PART I.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
PART II.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
By the same Author.
Belford, Clarke & Co's New Books
"I wish you a happy New Year, sir."
It was the servant, green of livery, the yellow waistcoat slashed withblack, bearing the coffee and fruit.
"Put it there, please," Roland answered. And then, in recognition of thesalutation, he added, "Thanks: the same to you."
"H'm," he mused, as the man withdrew, "I ought to have tipped him, Isuppose."
He leaned from the bed, poured some milk into a cup, and for a secondnibbled at a slice of iced orange. Through the transom came a faint odorof home-made bread, and with it the rustle of a gown and a girl's clearlaugh. The room itself was small. It was furnished in a fashion whichwas unsuggestive of an hotel, and yet did not resemble that of aprivate house. The curtain had been already drawn. Beyond was a lake,very blue in the sunlight, bulwarked by undulant hills. Below, on theroad, a dogcart fronted by a groom was awaiting somebody's pleasure.
"It is late," he reflected, and raised a napkin to his lips. As he didso he noticed a package of letters which the napkin must have concealed.He took up the topmost and eyed it. It had been addressed to theAthenæum Club, Fifth Avenue; but the original direction was erased, andTuxedo Park inserted in its stead. On the upper left-hand corner theimpress of a firm of tailors shone in blue. Opposite was the engravingof a young woman supported by 2-1/2d. He put it down again and glancedat the others. The superscriptions were characterless enough; each borea foreign stamp, and to one as practised as was he, each bore the tokenof the dun.
"If they keep on bothering me like this," he muttered, "I shallcertainly place the matter in the hands of my attorney." And thereat,with the air of a man who had said something insultingly original, helaughed aloud, swallowed some coffee, and dashed his head in the pillow.In and out of the corners of his mouth a smile still played; butpresently his fancy must have veered, for the muscles of his lipscompressed, and as he lay there, the arms clasped behind the head, thepink silk of his sleeves framing and tinting