[Illustration: Book Cover] [Illustration] [Illustration] _The_ ADVENTURES _of_ A MODEST MAN [Illustration] Works of Robert W. Chambers * * * * * The Adventures of a Modest Man Ailsa Paige The Danger Mark Special Messenger The Firing Line The Younger Set The Fighting Chance Some Ladies in Haste The Tree of Heaven The Tracer of Lost Persons A Young Man in a Hurry Lorraine Maids of Paradise Ashes of Empire The Red Republic Outsiders The Green Mouse Iole The Reckoning The Maid-at-Arms Cardigan The Haunts of Men The Mystery of Choice The Cambric Mask The Maker of Moons The King in Yellow In Search of the Unknown The Conspirators A King and a Few Dukes In the Quarter * * * * * For Children Garden-Land Forest-Land River-Land Mountain-Land Orchard-Land Outdoorland Hide and Seek in Forest-Land [Illustration] COPYRIGHT, 1900, 1911, BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS * * * * * Copyright, 1904, by Harper & Brothers Copyright, 1904, 1905, 1910, by The Curtis Publishing Company _The_ ADVENTURES _of_ A MODEST MAN _By_ ROBERT W. CHAMBERS [Illustration] ILLUSTRATED BY EDMUND FREDERICK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK AND LONDON: MCMXI [Illustration: "'I realised that I was going to kiss her if she didn't move.... And--she didn't.'"--[Page 276.]] TO MR. AND MRS. C. WHEATON VAUGHAN This volume packed with bric-à-brac I offer you with my affection,-- The story halts, the rhymes are slack-- Poor stuff to add to your collection. Gems you possess from ages back: It is the modern junk you lack. We three once moused through marble halls, Immersed in Art and deep dejection, Mid golden thrones and choir-stalls And gems beyond my recollection-- Yet soft!--my memory recalls Red labels pasted on the walls! And so, perhaps, _my_ bric-à-brac May pass the test of your inspection; Perhaps you will not send it back, But place it--if you've no objection-- Under some nick-nack laden rack Where platters dangle on a tack. So if you'll take this book from me And hide it in your cupboards laden Beside some Dresden filigree And frivolously fetching maiden-- Who knows?--that Dresden maid may see My book--and read it through pardie! R. W. C. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] "Senilis stultitia quae deliratio appellari solet, senum levium est, non omnium." [Illustration] [Illustration] CONTENTS