The Red Derelict

The word was breathed rather than uttered, and its intonation conveyed a sense of the most perfect, even ecstatic, contentment. The vivid green of early summer woods piled as it...

"I saw the cartridges fall out of your pocket while you fought the brute," she answered. "That suggested it. I put one in the rifle and aimed just behind the shoulder, as I had...

The exclamation possessive which had escaped Wagram as he contemplated Hilversea Court and its fair and goodly appurtenances, was, as a matter of hard fact, somewhat "previous,"...

The hall of Siege House was littered with wrappings and twine, in the midst of which stood Delia Calmour, in a fervour of delight and admiration, while her brother Bob extracted...

Clytie opened the gate with the little half-startled look of astonishment in her face which she had so quickly yet carefully planned. The countenance of the visitor, on the othe...

The chapel belonging to Hilversea Court stood a little back from the main avenue, and was so embowered in fine old trees as to be invisible in summer-time from the main road whi...

"He is a holy terror, Monsignor," explained Haldane. "Sort of paints the town red at intervals. The whole lot of them are impossible, yet this girl seems an exception. She's bee...

"You'll do nothing of the sort. When I consented to take charge of you--a weighty responsibility in itself--I did so on condition that it was at your own risk. In short, the ave...

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Clytie Calmour as a vehement ring sounded at the front gate, obviously produced by the owner of the large red head which surmounted that portal. "Great...

Delia was a quick and graceful cyclist, and now on her beautiful new machine she seemed to fly as she skimmed the level and well-kept roads; and although she covered the eleven...

"This," said the Squire, handing across the letter he had been reading. "Why, it's too comical. I never heard of such preposterous impudence in my life." And he began to pace up...

The effect of this announcement was electrical and diverse. Old Calmour dropped his knife and fork--they were at table--and stared. Even Clytie could not repress a gasp; while a...

"The young lady's in the morning room, sir," said the footman. "I put her in there, sir, because she said she'd come on a matter of business, and hoped no one else would come in."

The old Squire was skimming the morning paper, without much show of interest, however. Of politics he declared himself sick, and there was not much of any interest all round. He...

In conjecturing that Delia Calmour's honourable renunciation was probably made at the cost of her peace at home the Squire proved himself a true prophet, for the poor girl's lif...

Wagram's private study, or "den," where he was wont to do all his business thinking and writing, and which was absolutely sacred to himself and his papers and general litter, wa...

When a man thus sits, with an open letter in front of him, at which he gazes from time to time, with a contraction of the brows, it is safe to assume that his thoughts are hardl...

A week had gone by since the visit of the African adventurer, but nothing further had been heard of or from that worthy. Clearly he was not going to hurry his victim unduly, but...

One glowing summer morning saw Delia Calmour spinning her bicycle along at a great rate up the Hilversea drive. It was Sunday, and she had come to attend the chapel, a thing she...

The time was the middle of the morning, the place the saloon bar of the Golden Crown in Bassingham, and the speaker Bob Calmour, who had been indulging in more John Walker than...

"Well, Squire, I've called to settle up that little matter that has been outstanding," said Develin Hunt pleasantly as he took the seat indicated to him--exactly the same seat,...

The shock was sudden and complete. As he stood gazing out through the open window its full meaning swept over his mind as in a very flash of blasting flame. He, Wagram of Hilver...

Facing round to return to the house the sight of the latter met Wagram as with a blow. The last time he had looked upon it from outside, barely half-an-hour ago, it had been wit...

Though beloved by their tenantry and dependents the Wagrams were not exactly popular with the county--as spelt with a capital C. This saw reason, or thought it did, to regard th...

"But I do mean it. Yonder's a pretty bad coast. As for `in these days,' we haven't yet captured quite all the earth, only the greater part of it. There are still some rum places...

There was the usual clatter of knives and forks, and chinking of glasses, and scurrying of stewards in the well-lighted saloon, and during dinner the derelict they had just pass...

The solitary watcher realised instinctively that this time something was wrong. So, too, did the residue of his fellow-passengers, for in an incredibly short space of time they...

Down--down into the far depths, the weight of a world of water pressing ever down; suffocation, the bursting of myriad stars in a black, roaring sky; then upward, as though hurl...

We have hinted that Wagram's departure on his self-imposed quest had taken place quite quietly; nevertheless, after it he was very greatly missed, by none more so, perhaps, than...

A dark, comparatively cool, and restful retreat--a blaze of outside sunshine glimpsed through the aperture of a low doorway. A sense of awaking to yet another phase of passage t...

Wagram awoke, feeling strangely strong and well, considering all he had gone through. Moreover, he felt hungry. The stuff that had been administered to him must have worked wond...

Those who have fallen among barbarians have seldom been without the experience of their detainers desiring to hold some kind of converse with them, however hostile the burden of...

The stranger walked slowly across to his own quarters in a frame of mind very unwonted with him. Something had moved him--moved him powerfully. A new vista opened before him, an...

"Outrageous?" sneered the white fiend. "Let's go over the ground again. A month ago I invited you to make a protracted stay with me. I further asked you to send for your son, th...

Instinctively he put forth a hand. But--he was bound? Not so. He was bound no longer, which was one strange side of the new development to force itself upon his returning senses...

A flaming sun and a flaming sky; an oily sea, rippled up ever and anon by the skimming rush of a flight of flying-fish; a shark fin or two here and there gliding above the surfa...

Seen by the electric lights the speaker was a well-formed, beautiful girl, her face pale, and her eyes glowing with excitement and purpose. Behind her, a little in the backgroun...

It was a lovely spring morning, and through the open window came a very gurgle of bird voices from shrubbery and garden. The young green was rapidly shouldering out the winter b...

Wagram had taken his son from school for a quarter on his return. He yearned to have the boy with him after his long separation, and his restoration to life, as it were; but he...

Delia Calmour shook her head, a puzzled little frown contradicting, as it were, the soft light that was in her eyes, and a certain tender curving of the lips. Her gaze swept ove...