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A SAFETY MATCH


       *       *       *       *       *

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._


Crown 8vo, 6s.

A MAN'S MAN.

Fourth Impression.



Crown 8vo, 6s.

THE RIGHT STUFF.

_Fifth Impression._

Popular Edition, Cloth, 1s. net.



Crown 8vo, 6s.

PIP.

_Fourth Impression._

Popular Edition, Cloth, 1s. net.



WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS.

Edinburgh and London.

       *       *       *       *       *


A SAFETY MATCH

by

IAN HAY

Author of 'The Right Stuff,' 'A Man's Man,' 'Pip,' etc.

Third Impression







William Blackwood and Sons
Edinburgh and London
1911

All Rights Reserved




  _TO
  H. M. S._




CONTENTS.

  BOOK ONE.

  THE STRIKING OF THE MATCH.

  CHAP.                                           PAGE

        I. HAPPY FAMILIES                            3

       II. WANTED, A MAN                            23

      III. THE WHEELS OF JUGGERNAUT                 36

       IV. THE DEVIL A MONK WOULD BE                55

        V. A SABBATH DAY'S JOURNEY                  76

       VI. DAPHNE AS MATCHMAKER                     94

      VII. THE MATCH IS STRUCK                     105

     VIII. _MORITURA TE SALUTAT_                   115


  BOOK TWO.

  FLICKERINGS.

       IX. A HORSE TO THE WATER                    129

        X. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SOCIAL SUCCESS   145

       XI. _DIES IRAE_                             165

      XII. CILLY; OR THE WORLD WELL LOST           184

     XIII. THE COUNTERSTROKES                      197

      XIV. INTERVENTION                            219

       XV. JIM CARTHEW                             232


  BOOK THREE.

  THE LIGHTING OF THE CANDLE.

      XVI. SOME ONE TO CONFIDE IN                  243

     XVII. THE CANDLE LIT                          250

    XVIII. _ATHANASIUS CONTRA MUNDUM_              263

      XIX. _LABORARE EST ORARE_                    276

       XX. BLACK SUNDAY                            284

      XXI. _VEILLESSE SAIT_                        289

     XXII. HOLD THE FORT!                          296

    XXIII. THE LAST TO LEAVE                       308

     XXIV. ANOTHER ALIAS                           317




BOOK ONE.

THE STRIKING OF THE MATCH.




CHAPTER ONE.

HAPPY FAMILIES.


"Nicky, please, have you got Mr Pots the Painter?"

"No, Stiffy, but I'll trouble you for Mrs Bones the Butcher's Wife.
_Thank_ you. And Daph, have you got Master Bones the Butcher's Son?
_Thank_ you. Family! One to me!"

And Nicky, triumphantly plucking from her hand four pink-backed cards,
slaps them down upon the table face upwards. They are apparently
family portraits. The first--that of Bones _pere_--depicts a smug
gentleman, with appropriate mutton-chop whiskers, mutilating a
fearsome joint upon a block; the second, Mrs Bones, an ample matron in
apple-green, proffering to an unseen customer a haunch of what looks
like anaemic cab-horse; the third, Miss Bones, engaged in extracting
nourishment from a colossal bone shaped like a dumb-bell; the fourth,
Master Bones (bearing a strong family likeness to his papa), creeping
unwillingly upon an errand, clad in canary trousers and a blue
jacket, with a sirloin of beef nestling against his right ear.

It was Saturday night at the Rectory, and the Vereker family--"those
absurdly handsome Rectory children," as old Lady Curlew, of Hainings,
invariably called them--sat round the dining-room table playing "Happy
Families." The rules which govern this absorbing pastime are simple.
The families are indeed happy. They contain no widows and no orphans,
and each pair of parents possesses one son and one daughter--perhaps
the perfect number, for the sides of the house are equally balanced
both for purposes of companionship and in the event of sex-warfare. As
for procedure, cards are dealt round, and each player endeavours, by
requests based upon observation and deduction, to reunite within his
own hand the members of an entire family,--an enterprise which, while
it fosters in those who undertake it a reverence for the unities of
home life, offers a more material and immediate reward in the shape of
one point for each family collected. We will look over the shoulders
of the players as they sit, and a brief consideration of each hand and
of the tactics of its owner will possibly give us the key to the
respective dispositions of the Vereker family, as well as a useful
lesson in the art of acquiring that priceless possession, a Happy
Family.

Before starting on our tour of the table we may note that one member
of the company is otherwise engaged. This is Master Anthony Cuthbert
Vereker, aged ten years--usually known as Tony. He is the youngest
member of the family, and is one of those fortunate people who are
never bored, and who rarely require either company or assistance in
their amusements. He lives in a world of his own, peopled by folk of
his own creation;