Produced by Al Haines HELENA BRETT'S CAREER BY DESMOND COKE AUTHOR OF THE BOOKS ON THE PAGE OPPOSITE [Transcriber's note: this list has been moved to the end of this etext] NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & CO. 3, WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 1913 TO ARTHUR WAUGH, CRITIC, PUBLISHER, AND FRIEND, WHO STARTED ME AS NOVELIST AND HAS NEVER FAILED SINCE WITH ENCOURAGEMENT, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK IN GRATITUDE. PREFATORY POSTSCRIPT In these thin-skinned days when the words libel and traitor drift on every breeze, it may be "wise" (I am told at the last), to make it plain that my Author, Publisher, and Artist do not represent real people! So be it, then: the men, as also women, in this unromantic comedy of married life are all imagined; but in declaring them not to be individuals, I would not be thought to admit that they are non-existent ... or universal. Such men have been and will be--self-centred authors, unscrupulous publishers, vulgar-minded artists--nor does a paragon make the best food for fiction: but there are also Others. Logic still permits one to avoid Libel without confessing Treachery, and I am little likely to "attack" my own profession or two others from which I draw some of my nearest friends. We are told that there are black sheep in every fold; but it is still possible that a few among the others may be white. It pleases some of us to think so. DESMOND COKE CONTENTS PART I HOW IT HAPPENED CHAPTER I. ADVICE II. "WHY MEN MARRY" III. "WHY WOMEN WED" IV. HYMEN PART II HUBERT BRETT'S WIFE V. ROUTINE VI. GROWTH VII. THE CULT OF USELESSNESS VIII. A SCENE IN THE HOME IX. CINDERELLA X. HONOUR XI. PINK PAPERS AND ST. ANTHONY XII. DEVILS XIII. SECRETS XIV. WAS IT WORTH WHILE? XV. DISCOVERIES XVI. A MATTER OF SALES XVII. THE TEMPTER PART III HELENA BRETT'S CAREER XVIII. ZOË XIX. BUSINESS XX. PLEASURE XXI. EXPOSURE XXII. THE IRON IN THE SOUL XXIII. SECRET NUMBER TWO XXIV. BATTLE ROYAL XXV. THE BROKEN TRIANGLE XXVI. TACT XXVII. THE TWO WAYS XXVIII. WOMAN PROPOSES XXIX. HELENA BRETT'S CAREER PART I HOW IT HAPPENED HELENA BRETT'S CAREER CHAPTER I ADVICE "Of course," said Kenneth Boyd, with the abrupt conviction of one whose argument is off the point at issue, "it's absolutely obvious. You ought to marry." The man who ought to marry was no more pleased to hear it than most of his kind. He scowled angrily: then smiled, as though contempt were a more fit reply. He was tall, broad, firm-looking, with smooth dark hair still low upon his forehead, and certainly looked in no need of drastic remedies. He knocked his pipe out on the grate before he answered, but when the words came, they burst forth like an explosion.