer The Wild Adventure Miss Phipps The Face in the Picture

"Clean wholesome love stories, free from intrigue and sensationalism, and containing well-drawn characters and good dialogue."

* * * * *

That Fool Peter

By

Ashley Milner

Peter Hawkins, a clerk with ideals, has a youthful escapade with a workgirl named Evie Wills. But remorse dogs him ever afterwards, and when, while he is leading an unhappy married life, he has the sudden opportunity of saving Evie from moral disaster, he rises to the height of his chance and fulfils his ideals. But he is misunderstood by his wife, who sues him for a divorce but fails to bring conclusive evidence. The book ends happily, and throughout its course is a fine picture of a rather humdrum soul seeking—and reaching—the heights of opportunity and spiritual victory.

By the same Author:

And then Comes Love Dawn Breaking Red

"Mr. Milner tells a story well, with a vividness of incident, and he has a nice sense of humour."—Northern Whig.

* * * * *

The Money Barons

By

John Haslette Vahey

Dexter's ranch was wanted by Kelly who had projected a railway through it, but Dexter had reasons for believing Kelly had tried to murder him. A plausible rascal, Page, pressed his services upon Dexter, to expose Kelly, but Page was employed by a greater rascal called Bull, who had a whole staff of gunmen upon his pay roll. From then onwards the story moves as swiftly and unerringly as the most hardened reader could desire, and what Dexter found on his ranch and how he married a maid in the enemy's camp must be left to Mr. Vahey to tell.

By the same Author:

Fiddlestrings Down River Up North The Storm Lady Payment Down

"Well told, with a quietly effective undercurrent of excitement."—The Times.

* * * * *

POPULAR NOVELS

BY

EDGAR WALLACE

PUBLISHED BY

WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED.

In Various Editions

SANDERS OF THE RIVER BONES BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER BONES IN LONDON THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER DOWN UNDER DONOVAN PRIVATE SELBY THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA THE SECRET HOUSE KATE, PLUS TEN LIEUTENANT BONES THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE JACK O' JUDGMENT THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY THE NINE BEARS THE BOOK OF ALL POWER MR. JUSTICE MAXELL THE BOOKS OF BART THE DARK EYES OF LONDON CHICK SANDI, THE KING-MAKER THE THREE OAK MYSTERY THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG BLUE HAND GREY TIMOTHY A DEBT DISCHARGED THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO' THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY THE GREEN RUST THE FOURTH PLAGUE THE RIVER OF STARS

THE END