Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page scan source: Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=muIhAAAAMAAJ [the New York Public Library] THE BEST NOVELS BY FERGUS HUME The Mystery of a Hansom Cab The Sealed Message The Sacred Herb Claude Duval of Ninety-five The Rainbow Feather The Pagan's Cup A Coin of Edward VII The Yellow Holly The Red Window The Mandarin's Fan The Secret Passage The Opal Serpent Lady Jim of Curzon Street =================================================== The Sacred Herb =================================================== BY FERGUS HUME AUTHOR OF "Lady Jim of Curzon Street," "The Rainbow Feather," "The Opal Serpent," "A Coin of Edward VII," "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," etc. =================================================== G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Copyright, 1908 By G. W. DILLINGHAM CO. ------------------------------------ The Sacred Herb Issued Jan., 1908 CONTENTS I. The Latest Sensation II. The Trial III. The Paper-Cutter IV. Evidence for the Prosecution V. Mrs. Rover's Masked Ball VI. A Startling Discovery VII. Shepworth Explains VIII. A Private Explanation IX. Dr. Horace X. The Verdict XI. Dr. Horace's Warning XII. Mrs. Dolly Rover XIII. Lanwin Grange XIV. Mrs. Blexey's Opinion XV. Jadby plays a Card XVI. Dr. Horace Intervenes XVII. The Old, Old Story XVIII. The Power of the Herb XIX. Circumstantial Evidence XX. Mr. Rover Explains XXI. A Possible Scandal XXII. The Unexpected XXIII. Helpless XXIV. The Beginning of the End XXV. Explanations XXVI. A Confession XXVII. All's well that ends well The Sacred Herb CHAPTER I. THE LATEST SENSATION Lord Prelice felt desperately bored. Like Xeres, he longed for some new pleasure, yet knew not where to look for one. This was the result of being surfeited with the sweets of extraordinary good fortune. Born to a title, endowed with passable good looks, gifted with abilities above the average, and possessed of admirable health, he should have been the happiest of men; the more especially as his income ran well into five figures, and he had the whole wide world to play with. Certainly he had played with it and with life, up to his present age of thirty-five years. Perhaps this was the reason of his acute boredom. If all work and no play makes Jack dull; all play and no work must necessarily make him _blase_.