Edgar Wallace

“ The girl was laughing softly. "Oh, you heart-breaker!" she mocked.
"But—but I'm not," said the indignant Chick. "I've never broken anybody's heart in my life!"
She was laughing aloud now and rose suddenly. "It is cold. Chick," she said. "Let us go back to the menagerie."
They did not go back to Acacia Lodge immediately, and when they did return they met Mrs. Shipmet in the hall, and she favoured them with a smile, the cordiality of which was so adjusted that Chick should not feel reproved or the girl encouraged. ”

“ She was pretty and slight, and Acacia Lodge had voted her "vivacious " in the days when the sensational advent of a real actress had set all the boarders the agreeable task of analysing her charm. Her popularity had not been maintained at the high level it reached during the first week following her arrival. The men she had subsequently snubbed—and with good cause—decided that she suffered from swelled head. The girls she had momentarily eclipsed set their lips tightly together and looked at one another significantly when her name cropped up in conversation. For Gwenda wore a wedding ring ”

“ Leither, flicking the ash of his cigarette on to his waistcoat.
But Chick fingered.
"Mr. Leither, do you know Solburg, the theatrical person?" he asked.
Mr. Leither frowned.
"Yes, I know him," he said, "but he's not a good life, Beane. He has heart trouble."
"I'm not thinking about him from an insurance point of view," said Chick. "The fact is, Mr. Leither, I'm interested in a young lady who is an actress." ”

“ I can only smile and hang on for something else. He is too powerful a man to sue. I should be barred by almost every management."
Chick was stunned. He had guessed the tragedy in the air when he had seen her face on the Saturday night. And this news was a tremendous blow to him. She was the first woman he had ever met on terms of equality—the first girl who had not giggled at him or been rude to him—his first and his greatest comrade, and she was going out of his fife.
Suddenly a brilliant thought struck him.
"Mrs.—Gwenda," he said excitedly, "three weeks is only seven pounds ten! ”

“ Went down to Parliament last month, didn't he?"
"I believe he did," said "Chick" Beane. "I didn't see him."
"Asked to be made a lord! If that ain't madness, what is it?"
"It may be measles," said Chick gravely. "The doctor had an attack last year."
"Measles!" The contempt of Jonas was always made visible as well as audible. "We don't like your uncle's going on; it's bringin' the village down! If a man's a lord, he's born so. If he ain't, he ain't. It's the same with these airyplanes. Was we intended to fly? Was we born with wings? ”

“ Suppose them crows over there started to chew terbaccer like a human bein', wouldn't the law stop it?"
"But chewing tobacco isn't human, Mr. Stollingham—it's nasty! Good morning!"
He left the station-master gazing after him with a baneful stare. ”

“ It was in the "senctum " that the boarders paid their just debts, a ceremony which was enveloped in an atmosphere of mystery, largely due to the child-like credulity of Mrs. Shipmet's paying guests, all of whom cherished the illusion that they had been received on terms which, in comparison with their fellow-boarders, were ruinously favourable. ”

“ Supported by large pillows, the slips of which had not been changed for a week, lay a man of sixty-five—a grim, square-jawed, unshaven man, who, with a stiff cardboard pad on his doubled-up knees, was writing as Chick appeared. ”

“ They both married the Marquis of Beane."
Ten minutes later he was on his way to Pelborough Halt, ejected with a fury and originality of expletive that had jerked him wide-awake. A providential ejection as it proved, for the railway times had been altered, and Chick had to sprint, or he would have lost the only down train of the day.
Jonas thrust him into a third-class carriage with unnecessary violence.
"You ain't stayed long?" he said inquiringly. "Ain't your uncle bright enough to see you?"
"Oh, yes, Mr. Stollingham," said Chick, as the train began to move; "he's very bright—very!" ”

“ Leither went on:
"If you want to meet him, I'll give you a letter of introduction. You might give him particulars of the Short Policy system—we might get him in under Schedule D."
Chick did not tell the girl of his interview with the "theatrical person." It had been a surprisingly pleasant experience. Mr. Solburg was a man of the world, too, a smiling Hebrew gentleman with a heart which he admitted was as big as his body, and a sense of humour. He had been frankness itself. Mrs. Maynard was a fine actress, but the influence which Lord Chenney had exercised was oblique. Mr. ”

“ CHICK
By EDGAR WALLACE
"Author of "Sanders of the River," "The People of the River," "Bones," "The Keepers of the King's Peace," etc."
MR. JONAS STOLLINGHAM was station-master, head porter, local switchman, ticket-collector, and dispatch clerk at Pelborough Halt. He was also Chief of the Information Bureau. He was an aged man, who chewed tobacco and regarded all innovation as a direct challenge to Providence. For this reason he spoke of aeroplanes, incubators, mechanical creamers, motor-cars, and vaccination with a deep growling "Ah!" ”