_The_ COMMON LAW Works of Robert W. Chambers The Common Law 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 Outdoor-Land Hide and Seek in Forest-Land _The_ COMMON LAW BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLES DANA GIBSON NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1911 [Illustration: "She sat at the piano, running her fingers lightly over the keyboard." [Page 48.]] TO CHARLES DANA GIBSON A FRIEND OF MANY YEARS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "She sat at the piano, running her fingers lightly over the keyboard" _Frontispiece_ "There was a long, brisk, decisive ring at the door" 3 "'Now, Miss West,' he said decisively" 13 "'I know perfectly well that this isn't right,'she said" 31 "'What's the matter with it, then?'" 40 "For a long while she sat, her cheek resting on one palm, looking fixedly into space" 65 "Neville stood stock-still before the canvas" 81 "When he first tried to ring her up the wire was busy" 83 "'Kelly, dear, are you unhappy?'" 90 "He picked up a bit of white chalk ... and traced on the floor the outline of her shoes" 93 "'I _will_ call you a god if I like!'" 96 "'If she's as much of a winner as all that,' began Cameron with decision, 'I want to meet her immediately--'" 109 "'Come on, Alice, if you're going to scrub before luncheon'" 116 "'I know it is _you_. Is it?' 125 "A smartly dressed and very confident drummer" 136 "Valerie sat cross-legged on the grass ... scribbling away" 145 "'How well you look!' He exclaimed" 149 "Querida had laughed ... and returned compliment for compliment" 175 "'Me lord, the taxi waits!'" 179 Mazie Gray 183 "And the last rose dropped from her hand" 188-189 "'How perfectly horrid you can be!'she exclaimed" 199 "She began by balancing her check book" 224 "He stood before it, searching in it for any hint of that elusive and mysterious _something_" 229 "'I shall have need of friends,' she said half to herself" 245 '"Don't do it, Valerie!'" 247 "Ogilvy stood looking sentimentally at the two young girls" 249 "Valerie's lips trembled on the edge of a smile as she bent lower over her sewing" 286 "She and Rita dined with him once or twice" 293 "Tall, transparently pale, negative in character" 297