Transcriber’s note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). NORDENHOLT’S MILLION * * * * * * _RECENT FICTION_ THE DOVE’S NEST & OTHER STORIES By KATHERINE MANSFIELD THE KEY OF DREAMS By L. ADAMS BECK THE SLEEPER BY MOONLIGHT By K. BALBERNIE THE THRESHOLD By MARTHA KINROSS SWEET PEPPER By GEOFFREY MOSS PONJOLA By CYNTHIA STOCKLEY DESOLATE SPLENDOUR By MICHAEL SADLEIR CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. * * * * * * NORDENHOLT’S MILLION by J. J. CONNINGTON Constable & Co. Ltd. London · Bombay · Sydney 1923 Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, Bungay, Suffolk. TO J. N. C. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. GENESIS 1 II. THE COMING OF “THE BLIGHT” 16 III. _B. DIAZOTANS_ 26 IV. PANIC 35 V. NORDENHOLT 41 VI. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE BREAKING-STRAIN 64 VII. NORDENHOLT’S MILLION 88 VIII. THE CLYDE VALLEY 103 IX. INTERMEZZO 125 X. THE DEATH OF THE LEVIATHAN 140 XI. FATA MORGANA 149 XII. NUIT BLANCHE 156 XIII. RECONSTRUCTION 189 XIV. WINTER IN THE OUTER WORLD 208 XV. DOCUMENT B. 53. X. 15 224 XVI. IN THE NITROGEN AREA 240 XVII. PER ITER TENEBRICOSUM 256 XVIII. THE ELEVENTH HOUR 271 XIX. THE BREAKING-STRAIN 289 XX. ASGARD 298 NORDENHOLT’S MILLION CHAPTER I Genesis I suppose that in the days before the catastrophe I was a very fair representative of the better type of business man. I had been successful in my own line, which was the application of mass-production methods to a better pattern of motor-car than had yet been dealt with upon a large scale; and the Flint car had been a good speculation. I was thinking of bringing out an economical type of gyroscopic two-wheeler just at the time we were overwhelmed. Organisation was my strong point; and much of my commercial success was due to a new system of control which I had introduced into my factories. I mention this point in passing, because it was this capacity of mine which first brought me to the notice of Nordenholt.