Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net FROM THE HOUSETOPS BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON Author of "Ghaustark," "The Hollow of Her Hand," "The Prince of Graustark," etc. With Illustrations by F. GRAHAM COOTES Copyright, 1916 By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC. _All rights reserved_ Made in U.S.A. [Illustration: "Stop!" he cried eagerly. "Would you give up everything—everything, mind you,—if I were to ask you to do so?"] Contents ======== CHAPTER I 1 CHAPTER II 9 CHAPTER III 16 CHAPTER IV 27 CHAPTER V 39 CHAPTER VI 57 CHAPTER VII 76 CHAPTER VIII 90 CHAPTER IX 101 CHAPTER X 120 CHAPTER XI 137 CHAPTER XII 155 CHAPTER XIII 169 CHAPTER XIV 185 CHAPTER XV 197 CHAPTER XVI 213 CHAPTER XVII 230 CHAPTER XVIII 247 CHAPTER XIX 260 CHAPTER XX 273 CHAPTER XXI 292 CHAPTER XXII 310 CHAPTER XXIII 329 CHAPTER XXIV 345 CHAPTER XXV 359 CHAPTER XXVI 376 CHAPTER XXVII 391 CHAPTER XXVIII 405 CHAPTER XXIX 421 CHAPTER XXX 431 FROM THE HOUSETOPS CHAPTER I Mr. Templeton Thorpe was soon to be married for the second time. Back in 1860 he married a girl of twenty-two, and now in the year 1912 he was taking unto himself another girl of twenty-two. In the interim he had achieved a grandson whose years were twenty-nine. In his seventy-seventh year he was worth a great many millions of dollars, and for that and no other reason perhaps, one of the newspapers, in commenting on the approaching nuptials, declared that nobody could now deny that he was a philanthropist. * * * * * "I daresay you are right, Mrs. Tresslyn," said old Templeton Thorpe's grandson, bitterly. "He hasn't many more years to live." The woman in the chair started, her eyes narrowing. The flush deepened in her cheeks. It had been faint before and steady, but now it was ominous. "I fear you are again putting words into my mouth," she said coldly. "Have I made any such statement?"