The transcriber has created the cover imageand placed it in the public domain.
TheADVENTUROUS LADY
By
J. C. SNAITH
The Adventurous Lady
The Undefeated
The Sailor
The Time Spirit
The Coming
Anne Feversham
These Are Appleton Books
D. APPLETON & COMPANY
Publishers New York
The
ADVENTUROUS LADY
BY
J. C. SNAITH
AUTHOR OF “THE UNDEFEATED,” “THE SAILOR,”
“BROKE OF COVENDEN”
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK MCMXX
COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
[Pg 1]
The
ADVENTUROUS LADY
I
Peace and her blessings were flowing already.All the same there was a terrible crush at Belgravia.The congestion of passengers and their luggageat the terminus of the B. S. W. was enough todaunt the stoutest heart, but a girl in a sealskin coatwith a skunk collar standing at the bookstall on PlatformThree was as calm and collected as if the warwas still going on. Outwardly at least she made noconcession to the fact that the Armistice had beensigned three days.
She chose some newspapers and magazines and paidfor them with an air that almost treated money withthe disdain it reserved for literature. Then she movedtowards a figure of sombre dignity standing betweenthe barrier and herself.
“Come on, Pikey,” she said.
A tall, griffin-like woman, craggy of feature butalmost oppressively respectable, followed her mistressdourly. The duenna carried a large, queer-shaped,rather disreputable-looking dressing case whose faded[Pg 2]purple cover was adorned with a coronet. As theirtickets were franked at the barrier, these ladies wereinformed that “All stations beyond Exeter” were upon the right.
In spite of such clear and explicit instructions, itwas not easy to get to all the stations beyond Exeter.Platform Three was a maelstrom of almost everyknown community. There were Italians and Serbians,Welshmen and such men, Japanese sailors and turbanedHindoos; the personal suite of PresidentMasaryk; Tommies and poilus; American tars anddoughboys; British and Colonial officers, their kit andappurtenances; and over and above all these were themembers of the traveling public which in other dayshad kept the railways running and had paid the shareholderstheir dividends.
A cool head and a firm will were needed to get asfar as the