[Illustration: Book Cover] THE BUSINESS OF LIFE Novels by Robert W. Chambers The Business of Life Blue-Bird Weather Japonette The Adventures of a Modest Man 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 Gay Rebellion The Streets of Ascalon The Common Law Ailsa Paige 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 [Illustration: "'I--yes. Yes--I'll be ready----'" [Page 317]] _The_ BUSINESS OF LIFE BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS [Illustration] WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES DANA GIBSON NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1913 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS Copyright, 1912, by the INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE COMPANY TO ELSIE CHAMBERS "Il est des noeuds secrets, il est des sympathies Dont par le doux rapport les Ames assorties S'attachent l'une à l'autre et se laissent piquer Par ces je ne sais quoi qu'on ne peut expliquer." RODOGUNE. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "'I--yes. Yes--I'll be ready----'" _Frontispiece_ "A lady to see you, sir'" 3 "Now and then she ... halted on tip-toe to lift some slitted visor" 51 "She took it ... then read aloud the device in verse" 57 "'Are business and friendship incompatible?'" 71 "'There are nice men, too'" 79 "And he sat thinking of Jacqueline Nevers" 93 "She turned leisurely.... 'Did you say anything recently, Mr. Desboro?'" 116 "Desboro stood staring down at the magic picture. Mrs. Clydesdale, too, had risen" 151 "'Which is the real pleasure?' she asked" 159 "'The thing to do,' he said ... 'is for us both to keep very busy'" 161 "'I--I beg your pardon,' said Jacqueline" 181 "There was, for a moment, an unconscious and unwonted grace in his manner" 197 "All the men there had yielded to the delicate attraction of her" 205 "In all the curious eyes turned toward her he saw admiration, willing or conceded" 209