THE GIRL FROM NOWHERE _By_ MRS. BAILLIE REYNOLDS Author of "The Notorious Miss Lisle," "Out of the Night," "A Doubtful Character" GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY NEW YORK _Copyright_, 1910 BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY BY MRS. BAILLIE REYNOLDS A Doubtful Character The Notorious Miss Lisle The Girl from Nowhere Out of the Night A Make-shift Marriage GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY NEW YORK CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Despair II. Flight III. A Refuge of Straw IV. Up River V. Separation VI. The Outcast's Brother VII. The First Letter VIII. A Touch of Sympathy IX. The Squire Defies Conventions X. The Hunt is Up XI. Felix Takes Advice XII. Rona's Knight XIII. The Finished Product XIV. "You Never Were Mine" XV. A Difficult Situation XVI. Happenings in a Strange Land XVII. "I was the Man Selected" XVIII. The Kirgiz Yourtar XIX. The Despair of Vronsky XX. What is this Love? XXI. Denzil Does His Duty XXII. Forebodings XXIII. The Escape of Aunt Bee XXIV. Veronica "On Her Own" XXV. The Convalescence of Denzil XXVI. Strangers Yet XXVII. Two in the Campagna XXVIII. The Primrose Path XXIX. A Double Dilemma XXX. Veronica is Surprised CHAPTER I DESPAIR The sense that every struggle brings defeat, Because Fate holds no prize to crown success: That all the oracles are dumb, or cheat, Because they have no secret to express:-- That none can pierce the vast black veil uncertain Because there is no light behind the curtain, That all is vanity and nothingness! _The City of Dreadful Night._ The curtain rises on an empty stage. Managers assure those of us who try to write plays nowadays that we must lay our scenes in well-to-do circles if we wish to attract an audience. The scene before us now has few recommendations, either as a romantic or a tragic background. It is not quite wretched enough to suggest dark deeds; it is not nearly old enough to convey a hint of mystery: it is merely the back parlor of a London lodging-house of the meaner kind. On a certain murky day in March it lay bare to the eye of anyone who was desirous of exploring. The street of which it formed a narrow section was small and dreary. The front parlor window of this particular house was discreetly veiled with curtains which had once been white. Between them stood an artificial aspidistra in a ginger-colored pot, envied by some of the other dwellers in the immediate neighborhood. This front parlor, at the date in question, was unlet. It had folding-doors, affording the sole entrance to a very small room behind, generally let as a bedroom, with the front room as sitting-room. For the past month this back parlor had been tenanted by one who was far too poor to think of needing more than one room in which to starve. Moreover, he was there on the understanding that he would vacate should a better let offer itself.