TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: —Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected. LUCINDA ANTHONY HOPE LUCINDA BY ANTHONY HOPE AUTHOR OF “THE SECRET OF THE TOWER,” “THE PRISONER OF ZENDA,” “RUPERT OF HENTZAU,” ETC. THE RYERSON PRESS TORONTO 1920 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE FACE IN THE TAXI 1 II. THE SIGNAL 13 III. A HIGH EXPLOSIVE 26 IV. THE FOURTH PARTY 38 V. CATCH WHO CATCH CAN! 52 VI. VENICE 64 VII. SELF-DEFENSE 78 VIII. THE NEEDLEWOMAN 91 IX. LIKE TO LIKE 103 X. HER LADYSHIP 116 XI. DUNDRANNANIZATION 131 XII. A SECRET VISIT 144 XIII. AN INTRODUCTION 157 XIV. FOR AULD LANG SYNE 171 XV. THE SYSTEM WORKS 186 XVI. PURPLE—AND FINE LINEN 199 XVII. REBELLION 211 XVIII. THE WINNING TICKET 225 XIX. VIEWS AND WHIMS 239 XX. LIVING FUNNILY 252 XXI. PARTIE CARRÉE 264 XXII. SUITABLE SURROUNDINGS 276 XXIII. THE BANQUET 288 XXIV. THE MASCOT 299 XXV. HOMAGE 312 XXVI. THE AIR ON THE COAST 325 XXVII. IN FIVE YEARS 339 LUCINDA CHAPTER I THE FACE IN THE TAXI HIS “Business Ambassador” was the title which my old chief, Ezekiel Coldston, used to give me. I daresay that it served as well as any other to describe with a pleasant mixture of dignity and playfulness, the sort of glorified bag-man or drummer that I was. It was my job to go into all quarters of the earth where the old man had scented a concession or a contract—and what a nose he had for them!—and make it appear to powerful persons that the Coldston firm would pay more for the concession (more in the long run, at all events) or ask less for the contract (less in the first instance, at all events) than any other responsible firm, company, or corporation in the world. Sir Ezekiel (as in due course he became) took me from a very low rung of the regular diplomatic ladder into his service on the recommendation of my uncle, Sir Paget Rillington, who was then at the top of that same ladder. My employer was good enough to tell me more than once that I had justified the recommendation.