AT BAY
BY
MRS. ALEXANDER
CHICAGO
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
IN UNIFORM STYLE
ADMIRAL'S WARD
AT BAY
BEATON'S BARGAIN
BY WOMAN'S WIT
CROOKED PATH, THE
FRERES, THE
FORGING THE FETTERS
HERITAGE OF LANGDALE
MAID, WIFE OR WIDOW
MAMMON
SECOND LIFE, A
WHICH SHALL IT BE?
CHICAGO
W. B. CONKEY COMPANY
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I. | STRIKING THE TRAIL. |
| CHAPTER II. | PLAYING WITH FIRE. |
| CHAPTER III. | OLD SCORES. |
| CHAPTER IV. | A LAST CARD. |
| CHAPTER V. | VANISHED. |
| CHAPTER VI. | PURSUIT. |
| CHAPTER VII. | WILL-O'-THE-WISP. |
| CHAPTER VIII. | DAWNING LIGHT. |
| CHAPTER IX. | THE SECRET OF THE PRISON HOUSE. |
| CHAPTER X. | A TRUE LOVER'S KNOT. |
| CHAPTER XI. | PAID IN FULL. |
AT BAY.
CHAPTER I.
STRIKING THE TRAIL.
Paris on a bright April morning. Can any city make a brighter, bravershow under a clear blue sky and a brilliant sun, the chestnuts inthe Champs Elysées and Tuileries gardens bursting into bloom, theflower-market of the Madeleine a mass of color, exhaling deliciousperfume, the fair purchasers in the first freshness of their springattire, the tide of business and of pleasure at the fullest flood. Itis a sight to fill any heart tolerably free from pressing anxiety withan irresistible sense of youth.
Though the month was still young, the weather was warm enough to makeopen windows an agreeable addition to the comfort of a pretty littlesalon in the entre-sol of Meurice's hotel, where an elderly ladywas seated at a table on which a dainty déjeuner, and a couple ofbottles, inscribed respectively "Moselle" and "Pomard," was laid out.
She was not handsome, never could have been handsome, her face wasbroad and strong, with small twinkling black eyes, and a heavy jaw.Her figure still showed traces of the symmetry for which she had beenremarkable, and the hand she had stretched out to take a