The Black Company : A mystery story by W. B. M. Ferguson
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"The Black Company" by W. B. M. Ferguson is a mystery novel written in the early 20th century. Told in a witty first person, it follows ex–Princeton star and reluctant heir Peter Lawton—posing as chauffeur Henry Joyce—as he battles alcoholism, slips into a new life serving the imperious Theodore Varney and his perceptive niece Brenda, and stumbles onto a shadowy cabal whose chess-coded signals hint at a larger conspiracy. The opening of
the novel traces a chaotic night that begins with a drunken dare and a wild solo drive from Princeton, during which the narrator clashes with a bronze-faced stranger and a young woman in a luxury car, and is then knocked out and robbed by a mysterious man. Awakening at a farmer’s, he seizes a chance to assume the identity of “Henry Joyce,” is hired as Brenda’s uncle’s chauffeur, and promises her he will stay sober. A newspaper report convinces the world that “Peter Lawton” died in a wreck, prompting him to remain “dead” and fight his addiction while working in secrecy. He meets the caustic, chess-obsessed Varney, senses the old man’s hidden vice, crosses paths with the slippery Arnold Frean, and receives a cryptic note that leads to a roadhouse rendezvous with a lifeless-eyed contact, Corby, who toasts “The Black Company” in buttermilk and reveals Frean as a new recruit under watch; returning home, the narrator earns Brenda’s trust and agrees to let Varney win at chess. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Ferguson, W. B. M. (William Blair Morton), 1882-1967 |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 24008569 |
| Title | The Black Company : A mystery story |
| Original Publication | New York: Chelsea House, 1924. |
| Credits | Tim Miller, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories |
| Subject | Love stories |
| Subject | Criminals -- Fiction |
| Subject | Millionaires -- Fiction |
| Subject | United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction |
| Subject | Temperance -- Fiction |
| Subject | Gangs -- Fiction |
| Subject | Wagers -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77438 |
| Release Date | Dec 10, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 396 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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