* * * * * * CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. WHICH INTRODUCES MISS SEMAPHORE 7 II. A BOARDING-HOUSE EVENING 20 III. MISS SEMAPHORE RECEIVES AN ANSWER 35 IV. CASTLES IN THE AIR 45 V. THE WATER OF YOUTH 54 VI. AN ACCIDENT 61 VII. PRUDENCE RECEIVES A SHOCK 70 VIII. A CAREER OF DECEPTION 81 IX. A PROMISING ADVERTISEMENT 91 X. IN WHICH MISS PRUDENCE EXPLAINS MATTERS 100 XI. THE MEDICAL LADY INTERVENES 106 XII. “GOOD MRS. BROWN” 116 XIII. THE MEDICAL LADY BAFFLED 129 XIV. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR 139 XV. PRUDENCE CALLS AT PLUMMER’S COTTAGES 150 XVI. MRS. DUMARESQ IN AN UNDIPLOMATIC CIRCLE 163 XVII. A SENSATION IN “THE STAR” 173 XVIII. A DETECTIVE ON THE TRACK 177 XIX. A COUNCIL OF WAR 190 XX. NOTICE TO QUIT 204 XXI. AT THE ARROW STREET POLICE COURT 213 XXII. A SCENE IN COURT 222 XXIII. CONCLUSION 236 The Rejuvenation OF MISS SEMAPHORE. CHAPTER I. WHICH INTRODUCES MISS SEMAPHORE. Seven o’clock had struck. The gong at 37, Beaconsfield Gardens, South Kensington, thundered under the vigorous strokes of the bow-legged German waiter. By one, by two, by three, the boarders trooped down to dinner, the more sensitive to noise stopping their ears as they descended. The very deafest could not ignore that gong. Müller always attacked it suddenly, as if running amuck or possessed by a demon. It reverberated far and near, and echoed faintly to Gloucester Road Station. Boarders, arriving late, were seen to run when their ears caught the familiar sound. At the head of the central table in the fine dining-room, its three windows looking on the Gardens, sat the proprietress, Mrs. Wilcox. She was a bright-eyed, stout, florid woman of forty-five, dressed in black silk and a lace fichu secured by a cameo brooch. As she waited for her guests, she meditatively sharpened a carving knife.