Transcriber's note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document havebeen preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
THE STORY
OF LOUIE
BY
OLIVER ONIONS
Author of "In Accordance With the Evidence,"
"The Debit Account," etc.
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
NEW YORK
Publishers in America for Hodder & Stoughton
TO
GWLADYS
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| Prologue | 9 | |
| PART ONE | ||
| Rainham Parva | 25 | |
| PART TWO | ||
| Sutherland Place | 109 | |
| PART THREE | ||
| Mortlake Road | 175 | |
| PART FOUR | ||
| Pillar to Post | 213 | |
| PART FIVE | ||
| The Consolidation | 259 | |
| Envoi | 356 |
PROLOGUE
I
In an old number of Punch, under the heading "Society'sNew Pet: The Artist's Model," is to be founda drawing by Du Maurier, of which the descriptive textruns:
"And how did you and Mr. Sopley come to quarrel, dearMiss Dragon?"
"Well, your Grace, it was like this: I was sitting to himin a cestus for 'The Judgment of Paris,' when someonecalled as wished to see him most particular; so he said:'Don't move, Miss Dragon, or you'll disturb the cestus.''Very good, sir,' I said, and off he went; and when he comeback in an hour and a 'alf or so he said: 'You've moved,Miss Dragon!' 'I 'aven't!' I said. 'You 'ave!' he said.'I 'aven't!' I said—and no more I 'adn't, your Grace.And with that I off with his cestus an' wished him good-morning,an' I never been near him since!"
Du Maurier may or may not have been wrong about thenewness of this craze of "Society's." If he was right, theHonourable Emily Scarisbrick becomes at once a pioneer.Let there be set down, here in the beginning, the plain factsof how, a good ten years before the indignant Miss Dragon"offed with" Mr. Sopley's cestus, the Honourable Emilyfound a way to bridge the gulf that lies between Bohemiaand Mayfair.10...