"Once more, according to the newspapers, her engagement to Sir Charles was expected to be announced" 172-173 "All stacked up pell-mell in the back yard and regarded in amazement by the neighbors" 178-179 "A fortnight later Strelsa wrote to Quarren for the first time in nearly two months" 190-191 "'I say, Quarren--does this old lady hang next to the battered party in black?'" 194-195 "'I didn't tell Strelsa that you were coming,' she whispered" 210-211 "So he took the lake path and presently rounded a sharp curve" 214-215 "'The old ones are the best,' she commented" 228-229 "Strelsa in the library, pulling on her gloves, was silent witness to a pantomime unmistakable" 246-247 "A high and soulful tenor voice was singing 'Perfumes of Araby'" 272-273 "She came about noon--a pale young girl, very slim in her limp black gown" 280-281 Jessie Vining 290-291 "'In the evenings sometimes Miss Vining remains and dines with Dankmere and myself at some near restaurant'" 302-303 "'If you'll let me, I'll stand by you, darling'" 328-329 "'Is it to be Sir Charles after all, darling?' she asked caressingly" 346-347 "'And it is to be your last breakfast'" 374-375 Strelsa Leeds 380-381 "'Let him loose, Quarren,' said Sprowl" 416-417 "'I wanted to surprise you,' he explained feebly" 424-425 "_Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon._" THE STREETS OF ASCALON CHAPTER I It being rent day, and Saturday, the staff of the "Irish Legation," with the exception of Westguard, began to migrate uptown for the monthly conference, returning one by one from that mysterious financial jungle popularly known as "Downtown." As for Westguard, he had been in his apartment all day as usual. He worked where he resided. A little before five o'clock John Desmond Lacy, Jr., came in, went directly to his rooms on the top floor, fished out a check-book, and tried to persuade himself that he had a pleasing balance at the bank--not because he was likely to have any balance either there or in his youthful brain, but because he _had_ to have one somewhere. God being good to the Irish he found he had not overdrawn his account. Roger O'Hara knocked on his door, later, and receiving no response called out: "Are you in there, Jack?" "No," said Lacy, scratching away with his pen in passionate hopes of discovering a still bigger balance. "Sportin' your oak, old Skeezicks?" inquired O'Hara, affectionately, delivering a kick at the door.