[Frontispiece: The first quarter of the Honeymoon!] SOME HONEYMOON! BY CHARLES EVERETT HALL ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT GASTON HERBERT New York GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY Copyright, 1918, by GEORGE SULLY & COMPANY _All Rights Reserved_ CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Man of Business II "Needles and Pins" III "When a Man Marries--" IV "His Trouble Begins!" V The Arrow of Suspicion VI Business Methods VII Shock Upon Shock VIII The Bridal Night IX With the World Shut Out X The Beginning of a Nightmare XI The Nightmare Continues XII Some Experiences of a Bridegroom XIII The Eagle Eye of the House Detective XIV Some Sleuth XV The Cat Shows Her Claws XVI The Duty Again Devolves XVII The Private Buccanneer XVIII It Is No Longer Farce XIX An Outlaw in Fact XX The Name On the Billboard XXI In the Part of the Injured Husband XXII "Who Is My Wife?" XXIII In the Maze XXIV Nemesis XXV John Ryder Forgives Fate ILLUSTRATIONS The first quarter of the Honeymoon! _Frontispiece_ "No manager can dispossess me. I refuse to get out." Flung herself with abandon into John Ryder's arms. (_See page 129._) "I am another woman. I am not the person you married." (_See page 243._) SOME HONEYMOON! CHAPTER I THE MAN OF BUSINESS When John Ryder put his foot upon the plank of the _Minnequago_ on his return journey from Europe he was a bachelor of thirty-five summers--and had never counted his winters at all. He believed, with many another upholder of single blessedness, that a man did not begin to count his wintry years until he was married. Just the same, as he walked up the incline of the runway he was walking to his fate. Indeed, he came face to face with it as he trod upon the deck of the ship and, almost bumping into it, politely lifted his hat and said: "Pardon me!" The lady bowed silently and turned upon him a careless shoulder. John Ryder allowed himself a second glance--and then let the steward take his hand luggage below while he did something he had not done since his early crossings. He hung about on deck to see the hawsers cast off--a mark of curiosity that usually stamps the traveler as quite new to the game. Even then he did not know why he did this. Business. Business with a big B. Business first, last, and all the time. That was John Ryder, and so plain was it to most people who met him that a tag on his back stating that he was a hustling American business man would have been quite unnecessary. Ryder had been in the chase after the nimble dollar since he was breeched. He was a self-made man, and although he was proud of that fact he did not go around blowing about the quality of the product.