30 chapters
6 hour read
Selected Chapters
30 chapters
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
With a somewhat prolonged grinding of the brakes and an unnecessary amount of fuss in the way of letting off steam, the afternoon train from London came to a standstill in the station at Detton Magna. An elderly porter, putting on his coat as he came, issued, with the dogged aid of one bound by custom to perform a hopeless mission, from the small, redbrick lamp room. The station master, occupying a position of vantage in front of the shed which enclosed the booking office, looked up and down the
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
The railway station at Detton Magna presented, if possible, an even more dreary appearance than earlier in the day, as the time drew near that night for the departure of the last train northwards. Its long strip of flinty platform was utterly deserted. Around the three flickering gas-lamps the drizzling rain fell continuously. The weary porter came yawning out of his lamp room into the booking office, where the station master sat alone, his chair turned away from the open wicket window to the sm
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
The sun was shining into his bedroom when Philip Romilly was awakened the next morning by a discreet tapping at the door. He sat up in bed and shouted "Come in." He had no occasion to hesitate for a moment. He knew perfectly well where he was, he remembered exactly everything that had happened. The knocking at the door was disquieting but he faced it without a tremor. The floor waiter appeared and bowed deferentially. "There is a gentleman on the telephone wishes to speak to you, sir," he announ
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Mr. Raymond Greene, very soon after the bugle had sounded for dinner that evening, took his place at the head of one of the small tables in the saloon and wished every one good evening. It was perfectly apparent that he meant to enjoy the trip, that he was prepared to like his fellow passengers and that he wished them to know it. Even the somewhat melancholy-looking steward, who had been waiting for his arrival, cheered up at the sight of his beaming face, and the other four occupants of the tab
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Philip Romilly found himself alone at last with the things which he had craved—darkness, solitude, the rushing of the salt wind, the sense of open spaces. On the other, the sheltered side of the steamer, long lines of passengers were stretched in wicker chairs, smoking and drinking their coffee, but where he was no one came save an occasional promenader. Yet even here was a disappointment. He had come for peace, for a brief escape from the thrall of memories which during the last few hours had b
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
All the physical exhilaration of his unlived youth seemed to be dancing in Philip Romilly's veins when he awoke the next morning to find an open porthole, the blue sea tossing away to infinity, and his steward's cheerful face at his bedside. "Bathroom steward says if you are ready, sir, he can arrange for your bath now," the man announced. Philip sprang out of bed and reached for his Bond Street dressing-gown. "I'll bring you a cup of tea when you get back, sir," the steward continued. "The bath
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
Philip Romilly was accosted, late that afternoon, by two young women whose presence on board he had noticed with a certain amount of disapproval. They were obviously of the chorus-girl type, a fact which they seemed to lack the ambition to conceal. After several would-be ingratiating giggles, they finally pulled up in front of him whilst he was promenading the deck. "You are Mr. Romilly, aren't you?" one of them asked. "Bob Millet told us you were going to be on this steamer. You know Bob, don't
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
Mr. Raymond Greene could scarcely wait until Philip had taken his place at the dinner table that evening, to make known his latest discovery. "Say, Mr. Romilly," he exclaimed, leaning a little forward, "do you happen to have seen the wireless messages to-day?—those tissue sheets that are stuck up in the library?" Philip set down the menu, in which he had been taking an unusual interest. "Yes, I looked through them this afternoon," he acknowledged. "There's a little one at the bottom, looks as th
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
Philip Romilly, on the last day of the voyage, experienced to the full that peculiar sensation of unrest which seems inevitably to prevail when an oceangoing steamer is being slowly towed into port. The winds of the ocean had been left behind. There was a new but pleasant chill in the frosty, sunlit air. The great buildings of New York, at which he had been gazing for hours, were standing, heterogeneous but magnificent, clear-cut against an azure sky. The ferry boats, with their amazing human ca
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
Philip stepped into his own little bedroom and made scanty preparations for this, his first excursion. Then he made his way down into the shabby hall and was seated there on the worn settee when his guest descended. She was wearing a hat which, so far as he could judge, was almost becoming. Her gloves, notwithstanding their many signs of mending, were neat, her shoes carefully polished, and although her dress was undeniably shabby, there was something in her carriage which pleased him. Her eyes
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
A few nights later Philip awoke suddenly to find himself in a cold sweat, face to face with all the horrors of an excited imagination. Once more he felt his hand greedy for the soft flesh of the man he hated, tearing its way through the stiff collar, felt the demoniacal strength shooting down his arm, the fever at his finger tips. He saw the terrified face of his victim, a strong man but impotent in his grasp; heard the splash of the turgid waters; saw himself, his lust for vengeance unsatisfied
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
It was a few minutes after six that evening when Philip was conscious of a knock at his door. He swung around in his chair, blinking a little. "Come in!" Martha Grimes entered. She was in outdoor apparel, that is to say she wore her hat and a long mackintosh. She remained standing upon the threshold. "Just looked up to see if you've got any more work ready," she explained. He sprang to his feet and stood there, for a moment, unsteadily. "Come in and shut the door," he ordered. "Look! Look!" he a
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
New York became a changed city to Philip. Its roar and its turmoil, its babel of tongues speaking to him always in some alien language, were suddenly hushed! He was no longer conscious of the hard unconcern of a million faces, of the crude buildings in the streets, the cutting winds, the curious, depressing sense of being on a desert island, the hermit clutching at the sleeves of imaginary multitudes. A few minutes' journey in a cable car which seemed to crawl, a few minutes' swift walking along
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Three months later, a very different Philip stood in the smaller of a handsome suite of reception rooms in a fashionable Fifth Avenue hotel. He was wearing evening clothes of the most approved cut and carried himself with a dignity and assurance entirely transforming. The distinction of birth and breeding, little apparent in those half-starved, passionate days of his misery, had come easily to the surface. His shoulders, too, seemed to have broadened, and his face had lost its cadaverous pallor.
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
Elizabeth's face was glowing with joy. For the first time Philip realised that she, too, had had her anxieties. "You dear, dear man!" she exclaimed. "To think what you have missed! It would have been the evening of your life. It's a success, do you hear?—a great success! It was wonderful!" He seemed, almost to himself, to be playing a part, he was so calm yet so gracefully happy. "I am glad for both our sakes," he said. She indicated the others with a little wave of the hand. "I don't think you
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
The success of "The House of Shams" was as immediate and complete as was the social success of its author. After a few faint-hearted attempts, Philip and Elizabeth both agreed that the wisest course was to play the bold game—to submit himself to the photographer, the interviewer, and, to some judicious extent, to the wave of hospitality which flowed in upon him from all sides. He threw aside, completely and utterly, every idea of leading a more or less sheltered life. His photograph was in the S
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
Elizabeth paused for breath at the top of the third flight of stairs. She leaned against the iron balustrade. "You poor dear!" she exclaimed. "How many times a day did you have to do this?" "I didn't go out very often," he reminded her, "and it wasn't every day that the lift was out of order. It's only one more flight." She looked up the stairs, sighed, and raised her smart, grey, tailor-made skirt a little higher over her shoes. "Well," she announced heroically, "lead on. If they would sometime
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
Philip waited nearly a quarter of an hour for Elizabeth. When at last she returned, she was unusually silent. They drove off together in her automobile. She held his fingers under the rug. "Philip dear," she said, "I think it is time that you and I were married." He turned and looked at her in amazement. There was a smile upon her lips, but rather a plaintive one. He had a fancy, somehow, that there had been tears in her eyes lately. "Elizabeth!" "If we are ever going to be," she went on softly,
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
Philip's disposition had been so curiously affected by the emotions of the last few months that he was not in the least surprised to find himself, that evening, torn by a very curious and unfamiliar spasm of jealousy. After an hour or so of indecision he made his way, as usual, to the theatre, but instead of going at once to Elizabeth's room, he slipped in at the back of the stalls. The house was crowded, and, seated in the stage box, alone and gloomy, his somewhat austere demeanour intensified
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
Something of his overnight's optimism remained with Philip when at eleven o'clock on the following morning he was ushered into Elizabeth's rooms. It was a frame of mind, however, which did not long survive his reception. From the moment of his arrival, he seemed to detect a different atmosphere in his surroundings,—the demeanour of Phoebe, his staunch ally, who admitted him without her usual welcoming smile; the unanalysable sense of something wanting in the dainty little room, overfilled with s
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
It was not until they were crossing Brooklyn Bridge, on their way into the city, that she asked him that question. They crawled along, one of an interminable, tangled line of vehicles of all sorts and conditions, the trains rattling overhead, and endless streams of earnest people passing along the footway. Below them, the evening sunlight flashed upon the murky waters, glittered from the windows of the tall buildings, and shone a little mercilessly upon the unlovely purlieus of the great human h
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
The slow fever of inaction, fretting in Philip's veins, culminated soon after Martha's departure in a passionate desire for a movement of some sort. The very silence of the room maddened him, the unresponsive-looking telephone, the fire which had burned itself out, the dropping even of the wind, which at intervals during the evening had flung a rainstorm against the windowpane. At midnight he could bear it no longer and sallied out into the streets. Again that curious desire for companionship wa
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
Philip fetched his hat, and the two men stepped out on to the pavement. A servant in quiet grey livery held open the door of an enormous motor car. Sylvanus Power beckoned his companion to precede him. "Home," he told the man, "unless," he added, turning to Philip, "you'd rather go to your rooms?" "I am quite indifferent," Philip replied. They drove off in absolute silence, a silence which remained unbroken until they passed through some elaborate iron gates and drew up before a mansion in Fifth
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
Philip was awakened the next morning by the insistent ringing of the telephone at his elbow. He took up the receiver, conscious of a sharp pain in his left shoulder as he moved. "Is this Mr. Merton Ware?" a man's smooth voice enquired. "Yes!" "I am speaking for Mr. Sylvanus Power. Mr. Sylvanus Power regrets very much that he is unable to lunch with Mr. Ware as arranged to-day, but he is compelled to go to Philadelphia on the morning train. He will be glad to meet Mr. Ware anywhere, a week to-day
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
Philip let the pen slip at last from his tired fingers. The light had failed. He had been writing with straining eyes, almost in the darkness. But there was something else. Had it been fancy or … This time there could be no mistake. He had not heard the lift stop, but some one was knocking softly at the door, softly but persistently. He turned his head. The room seemed filled with shadows. He had written for hours, and he was conscious that his limbs were stiff. The sun had gone down in a cloudy
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
Beatrice replaced the programme which she had been studying, on the ledge of the box, and turned towards Philip, who was seated in the background. There was something a little new in her manner. Her tone was subdued, her eyes curious. "You really are a wonderful person, Philip," she declared. "It's the same play, just as you used to tell it me, word for word. And yet it isn't. What is it that you have gained, I wonder?—a sense of atmosphere, breadth, something strangely vital." "I am glad you li
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
The close of the performance left them both curiously tongue-tied. They waited until the theatre was half empty before they left their seats. Then they joined the little throng of stragglers at the end. "Your play!" she murmured, as they faced the soft night air. "I can't believe it, even now. We've seen it together—your play—and this is New York! That's a new ending, isn't it?" "Absolutely," he confessed. "The ending was always what bothered me, you know." She laughed, not quite naturally. She
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
Late though it was when Philip reached his rooms, he found on his writing table a message addressed to him from the telephone call office in the building. He tore it open: "Kindly ring up Number 551 Avenue immediately you return, whatever the time." He glanced at the clock, hesitated, and finally approaching the instrument called up Elizabeth's number. For a few moments he waited. The silence in the streets outside seemed somehow to have become communicated to the line, the space between them em
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
Philip was still gazing into vacancy and smoking cigarettes when Elizabeth arrived. She seemed conscious at once of the disturbed atmosphere. His hands, which she held firmly in hers, were as cold as ice. "Is that girl going to be troublesome?" she demanded anxiously. "Not in the way we feared," he replied. "All the same, the plot has thickened so far as I am concerned. That fellow Dane has been here." "Go on," she begged. "He laid a trap for us, and we fell into it like the veriest simpletons.
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
And, after all, nothing happened. Dane's barely veiled threats seemed to vanish like the man himself into thin air. Beatrice, after the breakdown of her one passionate outburst, had become wonderfully meek and tractable. Sylvanus Power, who had received from Elizabeth the message for which he had waited, showed no sign either of disappointment or anger. After the storm which had seemed to be breaking in upon him from every quarter, the days which followed possessed for Philip almost the calm of
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter