



Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books







   1. Page scan source:
      http://books.google.com/books?id=gD4PAAAAQAAJ






                        A MASTER OF DECEPTION






[Illustration: "'You see, uncle--this one; as it were, death reduced
to its lowest possible denomination'" (_see page_ 99).]






                               A MASTER

                             OF DECEPTION




                                  By

                            Richard Marsh

          Author of "Twin Sisters," "The Lovely Mrs. Blake,"
                  "The Interrupted Kiss," etc., etc.




                        With a Frontispiece by
                            DUDLEY TENNANT




                       CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
               London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
                                 1913





                               CONTENTS


     CHAPTER

      1. The Inclining of a Twig.

      2. His Uncle And His Cousin.

      3. Rodney Elmore the First.

      4. The Three Girls and the Three Telegrams.

      5. Stella.

      6. Gladys.

      7. Mary.

      8. By The 9.10: The First Part of the Journey.

      9. The Second.

     10. In the Carriage--Alone.

     11. The Stranger.

     12. Marking Time.

     13. Spreading His Wings.

     14. Business First, Pleasure Afterwards.

     15. Mabel Joyce.

     16. Thomas Austin, Senior.

     17. The Acting Head of the Firm.

     18. The Perfect Lover.

     19. The Few Words at the End of the Evening.

     20. The First Line of an Old Song.

     21. The Dead Man's Letter.

     22. Philip Walter Augustus Parker.

     23. Necessary Credentials.

     24. Lovers Parting.

     25. Stella's Betrothal Feast.

     26. Good Night.

     27. The Gentleman's Departure and the Lady's Explanation.

     28. A Conspiracy of Silence.




                        A MASTER OF DECEPTION




                              CHAPTER I

                       THE INCLINING OF A TWIG


When Rodney Elmore was eleven years old, placards appeared on the
walls announcing that a circus was coming to Uffham. Rodney asked his
mother if he might go to it. Mrs. Elmore, for what appeared to her to
be sufficient reasons, said "No." Three days before the circus was to
come he went with his mother to Mrs. Bray's house, a little way out of
Uffham, to tea. The two ladies having feminine mysteries to discuss,
he was told to go into the garden to play. As he went he passed a
little room, the door of which was open. Peeping in, as curious
children will, something on a corner of the mantelpiece caught his
eye. Going closer to see what it was, he discovered that there were
two half-crowns, one on the top of the other. The desire to go to the
circus, which had never left him, gathered sudden force. Here were the
means of going. Whipping the two coins into the pocket of his
knickerbockers, he ran from the room and into the garden.

During the remainder of the afternoon the half-crowns were a burden to
him. Not because he was weighed down by a sense of guilt; but because
he feared that their absence would be discovered; that they would be
taken from him; that he would be left poor indeed. He kept down at the
far end of the garden, considering if it would not be wiser to conceal
them in some spot from which he would be able to retrieve them at the
proper time. But Mrs. Bray's was at, what to him was, a great distance
from his own home; he might not be able to get there again before the
eventful day. When the maid came to fetch him in the coins were still
in his pocket; they were still there when he left the house with his
mother.

On the eventful day his mother had to go to London. Before she went
she told Rodney that she had given the servant money to take him to
the circus. This was rather a blow to the boy, since he found himself
possessed of money which, for its intended purpose, was useless. He
had hidden the half-crowns up the chimney in his bedroom. Aware that
it might not be easy to explain how he came to be the owner of so much
cash, there they remained for quite a time. So far as he knew, nothing
was said by Mrs. Bray about the money which had gone; certainly no
suspicion attached to him.

Later he went to a public school. During the third term he went with
the school bicycle club for a spin. The master in charge had a spill.
As he fell some coins dropped out of his pocket. Rodney, who was the
only one behind him, saw a yellow coin roll into a rut at the side of
the road. Alighting, he pressed his foot on it, so that it was covered
with earth. Then, calling to the others, who, unconscious of what