Major Vigoureux   By: Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (1863-1944)

NOVELS AND STORIES BY "Q"

Published by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Major Vigoureux $1.50 Poison Island $1.50 Sir John Constantine $1.50 The Mayor of Troy $1.50 Shining Ferry $1.50 The Adventures of Harry Revel $1.50 The White Wolf and Other Tales $1.50 The Laird's Luck and Other Tales $1.50 Fort Amity $1.50 Two Sides of the Face: Midwinter Tales $1.50 Old Fires and Profitable Ghosts $1.50 The Ship of Stars $1.50 Historical Tales from Shakespeare $1.50

MAJOR VIGOUREUX

BY

A. T. QUILLER COUCH

("Q")

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK 1907

Copyright, 1907, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published September, 1907

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. IN THE GARRISON GARDEN 1

II. SERGEANT ARCHELAUS IS RE FITTED 12

III. THE COMMANDANT FINESSES A KNAVE 28

IV. THE GUN IN THE GREAT FOG 44

V. THE S.S. MILO 56

VI. HOW VASHTI CAME TO THE ISLANDS 71

VII. TRIBULATIONS OF MRS. POPE AND MISS GABRIEL 84

VIII. A BRIEF REVENGE 97

IX. THE SALVING OF S.S. MILO 106

X. THE ADVENTURES OF FOUR SHILLINGS 125

XI. PLAN OF CAMPAIGN 142

XII. SAARON ISLAND 158

XIII. THE LADY FROM THE SEA 174

XIV. AFTER SERVICE 190

XV. BREFAR CHURCH 205

XVI. THE LORD PROPRIETOR'S AUDIENCE 221

XVII. THE LORD PROPRIETOR RECEIVES A DOUBLE SHOCK 232

XVIII. VASHTI PLEADS FOR SAARON 243

XIX. THE COMMANDANT'S CONSCIENCE 262

XX. THE GUITAR AND THE CASEMENT 277

XXI. SUSPICIONS 293

XXII. PIPER'S HOLE 306

XXIII. THE LORD PROPRIETOR HEARS A SIREN SONG 320

XXIV. LINNET SEES A MERMAID 337

XXV. MISSING! 344

XXVI. THE SEARCH 356

XXVII. ENTER THE COMMISSIONER 373

XXVIII. THE FINDING 387

XXIX. CONCLUSION 399

MAJOR VIGOUREUX

CHAPTER I

IN THE GARRISON GARDEN

"Archelaus," said the Commandant, "where did you get those trousers?" Sergeant Archelaus, who, as he dug in the neglected garden, had been exposing a great quantity of back view (for he was a long man), straightened himself up, faced about, and, grounding his long handled spade as it were a musket, stood with palms crossed over the top of it.

"Off the Lord Proprietor," he answered.

The Commandant, seated on a bench under the veronica hedge, a few yards higher up the slope, laid down his book, took off his spectacles, wiped them, and replaced them very deliberately.

"The Lord Proprietor? I do not understand " His face had reddened a little, as it usually did at mention of the Lord Proprietor.

"Made me a present of 'em," explained Sergeant Archelaus, curtly. "You don't mean to say you haven't noticed 'em till this minute?"