'Oh, I say now, Georgey! The whole truth! the whole blooming truth! That's really what I call humiliating a fellah!'

'If you don't, we arrest you this minute—fourteen years' imprisonment!'

'Fourteen yeahs?' He wiped his forehead. 'Oh, I say. How doosid uncomfortable. I was nevah much good at doing anything by the sweat of my brow. I ought to have lived in the Garden of Eden. Georgey, you're hard on a chap when he's down on his luck. It would be confounded cruel to send me to fourteen yeahs at Portland.'

'You would have sent my husband to it,' I broke in, angrily, confronting him.

'What? You too, Miss Cayley?— I mean Mrs. Tillington. Don't look at me like that. Tigahs aren't in it.'

His jauntiness disarmed us. However wicked he might be, one felt it would be ridiculous to imprison this schoolboy. A sound flogging and a month's deprivation of wine and cigarettes was the obvious punishment designed for him by nature.

'You must go down to the police-court and confess this whole conspiracy,' Lady Georgina went on after a pause, as sternly as she was able. 'I prefer, if we can, to save the family—even you, Bertie. But I can't any longer save the family honour— I can only save Harold's. You must help me to do that; and then, you must give me your solemn promise—in writing—to leave England for ever, and go to live in South Africa.'

He stroked the invisible moustache more nervously than before. That penalty came home to him. 'What, leave England for evah? Newmarket—Ascot—the club—the music-halls!'

'Or fourteen years' imprisonment!'

'Georgey, you spank as hard as evah!'

'Decide at once, or we arrest you!'

He glanced about him feebly. I could see he was longing for his lost confederate. 'Well, I'll go,' he said at last, sobering down; 'and your solicitaw can trot round with me. I'll do all that you wish, though I call it most unfriendly. Hang it all, fourteen yeahs would be so beastly unpleasant!'

We drove forthwith to the proper authorities, who, on hearing the facts, at once arranged to accept Lord Southminster and White as Queen's evidence, neither being the actual forger. We also telegraphed to Paris to have Higginson arrested, Lord Southminster giving us up his assumed name with the utmost cheerfulness, and without one moment's compunction. Mr. Hayes was quite right: each conspirator was only too ready to save himself by betraying his fellows. Then we drove on to Bow Street (Lord Southminster consoling himself with a cigarette on the way), just in time for Harold's case, which was to be taken, by special arrangement, at 3.30.

A very few minutes sufficed to turn the tables completely on the conspirators. Harold was discharged, and a warrant was issued for the arrest of Higginson, the actual forger. He had drawn up the false will and signed it with Mr. Ashurst's name, after which he had presented it for Lord Southminster's approval. The pea-green young man told his tale with engaging frankness. 'Bertie's a simple Simon,' Lady Georgina commented to me; 'but he's also a rogue; and Higginson saw his way to make excellent capital of him in both capacities—first use him as a catspaw, and then blackmail him.'



On the steps of the police-court, as we emerged triumphant, Lord Southminster met us—still radiant as ever. He seemed wholly unaware of the depths of his iniquity: a fresh dose of brandy had restored his composure. 'Look heah,' he said, 'Harold, your wife has bested me! Jolly good thing for you that you managed to get hold of such a clevah woman! If you hadn't, deah boy, you'd have found yourself in Queeah Street! But, I say, Lois— I call yah Lois because you're my cousin now, yah know—you were backing the wrong man aftah all, as I told yah. For if you'd backed me, all this wouldn't have come out; you'd have got the tin and been a countess as well, aftah the governah's dead and gone, don't yah see. You'd have landed the double event. So you'd have pulled off a bettah thing for yourself in the end, as I said, if you'd laid your bottom dollah on me for winnah!'

Higginson is now doing fourteen years at Portland; Harold and I are happy in the sweetest place in Gloucestershire; and Lord Southminster, blissfully unaware of the contempt with which the rest of the world regards him, is shooting big game among his 'boys' in South Africa. Indeed, he bears so little malice that he sent us a present of a trophy of horns for our hall last winter.

THE END



THE WINCHESTER EDITION OF THE NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN

10 Vols. Demy 8vo, Cloth, 5s. net each Vol.

The perfection of the edition rests entirely on the efforts of printer, paper-maker, and binder, Messrs. T. and A. CONSTABLE of Edinburgh being responsible for the typography, while Mr. LAURENCE HOUSMAN has designed the cover.

* * * * *

SPECTATOR.—'The Winchester Edition has special claims to gratitude through the delightful quality of its print and paper. The print is of a generous design, and very black and clear, and the paper, while untransparent, not so heavy but that the book can be held comfortably in one hand. Altogether this promises to be one of the most delightful reprints ever given to the public.'

ATHENAEUM.—'An exceedingly handsome edition.... This is decidedly a cheap edition as well as an ornamental one.'

WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.—'Mr. Grant Richards is to be congratulated on the charming edition of Miss Austen's Novels, which starts with Sense and Sensibility in two volumes. Print, paper, and binding (green and gold, with a charming design) are all that the most fastidious could desire. An edition of this kind is really wanted, and comes at a moment when there is a natural inclination to turn back to the pages of this delightful writer. The younger generation is supposed not to read Miss Austen, which, if true, is hardly creditable to its education and good taste. But latterly there have been signs of a re-discovery, which will be stimulated by the issue of these beautiful volumes.'



'Most useful companions to the traveller.'—PUNCH.

* * * * *

GRANT ALLEN'S HISTORICAL GUIDES

Fcap. 8vo (Pocket Size), Limp Cloth, Round Corners, 3s. 6d. net each

VOLUMES NOW READY.

PARIS. CITIES OF BELGIUM (Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp). VENICE. FLORENCE.

VOLUMES IN PREPARATION.

MUNICH. CITIES OF NORTH ITALY (Milan, Verona, Padua, Bologna, Ravenna). DRESDEN (with Nuremberg, etc). ROME, Pagan and Christian. CITIES OF NORTHERN FRANCE (Rouen, Amiens, Blois, Tours, Orleans).

* * * * *

Some Opinions of the Press.

THE TIMES.—'Such good work in the way of showing students the right manner of approaching the history of a great city.... The execution of the little volumes is, on the whole, admirable.... These useful little volumes.'

THE GUARDIAN.—From the point of view of really intelligent sight-seeing, the two little volumes that have already appeared are better than anything that we yet have; and if the holiday-maker will only take them with him to Paris or Florence, he will probably feel that he has learnt more of the real city than in all his former visits.

THE SPECTATOR.—'A visitor to Florence could hardly, we imagine, do better than provide himself with this volume. A great amount of matter—and good matter, too—is compressed into a small space, for the book is light, and such as can go into a pocket of moderate capacity. Mr. Grant Allen not only guides his reader's judgment, but disposes of his time for him; he must not only not do much at once, but must arrange his sight-seeing in an economical and intelligent way.'

MORNING POST.—'That much-abused class of people, the tourists, have often been taunted with their ignorance and want of culture, and the perfunctory manner in which they hurry through and "do" the art galleries of Europe. There is a large amount of truth, no doubt, in the charge, but they might very well retort on their critics that no one had come forward to meet their wants, or to assist in dispelling their ignorance. No doubt there are guide-books, very excellent ones in their way, but on all matters of art very little better than mere indices; something fuller was required to enable the average man intelligently to appreciate the treasures submitted to his views. Mr. Grant Allen has undertaken to meet their wants, and offers these handbooks to the public at a price which ought to be within the reach of every one who can afford to travel at all. The idea is a good one, and should ensure the success which Mr. Allen deserves.'

GRANT RICHARDS, 9 HENRIETTA ST., COVENT GARDEN, W.C.

THE END