Edgar Wallace

“ Do you mind, Gwenda?"
She shook her head.
Into the library came a smartly-dressed man with a keen, intellectual face and a pair of good-humoured eyes. He bowed to the girl, then, his golden teeth showing in an expansive smile, he advanced upon Chick with an open hand.
"Lord Pelborough?"
"That is my name," said Chick. "Won't you sit down, sir?"
"A delightful place," said Mr. Flower ecstatically. "The most beautiful country I have been in. The air is invigorating, the attitude of the natives deferential and even feudalistic. ”

“ Jagg Flower had completely recovered from the shock by the next morning. He was a shrewd student of men and women, and he realised that any hope he had of making easy money was centred in the girl. His inquiries as to the nature of her relationship with Chick had not produced very illuminating results, but he felt sure that the appeal must be made to her, if it was to succeed at all, and when he came to Kenberry House the next morning and found the girl and Chick in the library, he made no suggestion that his communication was for Chick's private ear. ”

“ Flower.
"So really he is the Marquis," he said.
"And you are Mr. Beane," said Flower courteously.
So far his startling news had not produced the agitation which he had expected.
"And now," he said, "I really must talk to you alone."
Chick nodded, and when the girl rose and left the room, Mr. Flower followed her, closing the door behind her.
"I am a business man, Lord Pelborough," he said, "for I will call you by that title, and you are a business man. There's nobody else in the world, except my poor friend Josephus Beane, who knows your secret."
"My secret?" said Chick, looking up. ”

“ Her instinct told her that the communication was more than ordinarily important to Chick's welfare.
"I don't think I shall be shocked, Mr. Flower," she said quietly, "but if I am I can easily go."
Jagg Flower was puzzled. He could not define the relationship between the two, knowing that the Marquis of Pelborough was not married.
"Very well, then," he said, after a moment's deliberation, "I will tell you."
He laid his hat on the floor and took off his gloves. "I am an adventurer of the world," he began. ”

“ Kenberry House, which at one time ranked with the stately homes of England, has been acquired by the Marquis of Pelborough, with whose romantic career our readers are familiar. A year ago the Marquis was an insurance clerk in a City office. His uncle. Dr. Josephus Beane, of Pelborough, laid claim to the peerage, which had been extinct since 1714, his claim being admitted and the title revived in his favour. It was a melancholy coincidence that the doctor died on the very day he received a notification that the peerage had been revived in his favour. ”

“ The only bright spot in the situation was that, the run of her play having ended, Gwenda was free to spend a fortnight as his guest.
"But only a fortnight, Chick. I can't and won't live on your charity."
"It will be dreadful when you are gone, Gwenda," he said plaintively. "Every day something new is turning up. I had a letter from uncle's lawyers this morning, asking me for some leases he signed. He owned a tiny piece of land outside Pelborough, and there's a law case pending about the present rights of the tenant." ”

“ You are little more than a boy—I know you're older than I am, but girls are ever so much older than men of their age—and you have a big future. You must marry in your own class, Chick."
He made a protesting noise.
"I know it sounds hard and horrid and noveletty, but really behind these class marriages there is unanswerable logic. If I married you, what would the world say of me? That I had taken you in hand from the moment you inherited your title and had kept you so close to me that you never had a chance of meeting a nice girl. I don't care very much what they think of me ”

“ It opened thus:
"Il y avait une fois vingt-cinq soldats de plomb; ils étaient tous frères; car c'est de la même vieille cuiller de plomb qu'i'ls étaient issus; c'est avec ce vieux métal qu'on les avait tous fondus."
"This," said Jagg Flower, as he flung the improving book from one end of the cell to the other, "is what makes prison life in France so immensely unpopular with the educated classes." ”

“ Her face was white. The eyes that avoided his were bright with tears. Suddenly she turned and walked quickly from the room. He thought she had gone up to her room, but he was mistaken. She made straight for the library. He came in, and found her sitting at the table in the place where she had been when Mr. Flower had interrupted their search.
"If there are any documents relating to the doctor's marriage, they will be here," she said.
"Do you think that fellow lied?" asked Chick. ”

“ Because Jagg was on the point of release, that official, who had a kindly feeling for the long-faced bank robber, sent him one evening a bundle of English and American newspapers.
"But this," said Jagg, as he opened the Paris edition of The New York Herald, "is both human and luxurious. ”