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

• CHAPTERPAGE

1. In the Garrison Garden 1
2. Sergeant Archelaus is Re-Fitted12
3. The Commandant Finesses a Knave28
4. The Gun in the Great Fog44
5. The S.S. Milo56
6. How Vashti Came to the Islands71
7. Tribulations of Mrs. Pope and Miss Gabriel84
8. A Brief Revenge97
9. The Salving of S.S. Milo106
10. The Adventures of Four Shillings125
11. Plan of Campaign142
12. Saaron Island158
13. The Lady from the Sea174
14. After Service190
15. Brefar Church205
16. The Lord Proprietor's Audience221
17. The Lord Proprietor Receives a Double Shock232
18. Vashti Pleads for Saaron243
19. The Commandant's Conscience262
20. The Guitar and the Casement277
21. Suspicions293
22. Piper's Hole306
23. The Lord Proprietor Hears a Siren Song320
24. Linnet Sees a Mermaid337
25. Missing!344
26. The Search356
27. Enter the Commissioner373
28. The Finding387
29. Conclusion399

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.