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BIRDS OF PREY

BY

M.E. BRADDON



[Illustration: "Be good enough to take me straight to her," said the
Captain, "I am her father."]




CONTENTS:

Book the First.

FATAL FRIENDSHIP.

    I. THE HOUSE IN BLOOMSBURY
   II. PHILIP SHELDON READS THE "LANCET"
  III. MR. AND MRS. HALLIDAY
   IV. A PERPLEXING ILLNESS
    V. THE LETTER FROM THE "ALLIANCE" OFFICE
   VI. MR. BURKHAM'S UNCERTAINTIES

Book the Second.

THE TWO MACAIRES.

    I. A GOLDEN TEMPLE
   II. THE EASY DESCENT
  III. "HEART BARE, HEART HUNGRY, VERY POOR"

Book the Third.

HEAPING UP RICHES.

    I. A FORTUNATE MARRIAGE
   II. CHARLOTTE
  III. GEORGE SHELDON'S PROSPECTS
   IV. DIANA FINDS A NEW HOME
    V. AT THE LAWN
   VI. THE COMPACT OF GRAY'S INN
  VII. AUNT SARAH
 VIII. CHARLOTTE PROPHESIES  RAIN
   IX. MR. SHELDON ON THE WATCH

Book the Fourth.

VALENTINE HAWKEHURST'S RECORD.

    I. THE OLDEST INHABITANT
   II. MATTHEW HAYGARTH'S RESTING-PLACE
  III. MR. GOODGE'S WISDOM

Book the Fifth.

RELICS OF THE DEAD.

    I. BETRAYED BY A BLOTTING-PAD
   II. VALENTINE INVOKES THE PHANTOMS OF THE PAST
  III. HUNTING THE JUDSONS
   IV. GLIMPSES OF A BYGONE LIFE

Book the Sixth.

THE HEIRESS OF THE HAYGARTHS.

    I. DISAPPOINTMENT
   II. VALENTINE'S RECORD CONTINUED
  III. ARCADIA
   IV. IN PARADISE
    V. TOO FAIR TO LAST
   VI. FOUND IN THE BIBLE

Book the Seventh.

CHARLOTTE'S ENGAGEMENT.

    I. "IN YOUR PATIENCE YE ARE STRONG"
   II. MRS. SHELDON ACCEPTS HER DESTINY
  III. MR. HAWKEHURST AND MR. GEORGE SHELDON COME TO AN UNDERSTANDING
   IV. MR. SHELDON IS PROPITIOUS
    V. MR. SHELDON IS BENEVOLENT
   VI. RIDING THE HIGH HORSE
  VII. MR. SHELDON IS PRUDENT
 VIII. CHRISTMAS PEACE



BIRDS OF PREY


BOOK THE FIRST.

FATAL FRIENDSHIP.




CHAPTER I.

THE HOUSE IN BLOOMSBURY.


"What about?" There are some houses whereof the outward aspect is
sealed with the seal of respectability--houses which inspire confidence
in the minds of the most sceptical of butchers and bakers--houses at
whose area-gates the tradesman delivers his goods undoubtingly, and
from whose spotless door-steps the vagabond children of the
neighbourhood recoil as from a shrine too sacred for their gambols.

Such a house made its presence obvious, some years ago, in one of the
smaller streets of that west-central region which lies between Holborn
and St. Pancras Church. It is perhaps the nature of
ultra-respectability to be disagreeably conspicuous. The unsullied
brightness of No. 14 Fitzgeorge-street was a standing reproach to every
other house in the dingy thorough-fare. That one spot of cleanliness
made the surrounding dirt cruelly palpable. The muslin curtains in the
parlour windows of No. 15 would not have appeared of such a smoky
yellow if the curtains of No. 14 had not been of such a pharisaical
whiteness. Mrs. Magson, at No. 13, was a humble letter of lodgings,
always more or less in arrear with the demands of quarter-day; and it
seemed a hard thing that her door-steps, whereon were expended much
labour and hearthstone--not to mention house-flannel, which was in
itself no unimportant item in the annual expenses--should be always
thrown in the shade by the surpassing purity of the steps before No. 14.

Not satisfied with being the very pink and pattern of respectability,
the objectionable house even aspired to a kind of prettiness. It was as
bright, and pleasant, and rural of aspect as any house within earshot
of the roar and