When Tom regained consciousness it was with the feeling that his body was lying at full length in a swing and that a screw was being driven into his head. He heard the clank of chains and the starting of machinery. His memory came back by slow degrees. A snapshot in black and white representing the deck of the barge, figures moving and smoke curling up in thick clouds floated across his brain. "Yes, of course, I have been wounded," he thought confusedly.And then something even more strange occurred, and that quite close to his side. Someone was breathing hard and saying in a broken voice:"Wake up, dearest, look at me, and say that you are not in danger, my dear one, my love." ... Two soft, warm lips were pressed on his, then shyly withdrawn, only to return in a passionate kiss. It was indeed marvelous!"I expect I am dreaming," he thought as he opened his eyes.Elaine's tear-stained, lovely face was very near to his, an expression of unspeakable anxiety and distress in her eyes. He raised himself upon his elbow and put a hand up to his head; it was tightly bandaged."Won't you say once more what you said just now?" he murmured, rather incoherently.She bent her head and blushed."It is all over now," she said softly; "Dixon and Corman are prisoners, and Toroni is dead; it was he who fired at you, and oh ... I am so glad that the wound is not dangerous."Tom fell back against the cushions. He had discovered that he was lying on the couch in the saloon and they were alone."I don't know," he said, hesitating. "I fancy it might be most dangerous unless I have a kind and loving nurse.""I shall try to do my best," she replied in a gentle tone.He sat up with a bound and drew her to him."Elaine," he said, "I love you."She lay still in his arms; he raised her head and kissed her. "I have loved you from the first moment I saw you," he said.She smiled faintly. "That's an old, old story which you can read in any book.""Yes, I know that. I only said it as the correct thing and as a matter of form. But really, Elaine, I have loved you from the time when you were recovering from the fever of your wound, and I saw you at the window in my smoking-room. My darling, say once more what you said just now when I opened my eyes."She bent down, looked into his eyes, and said: "I love you.""No, say it in Swedish," he said, in a tone of command."Jag älskar dig," she repeated obediently.* * *A month later Maurice Wallion was sitting in a chair facing the Chief of the Secret Service Division of New York in his private office. They were smoking the cigars the Chief had once mentioned on the telephone, and he was listening with intense interest to Wallion's graphic story."Well, and what do you think of McTuft?" he said genially when the story was finished."A fine, intelligent fellow, but as obstinate as a mule," replied Wallion, laughing. "I strongly recommend him for promotion."The Chief sat quiet for a time, turning over in his mind the tale he had just heard."It will be a perplexing business to discover all those heirs and share out the gold properly.""A local Seattle paper is going to take the initiative and form a sort of Managing Committee," said Wallion, "but William Robertson was not anxious that all the world should know about it and, I suppose, the higher powers will also have a word to say in the matter.""Naturally. By the way, I conclude you will not be present when Dixon and Corman come up for trial?""No, I have other business in hand, but I left with the Public Prosecutor a clear and full account of my part in the affair. In a way, I am rather sorry for Dixon: his power and influence were in reality only nominal ... he coveted wealth and position, and was dragged down against his better knowledge. As to Madame Lorraine, she is sure to be acquitted, for she was entirely under her brother's sway. But Doctor Corman deserves and must expect severe punishment; he knew well enough what he was doing.""Yes," said the Chief Detective, meditatively, "we humans are a queer lot to be called the 'crowning piece' of creation. And the nice little lady ... Elaine Robertson, what promises does the future hold out to her?""Elaine Murner, once Robertson, you mean; she is very well, judging from Tom's jubilant telegram despatched immediately after the wedding. Her father is coming over to Sweden to take up his abode with Christian Dreyel. Elaine, of course, will be with her happy—architect husband...."For a time they continued to smoke without speaking, then the Chief asked:"Now, as to your own plans, Wallion: the man who saved King Solomon's millions has a right to a good big reward."But Maurice Wallion interrupted him, and stooping, unlocked a Gladstone bag which lay at his feet. Extracting therefrom twelve brown wooden dolls, he set them in a row on the table, and said with a laugh:"As a reward I claim these ... as a souvenir ofNO. 13 TORONI."* * * * * * * *The following pagescontain information aboutOTHER BOOKS FOR THE GENERAL READERPublished byHENRY HOLT AND COMPANYRECENT HUMOROUS BOOKSLOVE CONQUERS ALLBy Robert C. Benchley. Author of "Of All Things!"All the publisher's copy men wrote up hill and wrote down again and they couldn't give any idea of how funny this book is. So one of them threw down his pen and said: "It Beats 'Of All Things!'" Why gild the butterfly? Robert Benchley's first book placed him at a bound in the very front rank of American humorists. This handsome and perfectly appointed young man is the wit of the day. Not to know him is to be in the outer darkness, as—well, as everybody knows. Many full-page illustrations by Gluyas Williams. $2.00EUCLID'S OUTLINE OF SEXBy Wilbur D. BirdwoodMirthful beyond measure is this scientific work so highly praised by Professor Taffy Topaz and other eminent authorities.It is a Cervantesian view of that which so many of us have recently got—the Freudian complex."Outwitting Our Inhibitions" would have been a better title than that chosen by the illustrious Mr. Birdwood.The author, by the way, is a recluse poet known the world over for the Miltonian quality of his vers libre verse. This is the first time he has, as the Freudian term is, ever escaped.On the origin, the evolution and the psychology of asses nothing approaching his profundity has ever been seen.Illustrated by Herb Roth. $1.75DARKEST HOLLYWOODBy Robert E. SherwoodA comprehensive but cheerful description of the famous California film colony, by the motion-picture critic of Life. Mr. Sherwood, having read all the wild stories about Hollywood, "the twentieth-century Babylon," decided to conduct a personal investigation. His chief aim was to find out, "What's all the shootin' for?" He visited all the studios and the movie stars' homes, and even went so far as to act in a picture himself. Here are the results of his investigation in the celluloid belt. They include intimate portraits of all the cinema celebrities: Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, William S. Hart, Cecil B. De Mille, Wallace Reid and many others. There is also a detailed description of the methods of movie production, from the time the story is first written until the picture is exhibited on the screen.Illustrated by Ralph Barton. Probable price, $2.00BELSHAZZAR COURTBy Simeon StrunskyAuthor of "Sinbad and His Friends," "Professor Latimer's Progress," Etc.NEW EDITION. ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER JACK DUNCANThis new edition of Mr. Strunsky's well-known book contains a great deal of new matter, and is further supplemented with illustrations depicting various aspects of New York. The author has few equals in the United States as a light essayist, and can touch a popular note, as the success of his recent "Sinbad" shows. $2.00HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY19 WEST 44TH STREET (VIII '22) NEW YORK* * * * *SECRET PARTNERBy Elizabeth FrazerA story with humor of love, conflict and a fateful dream. $1.75New York Post's Literary Review: "A dream adds a touch of the occult, an eerie quality ... very well done and holds the interest ... a saving sense of humor."New York Times' Book Review: "Marked by excellent suspense ... an unusual supernatural quality."Bookman: "An easy-to-read book with delightful details."CHILDREN OF TRANSGRESSIONBy G. Vere TylerA dramatic tale of a woman's expiation, laid in the Virginia of to-day. $1.75New York Herald: "There is a strength, sincerity and directness of passion that is not quite of our own day. It is almost necessary to go back to the tremendous "night pieces" of John Webster to find anything comparable in effect."Boston Transcript: "Makes the Northern reader hold his breath.... A deeply considered and carefully wrought novel ... in many ways a remarkable book. One cannot leave it without a feeling of respect for the unrelenting bravery and deep insight of its author."PATCHWORKBy Beverley NicholsA novel of Oxford since the War that offers striking comparisons to "The Beginning of Wisdom." $1.75Yale Literary Magazine: "It has sincerity and continuity, and occasionally gives us passages which are more beautiful than any in 'This Side of Paradise' and as lovely as the most delicate in 'The Beginning of Wisdom' ... The end is wholly satisfactory."Hartford Courant: "A lovely, descriptive gift—the vision to perceive, and to make others perceive with him.... Something there, which, in a wholly indefinable way, suggests the work of Hugh Walpole."Outlook: "Engaging, humorous, and delightfully youthful."London Observer: At last! Here is not only a novel which will live, but one which has been lived."HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY19 WEST 44TH STREET (VIII '22) NEW YORK* * * * *NOVELS BY ROMAIN ROLLANDJEAN-CHRISTOPHEDAWN—MORNING—YOUTH—REVOLTJEAN-CHRISTOPHE IN PARISTHE MARKET PLACE—ANTOINETTE—THE HOUSEJEAN-CHRISTOPHE: JOURNEY'S ENDLOVE AND FRIENDSHIP—THE BURNING BUSH—THE NEW DAWNEach $2.00"'Hats off, gentlemen—a genius.' ... One may mention 'Jean-Christophe' in the same breath with Balzac's 'Lost Illusions'; it is as big as that.... It is moderate praise to call it with Edmund Gosse 'the noblest work of fiction of the twentieth century.' ... A book as big, as elemental, as original as though the art of fiction began today.... We have nothing comparable in English literature...."—Springfield Republican.COLAS BREUGNON BURGUNDIANOF A GALLANT MAN IN THE DAYS OF MARIE DE MEDICIS.$1.75"A book playful and tender, with an engaging philosophic courageous old man for teller and hero ... light-spirited yet penetrating.... He has a noble courage and can jest in the face of death.... Above all, he has all the domestic virtues."—New York Evening Post.CLERAMBAULTTHE STORY OF A MAN WHO DARED TO STAND AGAINST THE MOB.$2.00"The sanest work of art that has come from the great war.... Indubitably Rolland's finest work."—Boston Transcript.AN IDYL OF LOVE "BORN UNDER THE WING OF DEATH."$1.50"This exquisite bit of work.... It is his hatred of war that inspired the book, while it is his greatness as a man that gave it its present form."—Chicago Evening Post."He has equalled Victor Hugo's description of the love of Marius."—New York Sun.A 32-page leaflet on Rolland on requestHENRY HOLT AND COMPANYPublishers (VIII '22) New York*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKNO. 13 TORONI***
When Tom regained consciousness it was with the feeling that his body was lying at full length in a swing and that a screw was being driven into his head. He heard the clank of chains and the starting of machinery. His memory came back by slow degrees. A snapshot in black and white representing the deck of the barge, figures moving and smoke curling up in thick clouds floated across his brain. "Yes, of course, I have been wounded," he thought confusedly.
And then something even more strange occurred, and that quite close to his side. Someone was breathing hard and saying in a broken voice:
"Wake up, dearest, look at me, and say that you are not in danger, my dear one, my love." ... Two soft, warm lips were pressed on his, then shyly withdrawn, only to return in a passionate kiss. It was indeed marvelous!
"I expect I am dreaming," he thought as he opened his eyes.
Elaine's tear-stained, lovely face was very near to his, an expression of unspeakable anxiety and distress in her eyes. He raised himself upon his elbow and put a hand up to his head; it was tightly bandaged.
"Won't you say once more what you said just now?" he murmured, rather incoherently.
She bent her head and blushed.
"It is all over now," she said softly; "Dixon and Corman are prisoners, and Toroni is dead; it was he who fired at you, and oh ... I am so glad that the wound is not dangerous."
Tom fell back against the cushions. He had discovered that he was lying on the couch in the saloon and they were alone.
"I don't know," he said, hesitating. "I fancy it might be most dangerous unless I have a kind and loving nurse."
"I shall try to do my best," she replied in a gentle tone.
He sat up with a bound and drew her to him.
"Elaine," he said, "I love you."
She lay still in his arms; he raised her head and kissed her. "I have loved you from the first moment I saw you," he said.
She smiled faintly. "That's an old, old story which you can read in any book."
"Yes, I know that. I only said it as the correct thing and as a matter of form. But really, Elaine, I have loved you from the time when you were recovering from the fever of your wound, and I saw you at the window in my smoking-room. My darling, say once more what you said just now when I opened my eyes."
She bent down, looked into his eyes, and said: "I love you."
"No, say it in Swedish," he said, in a tone of command.
"Jag älskar dig," she repeated obediently.
* * *
A month later Maurice Wallion was sitting in a chair facing the Chief of the Secret Service Division of New York in his private office. They were smoking the cigars the Chief had once mentioned on the telephone, and he was listening with intense interest to Wallion's graphic story.
"Well, and what do you think of McTuft?" he said genially when the story was finished.
"A fine, intelligent fellow, but as obstinate as a mule," replied Wallion, laughing. "I strongly recommend him for promotion."
The Chief sat quiet for a time, turning over in his mind the tale he had just heard.
"It will be a perplexing business to discover all those heirs and share out the gold properly."
"A local Seattle paper is going to take the initiative and form a sort of Managing Committee," said Wallion, "but William Robertson was not anxious that all the world should know about it and, I suppose, the higher powers will also have a word to say in the matter."
"Naturally. By the way, I conclude you will not be present when Dixon and Corman come up for trial?"
"No, I have other business in hand, but I left with the Public Prosecutor a clear and full account of my part in the affair. In a way, I am rather sorry for Dixon: his power and influence were in reality only nominal ... he coveted wealth and position, and was dragged down against his better knowledge. As to Madame Lorraine, she is sure to be acquitted, for she was entirely under her brother's sway. But Doctor Corman deserves and must expect severe punishment; he knew well enough what he was doing."
"Yes," said the Chief Detective, meditatively, "we humans are a queer lot to be called the 'crowning piece' of creation. And the nice little lady ... Elaine Robertson, what promises does the future hold out to her?"
"Elaine Murner, once Robertson, you mean; she is very well, judging from Tom's jubilant telegram despatched immediately after the wedding. Her father is coming over to Sweden to take up his abode with Christian Dreyel. Elaine, of course, will be with her happy—architect husband...."
For a time they continued to smoke without speaking, then the Chief asked:
"Now, as to your own plans, Wallion: the man who saved King Solomon's millions has a right to a good big reward."
But Maurice Wallion interrupted him, and stooping, unlocked a Gladstone bag which lay at his feet. Extracting therefrom twelve brown wooden dolls, he set them in a row on the table, and said with a laugh:
"As a reward I claim these ... as a souvenir of
NO. 13 TORONI."
* * * * * * * *
The following pagescontain information aboutOTHER BOOKS FOR THE GENERAL READERPublished byHENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
RECENT HUMOROUS BOOKS
LOVE CONQUERS ALL
By Robert C. Benchley. Author of "Of All Things!"
All the publisher's copy men wrote up hill and wrote down again and they couldn't give any idea of how funny this book is. So one of them threw down his pen and said: "It Beats 'Of All Things!'" Why gild the butterfly? Robert Benchley's first book placed him at a bound in the very front rank of American humorists. This handsome and perfectly appointed young man is the wit of the day. Not to know him is to be in the outer darkness, as—well, as everybody knows. Many full-page illustrations by Gluyas Williams. $2.00
EUCLID'S OUTLINE OF SEX
By Wilbur D. Birdwood
Mirthful beyond measure is this scientific work so highly praised by Professor Taffy Topaz and other eminent authorities.
It is a Cervantesian view of that which so many of us have recently got—the Freudian complex.
"Outwitting Our Inhibitions" would have been a better title than that chosen by the illustrious Mr. Birdwood.
The author, by the way, is a recluse poet known the world over for the Miltonian quality of his vers libre verse. This is the first time he has, as the Freudian term is, ever escaped.
On the origin, the evolution and the psychology of asses nothing approaching his profundity has ever been seen.
Illustrated by Herb Roth. $1.75
DARKEST HOLLYWOOD
By Robert E. Sherwood
A comprehensive but cheerful description of the famous California film colony, by the motion-picture critic of Life. Mr. Sherwood, having read all the wild stories about Hollywood, "the twentieth-century Babylon," decided to conduct a personal investigation. His chief aim was to find out, "What's all the shootin' for?" He visited all the studios and the movie stars' homes, and even went so far as to act in a picture himself. Here are the results of his investigation in the celluloid belt. They include intimate portraits of all the cinema celebrities: Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Harold Lloyd, William S. Hart, Cecil B. De Mille, Wallace Reid and many others. There is also a detailed description of the methods of movie production, from the time the story is first written until the picture is exhibited on the screen.
Illustrated by Ralph Barton. Probable price, $2.00
BELSHAZZAR COURT
By Simeon Strunsky
Author of "Sinbad and His Friends," "Professor Latimer's Progress," Etc.
NEW EDITION. ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER JACK DUNCAN
This new edition of Mr. Strunsky's well-known book contains a great deal of new matter, and is further supplemented with illustrations depicting various aspects of New York. The author has few equals in the United States as a light essayist, and can touch a popular note, as the success of his recent "Sinbad" shows. $2.00
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY19 WEST 44TH STREET (VIII '22) NEW YORK
* * * * *
SECRET PARTNER
By Elizabeth Frazer
A story with humor of love, conflict and a fateful dream. $1.75
New York Post's Literary Review: "A dream adds a touch of the occult, an eerie quality ... very well done and holds the interest ... a saving sense of humor."
New York Times' Book Review: "Marked by excellent suspense ... an unusual supernatural quality."
Bookman: "An easy-to-read book with delightful details."
CHILDREN OF TRANSGRESSION
By G. Vere Tyler
A dramatic tale of a woman's expiation, laid in the Virginia of to-day. $1.75
New York Herald: "There is a strength, sincerity and directness of passion that is not quite of our own day. It is almost necessary to go back to the tremendous "night pieces" of John Webster to find anything comparable in effect."
Boston Transcript: "Makes the Northern reader hold his breath.... A deeply considered and carefully wrought novel ... in many ways a remarkable book. One cannot leave it without a feeling of respect for the unrelenting bravery and deep insight of its author."
PATCHWORK
By Beverley Nichols
A novel of Oxford since the War that offers striking comparisons to "The Beginning of Wisdom." $1.75
Yale Literary Magazine: "It has sincerity and continuity, and occasionally gives us passages which are more beautiful than any in 'This Side of Paradise' and as lovely as the most delicate in 'The Beginning of Wisdom' ... The end is wholly satisfactory."
Hartford Courant: "A lovely, descriptive gift—the vision to perceive, and to make others perceive with him.... Something there, which, in a wholly indefinable way, suggests the work of Hugh Walpole."
Outlook: "Engaging, humorous, and delightfully youthful."
London Observer: At last! Here is not only a novel which will live, but one which has been lived."
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY19 WEST 44TH STREET (VIII '22) NEW YORK
* * * * *
NOVELS BY ROMAIN ROLLAND
JEAN-CHRISTOPHEDAWN—MORNING—YOUTH—REVOLT
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE IN PARISTHE MARKET PLACE—ANTOINETTE—THE HOUSE
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE: JOURNEY'S ENDLOVE AND FRIENDSHIP—THE BURNING BUSH—THE NEW DAWN
Each $2.00
"'Hats off, gentlemen—a genius.' ... One may mention 'Jean-Christophe' in the same breath with Balzac's 'Lost Illusions'; it is as big as that.... It is moderate praise to call it with Edmund Gosse 'the noblest work of fiction of the twentieth century.' ... A book as big, as elemental, as original as though the art of fiction began today.... We have nothing comparable in English literature...."—Springfield Republican.
COLAS BREUGNON BURGUNDIAN
OF A GALLANT MAN IN THE DAYS OF MARIE DE MEDICIS.
$1.75
"A book playful and tender, with an engaging philosophic courageous old man for teller and hero ... light-spirited yet penetrating.... He has a noble courage and can jest in the face of death.... Above all, he has all the domestic virtues."—New York Evening Post.
CLERAMBAULT
THE STORY OF A MAN WHO DARED TO STAND AGAINST THE MOB.
$2.00
"The sanest work of art that has come from the great war.... Indubitably Rolland's finest work."—Boston Transcript.
AN IDYL OF LOVE "BORN UNDER THE WING OF DEATH."
$1.50
"This exquisite bit of work.... It is his hatred of war that inspired the book, while it is his greatness as a man that gave it its present form."—Chicago Evening Post.
"He has equalled Victor Hugo's description of the love of Marius."—New York Sun.
A 32-page leaflet on Rolland on request
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANYPublishers (VIII '22) New York
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOKNO. 13 TORONI***