THE TEMPTING OF TAVERNAKE BY E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM






BOOK ONE




CHAPTER I


DESPAIR AND INTEREST

They stood upon the roof of a London boarding-house in the
neighborhood of Russell Square--one of those grim shelters, the
refuge of Transatlantic curiosity and British penury. The girl
--she represented the former race was leaning against the frail
palisading, with gloomy expression and eyes set as though in
fixed contemplation of the uninspiring panorama. The young man
--unmistakably, uncompromisingly English--stood with his back to
the chimney a few feet away, watching his companion. The silence
between them was as yet unbroken, had lasted, indeed, since she
had stolen away from the shabby drawingroom below, where a florid
lady with a raucous voice had been shouting a music-hall ditty.
Close upon her heels, but without speech of any sort, he had
followed. They were almost strangers, except for the occasional