The Lions Share

Lion's Share, The

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lion's Share, by E. Arnold Bennett This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Lion's Share
Author: E. Arnold Bennett
Release Date: December 27, 2004 [EBook #14487]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LION'S SHARE ***

Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Nick Kocharhook and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team

THE LION'S SHARE
by
Arnold Bennett
First Published 1916.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR NOVELS-- A MAN FROM THE NORTH ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS LEONORA A GREAT MAN SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE WHOM GOD HATH JOINED BURIED ALIVE THE OLD WIVES' TALE THE GLIMPSE HELEN WITH THE HIGH HAND CLAYHANGER HILDA LESSWAYS THESE TWAIN THE CARD THE REGENT THE PRICE OF LOVE
FANTASIAS-- THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL THE GATES OF WRATH TERESA OF WATLING STREET THE LOOT OF CITIES HUGO THE GHOST THE CITY OF PLEASURE
SHORT STORIES-- TALES OF THE FIVE TOWNS THE GRIM SMILE OF THE FIVE TOWNS THE MATADOR OF THE FIVE TOWNS
BELLES-LETTRES-- JOURNALISM FOR WOMEN FAME AND FICTION HOW TO BECOME AN AUTHOR THE TRUTH ABOUT AN AUTHOR THE REASONABLE LIFE HOW TO LIVE ON TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY THE HUMAN MACHINE LITERARY TASTE FRIENDSHIP AND HAPPINESS THOSE UNITED STATES MARRIAGE LIBERTY
DRAMA-- POLITE FARCES CUPID AND COMMONSENSE WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS THE HONEYMOON THE GREAT ADVENTURE MILESTONES (in collaboration with Edward Knoblauch)
* * * * *
(In collaboration with Eden Phillpotts) THE SINEWS OF WAR: A Romance THE STATUE: A Romance

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
1. MISS INGATE, AND THE YACHT 2. THE THIEF'S PLAN WRECKED 3. THE LEGACY 4. MR. FOULGER 5. THE DEAD HAND 6. THE YOUNG WIDOW 7. THE CIGARETTE GIRL 8. EXPLOITATION OF WIDOWHOOD 9. LIFE IN PARIS 10. FANCY DRESS 11. A POLITICAL REFUGEE 12. WIDOWHOOD IN THE STUDIO 13. THE SWOON 14. MISS INGATE POINTS OUT THE DOOR 15. THE RIGHT BANK 16. ROBES 17. SOIR��E 18. A DECISION 19. THE BOUDOIR 20. PAGET GARDENS 21. JANE 22. THE DETECTIVE 23. THE BLUE CITY 24. THE SPATTS 25. THE MUTE 26. NOCTURNE 27. IN THE GARDEN 28. ENCOUNTER 29. FLIGHT 30. ARIADNE 31. THE NOSTRUM 32. BY THE BINNACLE 33. AGUILAR'S DOUBLE LIFE 34. THE TANK-ROOM 35. THE THIRD SORT OF WOMAN 36. IN THE DINGHY 37. AFLOAT 38. IN THE UNIVERSE 39. THE IMMINENT DRIVE 40. GENIUS AT BAY 41. FINANCIAL NEWS 42. INTERVAL 43. ENTR'ACTE 44. END OF THE CONCERT 45. STRANGE RESULT OF A QUARREL 46. AN EPILOGUE

CHAPTER I
MISS INGATE, AND THE YACHT
Audrey had just closed the safe in her father's study when she was startled by a slight noise. She turned like a defensive animal to face danger. It had indeed occurred to her that she was rather like an animal in captivity, and she found a bitter pleasure in the idea, though it was not at all original.
"And Flank Hall is my Zoo!" she had said. (Not that she had ever seen the Zoological Gardens or visited London.)
She was lithe; she moved with charm. Her short, plain blue serge walking-frock disclosed the form of her limbs and left them free, and it made her look younger even than she was. Its simplicity suited her gestures and took grace from them. But she wore the old thing without the least interest in it--almost unconsciously. She had none of the preoccupations caused by the paraphernalia of existence. She scarcely knew what it was to own. She was aware only of her body and her soul. Beyond these her possessions were so few, so mean, so unimportant, that she might have carried them to the grave and into heaven without protest from the authorities earthly or celestial.
The slight noise was due to the door of the study, which great age had distorted and bereft of sense, and, in fact, almost unhinged. It unlatched itself, paused, and then calmly but firmly swung wide open. When it could swing no farther it shook, vibrating into repose.
Audrey condemned the door for a senile lunatic, and herself for a poltroon. She became defiant of peril, until the sound of a step on the stair beyond the door threw her back into alarm. But when the figure of Miss Ingate appeared in the doorway she was definitely reassured, to the point of disdain. All her facial expression said: "It's only Miss Ingate."
And yet Miss Ingate was not a negligible woman. Her untidy hair was greying; she was stout, she was fifty, she was plain, she had not elegance; her accent and turns of speech were noticeably those of Essex. But she had a magnificent pale forehead; the eyes beneath it sparkled with energy, inquisitiveness, and sagacity; and the mouth beneath