The Secret Mark / An Adventure Story for Girls

he was neither stooped nor near-sighted. A man of broad shoulders and robust frame, he delighted as much in a low morning score at golf as he did in the discovery of a rare old boo

. On one of the upper floors of a modern business block Frank Morrow's shop was flooded with sunshine and fresh air. A potted plant bloomed on his desk. The books, arranged neatly without a painful effort at order, presented

clesiastical library, he came to Frank Morrow to ask where it might be found. Did the prince of the steel market wish a folio edition of Audubon's "Birds of America"? He came to Frank and somewhere, in Boston, Ne

m the whole story of her mystery, for she did not know him well. He was her father's friend, that was all. She did wish to tell him that s

Shakespeares and other Shakespeares. I don't know the university set-didn't buy it for them. Probably a donation from some rich man. It might be a folio editio

othing like that!"

a rich friend of mine not so very long ago. The sale of it I think w

n sat staring at h

dollars!" she manag

o edition, very rare. There are other old

so," murmu

old books and get a notion

ed I

ysterious dark room. There he switched on

fortably into a man's coat pocket; "Walton's Compleat Angler. It's a first e

. Please don't make

hundred

t him in astonishment

scarcity. The first edition of this book was very small. Being small and comparatively cheap, the larger number

y a look of astonishment on the girl's

hat-" h

raised monogram in the upp

the past had private marks which they put in their books. The custom seems to

e picture of a gargoyle," said Lucile i

ave passed through my hands during the past two years. And yet this mark is a very old one. See how yellow

ertainty, "Yes, I know that mark was in the foli

. The thought that the set of Shakespeare taken from the library might be the ver

bookmark went on: "If that gargoyle could talk now, if it could tell

and of noble birth on the continent have had large collections of books printed in English. This little book with the gargoyle on the inside of its cover is a hundred years old. It's a young book as ancient

n of his wife? What noble lady may have whispered in its presence of some secret love? What yo

away as booty in war, been pawned with

s romance in old books, thrilling romance. Whole libraries have been stol

e renowned pirate, Captain Kidd. I am told he was fond of reading. However that may be, there certainly were men of l

wn witticism and Luc

drop in and ask me. I am always at the service of fair young ladies. One n

de a mental note of the form of its gargoyle, then handed it to him and left the room. She

ious about it all. That collector of books, doubtless worth a fortune, in surroundings which betokened poverty, the strange book mark, the look on the old man's face as he fingered the volume of Shakespeare, how explain all these? If the univ

ith the help of Florence and perhaps of Frank Morrow I will solve the mystery myself. Yes, even if it costs me my