In Sight of St. Paul's — page 126: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE PANTHER AT BAY. 121 CHAPTER VIII. THE PANTHER AT BAY. The house occupied by Mrs. Dell in Highgate was a villa of moderate dimensions, but very handsome in all*its appointments, both inside-and out. It stood in grounds of its own, which were surrounded by a high wall, with a gate of iron-work, heavily gilded. ‘The place really belonged to Gridston, purchased with a part of his profits derived from the Aspasia Club, and he had offered it to Cynthia rent free, with the provision that he should reserve a small suite of rooms for his own occupancy. The Panther had accepted. She rarely refused gifts from her admirers, but she stipulated that no one should know of the transaction save the owner and herself. | - ’To this Gridston had readily assented. Cynthia ‘Dell had a way of holding the men who had once been her lovers, and Gridston was no exception to the rule. It was almost two o’clock in the morning, and in the perfumed air of the richly furnished drawing- room, a pretty French maid, lolling back in cne of Eomicbooks (E(@) m