A man’s step sounded on the stairs, mounted quickly and then struck a resonant response from the wooden flooring of the hall. “Who’s that?” she whispered, with hurried alarm, her figure drawn alertly upright as if to rise and fly. “Is that some one coming in? Don’t let them. I don’t want to see any one now.” The Colonel, after a listening moment, reassured her. “That’s only Rion,” he said. “You needn’t bother about him. He lives just across the hall.” She murmured an “Oh!” of relieved comprehension and fell back in the chair. They were silent for a space, both looking into the heart of the fire, its red light playing on their faces, the woman leaning back languidly, sunk in an apathy of exhausted relief; the man possessed by a sense of contentment more rich and absolute than he had hoped ever again to feel. THE END A LIST _of_ IMPORTANT FICTION THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY A ROMANCE OF AMERICAN CHIVALRY THE LAW OF THE LAND Of Miss Lady, whom it involved in mystery, and of John Eddring, gentleman of the South, who read its deeper meaning By EMERSON HOUGH, Author of The Mississippi Bubble Romantic, unhackneyed, imaginative, touched with humor, full of spirit and dash. _Chicago Record Herald_ So virile, so strong, so full of the rare qualities of beauty and truth. _New York Press_ A powerful novel, vividly presented. The action is rapid and dramatic, and the romance holds the reader with irresistible force. _Detroit Tribune_ Pre-eminently superior to any literary creation of the day. Its naturalness places it on the plane of immortality. _New York American_ Illustrated by Arthur I. Keller 12mo, cloth, price, $1.50 The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ A THOROUGHBRED GIRL ZELDA DAMERON By MEREDITH NICHOLSON Author of The Main Chance Zelda Dameron is in all ways a splendid and successful story. There is about it a sweetness, a wholesomeness and a sturdiness that will commend it to earnest, kindly and wholesome people. _Boston Transcript_ The whole story is thoroughly American. It is lively and breezy throughout--a graphic description of a phase of life in the Middle West. _Toledo Blade_ A love story of a peculiarly sweet and attractive sort,--the interpretation of a girl’s life, the revelation of a human heart. _New Orleans Picayune_ With portraits of the characters in color By John Cecil Clay 12mo, cloth, price, $1.50 The Bobbs-Merrill Company, _Indianapolis_ LOVE IN LIVERY THE MAN ON THE BOX By HAROLD MACGRATH Author of The Puppet Crown and The Grey Cloak