[Frontispiece: "Then why can't you marry me?"]



Mckinlay, Stone & Mackenzie
New York
Copyright, 1913, by
The Bobbs-Merrill Company





NEVER-FAIL BLAKE


I

Blake, the Second Deputy, raised his gloomy hound's eyes as the door
opened and a woman stepped in. Then he dropped them again.

"Hello, Elsie!" he said, without looking at her.

The woman stood a moment staring at him. Then she advanced
thoughtfully toward his table desk.

"Hello, Jim!" she answered, as she sank into the empty chair at the
desk end. The rustling of silk suddenly ceased. An aphrodisiac odor