167

XVIII. FATE IRONICAL 182

XIX. THE PLOT HAS FAILED 192

XX. ALBAN GOES TO WARSAW 198

XXI. THE BOY IN THE BLUE BLOUSE 209

XXII. A FIGURE IN THE STRAW 224

XXIII. AN INSTRUCTION TO THE POLICE 231

XXIV. THE DAWN OF THE DAY 240

XXV. COUNT ZAMOYSKI SLEEPS 247

XXVI. AN INTERLUDE IN PICCADILLY 259

XXVII. THE PRISON YARD 268

XXVIII. THE MEETING 276

XXIX. ALBAN RETURNS TO LONDON 285

XXX. WE MEET OLD FRIENDS 294

XXXI. THE MAN UPON THE PAVEMENT 303

XXXII. IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY 307

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"You love another woman, Alban Kennedy, and
you have wished to forget my daughter." 132

A very orgy of blood and slaughter; a
carnival of whips. 198

"Why do you come here?" she asked him wildly. 267

ALADDIN OF LONDON

OR

LODESTAR

CHAPTER I

THE HALL BY UNION STREET

The orator was not eloquent; but he had told a human story and all
listened with respect. When he paused and looked upward it seemed to
many that a light of justice shone upon his haggard face while the tears
rolled unwiped down his ragged jerkin. His lank, unkempt hair, caught by
the draught from the open doors at the far end of the hall, streamed
behind him in grotesque profusion. His hands were clenched and his lips
compressed. That which he had told to the sea of questioning faces below
him was the story of his life. The name which he had uttered with an
oath upon his lips was the name of the man who had deprived him of
riches and of liberty. When he essayed to add a woman's name and to
speak of the wrongs which had been done her, the power of utterance left
him in an instant and he stood there gasping, his eyes toward the light
which none but he could see; a prayer of gratitude upon his lips because
he had found the man and would repay.

Look down upon this audience and you shall see a heterogeneous assembly
such as London alone of the cities can show you. The hall is a crazy
building enough, not a hundred yards from the Commercial Road at
Whitechapel. The time is the spring of the year 1903--the hour is eight
o'clock at night. Ostensibly a meeting