



Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders









THE MISCHIEF-MAKER

BY

E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM

AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHTED WAY," "THE TEMPTING OF TAVERNAKE," "HAVOC," ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANSON BOOTH

1913






CONTENTS



BOOK ONE



CHAPTER


    I SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS

   II AN INDISCREET LETTER

  III A RUINED CAREER

   IV A BUNCH OF VIOLETS

    V A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE

   VI AT THE CAFE L'ATHENEE

  VII COFFEE FOR THREE

 VIII IN PARIS

   IX MADAME CHRISTOPHOR

    X BETTER ACQUAINTANCE

   XI THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG

  XII AT THE RAT MORT

 XIII POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM

  XIV THE MORNING AFTER

   XV BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

  XVI "HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?"

 XVII KENDRICKS IS HOST

XVIII A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS

  XIX AN OFFER

   XX FALKENBERG ACTS




BOOK TWO



CHAPTER



    I THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE

   II "TO OUR NEW SELVES"

  III WORK FOR JULIEN

   IV A STARTLING DISCLOSURE

    V THE FIRST ARTICLE

   VI FALKENBERG FAILS

  VII LADY ANNE DECLINES

 VIII A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

   IX FOOLHARDY JULIEN

    X THE SECOND ATTEMPT

   XI BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS

  XII DISTRESSING NEWS

 XIII ESTERMEN'S DEATH WARRANT

  XIV SANCTUARY

   XV NEARING A CRISIS

  XVI FALKENBERG'S LAST REPORT

 XVII DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG

XVIII THE ONE WAY OUT

  XIX ALL ENDS WELL




ILLUSTRATIONS

"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg"

"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame
Christophor?"

"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!"

"Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of the French Detective
Service"





BOOK ONE




CHAPTER I


SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS


The girl who was dying lay in an invalid chair piled up with cushions
in a sheltered corner of the lawn. The woman who had come to visit her
had deliberately turned away her head with a murmured word about the
sunshine and the field of buttercups. Behind them was the little
sanitarium, a gray stone villa built in the style of a chateau,
overgrown with creepers, and with terraced lawns stretching down to the
sunny corner to which the girl had been carried earlier in the day.
There were flowers everywhere--beds of hyacinths, and borders of purple
and yellow crocuses. A lilac tree was bursting into blossom, the breeze
was soft and full of life. Below, beyond the yellow-starred field of
which the woman had spoken, flowed the Seine, and in the distance one
could see the outskirts of Paris.

"The doctor says I am better," the girl whispered plaintively. "This
morning he was quite cheerful. I suppose he knows, but it is strange
that I should feel so weak--weaker even day by day. And my cough--it
tears me to pieces all the time."

The woman who was bending over her gulped something down in her throat
and turned her head. Although older than the invalid whom she had come
to visit, she was young and very beautiful. Her cheeks were a trifle
pale, but even without the tears her eyes were almost the color of
violets.

"The