120
IX.--THE DEFENCE CLOSES 137
X.--MR. BLISS MAKES HIS SPEECH 149
XI.--TERMINATION OF THE GREAT CASE 165

BOOK SECOND.

I.--ONE NIGHT 183
II.--A FRIEND IN NEED 205
III.--SELLING A NEW ENGLAND FARM 225
IV.--AN OMINOUS WELCOME 239
V.--A FACE FROM THE PAST 257
VI.--AGNES DUDLEY 272
VII.--A WIZARD'S TEACHING 288
VIII.--THE FAITHFUL DOG 311
IX.--A WIZARD'S KNOWLEDGE 330
X.--THE BETROTHAL 347
XI.--THE GENESIS OF LOVE 362
XII.--THE MARQUIS OF LOSSY 375
XIII.--THE DISCOVERY 392
XIV.--SANATOXINE 407

A MODERN WIZARD.

BOOK FIRST.

CHAPTER I.

LAWYER AND CLIENT.

Early one morning, in the spring of eighteen hundred and
seventy-three, two young lawyers were seated in their private office.
The firm name, painted in gilt letters upon the glass of the door, was
DUDLEY & BLISS. Mortimer Dudley was the senior member, though not over
thirty years old. Robert Bliss was two years younger.

Mr. Dudley was sorting some papers and deftly tying them into bundles
with red tape. Why lawyers will persist in using tape of a sanguine
color is an unsolvable mystery to me, unless it may be that they are
loath to disturb the many old adages in which the significant couplet
of words appears. However that may be, Mr. Dudley paused in his
occupation, attracted by an exclamation from his partner, who had been
reading a morning paper.

"What is it, Robert?" asked Mr. Dudley.

"Oh! Only another sensational murder case, destined, I imagine, to add
more lustre to the name of some lawyer who doesn't need it. Mortimer,
I wonder when our turn will come. Here we have been in these rooms for
three months, and not a criminal case has come to us yet."

"Don't be impatient, Robert. We must not give up hope. Look at Munson.
He was in the same class with us at college, and we all considered him
a dunce. By accident he was engaged to defend that fellow who was
accused of poisoning his landlady. Munson actually studied chemistry
in order to defend the case. His cross-examination of the
prosecution's experts made him famous. Who knows! We may get an
opp