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  THE BUSINESS OF LIFE

  Novels by Robert W. Chambers

  The Business of Life Blue-Bird Weather Japonette The Adventures of a Modest Man The Danger Mark Special Messenger The Firing Line The Younger Set The Fighting Chance Some Ladies in Haste The Tree of Heaven The Tracer of Lost Persons A Young Man in a Hurry Lorraine Maids of Paradise Ashes of Empire The Red Republic Outsiders The Gay Rebellion The Streets of Ascalon The Common Law Ailsa Paige The Green Mouse Iole The Reckoning The Maid-at-arms Cardigan The Haunts of Men The Mystery of Choice The Cambric Mask The Maker of Moons The King in Yellow In Search of the Unknown The Conspirators A King and a Few Dukes In the Quarter

  "'I--yes. Yes--I'll be ready----'" [Page 317]]

  _The_ BUSINESS OF LIFE

  BYROBERT W. CHAMBERS

  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BYCHARLES DANA GIBSON

  NEW YORK AND LONDOND. APPLETON AND COMPANY1913

  COPYRIGHT, 1913, BYROBERT W. CHAMBERS

  Copyright, 1912, by the INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE COMPANY

  TOELSIE CHAMBERS

  "Il est des noeuds secrets, il est des sympathies Dont par le doux rapport les Ames assorties S'attachent l'une a l'autre et se laissent piquer Par ces je ne sais quoi qu'on ne peut expliquer."

  RODOGUNE.

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  PAGE "'I--yes. Yes--I'll be ready----'" _Frontispiece_ "A lady to see you, sir'" 3 "Now and then she ... halted on tip-toe to lift some slitted visor" 51 "She took it ... then read aloud the device in verse" 57 "'Are business and friendship incompatible?'" 71 "'There are nice men, too'" 79 "And he sat thinking of Jacqueline Nevers" 93 "She turned leisurely.... 'Did you say anything recently, Mr. Desboro?'" 116 "Desboro stood staring down at the magic picture. Mrs. Clydesdale, too, had risen" 151 "'Which is the real pleasure?' she asked" 159 "'The thing to do,' he said ... 'is for us both to keep very busy'" 161 "'I--I beg your pardon,' said Jacqueline" 181 "There was, for a moment, an unconscious and unwonted grace in his manner" 197 "All the men there had yielded to the delicate attraction of her" 205 "In all the curious eyes turned toward her he saw admiration, willing or conceded" 209 "She lost herself in a dreamy Bavarian folk-song" 219 "Cheer after cheer rang through the hallway" 251 "'Business is kinder to men than women sometimes believe'" 273 "'Be careful,' he said ... 'People are watching us'" 277 "Mr. Waudle gaped at her like a fat and expiring fish; the poet ... said not a word" 345 "'My dear!' she exclaimed. 'What a perfectly charming office!'" 358 "She turned ... looked back, hesitated" 379 "'_That's_ how hungry I am, Jim. I warned you'" 385 "'It was rather odd, wasn't it, Jim?'" 395 "'Why don't you ask your--wife?'" 411 "'I do not believe you,' she said between her teeth" 419 "What was she to do? She had gone half mad with fear" 427 "'Jacqueline--my wife--is the result of a different training'" 441 "In the rose dusk of the drawn curtains he stood beside it" 445 "'Now,' she said, leaning forward ... 'what is the meaning of this?'" 455 "'You have no further interest in me, have you?'" 479 "'I--I have never thought mercilessly'" 487 "And, as she rose, he was still figuring" 499

  THE BUSINESS OF LIFE