The Project Gutenberg EBook of Helena Brett's Career, by Desmond Coke

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Title: Helena Brett's Career

Author: Desmond Coke

Release Date: July 7, 2010 [EBook #33103]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HELENA BRETT'S CAREER ***

Produced by Al Haines

HELENA BRETT'S CAREER

BY

DESMOND COKE

AUTHOR OF THE BOOKS ON THE PAGE OPPOSITE

[Transcriber's note: this list has been moved to the end of this etext]

NEW YORK

E. P. DUTTON & CO.

3, WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET

1913

TO

ARTHUR WAUGH,

CRITIC, PUBLISHER, AND FRIEND,

WHO STARTED ME AS NOVELIST

AND HAS NEVER FAILED SINCE

WITH ENCOURAGEMENT,

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

IN GRATITUDE.

PREFATORY POSTSCRIPT

In these thin-skinned days when the words libel and traitor drift on
every breeze, it may be "wise" (I am told at the last), to make it
plain that my Author, Publisher, and Artist do not represent real
people! So be it, then: the men, as also women, in this unromantic
comedy of married life are all imagined; but in declaring them not to
be individuals, I would not be thought to admit that they are
non-existent ... or universal. Such men have been and will
be--self-centred authors, unscrupulous publishers, vulgar-minded
artists--nor does a paragon make the best food for fiction: but there
are also Others. Logic still permits one to avoid Libel without
confessing Treachery, and I am little likely to "attack" my own
profession or two others from which I draw some of my nearest friends.
We are told that there are black sheep in every fold; but it is still
possible that a few among the others may be white. It pleases some of
us to think so.

DESMOND COKE

CONTENTS

PART I

HOW IT HAPPENED

CHAPTER

I. ADVICE
II. "WHY MEN MARRY"
III. "WHY WOMEN WED"
IV. HYMEN

PART II

HUBERT BRETT'S WIFE

V. ROUTINE
VI. GROWTH
VII. THE CULT OF USELESSNESS
VIII. A SCENE IN THE HOME
IX. CINDERELLA
X. HONOUR
XI. PINK PAPERS AND ST. ANTHONY
XII. DEVILS
XIII. SECRETS
XIV. WAS IT WORTH WHILE?
XV. DISCOVERIES