NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1920 _Printed at_ The Ballantyne Press Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd. _Colchester_, _London & Eton_, _England_ TO _Robert Allan Mowbray Stevenson_ IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THEIR YOUTH AND THEIR ALREADY OLD AFFECTION Contents THE SUICIDE CLUB: Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk The Adventure of the Hansom Cabs THE RAJAH’S DIAMOND: Story of the Bandbox Story of the Young Man in Holy Orders Story of the House with the Green Blinds The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective THE PAVILION ON THE LINKS: CHAPTER I. Tells how I Camped in Graden Sea-wood, and beheld a Light in the Pavilion CHAPTER II. Tells of the Nocturnal Landing from the Yacht CHAPTER III. Tells how I became acquainted with my Wife CHAPTER IV. Tells in what a startling manner I learned that I was not alone in Graden Sea-wood CHAPTER V. Tells of an Interview between Northmour, Clara, and Myself CHAPTER VI. Tells of my Introduction to the Tall Man CHAPTER VII. Tells how a Word was Cried through the Pavilion Window CHAPTER VIII. Tells the Last of the Tall Man CHAPTER IX. Tells how Northmour carried out his Threat A LODGING FOR THE NIGHT THE SIRE DE MALÉTROIT’S DOOR PROVIDENCE AND THE GUITAR THE SUICIDE CLUB STORY OF THE YOUNG MAN WITH THE CREAM TARTS During his residence in London, the accomplished Prince Florizel of Bohemia gained the affection of all classes by the seduction of his manner and by a well-considered generosity. He was a remarkable man even by what was known of him; and that was but a small part of what he actually did. Although of a placid temper in ordinary circumstances, and accustomed to take the world with as much philosophy as any ploughman, the Prince of Bohemia was not without a taste for ways of life more adventurous and eccentric than that to which he was destined by his birth. Now and then, when he fell into a low humour, when there was no laughable play to witness in any of the London theatres, and when the season of the year was unsuitable to those field sports in which he excelled all competitors, he would summon his confidant and Master of the Horse, Colonel Geraldine, and bid him prepare himself against an evening ramble. The Master of the Horse was a young officer of a brave and even temerarious disposition. He greeted the news with delight, and hastened to make ready. Long practice and a varied acquaintance of life had given him a singular facility in disguise; he could adapt not only his face and bearing, but his voice and almost his thoughts, to those of any rank, character, or nation; and in this way he diverted attention from the Prince, and sometimes gained admission for the pair into strange societies. The civil authorities were never taken into the secret of these adventures; the imperturbable courage of