Chapter I: Preface

The language used in telling the following story is not (as I hope the reader will soon perceive) the Author's, but Mr. William Marston's.

The Author's intention was, while telling the story, to develop, in the person of an imaginary narrator, the character of a thoroughly good-hearted and tolerably clever man, who has his fingers (as he would say himself) in every one's pie, and who, for the life of him, cannot keep his own counsel--that is to say, the only person who, by any possibility, could have collected the mass of family gossip which makes up this tale.

Had the Author told it in his own person, it would have been told with less familiarity, and, as he thinks, you would not have laughed quite so often.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I AN ACCOUNT OF THE FAMILY OF RAVENSHOE 1

CHAPTER II. SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE FOREGOING 10

CHAPTER III. IN WHICH OUR HERO'S TROUBLES BEGIN 14

CHAPTER IV. FATHER MACKWORTH 20

CHAPTER V. RANFORD 23

CHAPTER VI. THE "WARREN HASTINGS" 34

CHAPTER VII. IN WHICH CHARLES AND LORD WELTER DISTINGUISH THEMSELVES AT THE UNIVERSITY 44

CHAPTER VIII. JOHN MARSTON 50

CHAPTER IX. ADELAIDE 57

CHAPTER X. LADY ASCOT'S LITTLE NAP 63

CHAPTER XI. GIVES US AN INSIGHT INTO CHARLES'S DOMESTIC RELATIONS, AND SHOWS HOW THE GREAT CONSPIRATOR SOLILOQUISED TO THE GRAND CHANDELIER 69

CHAPTER XII. CONTAINING A SONG BY CHARLES RAVENSHOE, AND ALSO FATHER TIERNAY'S OPINION ABOUT THE FAMILY 79

CHAPTER XIII. THE BLACK HARE 86

CHAPTER XIV. LORD SALTIRE'S VISIT, AND SOME OF HIS OPINIONS 92

CHAPTER XV. CHARLES'S "LIDDELL AND SCOTT" 99

CHAPTER XVI. MARSTON'S ARRIVAL 104

CHAPTER XVII. IN WHICH THERE IS ANOTHER SHIPWRECK 107

CHAPTER XVIII. MARSTON'S DISAPPOINTMENT 114

CHAPTER XIX. ELLEN'S FLIGHT 121

CHAPTER XX. RANFORD AGAIN 124

CHAPTER XXI. CLOTHO, LACHESIS, AND ATROPOS 131

CHAPTER XXII. THE LAST GLIMPSE OF OXFORD 139

CHAPTER XXIII. THE LAST GLIMPSE OF THE OLD WORLD 142

CHAPTER XXIV. THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE NEW WORLD 146

CHAPTER XXV. FATHER MACKWORTH BRINGS LORD SALTIRE TO BAY, AND WHAT CAME OF IT 152

CHAPTER XXVI. THE GRAND CRASH 160

CHAPTER XXVII. THE COUP DE GRACE 167

CHAPTER XXVIII. FLIGHT 176

CHAPTER XXIX. CHARLES'S RETREAT UPON LONDON 180

CHAPTER XXX. MR. SLOANE 185

CHAPTER XXXI. LIEUTENANT HORNBY 190

CHAPTER XXXII. SOME OF THE HUMOURS OF A LONDON MEWS. 194

CHAPTER XXXIII. A GLIMPSE OF SOME OLD FRIENDS 200

CHAPTER XXXIV. IN WHICH FRESH MISCHIEF IS BREWED 203

CHAPTER XXXV. IN WHICH AN ENTIRELY NEW, AND, AS WILL BE SEEN HEREAFTER, A MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER IS INTRODUCED 211

CHAPTER XXXVI. THE DERBY 219

CHAPTER XXXVII. LORD WELTER'S MÉNAGE 227

CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE HOUSE FULL OF GHOSTS 235

CHAPTER XXXIX. CHARLES'S EXPLANATION WITH LORD WELTER 242

CHAPTER XL. A DINNER PARTY AMONG SOME OLD FRIENDS 246

CHAPTER XLI. CHARLES'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO ST. JOHN'S WOOD 252

CHAPTER XLII. RAVENSHOE HALL, DURING ALL THIS 261

CHAPTER XLIII. THE MEETING 270

CHAPTER XLIV. ANOTHER MEETING 275

CHAPTER XLV. HALF A MILLION 285

CHAPTER XLVI. TO LUNCH WITH LORD ASCOT 288

CHAPTER XLVII. LORD HAINAULT'S BLOTTING-BOOK 302

CHAPTER XLVIII. IN WHICH CUTHBERT BEGINS TO SEE THINGS IN A NEW LIGHT 309

CHAPTER XLIX. THE SECOND COLUMN OF "THE TIMES" OF THIS DATE, WITH OTHER MATTERS 317

CHAPTER L. SHREDS AND PATCHES 320

CHAPTER LI. IN WHICH CHARLES COMES TO LIFE AGAIN 327

CHAPTER LII. WHAT LORD SALTIRE AND FATHER MACKWORTH SAID WHEN THEY LOOKED OUT OF THE WINDOW 335

CHAPTER LIII. CAPTAIN ARCHER TURNS UP 343

CHAPTER LIV. CHARLES MEETS HORNBY AT LAST 349

CHAPTER LV. ARCHER'S PROPOSAL 358

CHAPTER LVI. SCUTARI 369

CHAPTER LVII. WHAT CHARLES DID WITH HIS LAST EIGHTEEN SHILLINGS 374

CHAPTER LVIII. THE NORTH SIDE OF GROSVENOR SQUARE 379

CHAPTER LIX. LORD ASCOT'S CROWNING ACT OF FOLLY 391

CHAPTER LX. THE BRIDGE AT LAST 400

CHAPTER LXI. SAVED 411

CHAPTER LXII. MR. JACKSON'S BIG TROUT 415

CHAPTER LXIII. IN WHICH GUS CUTS FLORA'S DOLL'S CORNS 420

CHAPTER LXIV. THE ALLIED ARMIES ADVANCE ON RAVENSHOE 423

CHAPTER LXV. FATHER MACKWORTH PUTS THE FINISHING TOUCH ON HIS GREAT PIECE OF EMBROIDERY 427

CHAPTER LXVI. GUS AND FLORA ARE NAUGHTY IN CHURCH, AND THE WHOLE BUSINESS COMES TO AN END 438

RAVENSHOE.