_But seriousness comes most in place when we are to speak of our defenders_. _Whoever be in the right in this great and confused war of politics_; _whatever elements of greed_, _whatever traits of the bully_, _dishonour both parties in this inhuman contest_;—_your side_, _your part_, _is at least pure of doubt_. _Yours is the side of the child_, _of the breeding woman_, _of individual pity and public trust_. _If our society were the mere kingdom of the devil_ (_as indeed it wears some of his colours_) _it yet embraces many precious elements and many innocent persons whom it is a glory to defend_. _Courage and devotion_, _so common in the ranks of the police_, _so little recognised_, _so meagrely rewarded_, _have at length found their commemoration in an historical act_. _History_, _which will represent Mr. Parnell sitting silent under the appeal of Mr. Forster_, _and Gordon setting forth upon his tragic enterprise_, _will not forget Mr. Cole carrying the dynamite in his defenceless hands_, _nor Mr. Cox coming coolly to his aid_. _ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON_ _FANNY VAN DE GRIFT STEVENSON_ CONTENTS _THE DYNAMITER_ PAGE PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN 1 CHALLONER’S ADVENTURE: THE SQUIRE OF DAMES 13 STORY OF THE DESTROYING ANGEL 27 THE SQUIRE OF DAMES (_continued_) 76 SUMMERSET’S ADVENTURE: THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION 100 NARRATIVE OF THE SPIRITED OLD LADY 108 THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_) 145 ZERO’S TALE OF THE EXPLOSIVE BOMB 195 DESBOROUGH’S ADVENTURE: THE BROWN BOX 209 STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN 219 THE BROWN BOX (_continued_) 269 THE SUPERFLUOUS MANSION (_continued_) 286 EPILOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN 299 A NOTE FOR THE READER It is within the bounds of possibility that you may take up this volume, and yet be unacquainted with its predecessor: the first series of NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS. The loss is yours—and mine; or to be more exact, my publishers’. But if you are thus unlucky, the least I can do is to pass you a hint. When you shall find a reference in the following pages to one Theophilus Godall of the Bohemian Cigar Divan in Rupert Street, Soho, you must be prepared to recognise, under his features, no less a person than Prince Florizel of Bohemia, formerly one of the magnates of Europe, now dethroned, exiled, impoverished, and embarked in the tobacco trade. R. L. S. _PROLOGUE OF THE CIGAR DIVAN_