Produced by Al Haines

SPLENDID HAZARD

HAROLD MACGRATH

AUTHOR OF

THE GOOSE GIRL, THE LURE OF THE MASK,THE MAN ON THE BOX, ETC.

With Illustrations by

HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY

[Transcriber's note: All illustrations were missing from book.]

NEW YORK

GROSSET & DUNLAP

PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1910

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY

CHAPTER

I A MEMORABLE DATE II THE BUTTERFLY MAN III A PLASTER STATUETTE IV PIRATES AND SECRETARIES V NO FALSE PRETENSES VI SOME EXPLANATIONS VII A BIT OF ROMANTIC HISTORY VIII SOME BIRDS IN A CHIMNEY IX THEY DRESS FOR DINNER X THE GHOST OF AN OLD REGIME XI PREPARATIONS AND COGITATIONS XII M. FERRAUD INTRODUCES HIMSELF XIII THE WOMAN WHO KNEW XIV THE DRAMA BEGINS XV THEY GO A-SAILING XVI CROSS-PURPOSES XVII A QUESTION PROM KEATS XVIII CATHEWE ADVISES AND THE ADMIRAL DISCLOSES XIX BREITMANN MAKES HIS FIRST BLUNDER XX AN OLD SCANDAL XXI CAPTAIN FLANAGAN MEETS A DUKE XXII THE ADMIRAL BEGINS TO DOUBT XXIII CATHEWE ASKS QUESTIONS XXIV THE PINES OF AITONE XXV THE DUPE XXVI THE END OF THE DREAM

A SPLENDID HAZARD

CHAPTER I

A MEMORABLE DATE

A blurring rain fell upon Paris that day; a rain so fine and cold thatit penetrated the soles of men's shoes and their hearts alike, adispiriting drizzle through which the pale, acrid smoke of innumerablewood fires faltered upward from the clustering chimney-pots, only to berent into fragments and beaten down upon the glistening tiles of themansard roofs. The wide asphalts reflected the horses and carriagesand trains and pedestrians in forms grotesque, zigzagging, flitting,amusing, like a shadow-play upon a wrinkled, wind-blown curtain. Thesixteenth of June. To Fitzgerald there was something electric in thedate, a tingle of that ecstasy which frequently comes into the blood ofa man to whom the romance of a great battle is more than its history orits effect upon the destinies of human beings. Many years before, thisdate had marked the end to a certain hundred days, the eclipse of a sunmore dazzling than Rome, in the heyday of her august Caesars, had everknown: Waterloo. A little corporal of artillery; from a cocked hat toa crown, from Corsica to St. Helena: Napoleon.

Fitzgerald, as he pressed his way along the Boulevard des Invalides,his umbrella swaying and snapping in the wind much like the sail of aderelict, could see in fancy that celebrated field whereon this eclipsehad been supernally prearranged. He could hear the boom of cannon, thethunder of cavalry, the patter of musketry, now thick, now scattered,and again not unlike the subdued rattle of rain on the bulging silkcareening before him. He held the handle of the umbrella under hisarm, for the wind had a temper mawling and destructive, and veered intothe Place Vauban. Another man, coming with equal haste from theopposite direction, from the entrance of the tomb itself, was also twoparts hidden behind an umbrella. The two came together with a jolt assounding as that of two old crusaders in a friendly joust. Instantlythey retreated, low

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