The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Larkspur, by Meredith Nicholson

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Title: Lady Larkspur

Author: Meredith Nicholson

Release Date: September 7, 2006 [EBook #19204]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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LADY LARKSPUR
BY
MEREDITH NICHOLSON

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1919

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COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published March, 1919

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY P. F. COLLIER & SONS, INC.

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TO BENNETT AND PEGGY GATES

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE "TROOPS" 1
II. THE AMAZING WIDOW 38
III. A FAN 79
IV. PURSUING KNIGHTS 112
V. ALICE 138

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CHAPTER I

THE "TROOPS"

"It was hard luck," said Searles, "that I should spend a year writing a
play for a woman only to find that she had vanished--jumped off the
earth into nowhere. This was my highest flight, Singleton, the best
writing I ever did, and after the vast pains I took with the thing, the
only woman I ever saw who could possibly act it is unavailable; worse
than that, absolutely undiscoverable! Nobody knows I have this script;
I've kept quiet about it simply because I'm not going to be forced into
accepting a star I don't want. I have a feeling about this play that I
never had about my other things. That girl was its inspiration. The
public has been so kind to my small offerings that I'm trying to lead
'em on to the best I can do; something a little finer and more
imaginative, with a touch of poetry, if you please. And now----"

He rose from his broad work-table (he scorned the familiar type of desk)
and glared at me as though I were responsible for his troubles. As he
knew I had been flying