ad Mr. J. Storer Clouston's "The Lunatic at Large Again." (Those who
are chumps enough to miss it deserve no consideration.) Well, both the
hero of "The Lunatic" and my "Sam Marlowe" try to get out of a tight
corner by hiding in a suit of armour in the hall of a country-house.
Looks fishy, yes? And yet I call on Heaven to witness that I am
innocent, innocent. And, if the word of Northumberland Avenue Wodehouse
is not sufficient, let me point out that this story and Mr. Clouston's
appeared simultaneously in serial form in their respective magazines.
This proves, I think, that at these cross-roads, at any rate, there has
been no dirty work. All right, Herb., you can let 'em in now.

P. G. WODEHOUSE.
Constitutional Club,
Northumberland Avenue.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. A DISTURBING MORNING 11

II. GALLANT RESCUE BY WELL-DRESSED YOUNG MAN 27

III. SAM PAVES THE WAY 56

IV. SAM CLICKS 69

V. PERSECUTION OF EUSTACE 95

VI. SCENE AT A SHIP'S CONCERT 104

VII. SUNDERED HEARTS 111

VIII. SIR MALLABY OFFERS A SUGGESTION 126

IX. ROUGH WORK AT A DINNER TABLE 144

X. TROUBLE AT WINDLES 159

XI. MR. BENNETT HAS A BAD NIGHT 180

XII. THE LURID PAST OF JOHN PETERS 193

XIII. SHOCKS ALL ROUND 207

XIV. STRONG REMARKS BY A FATHER 217

XV. DRAMA AT A COUNTRY HOUSE 227

XVI. WEBSTER, FRIEND IN NEED 242

XVII. A CROWDED NIGHT 257

THE GIRL ON THE BOAT

CHAPTER I

A DISTURBING MORNING

Through the curtained windows of the furnished flat which Mrs. Horace
Hignett had rented for her stay in New York, rays of golden sunlight
peeped in like the foremost spies of some advancing army. It was a fine
summer morning. The hands of the Dutch clock in the hall pointed to
thirteen minutes past nine; those of the ormolu clock in the
sitting-room to eleven minutes past ten; those of the carriage clock on
the bookshelf to fourteen minutes to six. In other words, it was exactly
eight; and Mrs. Hignett ackno