



Produced by Darleen Dove, Beth, Shannon Barker and the
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    A HUMBLE ENTERPRISE

    BY ADA CAMBRIDGE


    AUTHOR OF
    "THE THREE MISS KINGS," "FIDELIS,"
    "A LITTLE MINX," ETC.


    _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ST. CLAIR SIMMONS_


    Second Edition


    LONDON
    WARD, LOCK, & BOWDEN, LIMITED
    WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.

    NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE
    1896

    [_All rights reserved_]




[Illustration: "Pinned the fragrant morsel to her throat."

_A Humble Enterprise._ _Page 97._]




CONTENTS.


    CHAP.                                     PAGE

    I. THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL                      9

    II. HER FIRST FRIEND                        24

    III. AFLOAT                                 33

    IV. THE HERO                                45

    V. HE MEETS THE HEROINE                     56

    VI. THE INEVITABLE ENSUES                   69

    VII. THERE ARE SUCH WOMEN IN THE WORLD      82

    VIII. ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW                 92

    IX. THE POTENTIAL HUSBAND                  105

    X. AS THE WIND BLOWS                       115

    XI. NATURE SPEAKS                          125

    XII. TWO WISE MEN                          138

    XIII. TWO UNWISE WOMEN                     150

    XIV. A WEAK FATHER                         159

    XV. A STRAW AGAINST THE TIDE               171

    XVI. A STAR IN TWILIGHT                    184

    XVII. "YOU NEED NOT EXPECT ME BACK"        193

    XVIII. JENNY IS TREATED LIKE A LADY        204

    XIX. WOMAN'S RIGHTS REFUSED                216

    XX. SHE CARES NOT                          228

    XXI. THE BEST AVAILABLE                    236




A HUMBLE ENTERPRISE




CHAPTER I

THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL


Joseph Liddon was deaf, and one day, when he was having a holiday in the
country, he crossed a curving railway line, and a train, sweeping round
the corner when he was looking another way, swept him out of existence.
On his shoulder he was carrying the infrequent and delightful
gun--reminiscent of happy days in English coverts and stubble
fields--and in his hand he held a dangling hare, about the cooking of
which he was dreaming pleasantly, wondering whether his wife would have
it jugged or baked. When they stopped the train and gathered him up, he
was as dead as the hare, dissolved into mere formless tatters, and his
women-folk were not allowed to see him afterwards. They came up from
town to the inquest and funeral--wife and two daughters, escorted by a
downy-lipped son--all dazed and bewildered in their suddenly transformed
world; and a gun and a broken watch and a few studs, that had been
carefully washed and polished, were the only "remains" on which they
could expend the valedictory kiss and tear. Their last memory of him was
full of the gay bustle of farewell at Spencer Street when he set forth
upon his trip. It was such an event for him to have a holiday, and to go
away by himself, that the whole family had to see him off. Even young
Joe was on the platform to carry his father's bag, and buy him the
evening papers, his train being the Sydney express, which did not leave
till after office hours. When they knew how the holiday had ended, their
bitter regrets for not having accompanied him further were greatly
soothed by the knowledge that they had gone with him so far--had closed
their life together with an act of love that had made him happy.

He had been born a gentleman in the technical sense, and had lived a
true man in every sense. In spite of this--to a great extent, probably,
because of it--he had not been very successful in the world; that is to
say, he had not made himself important or rich. Money had not come to
him with his gentle blood, and he had not had the art to command it, nor
ever would have had. It is a pursuit that requires the whole energies of
one's mind, and his mind had been distributed a good deal