smile. 'You were always a rough 'un, Georgey. Your hand did sting! Well,
what do you want now? We've each played our cards, and you needn't cut
up rusty over it--especially when you're winning! Hang it all, I wish I
had Higginson heah to tackle you!'
'If you go to see the Treasury people, or the Solicitor-General, or the
Public Prosecutor, or whoever else it may be,' Lady Georgina said,
stoutly, 'Mr. Hayes must go with you. We've trumped your ace, as you
say, and we mean to take advantage of it. And then you must trundle
yourself down to Bow Street afterwards, confess the whole truth, and set
Harold at liberty.'
'Oh, I say now, Georgey! The whole truth! the whole blooming truth!
That's really what I call humiliating a fellah!'
'If you don't, we arrest you this minute--fourteen years' imprisonment!'
'Fourteen yeahs?' He wiped his forehead. 'Oh, I say. How doosid
uncomfortable. I was nevah much good at doing anything by the sweat of
my brow. I ought to have lived in the Garden of Eden. Georgey, you're
hard on a chap when he's down on his luck. It would be confounded cruel
to send me to fourteen yeahs at Portland.'
'You would have sent my husband to it,' I broke in, angrily, confronting
him.
'What? You too, Miss Cayley?-- I mean Mrs. Tillington. Don't look at me
like that. Tigahs aren't in it.'
His jauntiness disarmed us. However wicked he might be, one felt it
would be ridiculous to imprison this schoolboy. A sound flogging and a
month's deprivation of wine and cigarettes was the obvious punishment
designed for him by nature.
'You must go down to the police-court and confess this whole
conspiracy,' Lady Georgina went on after a pause, as sternly as she was
able. 'I prefer, if we can, to save the family--even you, Bertie. But I
can't any longer save the family honour-- I can only save Harold's. You
must help me to do that; and then, you must give me your solemn
promise--in writing--to leave England for ever, and go to live in South
Africa.'
He stroked the invisible moustache more nervously than before. That
penalty came home to him. 'What, leave England for evah?
Newmarket--Ascot--the club--the music-halls!'
'Or fourteen years' imprisonment!'
'Georgey, you spank as hard as evah!'
'Decide at once, or we arrest you!'
He glanced about him feebly. I could see he was longing for his lost
confederate. 'Well, I'll go,' he said at last, sobering down; 'and your
solicitaw can trot round with me. I'll do all that you wish, though I
call it most unfriendly. Hang it all, fourteen yeahs would be so beastly
unpleasant!'
We drove forthwith to the proper authorities, who, on hearing the facts,
at once arranged to accept Lord Southminster and White as Queen's
evidence, neither being the actual forger. We also telegraphed to Paris
to have Higginson arrested, Lord Southminster giving us up his assumed
name with the utmost cheerfulness, and without one moment's compunction.
Mr. Hayes was quite right: each conspirator was only too ready to save
himself by betraying his fellows. Then we drove on to Bow Street (Lord
Southminster consoling himself with a cigarette on the way), just in
time for Harold's case, which was to be taken, by special arrangement,
at 3.30.
A very few minutes sufficed to turn the tables completely on the
conspirators. Harold was discharged, and a warrant was issued for the
arrest of Higginson, the actual forger. He had drawn up the false will
and signed it with Mr. Ashurst's name, after which he had presented it
for Lord Southminster's approval. The pea-green young man told his tale
with engaging frankness. 'Bertie's a simple Simon,' Lady Georgina
commented to me; 'but he's also a rogue; and Higginson saw his way to
make excellent capital of him in both capacities--first use him as a
catspaw, and then blackmail him.'
[Illustration: HAROLD, YOUR WIFE HAS BESTED ME.]
On the steps of the police-court, as we emerged triumphant, Lord
Southminster met us--still radiant as ever. He seemed wholly unaware of
the depths of his iniquity: a fresh dose of brandy had restored his
composure. 'Look heah,' he said, 'Harold, your wife has bested me! Jolly
good thing for you that you managed to get hold of such a clevah woman!
If you hadn't, deah boy, you'd have found yourself in Queeah Street!
But, I say, Lois-- I call yah Lois because you're my cousin now, yah
know--you were backing the wrong man aftah all, as I told yah. For if
you'd backed _me_, all this wouldn't have come out; you'd have got the
tin and been a countess as well, aftah the governah's dead and gone,
don't yah see. You'd have landed the double event. So you'd have pulled
off a bettah thing for yourself in the end, as I said, if you'd laid
your bottom dollah on me for winnah!'
Higginson is now doing fourteen years at Portland; Harold and I are
happy in the sweetest place in Gloucestershire; and Lord Southminster,
blissfully unaware of the contempt with which the rest of the world
regards him, is shooting big game among his 'boys' in South Africa.
Indeed, he bears so little malice that he sent us a present of a trophy
of horns for our hall last winter.
THE END
THE WINCHESTER EDITION OF THE NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN
10 Vols. Demy 8vo, Cloth, 5s. net each Vol.
The perfection of the edition rests entirely on the efforts of
printer, paper-maker, and binder, Messrs. T. and A. CONSTABLE of
Edinburgh being responsible for the typography, while Mr. LAURENCE
HOUSMAN has designed the cover.
* * * * *
_SPECTATOR_.--'The Winchester Edition has special claims to gratitude
through the delightful quality of its print and paper. The print is of a
generous design, and very black and clear, and the paper, while
untransparent, not so heavy but that the book can be held comfortably in
one hand. Altogether this promises to be one of the most delightful
reprints ever given to the public.'
_ATHENAEUM_.--'An exceedingly handsome edition.... This is decidedly a
cheap edition as well as an ornamental one.'
_WESTMINSTER GAZETTE_.--'Mr. Grant Richards is to be congratulated on
the charming edition of Miss Austen's Novels, which starts with _Sense
and Sensibility_ in two volumes. Print, paper, and binding (green and
gold, with a charming design) are all that the most fastidious could
desire. An edition of this kind is really wanted, and comes at a moment
when there is a natural inclination to turn back to the pages of this
delightful writer. The younger generation is supposed not to read Miss
Austen, which, if true, is hardly creditable to its education and good
taste. But latterly there have been signs of a re-discovery, which will
be stimulated by the issue of these beautiful volumes.'
'_Most useful companions to the traveller._'--PUNCH.
* * * * *
GRANT ALLEN'S HISTORICAL GUIDES
Fcap. 8vo (Pocket Size), Limp Cloth, Round Corners, 3s. 6d. net each
_VOLUMES NOW READY._
PARIS.
CITIES OF BELGIUM (Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp).
VENICE.
FLORENCE.
_VOLUMES IN PREPARATION._
MUNICH.
CITIES OF NORTH ITALY (Milan, Verona, Padua, Bologna, Ravenna).
DRESDEN (with Nuremberg, etc).
ROME, Pagan and Christian.
CITIES OF NORTHERN FRANCE (Rouen, Amiens, Blois, Tours, Orleans).
* * * * *
Some Opinions of the Press.
_THE TIMES_.--'Such good work in the way of showing students the right
manner of approaching the history of a great city.... The execution of
the little volumes is, on the whole, admirable.... These useful little
volumes.'
_THE GUARDIAN_.--From the point of view of really intelligent
sight-seeing, the two little volumes that have already appeared are
better than anything that we yet have; and if the holiday-maker will
only take them with him to Paris or Florence, he will probably feel that
he has learnt more of the real city than in all his former visits.
_THE SPECTATOR_.--'A visitor to Florence could hardly, we imagine, do
better than provide himself with this volume. A great amount of
matter--and good matter, too--is compressed into a small space, for the
book is light, and such as can go into a pocket of moderate capacity.
Mr. Grant Allen not only guides his reader's judgment, but disposes of
his time for him; he must not only not do much at once, but must arrange
his sight-seeing in an economical and intelligent way.'
_MORNING POST_.--'That much-abused class of people, the tourists, have
often been taunted with their ignorance and want of culture, and the
perfunctory manner in which they hurry through and "do" the art
galleries of Europe. There is a large amount of truth, no doubt, in the
charge, but they might very well retort on their critics that no one had
come forward to meet their wants, or to assist in dispelling their
ignorance. No doubt there are guide-books, very excellent ones in their
way, but on all matters of art very little better than mere indices;
something fuller was required to enable the average man intelligently to
appreciate the treasures submitted to his views. Mr. Grant Allen has
undertaken to meet their wants, and offers these handbooks to the public
at a price which ought to be within the reach of every one who can
afford to travel at all. The idea is a good one, and should ensure the
success which Mr. Allen deserves.'
GRANT RICHARDS, 9 HENRIETTA ST., COVENT GARDEN, W.C.