BONES HITS BACK
It may be said of Bones that he was in the City, but not of it. Never
once had he been invited by the great and awe-inspiring men who
dominate the finance of the City to participate in any of those
adventurous undertakings which produce for the adventurers the fabulous
profits about which so much has been written. There were times when
Bones even doubted whether the City knew he was in it.
He never realised his own insignificance so poignantly as when he
strolled through the City streets at their busiest hour, and was
unrecognised even by the bareheaded clerks who dashed madly in all
directions, carrying papers of tremendous importance.
The indifference of the City to Mr. Tibbetts and his partner was more
apparent than real. It is true that the great men who sit around the
green baize cloth at the Bank of England and arrange the bank rate knew
not Bones nor his work. It is equally true that the very important
personages who occupy suites of rooms in Lombard Street had little or
no idea of his existence. But there were men, and rich and famous men
at that, who had inscribed the name of Bones in indelible ink on the
tablets of their memory.
The Pole Brothers were shipbrokers, and had little in common, in their
daily transactions, with Mr. Harold de Vinne, who specialised in
industrial stocks, and knew little more about ships than could be
learnt in an annual holiday trip to Madeira. Practically there was no
bridge to connect their intellects. Sentimentally, life held a common
cause, which they discovered one day, when Mr. Fred Pole met Mr. Harold
de Vinne at lunch to discuss a matter belonging neither to the realms
of industrialism nor the mercantile marine, being, in fact, the
question of Mr. de Vinne leasing or renting Mr. Pole's handsome
riverside property at Maidenhead for the term of six months.
They might not have met even under these circumstances, but for the
fact that some dispute arose as to who was to pay the gardener. That
matter had been amicably settled, and the two had reached the coffee
stage of their luncheon, when Mr. de Vinne mentioned the
inadvisability--as a rule--of discussing business matters at lunch, and
cited a deplorable happening when an interested eavesdropper had
overheard certain important negotiations and had most unscrupulously
taken advantage of his discovery.
"One of these days," said Mr. de Vinne between his teeth, "I'll be even
with that gentleman." (He did not call him a gentleman.) "I'll give
him Tibbetts! He'll be sorry he was ever born."
"Tibbetts?" said Mr. Fred Pole, sitting bolt upright. "Not Bones?"
The other nodded and seemed surprised.
"You don't know the dear fellow, do you?" he asked, only he did not use
the expression "dear fellow."
"Know him?" said Mr. Fred, taking a long breath. "I should jolly well
say I did know him. And my brother Joe knows him. That fellow----"
"That fellow----" began Mr. de Vinne, and for several minutes they
talked together in terms which were uncomplimentary to Augustus
Tibbetts.
It appeared, though they did not put the matter so crudely, that they
had both been engaged in schemes for robbing Bones, and that in the
pursuance of their laudable plans they had found themselves robbed by
Bones.
Mr. de Vinne ordered another coffee and prepared to make an afternoon
of it. They discussed Bones from several aspects and in various
lights, none of which revealed his moral complexion at its best.
"And believe me," said Mr. de Vinne at the conclusion of his address
for the prosecution, "there's money to be made out of that fellow.
Why, I believe he has three hundred thousand pounds."
"Three hundred and forty thousand," said the more accurate Mr. Fred.
"A smart man could get it all," said Harold de Vinne, with conviction.
"And when I say a smart man, I mean two smart men. I never thought
that he had done anybody but me. It's funny I never heard of your
case," he said. "He must have got the best of you in the early days."
Mr. Fred nodded.
"I was his first"--he swallowed hard and added--"mug!"
Mr. de Vinne pulled thoughtfully at his black cigar and eyed the
ceiling of the restaurant absent-mindedly.
"There's nobody in the City who knows more about Tibbetts than me," he
said. He was weak on the classical side, but rather strong on
mathematics. "I've watched every transaction he's been in, and I think
I have got him down fine."
"Mind you," said Fred, "I think he's clever."
"Clever!" said the other scornfully. "Clever! He's lucky, my dear
chap. Things have just fallen into his lap. It's mug's luck that man
has had."
Mr. Fred nodded. It was an opinion which he himself had held and
ruminated upon.
"It is luck--sheer luck," continued Mr. de Vinne. "And if we'd been
clever, we'd have cleaned him. We'll clean him yet," he said, stroking
his chin more thoughtfully than ever, "but it's got to be done
systematically."
Mr. Fred was interested. The possibility of relieving a
fellow-creature of his superfluous wealth by legitimate means, and
under the laws and rules which govern the legal transfer of property,
was the absorbing interest of his life.
"It has got to be done cleverly, scientifically, and systematically,"
said Mr. de Vinne, "and there's no sense in jumping to a plan. What do
you say to taking a bit of dinner with me at the Ritz-Carlton on
Friday?"
Mr. Fred was very agreeable.
"I'll tell you the strength of Bones," said de Vinne, as they left the
restaurant. "He was an officer on the West Coast of Africa. His boss
was a man named Sanders, who's left the Service and lives at
Twickenham. From what I can hear, this chap Tibbetts worships the
ground that Sanders walks on. Evidently Sanders was a big bug in West
Africa."
On Friday they resumed their conversation, and Mr. de Vinne arrived
with a plan. It was a good plan. He was tremulous with pride at the
thought of it, and demanded applause and approval with every second
breath, which was unlike him.
He was a man of many companies, good, bad, and indifferent, and,
reviewing the enterprises with which his name was associated, he had,
without the slightest difficulty, placed his finger upon the least
profitable and certainly the most hopeless proposition in the Mazeppa
Trading Company. And nothing could be better for Mr. de Vinne's
purpose, not, as he explained to Fred Pole, if he had searched the
Stock Exchange Year Book from cover to cover.
Once upon a time the Mazeppa Trading Company had been a profitable
concern. Its trading stores had dotted the African hinterland thickly.
It had exported vast quantities of Manchester goods and Birmingham
junk, and had received in exchange unlimited quantities of rubber and
ivory. But those were in the bad old days, before authority came and
taught the aboriginal natives the exact value of a sixpenny
looking-glass.
No longer was it possible to barter twenty pounds' worth of ivory for
threepennyworth of beads, and the flourishing Mazeppa Trading Company
languished and died. Its managers had grown immensely wealthy from
their peculations and private trading, and had come home and were
occupying opulent villas at Wimbledon, whilst the new men who had been
sent to take their places had been so inexperienced that profits fell
to nothing. That, in brief, was the history of the Mazeppa Trading
Company, which still maintained a few dilapidated stores, managed by
half-castes and poor whites.
"I got most of the shares for a song," confessed Mr. de Vinne. "In
fact, I happen to be one of the debenture-holders, and stepped in when
things were going groggy. We've been on the point of winding it up--it
is grossly over-capitalised--but I kept it going in the hope that
something would turn up."
"What is the general idea?" asked Mr. Fred Pole, interested.
"We'll get a managing director," said Mr. de Vinne solemnly. "A man
who is used to the handling of natives, a man acquainted with the West
Coast of Africa, a man who can organise."
"Bones?" suggested Mr. Fred.
"Bones be--jiggered!" replied de Vinne scornfully. "Do you think he'd
fall for that sort of thing? Not on your life! We're not going to
mention it to Bones. But he has a pal--Sanders; you've heard of him.
He's a commissioner or something on the West Coast, and retired. Now,
my experience of a chap of that kind who retires is that he gets sick
to death of doing nothing. If we could only get at him and persuade
him to accept the managing directorship, with six months a year on the
Coast, at a salary of, say, two thousand a year, conditional on taking
up six or seven thousand pounds' worth of shares, what do you think
would happen?"
Mr. Fred's imagination baulked at the problem, and he shook his head.
"I'll tell you what would happen," said Mr. de Vinne. "It happened
once before, when another pal of Bones got let in on a motor car
company. Bones fell over himself to buy the shares and control the
company. And, mind you, the Mazeppa looks good. It's the sort of
proposition that would appeal to a young and energetic man. It's one
of those bogy companies that seem possible, and a fellow who knows the
ropes would say straight away: 'If I had charge of that, I'd make it
pay.' That's what I'm banking on."
"What are the shares worth?" said Fred.
"About twopence net," replied the other brutally. "I'll tell you
frankly that I'd run this business myself if I thought there was any
chance of my succeeding. But if Bones finds all the shares in one
hand, he's going to shy. What I'm prepared to do is this. These
shares are worth twopence. I'm going to sell you and a few friends
parcels at a shilling a share. If nothing happens, I'll undertake to
buy them back at the same price."
A week later Hamilton brought news to the office of Tibbetts and
Hamilton, Limited.
"The chief is going back to the Coast."
Bones opened his mouth wide in astonishment.
"Back to the Coast?" he said incredulously. "You don't mean he's
chucking jolly old Twickenham?"
Hamilton nodded.
"He's had an excellent offer from some people in the City to control a
trading company. By the way, did you ever hear of the Mazeppa
Company?" Bones shook his head.
"I've heard of Mazeppa," he said. "He was the naughty old gentleman
who rode through the streets of Birmingham without any clothes."
Hamilton groaned.
"If I had your knowledge of history," he said despairingly, "I'd start
a bone factory. You're thinking of Lady Godiva, but that doesn't
matter. No, I don't suppose you've heard of the Mazeppa Company; it
did not operate in our territory."
Bones shook his head and pursed his lips.
"But surely," he said, "dear old Excellency hasn't accepted a job
without consulting me?"
Hamilton made derisive noises.
"He fixed it up in a couple of days," he said, after a while. "It
doesn't mean he'll be living on the Coast, but he'll probably be there
for some months in the year. The salary is good--in fact, it's two
thousand a year. I believe Sanders has to qualify for directorship by
taking some shares, but the dear chap is enthusiastic about it, and so
is Patricia. It is all right, of course. Sanders got the offer
through a firm of solicitors."
"Pooh!" said Bones. "Solicitors are nobody."
He learnt more about the company that afternoon, for Sanders called in
and gave a somewhat roseate view of the future.
"The fact is, Bones, I am getting stale," he said, "and this looks like
an excellent and a profitable occupation."
"How did you get to hear about it, Excellency?". asked Bones.
His attitude was one of undisguised antagonism. He might have been a
little resentful that the opportunity had come to Sanders through any
other agency than his own.
"I had a letter from the solicitors asking me if the idea appealed to
me, and recalling my services on the Coast," said Sanders. "Of course
I know very little about the Mazeppa Trading Company, though I had
heard of it years gone past as a very profitable concern. The
solicitors were quite frank, and told me that business had fallen off,
due to inexperienced management. They pointed out the opportunities
which existed--the possibilities of opening new stations--and I must
confess that it appealed to me. It will mean hard work, but the salary
is good."
"Hold hard, Sir and Excellency," said Bones. "What did you have to put
up in the way of shares?"
Sanders flushed. He was a shy man, and not given to talking about his
money affairs.
"Oh, about five thousand pounds," he said awkwardly. "Of course, it's
a lot of money; but even if the business isn't successful, I have a
five-year contract with the company, and I get more than my investment
back in salary."
That night Bones stayed on after Hamilton had left, and had for
companion Miss Marguerite Whitland, a lady in whose judgment he had a
most embarrassing faith. He had given her plenty of work to do, and
the rhythmical tap-tap of her typewriter came faintly through the door
which separated the outer from the inner office.
Bones sat at his desk, his chin in his hand, a very thoughtful young
man, and before him was a copy of the latest evening newspaper, opened
at the Stock Exchange page. There had been certain significant
movements in industrial shares--a movement so interesting to the
commentator upon Stock Exchange doings that he had inserted a paragraph
to the effect that:
"The feature of the industrial market was the firmness of Mazeppa
Trading shares, for which there was a steady demand, the stock closing
at 19_s_. 9_d_. Mazeppa shares have not been dealt in within the House
for many years, and, in fact, it was generally believed that the
Company was going into liquidation, and the shares could be had for the
price of the paper on which they were printed. It is rumoured in the
City that the Company is to be reconstructed, and that a considerable
amount of new capital has been found, with the object of expanding its
existing business."
Bones read the paragraph many times, and at the conclusion of each
reading returned to his reverie. Presently he rose and strolled into
the office of his secretary, and the girl looked up with a smile as
Bones seated himself on the edge of her table.
"Young miss," he said soberly, "do you ever hear anybody talking about
me in this jolly old City?"
"Why, yes," she said in surprise.
"Fearfully complimentarily, dear old miss?" asked Bones carelessly, and
the girl's colour deepened.
"I don't think it matters what people say about one, do you?"
"It doesn't matter to me," said Bones, "so long as one lovely old
typewriter has a good word for poor old Bones." He laid his hand upon
hers, and she suffered it to remain there without protest. "They think
I'm a silly old ass, don't they?"
"Oh, no," she said quickly, "they don't think that. They say you're
rather unconventional."
"Same thing," said Bones. "Anybody who's unconventional in business is
a silly old ass."
He squeezed the hand under his, and again she did not protest or
withdraw it from his somewhat clammy grip.
"Dear old darling----" began Bones, but she stopped him with a warning
finger.
"Dear old typewriter," said Bones, unabashed, but obedient, "suppose
something happened to the clever old Johnny who presides over this
office--the brains of the department, if I may be allowed to say so?"
"Captain Hamilton?" said the girl in surprise.
"No, me," said Bones, annoyed. "Gracious Heavens, dear old key-tapper,
didn't I say me?"
"Something happen to you?" she said in alarm. "Why, what could happen
to you?"
"Suppose I went broke?" said Bones, with the comfortable air of one who
was very unlikely to go broke. "Suppose I had terrific and tremendous
and cataclysmic and what's-the-other-word losses?"
"But you're not likely to have those, are you?" she asked.
"Not really," said Bones, "but suppose?"
She saw that, for once, when he was speaking to her, his mind was
elsewhere, and withdrew her hand. It was a fact that Bones did not
seem to notice the withdrawal.
"Poor old Bones, poor old mug!" said Bones softly. "I'm a funny old
devil."
The girl laughed.
"I don't know what you're thinking about," she said, "but you never
strike me as being particularly funny, or poor, or old, for the matter
of that," she added demurely.
Bones stooped down from the table and laid his big hand on her head,
rumpling her hair as he might have done to a child.
"You're a dear old Marguerite," he said softly, "and I'm not such a
ditherer as you think. Now, you watch old Bones." And, with that
cryptic remark, he stalked back to his desk.
Two days after this he surprised Hamilton.
"I'm expecting a visitor to-day, old Ham," he said. "A Johnny named de
Vinne."
"De Vinne?" frowned Hamilton. "I seem to know that name. Isn't he the
gentleman you had the trouble with over the boots?"
"That's the jolly old robber," said Bones cheerfully. "I've
telegraphed and asked him to come to see me."
"About what?" demanded Hamilton.
"About two o'clock," said Bones. "You can stay and see your old friend
through, or you can let us have it out with the lad in camera."
"I'll stay," said Hamilton. "But I don't think he'll come."
"I do," said Bones confidently, and he was justified in his confidence,
for at two o'clock to the second Mr. de Vinne appeared.
He was bright and cheerful, even genial to Bones, and Bones was almost
effusive in his welcome.
"Sit down there in the most comfortable chair, happy old financier," he
said, "and open your young heart to old Bones about the Mazeppa Trading
Company."
Mr. de Vinne did not expect so direct an attack, but recovered from his
surprise without any apparent effort.
"Oh, so you know I was behind that, do you? How the dickens did you
find out?"
"Stock Exchange Year Book, dear old thing. Costs umpteen and sixpence,
and you can find out everything you want to know about the directors of
companies," said Bones.
"By Jove! That's clever of you," said de Vinne, secretly amused, for
it was from the Year Book that he expected Bones to make the discovery.
"Now, what's the game, old financial gentleman?" asked Bones. "Why
this fabulous salary to friend Sanders and selling this thousands of
pounds worth of shares, eh?"
The other shrugged his shoulders.
"My dear chap, it's a business transaction. And really, if I thought
you were going to interrogate me on that, I shouldn't have come. Is
Mr. Sanders a friend of yours?" he asked innocently.
"Shurrup!" said Bones vulgarly. "You know jolly well he's a friend of
mine. Now, what is the idea, young company promoter?"
"It's pretty obvious," replied de Vinne, taking the expensive cigar
which Bones had imported into the office for the purpose. "The
position is a good one----"
"Half a mo'," said Bones. "Do you personally guarantee Mr. Sanders's
salary for five years?"
The other laughed.
"Of course not. It is a company matter," he said, "and I should
certainly not offer a personal guarantee for the payment of any salary."
"So that, if the company goes bust in six months' time, Mr. Sanders
loses all the money he has invested and his salary?"
The other raised his shoulders again with a deprecating smile.
"He would, of course, have a claim against the company for his salary,"
he said.
"A fat lot of good that would be!" answered Bones.
"Now, look here, Mr. Tibbetts"--the other leaned confidentially
forward, his unlighted cigar between his teeth--"there is no reason in
the world why the Mazeppa Company shouldn't make a fortune for the
right man. All it wants is new blood and capable direction. I
confess," he admitted, "that I have not the time to give to the
company, otherwise I'd guarantee a seven per cent. dividend on the
share capital. Why, look at the price of them to-day----"
Bones stopped him.
"Any fool can get the shares up to any price he likes, if they're all
held in one hand," he said.
"What?" said the outraged Mr. de Vinne. "Do you suggest I have rigged
the market? Besides, they're not all in one hand. They're pretty
evenly distributed."
"Who holds 'em?" asked Bones curiously.
"Well, I've got a parcel, and Pole Brothers have a parcel."
"Pole Brothers, eh?" said Bones, nodding. "Well, well!"
"Come, now, be reasonable. Don't be suspicious, Mr. Tibbetts," said
the other genially. "Your friend's interests are all right, and the
shareholders' interests are all right. You might do worse than get
control of the company yourself."
Bones nodded.
"I was thinking of that," he said.
"I assure you," said Mr. de Vinne with great earnestness, "that the
possibilities of the Mazeppa Trading Company are unlimited. We have
concessions from the Great River to the north of the French
territory----"
"Not worth the paper they're written on, dear old kidder," said Bones,
shaking his head. "Chiefs' concessions without endorsement from the
Colonial Office are no good, dear old thing."
"But the trading concessions are all right," insisted the other. "You
can't deny that. You understand the Coast customs better than I do.
Trading customs hold without endorsement from the Colonial Office."
Bones had to admit that that was a fact.
"I'll think it over," he said. "It appeals to me, old de Vinne. It
really does appeal to me. Who own the shares?"
"I can give you a list," said Mr. de Vinne, with admirable calm, "and
you'd be well advised to negotiate privately with these gentlemen.
You'd probably get the shares for eighteen shillings." He took a gold
pencil from his pocket and wrote rapidly a list of names, and Bones
took the paper from his hand and scrutinised them.
Hamilton, a silent and an amazed spectator of the proceedings, waited
until de Vinne had gone, and then fell upon his partner.
"You're not going to be such a perfect jackass----" he began, but
Bones's dignified gesture arrested his eloquence.
"Dear old Ham," he said, "senior partner, dear old thing! Let old
Bones have his joke."
"Do you realise," said Hamilton, "that you are contemplating the risk
of a quarter of a million? You're mad, Bones!"
Bones grinned.
"Go down to our broker and buy ten thousand shares in old Mazeppa,
Ham," he said. "You'll buy them on the market for nineteen shillings,
and I've an idea that they're worth about the nineteenth part of a
farthing."
"But----" stammered Hamilton.
"It is an order," said Bones, and he spoke in the Bomongo tongue.
"Phew!" said Hamilton. "That carries me a few thousand miles. I
wonder what those devils of the N'gombi are doing now?"
"I'll tell you something they're not doing," said Bones. "They're not
buying Mazeppa shares."
There were two very deeply troubled people in the office of Tibbetts
and Hamilton. One was Hamilton himself, and the other was Miss
Marguerite Whitland. Hamilton had two causes for worry. The first and
the least was the strange extravagance of Bones. The second--and this
was more serious--was the prospect of breaking to Sanders that night
that he had been swindled, for swindled he undoubtedly was. Hamilton
had spent a feverish hour canvassing City opinion on the Mazeppa
Trading Company, and the report he had had was not encouraging. He
had, much against his will, carried out the instructions of Bones, and
had purchased in the open market ten thousand shares in the Company--a
transaction duly noted by Mr. de Vinne and his interested partner.
"He is biting," said that exultant man over the 'phone. "All we have
to do is to sit steady, and he'll swallow the hook!"
It was impossible that Marguerite Whitland should not know the extent
of her employer's commitments. She was a shrewd girl, and had acquired
a very fair working knowledge of City affairs during the period of her
employment. She had, too, an instinct for a swindle, and she was
panic-stricken at the thought that Bones was marching headlong to
financial disaster. Hamilton had gone home to his disagreeable task,
when the girl came from her office and stood, her hands clasped behind
her, before the desk of the senior partner.
Bones peered up in his short-sighted way.
"Well, young miss?" he said quietly.
"Mr. Tibbetts," she began a little unsteadily, "I'm going to be very
impertinent."
"Not at all," murmured Bones.
"I've been with you for some time now," said the girl, speaking
rapidly, "and I feel that I have a better right to talk to you
than--than----"
"Than anybody in the whole wide world," said Bones, "and that's a fact,
dear young Marguerite."
"Yes, yes," she said hurriedly, "but this is something about business,
and about--about this deal which you're going into. I've been talking
to Captain Hamilton this afternoon, while you were out, and I know it's
a swindle."
"I know that, too," said Bones calmly.
"But," said the puzzled girl, "you are putting all your money into it.
Mr. Hamilton said that, if this failed, you might be ruined."
Bones nodded. Outwardly calm, the light of battle shone in his eye.
"It's a gamble, dear young typewriter," he said, "a terrific gamble,
but it's going to turn out all right for did Bones."
"But Mr. Hamilton said you can't possibly make anything from the
property--that it is derelict and worth practically nothing. Only a
tenth of the stores are open, and the trading is----"
Bones smiled.
"I'm not gambling on the property," he said softly. "Oh, dear, no,
young fiancée, I'm not gambling on the property."
"Then what on earth are you gambling on?" she asked, a little piqued.
"On me," said Bones in the same tone. "On poor old silly ass Bones,
and I'm coming through!"
He got up and came across to her and laid his big hand on her shoulder
gently.
"If I don't come through, I shan't be a beggar. I shall have enough to
build a jolly little place, where we can raise cows and horses and
vegetables of all descriptions, dear old typewriter. And if I do come
through, we'll still have that same place--only perhaps we'll have more
cows and a pig or two."
She laughed, and he raised her smiling lips to his and kissed them.
Mr. de Vinne had dined well and had enjoyed an evening's amusement. He
had been to the Hippodrome, and his enjoyment had been made the more
piquant by the knowledge that Mr. Augustus Tibbetts had as good as
placed ten thousand pounds in his pocket. He was a surprised man, on
returning to Sloane Square, to discover, waiting in the hall, his
unwilling benefactor.
"Why, Mr. Tibbetts," he said, "this is a great surprise."
"Yes," said Bones, "I suppose it is, old Mr. de Vinne." And he coughed
solemnly, as one who was the guardian of a great secret.
"Come in," said Mr. de Vinne, more genial than ever. "This is my
little den"--indicating a den which the most fastidious of lions would
not have despised. "Sit down and have a cigar, old man. Now, what
brings you here to-night?"
"The shares," said Bones soberly. "I've been worrying about the
shares."
"Ah, yes," said Mr. de Vinne carelessly. "Why worry about them, dear
boy?"
"Well, I thought I might lose the opportunity of buying them. I think
there's something to be made out of that property. In fact," said
Bones emphatically, "I'm pretty certain I could make a lot of money if
I had control."
"I agree with you," said the earnest Mr. de Vinne.
"Now the point is," said Bones, "I've been studying that list of yours,
and it seems to me that the majority of the two hundred and fifty
thousand shares issued are either held by you or by one of the
Poles--jolly old Joe or jolly old Fred, I don't know which."
"Jolly old Fred," said Mr. de Vinne gravely.
"Now, if there's one person I don't want to meet to-night, or
to-morrow, or any other day," said Bones, "it's Pole."
"There's no need for you to meet him," smiled de Vinne.
"In fact," said Bones, with sudden ferocity, "I absolutely refuse to
buy any shares from Fred. I'll buy yours, but I will not buy a single
one from Fred."
Mr. De Vinne thought rapidly.
"There's really no reason," he said carelessly. "As a matter of fact,
I took over Fred's shares to-night, or the majority of them. I can let
you have--let me see"--he made a rapid calculation--"I can let you have
a hundred and eighty thousand shares at nineteen and nine."
"Eighteen shillings," said Bones firmly, "and not a penny more."
They wrangled about the price for five minutes, and then, in an
outburst of generosity, Mr. de Vinne agreed.
"Eighteen shillings it shall be. You're a hard devil," he said. "Now,
shall we settle this in the morning?"
"Settle it now," said Bones. "I've a contract note and a cheque book."
De Vinne thought a moment.
"Why, sure!" he said. "Let's have your note."
Bones took a note from his pocket, unfolded it, and laid it on the
table, then solemnly seated himself at Mr. de Vinne's desk and wrote
out the cheque.
His good fortune was more than Mr. de Vinne could believe. He had
expected Bones to be easy, but not so easy as this.
"Good-bye," said Bones. He was solemn, even funereal.
"And, my friend," thought Mr. de Vinne, "you'll be even more solemn
before the month's out."
He saw Bones to the door, slapped him on the back, insisted on his
taking another cigar, and stood outside on the pavement of Cadogan
Square and watched the rear lights of Bones's car pass out of sight.
Then he went back to his study telephone and gave a number. It was the
number of Mr. Fred Pole's house, and Fred Pole himself answered the
call.
"Is that you, Pole?"
"That's me," said the other, and there was joy in his voice.
"I say, Pole," chuckled de Vinne, "I shall save you a lot of trouble."
"What do you mean?" asked the other.
"I've sold Bones my shares and yours too."
There was a deep silence.
"Did you hear me?" asked de Vinne.
"Yes, I heard you," said the voice, so strange that de Vinne scarcely
recognised it. "How many did you sell?" asked Pole.
"A hundred and eighty thousand. I thought I could easily fix it with
you."
Another silence.
"What did Bones say to you?"
"He told me he wouldn't do any more business with you."
"Good Heavens!" groaned Pole, and added, "Gracious Heavens!"
"Why, what's the matter?" asked de Vinne quickly, scenting danger.
"That's what he said to me," moaned the other. "Just hang on. I'll be
round in a quarter of an hour."
Mr. Fred Pole arrived under that time, and had a dreadful story to
unfold. At nine o'clock that evening Bones had called upon him and had
offered to buy his shares. But Bones had said he would not under any
circumstances----
"Buy my shares?" said de Vinne quickly.
"Well, he didn't exactly say that," said Fred. "But he gave me to
understand that he'd rather buy the shares from me than from anybody
else, and I thought it was such an excellent idea, and I could fix it
up with you on the telephone, so I sold him----"
"How many?" wailed de Vinne.
"A hundred and fifty thousand," said Mr. Fred, and the two men stared
at one another.
De Vinne licked his dry lips.
"It comes to this," he said. "Between us we've sold him three hundred
and thirty thousand shares. There are only two hundred and fifty
thousand shares issued, so we've got to deliver eighty thousand shares
that are non-existent or be posted as defaulters."
Another long pause, and then both men said simultaneously, as though
the thought had struck them for the first time:
"Why, the fellow's a rogue!"
The next morning they called upon Bones, and they were with him for
half an hour; and when they went, they left behind them, not only the
cheques that Bones had given them, but another cheque for a most
substantial amount as consideration.
That night Bones gave a wonderful dinner-party at the most expensive
hotel in London. Sanders was there, and Patricia Sanders, and
Hamilton, and a certain Vera, whom the bold Bones called by her
Christian name, but the prettiest of the girls was she who sat on his
right and listened to the delivery of Bones's great speech in fear and
trembling.
"The toast of the evening, dear old friends," said Bones, "is Cupidity
and Cupid. Coupled with the names of the Honourable de Vinne and my
young and lovely typewriter--my friend and companion in storm and
stress, the only jolly old lady, if I may be allowed to say so, that
has stirred my young heart"--he caught Patricia Sanders's accusing eye,
coughed, and added--"in Europe!"
THE END
_WARD, LOCK & CO.'S NEW FICTION_
High Street
By
Charman Edwards
When one reads this amazing study of Daven Judd, who although he is
described as "lover, idealist and sometime fugitive from justice,"
comes at last to strange and beautiful happiness, it is difficult to
believe that an author could have evolved such a book out of his own
inventive faculties. One feels rather that Mr. Edwards has dared to
reveal the emotions of creatures who are actual flesh and blood;
emotions at times strange and terrible, frail and beautiful at others,
yet ever tinged with human appeal. Mr. Edwards has never written
anything like HIGH STREET before. Readers will be held fascinated to
the last page; then, because of that rare and indefinable quality of
startling truth which pervades it, they will take it up again.
_By the same Author:_
Windfellow.
Derision
Rainbrother
_Press Opinion of "Windfellow":_
"Mr. Edwards can not only tell a good tale as it should be told, but he
has the right gipsy magic, and the great fight which comes towards the
end of the story is almost, if not quite, as fine as the epic contest
between Lavengro and the Flaming Tinker."--Referee.
* * * * *
The Rat Trap
By
William Le Queux
When Frank Aylmer first meets the Quentins at an Ostend Hotel he is at
once attracted to the beautiful Mrs. Quentin, and finds himself
involved in adventure as soon as that lady confesses she is not really
the wife of Quentin, but only posing as such for some "mysterious"
purpose. The unravelling of the threads of mystery surrounding the
elusive lady and her supposed husband provides the reader with one of
the most engrossing stories that Mr. W. Le Queux ever wrote.
_Other Stories by this Author include:_
The Marked Man Three Knots
A Woman's Debt The Young Archduchess
The Sign of the Stranger No. 7 Saville Square
The Little Blue Goddess The Lady-in-Waiting
As We Forgive Them Scribes and Pharisees
The Day of Temptation The Bronze Face
An Eye for an Eye Sins of the City
Guilty Bonds The Court of Honour
The Idol of the Town The Broken Thread
If Sinners Entice Thee The Bond of Black
In White Raiment The Valrose Mystery
The Lure of Love The Scarlet Sign
The Mysterious Three The Black Owl
No Greater Love The House of Evil
The Hotel X
"Mr. Le Queux is the master of mystery. He never fails to produce the
correct illusion. He always leaves us panting for more--a brilliant
feat."--_Daily Graphic_.
* * * * *
Nancy Trevanion's Legacy
By
Joseph Hocking
Upon Trevanion's death the old home had to be sold, but Nancy, his only
daughter, insisted upon the sale being subject to an option enabling
her to buy it back within five years for £10,000. She might have
accomplished her end there and then had she been willing to marry the
son of her father's one-time stableman, but being a Trevanion of
Trevanion Court she was even prouder than she was poor. How she
obtained the necessary money, and what surprising adventures befell her
before she could achieve her aim, is told in Mr. Joseph Hocking's best
vein in this vivid and realistic story.
There are few better story-tellers than Mr. Joseph Hocking, especially
when he is dealing with his beloved Cornwall. His stories are
thrillingly interesting, and rivet the attention of the reader from
beginning to end.
* * * * *
The Firm Hand
By
Harold Bindloss
The Croziers are stubborn North-country yeomen, whose temperament
accounts for the misfortunes that follow the house. Isaac, the last of
the old parsimonious school, pushed on by his avaricious wife, cheats
his brother and seizes the inheritance of his nephew, who is
supposititiously killed by accident in the dark. Mark, another nephew,
and the girl he marries, stand for a fresh and generous type, but he
has inherited the family temperament and feels his business is to solve
the puzzle of his brother's death. The background for the story is
English moorland and Canadian forest.
_Other recent Stories by this Author:_
The Mountaineers The League of the Leopard
The Man from the Wilds The Allinson Honour
The Impostor The Pioneer
Musgrave's Luck Hawtrey's Deputy
The Head of the House The Keystone Block
Dearham's Inheritance The Wilderness Patrol
The Trustee The Lute Player
Agatha's Fortune A Debt of Honour
The Broken Net A Risky Game
Askew's Victory Carmen's Messenger
The Dust of Conflict Sadie's Conquest
A Damaged Reputation Helen the Conqueror
Footsteps Sour Grapes
"Mr. Bindloss's novels come as a welcome periodical sedative after a
dose of the feverish volubility indulged in by some modern
novelists."--_The Times_.
* * * * *
Captain Lucifer
By
Ben Bolt
Young Sir Harry Plaxton, a blood in the times of the highwaymen, riding
to take up his inheritance, had a fancy to enter his house on Christmas
Day. How he did so, and what adventures met him by the way, how he
came upon a country inn of unsavoury reputation and was scrutinized by
a rogue and what followed, how he rescued a maid and fought with a
notorious pirate, and how the Golden Peacock was found and afterward
lost again--all this makes a book of romance and adventure such as even
Mr. Ben Bolt has not given us before.
_By the same Author:_
The Mystery of Belvoir Mansions
The Sword of Fortune
This story reveals the author as a master of the breathless pace which
whirls a reader along whether he will or not.
* * * * *
Courage of the Outcast
By
W. H. Slater
How would you feel after escaping from prison upon the morning fixed
for your execution? Which would predominate--thankfulness for the
escape, or the paralysing terror of recapture? The issue is of
necessity dramatic and full of movement, and Mr. Slater has made the
utmost of the opportunities inherent in such a vivid opening, and the
result is a novel as convincing as it is exciting. The end is that
free pardon which our authorities give for a crime that has never been
committed. We could not read COURAGE OF THE OUTCAST otherwise. It is
all so real.
The Author can write a rattling good yarn, full of excitement and real
mystery. Thoroughly brisk in action, the story is told in a virile and
spirited manner.
* * * * *
Lights and Shadows
By
Effie Adelaide Rowlands
When the wealthy Miss Martingate died she left her money away from the
family and to her servant Hester Slayde. Michael alone of the family
showed himself kindly disposed, and Hester's path was by no means one
of roses. Then, close upon her good fortune, arrived the letter from
Elizabeth Charlbury to the dead woman, asking for help. How the help
was not denied her by Hester Slayde, and what gratitude, or
ingratitude, was returned for it, and what byways were entered by those
chiefly concerned, is told by Miss Rowlands with all her accustomed
skill in telling a romance.
_Other popular Stories by this Author:_
The Rose of Life The Game of Life
Carlton's Wife A Dangerous Woman
They Laugh that Win The Flame of Love
In Love's Land Young Hearts
A Girl with a Heart Through Weal and Through Woe
Love's Young Dream Out of a Clear Sky
Money or Wife? Brave Love
Sunset and Dawn The Man from the West
The Man she Loved
"Miss Rowlands has the reputation of producing extremely readable
wholesome novels."--_The Aberdeen Journal_.
* * * * *
Castle Perilous
By
Katharine Tynan
Maurice, still suffering from the effects of a serious wound received
in the trenches, was completely dominated by his old schoolmistress,
who had gone out to nurse him, and the struggle between her fierce
maternal hunger to hold him at her side and his desire for freedom from
her obsessing influence, makes a story of singular strength and
interest, with an unusual climax of dramatic intensity. Side by side
with this more sombre theme there runs a beautiful romance, and Miss
Katharine Tynan is seen at her best in the drawing of a lovable girl.
_Other popular Stories by this Author:_
Princess Katharine Dear Lady Bountiful
My Love's but a Lassie The Briar Bush Maid
The House on the Bogs The Heiress of Wyke
Pat the Adventurer The Wild Adventure
Miss Phipps The Face in the Picture
"Clean wholesome love stories, free from intrigue and sensationalism,
and containing well-drawn characters and good dialogue."
* * * * *
That Fool Peter
By
Ashley Milner
Peter Hawkins, a clerk with ideals, has a youthful escapade with a
workgirl named Evie Wills. But remorse dogs him ever afterwards, and
when, while he is leading an unhappy married life, he has the sudden
opportunity of saving Evie from moral disaster, he rises to the height
of his chance and fulfils his ideals. But he is misunderstood by his
wife, who sues him for a divorce but fails to bring conclusive
evidence. The book ends happily, and throughout its course is a fine
picture of a rather humdrum soul seeking--and reaching--the heights of
opportunity and spiritual victory.
_By the same Author:_
And then Comes Love
Dawn Breaking Red
"Mr. Milner tells a story well, with a vividness of incident, and he
has a nice sense of humour."--_Northern Whig_.
* * * * *
The Money Barons
By
John Haslette Vahey
Dexter's ranch was wanted by Kelly who had projected a railway through
it, but Dexter had reasons for believing Kelly had tried to murder him.
A plausible rascal, Page, pressed his services upon Dexter, to expose
Kelly, but Page was employed by a greater rascal called Bull, who had a
whole staff of gunmen upon his pay roll. From then onwards the story
moves as swiftly and unerringly as the most hardened reader could
desire, and what Dexter found on his ranch and how he married a maid in
the enemy's camp must be left to Mr. Vahey to tell.
_By the same Author:_
Fiddlestrings
Down River
Up North
The Storm Lady
Payment Down
"Well told, with a quietly effective undercurrent of excitement."--_The
Times_.
* * * * *
POPULAR NOVELS
BY
EDGAR WALLACE
PUBLISHED BY
WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED.
In Various Editions
SANDERS OF THE RIVER
BONES
BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER
BONES IN LONDON
THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE
THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE
THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS
THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER
DOWN UNDER DONOVAN
PRIVATE SELBY
THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW
THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON
THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA
THE SECRET HOUSE
KATE, PLUS TEN
LIEUTENANT BONES
THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE
JACK O' JUDGMENT
THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY
THE NINE BEARS
THE BOOK OF ALL POWER
MR. JUSTICE MAXELL
THE BOOKS OF BART
THE DARK EYES OF LONDON
CHICK
SANDI, THE KING-MAKER
THE THREE OAK MYSTERY
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG
BLUE HAND
GREY TIMOTHY
A DEBT DISCHARGED
THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO'
THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY
THE GREEN RUST
THE FOURTH PLAGUE
THE RIVER OF STARS