THE
LOOT OF CITIES
BEING THE ADVENTURES OF A
MILLIONAIRE IN SEARCH OF JOY
(A FANTASIA); AND OTHER STORIES
BY
ARNOLD BENNETT
AUTHOR OF “THE OLD WIVES’ TALE”
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, Ltd.
LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK
CONTENTS.
| THE LOOT OF CITIES | 7 |
| MR. PENFOUND’S TWO BURGLARS | 157 |
| MIDNIGHT AT THE GRAND BABYLON | 173 |
| THE POLICE STATION | 193 |
| THE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIMA DONNA | 214 |
| THE EPISODE IN ROOM 222 | 225 |
| SATURDAY TO MONDAY | 235 |
| A DINNER AT THE LOUVRE | 244 |
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRE OF LONDON.
“YOU’RE wanted on the telephone, sir.”
Mr. Bruce Bowring, managing directorof the Consolidated Mining and Investment Corporation,Limited (capital two millions, in one-poundshares, which stood at twenty-seven-and-six),turned and gazed querulously across theelectric-lit spaces of his superb private office atthe confidential clerk who addressed him. Mr.Bowring, in shirt-sleeves before a Florentine mirror,was brushing his hair with the solicitude ofa mother who has failed to rear most of a largefamily.
“Who is it?” he asked, as if that demand forhim were the last straw but one. “Nearly sevenon Friday evening!” he added, martyrised.
“I think a friend, sir.”
The middle-aged financier dropped his gold-mounted[8]brush and, wading through the deeppile of the Oriental carpet, passed into the telephone-cabinetand shut the door.
“Hallo!” he accosted the transmitter, resolvednot to be angry with it. “Hallo! Areyou there? Yes, I’m Bowring. Who are you?”
“Nrrrr,” the faint, unhuman voice of thereceiver whispered in his ear. “Nrrrr. Cluck.I’m a friend.”
“What name?”
“No name. I thought you might like toknow that a determined robbery is going to beattempted to-night at your house in LowndesSquare, a robbery of cash—and bef