The Gay Adventure: A Romance
By Bird, Richard
Classic work by Bird, Richard.
Table of Contents
THE IMPOVERISHED HERO AND THE SURPASSING DAMSEL Mr. Lionel Mortimer was a young gentleman of few intentions and no private means. Good-humored, by no means ill-looking, and with e...
BEHIND THE SCENES It was one of the great moments in Lionel's life when he handed her into the prosaic vehicle. From the chemist's shop to the cab was only a few feet, but for tha...
CONFIDENCES "This," thought Lionel, as he waited for her return, "is a queer business, a very queer business indeed. Here we have the indispensable ingredients for an adventure--n...
BREAKERS AHEAD! At eleven-thirty Lionel found himself enjoying a tete-a-tete supper in a Bloomsbury flat. He had obtained a cab, as commanded, and the lady and he had driven home ...
THE PLOT THICKENS A knock on his door roused Lionel at half past eight, and he sprang up clear-eyed and joyous to meet the sun. The events of the previous day sped pleasantly thro...
THE HISTORY OF HENRY BROWN Mr. Henry Brown was a man of forty, an age that is supposed to be the prime of life, though most of us would prefer to be ten years younger. At forty on...
MR. HEDDERWICK'S FIRST ADVENTURE "Alicia, my dear," said Robert Hedderwick to his wife, as he was smoking after dinner, "shall we talk about our annual holiday?" His wife, a dete...
A TALE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES There were two people in the room as Mr. Hedderwick opened the door, a man and a lady. The latter, he noted with amazement, was in evening dress, a lig...
ENTER TONY WILD Tony Wild, whose address was The Albany, and who enjoyed an unearned income of two thousand a year, stood on the steps of the Tivoli Music-Hall at half past ten, s...
HOW TO DRESS ON NOTHING A YEAR The two men left the station and began to walk sharply toward the town, which was close at hand. The first street they entered was deserted, but evi...
AT THE HAPPY HEART The landlord of The Happy Heart stood leaning against his door-post, smoking a churchwarden. He was enjoying his tobacco and the summer morning, and occasionall...
CROSSED ORBITS There are few things more restful than watching other people working hard, and the sensation is doubly piquant when one is sitting in the shade watching the worker ...
RATHER STAGY After Beatrice had bidden Lionel good-by in the early dawn she did the most sensible thing possible: she went to bed. But it is one thing to go to bed and another to ...
A RISE IN THE WORLD The Happy Heart was an ideal resting-place for a tired man, whether town or country-bred. To the former it made the stronger appeal, for there could be no grea...
A CHANGE OF LODGING At the club-house Lionel put his name down for a week's membership, thinking it might be useful. He learned from the local professional in the course of a shor...
A LETTER AND SOME REFLECTIONS "BLOOMSBURY, LONDON. "DEAR MR. MORTIMER,--Long before this reaches you my sister will have received a telegram introducing you proper...
OFF WITH THE OLD LOVE It is all very well to be urged to suspect, for, within reason, nothing is easier. The world, in the process of our education, deals out so many hard knocks ...
TONY AT WORK AND AT PLAY If the telephone had been in the vicar's study Mrs. Peters might have watched in vain; for to acquire accurate information through a keyhole needs practis...
THE PLOT AGAIN THICKENS At the end of three more days Lionel was feeling a little ill-used. There was still no word from Beatrice, and the watching brief he held began to look lik...
THRILL UPON THRILL This time Lionel had himself well in hand: he was ready for anything. It was no occasion for tenderness or chivalry: brusk silent action was the cue. Seizing th...
THE THORNY PATH "Dinner _as_ usual, sir?" said the landlord of The Happy Heart, looking into the parlor where Tony and Robert were playing piquet. "Please, Mr. Glew," said Tony. ...
A TELEGRAM AND SUNDRIES The twelve-year-old son of Mr. Glew, who, in the intervals of school and expiating the inevitable offenses of youth, was utilized to carry telegrams, came ...
STILL RUNNING With a glance of triumphant contempt at the bladder she had pricked so easily, Mrs. Peters turned to her husband. "I think, Charles, that I can safely leave you now ...
CERTAINTY--AHA! Let us go back a couple of hours and see what has been engaging Miss Arkwright and Lionel since their interview with Tony. They are still reclining in the hammock-...
THE GOD OF THE MACHINE Lionel stared dumbly for a moment, not completely realizing what had happened. Then he jumped up with a wry smile. "You must think me a poor watcher," he sa...
THE USUAL THING Beatrice and the three men watched the passing of the Hedderwicks in amused silence. When they had disappeared from view Billing said, "Well, that's done ... and n...