By
EARL DERR BIGGERS
Author of
Seven Keys to Baldpate
INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1914
The Bobbs-Merrill Company
PRESS OF
BRAUNWORTH & CO.,
BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS
BROOKLYN, N.Y.
CONTENTS
I A Sporting Proposition
II An Evening in the River
III Journeys End in—Taxi Bills
IV Mr. Trimmer Limbers Up
V Mr. Trimmer Throws His Bomb
VI Ten Minutes of Agony
VII Chain Lightning's Collar
VIII After the Trained Seals
IX "Wanted! Board and Room"
X Two Birds of Passage
XI Tears From the Gaiety
XII Exit a Lady, Laughingly
XIII "And On the Ships at Sea"
XIV Jersey City Interferes
XV A Bit of a Blow
XVI Who's Who in England
XVII The Shortest Way Home
XVIII "A Rotten Bad Fit"
XIX Mr. Minot Goes Through Fire
XX "Please Kill"
XXI High Words at High Noon
XXII "Well, Hardly Ever—"
Outside a gilt-lettered door on theseventeenth floor of a New York office building,a tall young man in a fur-lined coat stood shivering.
Why did he shiver in that coat? He shiveredbecause he was fussed, poor chap. Because hewas rattled, from the soles of his custom-madeboots to the apex of his Piccadilly hat. Apainful, palpitating spectacle, he stood.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, thebusiness of the American branch of that famousmarine insurance firm, Lloyds, of London—usuallytermed in magazine articles "The GreatestGambling Institution in the World"—wenton oblivious to the shiverer who approached.
The shiverer, with a nervous movementshifted his walking-stick to his left hand, andlaid his right on the door-knob. Though he isnot at his best, let us take a look at him. Tall, ashas been noted, perfectly garbed after London'staste, mild and blue as to eye, blond as to hair.A handsome, if somewhat weak face. Verydistinguished—even aristocratic—in appearance.Perhaps—the thrill for us democrats here!—ofthe nobility. And at this moment sadly inneed of a generous dose of that courage thatabounds—see any book of familiarquotations—on the playing fields of Eton.
Utterly destitute of the Eton or any otherbrand, he pushed open the door. The click oftwo dozen American typewriters smote upon hishearing. An office boy of the dominant NewYork race demanded in loud indiscreet tones hisbusi