[Illustration] The Autonym Library. _Paper, 1s. 6d.; cloth, 2s._ =1.= =THE UPPER BERTH.= By F. MARION CRAWFORD. Fourth Edition. =2.= =MAD SIR UCHTRED OF THE HILLS.= By S. R. CROCKETT. Fourth Edition. =3.= =BY REEF AND PALM.= By LOUIS BECKE. Preface by the EARL OF PEMBROKE. Third Edition. =4.= =THE PLAYACTRESS.= By S. R. CROCKETT. Fifth Edition. =5.= =A BACHELOR MAID.= By MRS. BURTON HARRISON. =6.= =MISERRIMA.= By G. W. T. OMOND. =7.= =TWO STRANGERS.= By MRS. OLIPHANT. =8.= =ANOTHER WICKED WOMAN.= By S. DE PENTHENY. =9.= =THE SPECTRE OF STRATHANNAN.= By W. E. NORRIS. =10.= =KAFIR STORIES.= By W. C. SCULLY. =11.= =MOLLY DARLING!= By MRS. HUNGERFORD. =12.= =A GAME OF CONSEQUENCES.= By ALBERT KINROSS. =13.= =SLEEPING FIRES.= By GEORGE GISSING. =14.= =THE RED STAR.= By L. MCMANUS. =15.= =A MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE.= By ROBERT BUCHANAN. =16.= =CHRONICLES OF AN EMINENT FOSSIL.= By W. DUTTON BURRARD. =17.= =AN IMPOSSIBLE PERSON.= By CONSTANCE COTTERELL. =18.= =WHICH IS ABSURD.= By COSMO HAMILTON. _Uniform with this Volume._ =A GENDER IN SATIN.= By RITA. =THE MAKING OF MARY.= By JEAN FORSYTH. =DIANA’S HUNTING.= By ROBERT BUCHANAN. =SIR QUIXOTE.= By JOHN BUCHAN. =FOR HONOUR OF THE FLAG.= By CLARK RUSSELL. =LE SELVE.= By OUIDA. AN ALTRUIST [Illustration] _BOOKS BY OUIDA._ =LE SELVE.= (In the Half-crown Series). Cr. 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. =THE SILVER CHRIST and A LEMON TREE.= (In “The Pseudonym Library.”) Paper, 1s. 6d.; cloth, 2s. =TOXIN.= (In “The Century Library.”) Illustrated. Paper, 1s. 6d.; cloth, 2s. LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. An Altruist BY OUIDA AUTHOR OF “TOXIN,” “LE SELVE,” “THE SILVER CHRIST,” ETC. Second Edition LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN 1897 COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN _for Great Britain and United States of America_ [Illustration] AN ALTRUIST. [Illustration] The scene is Wilfrid Bertram’s rooms in Piccadilly, facing the Green Park. The time is six o’clock in the afternoon. The audience is a goodly number of men and women of that class which calls itself Society. The rooms are small and the guests are many. A few look contemptuously amused. A great many appear excruciatingly bored. “It’s all rot!” says one gentleman in confidence to his walking-stick. It is the general opinion, though it has but one spokesman. “What a shame, when he is so much in earnest!” says a pretty girl. “Bores always are awfully in earnest,” replies the critic. “If he’d only give us something to drink----” “You can get plenty to drink in the street,” says the young lady, with a withering glance.