E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) BIRD OF PARADISE by ADA LEVERSON Grant Richards Ltd. 1914 TO ERNEST CONTENTS Chapter Page I EXCUSES 9 II LADY KELLYNCH 25 III NIGEL 38 IV RUPERT AT RUMPELMEYER'S 49 V A HAPPY HOME 63 VI FUTURISM 77 VII RUSSIAN BALLET 90 VIII PERCY 95 IX AN ANONYMOUS LETTER 110 X MASTER CLIFFORD KELLYNCH 120 XI A DISCOVERY 129 XII A LOVE SCENE 142 XIII RECONCILIATION 150 XIV "TANGO" 155 XV CLIFFORD'S HISTORICAL PLAY 163 XVI A SECOND PROPOSAL 167 XVII MORE ABOUT RUPERT 172 XVIII "A SPECIAL FAVOUR" 177 XIX A DEVOTED WIFE 184 XX RUPERT AGAIN 192 XXI THE HILLIERS' ENTERTAINMENT 196 XXII BERTHA AT HOME 202 XXIII NIGEL'S LETTER 205 XXIV LADY KELLYNCH AT HOME 210 XXV MRS. PICKERING 219 XXVI NEWS FROM VENICE 227 XXVII ANOTHER ANONYMOUS LETTER 232 XXVIII AN INTERVIEW 237 XXIX NIGEL AND MARY 245 XXX MISS BELVOIR 256 XXXI MARY'S PLAN 263 XXXII PRIVATE FIREWORKS AT THE PICKERINGS' 267 XXXIII NIGEL ABROAD 284 XXXIV MOONA 289 XXXV TWO WOMEN 300 XXXVI PLAIN SAILING 313 CHAPTER I EXCUSES Poor Madeline came into the room a little flustered and hustled, with papers in her muff. She found Bertha looking lovely and serene as usual. Madeline Irwin was a modern-looking girl of twenty-three; tall, thin, smart and just the right shape; not pretty, but very sympathetic, with thick dark hair and strongly marked eyebrows, a rather long and narrow face, delicately modelled, a clear white complexion, and soft, sincere brown eyes.