MISS MAITLAND PRIVATE SECRETARY BY GERALDINE BONNER AUTHOR OF "THE EMIGRANT TRAIL," "THE GIRL AT CENTRAL," "TREASURE AND TROUBLE THEREWITH," ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY A. I. KELLER D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON 1919 COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT 1918, 1919, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA [Illustration: _Rising into the white wash of moonlight came Suzanne_] CONTENTS · LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS · CHAPTER I—THE PARTING OF THE WAYS · CHAPTER II—MISS MAITLAND GETS A LETTER · CHAPTER III—ANOTHER LETTER AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT · CHAPTER IV—THE CIGAR BAND · CHAPTER V—ROBBERY IN HIGH PLACES · CHAPTER VI—POOR MR. JANNEY! · CHAPTER VII—CONCERNING DETECTIVES · CHAPTER VIII—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER IX—GOOD HUNTING IN BERKELEY · CHAPTER X—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XI—FERGUSON’S IDEA · CHAPTER XII—THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T TELL · CHAPTER XIII—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XIV—A CHAPTER ABOUT BAD TEMPERS · CHAPTER XV—WHAT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY · CHAPTER XVI—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XVII—MISS MAITLAND IN A NEW LIGHT · CHAPTER XVIII—THE HOUSE IN GAYLE STREET · CHAPTER XIX—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XX—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XXI—SIGNED "CLANSMEN" · CHAPTER XXII—SUZANNE FINDS A FRIEND · CHAPTER XXIII—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XXIV—CARDS ON THE TABLE · CHAPTER XXV—MOLLY’S STORY · CHAPTER XXVI—THE COUNTER PLOT · CHAPTER XXVII—NIGHT ON THE CRESSON PIKE · CHAPTER XXVIII—THE MAN IN THE BOAT · CHAPTER XXIX—MISS MAITLAND EXPLAINS · CHAPTER XXX—MOLLY’S STORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Rising into the white wash of moonlight came Suzanne You’ve done one thing to me that you are going to regret His face was ludicrous in its enraged enmity Ferguson saw him in silhouette, a large, humped body with bent head MISS MAITLAND PRIVATE SECRETARY CHAPTER I—THE PARTING OF THE WAYS Chapman Price was leaving Grasslands. Events had been rapidly advancing to that point for the last three months, slowly advancing for the last three years. Everybody who knew the Prices and the Janneys said it was inevitable, and people who didn’t know them but read about them in the "society papers" could give quite glibly the reasons why Mrs. Chapman Price was going to separate from her husband.