Part 18

Perhaps of all conclusions to a situation so portentous, that which occurred was the least possible. Twenty minutes after Mrs. Knox met her antagonist I was summoned from strapping my portmanteau to face the appalling duty of escorting the combatants, in Lady Knox's brougham, to the church outside the back gate, to which Miss Sally had preceded them in the donkey-carriage. I pulled myself together, went down stairs, and found that the millennium had suddenly set in. It had apparently dawned with the news that Aussolas and all things therein were bequeathed to Flurry by his grandmother, and had established itself finally upon the considerations that the marriage was past praying for, and that the diamonds were intended for Miss Sally.

We fetched the bride and bridegroom from the church; we fetched old Eustace Hamilton, who married them; we dug out the champagne from the cellar; we even found rice and threw it.

The hired carriage that had been ordered to take the runaways across country to a distant station was driven by Slipper. He was shaved; he wore an old livery coat and a new pot hat; he was wondrous sober. On the following morning he was found asleep on a heap of stones ten miles away; somewhere in the neighbourhood one of the horses was grazing in a field with a certain amount of harness hanging about it. The carriage and the remaining horse were discovered in a roadside ditch, two miles farther on; one of the carriage doors had been torn off, and in the interior the hens of the vicinity were conducting an exhaustive search after the rice that lurked in the cushions.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE PRESS OF THE PUBLISHERS.

THE NEW NELSON CLASSICS

_Over 300 volumes. Cloth gilt. Each 1s. 6d. net._

This famous series, which is now more attractive than ever, contains many notable modern books, the classics of to-morrow, besides "classics" in the accepted sense. Stevenson, Dickens, Scott, the Brontës, Jane Austen, Smollett, Trollope, Hazlitt, Lamb, Boswell, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Keats, Milton, Blake--all the great novelists and poets are included; volumes of history, biography, travel, science, religion, etc.; and children's classics.

Recent additions include MOTHER GOOSE, edited by Joan Huggins (300 nursery rhymes, 200 pictures); RUBÁIYÁT of Omar Khayyam, in Fitzgerald's rendering, with an Introduction by Monica Redlich; PLAYS of R. B. Sheridan, complete, edited by John Hampden, from the original editions; HUCKLEBERRY FINN, Mark Twain (Illustrated); BLACK BEAUTY, Anna Sewell (Illustrated); A SHORTER PEPYS, the famous Diary, abridged by F. W. Tickner; GREAT PHILOSOPHIES OF THE WORLD, C. E. M. Joad; CAPITAL, Karl Marx, abridged by John Strachey; THE WORLD OF GREECE AND ROME, Edwyn Bevan; HELEN WITH THE HIGH HAND, Arnold Bennett; THE GOLDEN AGE, Kenneth Grahame; THE NAP AND OTHER STORIES, Walter de la Mare; GREENMANTLE, John Buchan; THE PATH TO ROME, Hilaire Belloc; TRENT'S LAST CASE, E. C. Bentley; MANY CARGOES, W. W. Jacobs; THE ENGLISH NOVEL, J. B. Priestley; GARIBALDI AND THE THOUSAND, G. M. Trevelyan.

_Please send for complete list: Nelsons, 35-36 Paternoster Row, London, E.C.4; Parkside Works, Edinburgh; 25 rue Denfert-Rochereau, Paris; 312 Flinders Street, Melbourne; 91-93 Wellington Street West, Toronto; 381-385 Fourth Avenue, New York. Many new volumes are being issued._

PLAYS AND BOOKS ON DRAMA

NELSONS publish several hundred plays, in one act and longer, for players of all ages and all tastes--and many excellent books on drama, play-production, concerts, ballet, acting, costume, etc., etc. New volumes are constantly appearing.

They publish also many playbooks for schools, including a graduated course in drama (ages 4-18) which is unique and extremely successful.

Send a card to-day--"PLAY LISTS, PLEASE," or "SCHOOL PLAY LISTS, PLEASE"--to Messrs. Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., 35-36 Paternoster Row, London, E.C.4; Parkside Works, Edinburgh; 25 rue Denfert Rochereau, Paris; 312 Flinders Street, Melbourne; 91-93 Wellington Street West, Toronto; 381 Fourth Avenue, New York.

PLAYS WITHOUT FEES

_Edited by_

JOHN HAMPDEN

Opportunity, a drama in one act (_R. J. McGregor_)--Other Times, Other Manners, a burlesque in two scenes (_John Pearmain_)--Aunt Deborah, a farce in one act (_Nora Ratcliff_)--Celestial Meeting, a farcical sketch (_Clive Sansom_)--The Friendly Waiter, a comedy sketch (Evelyn Smith)--Gabriel Grub, a play in mime (_Gladys Wiles_). The first four plays are now published for the first time. All are excellent for amateur performance and easy to stage. No acting fees.

_Quarter cloth boards. 2s. net._