
In the bustling haze of early‑twentieth‑century San Francisco, a young bookkeeper named James Eaton Legg spends his days hunched over ledgers, watching fog roll over noisy streets and listening to the clatter of trucks and streetcars. His world is a quiet routine of numbers, modest wages, and the occasional stern lecture from the firm’s irascible patriarch. Though competent, James feels the weight of monotony pressing down on his blue eyes, and he wonders whether a life of endless accounting is all that lies ahead.
Everything changes when a crisp envelope from a Chicago law firm lands on his desk, its contents hinting at a secret that could upend his ordinary existence. The startling news pulls James out of his reverie, igniting a spark of curiosity and daring that he has never felt before. As he wrestles with the unexpected invitation, the promise of a new path looms, suggesting that his quiet life may be about to take a dramatic turn.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (310K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1926.
Credits
Roger Frank and Sue Clark. This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.
Release date
2022-02-18
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1883–1969
Best known for lively Western stories filled with humor, mystery, and ranch-country adventure, this Montana-born writer created the popular cowboy sleuths Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens. He also worked in Hollywood, writing for films from the silent era into the 1940s.
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