THE INTRUSIONS OF PEGGY _BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ A MAN OF MARK. MR. WITT'S WIDOW. FATHER STAFFORD. A CHANGE OF AIR. HALF A HERO. THE PRISONER OF ZENDA. THE GOD IN THE CAR. THE DOLLY DIALOGUES. COMEDIES OF COURTSHIP. THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANTONIO. THE HEART OF PRINCESS OSRA. PHROSO. SIMON DALE. RUPERT OF HENTZAU. THE KING'S MIRROR. QUISANTÉ. TRISTRAM OF BLENT. THE INTRUSIONS OF PEGGY BY ANTHONY HOPE LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1902 [All rights reserved] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. LIFE IS RECOMMENDED 1 II. COMING NEAR THE FIRE 12 III. IN DANES INN 23 IV. 'FROM THE MIDST OF THE WHIRL' 36 V. THE WORLD RECALCITRANT 48 VI. CHILDREN OF SHADOW 62 VII. A DANGEROUS GAME 75 VIII. USURPERS ON THE THRONE 89 IX. BRUISES AND BALM 103 X. CONCERNING A CERTAIN CHINA VASE 116 XI. THE MIXTURE AS BEFORE 128 XII. HOT HEADS AND COOL 141 XIII. JUSTIFICATION NUMBER FOUR 155 XIV. A HOUSE OF REFUGE 169 XV. NOT EVERYBODY'S FOOTBALL 183 XVI. MORAL LESSONS 197 XVII. THE PERJURER 210 XVIII. AN AUNT--AND A FRIEND 225 XIX. NO MORE THAN A GLIMMER 240 XX. PURELY BUSINESS 256 XXI. THE WHIP ON THE PEG 271 XXII. THE PHILOSOPHY OF IT 286 XXIII. THE LAST KICK 302 XXIV. TO THE SOUL SHOP 315 XXV. RECONCILIATION 331 THE INTRUSIONS OF PEGGY CHAPTER I LIFE IS RECOMMENDED The changeful April morning that she watched from the window of her flat looking over the river began a day of significance in the career of Trix Trevalla--of feminine significance, almost milliner's perhaps, but of significance all the same. She had put off her widow's weeds, and for the first time these three years back was dressed in a soft shade of blue; the harmony of her eyes and the gleams of her brown hair welcomed the colour with the cordiality of an old friendship happily renewed. Mrs. Trevalla's maid had been all in a flutter over the momentous transformation; in her mistress it bred a quietly retrospective mood. As she lay in an armchair watching the water and the clouds, she turned back on the course of her life, remembering many things. The beginning of a new era brought the old before her eyes in a protesting flash of vividness. She abandoned herself to recollections--an insidious form of dissipating the mind, which goes well with a relaxed ease of the body.