The MS. in a Red Box

  NOVELS BY WILLIAM J. LOCKE

  Jaffery

  Crown 8vo. 6s.

  _Press Opinions_

  "'Jaffery' is certainly a novel on which the sun should shine. Mr.Locke has never written a better story than it contains, nor has heever written anything in which there glowed more brightly his faith inhuman character.... It adds to the author's reputation withoutaltering its character."--_Standard_.

  "'Jaffery' will strengthen the hold Mr. Locke has on his greatfollowing. It is a better book than any of the last two or three hehas given us. It has the advantage of telling a story. If 'Jaffery'does not 'boom' even as Adrian Boldero's stolen novel 'The DiamondGate' 'boomed,' then will the effect of the war on fiction be greaterthan we deemed or have found it."--_Daily Chronicle_.

  "The story is full of interest and incident, it has both pathos andhumour, and all those romantic qualities always associated with Mr.Locke's work, and is written with all that characteristic charm ofmanner and joyous love of life which make his novels sowelcome."--_Globe_.

  "In 'Jaffery' Mr. Locke has given us one of the most engaging of hismany engaging novels.... Presented wittily, gracefully, and with afine romantical good humour, they enliven the world of fiction and offact amazingly."--_Observer_.

  "With 'Jaffery' one may forget everything else. The book bubbles overwith the gaiety of life. Good-humoured, kindly natured, with itspleasant literary flavour and scintillating wit, it is a true Lockestory of the first class."--_Truth_.

  "Mr. Locke has added another humorous portrait to his already largegallery of fantastic creations.... Ras Fendihook is a miniaturemasterpiece, and we are forced to believe in Barbara, the shrewdly kindwife of the raisonneur."--_Times_.

  Simon the Jester

  Crown 8vo, 6s; also Popular Edition, Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.

  _Press Opinions_

  W. L. COURTNEY in _The Daily Telegraph_.--"You will not put down thebook until you have read the last page. The story is not the main partof Mr. Locke's book. It is the style, the quality of the writing, theatmosphere of the novel, the easy pervasive charm ... which makes usfeel once more the stirring pulses and eager blood of deathlessromance."

  _Morning Post_.--"We thoroughly recommend 'Simon the Jester,' and canpromise an enjoyable time in the company of the miscellaneousassortment of people from all ranks and classes who dance through itspages to Mr. Locke's many tunes."

  _Standard_.--"It is much the best of his sentimental stories, withoutforgetting for an instant the illiterate Carlotta and the gushingParagot; the writing of it has a style, a grace, that owes something tothe immortal author of 'Sylvestre Bonnard' and 'M. Bergeret a Paris'."

  The Beloved Vagabond

  Crown 8vo, 6s; also Popular Edition, Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.

  _Press Opinions_

  _Morning Post_.--"It would not be surprising if 'Beloved Vagabond'became the favourite novel of the season.... This fantastic andenlivening book."

  _Truth_.--"Certainly it is the most brilliant piece of work Mr. Lockehas done."

  _Daily Telegraph_.--"Mr. Locke, who has a happy gift forcharacterisation, and who writes in the easy cultured style of thescholar, has been quite successful in delineating his hero."

  _Liverpool Courier_.--"'The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne' was emphaticallythe book of a year. It was irresistible. 'The Beloved Vagabond' is inmany respects a better book. Mr. Locke is an artist in method and instyle. English so distinguished and so unaffected as he employs is arefreshment to the reader, and the spirit of the tale, with itsbeautiful, touching and mellow humanity, its wisdom and its poetry, isdeeply impressive. It is a memorable book."

  _Globe_.--"Mr. Locke's novel abounds in delightful dialogue."

  The Glory of Clementina Wing

  Crown 8vo, 1s; also Popular Edition, Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.

  _Press Opinions_

  _Times_.--"Mr. Locke is a master of many spells."

  _Daily Telegraph_.--"Mr. Locke may feel assured that both Clementinaand Quixtus will become favourites with his readers, and that neitherthe rough idiosyncracies of Clementina, nor the amiable fatuity of Dr.Quixtus, will readily pass into the limbo of forgotten things."

  MR. JAMES DOUGLAS, _Star_.--"The best novel Mr. Locke has written sincehe produced his masterpiece, 'The Beloved Vagabond.' Into it he haspoured all his powers ... the story is a real story with a real plot,real human beings, real human emotions, and a real development ofcharacter. The story holds you from start to finish. You cannot layit down. And over that story there is a perpetual play of that airyhumour and fantastic gaiety with which Mr. Locke alone among livingnovelists knows how to enchant his readers."

  _Daily Chronicle_.--"The tale is a very good thing indeed, one worthyand truly characteristic of an author who is reaping a golden harvestof appreciation, well deserved. 'The Glory of Clementina Wing' is veryenjoyable. It runs trippingly throughout, and in characterisation,style, and dialogue deserves the laurels."

  _Globe_.--"Clementina is a real triumph for Mr. Locke. He hascertainly never drawn a more living character, or one whose charm ismore certain. It is not necessary to emphasise the individuality ofMr. Locke's style and treatment. His latest effort ischaracteristically felicitous and unconventional in outlook, andpossesses much of the poetry of virile romance.... A delightful work."

  _Sunday Times_.--"With that style of his that is at once so fastidiousand so charming, so illusive and so easy, Mr. Locke sets out the taleof his Quixtus's misfortunes, and in the meantime paints a veryengaging portrait of this student-solicitor."

  _Observer_.--"Mr. Locke's best ... Clementina Wing and Dr. Quixtus arethe two most adorable characters that Mr. Locke has ever broughttogether in holy wedlock.... The phrases are Locke's most debonairlywitty."

  _Eye-Witness_.--"A very soothing, charming, and sparkling piece ofwork."

  _Truth_.--"Of all adventures into the realms of fantastic fiction thereis none quite so daring, certainly none so much at home, as Mr. Locke.The novel will add to its writer's reputation."

  _Evening Times_.--"In this work Mr. Locke gets back to theirresponsible joyousness of 'The Beloved Vagabond,' and he will add byit countless numbers to his host of admirers. In no book of his do wehave more admirable characterisation of eccentric persons...."

  The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol

  With Illustrations by ALIC BALL. Crown 8vo, 6s; also Popular EditionCloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.

  _Press Opinions_

  _Pall Mall Gazette_.--"At all times he is the best of company, and hewill rank among the best and most charming of Mr. Locke's creations.'The Joyous Adventures' will add greatly to the author's fame, for rareindeed is literary work of such colour and vivacity."

  _Clarion_.--"It is a grand book this. A jolly, delightful book, forthough a tear gleams here and there, the great characteristic of thebook is laughter. A most audacious book, a most enchanting book, andsuch a perfectly fascinating hero."

  _Globe_.--"'Aristide Pujol' is one of Mr. Locke's happiest creations."

  _Bystander_.--"I could say much more about this engaging and deliciousand fairy-hearted book had I room, but, as I have already said,criticism is not wanted. Aristide Pujol will make friends wherever hegoes."

  _Outlook_.--"It leaves us the richer for a friend."

  _Tatler_.--"For a really humorous, whimsical story let me recommend'The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol.' It will even put apessimist in exceeding good humour with himself and the world at large.We have laughed and we have cried, and most of us will, I fancy, havefound a new friend."

  _Sketch_.--"The oft-repeated word 'brilliant' seems still the one wordpossible."

  _Scotsman_.--"The book is one of Mr. Locke's best."

  _Sunday Times_.--"Any novel reader with any taste for the fantasticwill revel in these truly 'Joyous Adventures'."

  _Vanity Fair_.--"Written with rare distinction and charm 'TheAdventures of Aristide Pujol' have an _allure_ and a fascination alltheir own; they are q
uite the best work Mr. Locke has done since hedescribed the wanderings of another Frenchman, Paragot, 'the belovedvagabond'."

  _Onlooker_.--"Here we have this delightful writer at his brightest."

  _Birmingham Daily Post_.--"A wholly delightful creation."

  _Court Journal_.--"One of the cheeriest, brightest, and most delightfulbooks of the season."

  _Academy_.--"Aristide Pujol is a creation of genius."

  _Referee_.--"Aristide Pujol indeed is irresistible."

  * * * * *

  BY A. NEIL LYONS

  Kitchener Chaps

  Cloth, Crown 8vo, 1s net.

  _Press Opinions_

  _Times_.--"Mr. Neil Lyons writes as the friend and observer of the newarmy.... Mr. Lyons ... is a master of cockney humour.... As to nearlyeverything that Mr. Lyons' 'cockneys' say we have an instinctivefeeling that it is exactly right."

  _Morning Post_.--"It is, on the one side, an antidote to thesentimental and mawkish, and on another a supplement to what may becalled the purely professional soldier tale. It should be widely read."

  _Outlook_.--"A writer who in such times as these sets out to make uslaugh--and succeeds in his amiable intent--deserves praise."

  _Sunday Times_.--"Here you will say is the very man to take down thetalk of the humbler members of Lord Kitchener's Armies, and you will beright. You will laugh heartily over ... 'Kitchener Chaps.'"

  _Evening Standard_.--"These stories are excellently conceived andartistically executed. There is no sense of anti-climax about them ...for side-shaking merriment the veracious history of 'Private Blood'will not soon be forgotten."

  _Daily Express_.--"Mr. Neil Lyons' sketches of the recruits in the newarmy are splendid humorous and human pen pictures, almost the firstgenuine literature that the war has produced."

  _Tatler_.--"And when you have finished it and read many of the sketchesa second time, as you will want to do, send it anywhere, where there isa soldier."

  Arthur's.

  The Romance of a Coffee Stall

  Crown 8vo, Cloth, 1s net; also Library Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s.

  _Press Opinions_

  _Times_.--"Very pretty comedy ... not only a very entertaining andamusing work, but a very kindly and tolerant work also. At the back ofit is understanding and love of life, and that most admirable frame ofmind for an artist, the live-and-let-live temperament."

  _Morning Post_.--"An outspoken and withal a kindly work, allowing apower of clear observation, and an interesting and unusual milieu inwhich to display it."

  _Manchester Guardian_.--"'Arthur's' can cordially be recommended....Mr. Lyons seems to have the animating gift as well as the seeing eye,and a kindly humour in selection and treatment brings out the light andwarmth of the stall rather than its flare and smell."

  _Daily Chronicle_.--"Arthur and his cronies will live among theLondoners of fiction beside the bargees of Mr. Jacobs and the inmatesof 'No. 5 John Street.'"

  Sixpenny Pieces

  Third Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s.

  _Press Opinions_

  _Evening Standard_.--"'Sixpenny Pieces' is as good as 'Arthur's.' ...For a book full of laughter and tears and bits innumerable that onefeels impelled to read aloud, 'Sixpenny Pieces' would be very hardindeed to beat."

  _Standard_.--"It is a book that no one can afford to neglect. Both asliterature and as life its appeal is irresistible."

  _Morning Post_.--"Mr. Neil Lyons is a shrewd, penetrating, andsympathetic observer of the lives of the poor. Two of the mostdelightful characters we have met in fiction."

  _Pall Mall Gazette_.--"It is pure, fast, sheer life, salted with asense of humour; and the reader is sure of being lured as cunninglyfrom sixpenny bit to sixpenny bit."

  Cottage Pie

  A Country Spread

  Third Edition, Crown 8vo, 6s.

  _Times_.--"Marked with the humour and grip with which Mr. Lyonsvisualizes an episode, and by his remarkable power of transcribing thetalk of the less educated classes of the community."

  Clara

  Some Scattered Chapters in the Life of a Hussy

  Crown 8vo, 6s.

  _Pall Mall Gazette_.--"It is doubtful whether since Dickens anyone hascaught so exactly, and presented to us so artistically as Mr. Lyons,the sharp shrewd wit and the rich though acrid humour of the Londongutter."

  Simple Simon.

  His Adventures in the Thistle Patch

  With 8 Illustrations by G. E. Peto. Crown 8vo, 6s.

  _Outlook_.--"A rollicking sense of fun, an almost unbearableseriousness, a keen observation, a kind heart, and a genius entirelyhis own are among Mr. Neil Lyons' assets for writing."

  Moby Lane and Thereabouts

  A Sussex Confection

  Crown 8vo, 6s.

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