Jacob's Ladder

The acquisition of West End premises presented no particular difficulty, and in a few weeks' time behold a transformed and glorified Jacob Pratt, seated in a cushioned swivel ch...

Jacob watched the departure of his host, through a slit in the wall, with fascinated eyes. First of all he saw him paddle across the channel to the other side, secure the boat a...

Jacob opened the first of his two letters. It was dated from Belgrave Square and was simply a cordial reminder from the Marchioness of his promise to dine at Delchester House on...

Jacob, sleepy-eyed and desperately hungry, tumbled out of the train, a few mornings later, on to a lone stretch of platform, to find himself confronted by an exceedingly pleasan...

From that time onward, notwithstanding Jacob's unbroken composure, time began to hang heavily. Towards evening, he pulled up one of his strings and found sandwiches and whisky e...

Jacob sought distraction in the golfing resorts of England and the Continent, tried mountaineering in Switzerland, at which he had some success, and finally, with the entire Dau...

In the course of his financial peregrinations amongst the highways and byways of the city, Mr. Dane Montague made many acquaintances. It chanced that soon after the exploitation...

"Interesting developments may shortly be expected," Jacob replied reflectively. "Up to the present, only two of the party have declared themselves. Mr. Mason has made propositio...

They steamed slowly past the Statue of Liberty, early in the afternoon a few days later. Jacob and his young companion were leaning over the rail, watching the great, tangled ci...

Mr. Edward Bultiwell, of the House of Bultiwell and Sons, sat alone in his private office, one morning a week or so later, and communed with ghosts. It was a large apartment, fu...

The opportunity for an explanation between Jacob and his fellow speculators speedily presented itself. Amongst his letters, on the following morning, Jacob found a somewhat pomp...

With a sigh of relief, Jacob handed his driver to the caddy and watched the career of a truly hit ball down the smooth fairway. There was a little murmur of applause from a hund...

Felixstowe carefully concluded the enfolding of Jacob's outstretched form in an enormous rug, placed a tumbler of soda water and some dry biscuits within easy reach of him, and...

At twelve o'clock, Jacob was in Regent Street, and at one o'clock, in a new blue serge suit, shirt, collar and tie of the latest pattern, he was dividing his time between admiri...

Jacob, on the following morning, received a pencilled epistle from Sybil which brought him little satisfaction. There was no orthodox commencement, and it was written on sheets...

It must have been, Jacob decided, about half an hour later when his senses readjusted themselves to his existing environment. He was in what had apparently been the kitchen, sit...

"Richard Dauncey," Jacob said impressively, as soon as the train had started again, "you once sat in that corner and smiled at me when I got in. I think you also wished me good...

It seemed to Jacob, when he was awakened from a sound sleep about four o'clock the next morning, that his young companion's farewell words had been vainglorious. He was first of...

Houses sprang up like mushrooms on the Cropstone Wood Estate, and rents were soon at a premium. Mr. Littleham's activities were transferred, by arrangement with Jacob, to a buil...

Jacob, on his return from the telephone, found to his surprise a familiar figure seated before the piano in the long drawing-room, an apartment more picturesque than ever now in...

Jacob, in the midst of those pleasant activities necessitated by his change of fortunes, found time to write a letter. He wrote it with great care and after many revisions, and...

Jacob lingered for a month in Monte Carlo. While he found little to attract him in the gambling or the social side of the place, the glorious climate, the perpetual sunshine, th...

Soon after breakfast, on the following morning, Doctor Bardolf was shown into Jacob's sitting-room. He held his watch in his hand. Outside the house, the engine of his great aut...

Precisely two years later, Jacob Pratt sat once more in his cottage sitting-room, contemplating the remains of a barely tasted breakfast. Before him, read for the fiftieth time,...

Miss Sybil Bultiwell showed that she had a very pretty taste in food even if her weaknesses in other directions were undiscoverable. Seated at a table for two in Jacob's favouri...

Spring came, and Jacob found the monotony of life relieved by a leisurely motor trip through the south of England, during which he stopped to play golf occasionally at various w...

Jacob found life, for the next few months, an easy and a pleasant thing. He took a prolonged summer holiday and made many acquaintances at a fashionable French watering place, w...

"You scored it up against me, all right," Jacob acknowledged. "Those fellows might easily have got away with my hundred thousand pounds. I'm not at all sure that I ought not to...