The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Deaves Affair, by Hulbert Footner

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Title: The Deaves Affair

Author: Hulbert Footner

Release Date: February 22, 2010 [EBook #31361]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAVES AFFAIR ***

Produced by Al Haines

THE DEAVES AFFAIR

By HULBERT FOOTNER

AUTHOR OF

_"The Owl Taxi," "The Substitute Millionaire,"
"The Fur Bringers," "The Woman from Outside,"
"Thieves' Wit," etc._

A. L. BURT COMPANY

Publishers New York

Published by arrangement with George H. Doran Company

Printed in U. S. A.

COPYRIGHT, 1922,

BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO

THE NOANKERS

KATHERINE FOREST

RUTH GREEN HARRIS

AND THE CHERUB WHO SITS UP ALOFT

W. SHERMAN POTTS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I A Penny Change
II A Rich Man's House
III Snooping
IV The New Lodger
V The Happy Little Family
VI The Little Fellow in Grey
VII Platonic Friendship
VIII Evan is Re-engaged
IX The Compact is Smashed
X Maud's Interest
XI The Steamboat _Ernestina_
XII Evan Loses a Round
XIII A Little Detective Work
XIV Number 11 Van Dorn Street
XV The Club House
XVI Back to Earth
XVII The _Ernestina_ Again
XVIII The Accident
XIX Four Visits from George Deaves
XX The Beginning of the Night
XXI Later that Night
XXII Towards Morning
XXIII Simeon Deaves Turns Philanthropist
XXIV Conclusion
Postscript

THE DEAVES AFFAIR

CHAPTER I

A PENNY CHANGE

Evan Weir's pipe was foul; he threw it down with an exclamation of
disgust. Its foulness was symbolic; everything was out of kilter. He
looked at the picture he had been painting for a week--rotten! It was
a still life; a broken jar and three books on a rag of Persian
embroidery. Picking up his pen-knife he deliberately cut the canvas
out of the stretcher, and setting a match to a corner of it, tossed it
in the empty stove. He paced up and down the room wondering what the
devil was the matter with him; he couldn't work;